I warned you about our love for the Ninja Turtles. And this is the perfect endcap for Michael Jackson Rat Month in my opinion (Splinter, duh). Most people who grew up in the '80s and '90s probably had some kind of relationship with the Turtles, and if it wasn't a deep burning love, it was at least on the level of thinking they would be a good date, if not a lasting relationship.
Anyways, Secret of the Ooze was the second feature film in the turtle franchise, not a typical candidate for this site, though to some that’s arguable. Most of you have likely seen it and loved it despite it's divergence from all previous canon. I think most kids were pumped to see Bebop and Rocksteady in rubber suited glory, but disgruntled creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were annoyed with the direction the characters took in the TV show, so they created Tokka and Rahzar, the wolf and snapping turtle mutants. These dudes ruled!
I may be the only person who thought so because they never truly made the transition into lasting roles in the series. They made one appearance on the animated show, and a rather ridiculous one at that, peek the first part of the episode below:
Rahzar sounds waaaay too intelligent to be terrorizing a mall, he should probably be trying to sell the mega-recliners at the center kiosk, explaining all the relaxing features they boast. Tokka can ring customers up.
Here’s the Archie comics adaptation of TMNT2. I don't really remember buying this as a kid, but who knows. It may have been my brother's and came into my possession when he surrendered portions of his comic collection to me. Or maybe he doesn't know I have it...Thanks Chris! This features art by long time turtles artist, Jim Lawson and writer Steve Murphy (aka Dean Clarrain). The scan is only ok, but it should be good enough to satiate the other turtle nerds out there.
My 11-year old mutant love aside, what most people probably remember about this movie is the questionable career move Vanilla Ice made in delivering "Ninja Rap" to the film's soundtrack. His intentions were probably right on, the "movie single" was pretty big in the '90s and his career was pretty hot then and figured he could brush off any ill effects. And he probably could have, but as time proved, he never really made super savvy decisions, Roll 'Em Up, anyone? In context though, "Ninja Rap" really is one of the better tracks, and that's a statement on how ridiculous the rest of the soundtrack is. No other huge names really appeared on the cd, but I think you'll find it fun anyways. Watch Ice and grab the album below!
Now this is WAY off content, apologies, but I’m obsessed...
I also think any video game loving kid of this time also had an appreciation for the turtle games, especially the arcade version. Kids would crowd around that thing for hours and around this time in gaming, the only place you could get real 4-player action was at an arcade, my local one being Alladin’s Castle, man that place ruled! And what better game to have four friends on than one where you can be a Ninja Turtle? This also set the precedent for all future turtle games of that generation following the first TMNT release for NES, which was hard as balls, for younger me anyways. Tokka and Rahzar didn’t hit the game franchise until the NES game TMNT 3 - The Manhattan Project and then reappeared in the SNES follow up TMNT 4 - Turtles in Time.
Buy Secret of the Ooze
/ Rent It / Watch ItKeep and eye out for more Ninja Turtles in the future, because really, can you ever get enough? And keep on eye on Ninja Pizza for all things TMNT related!
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