For all the buzz surrounding the recent arrival of “Stranger Things”’ latest season, it might not even be the best 1980s pop culture throwback on Netflix. The Nickelodeon animated series “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” has quietly gained a fervent following since hitting the platform. Now, the series is getting a feature-length follow-up.
Here’s the movie’s official synopsis:
Continuing the tale from the hit Nickelodeon series, Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Donatello are back in action and up to their teenage antics in this comedic adventure that raises the stakes higher than ever before. The Turtles are put to the test when a mysterious stranger named Casey Jones arrives from the future to warn the mutant brothers of an impending invasion·of the most dangerous alien force in the galaxy – the Krang! Can the team rise up to become the heroes they are destined to be, or will their teenage foibles get the better of them? What unfolds is the most adventurous, emotional, and epic story ever told of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
In 2019, Netflix cut a deal with Nickelodeon to produce the film as a sequel to the second season. As the trailer reveals, the story has taken on a “Terminator”-like twist, with a time traveler warning our heroes of impending disaster if they don’t defeat a formidable new foe. That foe, of course, isn’t unique to longtime TNMT fans; Krang first appeared as a supervillain in the 1987 animated TV series “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and has been an old standby in the franchise ever since.
Most of the original voice cast from the original series is set to return, including Ben Schwartz, Josh Brener, Omar Benson Miller, and Brandon Mychal Smith as the titular foursome. Ant Ward and Andy Suriano handled the direction, and Tony Gama-Lobo and Rebecca May wrote the screenplay. Gama-Lobo wrote for the original series and previously collaborated with May on “King of the Hill.”
“Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie” is set to hit Netflix on August 5. Check out the trailer below.
