User blog:TMNTInsider/The Unsung Reason Why the TMNT is One of the Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Franchises

As much as I like a good sci-fi or even fantasy product, I can't help but look back on some of the stuff I have watched and refer to either of those two genres as the "Hypocratic Genre(s)". They try so hard to establish another world or different characters or whatever and yet they try just as hard, if not harder, to emulate our own. Science fiction most of all likes to borrow from the fantasy genre to include things such as aliens, magic, supernatural beings and powers, even its technology because, for the most part at least, the devices are usually quite frankly impossible! There are a lot more hypocracies relevant to these genres (a lot of them revolving around the theme of unity) but I'll stick to the main point(s) and the case at hand.

It was Stephen King who got me to see the hypocracies in these genres--unintentionally mind you. And they mostly revolve around the political and/or social commentaries he tries to assert. Political commentary and even political overtones in works of fiction (or even any kind of work!) are a no win situation! You don't need them and most importantly make you lose audience members from the get go. Social commentary on the other hand can be effective in entertainment but never when it's reinforced by events and beings that cannot--beyond the shadow of ANY doubt, mind you!--possibly happen or even exist! Consider one of Stephen King's most recent works, "Under the Dome". This is another one of King's books which he has a lot of pride in because it's one of those works where he likes to portray people as the monsters. Until then I never myself asked "What people?" Since King cannot write a book without getting his politics front and center (or left-center as he refers to them), his main adversaries represent the opposite side of the political spectrum...and just like that half the audience is lost right there! To keep this trend going, the rest of the people in this book are made to either be fools or victims of the group of villains King has portrayed. Politics has been a major divisive factor in our country, so why does King think it a good idea to keep doing that?

Towards the second half of my argument, King eventually employed a disappointingly deus ex machina conclusion when it was revealed that the dome had been dropped by aliens who wanted to show how evil humans can be and then decide to take the dome away when they ask. Clearly borrowed (not stolen) from Rod Serling's "The Monsters on Maple Street" Twilight Zone episode that this whole lesson, not to mention event, couldn't have happened without something nonexistant to make it happen...mind you the TZ aliens were just there at the end to provide just the social comment! I remember getting into an argument with some TZ fan over the aforementioned episode in which he asked why I was knocking the episode because the aliens were right, to which I responded (as I would just about any other kind of social comment involving aliens and the like), "We've known about this for years and years and years upon years! Now I've gotta have some non-human characters--whose language I shouldn't even be able to understand--start preaching to me?!"

The TMNT on the other hand, don't play either card. They know what the requirements are for these genres to come out right: character development and fun, mind you most of that fun has to come from the former! A good or even great story is the cherry on top and ups what you've got to classic or near classic status. Three things others have criticized me for on this particular topic are the "Transformers" movies, one of my favorite TV shows of all time, "Person of Interest", and my favorite video game series of all time in the "Mass Effect" trilogy. Someone asked why I hate the "Transformers" movies so much because they're fun! No they're not! As stated, most of that fun has to come from character development, even more so since you've got non-human characters here! All you've got out of these movies are a bunch of repetetive fights and chases with characters you have no reason to cheer for (and the fact that they have WAY too many human features is horrendous!) Some have told me that the surveillance factor of "Person of Interest" can not exist either but due to the advances in technology (ex. storage space, connectivity, etc.) it's debatable, not beyond the shadow of any doubt! Finally, while there are moments of social commentary in the "Mass Effect" games, ranging from small to big, the series never loses sight of what made it one of the best games ever: fun through character development (perhaps some of the best character development for such a wide array of characters I've ever seen)!

When was the last time the turtles ever went political? When was the last time they ever made a blatant point about their place in society? The first case, never! The second case, never enough to beat you over the head with it at the very least. It's true that the turtles act way too human, and I do indeed hold that as a flaw, but as with the "Mass Effect" games this series hasn't lost focus on the two main points that've been aforementioned. We all know the themes of this franchise and we know (or should) that these characters are some of the best developed characters of all time! It can become pretty easy to give these guys an outrageous plot and let them do their thing (most of this notion was prevalent in the comics) but some of the most memorable episodes and movies score huge with audiences across the country when they bring out the best in these characters wrapped around genuinely emotional stories, and that's often what the creators involved go for! It's something that those hack reviewers in that video on this site ("Ninja Turtles Was Always Bad"), who tried to defend the suck that was the 2014 movie by flipping off the franchise as a whole, can never understand!