Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series)

The 1987 animated series, known as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in certain regions, was produced by Fred Wolf Films and adapted from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's comic book. It was the first television outing for the characters and propelled them to widespread fame, becoming one of the most popular animated shows ever. The series shifted the property significantly from the darker comics to appeal to children and families. Set in New York City, it follows the Turtles and their allies as they fight the Shredder, Krang, and other villains.

A five-part pilot aired in syndication the week of December 28, 1987, with the full series running from October 1, 1988, to November 2, 1996. By 1990, it aired daily on over 125 stations. Merchandise like action figures, cereal, and plush toys became top sellers worldwide in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Characters from this show later appeared in crossovers, such as the 2009 film Turtles Forever and recurring roles in the 2012 Nickelodeon series.

The origin story differs greatly from the Mirage comics. Here, Splinter was originally a human ninja master named Hamato Yoshi, who studied art history as a hobby. He was banished from the Foot Clan after his student Oroku Saki framed him for an offense against a visiting master. Disgraced, Yoshi moved to New York City and lived in the sewers with rats as his only friends. Saki took over the Foot Clan and turned it into a criminal organization. Yoshi later adopted four turtles dropped into the sewers by a boy named Chester Manley. One day, Yoshi returned to find the turtles covered in a glowing ooze. This mutagen made the turtles humanoid, while Yoshi, who had been near rats, became a humanoid rat. The turtles named him Splinter. He raised them as his sons, training them in ninjitsu, and named them Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo after his favorite Renaissance artists.

Oroku Saki eventually tracked Yoshi to New York to destroy him. He allied with Krang, a disembodied alien brain from Dimension X who had been banished to Earth. Saki adopted the name Shredder, wearing a spiked suit, purple cape, metal helmet, and mask. His ambitions grew to world domination, and Krang supplied him with advanced technology, including the Technodrome.

The mutagen that transformed the Turtles and Splinter was dumped into the sewers by Shredder, who mistakenly thought it was poison meant to kill Yoshi. After years of training, the Turtles set out to find who caused their transformation. Learning it was Shredder, they vowed to stop his crimes and restore Splinter to human form. They befriended Channel 6 reporter April O'Neil, who became a key ally.

The Turtles, who rarely left the sewers before meeting her, became semi-vigilante crime fighters. They often faced misunderstanding from the public, partly due to Channel 6 newsmen Burne Thompson and Vernon Fenwick, who blamed them for Shredder's chaos. April used her news reports to counter this and portray the Turtles positively. Initially, the Turtles wore disguises when leaving the sewers, but this relaxed as they gained public trust.

Shredder, Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, and their Foot soldiers repeatedly tried to destroy the Turtles and take over the world. Their plans usually involved repowering the Technodrome and bringing it to the surface, whether it was buried under New York, stuck in Dimension X, embedded in the Earth's core, stranded in the Arctic, or at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. These schemes always failed.