Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.
Original theatrical poster
Directed by	Michael Pressman
Produced by	Thomas K. Gray Kim Dawson David Chan Co-Producer: Terry Morse Jr. Executive Producer: Raymond Chow
Written by	Comic Book: Kevin Eastman Peter Laird Screenplay: Todd Langen
Starring	See Cast section
Music by	John Du Prez
Cinematography	Shelly Johnson
Editing by	Steve Mirkovich John Wright
Studio	Golden Harvest
Distributed by	US: New Line Cinema World: 20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	United States: 22 March 1991 Hong Kong:: April 1991 Japan: April, 1992
Running time	88 min.
Country	United States Hong Kong Japan
Language	English
Budget	$25,000,000[1]
Preceded by	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Followed by	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is a 1991 action / family film. It is the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, being the sequel to the 1990 film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Secret of the Ooze was then followed by a third film in 1993, and a fourth film (titled simply TMNT) in 2007. The film is commonly abbreviated as TMNT II. This movie is distributed by: New Line Cinema. Outside the United States, it is internationally distributed by 20th Century Fox.

The film follows the adventures of the four Turtles: Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael. Roughly resuming from the events of the last film, the villain, Shredder, returns to take back command of the Foot Clan, and work towards getting revenge on the Turtles. When he learns the secret behind the Turtles's mutation, he becomes more dangerous than ever. The film sheds some light on the origins of Splinter and the Turtles, introduces two new villains: Tokka and Rahzar. Unlike the first film, this one rarely showed the use of the Turtles' weapons. They instead fight bare-fisted for much of the film as part of an attempt to tone down the violence of the previous movie.

The film was released in March 1991, and received mixed reviews from critics. It departed from a lot of the darker feelings of the 1990 film, and in contrast was more light-hearted than its predecessor. The film was still very popular, and it became the 13th highest grossing film worldwide in the year of its release.^[2]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 TV releases 4 Reception 5 Production 6 Merchandising 7 Music 8 Home Video Releases 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Plot

This movie begins with Universal Pictures and New Line Cinema 1991 logo clip. At the beginning of the film, Turtles have been forced to live with their friend the news reporter April O'Neil because the Foot Clan know the whereabouts of their lair in the sewers. While the Turtles are looking for a new home, they encounter a pizza delivery boy named Keno, who is trying to fight off a band of robbers by means of his skill as a martial artist, whereupon the Turtles intervene on his behalf. Viewers later see that the Foot Clan, no longer as large as it was in the first film, have retreated to a large junkyard, where Master Tatsu, Shredder's second in command, attempts to take control of the gang, but is challenged by Shredder himself. Shredder was thought to be dead, as a result of falling from a rooftop into a garbage truck's trash compactor after a short battle with Splinter at the end of the first film. He now appears physically deformed and obsessed with obtaining revenge, to achieve which he sends a Foot member to pose as an intern at the news network and trail April.

April is shown making a report on the efforts of an industrial organization known as Techno Global Research Industries (TGRI for short) to neutralize pollutants that have resulted from their experiments. Soon after her interview of him, chief scientist Professor Jordan Perry discovers that toxic waste produced by the company has caused mutation in nearby dandelion plants, producing exponential growth. The Foot member posing as an intern informs Shredder of this, whereupon Shredder proceeds to dispatch the Foot Clan to obtain some of the waste. Splinter, seeing the report on television, shows the Turtles and April the canister of "ooze" that had caused himself and the Turtles to mutate into their present forms, revealing that it was made by the TGRI and evidently contained the same substance that triggered the overgrowth of the afore-mentioned dandelions. The Turtles infiltrate the TGRI offices to seize a sample of the ooze, only to encounter Tatsu and the Foot. Despite the Turtles' efforts to stop them, Tatsu and the Foot escape, taking the last canister of ooze and Professor Jordan Perry with them. Shredder later instructs Perry to use the ooze to transform a snapping turtle and a wolf into monsters, creating the characters Tokka and Rahzar. Perry does this, but because Perry altered the ooze before giving it to Shredder, it does not increase the intelligence of the mutants, making them infantile in intellect. As a result, when Shredder tells them to call him "Master", they misinterpret this and call him "Mama" instead, enraging him. He then orders Tatsu to kill them; however, when he sees a demonstration of their immense strength, he decides to use them as weapons. He releases them into city streets, where they amuse themselves by causing damage and wreaking havoc.

Raphael goes alone to pursue the Foot while the other three Turtles find a new lair in an abandoned subway station. With the assistance of Keno, the Foot headquarters located on Lairdman Island (home to the origin of the Ooze) off the coast of New York City is infiltrated, but Raphael is eventually captured by Shredder. Keno is able to inform the others, who go to save Raphael. After rescuing Raphael and Professor Perry, being themselves aided by Splinter, the Turtles are vanquished in battle by Tokka and Rahzar. Later, Professor Perry explains that the ooze was created as the result of discarded chemicals accidentally combining after being exposed to radiation in a lab accident, sending Donatello into a brief funk before Splinter assures him that he cannot judge his life on how it began, but only on what it is. Learning that Shredder intends to release Tokka and Rahzar into populated areas unless the Turtles confront them, Professor Perry and the Turtles attempt to develop an antidote to the ooze's effects. After creating a successful formula, they trick their enemies into ingesting it by hiding it in doughnuts and appealing to Tokka and Rahzar's hunger. Tokka and Rahzar eat some, but soon discover the antidote and become enraged.

The Turtles find themselves confronting the Shredder's mutants at a nightclub, in full view of every guest and performer. To appease the initial panic, the club's singer Vanilla Ice improvises a rap song whose refrain is "Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!", which is then sung as background music to the fights taking place in the club. Acting on Perry's advice, the Turtles use fire extinguishers to stimulate a swift activation of the antidote by spraying carbon dioxide into their enemies' throats, accelerating the anti-mutagenic process. The mutation is reversed, reducing the two monsters to their natural forms. The Shredder then arrives at the club and menaces all who are present. To defeat him, the Turtles use a sound amplifier to magnify a single noise produced by a musical instrument, resulting in a powerful sound-wave that throws the Shredder out of the club and into the area among the docks below.

Here, Shredder uses a vial of ooze to become a superior form of himself, extemporaneously called Super-Shredder. While fighting underneath a pier, the Super-Shredder, desperate to destroy the Turtles and heedless of all else- his simple speech pattern of various grunts suggests that his intellect has been reduced as well-, wrecks the structure, bringing it down on himself. The Turtles escape by utilizing their amphibious nature. Then, they note Shredder's hand emerges from the wreckage, but moments later falls down, indicating that he has died.

The Turtles return to their new lair, where Splinter asks whether they were seen. They deny it (insisting that they practice "the art of invisiblity"), until Splinter displays a newspaper having a front-page picture of them, taken at the nightclub where they fought Tokka and Rahzar. Splinter advises them to practice harder, then orders them to perform ten flips each, reminding them with the line "Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!". The screen freezes as they begin the first flip, whereupon Splinter is heard shouting "I made another funny! Ha ha ha ha!", implying that either he made up the newspaper story, or that the "funny" that Splinter made was merely stating the phrase "Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!".

[edit] Cast

• Mark Caso as Leonardo: Leonardo is generally considered the leader of the Turtles within the TMNT franchise. He wears a blue bandana and carries two katanas on the back of his shell. He is voiced by Brian Tochi.
• Michelan Sisti as Michelangelo: Michaelangelo is one of the four Turtles, and is the most light-hearted of the four in both the film and the TMNT universe. He wears an orange bandana and carries dual nunchaku on each side within his belt. He is voiced by Robbie Rist.
• Leif Tilden as Donatello: Donatello is one of the four turtles and is known for his technological expertise within the TMNT franchise. He wears a purple bandana and carries a bo on the back of his shell.
• Kenn Troum as Raphael: Raphael is the more aggressive and rebellious of the four turtles. He wears a red bandana and carries two sai in his belt. He is voiced by Laurie Faso. Troum and Faso replace Josh Pais in this film.
• Paige Turco as April O'Neil: O'Neil is a news reporter, and the human companion of the Turtles and Splinter. Paige Turco replaced Judith Hoag for this film and the following film.
• David Warner as Professor Jordan Perry: The professor works for the TGRI company as head scientist. He works with the Turtles to create an antidote for the mutated Tokka and Rahzar.
• Kevin Clash as Splinter: Splinter is the master and father figure of the turtles, and is a mutant rat.
• Ernie Reyes, Jr. as Keno: He is a pizza delivery boy who meets the turtles in the beginning of the film and befriends them.
• François Chau as Shredder: Shredder is the main villain in the TMNT franchise. He survived the battle with Splinter from the first film, and wishes to get revenge on Splinter and the Turtles. François Chau replaced James Saito in this film; He is voiced by David McCharen, reprising his role from the first film.
• Toshishiro Obata as Tatsu: Master Tatsu is Shredder's right-hand man and temporary leader of the Foot Clan in Shredder's absence. He is voiced by Michael McConnohie.
• Mark Ginther as Rahzar: Rahzar is a mutated wolf created by Shredder using a canister of ooze from the TGRI company. He is voiced by Frank Welker.
• Kurt Bryant as Tokka: Tokka is a mutated alligator snapping turtle also created by Shredder using the canister of ooze from TGRI. He is voiced by Frank Welker.
• Kevin Nash as Super Shredder: Shredder becomes Super Shredder as a result of using the ooze which has mutant effect, making Shredder a superior version of himself.

[edit] TV releases

On ABC Family, on 5 May 2007 marked the first time the movie was on TV since 1999. On 28 February 2008, Logan from Loogan's Channel announced that a marathon called The Green Teen Leen Mean Fighting Machines Marathon will be placed. It will have 6 encores of each movie. On 30 May 2009, once again all three movies aired on ABC Family.

[edit] Reception

The film was released less than a year after the first, using the taglines "Back by bodacious demand" and "Cowabunga, it's the new turtle movie".^[3] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was released in theatres on 22 March 1991 in the United States, and was subsequently released in numerous countries from June through to August.^[4] The film has a 36% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which collates film reviews, but has a 59% approval rating from users.^[5] The film opened at number one in North America on its first weekend of release, taking in over $20 million (USD),^[6] eventually making $78,656,813 in total.^[1] The film was a success at the box office, but made less than the first film.^[7] Some fans noted that there was also a reduction in the use of weapons by the turtles in the film, perhaps due to violence in the first film. (Leonardo and Raphael only use their weapons once each in the movie, for example.)^[8]

[edit] Production

Due to the large success of the first film, it was generally expected that a sequel would follow.^[9] The film was produced on a budget of $25 million (USD), higher than the budget of the 1990 film, which was $13.5 million.^[7] Like the first film, New Line Cinema distributed The Secret of the Ooze. Both the voices of Michaelangelo and Leonardo reprised their roles in the second film, whereas Corey Feldman did not voice Donatello in the second movie. A different actress also played April O'Neil, with Paige Turco playing the role, instead of Judith Hoag. The character of Casey Jones, who was a prominent character in the first, did not have a part in film. Ernie Reyes Jr., who was Donatello's fight double in the first film, was cast as a new character; Keno, as producers liked Reyes so much they created the role just for him.^[10] Todd W. Langen returned from the first film to write the screenplay.

The abandoned subway station, which serves as the new lair for the Turtles, is based on real-world decommissioned New York subway City Hall Station, of the former Interborough Rapid Transit company. During filming of the scene where the Turtles are trapped in the net and fall to the ground, one of the stuntmen broke an ankle.^[10] Some filming took place in North Carolina,^[11] much like the first, where the New York City skyline was created at the North Carolina Film Studios.^[12] The building used for the entrance to April's apartment is the office of the New York location of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which did the animatronics work for the film. The film is dedicated to the memory of Jim Henson. This is the first movie dedicated to Jim Henson, the second being The Muppet Christmas Carol. This is the first TMNT film to include a dedication, the second would be TMNT which was dedicated to the late Mako.

[edit] Merchandising

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise was arguably at the height of its popularity around the time that The Secret of the Ooze was released in theatres. A number of tie-ins were brought out alongside the release of the film. A new line of toys were introduced for the release of the film, including "Movie Star" toys of all four turtles, with the box art depicting stills from the film, as well as a cartoon rendition of the turtles gathered around a canister of ooze in the top right corner of the package.^[13] In contrast to the usual Turtles' figures, the film series figures were softer and more rubbery, to better reflect the look of the animatronic costumes used in the films. They also featured ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and hips, and each figure came with a small, plastic canister with a sticker of "Ooze" wrapped around them. An official film adaptation was also released by Eastman and Laird.^[14]

Figurines of Super Shredder, Tokka and Rahzar were also available, though they were not as closely aligned to the film as the four turtles were.^[15] The Playmates company produced the figurines.^[16] The Turtles franchise had by now also immersed itself into the food industry, with characters from the franchise appearing on numerous food products. Royal Gelatin Desserts adapted the "Ooze" name into their product, and featured the Turtles on the packages.^[17] The boxes included various recipes involving ooze in some form.^[17]

[edit] Music

An original motion picture soundtrack was released alongside the film in 1991 by SBK Records.^[18]

The soundtrack featured 10 tracks from the film. The soundtrack featured music from artists such as Ya Kid K, Cathy Dennis and David Morales, Tribal House and Dan Hartman. However, the most famous song featured on the soundtrack was Ninja Rap by rapper Vanilla Ice.

The song featured strongly within the feature film, as Ice makes an appearance as himself, and begins to freestyle a ninja rap song when the turtles end up fighting Tokka and Rahzar within the club where he was performing. In the terms of the plot, this song was to trick the audience into believing the fight was a harmless 'show' and thus not to panic.

A music video was also produced for Ninja Rap at the time of the film's release. The soundtrack also features two original pieces from the Orchestra On The Half Shell. The original music was done by John Du Prez, who won a BMI Film Music Award for his work.^[19]

[edit] Home Video Releases

The film was released to DVD in Region 1 on 3 September 2002; it contained only minor special features and interactive menus.

On 4 August 2009, the film was included in a special 25th-anniversary boxset, released to both DVD and Blu-Ray formats. It contains Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and 2007's animated release, TMNT.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze at the Official Ninja Turtles website.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze at the Internet Movie Database
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. at Allmovie
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze at Rotten Tomatoes
• Soundtrack information at the Official Ninja Turtles website.
• Interview with Robbie Rist "Michelangelo"

v • d • e Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Creators Kevin Eastman · Peter Laird Characters April O'Neil · Baxter Stockman · Bebop · Casey Jones · Donatello · Hamato Yoshi · Karai · Krang · Leatherhead · Leonardo · Michelangelo · Miyamoto Usagi · Rahzar · Raphael · Rat King · Rocksteady · Shredder · Splinter · Tokka · Venus List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles supporting characters Comics Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles · Tales of the TMNT · Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures · Daily comic strip TV 1987 cartoon (episode list) · Legend of the Supermutants · The Next Mutation · 2003 cartoon (episode list) · Turtles Forever Films Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles · II: The Secret of the Ooze · III · TMNT Games Role-playing games · Video games Other TMNT (soundtrack) · Action figures · Food tie-ins · Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (cameo appearance) Related articles Foot Clan · Dimension X · Technodrome