Everyone can name the big franchises that dominate the box office and are gradually becoming the only films big studios are interested in making. The MCU, the DCEU, Star Wars, and so on, but what about the franchises that are still huge and enduringly popular, but don't quite have the cash and prestige of those empires?
For whatever reason, the concept of the multiverse has become almost inescapable to anyone hoping to take in a movie over the next year or two. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is building the entirety of its next two phases on the concept, the Spider-Verse films beat them there with a perfect encapsulation, and even smaller teams are moved by it. However, one beloved brand beat them all there.
In 2003, the deeply controversial 4Kids Entertainment studio sought to bring back an icon of the 90s back to the small screen with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The most recent development in the franchise at the time was the poorly-received 1997 live-action series The Next Mutation. Producer Lloyd Goldfine was brought in as showrunner and the show aired on the beloved FoxBox programming block. Goldfine was a fan of the 80s comic book series, so he made a point of seeking the approval of the original creators. Though his series differed from the original Mirage Comics story in many large and small ways, the comic's co-creator Peter Laird personally approved the early scripts. The series was well-received, swiftly becoming the most popular cartoon of the era, and still cited by many fans as the finest hour of the franchise. Six years and seven seasons later, the time came to bring the series to a close, and the creators wanted to go out with a bang.
Turtles Forever is both a TV movie and a 4-part series finale for the almost-universally beloved 2003 Ninja Turtles series. It brings three generations of Turtles together for the first time in franchise history. It opens on the 2003 Turtles at home in their sewer, watching TV, where they see a group of somewhat familiar faces. After going to investigate, they discover that the 1987 cartoon iteration of the characters have made their way to the 2003 cartoon. They explain that through an accident in a battle with Krang, the Technodrome teleporter malfunctioned, catapulting all four turtles, Krang and Shredder from the classic cartoon to the then-modern one. Interestingly, this is a similar explanation for a multiverse cross-over event to the one present in Into the Spider-Verse.
There are a lot of interesting differences between the two cartoon series that are mined for laughs when they cross over. The turtles themselves poke fun at the old cartoon's reliance on catchphrases and its strict restrictions on violence. There are a few gags at the old show's expense that go a bit too far, it's fair to say that the 2003 series' team were bigger fans of the comics than the '87 adaptation. The biggest difference between the two shows comes in how they handle their villains. '87 Shredder is a comically incompetent figure who is regularly mocked by his foes, but 2003 Shredder is a powerful and intimidating monster in combat. The 2003 series took a much harder edge with its antagonists, and watching them genuinely scare their older iterations with their actions is a fascinating treat. Especially when the stellar 2003 Shredder gets in on the multiverse action.
The villains' plan in Turtles Forever isn't just to defeat either or both groups of Turtles, it's to go even further back and defeat the very concept of the Ninja Turtles. To do that, '03 Shredder seeks to use a combination of his alien technology and 80s Krang's Technodrome to destroy the "source universe", known as Turtle Prime. As one might guess, the Prime universe is Eastman and Laird's 1984 Mirage Comics series. Complete with the gritty black-and-white art style, fans get to see the original art on the small screen, alongside both other versions of the characters. It's a bizarre celebration of the franchise's history from a series that was always praised for its adherence to the source material, and it still has yet more crazy ideas that have to be seen to be believed.
Turtles Forever takes the fight to the very beginning of the series history, placing a triumphant bow on top of what was then 25 years of beloved work. It's not perfect, it's not the best piece of that fantastic 2003 cartoon, but it is the moment that best encapsulates every version of what made the turtles great. Turtles Forever was hampered by a messy DVD release, and it's fairly tough to see today, but any fan of the long-running franchise should do what they can to seek it out. Like everything else they do, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brought a unique flair to a concept that has taken over the world. And, with the outstanding modern takes still coming out, it might be time to try it again.