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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Format	Animated
Created by	Lloyd Goldfine
Starring	Mike Sinterniklaas Wayne Grayson Sam Riegel John Campbell Darren Dunstan Scottie Ray Veronica Taylor Marc Thompson Scott Williams Christopher C. Adams David Zen Mansley Sean Schemmel
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	142, 6 of them unaired (as of October 27, 2007) (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 30 min w/commercials
Broadcast
Original channel	4Kids TV
Original run	February 8, 2003 – current

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American animated television series set in New York City. It first aired on February 8, 2003 and marked the revival of the franchise by Fox, with the help of 4Kids Entertainment, as a Saturday morning cartoon in Fox's Fox Kids programming block (now known as 4Kids TV). The 2003 TMNT animated series was produced by Mirage Studios, which owns one third of the rights to the show. As of October 2005, it is the oldest American animated series on 4Kids TV.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Coloring 3 Fan reactions 4 The Ninja Tribunal/Lost Season 5 The Fast Forward Season 6 The 7th/Next Season 7 Episodes 8 International versions 9 See also 10 Parodies 11 External links

The 2003 animated series deviates from the 1987 - 1996 animated series significantly. While still a Saturday morning cartoon, the show bears more resemblance to the original, "darker and edgier" comics, published by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's Mirage Studios. Gone are a cartoony Shredder and his inept mutant/alien associates. Bebop and Rocksteady, Krang, the Technodrome and Dimension X are all absent from this series since they were not in the original comics and were created for the 1987 animated series. Shredder is now much more menacing and threatening than his previous cartoon incarnation. Also notable, is nearly the complete lack of pizza as the turtles' main meal, which was a main-stay in the 1987 cartoon series, including Michelangelo's insatiable appetite for it (although he still has the biggest appetite of all four turtles). Instead they are seen ordering Chinese, making eggs, eating popcorn, and going on ice cream runs. In addition, there is a main plot and several sub-plots running through the series, revealing hints which will develop as the series unfolds. Although many of the episodes are stand-alone, each usually has a key element that relates to the plot as a whole; furthermore, there are frequent two-to-four-episode continuous stories. Nearly every character that is introduced in a "stand alone" will eventually be seen again. (For example, the "green man," Savanti Romero, Nobody, etc.)

In the 2003 cartoon show, the four Turtles personalities are in some ways different from the 1987 cartoon, they are an attempt to follow the Mirage comics more closely. All characters are more fleshed-out and more sensitive, and have a stronger family bond. Leonardo is more skillful and meditative than in the 1987 series (where he was slightly serious, but occasionally does silly things whenever his brothers do) and much more concerned with honor (as depicted in any episode with Karai) and protecting his family; episodes of the 2003 series that focus on The Shredder and ninjitsu also focus on Leonardo. Raphael is much angrier, more emotional (as the only turtle to be shown crying to date and the most likely to cry out in dismay when a brother is hurt or in danger), and sometimes cocky (in the 1987 show, he loves to make jokes and is more friendly), but is shown to deeply care about and be very protective of his family and friends. He always seems to be the one who's got his brothers' backs and has a much more complicated relationship with Leonardo. Michelangelo and Donatello are the only turtles that haven't changed their personalities from the 1987 show. Mikey's still a goof and Donny's still a lovable and very intelligent nerd. When the Turtles pair off, the most likely combinations are Leonardo and Raphael as one pair, and Michelangelo and Donatello as the other - often due to their personalities. Despite this, the show explores each relationship more with each season. (For example, in season 3, Leo & Mikey are the only turtles with significant roles in "Nobody's Fool," Raph and Don team up in "H.A.T.E", and Mikey and Splinter work together in "Touch and Go.") One unique new trait is that major TMNT ally Casey Jones is given a larger supporting role, unlike the original 1987 series where he was just a minor recurring character, and the 2003 series also shows him having some romantic feelings towards the Turtles' other major ally April O'Neil (who also is a supporting character in this series) - just like in the original comic books and the first movie. Shredder if far more evil then he was in the original cartoon (later episodes have shown that he is a mass murder), and returns be depicted as a deadly evil ninja as opposed to an inept one. The original show's catchphrase, "Cowabunga," has been joked about several times (with Raphael telling Michelangelo not to say "cowabunga" anymore). The "Turtle Power" catchphrase has been almost totally left out of the 2003 series. "Let's get the shell outta here!" is more prominent.

In the 2003 TMNT cartoon, as in the original comic, Splinter, the Turtles' sensei and foster-father, is depicted as a rat who has been mutated to a humanoid form, instead of a man who has been mutated to rat form as in the 1987 TMNT cartoon. Splinter is also less calm and more prone to wry humor and direct fighting than in any previous series. Baxter Stockman is African American (as is his comic incarnation) instead of European American, whereas April O'Neil is initially his lab assistant and later the owner of an antique shop, instead of an anchorwoman. She has also been studying Ninjitsu under Splinter, and is now capable of holding her own in a fight. The character Leatherhead, who in the 1987 show was an evil, cajun-sounding mutant alligator with limited intelligence, in the 2003 show is a highly intelligent, mutated crocodile whose origin involves the Utroms, who prefers peace but becomes violent when provoked, and is considered by the Turtles and Splinter to be family.

The 2003 series, aside from showcasing new twists on familiar characters, introduces several secondary characters from the comics; such as Renet, a time traveller in training with the personality of a valley girl; The Fugitoid, a robot whose mind is that of the scientist Professor Honeycutt; The Triceratons, a race of Triceratop humanoids who desire galactic conquest; and Karai, who is leader of the Foot Clan in Japan as well as the adopted daughter and heir to the Shredder.

As the relationships and dynamics of the Turtles grow and mature over the 4.5 year run of the series, so does the legacy and the identity of the Shredder. His origins, while similar to his original comic incarnation and the version of the character from the 1987 show, differ considerably so. Clues and revelations throughout the series tie every facet of the Shredder persona into the origins of both the Turtles and their heritage. This is seen in the first two seasons and the fifth and lost season, which centers around the threat of the "one true Shredder"'s being reborn.

The science fiction elements that was in the old cartoon is still present, though not quite as heavily. In addition, the 2003 series has supernatural elements to it. This includes things such as travel to other dimensions via magic, and the presence of supernatural creatures, include the "original" Shredder that happens to be a demon

The character coloring in the new cartoon series is somewhat different from that in the 1987 cartoon series. Each of the Turtles has a unique skin coloring in the new show, unlike the 1987 show wherein they were all the same tint of green. In the new animated series, Leonardo is a basic green (much like the 1987 original), Raphael is dark green, Michelangelo is dark green-blue, and Donatello is a yellowish olive-green. It should be noted that these color schemes are very different from the color schemes within both the original and 2003 toylines, which have remained similar. In the toys, Leonardo is olive green, Michelangelo is sea green, Donatello is brownish with a hint of green, and Raphael is basic green.

The Turtles bear their favorite colors on their weapon-handles. Also, the bands on their wrists, elbows, and knee-caps are brown, similar to the original comic book series and films. In the 1987 show, the bands had the personal favorite colors of the turtles, as with their bandannas. On their belts in the 1987 show, the Turtles bear their initials. In the 2003 show, they only bear a knot.

In addition, the Turtles' eyes are drawn without irises in the 2003 version when they are shown wearing masks, similar to most drawings of Batman.

Splinter is a Grey, not brown, rat, with brown robes instead of magenta. April O'Neil has long red hair instead of short auburn hair.

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.(December 2007) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

The various plotlines and story arcs of the 2003 TMNT animated series culminated in a way many fans of the franchise never expected. Peter Laird, who had considerable input in the new series, introduced radical new origins for the Shredder, making him a criminal Utrom at war with his peaceful race. The decision to make him an alien sparked controversy among some fans.

The 2003 TMNT animated series has often endured unfavorable criticisms from some fans of the 1987 TMNT animated series^{[citation needed]} (citing less likable characters and the use of a new, less exciting theme song), and the video games based on this series have endured the same criticisms. However, it has also been widely praised, especially by fans more loyal to the comics than to the 1987 series, for its character development, more consistent animation, daring plot twists, and more consistent story arc, which often follows the Mirage comic books closely. Many think this series is similar in plot and style to Fox Kids shows like Spider-Man: The Animated Series. The 2003 TMNT animated series, nonetheless, is considerably more violent and grim than the 1987 TMNT animated series. The Turtles often employ euphemisms through their use of the word "shell" in place of "hell": e.g., "What the shell was that?" and "Ah, shell".

For the fourth season, the opening has been changed to be more like the theme song of the 1987 animated series. While the basic music is the same, the lyrics and tempo have been change to add a quick one-sentence description of each Ninja Turtle, and identify the new villain, the Shredder having been defeated the season before. Thence comes the lyric change from "Watch out for Shredder!" to "We shredded Shredder!" This second intro was met with mixed reactions from both sides of TMNT fandom. The title sequence again changed back to "Watch out for Shredder!" upon the premiere of the episode "Prodigal Son", after Oruku Saki's adopted daughter, Karai, assumes the mantle of her fallen father's armored identity.

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

Dan Berger, TMNT comic writer, and correspondent to the fanbase, confirmed that Peter Laird and his staff had been working hard on a fifth season for the show that would have resolved the "Ninja Tribunal" storyline introduced in the season four finale, producing thirteen episodes in total, but it was shelved in favor of the "Fast Forward" concept for the following season. This "lost season" began airing selected episodes on 4kids' on demand channels, beginning on August 9, 2006, but the episodes have since vanished. Dan Berger later confirmed in November that the Lost Season has been pulled from the Comcast services, and that the DVD release has also been postponed, with at least one episode ("Nightmares Recycled") pulled from production due to sensitive issues (it dealt in a small way with the theme of conjoined twins). The season had a Region 4 release on March 8, 2007. This release lacks the first episode of the arc, "The Ninja Tribunal", which was not included with the Region 1 fourth season releases, having been delayed so as to release the entire storyline in a discrete set. However, "The Ninja Tribunal" was later included in the region 4 DVD of season 4 when it was released on July 4.

As seen in Fast Forward, the events portrayed in the Lost Season are still canonical, despite the episodes not being aired.

On June 25, 2007, Berger announced that 4Kids TV will be airing "most or all" the Lost Season episodes (excluding "Nightmares Recycled", which will not be completed), beginning in January 2008.

Fast Forward is the name given to the latest series produced by 4Kids as a continuation to the TMNT 2003 series. Taking place after the fifth, unpaired season, it follows the adventures of the Ninja Turtles and Splinter as they are accidentally transported one hundred years into the future by Cody Jones, the great-grandson of Casey Jones and April O’Neil and heir to the O’Neil Tech business empire.

Despite following and acknowledging the previous series, Fast Forward abandons most of its characters and storylines in favor of completely original ones, which include Darius Dun, Cody’s manipulative uncle and guardian; Sh’Okanabo, a shape-shifting would-be world conqueror; the Dark Turtles, evil clones of the Turtles made by Sh’Okanabo that are working for Dun; intergalactic mercenary Torbin Zixx; and Jammerhead, the cyborg leader of the Street Phantoms gang. Aside from the Turtles and Splinter, the only characters from the previous returning in 2105 is Agent Bishop, who has since become president of the Pan-Galactic Alliance (a galaxy-spanning version of the United Nations), and Baxter Stockman, who survived one of Bishop's labs' destruction and secretly spent last 100 years underground, trying to recreate some of his technology and take revenge on Bishop.

Taking place mostly in 2105 New York City, the series deals mainly with plots such as Sh’Okanabo’s attempts to unleash the "Day of Awakening"; the Turtles’ attempts to expose Darius Dun’s criminal activities, acclimate to their new home, and to return to their own time; and Cody Jones’ growth. Due to the multispecies population of the future, the Turtles are now free to move about openly and interact with everyday people. The season is lighter in tone and less violent than previous ones, with a greater emphasis on jokes. In spite of that, the Turtles eventually killed Sh'Okanabo and his servant Viral, the first case of them killing any characters (though they attempted to kill the Shredder many times).

Fast Forward spans one 26-episode-long season. Although work had begun on producing a ten episode long follow-up season, (which would have included, among other things, an appearance by Stan Sakai’s Space Usagi, a descendant of recurring TMNT character Miyamoto Usagi)^{[citation needed]}, the series has since been discontinued, with the final six episodes of the original 26 aired in the fall. The intended season finale, "The Day of Awakening", was aired as the penultimate episode despite being the finale on the DVD release.

Following their intentions to return the characters to the present day and adapt a tone similar to the recent TMNT movie, 4Kids pitched a revamp of the series to Peter Laird codenamed "Superworld". The initial proposal was given the 'thumbs down' by Laird [1]. Following this was a second proposal called TMNT Overload, which was approved by Mirage, but rejected by Playmates, who then proposed their own idea, only for that to get rejected by 4Kids and Mirage.

On October 24th, Steve Murphy confirmed on his blog that Playmates, Mirage, and 4Kids had firmly agreed on the new direction, which will take place in the continuty of the 2003 series and use the "more reallistic aspects" of the aborted "Overload" pitch, with character designs similar to that of the 2007 TMNT movie [2] [3]. It's description is as follows:

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back in New York, ready to race across the rooftops and take on all challengers!

Not only are Casey and April back and ready to bust some bad guy butt, but a brand new, super advanced Turtle Lair is under construction (thanks to some hi-tech know-how Donatello garnered from the future), and, of course, there are all sorts of new heavy duty Turtle vehicles gearing up to roar down the streets of NYC and give the Foot a taste of some serious Turtle firepower!

The stakes have never been higher, their enemies have never been stronger... and if the Turtles are going to be triumphant they’ll need to work together in ways they never have before

[4]

Further info were revealed in December 2007, details follow:

When the Turtles return from the future to their present time, Viral interferes causing Master Splinter to get trapped in cyberspace, bits of his data code scattered all throughout the digital domain. The Turtles must find a way to access the virtual realm so they can gather Splinter’s code and save their beloved father before he is lost to them forever... Toy solicitations for 2008 also hint that The Shredder will resurface, though whether or not it is Karai, Ch'rell The Utrom or the Tengu Shredder is unknown.

Main article: List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) episodes

Season	Ep #	First Airdate	Last Airdate
Season 1	26	February 8, 2003	November 1, 2003
Season 2	26	November 8, 2003	October 2, 2004
Season 3	26	October 9, 2004	April 23, 2005
Season 4	26	September 10, 2005	April 15, 2006
Season 5 (Lost Season)	12	August 7, 2006	May 2008
Season 6 (Fast Forward)	26	July 29, 2006	October 27, 2007
Season 7	13	Fall 2008	2009

• Japan

There is a Japanese dub by Shogakukan Productions which airs on TV Tokyo. Like the X-Men animated series, it remakes the opening animation with new animation (mixed in with the regular animation and footage from the original version) of the characters and changes the theme song. Also, like a typical Japanese series, it has also added ending animation at the end of each episode, which also contains original Japanese animation as well as random footage from some episodes. The OP/ED theme change with each season (which only last 13 episodes in Japan). As of December 24, 2007, 39 episodes have aired.

Opening Themes

1. "[Jounetsu no Kaze] 情熱の風 (The Wind of Passion)" by the Inazuma Sentai (eps. 1-13)
2. "Permanent Vacation" by Under the Counter (eps. 14-26)
3. "EVERYBODY" by Turtles4 (eps. 27-)

Ending Themes

1. "サマーファイター (Summer Fighter)" By Kamogawa (eps. 1-13)
2. "夏の終わりがまだここにある(Summer is Over, But I'm Still Here" by The Local Art (eps. 14-26)
3. "Fighting Spirit" by Mirai Drive (eps. 27-)

• Poland

A Polish dub is being aired on Jetix in Poland. The opening and ending sequences are exactly the same as in American version, but the theme song is sang in Polish. Currently, TMNT is only being aired in weekends on 7:35 AM, 13:35 PM and 20:35 PM (local time). So far, 3 seasons had been aired.

Opening Theme

1. "[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles] Żółwie odliczają (Turtles Count it Of)" by Mariusz Totoszko, Piotr Gogol and Michał Rudaś

• List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) episodes
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) DVD releases
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Character Guide

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007)

Various parodies and references to other media works have been found throughout the series.

Screenshot	Episode	Parody Description
	133	The Simpsons on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fast Forward 16: Timing Is Everything
	134	The title, Enter the Jammerhead, is a spoof of the action flick Enter the Dragon. Jammerhead uses the Kamehameha Wave, Goku's signature technique from the Dragonball manga. Ironically the voice actor, Sean Schemmel, is also the voice of adult Goku in the Dragonball Z and GT series. Yet another irony to occur is that "Kamehameha" when translated literally from the Japanese language means "turtle destruction wave". One of the lines is a quote from the "Star Wars" movie, "A New Hope"; "...A wretched Hive of Scum and Villany".

• In Meet Casey Jones Casey Jones (Banging a hockey stick on a trashcan): Purple Dragons, come out and play!

This is a reference to the movie The Warriors when Luther (who looks kind of like Casey Jones, hair at least) says the same thing to call out the Warriors, in his case with empty glass bottles. Also, Mikey spoofs "Field of Dreams" with the Line, "Donnatello...If you build it, we will ride!"

• In The Way of Invisibility Michaelangelo: And that's how they defeated The Thing That Wouldn't Leave!

That's in reference to an old Saturday Night Live skit of the same name, when a house guest seriously overstays his welcome. Casey Jones: "Cloaking devices. What are they, Klingons? The Klingons are a warrior race that has appeared in most, if not all, Star Trek series and have the ability to cloak (hide from view) their space ships.

• In The Shredder Strikes Michaelangelo says "Leonardo, You Got Some Explaining To Do this is a reference to I Love Lucy.

Michaelangelo calls Shredder The Shreddinator a reference to The Terminator

• In The King Being a tribute to Jack Kirby, the inhabitants of the fantasy world beyond the portal resemble Kirby's own New Gods which in turn were loosely based on old Norse Mythology--including the rainbow bridge and a Thor-like hammer-wiedling warrior. Any similarities to Marvel's Asgard, Thor, etc. are unavoidable since they are also based on old Norse Mythology. Finally, the monsters attacking the human-like inhabitants are similar to Jack Kirby's parademons which are an integral part of the New Gods mythos--all of which eventually being absorbed into the more popular Superman mythos. Due to its appearance, it is clear that the city which the heroes were guarding is based on the Marvel Comics version of Asgard, the home of the Mighty Thor. In the comics, Asgard is reached by a rainbow bridge, and has similar architecture. (Also, the heroes themselves look similar to the Asgardians, and one even uses a throwing hammer like Thor does.) One Thor-like human warrior says "You shall not pass!"

This same quote is said by Lord of the Rings character Gandalf the grey when he battles The Balrog, a creature of flame and shadows who nearly kills Gandalf.

• The The Shredder Strikes Backs is a play on the Empire Strikes Back
• The episode Lone Raph and Cub is named after Lone Wolf and Cub which can be seen playing on TV. Also At 2/3 of the episode, Tyler's guiding Raph while he's blinded and he says "Left", and while Raph's turning to the right Tyler guides again "The other left". There's almost a identical scene in The Matrix. Raphael says An old guy once said that anyone who hates dogs and kids can't be all bad..." "An old guy once said that anyone who hates dogs and kids can't be all bad..."

The old guy who said that was the golden-age screen comedian W.C. Fields.

• In Search for Splinter Casey says: ATTICA! ATTICA! a reference to Dog Day Afternoon Mikey: Whoa, Matrix city! Michelangelo points out the visual similarity between the stasis pods that he and the other turtles find Splinter in and the human battery farms from the The Matrix film trilogy. The guy on the elevator says "Newman" just like Jerry Seinfeld says it on Seinfeld
• In Turtles in Space: The Fugitoid Several of the characters throughout this episode--notably the pilots Honeycutt points out (Han Solo and Chewbacca look-a-likes) and the small, Jawa-like aliens in the marketplace--are visual allusions to Star Wars characters
• In Turtles in Space The Trouble with Triceratons The episode's title is a spoof on the classic Star Trek episode title, "The Trouble With Tribbles."
• In Turtles in Space: The Big House Raphael: "Spoon!"

"Spoon!" was the war-cry of the super-hero, the Tick.

• In Turtles in Space: Triceraton Wars Michaelangelo: "Don't get cocky kid!"

While fleeing from the Triceraton fleet in the Prime Leader's ship, Raphael and Michaelangelo get into a pair of weapons emplacements reminiscent of the Millennium Falcon's quad batteries. When Raphael cheers following the destruction of a Triceraton fighter, Mikey says the same line Han Solo said in the original Star Wars during the space battle between the Millennium Falcon and a group of TIE fighters Michaelangelo: "Mr. Sulu. Ahead, Warp Factor-" Said by Michaelangelo right after getting in the captain's chair on the Prime Leader's ship. Obvious Star Trek: TOS reference

• In Secret Origins Donatello: "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Neo!! Um, I mean Leo!"

This is a reference to "The Matrix" movies. In those films, the hero Neo had the ability to manipulate the reality of the virtual reality world of The Matrix. In this episode, Leonardo was easily able to manipulate the Utron's VR world (using his mind to will the Sword of Tengu into his hands), thus making him similar to Neo in this case.

• In Reflections Michaelangelo: "What you talkin' 'bout Willis!?"

This quote is in reference to the catch phrase of Arnold (Gary Colman) from Diffrent Strokes. Michelangelo: {In a Darth Vader sort of voice} "Join me Leonardo! I am your father!" This is a quote at the end of the Star Wars movie: "The Empire strikes back, only not really what was said.

• In City at War Michaelangelo says "You got it Hoss" Hoss is the name of one of the main characters in the western rancher show Bonanza. Don wanted Mikey to 'heard' the robot over towards the electrical lines. Michaelangelo: "Captain America, eat your heart out!"

Captain America has been a staple of Timley/Marvel Comics since 1941. A patriotic super soldier, Captain America has fought in both World War 2 and present day with only his shield and his courage. The mob boss says "I Make him an offer he he won't understand" A play on the line from the Godfather "Make him an offer he can't refuse".

• In April's Artifact April: "Get away from him, you witch!"

After having already made a "Predator" reference (thwarting the opponent by covering yourself with mud), this episode also makes a reference to the "Aliens" movie franchise, when April cries out this quote while saving Raphael from the hornet queen - a reference to the famous quote made by Sigourney Weaver's character in the movie, "Aliens," when saving a little girl from the alien queen: "Get away from her, you bitch".

• The episode Space Invaders is named after the game in it Raphael says "It's not nice to invade Mr. Raphy's neighborhood." he makes an indirect reference to the classic children's show, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, replacing his name, Raphy, in place of Mr. Rogers' name. Michelangelo says "Prepare to be assimilated!" The Borg, a race of cyborg aliens from Star Trek, use that line often. Michelangelo says "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I don't feel fine." REM has a song entitled It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine). Michelangelo is referencing that REM song in his line of dialogue
• In Worlds Collide Agent Bishop calls the Turtles "Mr. Anderson" a reference from Agent Smith from the Matrix for Bishop resembles. The Fugitoid's body is shot off into space much like Spock's body was in The Search for Spock
• In Touch and Go the Mob Leader said "Maybe he phoned home." which is a reference to the 80s movie ET. Michaelangelo says "What are these guys, Terminators?" Mikey likens Touch and Go to the legendary indestructible cyborg from the future. Mikey likens Mr. Touch and Mr. Go to the Wonder Twins. Michelangelo says "I pity the fool who throws a train at me." a reference to Mr. T who was an 80's character famous for quotes that began with "I pity the fool. Mikey also calls Touch "Mr. T" .
• In Same As It Never Was In the beginning, while the Shredder is addressing the public, Karai-Bots are shown blasting machine guns connected to their arms and stepping over human bones. The shots are similar to those of the grim future portrayed in the Terminator movies.
• In I, Monster the title is obviously a parody of Isaac Asimov's book "I, Robot." The sound effects when the Rat King jumps are taken from The Bionic Man.
• In Hunted the Hunter's robot resembles R2D2 from Star Wars.
• In Hun on the Run the lobby Hun runs into shooting resembles the lobby from the Matrix also the Train Station where the Turtles fight Agent Bishop is similar to the one where Neo fought Agent Smith in the Matrix.
• In Exodus Stockman's program on the computer not allowing Chamberlain access as well as mocking him "Uhh, Uhh, Uhh you didn't say may I" is just like Wayne Knights character in program form mocking Samuel L. Jacksons character "Uhh, Uhh, Uhh you didn't say the magic word" and not allowing him to access a needed program in Jurassic Park.
• In A Tale of Master Yoshi Hamato Yoshi's wears yellow clothes with black pattern lines a reference to the suit Bruce Lee wore in Game of Death
• The title of the Insane in the Membrane is taken from a lyrics from a Cyress Hill song Insane in the brain.
• In Future Shellshock! While Michelangelo is being tossed between flying cars, he lands on a windshield of a car being flown by a brown pig with a purple mohawk and purple glasses. This cameo's appearance is an indirect homage to Bebop, a henchman of Shredder from the original 1987 TMNT cartoon series. Bebop had more of a 1980's style to his design, though, including piercings and a ponytail. Serling: I pity the fool. This phrase was used often by "Mr. T" of "A-Team" fame. The Turtles and Master Splinter lose all their clothes when they are transported to the future. This is also a salute towards The Terminator movies. In the movie trilogy, nothing that was inorganic (like clothes) could go through the time machine. That's why all travelers appear naked when they first appear, and Terminator robots are entirely coated in organically grown flesh. Serling also says Arnold's line "Come with me if you want to live"
• In Home Invasion At the beginning of the episode, Leonardo fights a whole bunch of short guys. They all look similar to Link, the hero from the Legend of Zelda game series.

The next guy they fight looks a lot like a more primal Ganondorf, the main villain in the same series of games. The program simulation with cow cowboys is a nod to the cartoon Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa.

• A Triceraton gang leader seen in multiple episodes is named Boss Zuko, which is a reference to either Danny Zuko, the main character in the gang-themed musical Grease, or Tony "Boss" Zucco, a thug or mafia boss from the Batman comic series, responsible for murdering the parents of Dick Grayson.
• Splinter's favorite soap opera is "As the Universe Turns", a nod to the real soap opera "As the World Turns".
• In Playtime's Over Michelangelo says Quick Robin, to the Shell Mobile! a reference to the Batman show from 1966. The video game, Helix II: resembles Halo. Michelangelo says Keep your hands off my game, you darn dirty ape! This is a reference to Charlton Heston's famous quote from Planet of the Apes "Keep your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!"
• In The Gaminator The Gaminator is a spoof name out of The Terminator Trilogy. Mikey mentions Super Fabio Brothers an obvious pun of Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. The logo of the game convention the Turtles and Cody visits is in the same style as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (also know as E3) held in Los Angeles every year.
• In the episode, "Graduation of class 2105" Michelangelo destroys a video game that closely resembles, the "Halo series" (Helix II) and "Space Invaders" (Shell Invaders).
• In the episode "The Fall of Darius Dunn", Darius mentions Denubian Rocks. This is a direct homage to the Denubian Galaxy of Voltron.
• In the episode "The Cosmic Completist", Mikey has an action figure that closely resembles Cyborg from the Teen Titans, though the costume isn't the same. The turtles also fight "dokepals" a Pokemon parody they pop out of red balls and Michelangelo even says "catch em all"
• When the Turtles are in New Times Square in "Timing is Everything", a poster for Alien of the Opera can be seen, an obvious parody of Phantom of the Opera.
• Constable Biggles' catchprhase included the phrase "What's all this then?", a stereotype of the British London "Bobby" constable popularized in comedies such as Monty Python's Flying Circus.

• 4Kids TV Ninja Turtles site
• Official Ninja Turtles website
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) at TV.com
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) at the Internet Movie Database
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) at the Big Cartoon DataBase

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The TMNT Franchise
Comics: Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Tales of the TMNT | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures | Daily comic strip TV series: 1987 cartoon (episode list) | The Next Mutation | 2003 cartoon (episode list) (DVD releases) Films: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III | TMNT Games: Role-playing games | Video games Other related articles: Food tie-ins | Action figures
The TMNT Universe
Characters: Leonardo | Michelangelo | Donatello | Raphael | Splinter | April O'Neil | The Shredder | Casey Jones | Baxter Stockman | Karai | List of characters Races and organisations: Foot Clan Objects and places: Dimension X | | Technodrome