Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American CGI cartoon series and the sequel/incarnation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series) that premiered on the Nickelodeon Network on September 29, 2012 (a sneak premiere aired on September 28). On October 2, 2012, Nickelodeon renewed the series for a second season with 26 episodes.

Viacom purchase
The series is being developed by Nickelodeon Studios, whose parent company Viacom purchased the rights to everything TMNT from Peter Laird in 2009 after he sold the franchise to them. Mirage Studios is still able to publish up to 18, 48 paged black and white TMNT comics a year.

2011 announcement
Details are currently scarce, although a wealth of information was revealed at an invite-only fan event in March of 2011. These details, however, were from a work-in-progress version of the series, and have the opportunity to change in the final product. Some details that have been made known, however, including a teenage April, Hamato Yoshi becoming Splinter, and The Kraang, an homage to many different entities in TMNT lore (Kraang/Utroms/Foot Soldiers). The series is said to have the dark elements and intense action of the 2003 TV series but still have the jokes of the 1987 series while still being something of its own. It premiered on September 29 2012.

Images of the turtles, Master Splinter, April, Shredder and the Kraang have all been revealed. Some confirmed changes to the series are Donnie having a crush on April, Master Splinter being younger and having a more active role in the series, and Splinter training April to be a ninja so she can go out and battle enemies with the turtles. Mikey and Don can also extend their weapons into blades. Leo will also still be the skilled leader, albeit younger than Don and Raph, (who will still be a hot-head). April will also be younger at the age of 16.

Sometime in March, a micro site for the new series was leaked on Nickelodeon's website. The micro site revealed pictures of April, Shredder, the Kraang, and splinter with bios for all of them. The site was shut down for some time, but as of June 2012, it is back up and features a personality quiz, bios for the turtles, a newsletter, a new game called Dark Horizons, and the new trailer for the series. Merchandise for the series is already starting to get made, including action figures from playmates which will be released in august 2012, a set of stickers, Halloween costumes, and books based off the series. A new official trailer was released on June 21st 2012 and aired on Nickelodeon the following Saturday. The trailer reveals the turtle's new voices, the animation, and that the theme song of the new show will be a remixed/remade version of the original theme song from the 1987 cartoon. Michelangelo's new catchphrase is "Booyakasha" instead of "Cowabunga". Raphael also has an un-mutated pet turtle named Spike.

Episodes
Main article: List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) episodes

Nickelodeon has ordered two seasons, both of which will have 26 episodes. Season 1 premiered on September 29, 2012. The premier of Season 2 has not yet been announced.

Confirmed Characters

 * Mutants
 * Leonardo (Jason Biggs)
 * Donatello (Rob Paulsen)
 * Raphael (Sean Astin)
 * Michelangelo (Greg Cipes)
 * Hamato Yoshi/Splinter (Hoon Lee)
 * Leatherhead
 * Chris Bradford/Dogpound (Clancy Brown)
 * Xever/Fishface (Christian Lanz)
 * Snake/Snakeweed (Danny Jacobs)
 * Vic/Spider Bytez (Lewis Black)
 * Dr. Tyler Rockwell (Frank Welker)
 * Pete (A.J. Buckley)
 * April O'Neil (Mae Whitman)
 * Oroku Saki/The Shredder (Kevin Michael Richardson)
 * Foot Ninja
 * Foot Elite
 * Purple Dragons
 * Fong (Andrew Kishino)
 * Tsoi (James Sie)
 * The Kraang (Nolan North, Cassandra Peterson)
 * General Traag
 * Baxter Stockman (Phil LaMarr)
 * Mousers
 * Karai (Kelly Hu)
 * Casey Jones (To debut in season 2)
 * Metalhead
 * Rat King
 * Flaming Carrot
 * Fugitoid
 * Kirby O'Neil (Keith Silverstein)
 * Carlos Chang O'Brien Gambe (Jim Meskimen)

Mentioned/Alluded Characters

 * Miwa
 * Tang Shen

Actors with roles yet to be confirmed

 * Josh Towski
 * Corey Feldman

Confirmed Crew

 * Andrea Romano (Voice Director)
 * Ciro Nieli (Executive Producer)
 * J.R. Ventimilia (Executive Producer)
 * Joshua Sternin (Executive Producer)
 * Kenny Byerly (Staff Writer)
 * Russ Carney (Staff Writer)
 * Ron Corcillo (Staff Writer)
 * Peter DiCicco (Script Coordinator)
 * Michael Chang (Animation Director)
 * Alan Wan (Animation Director)
 * Ant Ward (Supervising Producer)
 * Alex Deligiannis (Art Department)

Production
Jason Biggs voices Leonardo and Rob Paulsen, who voiced Raphael in the 1987 series, portrays Donatello. In June 2011, it was confirmed that Sean Astin is playing Raphael and Greg Cipes is Michelangelo. In August 2011, it was revealed that Mae Whitman will be the voice for April O'Neil. In April 2012, it was announced that Phil LaMarr will be playing the role of Baxter Stockman and Nolan North will be playing a race of aliens known as The Kraang. Actress Kelly Hu confirmed her role as Karai in May 2012.

Production art was leaked on the Nickelodeon website before it was taken down. The images showed the designs of all four Turtles, Shredder, Splinter, a teenage April O'Neil and The Kraang, an alien race that combines elements of both Kraang and the Utroms.

A trailer for the series was released on June 21, 2012, on Nickelodeon USA.

Broadcast
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premiered on Nickelodeon in the United States and on YTV in Canada on September 29, 2012. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series is scheduled to premiere on October 1, 2012 on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons. The series will premiere on October 8, 2012 on Nickelodeon Australia & New Zealand.

Trivia

 * This is the first series in which each turtle has a definitive spotting detail, beyond the colored masks:
 * Donatello has a gap in his teeth and is the tallest.
 * Michelangelo has freckles, a child-like face and is the shortest.
 * Raphael has part of the underside of his shell chipped off.
 * Leonardo has, for the most part, been unchanged but if you look closely you can see that his green color is different from the others.
 * They all have different mask lengths, Donatello's being the biggest and Michelangelo's the smallest.
 * In the first episode if you pause at 08:03, you wil see a skateboard ( which probably belongs to Mikey ), blankets, and pillows.
 * The turtles all have distinct eye colors. Raphael has green, Donatello brown, and Michelangelo and Leonardo have blue eyes, though Mikey's are a brighter hue.
 * All the Turtles have their own Skateboard, which was shown on a trailer.
 * They have 3 toes on each foot instead of 2
 * Leonardo's favorite television series has similar art and story to the Filmation Star Trek animated series.