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The Shredder was the main villain of the Fred Wolf Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, frequently assisted by mutant henchmen Rocksteady and Bebop and being bossed around by Krang.
Etymology
As evidenced by his brother Kazuo Saki, in this cartoon adaptation, Saki is the family surname of Shredder and not his given name, as it is in all other incarnations.
In this incarnation, Oroku is used as his given name (whereas it is normally his family surname).
In other incarnations, "Oroku Saki" is the Japanese order of the character's name (family then given) but it was used as the English order (given then family) in this series. This would make the Japanese ordering of this incarnation "Saki Oroku", which would normally be the English ordering of the character's usual name.
History
Shredder and Krang
Long ago in Japan, Oroku Saki and Hamato Yoshi were both members of the Foot Clan. Jealous of Yoshi, Saki made his move the day the Shidoshi arrived at the Foot school. He pinned the back of Yoshi's kimono with a knife, which would prevent him from bowing to show respect for the Shidoshi, which everyone considered an insult. When Yoshi found the knife and pulled it out, they considered it a plot to kill the Shidoshi, so Yoshi was kicked out of the clan. From then on, Saki took over and took the once noble Foot Clan and turned it into an army of crime. Not content with having banished Yoshi from the Foot, he followed him to New York. We assume this is when Saki somehow met up with Krang, the alien warlord from Dimension X, arming him with all sorts of technology ranging from robotic Foot Soldiers to the colossal Technodrome. Wearing steel bladed armor, he was now the Shredder. After finding Yoshi, he tried to kill him by pouring the mysterious chemical Mutagen on him, not knowing it would instead mutate him into a giant rat named Splinter, and also give birth to his worst enemies, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In this incarnation, he was voiced by James L. Avery, Sr. most of the time from 1987 to 1993. In total, he played the role in 103 episodes.
After the seventh season, Bill Martin took over the role, voicing the villain in 7 episodes from 1994 to 1996.
Three different voice actors provided Shredders voice on a fill-in basis during the original Turtles series. Jim Cummings voiced him in 9 episodes between 1991 and 1993, Townsend Coleman (the voice of Michaelangelo in the series) voiced Shredder in 7 episodes in 1993, and Dorian Harewood filled in for the role in four episodes between 1989 and 1990.
Shredder continued his crime wave, sending his men to steal all sorts of advanced technology throughout the city, as well as posing as a security service, where he'd send his own men to rob the places he was securing later. When news reporter April O'Neil started reporting the possibility of ninjas being responsible for these crimes, Shredder sent his gang of thugs to take her out. April, however was rescued by the Turtles. Later April and the Turtles would discover Shredder's security front, and he'd send all the Foot Soldiers to the Technodrome and flood the building to the point to which it would explode, not knowing the Turtles would still escape alive. Shredder then asked Krang for advice, to which the brain would remind him that he gave Shredder all of his technology in exchange for a body he was supposed to create for him. Krang gave Shredder the idea to mutate his own henchmen into killer mutant animals, and thus Shredder turned the punks Bebop and Rocksteady into a mutant warthog and a mutant rhinoceros, respectively.
One of Shredder's robots would capture Splinter, forcing the Turtles to enter the Technodrome to rescue him. There he would attack them with all sorts of death traps. Once the Turtles made it to Splinter, Shredder formally introduced himself to them, explained his part in the origin of the Turtles and asked them to join him. When they refused, he sent Bebop and Rocksteady after them. The Turtles defeated them and escaped with Splinter. Next Shredder tried to kill his enemies by using Baxter Stockman to create an army of Mousers. Shredder managed to capture Michelangelo and had the others surrounded by the Mousers. When Krang saw his plans working too well, and thus giving Shredder no need to build him the body he promised, he himself set Mikey free and helped him destroy the Master Control for all the Mousers. Still refusing to give Krang his body, Shredder instead tried to pull advanced weaponry from Dimension X through the Technodrome's Dimensional Portal. Doing so, he'd accidentally set the Neutrinos free into the city. Krang's stone warriors would soon follow, and Shredder would send them after the Turtles. After the Turtles sent both the Stone Warriors and their new friends the Neutrinos back home, Shredder saw he had no choice but to build Krang his body.
Shredder however, also invented the Retromutagen Ray Generator, a device that undoes mutations. He used it as bait to lure the Turtles to him, since he knew they wanted to restore their Master to his human form. Splinter went alone, since his sons could also be turned back into normal turtles with that device, and was captured. As the Turtles arrived to the Technodrome, they defeated Shredder's forces, as well as Krang's giant-sized robot body, rescued Splinter and sent the Technodrome back to Dimension X. Now stuck in Dimension X, Shredder was forced to follow Krang's orders.
Wanting to return to Earth and get his revenge on the Turtles, Krang finally sent him back to Earth, but completely alone, without his Foot Soldiers or any fancy weaponry. First Shredder would take over a dojo and form the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang to frame the Turtles, and then he'd once again employ Baxter Stockman to help him defeat the Turtles. Though the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang would soon be defeated, Shredder would continue to use Baxter for a while until he got fed up with his failures. Krang finally sent Bebop and Rocksteady back to Earth, in exchange for Baxter, which would lead to Krang accidentally turning him into a mutant fly. Eventually, Shredder would finally gather the power he needed to return the Techondrome to Earth, but thanks to Donatello, it would be trapped on the bottom of the Earth, unable to move.
Shredder would continue his plans, thanks to Krang's transport modules which would lead them to the surface to continue their plans to either destroy the Turtles or gather enough energy to make the Technodrome mobile again. Once the Shredder got the Technodrome back in action, their next move was to open a portal huge enough to send Earth through, where Krang's Stone Warriors would open fire on it. But again, thanks to Donatello, the Turtles would send the Technodrome itself through the portal, having the Stone Warriors open fire on it and having the Technodrome be stuck on an asteroid in Dimension X. Even that wouldn't be enough to keep the Shredder gone for long, as now they'd use the Dimensional Portal to return to Earth to continue their plans.
The Technodrome would continue to be stuck in other places like the bottom of the ocean and the middle of the Arctic until the Turtles would finally manage to send the Technodrome back to Dimension X but without Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady in it. Now the villains would resort to running from hideout to hideout with the Turtles hot on their heels.
It was during this arc that the "Red Sky" seasons would begin and Shredder would commit one of his most memorable acts. During this time, his goofiness had vanished and he was full of anger and bloodlust to kill the Turtles. While still looking for an appropriate replacement hideout, Shredder was ambushed at the Hall of Science by Berzerko, who kidnapped Krang. Coming to the wrong conclusion that the Turtles captured Krang, Shredder decided to give the Turtles the choice of giving Krang back or letting him blow up the Channel 6 building. After the Turtles fought Berzerko and got Krang back, Shredder laughed triumphantly that they were too late. However, the building was still there, making the Turtles think Shredder was bluffing. Shredder would then say 'I never bluff' and make the building explode. This would force April to get a new job as a freelance reporter and have Burne Thompson start a permanent anti-turtle campaign throughout the city, blaming them for all this.
After this, Shredder helped set up their new base in the Hall of Science. Desperate to be rid of the Turtles, Shredder offered the Rat King some mutagen for his rats in exchange for getting rid of the Turtles. However, after the Rat King managed to temporarily remove the Turtles from action and claimed his prize. Shredder was shocked to see him betray them for Krang's ultimate weapon. He later kept quiet during the time H.A.V.O.C. was busy battling the Turtles, choosing instead to focus on getting a portal to Dimension X open to retrieve the Technodrome. He even shot down the ship of warlike aliens to attempt breaking the dimensional walls in Earth's dimension to merge Dimension X into his, but was stopped by April, Casey Jones and the Turtles.
Shredder would have his final battle with the Turtles in Dimension X, where the latter would finally trap Shredder and Krang there for good in a nearly destroyed Technodrome. They would never have returned if it weren't for Mung, who heard rumors about them. After telling Lord Dregg about their history with the Turtles, Dregg sent Shredder and Krang back to Earth. Shredder didn't want to work with Dregg, so instead, he became a victim of his plans. Dregg had the Turtles, Krang, and Shredder captured and was using a device to drain the Turtles' life energy, Shredder's ninja skills and Krang's intelligence into himself to make him unbeatable. Dregg, however didn't notice that Shredder had already gotten free, and he escaped with Krang. Shredder later gave some of his life force to revive Krang, and they both decided to return to finish off Dregg and the Turtles. In the final battle, amongst the crossfire, the Turtles managed to send Shredder and Krang back to Dimension X. They were never to be seen again. In the final battle against Lord Dregg, the Turtles returned to Dimension X to find Krang's android body in the Technodrome to use against Dregg, but neither Shredder or Krang (or Bebop and Rocksteady for that matter) were anywhere to be seen.
It should be noted that Shredder started out as quite the dangerous and merciless villain, especially during the first season. But as the show got sillier (starting with half-way of season two and the beginning of season three), so did his character, spouting out wisecracks and one-liners in between fights with the Turtles. Shredder, however, still had impressive ninja skills and was, for the most part, able to take on all four of them at once. As the show got more cartoonish, so did Shredder's plans. His plots were now as silly as to create a fake Pizza Parlor to lure the Turtles into ordering whatever kind of pizza they wanted, and when Shredder was convinced the pizza was ordered by the Turtles, he'd put a homing device that looked like an anchovy on it to lure them to the Turtles' lair. Another such plot had him take over the city's automated garbage trucks and program them to capture the Turtles, but in turn they would capture every kind of normal sea turtle throughout the city. And yet another plan was to clone Michelangelo, but Shredder was hit by a ray from the device making him think that HE was Michelangelo. No
Krang and Shredder in Turtles Forever
matter how complicated or important Shredder or Krang's plans were, they'd always trust the always-bumbling Bebop and Rocksteady to carry it out, which of course, would lead to their downfall.
It was due to Shredder and Krang's Mutagen that led to most of the mutants and other beings on the show, whether they'd side with them or not. Some of the mutants created by Shredder besides the main cast, whether intentional or not, would include The Punk Frogs, Leatherhead, Groundchuck, Dirtbag, Mutagen Man and Muckman, as well as turning Baxter into a mutant fly. He'd also be responsible for the creation of Chrome Dome, and he'd also create the Turtles Rogue Gallery. It was also his version of the trans-dimensional portal interfering with Don's version that led to Usagi Yojimbo being stuck in their world.
Shredder and Krang also argue a lot, mostly due to the fact that Shredder despises taking his orders when he used to be the guy in charge. Despite the fact Shredder has double-crossed Krang several times in the past, during their final appearance, it appeared their friendship had grown. There were many times that Shredder could have just left Krang at the mercy of the Turtles or Lord Dregg, but he always rescued him, and went as far as to donate his life energy to save him.
Family
The Shredder's family is presented in three episodes. In the episode Shredder's Mom, Shredder's mother Miyoko helps Shredder and Krang in an attempt to destroy the world's climate. In this episode, Miyoko first learns of her son's criminal activities, and proves herself to be as villainous. However, she constantly treats Shredder like a baby, until he gets fed up with it and transports her back to her retirement home.
In the episode My Brother, the Bad Guy, it is revealed that Oroku Saki has a younger brother, Kazuo who works as a police lieutenant in Tokyo. Kazuo and the Turtles try to join forces to stop one of Shredder's plans, but his fervent respect of the law clashes with the Turtles' "whatever it takes" attitude.
Finally, the episode The Legend of Koji features Saki's distant ancestor Oroku Sancho, who lived in Japan in 1583. He is the leader of a small clan, and every bit as wicked as his descendant. When Shredder offers to help him find magical relics that would provide him with power and wealth, Sancho takes the Shredder's information, then betrays him and orders his men to kill him. However, Sancho is also a coward, and when he breaks down in the face of danger, his men abandon him.
This family tree leads to a bit of confusion regarding whether Shredder's given name is Oroku and his last name Saki (as indicated by the fact his brother shares the name Saki), or the other way around (as indicated by the fact his ancestor's name is Oroku). This question is never resolved on the show, although Mirage comics adds more evidence for Oroku being the family name; Saki's brother is Oroku Nagi. This follows Japanese naming conventions, which place the family name before an individual's given name.
Turtles Forever
This version of Shredder, along with Krang, Rocksteady and Bebop, was a main character in Turtles Forever After a routine battle with the Turtles in which the Technodrome's Interdimensional Portal was accidentally damaged, a temporal anomaly occurred which trapped the Technodrome and all participants in the 2003 universe. Shredder then seeks aid in the Utrom Shredder to help defeat the Turtles, but this attempt backfires; Ch'rell simply takes over the Technodrome and upgrades it to a lethally armed mobile fortress. Shredder and Krang appear as background characters following this coup d'etat, and finally growing disillusioned with Ch'rell, they aid the Turtles in their final battle against their common enemy. Afterwards, Shredder and Krang return with 'their' Turtles to their home dimension on a temporary truce, though they swear to get back to business with their archenemies soon enough.
Related
- Character Gallery: Shredder (1987 TV series)
- Appearances of Shredder (1987 TV series))
- Fan Art Gallery: Shredder (1987 TV series)