If anyone is curious, and this could help just one person these are my findings. I purchased the iTunes version, after matching samples given by Soundout to the episodes in the digital versions I say, with almost 100% certainty, that it is the exact same to the DVD version. I wouldn't be surprised if they used to the exact same files. ITunes has this series labeled as HD but it clearly isn't, that's not necessarily a bad thing, knowing that no other quality of this show exists. The only thing that is not super obvious is that I don't know how they handle the TV movie I assume that it's the three-parter because there are 155 episodes in the episode list in my digital library. Honestly, the fact that this show is only $24.99 right now for the entire series is pretty much a steal and for the same quality as the DVD I think I made the right decision.
@@nathanreddent2427 unfortunately, it does like I stated in my findings comment everything seems to be a complete match. The only difference I forgot to mention in my previous post is that there is no Nickelodeon branding anywhere so far in the episodes unlike the DVDs, but as far as the picture quality goes, it seems to be the exact same.
I love this criminally underrated TMNT 2003 cartoon. I grew up watching the famous 1987 series, and I still love it, but TMNT 2003 is by far the best and most important TMNT cartoon (also better than any movie) there is. I wish they's released it on Blu Ray, maybe some day.
This was the turtle show I was most familiar with growing up. Definitely need this set. Thanks again for the in depth review as always! As well as the little history lesson.
Great rundown on this set! Good to see that some of the gripes with the video quality (of the episodes at least) might've been a tad overexaggerated. (Not that it would've affected me much either way, as I'm not really one to notice things like that while watching a show.) This set existing still feels like a legit miracle after 2k3's nutso home video history and Viacom largely neglecting it for years. SUPER psyched to finally be able to have the first three eras of TMNT animation all together on my shelf. It's been a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time coming.
It’s honestly so great finally having it all in one set and in production order no less. I kinda want to rebuy 87 and 2012 in their box sets since those will look better next to this one.
I followed this show closely as it aired. The soft picture in several episodes was something I noticed even on TV. There was inconsistency even in the original airings.
I guess you could say the only downside of the Turtles now being part of Nickelodeon is that the 2003 series got screwed over. Neither getting seasons 3, 4, and Back to the Sewer on DVD from 4Kids nor getting the full uncut version of Turtles Forever on Blu-ray. The latter of which was planned before the Viacom buyout with artwork by Emilio Lopez and commentary.
Incredibly comprehensive review. One of the best of a physical release I’ve seen. Thanks for the history, the deep dive on the transfers & encoding, plus the explanation of the complex Turtles Forever releases. Keep up the good work man!
REALLY appreciate this video. Finally there's one that actually breaks down the A/V quality and whether the episodes are in order or not. Makes me glad that I purchased this considering my reservations about the set at the start.
This is the best TMNT series period. ESPECIALLY if you are a TMNT comic fan. It is the closest to the comic, follows storylines fairly closely. The focus is on them being ninjas, not teens. Thats the mistake of new tmnt. They lean way too much on "teenage" part.
- 1987 TMNT: focused on the "Mutant" aspect. - 2003 TMNT: (mostly) focused on the "Ninja" aspect. - Everything Nick TMNT: focuses on the "Teenage" aspect.
I agree, especially since they have been focusing too much on the teenage aspect and not enough on the ninja aspect, although I say that there should be a balanced focus between the teenage and the ninja aspect and even the mutant aspect but more on the ninja aspect.
I have both the complete 1987 and 2012 (My favorite incarnation) shows on DVD, so this is a must buy for me, even with all the issues you discussed. All I've had of the 2003 series on DVD was the NYC Showdown and Christmas volumes that Nickelodeon put out, along with the single release of Turtles Forever, so to now have the big three of Turtles TV adaptations (the 1987, 2003, and 2012 versions) on DVD in complete form is awesome. Pros: - Not being DVD-R (I really dislike DVD-R, and I hope that other Nickelodeon shows stuck in DVD-R releases, like My Life As A Teenage Robot, can get proper pressed disk releases someday) - Having all the episodes (including Season 7, which never had a DVD release) - The episodes being in the proper production order Cons: - Being a Made On Demand release (For such a major part of the Turtles history, it should have a wider release) - Turtles Forever having a shorter runtime and poorer picture quality than the single release - Only being sold online (At least I can get it through Amazon)
Just glad to see my favorite animated TMNT series get a complete series release. The only thing I hate is the box set not having the uncut version of Turtles Forever which is 8 minutes longer. That would make this box set perfect for me. Still going to pick it up on blu ray at some point.
Been looking to get this dvd series. Back in the day I had spent a lot to buy the individual dvd sets and it was still incomplete. This was a perfect review of the set itself and background drama of it all!
Huge TMNT fan, but I've never watched this series all the way through. I'm doing so now and I'm really enjoying it. I really love how they adapt stories from the comics while still making it its own thing. I could do without them saying "What the shell" though 😅. This might be the first series where Leonardo is my favorite turtle. Usually it's either Michelangelo or Donatello.
I actually really like it, it's a clever way for them to say "hell" without getting censored 😅 Also sometimes shell is just a complete substitute for a random swear. Few times I've heard them say "oh, shell!" Like they're saying "oh shit!" 🤣
@@RetroDeathReviews666It's a very clever censorship in my opinion. A show doesn't need to have constant swearing to be good. I think a lot of modern western shows fail at doing so, especially on the adult side of things.
I pre-ordered it solely because it was all in one and I agree the quality is subpar, but for such an underrated series it was worth it. Not to mention that most complete series sets that exceed 26 episodes go for about $80, so this is very worth on preservation alone. Great video and thank you for helping ensure that I wasn't insane in thinking that Turtles Forever was funky on just my copy. Thought I was being too picky or just losing my mind.
You nailed the home video releases. I was buying those back then and it was a nightmare. I bought the individual releases then I bought the season packs. I've got the Ninja Tribunal set, but never saw the Season Part 2 set. That is the only DVD I don't have from this series. Now I'm going to buy the series again. lol
dude thank you for even doing this comparison! i couldn't find a good thorough and detailed breakdown video with comparisons between the 3 formats! much appreciated. I went ahead and bought the ultimate collection even though i had the digital collection already just in case they ever decide to pull it digitally i have a backup.
Thanks for this, I was hesitant but this is my favorite TMNT show so I'm definitely pulling the trigger even with the minor hiccups. Maybe it'll show them that fans care and they can invest the proper attention down the road.
At least these discs are arranged better than 2012. The 2012 series wasn't in production order, but it still worked just fun the way it was. Now all we need is Rise on DVD.
Like hell I'm buying that garbage. The name being misleading wouldn't bug me if they at least TRIED. Doesn't surprise me they charged it so cheaply, for what it could have been I am BEYOND disappointed. Thank you for the honest review. I was so ready to buy it immediately, but now I'm glad I saw a few reviews.
Its funny how last year I scoured the internet to find a 1080p version of the entire series and managed to get them and saved them to my external hard drive just for this to come out the next year. Best quality version of the series with no issues. I think someone AI Upscaled them if I remember right (if only we could get a Mighty Max upscale) and when I heard this release was coming, I flipped out and was excited. I appreciate your review. I think I'm just gonna save my money and keep the better upscaled version that I got. It's sad because 03 Turtles was DEFINITELY one of the best versions we ever got. But thanks so much for the review. Really what I needed bro.
@@Soundout12 as you should. ALWAYS. So I appreciate you. I watched you and another review and took it off my amazon cart and just decided to stick with my downloaded version from the RemasteringTMNT2003 person. That's DEFINITELY the definitive version of the show from a clarity standpoint and all around quality of life perspective. Sounds great. Looks great. And got subtitles. I have no issues with just leaving that baby digital since its provided me the best quality of the show made with love by a fan
Thank you for taking the time to make this video! This was my favourite Turtles series growing up (the art style alone held my attention better than the '87 series), so it'll be nice to finally own a decent, succinct physical copy. Also helps that I already had the "full version" of Turtles Forever, so I can just swap the discs. Now all I need is to bide my time for the price to go down, because there is _no way in shell_ I am coughing up $110~ to import this set right now! 💀
This was a really thorough presentation and review. I was wondering why I never saw it at Target or Walmart, thanks for all the info! I'll be ordering it ASAP!
Thank you for the review I was curious about the quality of the episodes along with the order. I will definitely be picking this up thank you for such an informative video 😁
Oh I definitely need that, I know lots of people grew up with the 80s Ninja Turtles show but the 2003 Ninja Turtles is the one I grew up with and really enjoyed and just is my turtles
Very helpful. I have the set. It's nice to finally have my favorite TMNT show in order. But I'm still keeping my old out of order DVDs of the show too. Never hurts to have two sets of your faves.
Huh, didn't realize this was MOD, seems like the exact thing Walmart would sell considering series sets of the 87 and 2012 series are staples of their DVD sections.
I agree. It's very weird how they stuck it to MOD but from what I can tell that meant that MovieZyang produced the actual discs instead of Paramount so some corporate bean counter probably saw it as saving money, even if they would have sold more sending it to stores like Wal-Mart.
@@Soundout12 Yeah I understand why it's MOD and how they would save money doing it, it just really feels like the exact thing Walmart would want to sell to the point where I was confused when I didn't see it at one.
They had 14 years to fix the Turtles Forever issue... 14 years... Yeesh. I did not expect it to be even worse. Also this really should have been SD on blu as well.
Superb review! This renews my desire to buy this set. Many Amazon reviews were doom & gloom in regards to the video quality. But your thorough review showed that the video is not SO bad. It's even better than streaming on P+. While it's a shame they didn't do a better job with the video quality, buying this set ought to be taken in context. Example: I briefly considered buying the old individual season DVDs. Then, I noticed the full S2 on eBay goes for about $150. Nope! I'll be buying this complete set for less than half that price. Again, great review!
This is exactly the type of review I was hoping to see regarding this set. I also think I prefer the "mudding" over the artificial brightness on Paramount plus. With that being said, can you confirm whether or not anything was censored in "Insane in the Membrane" or other episodes? I asked another RU-vidr this when he showed a video of Shredder's death being censored in the season 5 finale but he said he didn't see anything else censored, I'm just looking for multiple people to confirm.
@@Soundout12 Aside from 4kids not originally airing it, nothing from what I'm aware. Though if it was, it would probably be the scenes where Stockman's finger falls off and when April kicks his jaw near the end.
@@Red45Dead Just confirmed both those scenes are still there. They show the finger falling off and the jaw dangling. The Shredder getting cut in half cuts out the close up of him being slashed and falling apart but still shows him cut in half from a distance. If I didn’t know any better, it wouldn’t be noticable
@@Soundout12 Thanks for the confirmation. While the Shredder thing is a bit unfortunate, it could have been a lot worse. Looking forward to getting my set soon.
Awesome review ! Well in-depth review as well .appreciate it. I actually bought the set and checked out the turtle forever on the dvd I don’t know if you or other got a bad copy of it but there was no ghosting on my copy of it while it was cut short on this release I’m totally satisfied with set at least we got a full complete series on dvd. Be grateful that we got a full complete series set on dvd. Yes I know alot people complain about the generic dvd menus and no music but look at this way they could have not released this set at all. Just be happy grateful for what we all got.
Thanks! I’m glad to hear your copy doesn’t have the ghosting issue. Makes me wonder if that’s an error that could be corrected with a replacement disc.
Episode 110 was basically the episode nightmares recycled that never got made it was supposed to be episode about Hun and the garbage man being conjoined twins separated at Birth but production was pulled on that episode because the network Executives at Fox told 4kids that it was too dark Peter Laird wrote about it on his Vlog
@@SgtScorpious The cut content is a close up shot of a character being sliced in half at the end of season 5. It’s very minor but its how it is on Paramount+ and iTunes/Vudu so that’s just how the masters are. The aspect ration is 4:3 for all the episode but have burned in black bars on the side to present as 16:9 (Which might be due to the Nick logo)
The Nick logo being placed above the show logo as if it's part of it really bothers me when they didn't produce the show, although it doesn't *really* matter since the box says it's the 2003 series.
My dude, thanks so much for this!! I was waiting for a good review of this set. This was exactly what I needed. I will be ordering this very soon!! (And the old Turtles Forever release too... didn't know I'd need that, so now I'm extra glad I watched this lol) I have the 1987 and 2012 series already. Now they just need to release a complete Rise set and I will be very happy indeed!! 😸
I bought all the DVDs as only the first season was released in the UK and had to buy a multi region DVDplayer. It was a nightmare to watch! I should have bought the Australian release of Back to the Sewer when it first came out as they are very expensive to buy now! Brilliant video, thank you.
This was great just brought the set also, Happy to know what I'm getting, Overall 97% happy ! Other than the movie having ghosting issues, I'm happy as can be! You earned a sub !
I started watching this on Netflix disk rental. I saw Ninja Tribunal and Fast Forward on DVD. I'm watching Back To The Sewer to finish up the series. This turn is to finish my Netflix run. I may buy the set at some point.
I live in Uk 🇬🇧 so I grew up with the 1987 cartoon which was called hero turtles instead of ninja and then with the 2003 TMNT in my teens and have been looking for the complete series for ages thanks for sharing your review of this and can’t wait to get my copy and rewatch my favorite anime show again soon 👍❤️
I was born in 2003 actually the day after the first radical pack released so I was very young when this show was airing and I never really got a chance to watch it so I’m so happy I finally have the chance to do so now.
Always best to have the physical copy of your media. If nothing else it’s good for the collection of episodes and you can always get the movie separately. I doubt there’s going to be a BluRay remaster like DC animated series like Batman.
Love the set, but hate the clamshell case. I get it saves on production cost, but they definitely had better dvd box set cases 10 to 15 years ago. I legitimately have boycotted some of my favorite movies and TV shows, because the packaging was just horrendous, and not even because of the artwork because of the design.
Actually Back to the Sewer has a physical release in Australia. But Mayhem from Monster Island has not gotten a physical release including the new TMNT 2003 Box set.
Finally I've ordered my collection of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 series: The Ultimate Collection, haven't got it yet but it'll be here tomorrow, can't wait to finally have the entire series at last.
Sonic X, Kirby Right Back At Ya and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle 2003 TV animated show and they are all TV Shows and what's special about those TV shows is that they are based and related to the video games of Sonic, Kirby and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I know I'm late to the party, but I just so happened to see a video like this pop up on the sidebar while watching something totally different. In any case, I think people can do whatever they wish with their money, but I know in my heart that the myriad of issues with this TMNT are just too egregious to get me to spend money on it. Not even months since it released have I bothered to buy it. The release is fundamentally flawed and to top it all off isn't even "complete." I don't have a problem with it being DVD-only, I don't care that much about the packaging--what matters is the content and video, and frankly, this set 100% screams shoddy work and quick cash-in. For me, someone who isn't really obsessed over everything being ultra HD all the time, the fact that they couldn't get a DVD job right in this day and age is outrageous. It's as if whoever mastered this put in serious effort just to screw it up. Going full devil's advocate here: All they had to do was pull a Warner Bros/Adult swim-level stunt like they did with Aqua Teen Hunger Force and print a crap ton of old existing masters onto new DVDs, change nothing, then charge triple-digits for it and be done. It's astonishing that a company couldn't even half-ass their own product properly.
No copy protection on the discs had me worried. Unless you're inclined to rip for Media Player playback, you likely wouldnt notice a lack of CSS encryption despite the 'copy protected' icon on the back label of the case.
The original masters are 480p tapes so they’re going to look fuzzy through HD displays regardless. Some episodes on the set are fuzzy too due to the encoding of black bars on the sides
This still looks like a decent set, I’d like to see you do a review on the 1987 box set that was released not to long ago. Though I already know from watching most of it already it’s a bit of a mess.
I may want that there's a dialogue that 2003 Master Splinter says in Turtles Forever says that adds the impact to the story, telling his Turtles that all are welcome, so that left out and Raph saying that dialogue in the TV Edit Version to the 80s Splinter feels off. I know it's small, but sometimes certain lines are more impact that way. It sucks that dialogue is left out.
No wonder why I couldn't find it at Walmart now I have to wait till the 21 of August to get this it kinda blows but hey at least I'll be able to get it soon
It has Turtles Forever but it's not the full movie good thing I got the movie on it's stand alone dvd. Fight For the FoxBox is not on it as well but I got my dvd in the mail so I am glad I still have that and TMNT movie I got as well.
upscaling should NEVER be used, no matter what, its extremely destructive. not ot mention you cant "remaster" a show that was done in SD, it exists most likley on tape, digibeta or otherwise, thats as best as its going to look.
I got into this series just as it was ending. I was able to buy the two Season 1 sets shown at 10:08 and 10:36, as well as a DVD of Turtles Forever, but then Nickelodeon bought the franchise and decided to bury this series. I ended up downloading a torrent of the rest of the series, and though the quality wasn't great, at least it allowed me to see the rest of the series. Then about a month ago, I saw this new DVD set pop up on Amazon, and I immediately hit preorder and then went and deleted those old video bootlegs off my computer.
Its too bad i had to spend 70 bucks for low quality DVDs but Ive wanted these for so long I had to do it. Hopefully when they arrive they aren't scratched from the cheap packaging.
This was a fantastic review. I am a huge tmnt fan and love this series. I only own the turtles forever dvd. I’ve seen bootleg blu rays of the show online. Still not 100% which one is the best to buy. I like owning the physical media. Do you think I should get the bootleg blu ray or this dvd set is the best I’m gonna get?
I’d say this DVD set is going to be the best official version available. There is a fan HD upscale of the show online somewhere and I’d recommend seeking that out over buying a bootleg
I got that for my birthday and when I opened it up, I found a bunch of discs that popped out of position. they have scratches all over. luckily I haven't had any skipping and I'm far into season 2.
The main reason I am considering getting this collection is if the Back to the Sewer series is on this collection because it was the only one out of the whole series I never got and I would like to have all of them in order instead of the crappy order that they were put on those Volumes if I had known that later on down the road, much later on down the road that they were going to do this, I would have waited till then to finally complete my own collection of the 2003 Turtle series.
Having all the episodes in order is definitely a huge benefit. If 87 and 2012 got reissued in sets where they were in order, I would be rebuying them despite having the volumes
I'm going to be picking this set up soon. It's such a breath of fresh air for me as of course the original timeline of release was such a complete mess. Especially the Season 2 and 3.1-3.7 volumes. The latter in particular because the Season 3 episodes were shuffled in random and confusing order, and Season 4 episodes thrown in for some baffling reason. Yeesh...those discs were a complete mess. And yes, the "Season 4" set is only the last half of that season not included in the out of order S3 discs. So, the only time they did it correct was the Season 1 and 2 re releases, Ninja Tribunal/S5, and Fast Forward/S6. Unfortunately the third and fourth seasons didn't get that complete re release treatment as well. Then of course Back to the Sewers was never released on DVD domestically as well due to the license expiring in 2009. Well, after all that (and those random single discs from a few years back) they finally came through with a complete, in order set. Better late than never i say.
It’s weird to me that they don’t have a copy of the unedited version of Turtles Forever considering that the unedited version is on RU-vid and also saw release under Viacom in the UK.
I've been hunting down the season volumes on ebay and ironically Ninja Tribunal was the first volume I got as it was the easiest to find. Managed to get most releases and got the Australian ones for a couple as those were more complete than the US ones, but still needed Season 4 (Australian). That is going for high prices so I might as well just abandon that plan and get this complete set. I'll hold on to my UK DVD of Turtles Forever though...
I knew the 4kids DVDs back in the day. Were a bit messy in terms of episodes being out of order in like s3 and 4 but I didn't know some of s2 was out of order. I only thought volumes 13 and 14 were cause the battle nexus volume 13 ends with the triceratons getting ready to invade whereas volume 14 is city at war, but tbf I mostly watched TMNT on those 4kids DVDs so nothing in volumes 11 and 12 really felt out of place.
I like it as a collector's item, but I was definitely disappointed from a video quality standpoint. There was opportunity for them to do much better here. Great review though!
The UK bluray of Batman Beyond had the cut version of Return of the Joker while the US one didn't, so I ended up having to swap that disc out. Batman the Animated Series bluray had a similar problem with Sub-Zero have the wrong bonus features on the UK release, so I again swapped it out for the US disc I already had. Now we have this, where I'll have to keep my UK Turtles Forever DVD for its uncut status (despite having the PAL speed-up). Its a shame I can't swap the disc out as the collection has episodes on that disc too. Seems like they're always messing these things up somehow. Still, at least we live in an age where we can actually get these collections.
Having to keep multiple sets and discs just to be complete seems to be part of the hobby sadly. At least if it exists, even in multiple forms, is better than not having it
My ninja fam ! The TMNT 2003 ultimate collection DVD set is here! Thank you Nickelodeon and eBay ! All 7 seasons plus the turtles forever movie ! It's Ninja Time! And yes like many re releases from senrai viz funimation, crunchyroll etc some extras are still bound to their previous releases by said expired companies ex bandai entertainment extras from kon s1 sets , Haruhi Suzumiya s1-2 DVDs and funimation commentaries fma brotherhood etc are not present on newer versions but still better than no release at all . Plus turtles forever directors cut ver last i recall is in 4Kids tv lost media zone and nick probably didnt want to search an eternity looking for it . Just my thoughts 😅😅🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢
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