I was big time into TMNT during the height of "Turtlemania" back in the late 80s/early 90s.
As such, I saw all of the movies theatrically, and there is a special place in my heart for all of them (yes, even the admittedly rather terrible 3rd movie), but the first one definitely holds up the best. Here's my thoughts and experiences with them...
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
I very much remember seeing this in the theater with my dad. I was 10 when it came out.
While I was aware that TMNT started out as a comic, I hadn't read the original comics and was mainly familiar with the cartoon and toyline at the time.
I remember being a bit confused about April working for Channel 3 instead of Channel 6, and Splinter being the pet rat of Homato Yoshi rather than being Yoshi, himself like in the cartoon (I of course know now that this is more true to the comic roots).
But still, it was overall a great experience seeing it in the theater, and overall it was well done. I do remember finding the parts where they flashed back to them when they first started mutating rather silly (when they were small, but somewhat mutated). My dad also particularly cracked up at the scene of Splinter, before being mutated, in his cage practicing martial arts!
Having just recently rewatched this movie, I think it still holds up rather well overall. It does have its sillier moments, such as the aforementioned young Splinter/Turtle scene, and even when the Turtles are just goofing around in the "present day" of the movie. But it still has a serious, dark undertone with it feeling like there are major things at stake. And the battles were pretty well done, especially considering how difficult that must have been with the suits and all. I think it still stands about being a good, solid comic book movie.
I do remember hoping that if/when any sequels happened, that more characters from the cartoon would hopefully be in them, especially Krang, Rocksteady, Bebop, etc.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
My dad once again took me to see this in the theater (in fact, I think we ended up seeing it twice, due to a lack of other movies to see at the time).
I was 11 when it came out, and I still enjoyed the hell out of it.
While it would have been nice if it had the darker, more serious tone of the first one, I still had a great time with it at the time.
As I'm sure was the case with for many kids at the time, I do remember that when Shredder was forcing Professor Perry to make a couple of mutants, I was expecting them to be Rocksteady and Bebop. While it was obvious that they were mutating two animals (and not people into animals, as was the case with those characters in the cartoon series), I just figured it would be similar to how Splinter was just a rat in the first movie (again at the time being unfamiliar with the specifics of the original comics).
When Tokka and Rahzar were revealed, I was very confused at first, with this of course going again my expectations. But I came to enjoy and become a fan of these characters. And I was into everything in this movie. I loved Ninja Rap and even got the soundtrack to the movie on cassette tape. And I remember being REALLY excited at the end when the Shredder, himself, was mutated into Super Shredder. That just blew my mind at the time (I didn't question the logic about how his armor grew/changed from him using the ooze... which of course comes to mind these days).
A while after the movie came out, I remember a friend of mine at school telling me that he had just gotten some new TMNT figure, and on the back of the packaging it showed action figures for Tokka, Rahzar, and Super Shredder (this was before they made the "movie star" versions of the Turtles, themselves). I remember being excited by this info, but also skeptical (not that I thought he was intentionally lying, just that I was making sure he wasn't mistaken). Then a day or two later he brought the cardback from the figure to school, and showed me the pictures. My mind was blown away!
A quick sidenote, my parents have been divorced since I was VERY young. I have no memory of them being married (they were, but I was only like a year old when they split up). My mom and I lived with my grandparents (her parents) for years, and I saw my dad on the weekends.
I mention this because at this time my mom had been dating my step dad (they got married in late '93, and are still together today). He was and still is a very nice, good man. He has always been very, very nice to me. And knowing that I was excited about these figures at the time, he had made a trip to Toys R Us and found them all (plus Chrome Dome, which he picked up because he just thought it was a really cool looking figure). Then a few days later when my mom and I went over to his house (which is where my mom and I moved to after they got married, and where they still live now), and he had hidden the figures all over the house and had me go on a little "hunt" to find them all. It was pretty cool. I was SO excited to have these figures, with Super Shredder being a particular favorite.
Eventually I got the movie star Turtles as well. And I also got the "Mutatin'" versions of Tokka and Rahzar (which had the ability to transform from a regular snapping turtle and wolf to their mutated forms). These became my preferred versions of the characters. While I very much liked and was excited to get the initial figures of them, Playmates cheaped out on Tokka a bit my reusing parts from the Slash figure (just as the legs, Torso, etc), so parts of him didn't quite look right, particularly his feet, having only two toes as opposed to several (I think 4 or 5) in the movie. Rahzar just seemed too skinny... as if he hadn't eaten in months. And they just seemed a bit too small given how big they were compared to the Turtles in the movie. The "Mutatin'" versions somewhat rectified this. Tokka was a big more accurate to his movie look (correct feet, etc). And while they both looked a little oddly bulky due to the mutating action feature, they were just generally bigger figures and next to the movie (or other standard) Turtle figures, the proportions were better.
Sorry for the rant about the figures, but this is a big part of my memories at the time.
But back to the film, itself, still enjoy watching it from a nostalgic, cheesy standpoint. I do admit that it doesn't "hold up" anywhere near as well as the first one, and I probably wouldn't like it very much if I were just seeing it for the first time today. But as part of my childhood, I still enjoy it for what it is.
When it came out, I didn't fully realize just how little they actually use their weapons in the film, and really how pathetic the final battle with Shredder/Super Shredder technically is (they don't really fight him.... he just kind of collapses a dock onto himself). I still enjoy it, but some kind of actual battle would have been nice.
This video is pretty hilarious. I discovered it just a couple of days ago when it was posted on some page in my Facebook newsfeed. It's a short retelling TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze, with Pug Puppies as the Turtles. I actually cracked up quite a bit at this (especially the end battle):
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
My "relationship" with this movie is actually rather complicated. I was 13 when this came out. So, I was "technically" getting to be "too old" to be into stuff like this and the figures that go with it, but I just wasn't quite ready to give that sort of thing up (and now as an adult, I collect action figures and such).
Yes, it was,
by far, the worst of the original three live action movies. I am not disputing this in any way, shape or form. And the animatronics were pretty bad all around, but Splinter was particularly terrible. The plot was weak, and the enemies were not from any then-existing TMNT cartoons/comics/media.
But that said, there are still things I liked (and still like) about the movie. For some reason one of my favorite parts of the film is the very beginning when they are dancing around in their lair during the opening title/credits. And it still has some funny lines, moments, etc.
But more so than the movie, itself, I have very special memories tied with seeing it in the theater.
My dad, once again, took me to see this. By sheer coincidence, the friend that I mentioned earlier (who told me about the Tokka, Rahzar, and Super Shredder figures) was there at the same time to see it with a couple of other friends of his, and we all ended up sitting together and had a great time, despite the movie being less than stellar.
Just shy of three weeks after that, he (my friend) passed away. I'm still not sure if I ever got the exact story straight. I knew that he had some kind of heart problem/condition all of his life, but from what I recall he supposedly had some kind of reaction to the combination of medications that he was on and passed away in his sleep. It was a very sad and devastating time.
I remember finding this out rather vividly. It was on Monday, April 5, 1993. He had passed away over night the night before. I, along with all of the other students in the 7th grade class (I went to a small Catholic school, and the entire 7th grade was about two class rooms of students) were gathered in one room first thing when we arrived that day. The teacher of one of the 7th grade classrooms was there (she was the one to break the news), along with a substitute for the other 7th grade teacher, and I think the principle was there as well. As the one teacher was slowly trying to break the news to us, it became obvious that someone had passed away, but we did not yet know who. I, and as it turned out a few others, at first thought that the other 7th grade teacher had passed away with the substitute being there. It turned out that he was just on vacation. Then we were finally told who passed away, and it was devastating. Everyone was sad, but me especially as he was one of my best friends. The rest is a bit of a blur. I think they let us out early that day. They had notified all of our parents of what happened, and my mom had come to pick me up.
I remember at one point he and I had traded some TMNT figures, the two that I received from him were the mutating versions of Donatello and Michelangelo (I had given him a couple of 'movie star' Turtles that I somehow ended up with doubles of). I still have the figures, as well as all of my vintage turtle figures. He also made this set of make-shift nunchucks that he gave me at one point. I still have those as well.
The 3rd movie came out in theaters in March of 1993. That following summer I had gotten it on VHS (as I had with the previous films). Since I was off of school, I would often stay up late at night. For whatever reason, for probably almost a month straight, every night I put it on. I didn't necessarily give it my "undivided attention"... I'd be doing other things at the same time, but I would have it on, at least in the background, if nothing else. I'm not really sure why, because like I said, it wasn't a particularly great movie. I just kind of did it "just because." I can't even say it was because of the memory of my friend, as I don't recall that being a specific reason for doing so (though maybe subconsciously that had something to do with it). But, that's what happened.
Sorry, I hope I didn't depress anyone too badly with that story!
And honorable mention:
TMNT (2007 CGI movie)
I won't go into too much detail on this one. The plot was so-so, but I thought that this medium was perfect for the Turtles. I really enjoyed the Leo/Raph fight, and the action scenes were great. I also dug the nods at the end to the previous films and some other adventures from other media (the ooze canister was handled particularly well, with a well placed crack making it ambiguous as to whether it was a TCRI or TGRI canister). I really hoped for a sequel with Shredder returning. I have yet to see the new Michael Bay produced film (which I plan to see soon), but from what I've been hearing, I don't have high hopes, and I likely would have far preferred a sequel to the CGI movie.