From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

This is the article on the movie. For other interpretations, see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (disambiguation).

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
This image is a candidate for speedy deletion. It will be deleted after seven days from the date of nomination.
Directed by	Stuart Gillard
Produced by	David Chan Kim Dawson Thomas K. Gray
Written by	Comic Book: Kevin Eastman Peter Laird Screenplay: Stuart Gillard
Starring	Elias Koteas Paige Turco Stuart Wilson Vivian Wu Sab Shimono
Music by	John Du Prez
Cinematography	David Gurfinkel
Editing by	William D. Gordean James R. Symons
Distributed by	New Line Cinema 20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	March 19, 1993
Running time	96 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
Followed by	TMNT
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is a 1993 live-action film, the second sequel to the 1990 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. Full and wide-screen version DVDs were released on September 3, 2002.

April O'Neil finds a scepter and is sent back in time to feudal Japan, and in her place, a man from feudal Japan comes to present New York City with the same scepter, but from his own time. The turtles take the scepter and travel back in time to save April. When the turtles arrive in feudal Japan, many people in a local village understand English because the village has strong trade relations with England. The turtles fight Lord Norinaga and the English trader Walker to stop a war. The movie is sometimes mistakenly thought to have had the subtitle Turtles in Time. In 2007, this movie was followed by a fourth film simply titled "TMNT", which was CGI, unlike this movie and the previous ones.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2.1 Voice cast 3 Reception 4 Soundtrack 5 Trivia 6 References 7 External links

In feudal Japan, a man is seen fighting on horseback a group of samurai, who capture him.

In the twentieth century, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles perform a dance sequence, wherein each shows his fighting style, in the abandoned subway station which they have made their home. As the dance ends, Raphael throws a sai into the speaker, frustrated that no one appreciates the Turtles or sees what they do. April O'Neil has been shopping at the flea market in preparation for her upcoming vacation; she brings her friends gifts to cheer them. Michelangelo is given a colorful lampshade, Donatello is given an old radio, Leonardo is given a book on historical swords and Raphael is to receive a hat. Having stormed off earlier, he is never formally given it.

For Splinter, April brings an ancient Japanese scepter. This is possibly a reference to the "Sacred Sands of Time Scepter" featured in the original Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic series and the crossover story with Dave Sim's Cerebus character.

In feudal Japan, the man who was taken, Kenshin, is reproached for committing disgrace by his father, Daimyo Norinaga. He leaves his father's presence and drives priests out of a temple. There, he finds the same scepter and reads the inscription on its handle: "Open Wide the Gates of Time". Before Kenshin leaves, a British weapons-trader called Walker is introduced, along with his thug Niles.

In the twentieth century, April is looking at the scepter when it begins to emit light and a small device inside its lamp-like crown begins to spin. She is then sent to Kenshin's time and place, and he to hers, exchanging clothes. Upon arrival, April is captured by the Daimyo's soldiers. Lord Norinaga, blaming her for Kenshin's disappearance, imprisons her.

The Turtles become friends to Kenshin and decide to travel back in time to retrieve April. They invite Casey Jones to watch over Splinter, then embark, warned by Donatello's calculation that they have only 60 hours wherein to complete the rescue before the scepter ceases to enable time travel. Having been sent to Japan in exchange for Daimyo Norinaga's Honor Guards, the Turtles arrive mounted on horses, in the midst of a battle. Michelangelo, who is sitting backward on his horse, is separated from his brothers and captured by outlaws. The scepter was goes with him. The other Turtles leave search for April. When they reach Norinaga's fortress, presumably by inflitrating his army, they are quickly mistaken for Honor Guards, though they escape from the prospect of facing the Daimyo. They follow Walker's men to the prison and discover April.

The Turtles drive out Walker's assistants, intimidate the jailer, then free April. They leave through a garbage-disposal chute and leave. Escaping behind them is an Englishman called Whit, who is said to have rebelled against Walker.

Kenshin is becoming impatient and worried. Casey introduces him, and the Honor Guards, to hockey. An attack on the Turtles, who were again mistaken for the Honor Guards, leads them to Mitsu, leader of the rebellion against Lord Norinaga. Mitsu is a young, beautiful, courageous and determined woman who intends first to overthrow the Daimyo and later to marry Kenshin so as to prevent another war. It is she who has imprisoned Michelangelo. Mitsu's village is under attack by Walker and his men, who are searching for the scepter; the Turtles rush to intervene. Michelangelo is released by two of Walker's men, who think to earn a reward by restoring one of the Honor Guards, who have been confirmed as absent. Having seen his face and heard him speak, they plant the rumor among their partners that a demon is in the vicinity. When confronted by Michelangelo, the other Turtles, and Mitsu's people, Walker flees. Michelangelo saves a boy named Yoshi from a fire, whereupon Leonardo revives the nearly stifled child by means of CPR, for which the grateful villagers allow them to stay. Anguished by the loss of the scepter, the Turtles commission a local blacksmith to make a new one.

Walker uses the presence of the Turtles as an excuse to raise the price of guns sold by him to the Daimyo, arguing that the threat posed is greater by demons than only by men. Norinaga reveals a legend stating that four kappa, resembling the Turtles, had vanquished his ancestors, and suggests that they have returned to disgrace him. Although he initially refuses to pay more for the guns than the price originally set, he agrees later. Walker shows himself, in these interactions, to be greedy, manipulative, and without compassion.

Michelangelo tries to teach the village cooks to make pizza, but produces an inedible result. Mikey is apparently attracted emotionally to Mitsu; he learns that she wishes to marry Kenshin and reassures her that Kenshin will return when the Turtles have departed. Raphael gets in touch with his sensitive side as well, through the child Yoshi, whose name links him through an unclear means to Splinter's mentor. He becomes very fond of this child, to the point of considering him as an experienced, worldly elder brother would consider the younger brother.

The Honor Guards are challenged to a hockey game by Casey; to his dismay, he finds that they believe hockey to consist of beating each other. A new scepter is completed, only to be broken by Michelangelo and Raphael during an argument over whether or not to stay. Mitsu informs them that Lord Norinaga has guns and will attack the next day. Yoshi, fearing Raph's death, gives him the original scepter, which he had hidden under the house where he lives. They are overjoyed to see it, but resent Mitsu for concealing it it in order to force them to fight in the war. Mitsu is then kidnapped by Whit, the man they saved alongside April. Whit takes Mitsu and the scepter to Walker.

The Turtles set out to rescue Mitsu. In the process, they learn of the legend that has caused the Daimyo to fear them, regain confidence in themselves, and free many of those imprisoned, leading to a massive battle in the courtyard of Norinaga's palace between the rebels and the daimyo's army. Leonardo defeats Lord Norinaga in a sword duel, comically finishing him by cutting his hair (a disgrace to his status as a samurai), and then trapping him inside of a bell.

Walker captures April and threatens to kill her. His soldiers take control of the battlefield, armed with guns. He orders the Turtles to be shot; Leonardo bluffs by drawing upon the belief (held insistently by Walker's superstitious men) that he and his brothers are demons, saying that any bullets shot at them will ricochet and kill their senders. Leonardo then baits Walker to shoot them himself. Walker shoots at them with a cannon, but misses when the Turtles instinctively pull their heads into their shells. April and Whit, also targeted by the cannon (Whit having spoken against Walker's order), duck their own heads to dodge the shot. The cannonball collides with the bell, freeing the shocked but largely unscathed Daimyo.

Walker's soldiers are routed; he himself runs away. He obtains the scepter and a cage containing pet birds from his room, then climbs over the roof of the palace to a high point overlooking the ocean. He is there cornered by the Turtles. To distract them while escaping himself, Walker throws the scepter overhead and begins climbing down a scaffold. The Turtles form a chain of their bodies, holding onto a wall or fence at one end and catching the scepter at the other. Walker, realizing that he has forgotten his birds, returns to retrieve them, whereupon Whit, realizing that his name is "lower than scum" in the eyes of the desirable April, uses a catapult to kill Walker by knocking him to his death in the ocean. When Walker falls into the water, he disappears, making no splash effect.

The Turtles then debate whether to or not to go home, because they are appreciated and respected in feudal Japan, unlike New York where they must hide underground to avoid being targets of human fear. Mitsu urges them to go, so that she may have Kenshin return to her. Mitsu makes a parting well-wish to Michelangelo, of whose soft spot for her she is aware and by which she is flattered. The scepter activates, making their decision urgent. In New York of the twentieth century, Kenshin has activated it in his impatience to go home. Splinter counsels him not to abandon the Honor Guards, on the grounds that such an act would be cowardly. Casey gathers the Honor Guards, who have become infatuated with the trappings of their host society, and organizes their return to Japan.

The Turtles ultimately decide to go home, based on the argument that their presence interferes negatively with the lives of the people of Japan. Raphael bids Yoshi an affectionate farewell. Because of his procrastination, Michelangelo fails to join April and his brothers. When these have returned to their native time, the Honor Guard who had replaced Michelangelo runs away, carrying the scepter. As he exits the Turtles' den, the scepter activates, exchanging him for Michelangelo. Simultaneously, its powers of time travel (symbolized by the rotating device at its head) are destroyed. In Japan, Norinaga is taken prisoner and brought before Mitsu and Kenshin. He is surprised to see them both, together, and more surprised to see his Honor Guard walk through the corridor, half naked and talking incoherently about anachronisms. When he has gone, having spoken no word but clearly shown his submission, Kenshin seizes Mitsu in imitation of a poster he had seen in the Turtles' home and kisses her on the lips.

Michelangelo is depressed until Splinter puts the afore-mentioned lampshade on his (Splinter's) head as a joke, whereupon both laugh. The film ends with another dance sequence.

Actor	Role
Elias Koteas	Casey Jones / Whit
Paige Turco	April O'Neil
Vivian Wu	Mitsu
Sab Shimono	Lord Norinaga
Stuart Wilson	Walker
John Aylward	Niles
Henry Hayashi	Kenshin
Mark Platt	Leonardo
Matt Hill	Raphael
Jim Raposa	Donatello
David Fraser	Michaelangelo
James Murray	Splinter
Travis A. Moon	Yoshi

Actor	Role
Robbie Rist	Michaelangelo
Brian Tochi	Leonardo
Tim Kelleher	Raphael
Corey Feldman	Donatello
James Murray	Splinter

The film received mixed reviews and was criticized by fans of the first film who said that it was too cartoony and that the plot was unrealistic and silly, much like the second film. To make matters worse, it also has the least combat. Notably, the turtles only fight three battles, only one of which features all four turtles. Critic Fred Topel called it a "Terrible conclusion of the trilogy."^{[citation needed]} Many fans state that their real complaint is the less-realistic costumes and puppetry of the turtles and Splinter, making it the poorest-received film in the series. Even though the film was moderately successful, it was behind the previous two films. A similar review was given by the Angry Video Game Nerd who also stated things like the fact that they don't fight villains from the cartoon, but instead "this samurai and a guy on a horse."

Main article: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack‎

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Robbie Rist and Brian Tochi (who did the voices of Michaelangelo and Leonardo, respectively) are the only two voice actors to voice the same character throughout all three live-action TMNT movies.
• This was the last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film released by New Line Cinema.
• According to Troma Films creator Lloyd Kaufman in his book Everything I Learned About Filmmaking, I Learned From the Toxic Avenger, New Line did not live up to their end of the contract to make a Toxic Crusaders movie. Kaufman has speculated that New Line bought the rights because they were in negotiations to make the sequels to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie and wanted to use the Toxic Crusaders film as leverage against the owners of the rights to TMNT. Troma sued New Line and was awarded an undisclosed amount in damages.
• The packaging for both the videocassette and DVD identifies them as "America's favorite amphibians," which is a mistake as turtles are reptiles.
• When Michaelangelo yells "Kurt Russell, eat your heart out," after saving the young boy to from the fire, he is referring to the 1991 film Backdraft, in which Russell portrays a firefighter.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III at the Official Ninja Turtles website.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III at the Internet Movie Database
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III at Rotten Tomatoes
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III soundtrack information at the Official Ninja Turtles website.
• Satirical review of the film at X-Entertainment
• Angry Movie Nerd's Review of TMNT III Part 1
• Angry Movie Nerd's Review of TMNT III Part 2

v • d • e Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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