Season Review: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season Two

With the rather sudden and unannounced demise of this incarnation of the beloved franchise, it feels a bit like I’m writing an obituary. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was certainly no masterpiece (more on that in a bit), but this truncated second and sadly last season seems to be signs that it was done dirty by Nickelodeon. You need only point to how, prior to the official premiere, the series was given two seasons of twenty six episodes, only to have the second season unceremoniously cut in half and dumped on Nick’s side network, Nicktoons to air occasionally until it had run its course. Thankfully, the show was able to put together a serviceable finale for its versions of the cast, but it’s clear that this probably wasn’t the way they intended to tell that story. However, knowing that this was the curtain call for this series actually gave me reason to go back and watch the first season, which I hadn’t really felt compelled to see when it was coming out.

Produced by Andy Suriano, known for being a character designer for Samurai Jack, and Ant Ward, who produced the well-acclaimed 2012 iteration, Rise aired pretty quickly after TMNT 2012 concluded, so naturally comparisons to it were going to arise. Rise also introduced a lot of different takes on what were originally expected to be established norms for the franchise. For one, all of the turtles are different ages, species, and Raphael is now the leader instead of Leonardo, who is now the “cool guy” archetype instead of just “the leader”. There were many other changes, some which took a little longer to be accepted than others, such as mentor Splinter being a bit lazy in early episodes, and the highly frantic and comedic tone, as well as a heavy focus on fantasy and mysticism as opposed to sci-fi, were direct contrasts to TMNT 2012, which was a lot more balanced on those fronts, as well as being CG where Rise is 2D. But these differences, more often than not, helped Rise to show that it was its own take on the material and not simply being different to be different. Even the numerous original characters added for this series ended up being at least tolerable by the end.

This season’s story follows immediately from the end of Season 1, with the Shredder (who in this version is an ancient demon sealed in armor) has just been resurrected…only to have him defeated and then taken out of the show until near the end where he becomes the main focus all the way until the end. In between those points, we also see the redemption of Baron Draxum, the original creator of the turtles in this version, who now is more likely to become good without John Cena voicing him I guess. And while plenty of this season has decent follow ups to plots and subplots in Season 1, the actual plot for this season seems to be a victim of it being cut short. Not that you could tell that as easily by the sheer spectacle of the show itself.

Probably the biggest highlight for Rise was just how detailed its animation could be, especially during fights. Every battle, even minor ones, are imbued with striking personality and energy that it’s difficult not to get pumped up whenever it’s happening. The comedy is hit or miss at times, but every character design and interaction feels so individual and personal that you can feel the work and love that was put into each frame. It’s no wonder, then that animation fans have latched onto this series, as so many of these fights and character models show how much of the artists are in this art.

But where this series buckles is probably its tone, or rather how it never seems to turn off the comedy, even when it is pretty inappropriate. I understand that this is ultimately a kids show, but I don’t think that means that literally every second has to have some sort of joke shoved into dialogue or art. It makes it difficult to tell when I’m supposed to be emotionally invested in the story happening in front of me or when I should be laughing. And the answer is apparently, both, all the time. Except you very clearly can only pick one or the other and when every moment is comedic, it makes any moment of sincerity difficult to take at face value, just like a joke would start to feel out of place the longer a serious story goes without levity. TMNT 2012 was a lot better at separating those two, though the CG probably helped with that.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the second shortest run for these characters on TV, only above the much-despised live action “Next Mutation” series from the 90’s. And unlike with the end of TMNT 2012, where the future for the franchise on TV and film looked bright, now things look much more unsure. I have no doubt we’ll get another Turtles cartoon series soon enough, since it’s one of those enduring decades old concepts that will always have an audience across multiple generations, but I do hope that Rise isn’t lost in the shuffle when talking about the versions that came before. It may not have risen for long, but it showed admirable levels of dedication, innovation, and reverence for its predecessors that make its sudden ending (apparently due to low toy sales, similar to Young Justice’s initial cancellation) that much more tragic. And while we do still have the Netflix movie to look forward to (assuming that also doesn’t get cancelled out of nowhere), Rise has risen to the occasion.