Tag Archives: Burnow Island

May 12 2016

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 57

tmnt 57

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 57, originally released May 4th, 2015.

Drew: Loath as I may be to name-check Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes remake, it represents the single most recognizable example of “Not His Sled” — the trope where a well-known twist is subverted in a remake, offering an entirely different twist (though they don’t necessarily have to be as perplexing as that Planet of the Apes ending). Less a remake than a freely interpreted riff on all of TMNT history, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has mixed familiar elements with totally new ones to create something that is at once respectful of its history without being tied to it. In that way, “Not His Sled” has never quite fit — it’s never followed a specific plot so closely to imply a specific twist, but there are still plenty of expectations that can be thwarted. Issue 56 left us guessing who would have massacred those defenseless Utroms (along with Fugitoid), and while we didn’t have a ton of clues, our familiarity with the characters in play from other iterations of the Turtles seemed like a good indicator. Issue 57 reminds us that, as helpful as that familiarity may be, it is just as likely to be used against us. Continue reading →

Mar 25 2016

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 56

tmnt 56

Today, Patrick and Taylor are discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 56, originally released March 23rd, 2015.

Patrick: I love the first two-thirds of most horror movies. That’s where the filmmakers have to establish an honest sense of both danger and mystery. That’ll all presumably pay-off in the final act, but it’s sort of remarkable how much more engaging the set up has to be than the pay off. Honestly, by the time a horror flick gets to that pay-off, you’re lucky if the characters do anything more than scream, run and die. So that tension must be expertly wound in order to make that climax mean anything. If you were to watch it in isolation, that scene of Ripley strapping herself in to blow the Alien out the airlock can be slow and almost drama-less. But after two hours of steadily unspooled threats and a growing list of unnerving questions, the scene is masterpiece of suspense. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 56 finds our storytellers quietly gathering those questions, slowly bringing its internal mystery to a fever pitch. Continue reading →

Oct 3 2014

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 38

tmnt 38Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 38, originally released October 1st, 2014. Drew: Back when I was a teen, I used to fight with my parents about everything. It’s embarrassing to think about now, but at the time, nothing in the world seemed fair to me. It didn’t matter how petty it was — from mowing the lawn to cleaning up my room — everything was worth the fight, though none of it ultimately mattered that much to anyone involved. The Turtles decidedly do not fall into that pattern — their loyalty to Splinter is admirable, if a bit unusual from a bunch of teenagers — but issue 38 finds them disagreeing about big decisions that effect all of them. It’s a classic turtles story that we’ve seen time and time again with one important change: this time, the dissenting brother isn’t Raph. Continue reading →

Aug 14 2014

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 37

Alternating Currents: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 37, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 37, originally released August 13, 2014. Drew: By the time I was watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, it was already airing in syndication 5 days a week. That was awesome for the part of me that wanted to see sweet ninja turtle action on a regular basis, but decidedly less awesome for whatever part of me was supposed to learn patience. I could wait exactly one day between episodes, but no more. Indeed, I didn’t even have patience for scenes on the show that didn’t feature the turtles (to my credit, they almost never ordered pizza at the technodrome), so the finer points of plotting were often lost on me. Intrepid youtubers have aimed to rectify my ignorance, compiling all of Shredder’s scenes with Krang into bite-sized videos, but life has offered a much more fulfilling second chance in the form of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 37, which focuses exclusively on Shredder and Krang’s first (er, second) meeting. Continue reading →