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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Kinetic martial arts animation and goofy sibling humor to boot, April 2, 2006
This second volume of the 2003 TMNT animated series introduces us to the character of Casey Jones. In the comic books, keeping with the satire of sheltered and inexperieced youth raised on tv and rock n roll, he is angst ridden and vengeful not b/c a loved one was murdered by criminals, just b/c he watches too many cops and robbers type movies. Hilarious irony. Here, we get a character, not entirely unlike that, but with an important difference: his father was killed by Purple Dragons. It may take away from the play on hollywood action films, but it is a different angle to explore his character (albeit an overused angle; which was the joke behind why he had no motivation in the comics) and continues the trend of weaving all the characters of this show together into a mosaic universe as opposed to the kaleidoscopic one of the comics. Again the adaption of the books (this time Raphael #1) is superb. After loosing his cool during a sparring session Raphael storms off (yes, again) and encounters one, Casey Jones, who has even less self control than he does, and he feels obligated to behave as an agent of balance for the two of them resulting in the expected and anticipated fight scenes. This episode is a real treat. There is dynamic animation throughout this entire piece and the addition of the Purple Dragons and the other TMNTs to the plot only adds more players to the action scenes.
The second episode, "Nano," concerns an artificially intelligent nano-robot (nano technology was being used in plots in the current TMNT comic book) that develops his own emotions and labels a theiving louse as "dad." Nano, eager to earn his surrogate father's love, foolishly commits crimes for him and gains the TMNT's attention when they happen upon him in a criminal act. This is an extremely popular theme in sci-fi, hence the character himself is not very original, but he is nevertheless affective (used here as a metaphor for peer pressure, naivety and what one will do for another's acceptance and love, in particular a parent's) plus he has the neat ability to appropriate metal objects (with no espoused or apparant limit on the size), break them down and reform their mass into any shape he chooses.
The last episode on this disc is an important one: Darkness on the Edge of Town. It reveals plot points that will evolve over the course of the season. After all the mystery Shredder has been shrouded in in his first appearances we are finally thrown a bone and it is an intriging one to chew on (especially for we older fans, making us wonder how the mythology of this character is going to differ from his previous incarnations.) Yes, I know it has been revealed in Season 2, but I write SPOILER free reviews. Thank you very much. Plot concerns a black out that prompts the TMNT to enjoy skating above ground unnoticed; a rarity for mutant turtles apppartly. They happen to catch the Foot also taking advantage of this black out to rob a musuem of a rare sword. For what? Watch and see...
The extras are a retread from volume one save a new and insightful interview from Peter Laird for the unitiated concerning the episodes herein.
Again we are given a paltry 3 episodes (my reason for giving this 3 stars), but at the used market price it is worth it. Hopefully Funimation will wake up to the peanuts these things are selling for used and realize they will have to do a better job in the future.
Cartoons 9.5/10
DVD 6/10
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Casey Jones shows up., October 11, 2003
By A Customer
This is my favorite of the new TMNT volumes out, and it has Raphael and the rest of the group meet vigilante Casey Jones, who like Raph is a hothead, which causes Raph to confront his own hot-headed ways. And right after the Turtles gain this new ally they must deal with a nano-bot that's grown attached to a street-smart crook. One problem: In order to protect it's "daddy," the bot becomes more powerful... and BIGGER! The third volume has the green teens's second run-in with the Foot since the first episode, this time they have the power of this mystical sword. The DVD also introduces the Battleshell(think a hyped-up version of the Turtle Van from the first show). I think this volume is great... Mikey's still annoying, though.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I've got a 7 year old that loves it!, August 23, 2004
My son absolutely loves the ninja turtles. I rather him watch them than some of the other cartoons that are on tv now. I remember them from when I was young so the familiarity is there. Now I couldn't remember an episode of ninja turtles from the 80's to save my life but it doesn't matter cuz my son enjoys them and I do too. Of course he thinks it pretty neat that mom watched the ninja turtles when she was young too. Besides everything evolves with time to keep up with the Joneses. So I think it would be impractical to think that the same cartoons from almost 20 years ago would go as far as the newer ones.
(Even Mickey Mouse has new cartoons, which surely don't compete with the original but they have a new audience to sell to!)
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