The Sad History of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time? 

Baltimora’s “Tarzan Boy” should be included in every single movie, if you ask me.

I was never in to the Turtles back then (MASK was my toy of choice) but recently fell in love with the cartoon, films and comics thanks to the Cowabunga collection on Switch. Great video too (as always!), thanks TG!

If I learned anything from my toys as a kid, it's that we desperately need a Ninja Turtles/Exo-Squad life action crossover.

I loved the ninja turtles around this time. Loved #2, have the Coming Out of Their Shell Tour on VHS, had the toys and video games, etc. Had no idea this movie existed until a few years ago and even after watching this I don't entirely believe this is a real movie.

If Tarzan Boy blew your mind in 1993, you're going to be in for a huge surprise if you ever see Jungle Boy Jack Perry's AEW entrance on 2022

Looking forward to your 2003 and especially your 2012 episodes some day. ❤️

also I think the writers can't tell the difference between a ninja and a samurai hence the turtles donned samurai gear instead of their thing that is being ninjas.

TMNT3 was a HELL of a lot better than the second film and when it comes to the costumes and effects for those costumes that were a hell of a lot better than the Garbage Pail Kids movie

Tarzan Boy is now the theme music for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) wrestler Jungle Boy aka Jack Perry, son of great deceased actor Luke Perry

Even as a kid, I noticed the way TMNT 2 was already the franchise in decline, and then TMNT 3 happened and killed it.

I hate companies. Hey, we have a popular thing. So popular, it's setting records! Great! Now 200 people wrote us letters about how it's too violent. We should probably change everything about it to please them. You are right. I mean, it's not like our VHS sales, returned customers at the box office, toy sales, and cartoon success have gone down due to this dark, violent film, so surely the only way to improve our mark up is to pander to 1% of our customers and not the 99% genius. Thanks, boss. I do try. A year later... Oh, maybe we shouldn't have done that. Nah, bro. It's kids. Fricken grew up. Nothing we could have done. You are right. It's not like adults went to batman, super man, and other action films originally aimed for kids.

I've always loved the second one the best

I remember when the movie trailer came out and the entire theater groaned. Seeing it, wasn’t bad and good old Mikey got to be the main turtle instead of Raphael.

I didn't like spots or goofy faces for the suits in part 3. The suits in part 1 & 2 looked cool. I guess they had to make it more "FAMILY FRIENDLY"...

Jeezus christ, those rotting suits are unsettling.

This and the dawn of RangerMania (brother) signaled the end of the TMNT’s initial popularity because boy howdy it was awful. To think they were working on another movie at the time, and one with a new Turtle (called Kirby) to boot.

Man I really really really wish they had continued the vibe and aesthetic of the first one. TMNT 1 is solid gold.

The OG Turtles being named after Renaissance artists, and a fifth turtle being named after Jack Kirby tells you exactly where Eastman and Laird's heart was.

The Turtles going back in time to Feudal Japan was a Huge missed oppertunity. Instead of a stupid war,the Movie Should've been about the Turtles meeting the ancient Foot Clan.

I remember disliking III as a kid because it was just too normal. I wanted monsters, not Japanese villagers and a weird Brit. Going back years later, I agree with Eastman's assertion that it's right in between the other two. It's not nearly as bad as I remember.

TMNT 3 was eh a mixed bag imo . Though I prefer the first 2 myself

I thought I had a false memory of Tarzan Boy being in this movie for years! I nearly wore my VHS copy of this out as a kid, but when I came back to it as an adult the song wasn't there. I swore it was at the end of the movie. I never let the credits play long enough on streaming to hear it...Glad I'm not the only one that searched for that song.

The only takeway I got from this movie as a kid was remembering seeing the turtles wearing samurai armor and riding horses and saying to myself "Wow, those would be awesome action figures". And then I completely forgot the rest of the movie after that. So if that's what the creators wanted me to walk away with, they did that much.

To me they will always rank 1, 2, 3.

I know that Tarzan Boy feel. Killer ep as always.

I still remember playing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle video game at the arcade and at the movie theaters.

I dont remember a single person not loving Secret of the Ooze... That movie was HUGE back in 4th grade

Are you guys ever going to do Terrahawks? I loved that show as a kid an I had a lot of the toys too!

I think it's a testament to the TMNT franchise's longevity (despite what everyone assumed by 93) that, in the year of our Lord 2022, there are *three* Ninja Turtles movies either released or being developed simultaneously, all in different canons (the Rise movie dropped last month, Mutant Mayhem, and something about rebooting the original movie universe I don't remember)...but its slow down period can't have been helped by a little show called Power Rangers emerging from Japan

Guys, it was definitely called Turtles In Time when I saw it in theaters back in 1993. My memory is so clear because I was watching it while holding my favorite action figure: the 1979 Boba Fett with a working missile launcher.

"Tarzan Boy" really is a bizarrely immaculate stone-cold classic. Had a similar experience whilst watching a Muchmusic Eighties weekend in the mid-Nineties and it suddenly unlocked a long- forgotten core memory... made all the more eerie by how the music video appears to have filmed in an alternate dimension where the Tarzan boys regularly get up to monkey business on a sunny afternoon...

2 1 3 for me. Child me definitely thought Secret of the Ooze was better than the first one.

I was a huge Turtles fan back when this was released. My late sister and I begged our parents to let us see this one since we both loved the cartoon and the first 2 movies. When we finally did see it, it became the first movie I ever hated. It started bad, the middle was incredibly boring and the end was awful. I still love TMNT but this was definitely a low point.

I was obsessed with the Ninja Turtles when I was a kid. My mom owned a Toy Store in Granada Hills called Toy to the World from 1987 until 1993 and never had any of the Ninja Turtle toys in stock, but she made sure to save me the special action figure 4 pack. Definitely some of my favorite toys.

Dan just so you know, I had a similar experience with Tarzan Boy. it's haunting. if my life was a TV series, then at the end of every season the normal theme song would be replaced by Baltimora's Tarzan Boy

Sure, watching this with my nephew as an adult it's obviously not as good. But as a kid I left the theater Ninja Turtle kicking and declaring turtle power just like I did when I left the out the theater for the second one. As a kid it was all good.

I think another reason for the poor reception, as far as I and my friends were concerned, was that we were fully expecting Krang to show up as the villain. Instead we got obtuse time travel antics and more general shenanigans than actual fight scenes.

I got two free tickets to this movie from my eye doctor as a kid. The movie was worth every cent I paid for those tickets. :)

Basically the director of this movie hated the Ninja Turtles.

Oh, shit. I unfortunately watched this in theaters as a kid. Thanks for dredging up this horrible memory out of the memory hole.

The downfall of the turtles

I was 11 at the time and very excited to see this, and I think what disappointed me was the feudal Japan aspect. That clearly was the result of the budget I think what we really would have wanted was krang and dimension x.

Saw this in theaters. It was the first time I was disappointed in a movie.

I remember owning a comic that detailed the events of the movie. Not the Archie comic. This was made up of photos taken straight from the movie with speech bubbles thrown in. I also remember there was an add for _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project_ on the inside cover. I have been unable to find any evidence of this thing online.

I was big into time travel when I was a kid (thanks BttF!), so having a movie where the turtles went back in time (and to a place that wasn't medieval England like all the other shows and movies at the time were doing) blew me away. Obtained a DVD copy a few years back and watched it again and it wasn't terrible. It was a 90s kids movie, I'm not expecting Macbeth.

If you just heard his narration of the plot, the movie sounds awesome

@Toy Galaxy 12:22 *This is probably the REALEST and most relatable thing anyone has ever said about my childhood. Finally someone knows the pain I've felt for years and humbled joy I felt finally hearing "Tarzan Boy" by Baltimora.* 🙏 💚

I remember watching movie in the theater when I was 3 and I like it,rockin over the beat and Tarzan boy still are some of my favorite songs from this movie.

I remember watching TMNT III on TV in syndication on a Saturday. The change in scenery was nice, but the Animatronic Turtles and Splinter wee a major downgrade.

TMNT 3 is memorable for me, as it was the very first time I had my suspension of disbelief broken, and realized everyone was just acting. During a scene in the village(maybe around the house fire?), you can see the grandfather in the center background, with a bunch of other villagers around. As other people are speaking in the scene(Raphael, Mitsu, Yoshi), you can see him mouthing the dialogue along with them. If I had to guess, I would say he was an older actor, and was just trying to keep up with where they were in the script. It hit theaters on my 8'th birthday, and I was a turtle-maniac at the time, so of course I begged to go to the first showing. I had liked the look of the grandfather, and kept on staring at him when he was on screen. Then it got to that scene, and the movie magic just kind of fell apart for me. For the rest of the film I just sat and thought about why he was mouthing everyone else's words.

I LOVE how clearly you guys love the Exo Squad cartoon, and i agree, the fact that it didnt gain a full wide scale adoption and multiple season run is by far one of the biggest fumbles of cartoon history.

I have a similar story about Tarzan Boy by Baltimora. Being someone that loves the whole new wave scene even though I was born like 15 years too late being the prime demographic for this film but earlier this year (2022) my wife was asking me about the style of music and I was explaining how a trailer/movie from my childhood really planted the seed but I couldn’t for my life of me remember what movie and absolutely thought it was the Tim Allen classic Jungle2Jungle and it took like three days to come to this conclusion

My mom took me to see this in the theater and when we were walking out of the theater, I apologized to her for having to sit through that.

This was the first movie I ever saw in theaters so this movie definitely has a soft spot in my heart

There are two great tragedies of my youth cinematic experiences growing up, where even at the time I immediately recognized "This is bad, I don't like this"... and those films are Masters of the Universe and Turtles 3.

So, TMNT 3 is obviously the worst of the trilogy.... but, I still find it a fun watch! It's a B movie that's so bad it's good. Still better than the new CGI turtle movies.

Honestly I actually like TMNT 3 solely for its historical and mythological themes especially concerning Japanese history and mythology but that's about the only reason I like the movie

Since it was brought up twice in this video... I expect a video on Short Circuit soon! :D I miss Johnny Five. :( Also there is a TMNT cartoon episode where a robot comes back from the future to visit the 1990's and meets up with the turtles and seems a lot like Johnny Five. I wonder if they got inspiration from the Short Circuit movies or something.

I agree about Secret of the Ooze being worse than 3. I liked 3, but of course I'm a sucker for light-hearted martial arts action with slapstick. This is what I get for watching Jackie Chan movies. I was also easily entertained at Mikey making use of the lampshade saying he's Elvis in Hawa'ii, and it made the joke Splinter did at the end of the movie very cute. It's like ... 3 did what Ooze was trying to do, just did it better. I had always wondered about those drawings in the scrolls. At the time I didn't consume much of anything TMNT, so I had no idea there were comic and cartoon tie-ins. :3 nice to learn somethin' new!

Love toy galaxy and teenage mutant ninja turtles 3. I was like ten when it came out. But watching it now. Yeah I see the major flaws lol.

What?!? No way man, Secret of the Ooze was the best hands down!! I still to this day have that entire movie memorized!

I remember getting a dvd with all three movies as a kid. My brother and i were excited to finally watch them all as we only had the first movie. And even though the movie wasnt the best for a Turtles story its always been one of my favourites despite all its flaws

I hated tmnt3 because it was a lame followup, i wanted more mutants and cool monsters but got a very crappy time travel plot

Thank you for reviewing #3! Nobody ever does! Tarzan boy did the same thing to me. I didn't know the name so I couldn't ask others about it. I remember seeing the commercials for the movie and thinking it was going to be a return to form after number 2. I was... disappointed. After seeing the explanation about what the movie was supposed to be I am saddened by what we missed out on.

I still have yet to see any of the films featuring the Turtles. I am still interested in seeing the first four films, due to have grown up watching the 80s cartoon and embracing the fun times within. the next two verdions of the turtles I would find after that would be Turtles Forever followed up with a few eps of the 2012 version. The later was due to the involvement of the cast and and returning Voice Director Andrea Romano. I'm still surprised that we got the cast we did for that one as it felt a bit like a return to my youth and I was happy that the turtles were in good hands which lasted all of the time it took for the Bay produced films to be announced.

First film I ever saw in theaters. Even at five years old I was let down by it.

Fun fact: Baltimora “Tarzan Boy” is now played every week on network television by wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling as the entrance theme for wrestler “jungle boy”

I honastly don't understand why people hate this movie the story was fun and pretty good the characters had some awesome development and it overall felt like a movie compared to the second movie

The older I get, the less I get the hate for this movie. Just good ol' fun.

This movie came out shortly before I was to turn 10 years old. I had been a huge Turtles fan ( and had seen both the first two movies in the theater. By the time this one came out, a number of factors led to not seeing this one in the theaters. 1) It was a weird period, between the 2nd and this movie, where I was starting to move on from Turtles. I can't recall for sure if there was any one franchise that started diverting my attention. The movie came out right before Power Rangers, which would go on to become my next huge obsession. If it was anything, maybe it was Batman? Returns had come out the year before, as well as TAS. So I was definitely big into Batman as well. 2) The other factor is the toy factor. I say this as someone that owned my fair share of TMNT action figures and accessories up until that point. I won't try to suggest I was unaware of how toys factored into the overall marketing and merchandising of these types of franchises. But I think at that point, I saw the trailer and previews for this movie. I think the samurai aesthetic had me come to the conclusion that this was solely chosen to ultimately sell action figures. For whatever reason, it rubbed me the wrong way. Looking back, I realize it was definitely unfair to hold that against the movie and franchise, when others had been and were doing the same things. But like I said, Power Rangers became my next obsession and it was egregiously guilty on that front. I still have yet to see this movie in it's entirety. I've watched the first two more times than I can count. I'm sure one day, I'll sit down and give it an honest chance and will probably find it entertaining

I remember my mom getting this for us on VHS and I'm still not sure if it was punishment or not. Still goofy good times

It was silly and it felt like they were guest stars in their own movie, but it still stayed true to the characters of the Turtles themselves, and I'll always love it for that. And the fight scenes are fun

I totally agree with Eastman. The second film is infuriating, while this one feels more like a noble failure. The ambition of the story--which reflected the more outlandish stories of the original Mirage Comics run--wasn't matched with an adequate budget, but at least they didn't promise us a Secret of the Ooze and then fail to deliver the Utroms implied by such a title.

Great episode as always. No doubt that 5th turtle was named after Jack Kirby the modern renaissance master.... NOW DO WINSPECTOR ALREADY PLZ

I saw the first and third movies in theaters, both times with my best friend at the time. Best part of the movie was Casey teaching the samurai about hockey. That had us cracking up

"Did you get to see a wisecracking turtle monster cartwheel ninja kick a dude in the face or not? You asked and Cinema provided." Yeah but we wanted it to be good.

You're right about two years being an eternity when you're a kid. I don't think I've ever actually seen this one because, while I still sometimes pretended to be a turtle when the first movie was released, I already had friends whose parents would let us watch R-rated movies by the time 1993 rolled around.

I'm nearly 37 and I've been trying to figure out what that song was since TMNT 3 came out!!! THANK YOU!!!

Been a turtles fan since I was a kid. Although I preferred the first and second movies, I am glad that Corey Feldman returned to voice Donatello in the third movie.

I’m probably way late to this comment, but the Turtles got secondary mutations in the final seasons of the ‘87 cartoon. Perhaps that’s a hold over from the undeveloped Turtles IV movie. Thanks for the retrospective!

I was born in 1993 but TMNT was a huge part of my childhood thanks to the best hand-me-down toys from an older cousin and video rentals etc. When I was 10 I was huge fan of the reboot and already had a fandom! Anyone else out there love a brand or toy line that was technically “before their time”?

You mean Tarzan's Boy by Baltimora? :D I had already known about the song from back in the 80s, in a most... interesting manner... so hearing it on the TMNT3 ads made me bust a gut laughing!

This was memorable just because me and 2 friends went to see this at the last showing of the day for this movie. We where the only 3 in the theater, and when it was over it felt like they had left as there was NO employee's to be seen when we left. So it was a memorable time for that... and about nothing else.

Again, saw this in theaters, just like the other 2. I know people don't like the second and third one but I love all three (the second one is my fave) but I enjoyed the third one but knew there where issues with it.

Turtles 3 is bizarre in that nothing in it appeals to children, teens, or adults. It's a movie made for no one.

Some this sounded like blaming the 2nd movie for soooo much and giving the third a pass. Rupert Murdock would praise this kind of reporting lol. The 1st film was the best, the second was dumb YET fun ( I was right target age) but the third film? No lie I remember kid bawling in the theater back in Augusta Georgia. kids were booing something I didn't think we were allowed to do lol. The third film is by faaaar the worst and thats not up for debate. Yeah....if you were a teenager and on your way out of turtle mania the 2nd film mightve been lame or corny but at 8/9 ish years old I remember thinking while sitting in the theater on third film......gee....this movie isn't very fun or good lol. Eastmans just butthurt like he was for quite long time but as a kid who was gobbling up turtle content as the marketing overloads indented nobody in the fiends group wanted to go back to the theater for a 2nd viewing and thats back when going to the movies was a treat for a kid.

I remember seeing this at the drive-in with my friends (we were the target demo when the toys hit and had em all, but by this point we were 11)….and I distinctly remember not liking it AT ALL. That was the exact moment I got out of Turtles all together. 😢

The English Establishment is consistent in its approach to anything it doesn't like: Make a big hoo-ha and fuss, gripe, bitch and wail about the children, "ban" said thing and then watch as instances of the thing increase as the popularity of said thing goes through up. The amount of my friends that ended up injuring themselves with homemade nunchucks in the late eighties/early nineties is probably one of the reasons for Brexit and the continued popularity of Jeremy Clarckson..... still, there is no fun like wandering into the woods on a summer's morning, gathering a load of appropriate branches and then after an hours arguing over who gets to be who, spending the day battering each other into brain-injuries in scenes that would make even the most battle-hardened Daimyo.

This movie hurt my heart as a kid. Even then it was trash to me.

I was turtles mad. Loved the first movie. Mad crazy loved the second. Never seen the third, something put me off. It just looked weird, not quite genuine.

This unfortunate film could have been at least somewhat saved had they given audiences a real villain that had anything to do with the Turtle-verse. Some generic stock English colonizer? Are you freaking kidding???

Oh nah you buggin the 3rd film is definitely the WORST one. You cant even remember anything memorable in that movie. At least 2 had ninja rap and super shredder. I never heard anyone say the 3rd ones wasnt that bad 🤣

I for one enjoyed TMNT 3. For starters it was the first TMNT movie I owned out of the trilogy. What this movie lacked in story, it made up for in it's action and fight scenes. Imo this movie by far had the most and the best fight scenes out of the trilogy. They didn't need to focus on the story because the main story was already finished in Secret of the ooze. This imo felt like a filler story that took place after the main story.

Michelangelo would love to put Magic Spoon cereal on his pizza.

If you want to hear that song again, Dan, watch most weeks of All Elite Wrestling. Luke Perry's (yes, that Luke Perry) son, Jack, is known as Jungle Boy and it's his entrance music.

Did my kids distract me? Did he mention Exo Squad? Because the clip showed exo squad at one point when he was talking about covering many of the shows that didn't make it past one season.

As a kid I always liked the third one the best. I found it had the highest production value as well as the best storyline, maybe since they didn't f'up any previously know stories and characters like in the first two movies.

You forgot the 1991's Point Break movie the one with Keanu Reeves and the late Patrick Swayze that was also film in Oregon

I dont think the second movie is anywhere near as bad as 3, the final fight sucked in 2 but the humor throughout was better and the monstrosity that was Splinter in 3 was nightmare fuel.

This movie killed the franchise for a good decade And really only the 1st season of the cartoon is any good. After that it went the total He Man route and episodes just became ads for the upcoming toyline.