Turtles Forever

''Turtles Forever'' is a 2009 American animated superhero film that is a crossover between two different incarnations of the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' franchise. The plot follows the Turtles of the 2003 animated television series as they team up with the Turtles of the 1987 television series to save the multiverse from the wrath of Ch’Rell, the Utrom Shredder of the 2003 television series. Directed by Roy Burdine and Lloyd Goldfine and written by Goldfine, Rob David, and Matthew Drdek, it was produced in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the characters while also serving as the finale to the 2003 television series.

''Turtles Forever'' aired on The CW4Kids on November 21, 2009.

Plot

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles watch a video broadcast of warriors who look like them fighting the Purple Dragons on TV. The Turtles break into the Purple Dragons' HQ and discover that their "imposters" are actually alternate versions of themselves. The teams escape together.

The 1987 Turtles landed there after fighting their Shredder and Krang over mutagen in the Technodrome. During the battle, the dimensional teleporter malfunctioned, sending them all to the 2003 dimension. Checking recent tremor reports, the Turtles find the Technodrome, only to have to battle an army of Foot Soldiers led by Bebop and Rocksteady.

1987 Shredder sees the two Turtle teams and theorizes that another Shredder might exist in this dimension. Ch'rell, the Utrom Shredder, is on an icy asteroid where he was banished. 1987 Shredder and Kang beam Ch'rell to the Technodrome and revive him from the block of ice he was frozen in, but find him too insane for an alliance and try to vivisect him. However, Ch'rell's adopted daughter Karai, who had been monitoring his exile, breaks into the Technodrome and frees him, declaring the weapon's technology property of the Foot Clan.

While tracking the Technodrome, the Turtles and their master Splinter are attacked by Hun and the Purple Dragons, who want their mutagen. During the fight, Hun is accidentally exposed to it and turns into a mutant turtle. He wanders until coming upon the Technodrome, now under the control of Ch'rell, who takes Hun back into his service.

Ch'rell and Karai begin rebuilding the Technodrome with help from the Cyber Foot. Ch'rell and Karai use Utrom science to revise the Technodrome with the combined technology having been used to make Ch'rell's new Shredder body and create new Foot-Bots. Analyzing the mutagen that affected Hun, they reverse-engineered it to transform Cyber Foot into Mutant Foot Soldiers. Using the trans-dimensional portal, Ch'rell learns that there are many parallel universes filled with Ninja Turtles. Hun, Bebop and Rocksteady are dispatched alongside an army of Utrom Foot-Bots to capture the Turtles by breaking into their lair. The lair begins crumbling, forcing the Turtles to use their dimensional portal projector to escape into the 1987 universe while Splinter is captured by Hun.

While the Turtles are preparing for their fight, they discover that Shredder has started attacking the 2003 universe with the upgraded Technodrome and the Mutant Foot Soldiers. Casey Jones and April O'Neil try to hold the enemy off before the Turtle teams arrive. After entering the Technodrome to find Splinter, they are captured by Ch'rell, who plans to wipe out every version of the Ninja Turtles across the multiverse by destroying them in their source dimension, " Turtle Prime". By scanning the eight turtles' DNA, he finds the dimension, but the Turtles themselves are saved by Karai, who has started to question Ch'rell's goals. The turtles are joined by April and Casey, but realize that Ch'rell has started his plans and their dimension is being erased.

After a fight with the Dragons and Hun which results in their erasure, the Turtles escape to Turtle Prime, where they encounter their prime counterparts. The twelve Turtles team up and are joined by Splinter, Karai, 1987 Shredder, and Krang against Ch'rell. During the battle, Ch'rell's exo-suit grows giant, but proves to be vulnerable to the Technodrome's laser beam. Utrom Shredder seizes the Prime Turtles and attempts to destroy them and the entire multiverse, but the 1987 Turtles break his balance and save the Prime Turtles. Bebop unknowingly reactivates the Technodrome's laser beam, which vaporizes Ch'rell. With their foe defeated and their worlds restored, the two turtle teams and their allies return to their respective worlds, while the Prime Turtles decide to go get some pizza.

In the real world, Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman put the finishing touches on the first issue of ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', hopeful that the book will sell. They then go out for pizza.

Voice cast

* Michael Sinterniklaas as Leonardo, the leader of the 2003 Turtles.
* Sam Riegel as Donatello, the 2003 Turtles' genius engineer who is identified as the member who holds the team together.
* Greg Abbey as Raphael, 2003 Leo's second-in-command who is stubborn but caring.
* Wayne Grayson as Michelangelo, the 2003 Turtles' youngest member and a source of comic relief.
* Darren Dunstan as Splinter, the 2003 Turtles' sensei and adopted father.
* Anthony Haden Salerno as 1987 Donatello, an alternate version of Donnie from the 1987 cartoon universe.
* Sebatian Arcelus as 1987 Raphael, an alternate version of Raph from the 1987 cartoon universe.
* Russell Velázquez as:
**1987 Michelangelo, an alternate version of Mikey from the 1987 cartoon universe.
** Rocksteady, a mutant black rhinoceros employed as a minion for 1987 Shredder.
* Dan Green as 1987 Leonardo, an alternate version of Leo from the 1987 cartoon universe.
* Scottie Ray as Ch'rell / the Utrom Shredder, the leader of the 2003 Foot Clan.
* Karen Neill as Karai, Utrom Shredder's adoptive daughter and the 2003 Foot Clan's second-in-command.
* Greg Carey as Hun, a former ally of the Utrom Shredder and leader of the Purple Dragons, who is transformed into a ferocious mutant turtle before rejoining the 2003 Foot Clan.
* Veronica Taylor as April O'Neil, an ally of the 2003 Turtles and Casey's wife.
* Marc Thompson as Casey Jones, a vigilante ally of the 2003 Turtles and 2003 April's husband.
* Load Williams as Oroku Saki / 1987 Shredder, an alternate version of Shredder from the 1987 cartoon universe.
* Bradford Scobie as:
** Krang, an alien ally of 1987 Shredder from Dimension X.
** 1984 Michelangelo, an alternate version of Mikey from the 1984 Mirage comics universe.
** Bebop, a mutant common warthog employed as a minion for 1987 Shredder and Rocksteady's partner, replacing Barry Gordon.
* Jason Griffith as 1984 Leonardo, an alternate version of Leo from the 1984 Mirage comics universe.
* Christopher C. Adams as 1984 Donatello, an alternate version of Donnie from the 1984 Mirage comics universe.
* Sean Schemmel voices 1984 Raphael, an alternate version of Raph from the 1984 Mirage comics universe.
* David Wills as:
**1984 Shredder, an alternate version of Shredder from the 1984 Mirage comics universe.
**1987 Splinter, an alternate version of Splinter from the 1987 cartoon universe.
* Rebecca Soler voices 1987 April, an alternate version of April from the 1987 cartoon universe.

Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman make voiceover cameos as themselves.

Additional voices by Jason Griffith, Sean Schemmel, Bruce Falk, and Matthew Piazzi.

Crew

* Jon Dickson - Voice Director
* Darren Dunstan - Voice Director
* Eric Stuart - Voice Director

Production

None of the original voice cast from the 1987 cartoon series reprised their roles and the original music from the show was not used in this special. In the actors' case, the original voice cast are members of SAG-AFTRA, which 4Kids did not have a contract with. For the score, most of the music from the 1987 series was owned at the time by that series' producer, Fred Wolf Films, and would require a license fee to be used in the show. For a cost-effective solution, the special used many of the productions' frequent talents and used their in-score team to make a soundtrack reminiscent of the original series.

Release

Fathom Events originally planned a special event to commemorate the franchise's 25th anniversary to theatrically release ''Turtles Forever'' across the United States on October 29, 2009, with plans for an introduction "hosted" by the Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo themselves, followed by a documentary by Peter Laird about how he and Kevin Eastman created the characters with rare original comic book art, archival pictures and all-new interviews. However, the inability by Fathom to reach an agreement with 4Kids Entertainment and Mirage Studios led to the event's cancellation.

An edited version of the movie was released on July 11, 2009, worldwide on TV. The film was then released on July 29 in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. In other countries, the film aired on The CW as part of their Saturday morning The CW4Kids lineup on November 21, as part of a 25th anniversary celebration which featured a top-10 episode countdown preceding the film's television premiere. In the United States, an uncut version aired from October 31 to November 14 in a form where three weekly 26 minute episodes were shown in a half-hour slot per week.

The uncut version of the film later appeared on the CW4Kids's website on November 16, 2009, which includes 8 minutes of footage cut from the original version that aired on TV. The edited version was released on non-anamorphic widescreen DVD on August 24, 2010 in North America from Nickelodeon/ Paramount Home Entertainment. This same edited version was included on ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (2003): The Ultimate Collection DVD released on July 25, 2023 in North America. The uncut anamorphic widescreen version was later released in 2011 on DVD in the PAL DVD regions (2 and 4).

Edited scenes

The edited version of the movie (which was used for some TV airings and the Region 1 DVD release) removed several additional scenes which remain intact in the "uncut" version of the movie. Some of those key scenes include:

* 1987 and 2003 Donatello work together to locate the Technodrome using underground sonar while riding in their van, which they eventually locate.
* 2003 Shredder demands to see the transdimensional portal device during his initial tour of the Technodrome.
* Karai reveals that she located the Technodrome because her monitoring system for 2003 Shredder had alerted her that he had been transported from his previous location to the Technodrome. She then claims the Technodrome in the name of the 2003 Foot Clan.
* 1987 Krang and Shredder commiserate about 2003 Shredder ruining their expensive computer equipment in the Technodrome during its renovations.
* As part of the renovations to the Technodrome, 2003 Shredder programmed the computer to now utilize all of his extraneous superlatives when it addresses him. He also states that he is intrigued by the implications of the trans-dimensional portal.
* 2003 Raphael calls the 1987 Turtles "clowns", which causes an argument that is immediately interrupted by Splinter. Splinter then orders them to stop bickering, reminding them that they should be working together, which causes 2003 Raphael to apologize for the insult.
* 2003 Casey and April have an extended fight sequence with some enemies who are attacking them.
* The 1987 and 2003 Turtles argue about whose Shredder is worse, calling 2003 Shredder "psycho-evil" and 1987 Shredder "decaf".
* 2003 Leonardo gives a more complete explanation regarding the 2003 Shredder's plan when they initially meet up with the Prime Turtles.
* 1987 Shredder yells at Rocksteady and Bebop before the Turtles' assault on the Technodrome in Turtle Prime starts.
* Karai warns 2003 Shredder that he is making a grave mistake as he attempts to destroy the Mirage Turtles, pointing out he will destroy himself and her in the process, which causes him to stop briefly before resuming his attempt to eliminate them, no longer caring about his or anyone else's fate.

Reception

Critical response

''Turtles Forever'' received mixed to positive reviews from fans and critics. Alan Ng of ''Film Threat'' gave the film 5/10, calling the film "incredibly dated" and the lack of connection felt towards the different sets of Turtles, with "the 1987 crew ..a little more mature than their 2003 counterparts". The review from DVD Talk called Turtles Forever a "mostly forgettable endeavour" and said that the "cheap shots gainst the 1987 Turtlesare pathetic and get old immediately".

Notes

References

External links

* from Mirage Studios

4Kids TV TMNT site
*

Turtles Forever review

{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

2009 television films
Animated films about turtles
2009 American animated films
2000s animated superhero films
2009 science fiction films
American television films
American children's animated science fantasy films
American children's animated superhero films
American animated television films
2000s American television series finales
Animated crossover films
Animated films based on animated series
Animated superhero crossover films
Animated films set in New York City
Animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films
Forever
Forever
Animated films about parallel universes
American science fiction television films
2009 martial arts films
2000s English-language films
Animated films about brothers
Ninja films
English-language science fantasy films
English-language action comedy films