Cowabunga!

My little cousin came over yesterday looking to watch a video on out VCR.  And not just any video - it was the first "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie!

Oh, be still my little fangirl heart!  I haven't seen that sucker in YEARS!  When I was in preschool and kindergarten, I was nuts about the Ninja Turtles!  I watched the show every time it was on TV and begged my parents to take me to see the movie (Mom almost didn't take me because it looked to scary).  I had a serious crush on Leonardo - I don't know why... I think it was because I liked swords (and yes, I realize that they're actually katana.  Give me a break - I was five).

Honestly, I'm grateful that my parents didn't object to my watching Ninja Turtles every Saturday morning.  They even bought the videos for me and (eventually, after I pestered enough) took me to see the movie.  This came into play when I started going to school and all the kids told me that girls couldn't like Ninja Turtles and that was a boys' TV show.  As far as I'm concerned, that was the beginning of my flipping the proverbial bird to social convention.

Back to me and my cousin - well, we didn't watch it at our house because our VCR doesn't work (I'm sure this movie is out on DVD somewhere - IT HAS TO BE!), so we had to wait while the other kiddles finished watching their show.  And then, joy of joys, it was our turn!

First of all - I find it ironic that the VHS has an ad for Pizza Hut before the movie (it didn't have "trailers" per se - ), but in the movie, the Turtles have Dominos deliver (I suppose this was before product placement became such a big deal in movies, etc.)

Also, now that I'm older I realize how poorly this story was told.  True, it's an origin story and there's a lot that has to be covered - April as a TV reporter, her relationship with her boss, where Casey Jones comes in to all this.  If they were to do this movie today, it'd probably be longer and not have so many lines to go through (though I somehow remember it being a lot longer when I was a kid).

As with most movies you watched when you were little and then you go back and re-watch them year later, there were some jokes that went over my head back then that I get now (I had no clue that Michelangelo and Donatello went to the kitchen while Leonardo and Raphael were arguing in April's apartment.  That whole "Pork rind? Pork rind" exchange is now 10-times funnier than it used to be).  And the Turtles kick butt.  Massively and without question.  And they're still cool.

I love the Turtles, I love Master Splinter (his "I made a funny" moment at the end remains my favorite) - I even had Michelangelo and Donatello's rendition of "Tequila" stuck in my head as late as this morning ^_^ 

Here's a toast to the show that got all my geekery started - at the tender age of four (maybe even three?)