By Since this is my second year at a big convention like this, I’m still pretty inexperienced with panels. My first big one was Disney’s Tomorrowland panel, but I didn’t stay the entire way through. So this year I made it my mission to see one through, and thankfully, the first big panel of the convention happened to be Nickelodeon’s TMNT show, the best incarnation of the Turtles to date.
I got swept up in the fandom, and it was a great panel all around. The creators discussed the season finale (which I’m going to spoil since the fourth season picks up right where it ended so read with risk and all that), showed off some nice season 4 tidbits, and most importantly, premiered the fourth season premiere. Excuse my blurry pictures, I had to ninja to get them.
Most of the voice cast was present with the absence of Mae Whitman and Sean Astin being the only loss (but he called in through Facetime) as well as showrunner Ciro Nieli and writer Brandon Auman. Wasting no time they started discussing the show’s major shake up at the end of season three (once again, major spoilers), as the Tricertons set off a black hole bomb resulting in both Splinter’s death and the destruction of the Earth. Splinter’s VO Hoon Lee expressed some concern over it, but he also argued that it showed how dangerous the Turtles’ life really is as they “live by the sword and die by the sword.” Nieli stated that they wanted to try something big like that because they have all sorts of different directions for the show, and by the sounds of some of the news it’s going to go to some crazy places.
Here are some of the major plans for season 4:
- David Tennant’s Fugitoid is playing a huge role in the series going forward.
- Keith David joins the show voicing a Salamander commander who may or may not truly be a bad guy (from a race based on The Newtralizer)
- The A-Team’s Dwight Schultz is joining the cast as Wyrm, who’s no longer a mutated trashman but now an all powerful alien genie with reality bending powers (think Bat-Mite) who fights the turtles by shapeshifting and wrapping them up in a big ball, hilariously. Also Casey’s glowing blue and super smart for some reason.
- The biggest thing? The Krang suit from the original 80s cartoon is returning as part of a 2D animatedspecial crossover with the original voice cast in tow, including Pat Fraley returning to voice the original villainous Krang. We were shown an in progress cinematic, and for anyone worried that the show’s two tones would clash, don’t worry. It’s funny, has lots of action, and it’ll warm your heart.
As for the season four premiere, the show’s getting an entirely new title cinematic. With a bit of summary of season three’s finale, the turtles are shown in all sorts of new space situations. After that, the Turtles are trying to get used to their new situation as Fugitoid lays out the goal for the season. They need to collect shards of a special time macguffin in order to save the Earth (which is now stuck in a weird stasis of both existence and non-existence), but if the Triceratons get them first it’s all over. With a new goal and some cool looking, color coordinated space suits (April’s looks very familiar to those who’ve followed the 80s cartoon) the Turtles have a new lease on life. Which means we don’t have to worry too much about angst or anything like that. Considering how heavy three’s finale was, it’s refreshing that season four giddily jumped into the new status quo. Anyway, after an asteroid belt leaves their ship damaged, the Turtles land on a planet of rogues, pirates and thieves (Raphael naturally likes it while Fugitoid notes he’s never been but says it looks great in the Spring).
On the new planet, the Turtles make all sorts of space puns (a few of them land, most don’t but the kids’ll love it) and are introduced to a bunch of new technologies (which will most likely make their ninjutsu much better as the season roles on). After some exploring and each turtle finding their own troubling situation, we’re introduced to season four’s major addition, Peter Stormare’s Lord Dregg. I have no clue how they landed Stormare, but he’s fantastic. He’s chewing up the scenery immensely and you can tell he absolutely loved playing the bad guy. Lord Dregg majorly outclasses the Turtles while throwing them around like ragdolls and has technologically superior, super tough henchmen. After the Turtles flee the planet and have a space battle with Dregg, the episode ends with the Turtles hyperspacing into the unknown.
After having so much fun with the premiere, I’m totally confident that the writing staff knew what it was doing when it literally blew itself up. I’ve never been more excited for a TMNT season, especially after last season felt like such a retread. It’s definitely a good shot in the arm, and besides all the blatant need for new toys, the show’s going to very enjoyable. I can’t wait to see the rest of TMNT’s universe.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ fourth season premieres October 25th on Nickelodeon.