So, here we are 25 years later, and the Turtles are still awesome, with new cartoons and toys for yet another generation of fans. In order to help these new, young fans learn their "roots," they need to see the movies. All four. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition is a good way for them to do just that. All three live-action films (by New Line Cinema) and the newest TMNT CG movie (by Warner Brothers) are included, along with a lot of neat swag. What's missing, however, are any special features for the first three movies. Each movie includes its cinematic trailer, but, with the exception of TMNT, there are no other special features, which is rare - and a bit disappointing - for any "collector's edition," especially considering that it's on Blu-ray discs. Corey Feldman, teen superstar in the 90's, voiced Donatello in both the first and third movies. How about a retrospective from Corey? Was he too busy with reality TV? What about Ernie Reyes, Jr., who played Keno in The Secret of the Ooze and was also one of the stunt guys for the turtles. Surely, they could have caught up with him for an interview. Lastly, what about Elias Koteas, who was a staple as Casey Jones all throughout the live action films. Hey, and what about Kevin Eastman - it would have been awesome to hear him talk about how he came up with the concept and such... or was he to busy with wife Julie Strain (Heavy Metal)? But anyway, this collection does seem to be geared towards showing children. Specifically, all four discs are designed to begin the movie immediately, without going first to a menu screen; you put the movie in the player (and select the disc, if needed) and the movie starts.
This collection of movies chronicles some of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' adventures, showing how they came to be, their fierce fights with their nemesis, Shredder and his Foot Clan, the secret behind the radioactive ooze that mutated the four turtles and Splinter, as well as new enemies who have been created with the use of this same ooze, a misadventure in time when the Turtles and April O'Neil (played by Judith Hoag or Paige Turco, depending on the movie version, and voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar in TMNT) end up accidentally travelling back in time to fuedal Japan, along with a new enemy who has walked the Earth for 3000 years and uses his amassed wealth and power to achieve his own personal agenda. Oh, and we can't forget their violent, hockey-stick weidling buddy, Casey Jones (played by Elias Koteas in the movies and voiced by Chris Evans in TMNT). All-in-all, the stories are fairly representative of (while not as, well, "graphic" as) the original graphic novels. While human-sized turtles are a cool concept to kids, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were not originally intended for children. This is evident in the many references that are made throught the movies (that us older kids get, but the little ones don't get it), as well as the mini-graphic novel, which, as the packing warns on the front of the box, "...is intended for the adult collector and may not be suitable for children."
While it's fitting (and witty) that the collection is packaged in a box that is made to look like a pizza box (complete with fake grease stains and discs made to look like pizzas), pizza boxes are not typically expected to last more that one use. The box is a little taller and a little deeper than a standard Blu-ray case and is about the same width as five standard Blu-ray cases, while it only holds four discs. This may be troublesome to some collectors, possibly requiring that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition be kept separately with other odd-sized items, depending on the collector's media storage. Packaging is tempting as a way to differentiate a product, but strange packaging can cause issues for collectors. At least it didn't come in a round tin box, like a movie who will remain unnamed, but whose initials are "Total Recall."
The special features of the TMNT (animated) movie are both interesting and reasonably short. This is a good thing. It's great for a movie to have really long special features, as long as there's something interesting to talk about. I have seen movies that have a lot of features, but they somehow fail to be special. The making of pieces and interviews with the voice talent are informative and entertaining. The deleted scenes and alternative intros and endings were nice to be able to see and the presentation was well done. This can often be botched when dealing with animated movies, because if a scene gets cut, it usually does so before it gets rendered and voiced and such. Some of these scenes were very early versions of scenes in the TMNT movie as well, but the still images were given some motion, helping to convey how the scene would have felt.
If you are a TMNT fan and you don't have the movies yet (shame on you!), the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition on Blu-ray is not a bad way to pick up all four movies, some cool collectible swag (especially the reproduction sketch) and a fashion accessory perfect for wearing on the slopes while riding your TMNT snowboard and trying to prove what kind of shredder you are. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.) If you're all about the special features, you would actually get more by getting the DVD versions of the individual movies, but many of these were gimmicky DVD games that weren't really great, anyway. And, with the Blu-ray version, you get much better picture quality and surround sound that is really well done. There were several times when we thought the movie sounds were coming from something else... At a couple of points, we actually paused the movie to check it out, so this is a testament to how effective the surround sound was.
I am not sure how well the box will hold up, and I wish there were special features for the first three movies, but, in general, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition is worth adding to your collection - especially if you have children to whom you wish to "pass the torch."
