Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Coming Out of Their Shells Tour

By 1990, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were the biggest children's property around. From their humble beginnings as a limited run independent comic, they had moved effortlessly into the realms of cartoons, action figures, and their own live-action movie. From the perspective of one who was there for it all, it was an exciting time. For the people in charge of licensing the creation, it seemed like a money train that was moving in all directions. But now that they had ventured successfully into these different areas, where was there to go?

Enter the Coming out of Their Shells tour. Conceived in 1990, this is the nadir of the TMNT phenomena. The concept for the show was simple; the Turtles laid down their weapons and picked up instruments, hoping to conquer the music world and spread their message of peace and non-violence. Of course, traditional Turtle villain The Shredder comes to wreak havoc on the Turtle's efforts, but in the end, the TMNT win the fight, big closing number, curtains, the end. The show was highly successful, and made some people a lot of money, but it was also the first sign of the death of the TMNT.



As an adult, it would be very easy to be overly critical of this show. It was a blatantly crass commercial move, done solely for the money. The costumes were cheap, the acting bargain-basement. The story was cookie cutter, involving The Shredder using a device to destroy all the world's music, thereby destroying all the joy that kids got from New Kids on the Block. It was an ugly thing, contrary to everything the original TMNT was. The only thing I can really say was passably good from an adult standpoint is the music. Falling somewhere in between power pop and hair metal, the soundtrack had some catchy numbers, despite it's heavy reliance on already outdated 80's production techniques. I may yet review the album proper on my other blog.



As a kid, though, I was enraptured. Seeing the REAL TURTLES, LIVE ON STAGE was an amazing concept. I loved the music they played, so much so that the tracks were frequently on my shower-singing playlist. I had my mom make tiny denim jackets, similar to what they wore on stage, for my Ninja Turtle toys. I had everything related to this show I could get my hands on, which wasn't that much. Since the tour was sponsored by Pizza Hut, the pizza chain offered cassettes of the music and special 'tour books' that contained illustrations and information about the show. And when the time came for the Turtles to take the stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, we had the live pay-per-view stream beamed directly into our house (I still have it around here somewhere, recorded to an old VHS tape. I watched it constantly).

And that's the view I take on it nowadays. The view of a child, because that's who it was made for. The perspective of a jaded adult internet-dweller just makes for another ruined childhood memory. Through a child's eyes, it's still magic. The Turtles are really up there, singing and dancing and awkwardly playing their instruments sometimes. It just need's a kid's sense of wonder (and suspension of disbelief) to make it work.