Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ On Paramount+, Where The Turtles Fight Enemies While Trying To Be “Normal” Teenagers

It’s amazing to us how sophisticated shows that are aimed towards older elementary school kids and preteens have gotten in recent years. The dialogue is speedy, the references are current, and the stories are pretty complex. Take the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; the 2023 film Mutant Mayhem blows away the Turtles’ original 1980s TV series, which was pretty sophisticated and revolutionary for the time. Now there is a new Paramount+ series follow-up to that film.

TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “TWO MONTHS AGO…” We see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appear on a Manhattan street, saving the crowd from a monster. We also see what looks like screenshots of the turtles, with “Target Acquired” flashing on the screen.

The Gist: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — Donatello (Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu) and Raphael (Brady Noon) — are enjoying being hailed as heroes, and Leo draws their adventures in a comic book he calls Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

In the story Leo creates, he and his brothers are invited by their friend April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri) to a costume party. But before they can show up, a number of mutant alerts pop up on their phones. Leo thinks that this will just be a five-minute distraction before they show up to the party. But then we cut to them being attacked by robots and separated.

We then follow Leo as he battles a particularly ferocious robot, he worries about where his brothers might be and if they’re OK. He eventually manages to find April, who helps him out as much as she can, but for the most part is there to let him know he is strong enough to defeat the robot on his own. In the meantime, a villain named Bishop (Alanna Ubach) is out to kill as many mutants as she can.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a continuation of the 2023 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which had Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg amongst its producers. Chris Yost and Alan Wan are the showrunners for the series.

Our Take: The idea behind Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is that the series will have arcs, with Leo’s comic book being the device that ties them together. In the first arc, Bishop manages to separate the brothers, and each of them have to figure out how to battle whatever is out to destroy them on their own, without their brothers’ help. It’s an interesting way to start the series, given the fact that having the four brothers together is what people have liked about the show since the 1980s.

Of course, having them separate highlights each of their strengths. Leo is a leader. Donnie is smart as a tack and good with technology. Raph is the strongest. And Mikey is speedy and agile, plus the loosest and most fun-loving of the brothers. We wonder if they’re all going to rope April into the battle, or if we’ll see them get help from other people in their world to help them out.

The hallmark of the Turtles has always been their casualness and love of pizza. But this new generation of Turtles is more pop-culture aware and jokes more like people do in life, like when one of the brothers goofs on Donatello for looking up party etiquette on Wikipedia.

There are lots of guest voices playing mutants and enemies, including Pete Davidson, Jillian Bell, Timothy Olyphant, Danny Trejo, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Rose Byrne and Post Malone. Seeing their characters interacting with the Turtles during the show’s other arcs should be fun.

What Age Group Is This For?: There’s some mild violence, so we think the show is for kids 7 and up..

Parting Shot: Bishop looks at her bank of screens and shows what kind of peril the other three brothers are in.

Sleeper Star: Ayo Edeberi’s speedy delivery fits in the show’s style perfectly, as April is a character who looks out for the boys while fighting her own insecurities.

Most Pilot-y Line: When the party guests see “Nardo”, they greet him enthusiastically, but one wonders where his brothers are. “It’s like seeing one Jonas.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is definitely fun to watch and is certainly more sophisticated than the Turtles’ original animated adventures.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.