Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV series)

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a 2D-animated television series. It first aired as a special preview on July 20th, 2018, before its full debut on September 17th, 2018. After the special preview, it was renewed for a second season.

The series was officially put on an indefinite hiatus by Nickelodeon in September 2019 and its second season concluded August 7th, 2020, with the series' second and final season being cut short.

The series was initially broadcast on Nickelodeon in the United States, and then week(s) later the episodes reran on YTV in Canada.

The series can be streamed legally on Netflix Canada and Netflix US. On April 7th, 2021, the first 20 episodes of the series were made available on the streaming platform Paramount+. The complete first season of the series was then added to Paramount+ on May 20th, 2021. The complete second season of the series was added to Paramount+ on February 23rd, 2022.

Production

The 2D series is co-executive produced by Andy Suriano (character designer for Samurai Jack) and Ant Ward (supervising producer of the 2012 TV series). Pre-production occurs at Nickelodeon Animation Studio in California, the post-production sound services are at Boom Box Post in California, and color correction occurs at Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services in California. The series' animation is outsourced to Australian animation studio Flying Bark Productions and Digitoonz Media & Entertainment in India.

Development

With Rise of the TMNT's predecessor, the 2012 TV series, concluding in 2017, Nickelodeon sought to air another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles iteration in 2018. Nickelodeon commissioned 2012 TV series executive producer and head writer Brandon Auman to create an unorthodox entry of TMNT. In Auman's series bible for Rise of the TMNT was the idea to make the series about the journey of the Turtles and their family into their classic selves, Raphael being the team leader, the Turtles wielding different weapons, the state of New York harboring mystic, inter-dimensional portals as well as the Shredder being an ancient foe. Due to Auman feeling ill-suited to handle the 11-minute episode runtime and the comedy-centric direction of Rise of the TMNT, he allowed others to lead Rise of the TMNT's development.

Suriano received a call from a mutual friend of Suriano and Ward's via Nickelodeon asking them to share their ideas on a new TMNT iteration. Suriano appreciated Auman's Rise of the TMNT bible after having read it and added to it. Suriano only knew Ward "peripherally" during this time, but coincidentally, the two shared an incredibly similar vision for a new TMNT iteration, thus, Suriano was invited to watch Ward pitch his own TMNT iteration and discuss it with him. Since Ward was the supervising producer of the 2012 TV series, when he was asked by Nickelodeon Executive-in-Charge (EIC) Megan Casey to pitch, he sought to create an iteration "completely different" from the 2012 TV series. Ward wished to have the next series differ in the sense that "it would be inherently Ninja Turtles, but in no way—both on the screen for kids and on the toy aisle—be misinterpreted for [Ciro Nieli's] show". From the very beginning, Ward wanted the series' visuals to be highly distinctive and to alter the series format from the standard 22-minute episode runtime to an 11-minute episode runtime "while long-term telling a very sophisticated, fun story that's kind of almost hidden with wacky, fun comedy, in-your-face craziness". Suriano thought that since the 2012 TV series had already successfully relaunched the TMNT franchise, he and Ward should "do something different" and "take the Turtles somewhere they've never gone". Ward was of the belief that all the previous TMNT continuities "are still there", therefore, he and Suriano retreading the same stories makes no narrative sense. As such, the series focused on creating new characters as opposed to prioritizing the return of classic characters from the TMNT franchise. Ward stated that the approach to the new incarnation was, "we also had this thing where everything in 2012 was from the sky, so everything from this [Rise of the TMNT] was from the ground".

Suriano and Ward felt that since the audience and various cultural attitudes have changed since the 2012 TV series that it was an opportune time to create a new TMNT continuity that reflected those shifts. They aimed to have the sibling relationships in the series be very organic and modern and to prioritize highlighting and conveying love between the brothers and their family as a cornerstone of the series. Suriano believed that good stories are often about heart, humor, and spectacle and that the series provided spectacle in its "super dynamic, kinetic storyboards and animation style" yet the nucleus of the series was its "heart, relationships, and characters". Megan Casey was very supportive of the series' deviations from prior incarnations as said by Suriano and Ward. Casey worked on the 2012 TV series and with Suriano and Ward in separate capacities, making her quite familiar with the TMNT franchise and, like Suriano and Ward, wishing for an unconventional entry of TMNT. Production for the series began in the summer of 2016, but "production in earnest" began in December 2016. A 90-second sizzle reel for Rise of the TMNT, animated by British animation studio the Line, was made for the 2017 Licensing Expo Las Vegas with the aid of longtime TMNT director and storyboard artist Alan Wan and was well-received by Nickelodeon.

The series focused on the Turtles "before they started their career as crime fighters". Suriano and Ward wanted to feature a fantastical element that had little presence in the 2012 TV series. Their desire to make the Turtles' ninja abilities fantastical in this continuity stemmed from ninja historically being mythicized and associated with supernatural powers in Japanese folklore after falling into obscurity in the Edo period. The TMNT franchise's multiversal nature granted Suriano and Ward the creative freedom to ideate all-new characters, locations, and story arcs that could exist alongside the pre-established TMNT origins instead of needing to overwrite them. The Turtles were deliberately designed to be "funny in their own ways, to fight with distinctly different fighting techniques" and for their character designs to embody their specific way of speaking, moving, and interacting with one another.

2D animation was chosen for the series by Suriano and Ward as opposed to CG because CG was what the 2012 TV series used and they wanted to starkly differentiate their own series from it, seeking to "fully embrace" hand-drawn animation due to their personal love for it. Suriano and Ward also chose for the art direction to be strongly influenced by European comics and French high concept 1970s science-fantasy and believed they could only execute the series' exaggerated models and dynamic posing in 2D. The art direction combined European comic aesthetics as well as the aesthetics of American cartoonist Jack Davis, English cartoonist Jamie Hewlett, and aesthetics of the anime studios Trigger Inc. and Gainax. When hiring new story artists, Suriano and Ward instructed them to shoot their scenes either "completely flat" or like British filmmaker Terry Gilliam, including no middle lenses, everything shot on 12mm, 8mm or 105mm. To help them grasp the animation direction for the series, they would also advise their artists to watch Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, Dead Leaves, and other visually kinetic media. Because it was 2D, Suriano and Ward sought to have the series' animation be "very contemporary" and boundary-pushing in terms of how movement can be conveyed. Kung Fu Hustle was inspiration for the series' fight choreography.

It takes at least a year and a half to fully produce a Rise of the TMNT episode from start to finish. The series' animatics are created in three iterations: first pass, second pass, and lock pass. The series utilized limited animation to manage the workload of the animation crew. The animation crew simplified certain scenes or episodes via the calculated use of fewer animation frames, camera movements, recycling, looping, etc. to save time. Designating certain episodes to require less dynamic animation allowed the animation crew to create exceptional animation for the episodes selected to feature it, rather than requesting exceptional animation every episode. While producing episodes with exceptional animation, more artists were hired to lessen the workload of the action animators so they could focus on animating the exceptional sequences. More story artists were hired during season 2's production to further disperse the workload. A scale that ranked an entire season of episodes on their animation complexity from one to four was devised by the Nickelodeon production crew and the Flying Bark production crew. This scale allowed the series' production crew, the writing crew included, to strategically cushion more complex episodes with less complex episodes to prevent fatiguing the Flying Bark crew.[1]

One of the series' animation studios, Digitoonz, stated, "This project [Rise of the TMNT] was a particularly challenging one for us in recent years. The quality standards were extremely high for this show along with an extremely tight schedule. We developed new tools to match the expected quality of details like line quality and stroke, the shading, etc. The technology used for the project was Toon Boom Harmony 14 and 17. With our partners expecting delivery of one episode per week, the task seemed next to impossible. Training our team took up a lot of time and we added a large number of people to meet the schedule. We had complete help from the partners at every step, with support in terms of how much workforce would be required, and weekly training for the employees. Every week we ended up letting go of some people and added more, to match the required standards. At the end of the production, 90 percent of the crew had been shuffled!"

Writer Tony Gama-Lobo was highly sought after by Suriano due to his experience with comedy and was added to the series' production team as head writer in 2017. Some of the inspirations for Rise of the TMNT's storytelling was Big Trouble in Little China and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The series is staff-written, allowing the staff writers to influence the scripts of other staff writers, thus making the series' writing more collaborative overall. At times, independent freelance writers write select episodes as well, such as Laura Sreebny ("Operation Normal") and Sammie Crowley and Jeff Trammel, who wrote the cut season 2 episodes "Toddler Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Rampagin' Raph" respectively. Episodes are written in five phases: premise, outline, first draft, second draft, and recording draft(s). As Rise of the TMNT is a comedy-first series, many jokes are written, but several are routinely cut during episode production due to factors such as episode time constraints and rejection from the network. As stated by Rise of the TMNT staff writer Ron Corcillo, "[The] Normal time frame for one eleven-minute script is about 6 weeks from premise to outline to 1st, 2nd and record drafts. We would normally have different writers doing different scripts on a cycle, so it would take about 10 weeks to produce 4 scripts. But the longer episodes are much harder..." Concerning the series' production deadlines Corcillo stated, "Probably a little over a year from pitching a premise to delivery to the network. About 8 weeks from premise to record draft, about 12 [weeks] for a storyboard, I think 8 [weeks] for a final animatic, with design happening all along. Then about 6 months for full animation, then music, sound, etc"

Voice recording

The original casting of the voice cast was done by Gene Vassilaros and his team. There were initially two different versions of the voice cast, the only consistently present voice actor being Josh Brener. While both voice casts were diverse, some roles were swapped around differently than in the final casting. To help find the dynamic between the characters and the series' tone, a scene was written about the Turtles running along rooftops with a bomb on the brink of exploding "that was basically pass the hot potato". One iteration of this scene showcased standard characterizations of the Turtles "100% this is what you expect the Ninja Turtles to sound like" as stated by Ward and another iteration was "the animated version of [It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia] and people just yelling at each other to get rid of the bloody bomb". The latter version is what Suriano and Ward wanted for their continuity.

Ben Schwartz auditioned for the role of Leonardo partly because the TMNT franchise was a significant part of his childhood and partly because he sought to play "every iconic '90s blue character". When asked about his audition for the series in 2018, Omar Benson Miller stated, "Honestly, as an actor, you are in the ‘no-business’ so you hear ‘no’ a lot and you give it your all, you dust yourself off, and you go again. This time, one of the things that was different was when I showed up for the audition, Ben was actually coming out. And Ben and I worked together before on House of Lies and that actually made me really comfortable. And I saw [Brandon Mychal Smith] there and the love was real. And it put me at ease when I went in and even though my guy's [Raphael] really high energy and very assertive, loud kind of guy, it really helped me running into these guys at the audition. And then, eventually, I got the role . . . ." When asked about his audition for the series in 2018, Smith stated, "Seeing Omar there made me very comfortable and this is such an iconic franchise, I mean, I literally grew up watching these cartoons starry-eyed and now I have the opportunity to share this colorful, iconic, unprecedented, unbelievable world . . . You know, it almost brings me to tears because so many people would love this opportunity and the fact that we have it and we're able to do it with other people who appreciate the gravity of this kind of opportunity, you know, we feel like we're President Turtle. You know what I mean? It's like being the president . . . It's a dream come true." It took the longest to cast the voice of April O'Neil, and when asked about her audition for the series in 2018, Kat Graham stated, "The first time I did it [auditioned], I actually had to send in a recording and I just made the most colorful recording I could make and I had my dogs on the bed with me—I need an audience, but they're a great audience—and I just made the strangest sounds and voices I could make . . . and I sent that in and I made it. [I] Was very surprised." Eric Bauza was at the forefront of Suriano and Ward's mind to be cast as Splinter due to him voicing Tiger Claw in the 2012 TV series.

There was shared enthusiasm across the voice cast for the series as stated by series voice director Rob Paulsen, "Lena Headey, Johnny Rotten, and all of them are excited to do this. This is a big deal to folks who are a big deal." While the Turtles' voice actors sometimes recorded together, Graham recorded wherever she happened to live at the time, oftentimes in Georgia. Suriano and Ward found voice recording to be one of their favorite parts of the series' production and committed to attending the recording sessions of the voice actors. According to Graham in January 2019, they didn't miss a single recording session and were present before she arrived and when she left the booth each time. The voice recording was collaborative, Suriano, Ward, Paulsen, and the voice actors all contributing to the product. Suriano and Ward encouraged the voice actors' playfulness and to try out their ideas. Suriano regards the voice cast to be "the real-life version of our brothers and sister", the personification of their characters. The voice cast did three read-throughs of the episode script each recording session: the first one being on-script, the second one being coverage, and the third one being a silly, fun read-through for the voice actors to add their own ideas if they had any. One of the final stages of voice recording was automated dialogue replacement (ADR) and the series crew members used it as "the last opportunity to squeeze out comedy" by directing the voice cast to make silly, unconventional efforts (i.e., yelps, grunts, cries, etc.).

Synopsis

Deep down in the sewers of the hugely populated New York City, Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello are four mutant turtle brothers in their teenage years who go on new adventures where they end up "tapping into mystic ninja powers they never knew existed", while learning to work together as a team and navigate the perils of the modern age and hidden realms in order to fulfill their destiny to become a team of true heroes.

Paramount Consumer Products synopsis

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the next mutation in the ever-evolving story of the half-shell heroes. Guided by their rat sensei, Splinter, Raph, Leo, Mikey, and Donnie train in the way of ninjutsu. Together, they work to navigate the perils of both modern New York City and the secret magical realms below to become the heroes they were always destined to be.

Flying Bark Productions synopsis

Deep in the sewers of New York City, four mutant turtle brothers lurk. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo are in their early teen years, and the brothers go on new and exciting adventures. They tap into their mystic ninja powers to learn to work together as a cohesive unit and become a team of heroes as they navigate the modern world and other hidden realms. The brothers get a whole new look, new weapons, and new powers as they discover the hidden city beneath New York and find time for a slice of their favorite pizza.

Plot

Season 1 (2018-19)

The Turtle brothers, along with their friend, April O'Neil, meet an evil alchemist named Baron Draxum, and the dangerous Foot Clan. They also learn of their Master Splinter's secret: that he was once martial arts expert, and movie star, Lou Jitsu. They must collect pieces of an ancient dark armor to prevent the Foot Clan and Draxum from resurrecting the Shredder, a demon once banished by Splinter's ancestors.

Season 2 (2019-20)

The Turtle brothers return in this season to battle against foes old and new, redeem the warrior alchemist, and fight the Foot Clan once more, while facing off against their greatest threat yet: The Shredder.

Characters

The Ninja Turtles in the TV show.

• The Mad Dogs
  • Raphael (Omar Benson Miller)
  • Leonardo (Ben Schwartz)
  • Donatello (Josh Brener)
  • Michelangelo (Brandon Mychal Smith)
  • April O'Neil (Kat Graham)
  • Mayhem
  • Franken-Foot (Rob Paulsen)
• Splinter (Eric Bauza)
• Todd Capybara (Thurop Van Orman)
• S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. (Greg Cipes)
• Baron Draxum (John Cena in season 1, Roger Craig Smith in season 2)
• Meat Sweats (Johnny Rotten)
• Don Suave (Eric Bauza and Christian Lanz)
  • Señor Hueso (Eric Bauza)
  • Capitán Piel (Christian Lanz)
• Warren Stone (John Michael Higgins)
• Hypno-Potamus (Rhys Darby)
• Albearto (Tom Kenny)
• Cheery Tomato (Jill Talley)
• President Pepperoni (Eric Bauza)
• Big Mama (Lena Headey)
• Huginn (Tim Simons)
• Muninn (Sam Richardson)
• Ghostbear (Jorge Gutiérrez)
• Jessica Jaclyn (Cree Summer)
• Baxter Stockboy (Ramone Hamilton)
• Mrs. Cuddles (Eliza Jane Schneider)
• Repo Mantis (Fred Tatasciore)
• The Foot Clan
  • Foot Lieutenant (Rob Paulsen)
  • Foot Brute (Maurice LaMarche)
  • Origami Ninja
  • Foot Recruit (Zelda Williams)
  • Foot Soldiers
    • Jocelyn (Cree Summer)
  • The Shredder (Hoon Lee)
• The Purple Dragons
  • Jason (Eugene Byrd)
  • Jeremy (Kyle Massey)
  • Kendra (Tania Gunadi)
• DIGG
  • Groundhog (Betsy Sodaro)
  • Honey Badger (Elizabeth Daily)
  • Prairie Dog (Elizabeth Daily)
• Sunita (Kody Kavitha)
• Bullhop (Dave Foley)
• Marcus Moncrief (Phil LaMarr)
• Piebald (Chelsea Peretti)
• The Sando Brothers
  • Carl (Jason Mantzoukas)
  • Ben (Paul Scheer)
• Alex Noe (Tony Hale)
• The Mud Dogs
  • Loathsome Leonard (Seth Green)
  • Malicious Mickey (Greg Cipes)
  • Dastardly Danny (Rob Paulsen)
• Heinous Green
• Scor-Pion (John Kassir)

Production crew

• Adam Arnold - Animatic editor
• Alan Wan - Director, supervising producer
• Alex Deligiannis - Color stylist
• Alexis Page - Character designer
• Andrea Hennen - Associate casting director
• Andrew Kim - Storyboard revisionist
• Andy Suriano - Executive producer, art director
• Ant Ward - Executive producer
• Ben Lee - Background design supervisor
• Bobby Thayer - Casting assistant
• Brandon Cuellar - Background layout designer
• Brendan Clogher - Director
• Brian Hill - Production assistant
• Carl Beu - Color supervisor
• Carlos Vasquez - Production assistant
• Chelsea Jauregui - Production assistant
• Chris Viscardi - Supervising producer
• Christine Liu - Story artist
• Chu-Hui Song - Background painter
• Cindy Y. Avila - Production coordinator
• Dale Malinowski - Script coordinator, staff writer
• Derek Kosol - Background layout designer
• Ellen Willis - Executive assistant
• Erik Elizarrez - Prop designer
• Frank Verderosa - Sound mixer
• Gene Vassilaros, CSA - Original casting
• Gladyfaith Abcede - Storyboard revisionist
• Glenn Wong - Character designer
• Ian Busch - Staff writer
• Ida Hem - Character designer
• Jack Rossi - Prop designer
• Jamie Vickers - Director
• Jason Piemnoppakao - Post production assistant
• Jermaine Jose - Background painter
• Jesse Gordon - Staff writer
• JJ Conway - Assistant director, story artist
• John Deligiannis - Dialogue editor
• Josh Riley Brown - Writer
• Justin Brinsfield - Director of audio production, recording engineer
• Manny Grijalva - Recording engineer
• Matt Mahaffey - Composer
• Meghan Burleson - Animatic editor
• Melvin Young Jr. - Production coordinator
• Meredith Layne - Casting director
• Miho Tomimasu - Background painter
• Molly Miller - Casting assistant
• Molly Minus - Post production supervisor
• Monica Destefano - Animatic editor
• Morgan Hillebrand - Storyboard revisionist
• Nancy Ramirez - Production coordinator
• Otto Ferrene - Supervising picture editor
• Rick Dominicus - Assistant picture editor
• Rob Paulsen - Voice director
• Rodel Gravo - Background layout designer
• Ron Corcillo - Staff writer
• Russ Carney - Staff writer
• Sebastian Montes - Director
• Stephanie Chacon - Production manager
• Stephen Destefano - Character designer
• Tanya Melendez - Production coordinator, color stylist
• Thanh Dong - Color stylist
• Tony Gama-Lobo - Story editor

Episodes

Each episode consists of a pair of 11-minute segments. The series has occasional 22-minute episodes throughout each season, which are typically advertised as "30-minute specials". Season one has six 22-minute episodes and season two has two 22-minute episodes. The series' opening is 30 seconds long. The series also has 2-minute shorts or "mini-episodes", most of which first aired on YouTube.

• List of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes

Comics

The comic book series based on the TV series lasted from July 2018 to September 2019, releasing nine issues before being canceled. Its issues were written by Matthew K. Manning with art by Chad Thomas and issue covers illustrated by Thomas and Suriano.

Animated film

On February 5th, 2019, Nickelodeon revealed that a feature film based on the series is currently in development. The film finished production April 7th, 2022 and officially released on Netflix August 5th, 2022.

Trivia

• "Mystic Mayhem", the pilot episode, premiered as a sneak preview of the series on July 20th, 2018, right after Nickelodeon's Kid's Choice Sports.
• Some of the villains of the series (Big Mama, Meat Sweats, Hypno-Potamus, Warren Stone, Huginn, Muninn, Foot Lieutenant, Foot Brute, Origami Ninja, Albearto, Ghostbear, Repo Mantis) and their respective voice actors were first publicly shared at San Diego Comic Con 2018.
• This is the first TMNT series to have an official extended edition of its theme song. The extended version was released on September 11th, 2018, and after two days the theme song had over 100,000 views.
  • The extended theme was later made available on iTunes and Google Play on May 8th, 2020.
• This is the first time April O'Neil is portrayed as black in a TMNT TV series or film. The original Mirage April O'Neil was named after a biracial woman TMNT creator Kevin Eastman once dated and her ethnic appearance in early issues was ambiguous and in a state of flux, but was later consistently portrayed as white.
• This is the first time Raphael is the oldest Turtle and leader of the Ninja Turtles instead of Leonardo. As stated by the voice actors, the new order of the Turtles (from oldest to youngest) is now: Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo.
• This is the first time that each Turtle is a different species from one another:
  • Raphael is an alligator snapping turtle.
  • Leonardo is a red-eared slider turtle.
  • Donatello is a spiny softshell turtle.
  • Michelangelo is an ornate box turtle.
• This is the second TMNT series in which a Turtle utilizes tonfā as a weapon with Raphael using them in place of his twin sai, the first being Michaelangelo in Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation.
  • Leonardo and Michelangelo also don't use their traditional weapons in this series. Leo wields an ōdachi instead of twin katana blades, and Mikey wields a kusari-fundō instead of twin nunchaku.
  • It is revealed in "Mystic Mayhem" that the Turtles were given their original weapons by Splinter, only for them to be destroyed by Baron Draxum's guardsmen in the same episode. They originally find replacements in Draxum's weapons vault, but they take their new mystic weapons instead. Donnie is offered a new weapon, but chooses to continue wielding his bō, which he had technologically enhanced into the Tech-Bō.
  • The thought behind the change in weapons was shared in 2018 by Suriano and Ward, Ward stating, "Mikey with his kusari-fundō is really energetic and agile and all about the place," and Suriano stating, "It's bouncy, it's round, it's fun, just like Mikey. Raph is more tactile. He's a streetfighter, a brawler, right? So, the tonfā are perfect weapons for that," and Ward stating, " . . . he's [Leonardo] got this bit of a swagger, bit of this Star-Lord, Han Solo . . . kind of attitude. How does that play into his weapon? We thought giving him a six foot ōdachi as opposed to a katana. It naturally lends him to—he can't even hold that thing without looking like he was posing with it. We thought that was really fun for a kid who's got a giant sword and that kind of attitude . . . Donald does not have a stick, Donald has a Tech-Bō which is kind of the Swiss Army knife. Donnie, in our iteration, is very, very confident in his skill and his abilities and he takes to fantastical levels with his Swiss Army knife . . . ."
• Unlike previous incarnations, the Turtles are all in different ages:
  • Raphael is 15 years old, and is the first incarnation to be older than Leonardo.
  • Leonardo and Donatello are both 14 years old.
    • However, Leo and Donnie aren't twins as stated by Rise of the TMNT staff writer Corcillo in a Tweet, "Keep in mind that they're the same age, but they're not actually twins. They're two different species of turtle, so they must have different turtle parents. If I recall correctly, I believe Leo is slightly older."
    • It was revealed in August 2020 by Rise of the TMNT staff writer Russ Carney in a Tweet that while Donnie is younger than Leo, there is likely no way for the family to actually know so in-universe, stating, "I don't think there's any way to tell, since Lou Jitsu grabbed them all at the same time at Draxum's lab. Unless Draxum kept their birth certificates on file and Jitsu took those on the way out as well. 😉"
  • Michelangelo is 13 years old.
  • The four Turtles still mutated into half-humans at the same time. During the time period of the first episode, "Mystic Mayhem", they had been mutants for less than 13 years.
• This is the first time in any incarnation of the Turtles that some or all of the Turtles consistently call themselves or each other by nicknames other than their most common and well-known ones.
  • Raphael is still called Raph, but Splinter usually just calls him Red.
  • Leonardo is still called Leo, but is also at times called Leon, and Splinter usually just calls him Blue.
  • Donatello is still called Donnie, but Splinter usually just calls him Purple.
  • Michelangelo is still called Mikey, but is also at times called Michael, and Splinter usually just calls him Orange.
• The entire Rise of the TMNT production crew was gifted the Purple Dragons club jackets depicted in the series.
• This is the first TMNT series to not initially show how April and the Turtles first met.
• Unlike previous incarnations, these Turtles have powers which they gained from their new mystic weapons (except for Donnie, whose weapon is technological):
  • Raph has a power called Smash Jutsu.
  • Mikey has a power called mystic whip.
  • Leo has the power to create portals.
• There was a DVD released on March 12th, 2019 with seven early episodes.
  • A second DVD was released on February 4th, 2020 with six more episodes.
• Unlike past incarnations, the Turtles have a biological relationship with Splinter by sharing his DNA.
• Canadian singer Justin Bieber canonically exists in this show's universe. See episode "Al Be Back" for reference.
• A reference to this series is made in the show Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 7 episode 10 "Admiral Peralta". The character Jake Peralta is a TMNT fan and he mentions the new reboot with a new take on Splinter and Krang's backstory.
  • A counter argument for this being a reference is that Jake mentioned Krang, a character that had yet to make an appearance or mention when that episode aired. The Krang would only make an appearance five months later during the season 2 finale and in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie.
• This is the first TMNT incarnation with a female Casey Jones. Although there is another female Jones named Shadow Jones in Mirage comics.
• It was revealed in August 2020 by Rise of the TMNT staff writer Carney in a Tweet that the show was script-driven, stating, "[Rise of the TMNT was] Script-driven, technically, although we had some renegade board artists and directors."
  • When asked if the Rise of the TMNT writing team was close to the story artist team in July 2022, Rise of the TMNT staff writer Corcillo answered in a Tweet, "Yes, we interacted with the board team all the time. Some visual jokes were in the scripts, but many were added in the boards and also by our fantastic design team."
• Rise of the TMNT was originally planned to be a purely episodic series, but an overarching narrative was implemented due to network demand, which changed over time.
• In-universe, the series begins in 2018 and its season 2 finale transpires in 2019. This is shown in the season 1 episode "Late Fee" on a Wizard Con banner labeled "Wiz-Con 2018" and in season 2 episode "Lair Games" when the Lair Olympics confessionals are dated with the year 2019. This was also implied by Suriano and Ward in the November 2022 Rise of the TMNT: The Movie TAAFI panel, Ward stating, "It's [Rise of the TMNT: The Movie] a few months after season 2. It's that moment where Leo's been told he's the leader, but he doesn't quite understand what that means and that responsibility so he hasn't fully transitioned over yet..." and confirmed in November 2022 by Rise of the TMNT staff writer Corcillo in a Tweet, stating, "’technically he [Leonardo] was still 16 during the movie since it takes place in 2020 and seasons 1 and 2 took place in 2018 and 2019 respectively’ has it right. April is supposed to be a regular college freshman in the movie. She didn't graduate early. But they all aged over the course of the series."
• Google Assistant smart speaker Character Alarms featuring April, Donnie, Leo, Mikey, and Raph written by Rise of the TMNT writer Josh Riley Brown were released exclusively in the United States on November 14th, 2018. The Character Alarm functionality was made available to Canada on March 18th, 2019.

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2019	Annie Awards	Best Animated	Show	Nominated
2019	Annie Awards	Outstanding Animated Effects	Jeffrey Lai	Nominated
2019	Annie Awards	Outstanding Storyboarding	Kevin Molina-Ortiz	Winner
2019	Nick. Kids Choice	Favorite Cartoon	Show	Nominated
2019	Daytime Emmy	Outstanding Children's Animated Series	Show	Nominated
2020	Annie Awards	Best Animated	Show	Nominated
2021	Annie Awards	Best Direction	Alan Wan	Nominated
2021	Annie Awards	Children's Media	Show	Nominated

Source: Twitter and Wikipedia

Videos

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Opening Credits

BTS w the Voice Actors Ft. Ben Schwartz, Kat Graham & More Rise of the TMNT Nick

Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!! 🐢 NEW Series Official Teaser - Nick

Chat w the Minds Behind the NEW Series 🎨 Rise of the TMNT TurtlesTuesday

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External links

• https://m.facebook.com/tvshowsondvd/photos/a.10151614436896063/10157507605251063/?type=3&theater