In retrospect, was the 4kids TMNT series a success?

Clearly TMNT 2K3 was a success, or it wouldn't have lasted 7 years and over 100 episodes. We all know 4Kids would've dropped it like a hot potato a long time ago if it wasn't successful.
 
I would say TMNT was a success, but I wouldn't say it was particularly good, but it did have it's moments early on in the series. Mainly the first 20 or so episodes.
 
I would say the first four seasons were consistantly good with a few bumps here or there. The Tribunal season really did not do much for me and while i likes fastforward and BttS for what they were they still were not as great as the rest of the season.
 
I think it's a success. 7 seasons, lots of merchandise, and glowing reviews from people who aren't wearing nostalgia googles. It also helps that it is one of the last few saturday morning cartoons to be written as a continous story.

Anyone who honestly felt it would become the phenomenon that was the 80s cartoon was lying to themselves. TMNT was a fad, and fads hardly ever reach their original popularity once they die down. Look at Pokemon and Power Rangers. They were considered fads early in their run, the popularity eventually died down (because of kids growing up) and yet they are still making money for their companies.

It is quite sad though that the show will remain an underrated gem due to coming so late after the original show. Especially since 80s fans will probably be convinced it was just another attempt at making an extreme version of another show.
 
The way I see it, the first 4 seasons and the lost season are triumphs by themselves. It is the ultimate SatAM cartoon, telling intelligent, yet straightforward storytelling, but also carefully balancing action/drama with character development while letting Mikey handle comic relief. TMNT 2003 is one of the few SatAM cartoons that truly enthralled me (which shamelessly includes the "filler" Orihalcos YGO season).

I view FF as an abomination but I do feel that BTTS let the show return to its roots some. However, if the DTV does not end on a reasonable note I'll simply treat FF and BTTS as bonus episodes, rather than part of the continuity.

I'm sure at some point the show will be rebooted down the line the way YGO, Gundam, He-Man, and GI Joe always are, but until then, TMNT 2003, which lasted seasons upon seasons of episodes (the first two seasons alone constituted 52 episodes overall) is a stellar example of how you make a good action/adventure cartoon, PERIOD. It is the Turn A Gundam of American cartoons, a classic, but it won't be appreciated until years after its conclusion.
 
Well one thing thats not discussed is most of us were kids when the original TMNT air and not when the new toon aired. So how do we exactly know it didn't pick up a lot of kids fans?

I find it hard to believe that a show that lasted that long is really not known about. Yeah if you ask people who grew up with the old show most have no idea this show existed but we don't know so much about kids. Obviously toy sales were good and no way was it only because of older tmnt fans.
 
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