Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The early 2000s cartoon was TMNT’s best project
By Mark Lynch
9. Their skills improved each season
The first time the Turtles fought the Foot Clan, they almost lost. Since this was the first time they had a real fight, this makes sense. As the season continued, the Foot Ninjas didn’t pose a threat. Then, they fought the Shredder and were easily defeated. Splinter ended up being the one who beats him. Fast forward to future seasons and the Ninja Turtles are besting him as a team.
The characters getting better is one thing. Improving as fighters is something else. Viewers have seen tons of shows where a fighter’s skills stay stagnant. Not here. Each of them learned more about themselves and each other’s fighting styles as the series proceeded.
8. The villains were perfect
You can’t have a program like this without interesting villains. In this case, the antagonists fighting the Ninja Turtles got better as the show went on while maintaining their personalities. For example, Baxter Stockman remained a sniveling lackey but continued to try and be more than that. There were even a few times when he defeated Shredder. Hun was Shredder’s most loyal general. When his leader left, Hun almost became the kingpin of New York.
Meanwhile, you have Shredder’s adopted daughter. She started off as a villain until she learned that her father didn’t care about her. Eventually, she assisted in defeating the original Shredder and saving the world. Her evolution made sense she never seemed to be truly evil. When things got bad, she always wanted to do the right thing.