4 out of 5

Created By: Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird (natch)

WHAT?  4 out of 5??  Are you on some banana crappers?  But I’m rating something besides the show, which is so awesomely awesome that there aren’t enough awesomes to describe it, rather I’m docking a star because of the release itself.  Kid cartoons with adult appeal always get the short end of the stick for DVD releases because, well, you can’t be sure of the market for these things, so you sort of half-ass it until it’s a proven model, then you release the real deal.  That means that shlubs like me who can’t wait for a home copy might end up buying vol.1 and vol.2 releases before a whole season package comes out two years later…  Take Adventure Time as an example, which won’t be releasing a proper season 1 and 2 collection until season 5 is done with, fans having to get by on piecemeal DVD releases that collect linked episodes… bullcrap.

So – no extras.  Fine, again, you can’t be sure what kind of extras to put on a kid’s DVD (though god damn I can dream about commentary, can’t I?).  But animatics?  Are kids really interested in animatics?  And there’s a fair share of them on here, and they do a good job of shuffling between frames of storyboards, pre-animation, and full animation, but why include that if you can’t toss some kind of paltry making-of on here?  Even the 2003 series had some interviews with Laird on the first few discs.  Harumph.  Besides that – karaoke for the theme song.  Um, just cool ’cause we can make sure we have the words down for when we ARE singing along at home.  Heh.

Knock two – volume 1.  I already rant about that above, but I mention it again.  6 episodes, 15 bucks.  It’s an okay deal, I suppose.  And again, I understand the mixed bag of having to make sure it’s cost effective and also wanting to nab some quick bucks.  BUT, you’re blending that with the most annoying part of this – DVD only.  No blu ray.  I don’t buy that the cost of a 25 GB blu-ray is still so high at this point that you can’t knock ’em off for this kind of stuff, because that means I’m actually watching it higher quality on an original broadcast than if I’m shelling out bucks for a home version.  That’s frustrating.

*sigh*  One thing I will give this is that they only put the opening theme on the first episode, removing it from all the other episodes.  This is an easy thing to do that most series’ neglect, or don’t even put a proper chapter stop at the end of the theme so you can skip it.  We own it, we know what show we’re watching, we don’t need to watch the opening bit for every ep, no matter how awesome it is.  Um, the flip-side of this is that there actually aren’t any chapter skips for each episode, so its watch it one go or back to the menu.

A few blurbs about the episodes and then I’m done.  Undoubtedly five out of five.  The writers show every ounce of appreciation for every incarnation of the Turtles that lifelong fans could hope for, and yet combine and create new elements to make this wholly its own thing.  The voice acting is top notch, and it’s truly funny.  It’s not just me loving the group, the humor and plotting are just on a higher level – I’m actually interested in the exploits and I actually find myself laughing out loud.  The character models are fantastic, though these early eps they still move a little stiffly when not engaged in fisticuffs.  And there are some details that get more work once, I’m guessing, the computer-animation had become more practiced and so time could be put elsewhere – in these early episodes, Splinter’s tail is just this stiff thing that follows him, not really looking like a tail, and many of the backgrounds are flat black, excused by fights taking place in a lot of warehouses.  But whatever.  This isn’t Re-Boot – this is top-notch animation that might be lacking the magnifying glass cracks and crevices of a Pixar show, but looks fine on a big screen, and the anime touches don’t feel forced, they are a great addition to the new amped up feeling of the show.  And while I might cringe sheepishly at the theme song being sorta Ninja rap, it’s SUCH a catchy song (all the animated versions have achieved this, except maybe the Flash Forward theme) and the background score reminds me – in a positive way – of Amon Tobin’s themes from Infamous, which is supercool.

Blah blah.