Customer Reviews

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 7, Pt. 4 - The Raphael 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.

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.

Ah the last disk in the series. I gotta say this one probably has the best episodes on it. My favorite one being "Night of the Rogues" where Shredder hires all of the turtles toughest enemies to take them out. The magic is really in these episodes and the shows humor.

Again the special features are on the crap side but the episodes more then make up for that. I wasn't counting on getting any special features cause we haven't been getting them really so I can't complain too much.

If your a fan of old or new, you want to remember the turtles, get this set it's great.

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 really like the teenage mutant ninja turtles, even after all these years.

Anyway I'm too old for the show but what the hell, anyway the show starts off season one the punks(including 2 guys name bebop an rocksteady), tries going after April, but the turtles stop the thugs an splinter tells the story of himself beinging a human an then turns into a rat, an turtles from regular into mutant turtles.

You get the picture.

On revenge of the fly episode they made a mistake at the end of it by not using the mutant gun on splinter to restore himself to human but did turn vernon spider an april wasp back to normal.

Splinter wasnt even in the Revenge of the fly episode.

But on last episode splinter did help the turtles...by stop bebop an rocksteady from trying to make april an others fall off the building(last episode of season 7)

The big mistake the made from end of 7th season to 8th....Is Krang had his robot body with him when the turtles rid the technodrome, but on 1st episode of season 8. Krang had the bubble walker not robot body.

An they didnt showed krangs body till end of season 10 on how they gotr rid of Dregg.

An some mistakes the writers made on TMNT's..end of season 1 the rest of Rocksteady and Bebop gang are mutants in technodrome prison but mid season 3 they come back on the gangs all here episode but they weren't in the technodrome(trapped some where)

An Baxter had the computer guy with him on son return of the fly(season 4), season 5(baxter didn't even had the computer with him on landlord of the flies), season 7(revenge of the fly), baxter did had the alien computer from season 4...thats the other mistake.


Anyway it's just a cartoon anyway, the writers made some mistakes an didn't go by 100% on the schematics of the show.

This DVD collects episodes 21-27 from season 7 of the 1987 TMNT series. As part of the franchise's 25th Anniversary, the season is being released across 4 individual DVDs, each attributed to a different Turtle (this is the 'Raphael slice.')

I had 'outgrown' the original TMNT cartoon sometime after season 4, so a lot of the later seasons present totally new material for me. Viewing this for the first time without the nostalgic factor, all I can fairly say is "It is what it is." Much like Transformers and some of the other 80s/early 90s mainstays, if you didn't grow up with this stuff then the stilted animation, cheesy dialogue and watered down action won't do much for you. The plus side of these episodes is that they include a fair number of villains and hero guest stars, including Baxter Stockman, Rat King, Leatherhead, Scumbug, Casey Jones, and Merdude. Plus this set also includes the season finale, which is usually where the show changed up its status quo a bit as it prepared for the next season.

The set also includes a 10-min special feature on 'hardcore' TMNT fans. There are three of them, and they range from tolerable to embarrassing. I appreciate what they're trying to do here, but no fan wants to compare themselves to a fat chick that obsesses over Ninja Turtles. Fandom's not always a pretty thing.

So like previous releases there are no restorations on video/audio, though the source quality looks okay. My dvd actually didn't come with a figurine, so not every set is a collector's pack. If you like this show this disc is a good buy, though with the upcoming TMNT: Smash-Up game, there are others ways to celebrate 25 years of Turtles.