Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trilogy - Arrow Video Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

It's funny, thinking about the things in your life that you’ve loved and have grown out of. You revisit something ten, fifteen years later, and it doesn’t have the same impact. There’s a layer of cheese you weren’t aware of when you were a kid. Or, maybe, something that just didn’t age well. There’ve been movies I gushed over in my mid-twenties, and when I revisit them now, nearly forty, it doesn’t hold the same magic.

But there’s never been a time when I’ve outgrown the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’ve loved them my entire life, from the animated series to the film series, modern graphic novels like The Last Ronin, and even their most recent animated adventures like Mutant Mayhem and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Each entry has its own unique spin on the property, whether it’s more serious in tone or a comedic tale that focuses on the bonds between the brothers. The best entries know how to balance these tones without succumbing to whiplash.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 4.5/5 Stars
Before the first Ninja Turtles film, there was a successful animated series. Before that, there was a darker, grittier comic book series. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wisely picks and chooses elements from both of its pre-existing properties, a noirish tale, cloaked in shadows, and the underworld sewer system of the city, without being an overly-serious piece of grimcore. Because, at the end of the day, this is a story about four teenage, mutated turtles who are ninjas and were raised by a wise, mutant rat. There should be a sense of fun to it.

The Turtles’ first outing on the big screen pulls off a lot. It’s a technical marvel, with costumes and effects courtesy of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. They hold up today and look fantastic. The faces are articulated and show a lot of emotion in their performances. And the human actors, like Judith Hoag as April O’Neil and Elias Koteas as Casey Jones, are along for the ride. They know when to ham it up and go big, and they know when to dial it back in the film’s more serious moments.

Perhaps the secret ingredient to the first film’s success is that it’s about something beyond the story itself. It has subtext that its younger audience that it has in mind would be able to pick up on, without being pandered to. It’s about growth. It’s about the art and beauty of martial arts. It’s about fighting the good fight and never backing down, even if no one knows the full extent of your efforts. There’s a beauty to it, and director Steve Barron has a lot of respect for his story. He’s not merely collecting a paycheck; he’s trying to make a modern classic. And he succeeded wildly at it.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze – 4/5 Stars
Is four stars too high a rating for a sequel that kind of misses the mark? Oh, well. I stand by it. The Secret of the Ooze is not as good as its predecessor. But a lot of so-called “faults” that the film has, like not being as serious as the original, or that it has a lighter, more comedic tone, aren’t necessarily faults. They’re simply decisions, and whether or not you’re on board for those decisions, well, that’s entirely up to you.

Me? I thought it worked...up until a point. I appreciated the intention of having the sequel not merely be a retread of the first film’s runaway success, but to be its own movie, with its own tone. It’s funnier. It’s bigger. It’s louder. The effects are much more ambitious this time around, with Tokka and Rahzar, along with a super-sized Super Shredder, representing villainous foils for our boys in green.

But whereas the original Ninja Turtles movie was about things beyond the pages of the script, there’s not much subtext in Secret of the Ooze. No one really learns anything. April is criminally sidelined. And Tokka and Rahzar, though technical marvels of special effects, are no Bebop and Rocksteady. What Secret of the Ooze gets right more than makes up for what it gets wrong, and is a blast, Vanilla Ice “Ninja Rap” and all. You just might need to turn your brain off for this one.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time – 2.5 / 5 Stars
Here’s the good news: Corey Feldman is back as the voice of Donatello! And Elias Koteas is back as Casey Jones! And April is an active participant in the story again. These are all things I lamented about Part II, and the filmmakers seemed to have learned from their mistakes.

But in correcting those wrongs, they commit a whole series of new, worse sins. They cut corners and opted for new costumes, so Jim Henson’s Creature Shop does not return, and we’re left with Turtles that don’t look half as good as the boys did in the last two films. Splinter, in particular, looks like an animatronic that might greet you at a theme park, jerkily moving in unconvincing ways, with dialogue that doesn’t even try to match his mouth.

Then there’s the plot. Each film in the series gets progressively sillier and sillier, culminating in this film’s premise involving time travel through magical lanterns. While I do love the setting of the Turtles in feudal Japan, clad in Samurai armor, there had to be a better way to get them to that point than this. The big bad, a colonizing English trader, looking to take advantage of the presence of the Turtles, who are thought to be demons, in order to manipulate the Japanese, is a decent idea on paper. I think, historically, he makes sense. But so much of how this plays out is like a dumber, more boring version of Shogun. Beyond that, it’s just a mess. The filmmakers must have realized how disappointing it was to have Casey Jones return, and then do nothing with him, so Elias Koteas also plays an Englishman in the past… who doesn’t do much.

Turtles in Time is best suited for very young children. Heck, I loved it when I was very young. I remember watching it in its entirety, from beginning to end, completely enthralled. And when the movie ended, I popped out the tape, rewound it, and watched it again, right then and there. It’s not without its charms; it just never comes together as well as the other two do.

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Order up some pizza, dudes, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trilogy has arrived on 4K UHD Blu-ray from Arrow Video in a three-disc release! Each disc is housed in a standard case, containing reversible sleeves, with classical poster artwork on one side, and new artwork by Florey on the other. The set also includes posters, trading cards, and stickers! It’s a tubular set, loaded with goodies. Too bad there’s no pepperoni, though.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 4.5/5 Stars
One of the great pleasures I have in writing for High Def Digest is in seeing a video transfer that meets and exceeds every expectation you might have in mind for something. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was scanned in 4K, from its original camera negative, and graded in Dolby Vision HDR. I’ve always thought it was a good-looking movie, one that combines the seedy worlds of Batman’s Gotham City and Martin Scorsese's nightmare vision of New York, with an exaggerated hyper-reality to it. The sewer corridors look straight out of The Third Man, evoking a German Expressionist style.

The other two films in the collection look terrific, too, but the first movie benefits the most from the implementation of HDR. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a dark film, illuminated by blooms of light. In a way, it almost feels like a demonstration of what Dolby Vision/HDR are capable of, balancing light and dark without either element competing for screen space. This release also corrects some over-darkening we saw on previous DVD and Blu-ray releases, referring to the answer print for color timing and light levels.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze – 4/5 Stars
Secret of the Ooze lacks the noirish aesthetic of the original, and for its 4K presentation, it was sourced from the interpositive as opposed to the negative. It is still a very, very good-looking video presentation. Secret of the Ooze set itself apart from the original with a more comedic, family-friendly tone, and that extends to the cinematography. Shelly Johnson, though, is no slouch. So, gone are the moody shadows and lighting of the first film, but we are given a wider, more saturated array of colors. Details are rendered razor-sharp, with the bumps and texture clearly visible on the Turtles’ skin. There is also great use of colored lights in key sequences, where someone will be silhouetted with a neon red or a hazy blue in the evening of the city.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time – 4/5 Stars
Turtles in Time was filmed by cinematographer David Gurfinkel, veteran of Cannon Films productions like The Delta Force and Over the Top, so for their third outing, it definitely has the look and feel of an American Ninja movie, which suits me just fine. Turtles in Time gets a lot wrong, but overall look and design ain’t one of 'em—lackluster Turtle costuming excepted. The third film has a much sleeker presentation than the other two, without much film grain apparent on the final result, which is clearly the filmmaker’s intent, and not due to the use of DNR scrubbing, since details are very sharp. Like Secret of the Ooze, this film makes great use of color, especially in close-up shots of human actors. Skin tones look radiant and varied, with red blushing on cheeks. Turtles in Time may not look as cartoony as Secret of the Ooze, but it’s just as adept with its use of color to add a pop to a frame and help it stand out brilliantly.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 4/5 Stars
Of the three films included in the set, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the only one to feature a Dolby Atmos mix. And of the three audio options available on the first film’s disc, the Atmos mix is my least favorite. Having an updated surround sound option is great, and the other two films do terrifically with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix. The Atmos mix here has some issues. During some of the film’s more chaotic moments, dialogue sounds muffled. The dynamic range between effects can be jarring and all over the place. Turn it up to hear, and BAM! a glass-shattering sound effect will jolt you to the back of your theater.

The good news is that there are two other audio options available that make up for the messy Atmos remix. Audio purists will be pleased that the original LPCM 2.0 option is available. Dialogue throughout is clean and audible, balancing musical score and effects with aplomb. It packs a punch without blowing out your speakers; everything is leveled excellently.

There is also an alternate mix titled the “warrior” mix, a 2.0 stereo option encoded in DTS-HD MA. I’m unfortunately not much of a technical expert, so I tried to look up what made this mix different, and it appears to be a 2.0 surround option, but I’ll stand corrected if that’s not the case. Musical score and sound effects reached the rear speakers, even in “standard” mode on my sound system, so the matrixing of certain effects seemed deliberate in the mix itself, not in the sound system using adaptive surround functionality to fill out the soundstage. The key difference for this track over the others is the removal of the word "ninja" and its replacement with "warrior." That's it. 

In either case, both stereo options are great, and I did tend to favor the “warrior” mix, if for no other reason than it seemed to feel fuller than the LPCM option.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze – 4.5/5 Stars
Secret of the Ooze comes equipped with a 5.1 surround sound, encoded in DTS-HD MA, as well as its original lossless LPCM stereo mix. The original stereo mix is awesome, just like it was for the first film, but the surround sound mix is great fun, too, seeing frequent activity throughout the entirety of the soundstage. Echoes of calling voices in the sewer, the “whoosh” of a quick kick, the swelling of a dramatic musical cue, all see placement through the rear speakers. Through the film’s mayhem, it never loses sight of the snappy, quippy dialogue of the Turtles’ back-and-forths.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time – 4.5/5 Stars
John Du Prez, who composed all three Turtles films included in this set, mixes things up a bit for this film’s score and leans into a bass-heavy beat with lots of drums to evoke a feeling of 17^th-century Japan. In the film’s tense moments, it also becomes a sort of discordant piece, reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti’s work on the Twin Peaks television series.

Beyond the score, the sound design is just as terrific and, like the other two films, comes with its original lossless LPCM stereo mix, in addition to a 5.1 DTS-HD MA surround mix that sees frequent activity throughout the soundstage. Turtles in Time may have its issues, but at least it looks and sounds great.

This is not me complaining. This is me wistfully wishing from a place of nostalgia. But I wish that, for these discs, they contained the original VHS openings as a special feature. I still remember all those commercials, Pizza Hut, Burger King, and the trailers for upcoming features like Suburban Commando and Stepkids. I imagine securing the rights, including music, would be too logistically unfeasible, so I understand. At the very least, Arrow has put together an amazing collection of interviews and audio commentaries, and some vintage featurettes. Along with the physical goodies found in the case, they have gone all out on bonuses for viewers.

Disc One - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

• Audio Commentary - Director Steve Barron
• Audio Commentary - Comic book expert and podcast host Dave Baxter
• Rising When We Fall (HD 14:44) - New interview with director Steve Barron
• Turtle Talk (HD 18:50) - New interview with actors Robbie Rist, Brian Tochi, Ernie Reyes Jr and Kenn Scott
• O'Neil on the Beat (HD 19:54) - New interview with actor Judith Hoag
• Wet Behind the Shells (HD 11:01) - New interview with producer Simon Fields
• Beneath the Shell (HD 16:07) - New interview with puppet coordinator and second unit director Brian Henson, and Rob Tygner, puppeteer for both Splinter and Leonardo
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turf (HD 12:58) - New featurette exploring the film's locations in New York City and North Carolina
• Alternate UK Version (4K/HDR 1:31:15) - With unique footage prepared for censorship reasons, presented in 4K via seamless branching
• Alternate Ending (SD 2:10) – Sourced from VHS workprint
• Alternate Korean Footage (SD 1:01)
• Theatrical Trailers
• Image Gallery

Disc Two - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

• Audio Commentary - Director Michael Pressman moderated by filmmaker Gillian Wallace Horvat
• John Du Prez to the Rescue (HD 13:40)– New interview with composer of the trilogy John Du Prez
• Hard Cores (HD 8:17)- New interview with Kenny Wilson, mould shop supervisor at Jim Henson's Creature Shop
• The Secret of the Edit (HD 15:00) - New interview with editor Steve Mirkovich
• Behind the Shells (SD 28:36) - Archive featurette from 1991
• Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery

Disc Three - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time

• Audio Commentary - Director Stuart Gillard
• Rebel Rebel (HD 14:17) - New interview with actor Vivian Wu
• Daimyos & Demons (HD 10:14) - New interview with actor Sab Shimono
• Alternate UK Opening (SD 2:03)
• Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery

Go, ninja! Go, ninja! Go! The heroes in a half-shell come to 4K UHD Blu-ray in a box set from Arrow Video that is turtle-y gnarly. It kicks some serious shell. Awesome flicks. Bossanova A/V stats. And more supplemental materials than you could shake a bo staff at. Arrow has really gone all out, and its love for the franchise shows. Wise man say: Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza. Well, luckily, the za’s arrived just in time, and the discs are worthy. Arrow’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trilogy on 4K UHD Blu-ray is a Must Own.