Turtle Tunes

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Turtle Tunes is a 25-minute, live-action special released direct-to-video in 1994.

Plot

April O'Neal gets the Ninja Turtles their very own show, and the Turtles themselves ask the kids if they'd help shoot some footage of them in the park for their videos.

Music

• The Turtles and the kids have a pretty nasty habit of talking over the song they're supposed to be singing sometimes. This makes it sound like they couldn't come up with any lyrics for them.
• Some of the songs are basically children's tunes re-written to shoehorn various references to the TMNT franchise. Here's a small list:
  • "I Love to Skateboard 'Round the Fountain" ---> "I've Been Working On the Railroad"
  • "Leonardo Row Your Boat" ---> "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
  • "Oh, Donatello! This Ride's Not For Me!" ---> "Oh, Suzanna!"
  • "On Top of the Pizza" ---> "On Top of Spaghetti"

Continuity/Logic Errors

• Michaelangelo is seen wearing the scarf he slapped on in the Christmas special, but it doesn't appear in this itself.
• According to this, Leonardo can't swim. You should take this with a grain of salt...the size of Kentucky.
• Raphael sings a song about friendship. Raphael, the most ANTI-SOCIAL Turtle in the group, sings about FRIENDSHIP. Let that sink in for a moment.
• The Turtles sing a song about picking up garbage, but all Michaelangelo seems to be doing with that broom is sweeping it all to the side. Pointless, much? Also, at one point, he's seen with just A REGULAR STICK when "cleaning".
• One of the lyrics in the garbage has Donatello lamenting about "slipping on gum." Wait, WHAT? GUM DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!
• Near the end of the "On Top of the Pizza" song, Raphael lifts his arm and yells, "Cowaaaabunga DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!" Aside from the fact that his voice sounds broken during this....WHY? Wasn't it him a while ago who was bashing Mikey's choice in pizza toppings?

Special Effect Errors

• This special uses the same costumes and exactly the same opening song as We Wish You a Turtle Christmas. As such, all of the criticism directed towards the awful quality of those in the latter apply here, too.
• In one scene, when Leonardo's facing the camera, you can peer into his mouth and see the background through a hole in it. That's rather disturbing. We get a repeat of this from Mikey when he talks about the show almost being over.
• Raphael's mask is slipping off of his face at the very end of "Don't Talk To Strangers", and right before the Carousel Ride song.
• Raphael has the magical ability to make a ukelele sound like a keyboard during the friendship song.

Nods and References

• The Turtles once again mention April O' Neil and other characters from the show without them actually being seen.

Trivia

• This special does lampshade a bit that the Turtles are basically going in full view of the public without being in disguise. And, just like before, the kids seen don't run away and scream in terror when four humongous man-sized turtles approach them. Perhaps April told everyone that they're in costumes?
• The name of the show is "TMNT TV". Try saying that three times fast.
• The "Don't Talk to Strangers" song seems to imply that all strangers are ninjas that you shouldn't talk to. Er...subtle?
• Raphael fears carousels. Don't wipe your screen, you read that right.
• Splinter can be heard talking to the Turtles at the end, but he sounds rather constipated. "You tried....YOUR BEST!"