Customer Reviews

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 7, Pt. 1 - The Leonardo Slice

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THE SHOW

The seventh season of this series aired in the second half of 1993. It is notable for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that it marked the end of an era in terms of the overall tone and look of the show. Starting with the show's eighth season, which aired the following year, nearly all the hallmarks of the show - all the touchstones that made the series what it was - would be gone. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let us break down the seventh season of the show.

The first 13 episodes of the seventh season are what fans have dubbed the "European Vacation" shows. These episodes have always been a bit of a mystery among fans, if only because, in some aspects of the story, they seem to be out of place in the seventh season. During the first episode of the fourth season, the Turtles find out that they have won a vacation to Europe. So, it would stand to reason that the first leg of season four would be the Turtles' adventures traveling across Europe. This they do; some of the storylines take place in France, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Turkey. Along the way, familiar characters (Shredder and Krang), and some not so familiar (Erik the Red Eye, a modern-day Viking), attempt various nefarious schemes at taking over the world. Many theories abound as to why this fourth season storyline did not see the light of day until the beginning of the seventh season (animation and/or scheduling problems being the most popular), but at least fans can rest easy that all of the "European Vacation" episodes have finally made it to DVD.

That being said, however, the end of the "European Vacation" episodes and the "beginning" of the seventh season can be a bit jarring when viewing the shows in succession. While the aforementioned episodes run parallel to the themes, tone and overall look of the show during its third and fourth seasons, the remaining 14 episodes mark a stark contrast to them.

By the time 1993 rolled around, Saturday morning cartoons were changing. Light and fluffy were out; dark and edgy were in. The "beginning" of the seventh season (after the "European Vacation" episodes) marked a trial run into this territory. Episodes were a bit darker in theme than they had been in seasons past, but not so much that what made the show great in the first place - humor, pizza references, and terrific characters - was lost. It wasn't until the eighth season that the show went whole hog and introduced a completely revamped (darker and edgier) premise, virtually dropping everything fans had come to know and love about the series.

The first foray in this experiment was "Night of the Dark Turtle," a fabulous episode that sees Donatello temporarily explore a darker side to his personality. Everything about this episode works: terrific humor, great action sequences, outstanding animation, and rocking background music. "Night of the Dark Turtle" is not only a highlight of the seventh season, but it represents one of the best episodes of the entire series.

Something that is not a highlight, however, is the loss of James Avery ("Fresh Prince of Bel Air") halfway through the season as the voice of Shredder. From the beginning of the series, James Avery managed to make Shredder a three-dimensional character, as opposed to a run-of-the-mill, one-note, cardboard cutout that most villains on cartoons encapsulate. Shredder could be scary, for sure, as a typical bad guy; but he could also be quite hilarious, and Avery breathed much life into the role. Many fans view Shredder and Krang as a married couple because of the amount of bickering they do with each other. The improvisations that both actors brought to their roles created lasting characters that fans loved, even though they were villains. After Avery left the show for reasons unknown, the voice actor who replaced him did absolutely nothing with the Shredder role except to play it as a stereotypical, one-dimensional bad guy. To say that James Avery was missed as the seventh season came to a close is a vast understatement.

THE DVD SET

To celebrate the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 25th anniversary (somehow, Young Adult Mutant Ninja Turtles doesn't have quite the same ring to it), Lionsgate has decided to do something a little different with the release of the seventh season. It has been broken up into four parts, or slices, and each Turtle has one. When combined the four slices fit together to create one scene on your DVD shelf.

But the surprises don't stop there. Each DVD slice will also include an original Ninja Turtles toy from Playmates, the toy company that produced the classic Turtle toys all through the show's run. I may not always like the DVD releases Lionsgate comes up with for this show, but the fact that they have pulled out some major stops to celebrate the show's 25th anniversary is commendable and has me eagerly anticipating May 12, 2009.

THE SPECIFICATIONS

Amazon.com has not listed this, so here at the specifications for each slice in the DVD set. These are subject to change before May 12, so take them for what they are.

Season 7, Part 1: The Leonardo Slice

-- It's party time, dudes! It's been 25 awesome years (whoa!) since the four turtles fell into the sewers and were transformed into radical human-like creatures. Join the shellebration as the superhero turtles save the Eiffel Tower, stop a glacier meltdown, ride a wild tidal wave and much, much more in six outrageously exciting adventures!

-- Running time: 132 minutes for 6 episodes.

-- EXTRA: A Shellebration with Points of Articulation: A Look Back at the Most Turtletastic Toys.

Season 7, Part 2: The Michelangelo Slice

-- It's radical! Get ready for more totally tubular Turtle excitement! Whether they're battling monster sheep, sleuthing with Sherlock Holmes, or putting the freeze on a deadly heat ray, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles take adventure to the max in these seven shredding episodes.

-- Running time: 154 minutes for 7 episodes.

-- EXTRA: A Shellebration of the Turtles Creation: New Interviews with TMNT Creators.

Season 7, Part 3: The Donatello Slice

-- Cowabunga! Can the Turtles stop a dangerous threat from Dimension X? Will Shredder and Krang activate the dreaded Technodrome? Has Donatello lost his senses - for good? Grab some pizza and find out all the answers in these action-filled adventures starring everyone's favorite kung-fu fighting turtles!

-- Running time: 154 minutes for 7 episodes.

-- EXTRA: A Shellebration of the TV Sensation: New Interviews with the Hit Show's Creative Team.

Season 7, Part 4: The Raphael Slice

-- Bodacious! Hang on for an awesome adventure ride as the Turtles face some of their gnarliest challenges yet - a vengeful fly who wants to change all humans into insects; a Mutant Hunter who's target the Turtles; an army of explosive robots and more - in this bodacious collection every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan will love.

-- Running time: 154 minutes for 7 episodes.

-- EXTRA: A Shellebration of a Fan-Nomenon Sensation: Devoted and Die-Hard TMNT Fans Speak!

Side note: only the most die-hard of fans will notice this, but it is worth pointing out: in the original cartoon series, the Turtle with the orange bandana was always known as Michaelangelo. When the new cartoon aired in 2003, the spelling was changed to Michelangelo. It looks like Lionsgate has decided to go with the second spelling of Mikey's name for this DVD set. Even though I find this annoying, it's a minor quibble.

I was at a big box store and saw these season 7 "slices", I remembered seeing them on Amazon first and thinking "oh cool,they come with an OG-style toy too!"--NOT exactly. I looked at the packaging and saw this micro-figure that has the weapons permanently attatched to it's hands. Sooo...I give these season 7s 4/5 stars because although the included figures are kinda lame, at least more seasons of old TMNT are still being released.

the best show ever...I always liked the teenage mutant ninja turtles...season 7 is where shredder an krang last have the technodrome, until it gets sucked into deminsion x with em, an baxter the fly comes back, mutates everyone into insects, etc...an at end of the episode he comes really close into turning him self back into a human being again but instead gets trapped in the technodrome portal...which thats the end of stockman.

Night of the dark turtle, is a good episode too where donatello goes insane..an they randomly have scum bug, an antrax appear in the episdoe of night roges or whatever.


season 7 is the second the last regular season of ninja turtles, but as soon as season 9 comes, theres no more shredder...an DREGG replace him at 9 an 10.

Shredder an Krang does come back at middle of season 10...only for 3 episdoes.

It has one off the best of the travel episodes, Tower of Power has a great gothic look to it! It also has one of the worst of all episodes, Artless misguidedly teaches boys to fear and not defend themselves from females! Some other great travel episodes aswell!

i bouhgt the box set of season 7 for my son i lost his leo slice very happy that i could by the disc seperatley very good price to

Good for any hardcore TMNT fan such as myself, because of the collector boxes and mini figures. But now they have released it in a simple box instead of these 4 different ones that are at way more the price than just the one set of season 7 that they have just come out with. Basically if you are a hardcore TMNT fan, and you want your collection simply to look good and pay some more, then this is for you, if not, save money, time, and shelf space and buy the simple season 7 one that isn't in 4 huge boxes.

Well, well, Season 7 sure is an interesting release in the ongoing re-release of the original TMNT series. Split into four 'slices' (one for each turtle), it's an interesting tribute to the 25th anniversary of our shell-back heroes. What isn't as clear is the content of at least the first two slices - the possibly undeservedly fabled "Vacation in Europe" episodes, which were supposed to take place between seasons 3 and 4 (as Raphael won a European tour at the end of the third season). But instead these episodes have been cast as the beginning of the 7th season. This may or may not be considered a good thing.

In any case, you will find six episodes on this set - and the price is rather steep for such little content (you can buy the entire Season 8 set for the same amount as each of these slices, at least at the time that I write this review). Now, if you were to go on a holiday in Europe, which city immediately comes to mind? Yep, the turtles too and so the first episode is set in Paris. Of course, the Turtles are the Turtles and so they have the mixed blessing of travelling via the sewers of most cities, which Splinter reminds them are full of history. Interestingly, the first episode sees the Turtles go to Paris in a far less luxurious manner than we expected - apparently, the won vacation at the end of season 3 has been forgotten. Even more interestingly is how almost everywhere the Turtles go, the Turtles run into Shredder, Rocksteady and Bebop as well as April and Irma. I mean, I know it can be a small world but this is ridiculous.

Vacation in Europe was essentially a TMNT side-project, meaning that it was produced semi-independently from the main series. This puzzles me as to why Lionsgate and Fred Wolf Films didn't just release Vacation in Europe as a separate set. I had no idea when I got this that Vacation in Europe was what I would find - I was expecting to see the real first episode of the seventh season, "Convicts from Dimension X". Vacation in Europe just feels rather off next to the rest of the series, though Leonardo's is the more bearable of the two slices (the other being Michaelangelo's, bless him).

Now, are these episodes any good? I don't think so, personally. The series has had its severe ups and downs as it is at this point, and I'm afraid the lower end of the scale is dangerously ever-present. As usual, the animation is a hit-and-miss affair - even more understandable because of the side-project approach of this mini-series if you will. There is one ridiculous story about self-centered aliens that steal all the arts of the Turtles' Renaissance namesakes, but the first couple of episodes (particularly the two set in Paris) are rather entertaining. Fortunately there are few obvious stereotypes, but Vacation in Europe is only for the extreme Ninja Turtles buff. The worst thing about it is the loss of Rob Paulsen as Raphael. He gave so much to the character; his voice practically made him. While his replacement is better than the occasional replacement we've heard before, he still can't reach Paul's greatness. James Avery as Shredder is also a very unfortunate sayonara.

What about the action figure? Yes, to somewhat justify the separate releases of this set, each of the slices comes with a Ninja Turtle action figure. Now, I used to love these as a kid and played with them a lot, so I wasn't put off. Unfortunately, size is deceiving as the figures you get on this set are considerably smaller - if you look at the cover, with the action figure, that is the actual size.

Only buy this and the Michaelangelo slice if you're excited about Adventures in Europe - and even then, I only recommend this one. For those of you who just want Season 7, skip straight over to Donatello's and Raphael's slices - or better yet, the full release of Season 7 out now.

hello dudes,this season 7 it very very beatifull,first for returns of casey jones,two ,because are more extra and the enemy and friends of tmnt are too big!!great amazon ^^

I'm a huge turtles fan. I've been following them my entire lifer basically. To see these old toons on DVD is great. The show is corny and most of the episodes are pretty bad but it holds true nostalgic value for me. As much as I like these Lions Gate releases I can't help but feel like I'm getting screwed when I pay 10 dollars for a DVD with only 6 episodes on it. The documentary on the disk is pretty badly put together so the special features aren't worthwhile either.

On top of it all these are some of the worst episodes of the entire series. I can't even sit through them. I recommend this to any die hard fan but anyone looking to remember turtles as something great I'd avoid this disk at all costs.