Mei Pieh Chi (The Next Mutation)

Mei Pieh Chi
Biographical information
Home	Earth, New York City, China
Nicknames	Venus de Milo
Weapon of choice	Tessen, Mystical Orbs, Kai Mi
Affiliation	Ninja Turtles
Physical description
Species	Mutant Turtle
Gender	Female
Height	5'
Weight	140 lbs.
Bandana color	Baby Blue
Eye color	Brown
Out of universe information
Era(s)	The Next Mutation

Venus de Milo (real name Mei Pieh Chi) was introduced in the live action Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation TV series as a fifth mutant turtle. Lalainia Lindbjerg provided Venus' voice, while Nicole Parker was the suit actor. Her background involves her being a fifth turtle that was covered with the mutagen that had mutated the other Turtles, but swept away in the sewers to New York City's Chinatown district. There, she was found by a Chinese Shinobi master known as Chung I. Chung I took her back to his hometown of Shanghai, China, and taught her the way of the Shinobi, raising her for 18 years. Chung I was in possession of a mystical mirror, which kept the dreaded Dragonlord and his minions entrapped within it. Chung I, the appointed guardian of this mirror, was attacked by the Dragons when they crossed over into the realm of dreams, mortally wounding him in his sleep and kidnapping the spirit of Chung I's dream realm friend, Splinter. On his deathbed, Chung I revealed to Mei Pieh Chi her true origin in New York.

File:Venus.jpg

Venus as she appears in Next Mutation

Mei Pieh Chi traveled to New York and met the other four Turtles. After using her Shinobi magic to dispatch the "Shredder" persona from Oroku Saki's mind, she went to the dream realm to rescue Splinter's spirit. In doing so, she inadvertently gave the Dragons a way to enter the physical world. The Dragon Lord and his minions first attacked when Venus was alone in Central Park. During combat, the head of a statue of a woman was broken off; 20 minutes later Raph came to help her. The statue's head was taken to the Turtles' lair and served as inspiration of the male Turtles' nickname for Mei Pieh Chi: Venus de Milo.

Reception

Venus' existence is considered one of the major controversies regarding TMNT history. She was not well-liked by most fans of the series, and to many, felt like a shoehorned Deus ex Machina.

One source of dislike targeting her stemmed from the fact that Next Mutation was one of the few TMNT universes that explicitly stated that the Turtles were not blood relatives (whereas others would either avoid the issue altogether, or specifically state that they were related, such as the 2007 film). This opened up Venus as a romantic interest for any of the other Turtles, specifically Leonardo and Raphael.

Another source would be the inaccurate portrayal of "Shinobi" arts being treated as some sort of magic, and separate from Ninjutsu. In reality, Shinobi (忍び) is simply another word for Ninja (忍者). Furthermore, Chung I, who was from China, was shown as a Shinobi master. While it is not impossible for a Chinese man to have learned the arts, Shinobi/ninja originated from Japan, and thus, this was an extremely uncommon occurrence of a Chinese ninja in media.

The strongest source of discord from the female Turtle would come from general distaste in the Next Mutation series, which to many was seen as poorly written, and contained the same goofy humor that Saban's flagship series, Power Rangers, was known for.

Following Next Mutation's cancellation, Venus has not been featured in any other TMNT media, even as a joking reference. Co-creator Peter Laird has been outspokenly opposed to Venus ever returning in other installments of the TMNT franchise. Her biography on the official site was removed for some time following the series' end, but has since been restored.

Kevin Munroe, writer and director of the 2007 TMNT film, was given a set of elaborate rules by Peter Laird regarding the treatment of the characters. In an interview, Munroe remarked that amongst these rules was:

"There’s absolutely no mention of Venus de Milo, the female Turtle. You can’t even joke about that with Peter. It’s just one of those things that he hates with a passion."

When Kevin Smith's friend and frequent collaborator Jason Mewes found out Smith was voicing a role in the 2007 film, Mewes unsuccessfully lobbied to be cast in a role as well. Amongst the pleadings Mewes used, according to an interview with Smith, was "Can't I be the girl turtle?"

Despite a majority of the series' fans having generally negative feelings about her, she does retain a small fanbase, including those rallying for Nickelodeon to return her to the series.

Other Appearances

Like the other Turtles, Venus appeared in two episodes of Saban's Power Rangers in Space: Save Our Ship and Shell Shocked.

After multiple letter came in asking if Venus would be in the comic book, Gary Carlson finally wrote in a female turtle as a one page gag in an issue of TMNT Volume 3 (Image). The creature on Vanguard's ship turned out to be an alien that could morph into anything it desired and oddly enough kissed Michelangelo.