Coming Out of Their Shells

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Coming Out Of Their Shells was a live musical tour that occurred in 1990 endorsed and sponsred by Pizza Hut. A VHS recording of one of the tour's stops was made available, as was a soundtrack. The tour is generally lambasted for its terrible costumes and wafer-thin plot. The band featured Donatello on keys, Leonardo on bass guitar, Michaelangelo on guitar/lead vocals & Raphael on drums/percussion/tenor saxophone/vocals. Guest vocalist include Master Splinter, April O'Neil, and The Shredder.

Tracklisting
The tracklist of the soundtrack is as follows:
 * "Coming Out of Our Shells!" performed by Raphael
 * "Sing About It" performed by Raphael
 * "Tubin'" performed by Raphael
 * "Skipping Stones" performed by Master Splinter
 * "Pizza Power" performed by all four turtles
 * "Walk Straight" performed by Raphael
 * "No Treaties" performed by Raphael
 * "Cowabunga" performed by Michaelangelo
 * "April's Ballad" performed by April O'Neil
 * "Count On Us" performed by all four turtles

Single
There was a single released, and extremely hard to find.
 * "Coming Out Of Our Shells" performed by Rapheal
 * "Count On Us (Dance Mix)" performed by all four turtles

Tracks Not Included on Soundtrack
Also used in the tour but not included on the soundtrack


 * "I Hate Music" performed by The Shredder
 * "Follow Your Heart" performed by Michaelangelo

Tracks Not Included On VHS
These tracks appear on the soundtrack but not on the VHS, but later added to the "Getting Down In Your Town" concerts.
 * "Sing About It" performed by Rapheal

Appearances
The band had made special appearances on:


 * Live! With Regis & Kathie Lee


 * Larry King Live


 * Opera Windfrey Show

Cast

 * Roger Kachel as LeonardoCootsshredder.jpg
 * Gregory Garrison as Donatello
 * Ronn K. Smith as Rapheal
 * David Shatraw as Michelangelo
 * Sherie Rene Scott as April O'Neil
 * Mark Enis as Splinter
 * Beau Allen as The Shredder
 * Jack Scott as Baxter Stockman
 * David Ruprecht as Kip


 * Written by Bob Bejan
 * Directed by Thomas White
 * Produced by Bob Bejan, Steven E. Leber, Godfrey Nelson, Adrian Selby and Thomas White
 * Songs written by Bob Bejan and Godfrey Nelson
 * Casting by Stuart Howard, Howard Meltzer, and Amy Schector
 * Costume Design by Jonathan Bixby

Quotes

 * Michelangelo: "Sometimes you feel like a foot, and sometimes, you don't!"
 * - Uh.....what?

Baxter Stockman: AHAHAHAHAHAHA....AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Shredder: Oh....shut. UP.


 * - Shredder says what everybody in the audience wishes they could to Baxter.

(The following exchange appears exclusively on the VHS Tape)

Shredder: *pointing to kid in audience* What's your name?

Kid: Peter!

Shredder: ....is that your sister?

Kid: Cousin!

Shredder: Cousin? What's the matter, couldn't get a date?


 * - Shredder is not above taunting children in the audience. On that note, BURN!

Shredder: (out of character talking to the kids standing on the seats): Get off the seats! Thats made out of velvet - get off the seat!!..... God...''. ''

{C (The following exchange appears exclusively on the "Getting Down in Your Town" version of the show.)

Casey Jones: Mom and Dads, dudes and dudettes, feast your eyes on the criminal mastermind of all ages, Shreddaaaaaaah....

Michelangelo: Shredder?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Donatello: No! LOOK AWAY!

Raphael: Check it out, it's Edwards Scissorsface!


 * - Casey Jones and the Turtles attempt to pump up the audience....and fail miserably at it. (See the Trivia section below.) Perhaps they're lampshading how hideous his costume looks?



Costume/Special Effect Errors

 * Shredder's mouthpiece is actually below his mouth, making it quite visible. This might have been intentional as the audience mightn't understand him talking through a closed mouthpiece, but it looks very odd. Moreso when it makes the fact that the actor playing him is trying not to laugh that much more apparent.


 * There are black spot splatters all over the Turtles' stage costumes. Not only is this a continuity error with the smooth green costumes we see in the behind the scenes footage, but it looks less organic, and more like somebody sprayed ink all over their heads.


 * The backstage costumes don't fare much better. While the stage costumes have their problems, at least they were limber enough to move around freely. This set, on the other hand, is stiff, cause the actors to lean awkwardly to one side, and have a problem where the Turtles' mouths continue to hang open.

Production Errors

 * There were times when the Turtles would appear on stage, and the music would begin before the Turtles started to play their instruments.


 * There are way too many times where a Turtle would talk or sing, but his mouth would either stay shut, move completely out of sync with the words, or remain completely open.


 * The colours of Mike and Raph's bandannas made it difficult for some people to tell them apart. Luckily, they wear big, black armbands with their initials on them during the show.

Logic Errors

 * Shredder sings a song called "I Hate Music". Wrap your head around that one. (On another note, it's one of the songs not featured on the soundtrack album.)


 * Whose bright idea was it to make Baxter Stockman perform an extremely loud, shrill laugh during a music concert?


 * When Michelangelo tells Leonardo that "There's no need to be buggin'!" he strums his microphone on his guitar, producing some notes. However, the way he's rubbing it can't possibly produce those chords (or any at all, since he's basically moving the microphone along the string.)

Trivia

 * For a show that's regarded as pretty awful, the "Coming Out of Their Shells" tour has at least one crowning moment of awesome. This tour gave the world the song "Pizza Power", which was used as the title theme in the Arcade version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time"


 * There was a second tour in continuity with this called "Getting Down in Your Town", which was featured in amusement parks. A new character featured was good old Casey Jones. Who rides around on a scooter. And needs to shave his armpits. Ew.
 * On that note, on the VHS tape of that tour, it occasionally flashes to reactions from the crowd to the shenanigans on stage. And by reactions, we mean none. Absolutely none.


 * The VHS tape has the concert at Radio City Music Hall. In the middle of the show, a reporter (not April) interviewed kids asking about the Turtles' whereabouts. David Ruphrect of Supermarket Sweep (1990) played the reporter.


 * It's called "Coming Out of Their Shells" because the stage performers have no shells! Get it? That's the joke.


 * There were apparently two sets of Turtle costumes made for this production. One was used for the behind the scenes footage (the ones that leaned awkwardly) and the other set (the ones without the shells) was used for the show.


 * Splinter is the one who sings "Skipping Stones" during the concert. Unfortunately, he ends up sounding a bit constipated during the song (especially during the "AH! AH OOOOH YEAH!" parts.)


 * "Tubin'" features alligators with coconut bras and long grass Hawaiian skirts. As they have no further relevance to the rest of the show and are never referred to again, you have literally seen |the show's Big Lipped Alligator Moment.


 * Shredder's voice is strangely distorted for this production.
 * ....again, is it any wonder why the Mirage Turtles refer to the others as sellouts?
 * Leonardo's voice is the same actor from the 1987 cartoon series.
 * Kip, is actor and gameshow host David Ruprecht, known for hosting "Supermarket Sweep" (1990–1995, 2000–2003)
 * Splinter's right ear is partically missing as homage to the Splinter from the first two live action movies.
 * In the song "No Treaties" Raph starts the song using Shredder's voice.
 * Shredder mentions "Krang" and "Technodrome" as key words from the 1987 cartoon series.
 * There are two studio versions of Coming Out Of Their Shells. one is slow version, the other a rock version.
 * During "Tubin", one of the gator's tail gets caught in the elevated sewer on the stage as they come up and right when they walk.
 * The second set of the turtle costumes (the backstage costumes) was also used in the action figures commercials.