20 Facts You Didn’t Know About The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Underneath the streets of New York City are a fighting force of talking mutant turtles who are named after Renaissance painters and eat disgusting pizza. What? You already knew that? Yeah, that is pretty much common knowledge. But the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been around since their comic premiered in 1984, so there are likely a few facts about the crimefighters that have escaped your notice. And that’s where we come in. Here are 20 things about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles you might not know:

TV

1. The voice of Shredder was Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

According to this interview, James Avery was coming off his voice role as Junkyard Dog in the cartoon Hulk Hogan’s Rock ’n’ Wrestling. He said voicing Shredder was “a joy” and “it was like going to a party every few days.” You mean like… a pizza party?

2. The voice of Michelangelo was later the voice of The Tick.

Townsend Coleman has had an enviable career as a voice actor: he portrayed Corporal Capeman in Inspector Gadget, Gobo in the animated Fraggle Rock, and was the voice of NBC during the “Must See” era. (The best of all the eras.) He’ll no doubt be best remembered as The Tick and the original Michelangelo. Cowabungaaaaa! Spooooon!

3. Two main characters were changed to from black to white in the TV adaptation.

In the Mirage Comics, April O’Neil was a computer programmer for the sinister scientist Baxter Stockman. Both characters were African-American, but were later white washed and their origin stories were separated for the cartoon series. American children demand their evil scientists be white and their female programmers be spunky white reporters, damn it.

4. Creator Peter Laird hated the addition of a female Ninja Turtle.

In the failed live-action show Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, there was a lady turtle named Venus. Peter Laird was reportedly embarrassed by the poorly-received character. According to TMNT director Kevin Munroe, “You can’t even joke about [Venus] with Peter. It’s one of those things he hates with a passion.” Perhaps a female turtle once broke Peter’s heart?

5. There was an anime adaptation called Mutant Turtles: Superman Legend.

The plot involves ancient spirits, magic crystals, and the turtles combining into a combined super Turtle called “Turtle Saint.” So, yes, the anime did manage to make Ninja Turtles somehow weirder.

6. Like Star Wars, the Ninja Turtles have a terrible live action Christmas special.

The direct-to-video special from 1994 was called We Wish You a Turtle Christmas. It’s Christmas Eve and the Turtles haven’t gotten Splinter a gift yet. Instead, they give us all the gift of terrible songs and out-of-sync lip movements. In the future, scientists will determine that “Wrap Rap” is the worst hip-hop song of all-time.

7. The Ninja Turtles once teamed up with the Power Rangers.

The Ninja Turtles make a cameo in the series Power Rangers in Space. (The episode is called “Shell Shocked.”) The Turtles are unwittingly placed under a magic spell, leading them to betray the Power Rangers. Once the spell is broken, they team up with the Power Rangers. Then they all visit Riverdale to attend a KISS concert.

Movies

8. The Jim Henson Creature Shop made the Turtles’ costumes.

The legendary Jim Henson helped bring the Ninja Turtles to life in their first big screen adventure, using an advanced mix of full-body puppeteering and animatronics. However, Henson was upset about the level of violence in the movie, calling it “excessive, pointless and not his style.” Hmm…

9. Kevin Clash performed as Splinter with two other puppeteers.

Famous Muppeteer Kevin Clash portrayed the Ninja Turtles’ mentor Master Splinter. His other notable roles include the Baby Dinosaur from Dinosaurs and Elmo from Sesame Street. Also worth noting: He made a funny.

10. There’s an alternate ending to the original movie.

After the events of the film, April O’Neil pitches the idea of Ninja Turtles to a comic book company. The guy she’s pitching too describes the idea as “too far fetched.” It’s too bad the scene was cut. If there’s one thing 90s kids loved more than Ninja Turtles, it’s dramatic irony.

11. Playmates wouldn’t make toys based on the original movie.

Executives at the toy company thought the movie was too dark and violent. (To give you an idea of the kind of toys they were making, check out the video above.) They did make toys based on the sequel, Secret of the Ooze, which was less violent and more terrible.

12. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the highest-grossing independent movie ever at its release.

The producers shopped the film to almost every major studio in Hollywood, and they all passed. (Though to be fair, Howard the Duck was a recent flop.) However, the film went on to become a huge hit, earning $202 million. Studio executives were left eating humble pizza pie.

13. A few months after their first movie, there was a live stage show and a concert film.

The Turtles made a victory lap across America called “Coming Out of Their Shells!” The live stage show (and direct-to-Pizza Hut-video) featured such timeless classics as “Pizza Power” and “April’s Ballad.” At one point, Shredder goads the young girls in the audience by saying he heard New Kids on the Block was breaking up. Well-played, Shredder. Well-played.

14. In an early draft of the 2014 Michael Bay film, the Turtles were aliens.

The screenwriters re-imagined the Turtles as being aliens from Dimension X. Intense backlash from fans prompted a re-write to their “classic” origin story. The idea is referenced in the film. When her boss asks if the Turtles are aliens, April O’Neil replies, “Aliens? No, that’s stupid, they’re turtles.” However, the writers also snuck in a reference to the terrible Christmas special video, so they got the last laugh.

15. The 2014 film had the highest budget for any Turtle film, more than all the other movies’ budgets combined.

The majority of the budget was spent making the Turtles look as horrible as possible.

Comics

16. The comics began as a parody of Daredevil.

The original black and white comic by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird was conceived as a one-off parody of Frank Millar’s run on Daredevil. It’s implied that the same canister of ooze that fell into the sewers and created the Ninja Turtles also bounced off Matt Murdock’s face. That’s one notable ooze canister!

17. They travel through space with the help of a floating cow head.

When the Turtles came to Archie Comics, they were assisted in trans-dimensional travel by Cudley the Cowlick. He’s a giant cow who once kidnapped the Turtles and took them to an intergalactic wrestling tournament on an asteroid. Afterwards they became friends, because okay, sure.

18. They met Archie and the gang.

In the comic “Green Legs and Gams,” Dudley the Cowlick spit the Turtles into Riverdale. The Turtles meet Archie & Co. and they become friends, working together to save Veronica from kidnappers. The best part is the knowledge that — thanks to countless Archie crossovers — Archie, Ninja Turtles, The Punisher, and KISS are all in the same fictional universe.

19. Raphael punched Adolf Hitler.

It’s a little hard to explain. In the Archie Turtles, a time machine is being powered by Hitler’s brain. Hitlers from both the future and the past try to retrieve it and are foiled by the Ninja Turtles. Leonardo tells Hitler they’re actually demons who stole his soul, which leads Hitler to commit suicide. But really, all you need to know is that the Turtles stopped Hitler… “for the millions!”

Wrestling?

20. Yeah, wrestling.

The Mexican wrestling promotion Alianza Universal de Lucha Libre has a lot of Ninja Turtle tag-teams. So, naturally, they all fought each other. After all, there can be only one… group of four… mutant turtles.