Teenage Mutant...what?!

[magilacudy]

I was searching for D&D Heroes on Ebay, and found this instead:

http://i17.ebayimg.com/01/i/03/86/7a/6f_1_b.JPG

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=60916&item=6373036 887&rd=1

Note: This isn't my auction and I am not from England.

Seriously though, why the name change? Did they think that kids would be confused by such complex moral ambiguities as stopping bank robberies, saving the world, and beating up characters such as Foot Soldiers, a giant brain and a guy with a collander on his head? Or perhaps they thought the inherently racist British youth would just assume that green skinned characters would do villainous deeds? A quick glance at the title would clear up any confusion the kids might have.

It is refreshing to see that my generation did not need coddling like that. We were allowed to make our own decisions on this cartoon, and obviously we turned out all the better for it. :)

Ok I need to get back to doing work now, but I just found that to be hilarious, not just because I was such a die hard TMNT fan growing up. Is there any other show or whatever that they changed the name for in other countries that seem ridiculous to us Americans?

[evilmax17]

Yeah, I think I knew about this. It's lame.

[Scahom1]

I wonder if Ninja Gaiden is called Hero Gaiden over there as well ;)

[peteloaf]

Europe is very skitish about certain things, Germany specificaly. Saying the word "Ninja" is like saying "Mass Murderer" or "Serial Killer" things that you don't want to name a children's cartoon. Castlevania: Bloodlines for the Genesis was renamed Castlevania: Vampires Kiss for the same reason.

[YoshiFan1]

I never knew they had a different name in Europe.

[magilacudy]

Europe is very skitish about certain things, Germany specificaly. Saying the word "Ninja" is like saying "Mass Murderer" or "Serial Killer" things that you don't want to name a children's cartoon. Castlevania: Bloodlines for the Genesis was renamed Castlevania: Vampires Kiss for the same reason.

Why is Ninja such a horrible thing to say in Europe? I could understand maybe in Japan, where it could have (in the past) a bad connotation, but why in Germany specifically?

[evilmax17]

In Europe, TJ Maxx is called TK Maxx. They're just nutty over there.

[PsyClerk]

It's just one of those cultural things. I know that showing "chain-sticks" (nunchuka) is a very bad thing to do in movies. Or at least it was. I read on the IMDB that the TMNT (or should I say TMHT?) movie was edited heavily to not show Michaelangelo's nunchuka.

[Duo_Maxwell]

Europe is very skitish about certain things, Germany specificaly. Saying the word "Ninja" is like saying "Mass Murderer" or "Serial Killer" things that you don't want to name a children's cartoon. Castlevania: Bloodlines for the Genesis was renamed Castlevania: Vampires Kiss for the same reason.

Bloodlines had the title New Generation in Europle I think and Dracula X for the SNES actually got the name Vampire's Kiss. And I'm not sure about the reasons, but I don't think that was it. Konami changed the names of all the Castlevania titles from Japan to the states to Europe, the titles constatnly change in what would seemingly be one large conspiracy to confuse anyone interested in piecing together an accurate timeline for the series.

[fivecardstud]

i hear they call quarter pounders a "royal with cheese"

[EddieBelfour]

i think we can all agree that ninjas rule however.

[Gothic Walrus]

Didn't they edit episodes for the UK as well as rename them?

[PsyClerk]

i hear they call quarter pounders a "royal with cheese"

No, that's in Paris. The city, not the skank.

[magilacudy]

The other Paris translates to skank in any other country or language.

[DigitalSpace]

That reminds me of a couple pirate TMNT shirts I got when I was a kid when my mom and stepdad went to Mexico for their honeymoon. They looked similar to the regular TMNT shirts, except the red bar on the TMNT logo was removed, so it would just read "TURTLES."