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Burne Thompson is a news editor and president of Channel 6, and because of his short temper and stubborn, irascible nature, he is the human antagonist of the Turtles.

Description[]

As a child, Burne Thompson saw Gadgetman as a hero.

Throughout most of the series, Burne Thompson is the boss for Channel 6 News. April O'Neil and Vernon Fenwick worked as a reporter with him, and Irma as a secretary/receptionist. He celebrated his 50th birthday in "20,000 Leaks Under the City", but did not like to talk about his age.

Burne Thompson had a girlfriend named Tiffany, who was a turtle hater. Partly for this reason, and also because in their adventures, the studio building is severely affected on many occasions with him usually footing the bill for it, he harbors a vitriolic aversion to the Turtles, even though their adventures, which were recorded by April at every opportunity, were covered by Channel 6 and resulted in high audience ratings. His dislike for them and tendency to blame problems on them reached a fever pitch when the Channel 6 building was blown up, after which he swore to use the news as a weapon toward them.

Burne Thompson and the cameraman Vernon Fenwick often wrongfully blamed the Turtles for crimes in New York City. Although Burne Thompson disliked the Turtles, he did allow April to broadcast a story reporting on the heroism of the Turtles as it was proven true, showing he does have a sense of truth in reporting. Even the Turtles seemed to fear him; one time when they broke a satellite dish, Michelangelo remarked "Burne Thompson is going to be mondo ticked off at us!". When the Channel 6 building had been destroyed by Shredder, he wrongfully blames the event on the Turtles, causing them to become wanted outlaws.

Thompson is a very emotion-driven man, with a good sense of what news content will attract the attention of the public. As a result, he spontaneous concocts stories, conceived from the feeling of the moment, and often orders April to do stories that did not meet her taste (such as a story about romantic feelings, or a pretty baby photo contest). Another time however, he had April demoted due to her bringing him a story about extraterrestrials, which he refused to endorse as this was not tabloid journalism, but later let April broadcast it with videotaped proof.

Ironically, despite his distrust of the Turtles and mutants in general, at one time Burne said he was distrustful of A. J. Howard, who publicly spoke out against mutants. Nevertheless, Thompson is not a pure sensational vulture, and always tries to bring truthful reportage to the public.

Trivia[]

  • Burne started the 1987 TV series talking normal, and later started using a stuttering talk.
  • Burne's 50th birthday was celebrated in the episode "20,000 Leaks Under the City". He lied about his age to Tiffany over the phone and claimed he was "thirty-something".

See also[]

References[]

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