TMNT Flashback: Movie Storybooks With Read-along Cassette

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Back in the '90s, Random House released a series of TMNT books and read-along cassette tapes. Three of these sets included a cassette that narrated and performed an included comic book (reprints from the Archie series). The set pictured at left here included two brand new mini storybooks based on the first movie.

The interesting thing about these books is that while they are most obviously based on the movie, all of the artwork reflects the cartoon Turtles of the time. But the thing I love most here is the included cassette.

I remember listening to the cassette using my awesomely hip Sony Walkman while riding in the back seat of my parents' car on a family vacation... and realizing that the same guy who was narrating the story was also doing all of the voices of the different character. Oh, how I LOLed.

Now, it's not unusual for one person to read an audiobook and also do all of the voices, but I do think it is a bit more unusual for a children's tape. But really, in this case it just sounds ridiculous and silly. However, I shall leave it to you to judge for yourself.

For a limited time, I'm making both audio stories available for download here.

I'll also note that each side of the cassette features one of the two stories, read twice. Once without page turn signals and once with page turn signals. I never understood that much, either. Why not put both stories on each side of the cassette and only put the page turn signals on one side? The way it's set up you're stuck either listening to the same story twice in a row or playing the fast-forward game to find the version you want to listen to (ah, the joy of cassette players).

TMNT Flashback: 1989 Comic Book Store Signing

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In a real testament to the idea that "You can buy anything on eBay," I recently acquired some photographs out of of someone's personal collection. The idea of buying someone's personal photos is a bit creepy, but these seemed interesting enough for me to get past that. And I'm glad I did, because in addition to being a truly fantastic blast from the past, there are some really interesting details hidden in the background. These pictures appear to be date stamped August 12, 1989 - nearly 20 years ago!

These first two pictures are pretty similar and feature Steve Lavigne behind the table. I think you can also see a piece of Peter Laird's head in the first picture. What is really great though is in the background there appears to be pictures of the Turtles and Splinter costumes for the then-upcoming movie. The movie filmed in September 1989, so this was even before then!

Here we have one more picture of Steve Lavigne, then a shot farther down the line looking back at both Steve and Peter. In the second photo you can get a slightly better look at one of the photos on the wall.

And here we have a better look at Peter, and finally Kevin Eastman as well. Now we can see a few more pictures on the back wall as well as some comic book covers (and cereal boxes!).

Last, but far from least, we see the end of the autograph line with Jim Lawson, Michael Dooney, and Steve Murphy.

Video Flashback: Gettin' Down in Your Town Tour

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The second entry into the "Video Flashback" series is a personal favorite of mine. After the wildly-successful "Comin' Out of Their Shells" tour, the TMNT hit the road again in a smaller follow-up tour. This tour played in venues at amusement parks and only featured four songs, three of which were new (although the fourth song, "Sing About It," was never actually played in full in the COOTS tour). And all things considered, the songs are quite good! Laugh if you must, but I'll stand by that statement even if Shredder appears at my front door threatening to steal all of the world's music. And even more-so if he breaks into "I Hate Music."

But I digress. Here is the "Gettin' Down in Your Town Tour," in three parts. Enjoy!

Video Flashback: Operation Blue Line

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After a rainy-day visit to Circuit City's store closing clearance sale, I now have the much-anticipated ability to capture video from my VHS collection onto my computer. With this useful new ability I am launching the Ninja Pizza YouTube Channel. The inaugural video for this new channel is called "Operation Blue Line" (and had I scanned the video cover earlier in the night than I did, it wouldn't have rabbit teeth marks in it).

"Operation Blue Line" is a promotional video that was produced to advertise a new light rail system that runs between Long Beach and Los Angeles. As incredibly cheesy as this 10-minute video is, it surprisingly holds some weight as all four Turtle voice actors from the original cartoon--Townsend Coleman, Barry Gordon, Rob Paulsen, and Cam Clarke--are featured in their respective roles.

So enjoy, and watch this space, 'cause there's lots more to come!




UPDATE! Edward Langer, who worked in the SCRTD marketing department and helped in the production of this video, has written in with some additional information.

I was the original project manager on this video. The SCRTD marketing dept. under Tony Fortuno and Alice Wiggins wanted to create a video to be distributed free through a local supermarket chain to all residents along the route. Additional copies were sent to large businesses, too. I assembled my team and we each contacted different companies to see if they would provide funding and some kind of theme or character for the video. One team member, Sherry, hit pay dirt at one of the local TV stations and got permission to use the Turtles. Since Sherry had made the contact, she took over the project. I was reassigned to the ride share program where I made use of the video to promote public transit. That is the USC Marching Band at the end of the video. The USC band has been most generous in allowing the SCRTD to use them in their promotion of public transit. Also, if you watch carefully, you will see Sherry in the film as a couple having a picnic.

We had borrowed the turtle costumes, but they had to have them back for a promotion. Sherry had picked them up and had to get them dry cleaned over a weekend. Not something easy to accomplish. I forget how she did it, but they were clean on Monday. All [of the] main actors were professionals: April, Gridlock, and the Turtles. Everyone else is an unpaid volunteer from the SCRTD. The little girl near the end of the film was some kind of spokesperson for the SCRTD, but I forget why. I think she was a model or actress who gave us support. I believe I had worked with her in a promotion in Long Beach, but that was a long time ago. As I was not the project manager of this program my name is way back in the credits. Basically, all employees of the marketing department are in the credits.

The story is kind of dumb, but it worked. Many of my ride share companies played it in their cafeterias to alert their employees. Ridership did take off.

TMNT Flashback: Fuzzy Slippers

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One cold December 26th, about 10 or so years ago, I was wandering through a mall where I found a pair of fuzzy Michaelangelo slippers very out of place on a shelf in one of the department stores. I'm pretty sure they were a return and I doubt they were purchased that same year (TMNT stuff had very much disappeared from stores by this time). But no matter, they looked to be in new condition and it being the day after Christmas they were dirt cheap. With a cold winter chill finally hitting California today, it seemed a good time to break them out.

My bunny Owen approved. :)

TMNT Flashback: Vending Machine Stickers

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tOkKa writes in with info and a tale about the above vending machine sticker display:

This is mangled, damaged, and old.. but it's the only one i have. Mike's cards are prolly in better shape, maybe someday he'll post his. ::

So the story goes ..

..back in the day ( some day ..A day long ago ) ..Mikey's dad ran a vending machine operating company, even Mike himself was involved and working for the little operation at one point.

I also remember something about a unicorn and a bass playing dinosaur..anyways- - .

When he was a kid, his dad got in some surplus of extra kids' vending prizes. A big trash bag filled with stickers and vending card inserts of his favourite heroes.

12 million years ago, as a gift .. Mikey gave me a small bundle of stickers and this insert ( goes in the front of the machine to show the kids what they are getting for their hard earned quarter or 1/2 dollar nowadays ;/ ) ..i coulda sworn these cards actually had a technical name, but i just can't remember.

The card here shows 12 of the designs of 15 stickers.

The designs not shown on the insert are Mondo Gecko, a classic group shot from Ryan Brown's style guide of the time, and the 1988 TMNT Logo and it sez ' Heroes in a Half Shell ' respectively.

I'm not positive .. but i think there are silver and gold versions of each sticker. Unless my mind is playing tricks on me like it normally does, that would mean their are 30 stickers to this collection including the variants.

Don't hold me to this tho'.. i'll have to double check my dwindled collection cuz i used a number of them over the years since he gave 'em to me and i don't even know if i have at least a full set of 15 anymore. I think i do tho'.

Miguel's like family to me, so actually ..this was a weird but cool & special gift.

And since I happen to have easy enough access to all 15 of these stickers, I went ahead and scanned them:

I don't think it's the case that each one was made with both a gold and silver background, but I can't be certain about that. I do know that I really love these things!

For a most awesome and complete collection of TMNT images and other cool stuff, be sure to visit tOkKa's Flickr stream!

TMNT Flashback: Comics Interview #83

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A couple weeks ago, the TMNT world was rocked on its heels when Steve Murphy officially let it out of the closet that he was, in fact, the one and only Dean Clarrain, writer of virtually the entire TMNT Adventures title from Archie Comics. Even though it hadn't before been made official, I had thought more people had figured it out. But it seems those of us who had were in a minority. To celebrate this outing, I present to you Comics Interview #83, featuring an interview with the team behind the TMNT Adventures title: Dean Clarrain, Ryan Brown, and Dan Berger.

Gee, that Dean Clarrain guy doesn't look like Murphy at all...

As for the full interview itself, you can download it, for a limited time only, by clicking here. Enjoy!

TMNT Flashback: Mirage Times Vol. 1 No. 17

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Earlier today, Ryan Brown posted the first issue of the "Mirage Times," a newsletter sent out to comic retailers in the early 90s. By complete chance tonight, I came across issue number 17 of this same newsletter, so I thought I'd post it to complement Ryan's blog.

Above is the front of the two-page spread, featuring the cover for TMNT Vol. 2 No. 1. On the inside is the newsletter portion, both pages of which are below.

     

TMNT Flashback: The Coming Out of Their Shells Tour

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The TMNT have a rich 25 year history full of what seems to be an endless stream of interpretations. While many of these are fantastic, there are some not so fantastic bits. If you ask people about what the low lights of the past 25 years have been, there are three common answers: The third movie, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, and The Coming Out of Their Shells Tour (COOTS). I actually have no dislike for any of these (my personal steaming pile of Turtle puke is Volume 4 of the comic books), and speaking of COOTS in particular, I love every ounce of it.

Oh sure, it's cheesy as hell. It's also probably one of the most blatantly obvious examples of Eastman and Laird "selling out" the Turtles, if you're one to accuse them of that (I, personally, am not). But damn was it a lot of fun for my 6th grade, 11-year-old self. I mean, really a hell of a lot fun. Now I consider it one of my little guilty pleasures, and I love making particular new acquisitions.

So for a spot of fun, here's a look at a few promotional pictures from the tour. The first one (top), oddly, features a Los Angeles manhole cover.

This second picture was part of an Entertainment Weekly article about the tour. You can read the entirety of the article here - As you'll see, the writer wasn't willing to have a spot of fun at all. :p







The last picture also comes from Entertainment Weekly, but this time they were massively confused about what was being written about, as it was included with a movie review of TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze (they gave it a C+).

TMNT Flashback: Unpainted A.C. Farley Leonardo Bust

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Awhile ago I shared with you the bronze version of A.C. Farley's Leonardo bust. At the same time I mentioned that there was an unpainted version. I couldn't show it to you then because I didn't have it. Well, now I do, so here it is.

TMNT Flashback: "Music Raph"

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In honor of the recently revealed "Music Don" action figure showcased at The 5th Turtle, here's a look at how a "Music Turtle" was interpreted by someone who actually knows something about Ninja Turtles, the fantabulous Ryan Brown.

T-shirt, guitar, and no crazy chap pants - What a concept!

Don't miss Playmates' defense for "Music Don", posted today by Murphy. Thanks for all the love, Playmates. We're sending it right back atcha.

TMNT Flashback: Coloring Contest

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I found this piece in a promotional packet for the first TMNT movie. I find it particularly amusing because the transition from real picture to black and white line drawing wasn't completely successful. Mike and Raph don't look too horrible, Splinter just kinda looks sad, but both Don and Leo seem to have growths on their shoulders.

If anyone wants to take a crack at actually coloring it, feel free to email your effort to me.

TMNT Flashback: The Good Ol' Days

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On the heel of today's big announcement, how about a moment of reflection on the days that were. Above is a press photo from the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie with Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman on the set with Leonardo. Back when two men were able to work and collaborate together to create characters and stories that inspired and brought joy to millions of people around the world.

I can accept that business partnerships come and go, just as friendships do. But today's press release seems to be dripping with insincerity as far as Kevin and Peter's appreciation for each other goes. Kevin's sale of the TMNT to Peter shouldn't exclude him from being a creative mind that can occasionally be tapped for the purpose of good storytelling, but because the two of them are apparently unable to speak directly to each other, that's exactly what it does mean.

I can only hope that they'll be able to put aside they're differences just enough so that whatever participation Kevin has in next year's 25th anniversary events, there can be some sincerity showcased between these two creators. As it stands now, it seems they go as far as avoiding each other when they're at the same convention.

If the TMNT are ever going to get the respect they deserve from the world at large, there needs to be some reconciliation. There is no shame or lost pride in reconciliation; it's a standard show of being an adult.

TMNT Flashback: Happy New Year!

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To close out 2007, here's the TMNT newspaper comic strip from December 30, 1990.

TMNT Flashback: We Wish You A Turtle Christmas

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The live-action, direct-to-video "We Wish You a Turtle Christmas" hit stores in 1994 at the same time as its counterpart, "Turtle Tunes." Each video is 30 minutes long and features the Turtles and sometimes Splinter and sometimes these random kids (who apparently know the Turtles quite well) singing songs that never had a chance for a Grammy.

Pictured to the top left is the cover to a Netherlands release that combines both videos onto a single DVD. Although I'm not exactly positive that this is an official DVD release (you can see the whole DVD cover here and judge for yourself).

To the bottom left is the cover to a promotional cassette soundtrack that was released to advertise the original VHS tapes (full cover insert here). The cassette features all of the songs from both videos, although some songs are missing dialog that leaves them with awkward chunks of instrumental. One of the songs actually runs longer than it did on the video.

Merry Christmas to everyone who is celebrating today and tomorrow!

TMNT Flashback: McCain Elio's Foods Trading Card #15

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This is a promotional trading card from TMNT-branded frozen pizzas from McCain Elio's Foods sometime around the release of the first TMNT movie in 1990.

I'm not sure that Splinter would approve of Raph's less than ninja-esque habits.

TMNT Flashback: Ninja Rap is Born

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Here's a look at the photo that was used in TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze for the newspaper at the end of the movie that declares: Ninja Rap Is Born!

Actually, if you compare it to a screen shot from the movie, this photo is slightly different, so it was most likely taken right before or after the photo that was actually used.

TMNT Flashback: Cowabunga en Español

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1990's Coming Out of Their Shells Tour was a huge hit in the United States, but the album also made its way overseas and even got translated for Spanish-speaking countries.

This image is of a 7" LP single of the song "Cowabunga" from the main album. The B side has a dance mix of "Count On Us" ("Cuenta Con Nosotros").

While I'm not 100% certain, I do believe this single and the Spanish-language version of the full album only got released on LP.

TMNT Flashback: Michaelangelo as David

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This is Michaelangelo as Michelangelo's David as drawn by Dan Berger for the January 27, 1991 TMNT newspaper comic strip.

TMNT Flashback: A.C. Farley Leonardo Bust

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In 1992, Mirage Studios released this Leonardo bust sculpted by artist A.C. Farley. Pictured above are both a print ad for the bust and the bust itself. This is the bronze-brushed version; there is also a plain white version that you can paint yourself if you're so inclined (and have the talent). There are also sword scabbards that glue onto the back.

The box says that it was an edition of 500, but I've read that there were production issues and that the actual number shipped was less than that.