What Frozen Does Differently and Why I Like it

Hey everybody! First of all, I'm going to try and post at least once a week from now on. Whether that happens or not is uncertain, ha ha.

So I recently saw Disney's newest film, Frozen, and I was surprised by many things that this movie did that are different from previous Disney films. I know critics have given different thoughts and views on how these changes made the movie better or worse, but I'm going to talk about some of the more controversial points of Frozen, and why I liked them. Oh, to anybody who hasn't seen the movie yet, be warned that there are spoilers ahead! Just go watch the movie already!

Elsa and Anna. Source: www.neontommy.com

First of all, let's talk about how Anna's act of true love involved sacrificing herself to save her sister. This act then broke the curse of the frozen heart, saving Anna's life. I absolutely loved this part! It says so many good things about the characters and the story. I'll admit when the troll magician talked how an act of true love would save Anna, and they all immediately said, "true love's kiss," I literally groaned in the theater. I'm not even kidding. Don't get me wrong, the whole true love's kiss thing is a nice trope, but that's kind of the problem. It's been done before. Multiple times. Some examples include: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Enchanted, etc.  And the movie made it look like that's what was going to save Anna. So when the act of true love turned out to be Anna saving her sister, I was very happily surprised. I think it worked really well and it turned a trope into something new and interesting.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Conclusion

Hey everyone!

Phew, I'm glad you stayed with me throughout this whole project! I didn't anticipate it being that extensive, but I enjoyed writing and comparing the different shows. I hope you enjoyed reading it, but let me have a final say to wrap things up with my favorite turtles.

Source: www.fanpop.com

I know you may have wondered what the whole point was of doing my comparison. To be honest, when I first started it, I wasn't quite sure. All I knew was that there were some interesting differences and similarities between these shows.

Like I said earlier, I saw that the 2012 series had an interesting blend of elements from the 1987 and 2003 series. I guess I wanted to point out that the 2012 series is possibly learning from the mistakes of the previous series. At the very least, the 2012 series is focused on the characters and developing them more.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Character: Shredder

Hey everybody!

Today is all about the Shredder, the great spiky villain of TMNT!

Shredder
Also known as Oroku Saki, Shredder is the iconic nemesis of the mutant turtles. This character has been fluid in character origin and development. However, no matter what incarnation, he is a man in lethal armor with spikes and who has sworn to destroy the turtles.

TMNT 1987

Source: en.wikipedia.org

This Shredder is the classic, bumbling villain. He tries to be intimidating but fails miserably in each episode, which often ends with his humiliating defeat.

At the same time, some of his missions aren't that evil, just off the wall and slightly menacing. He's over the top, crazy, and not really all that evil. He's the classic 80s overdramatic villain. But it's funny and he's basically a villain you can laugh at for being so ridiculous. Despite him being the turtle's main nemesis, he rarely actually engages them in combat.

This Shredder doesn't develop much as a character, simply staying in the trope of the bumbling villain. However, he's actually very entertaining and he fits the campy tone of the show perfectly. He fulfills his role as the ridiculous and fun bad guy.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Character: April O'Neil

Hey everyone!

Today I'm looking at April O'Neil, the unofficial human member of the ninja turtles' team.

April O'Neil
In all three shows, April is the first human that the turtles interact with. She becomes the turtles' connection to the outside world. Her character development and personality have changed significantly from each show.

TMNT 1987

Source: turtlepedia.wikia.com

In this show, April is the classic damsel in distress. She is a reporter for the news and she's always looking for the next big story. She met the turtles after being chased by some gang members into the sewers. After the turtles saved her and she overcame her shock of their appearances, April became their ally. 

April's the hot, spunky girl who's always getting herself into trouble through her nosing around, and the turtles have to save her. She is the turtle's first human friend and, she often helps cover up some of the things that happen with the turtles to keep the public from finding out about them. While she didn't trust them at first, she proves to rely on the turtles a lot throughout the series.

April is shown with short, reddish-brown hair, and wears a yellow jumpsuit. She is displayed as a very beautiful woman, which the turtles point out often.

To be honest, I find this April a little annoying, since she only seems to care about her next big story and she's relatively useless when it comes to fighting. It seems like she's only there to be the sexy damsel in distress that the turtles get to save in practically every episode. But despite that, she has good intentions and she does prove to be a great friend to the turtles.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Character: Master Splinter

Hey everyone!

It's been a few days, but here's my look at Master Splinter, the ninjutsu master and sensei of the turtle brothers. Here we go!

Master Splinter

Master Splinter is the sensei/father figure of the family. He is the one who took the turtles in after they were all mutated and taught them ninjutsu. He is a mutated rat, often portrayed as older, sometimes elderly. The biggest differences between all the series is Master Splinter's origin. 

TMNT 1987

Source: turtlepedia.wikia.com

In this show, Master Splinter was originally Master Yoshi before mutating into a rat along with the turtles. Yoshi had been living in the sewers after Saki forced Yoshi into exile. While living in the sewers he came across the four turtles in a glowing pink ooze and got some on himself as well.

The idea was that the ooze spliced Yoshi's DNA with the last animal that he touched, which was a rat in the sewers. The turtles' DNA was then spliced with Yoshi's human DNA, making them humanoid mutant turtles.

Master Splinter takes on more the role of a teacher to his turtle students in this show. He generally doesn't take a part of any of the turtles battles with the Shredder, preferring to have them learn on their own. He does interfere occasionally when the turtles are close to being defeated.

This Master Splinter has the personality of a wise old ninjutsu master. He is always calm, collected, and willing to give his students some helpful advice and wisdom. He is patient with his students, although their antics do exasperate him from time to time. In this show, Splinter is portrayed as a short, older rat, although not quite elderly. He looks as though he could be in his late forties or fifties as a human.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Character: Michelangelo

Hey everyone!

Today, I'm looking at our orange banded turtle, Michelangelo. This turtle has always been a fan-favorite. Also, a fun fact is that Michelangelo was probably the first Ninja Turtle that the original creators drew. Here we go!

Michelangelo 

Michelangelo (or Mikey) is the youngest out of the turtle brothers. He wears an orange bandanna and fights with nunchaku. 

TMNT 1987

Source: turtlepedia.wikia.com

This Mikey is described as "one party dude." For Mikey, it's all about fun, games, and of course, pizza! Mikey was probably the most popular turtle in this particular series for his extremely lighthearted manner, and his catchphrase "Cowabunga!"

This Mikey is more of a space case and has a California surfer accent, adding to his chill personality. He's obsessed with pizza and is shown to be always distracted by it. His humor is often relating to him not getting a joke, or not really being aware of the situation. He's also always focused on food. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Character: Donatello

Hey everyone! This post is all about Donatello.  He's probably my second favorite turtle, since he's a major nerd, and he gets easily distracted by nerdy things.

Donatello 

Donatello (Don or Donnie) is the second-youngest turtle. He wears a purple bandanna and fights with a bo-staff. He is probably the one who has remained the most constant throughout the different series as far as his character goes. 

TMNT 1987

Source: ovguide.com

This Don is the technological nerd. He's all about building things and crazy contraptions, which tend to malfunction. Don wants to be recognized for his building genius, and in some episodes tries to gain fame and fortune, which doesn't work. Mostly, he's content to build things to help his brothers.

This Don is initially incredibly distrustful of humans, or anyone not in his family. April helps to change his mindset, but he does have a suspicion of humans.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Characters: Raphael

Hey everyone! I'm taking a look at the turtle in red today. Raph's probably been my favorite turtle since I got into TMNT.  He's a really fun character to analyze so here it goes!

Raphael 

Raphael (Raph) is the second-oldest of the turtles. He wears a red bandana and fights with twin sais. He has probably gone through the most dramatic character changes and roles between different shows.


TMNT 1987

Source: fanpop.com

This Raph is more or less the comic relief of the group. He often teams up with Mikey in providing the majority of the humor. His description in the show is "cool, but rude." This Raph is sarcastic and mouthy, always having the perfect comeback and joke for every situation. He's pretty lighthearted, much as the series is, and mainly relies on sarcastic quips.

That's pretty much all there is to him, making him a bit of a one-dimensional character. This Raph is also the only turtle to break the fourth wall multiple times in episodes. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Characters: Leonardo

Hey everyone! Now it's on to my Characters section. This will probably be my biggest section so I'm going to do it by character and analyze each incarnation of that character. I will be looking at Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, Master Splinter, April O'Neil, and the Shredder. These characters appear in all three versions of TMNT. Keep in mind that there wasn't much character development in the 1987 series compared to the 2003 and 2012 series. 

Leonardo 

Leonardo (Leo) is the eldest of the four brothers and generally the leader. He wears a blue mask and fights with twin katanas. He has stayed fairly consistent as a character in each series. 

TMNT 1987 

Source: turtlepedia.wikia.com

This Leo is the hero archetype. He is always looking to help people in danger and wants to be the big hero. He follows the samurai code and is heroic to a fault. He is likely the most serious out of the four turtles, and is always wanting to help others.

Leo's usually the one who tells the other turtles what they should be doing, and generally helps them to stay on task. He does everything he can to keep his family fighting together, even if it means annoying his brothers. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Music and Animation/Fighting Sequences

Hey everyone! Like my title says, this post is analyzing the music and animation of the three TMNT series. Enjoy! 

Music
To me, it seems like the music for each series fits the unique style well. Whether it was 80s rock, traditional japanese, or R&B, the music works well for each series.

TMNT 1987

Source: digitalspy.co.uk

This show has all the classic 80s rock music that you know and love. The theme song is particularly catchy and is probably one of the most recognizable theme songs in cartoon history (listen to it here). 

The music goes quite well with the tone of the show, in that's it's also light, fun, and catchy. It's perfect kids cartoon music.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Plot

Hey everyone, this post will be a bit short today since I'm still working on the other categories. But enjoy what I've got so far! I'll be looking at the plot of each series.

Plot

TMNT 1987

Source: rottentomatoes.com

The plot of this show is relatively simple. Once the turtles were established as mutant ninja turtles, the show follows a basic formula for each episode: The Shredder, or another evil villain would have some plan to destroy the world, or to steal some great scientific tool in order to take over the world. April would often go to investigate and get herself into trouble, and then the turtles would have to go and save her and stop the villain through various crazy ways. Often the turtles will have someone helping them out, such as Casey Jones, or Usagi.

Everything is usually resolved by the end of the episode and there aren't many story arcs that go beyond one episode. It was your basic action cartoon plot. While, fun, the plot never really went anywhere, which meant none of the characters really developed. Also, characters that seemed important would show up once and never be seen again. I'll be honest, I think the plot is where the show is at its weakest, and I feel that the show had potential that never really was fulfilled.