Sneak Peek: Comic Book Ninja Turtles Finally Make Animated Debut

This year marks the 25^th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and what better way to celebrate (or should I say shellebrate) it than by watching Eastman and Laird's Turtles Forever. Turtles Forever is a 90 minute film that pays tribute to all the Ninja Turtle incarnations that ever existed. The movie is set to air on the CW channel late this month and is expected to garner the attention of older TMNT fans as well. Based on the previews I've seen on www.youtube.com, the movie seems to be directed towards fans of all ages. This would possibly include people in their 30s since the turtles were in their prime during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

According to www.ninjaturtles.com, the plot of the movie takes place in Manhattan of the TMNT 2k3 universes where the original cartoon turtles make their first appearance within a couple seconds of the film. They 1987 Ninja Turtles were transported from their own dimension to the 2k3 cartoon's dimension accidentally due to a battle the turtles had with Krang and the human version of the Shredder. I do not want to include any more spoilers from the movie because it is just too good and definitely worth buying once it is released on DVD. Unfortunately, the original voices of the 1987 Ninja Turtles were not a part of the movie. I did however listen to a sample of the movie and I can tell you that the new voice actors do a pretty decent job and at times the actor who does the voice of Donatello really sounds a lot like Barry Gordon who was the original voice of Donatello. As for the original villains Shredder and Krang, their voices are pretty awesome too even though they sound nothing like the original voice actors James Avery or Pat Fraley.

The most exciting surprise of the film would be the silver screen debut of the original comic book version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles who were designed by none other than Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. These turtles are not only awesome in everyway imaginable, but gritty too. These guys are the reason why the Ninja Turtles became what they are today. This is one movie every Ninja Turtle fan cannot miss because it is widely considered as the farewell cartoon of both the 1987 and 2003 animated series.

For more information regarding the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, visit www.ninjaturtles.com.