Heroes in a halfshell – Turtle Power!
Not sure if this really counts or bindun…it’s tenuous at best, based on heresay and when compared to some of the posts this week – is pretty bloody tame…

Anyhoo…does anybody remember when the cartoon of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first came out? Kids went fucking loopy over it – Parents shat themselves at the cost of the toys but at least their kids would shut their respective cake-holes for a few minutes while it was on. So generally…everybody was happy?

Were they fuck.

Apparently, somebody decided that one word, ’Ninja’, was unacceptable– it promoted violence and must go. Strangely, they seemed to have no problem with the prospect of the turtles actually BEING violent – oh yeah, nunchucks, swords, sticks and those dagger-things were fine and dandy to be seen getting twatted over the heads of various monsters and black-suited Japanese stereotypes in a full-on ninja-stylie…but you couldn’t use the word in the title.

After what was probably one of the shortest and most ridiculous TV execs meeting ever, they came up with the replacement word…‘Hero’.

Now we were all safe…and not a minute too soon.

But hang on…The cartoon continued to gain popularity and Hollywood got hold of it. Sticking two fingers up to PC In 1990, the first (godawful) movie came out and re-introduced the word ‘Ninja’

So did this result in riots and kids suddenly turning feral?

Did it my arsecrack.

On it goes - they make 2 shit sequels, at least one of them (if I remember correctly) had to bow to PC culture and focus on environmental issues. Before long, the turtles popularity wanes. All forgotten about.

This year though, the new CGI movie came out and so they’ve started the cartoon again…but using the word Ninja.

So what did it accomplish changing the word all those years ago? Are kids today more tolerant to words such as Ninja? Were we too sensitive in the 90s? Or was the whole thing just two stops short of Dagenham?*

I also remember being told that the original title for Star Wars Episode 6 was ‘Revenge Of The Jedi’ and George Lucas was ordered to change ‘Revenge’ to ‘Return’ because ‘Revenge’ was considered too ‘harsh’ a word. FFS. That’s apparently why he insisted on using the word in ‘Revenge Of The Sith’ because now he had total control and could do whatever the fuck he wanted. Yay.


*Barking
( Pooflake braces for an onslaught..., Mon 26 Nov 2007, 12:20, 11 replies)

Star Wars
I heard it was because Jedi are too noble to take revenge (whereas the Sith are baddies and presumably take revenge all the time)
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 12:25, closed)

^this^
Lucas decided Revenge wasn't a noble attribute for a Jedi

I agree with you on TMNT though. It was a daft decision
( Joe Scaramanga with a G-double-O-D vibration, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 12:33, closed)

Star Wars...
...is all wank anyway, so who cares what the pompous idiot called the films.


I actually remember watching the Turtles when I was young, I could never work out why the name seemed to alternate between 'Hero' and 'Ninja' - now I know.
(Pope Jamiroquai III, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 12:37, closed)

Pope...
Are you being Star Wars-ist?

I hadn't heard that about Lucas. Makes sense. He must've changed his mind at the very last minute though because the posters with 'Revenge' had been printed and distributed.
( Pooflake braces for an onslaught..., Mon 26 Nov 2007, 12:41, closed)

Yup...
...I was in college then - myself and a mate of mine (who had been reading the TMNT comics for years at this time and even playing the RPG lol) decided to conduct a little experiment.

When we were around ickle kiddies who were carrying or playing with some kind of TMNT paraphernalia we asked 'So who's your fave cartoon characters then?'*

The enthusiastic answer was always the same; 'Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles!' One or two said 'Tortoises' though, which always grinned me.

'Don't you mean Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles/Tortoises?' We'd ask. In return, whatever the age of said kid, we'd get a 'How crap are you?' look along with an as-if-speaking-to-an-idiot reply something like, 'No, they're Ninjas - anyone can see that.'

So this attempt to protect the sensibilities of the country's little darlings was rejected to-a-man by the kids themselves.

So, it would appear that 5-year-olds have a lot more sense where PC is concerned than we do. Go figure.

*Obviously this was only to kids that knew us already - we didn't grab toddlers on the street and put them under an anglepoise or anything ;)
(thatblokeoverthere not quite as much an arsehole as I thought, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 12:43, closed)

I thought the Turtles were changed because ninjas were un-British.

( Bob Todd whee, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 13:08, closed)

Star Wars...
... I always remember from the time that 'Revenge' got replaced with 'Return' as 'Revenge' gives the film away...

Maybe a bit more revisionist history from our George..
(Phlash, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 13:44, closed)

I remember all of this :)
PS Like editing the nun-chucks out of "Enter The Dragon"

Was ok to watch Bruce beat the shit out of anyone with anything other than two sticks with a chain in the middle. What was the fucking point?
( Jeccius Steam Borderlands 2 junkie, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 15:04, closed)

I recall all that shite
And the fateful day when, horror of horrors, the rapper who sang the theme song for the film accidentally said 'Ninja' instead of 'Hero' live on TOTP, oh the furore of 'Won't Somebody Think Of The Children!!®'

Largely tabloid driven as I recall, and as for the Star Wars thing, that man Lucas ret-conns (ie bullshits) so damn much now it's anyone's guess.
( ..wil, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 17:39, closed)

Star wars
I heard that he said it was going to be revenge of the Jedi so they could stop people making fake merchandise.
(Pretty strangers and promises, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 18:08, closed)

Star Wars-ist?
That all depends on whether or not one is still allowed to be critical of movies based on factors the acting, script, plot and other minor details that most Star Wars fans seem to ignore.

Anyway, I'm probably the minority here - I'm a guy who could, without much contention, be branded a 'geek' but I don't like Star Wars.
So now you all have to agree with me or I'll get offended(!)


(Pope Jamiroquai III, Mon 26 Nov 2007, 20:24, closed)