Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) are a group of four anthropomorphic turtle brothers, who, as one might infer from the name, are also teenagers, mutants and ninja. The Turtles are each named after a famous Renaissance artist: Leonardo (Leonardo da Vinci), Raphael (Raffaello Santi), Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonarroti), and Donatello (Donatello). The TMNT live in the sewers of New York City.

Censorship and Hero Turtles

Upon TMNT's first arrival in the United Kingdom, the name was changed to "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" (or TMHT for short), since local censorship policies deemed the word ninja to have too violent associations and connotations for a children's programme. Consequently, everything related to the Turtles had to be renamed before being released in the UK (or Ireland). The lyrics were also changed, eliminating the word ninja, such as changing "Splinter taught them to be ninja teens" to "Splinter taught them to be fighting teens." The policies also had other effects, such as removing Michelangelo's nunchakus on the same basis. At the start of the later comeback these policies had been abolished, and no changes were made to the 2003 TMNT show. The name Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remained unchanged for the 2003 show. As a result, in the U.K., the 1987 show is still called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles and the 2003 show is called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Related Topics:
United Kingdom - Censorship - Ireland - Nunchaku

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