T-U-R-T-L-E Power Still Goin' Strong

While we seem to be in the midst of a golden age for television, it’s easy to overlook upward trends in programming aimed at kids and young teens. Case in point: Nickelodeon’s reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

One of the perks of having a two-year-old is that I have an excuse to watch cartoons. Truth is I’ll probably watch this show even after my son goes to college. The anime-influenced art style, the well-choreographed fight sequences, the remarkably sophisticated storytelling, and the pitch-perfect characterization and voice-acting all combine to make this one of the best of the franchise’s many incarnations.

And that’s saying a lot, especially coming from a guy who will defend Steve Barron’s noir-tinged Turtles(1990) as the best comic-to-film adaptation ever. For a quality comparison, check out Michelangelo in this clip from the movie and then watch how they’re rendering that comedic timing on the show. The voice-actors are definitely not the same, but that is Michelangelo! Similarly, Leonardo’s character receives some comedic definition from (of all things) intertextual Star Trek references.

Turtles is certainly not the only great kids show of the 21^st century. Though mangled on the big screen, every aspect of Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008) displays an impressive level of care and craftsmanship. On the flip side, Star Wars – a franchise that took a bit of an odd turn at the movies – has been completely reinvigorated with Cartoon Network’s Clone Wars (2008-present). Even Michael Bay’s three explosion-fests led to a fairly decent small screen iteration with Transformers Prime (2010-present). Speaking of Bay, it looks like he'll be keeping this trend alive with a live-action Turtles scheduled for release in 2014. Across the board, these relatively low-stakes kid shows are upstaging their mega-budget counterparts in just about every way possible.

There’s a lot of cross-pollination going on with these shows, too. They use a lot of the same writers, directors, and artists, so it’s not difficult to track the growing sophistication (dare I say, auteurship?) in style and execution. And unlike the big-name film directors, usually the people working on the shows are long-time fans with an in-depth knowledge of the creative property’s culture and history. If they make a slight departure from convention, then they know intimately what that convention is and why it was there in the first place. Happily, networks like Nickelodeon are beginning to see value in that.

For those interested, watch Episode 1 of Turtles here or check out Variety’s review.