Film / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

Jungle life, I'm far away from nowhere, on my own like Tarzan boy...

"Hey, you were expecting maybe, uhh, The Addams Family?"

— Donatello

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is the 1993 sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and the third and last live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie from the 90s. It is written and directed by Stuart Gillard. It was released on March 19th, 1993.

When an antique scepter sends April O'Neil (Paige Turco) to 1603 Japan, it's up to Leonardo (Mark Caso, with voice dubbing by Brian Tochi), Michelangelo (David Fraser, with voice dubbing by Robbie Rist), Donatello (Jim Raposa, with voice dubbing by Corey Feldman) and Raphael (Matt Hill, with voice dubbing by Tim Kelleher) to retrieve her and travel back to present day New York before the scepter's powers are gone for good. As they search for the scepter in that time period, they have to contend with an evil British weapons-trader named Walker (Stuart Wilson), because everybody knows all the best villains are British.

Oh, and since both scepters exchange the people holding them between the two time periods, Hilarity Ensues as the misplaced individuals attempt to cope with their strange new surroundings.

The film also stars Elias Koteas as Casey Jones and Whit, James Murray as Splinter, Vivian Wu as Mitsu and Sab Shimono as Lord Norinaga.

The film was followed by TMNT.

This film has the examples of:

• Action Dress Rip: After switching places during time travel, April O' Neil wears Kenshin's samurai outfit in feudal Japan. Later, after escaping from the dungeon with the Turtles, we see her ripping part of the samurai clothing off by the lake while Leo and Donatello are looking.
• And Starring:
  • The opening cast roll here ends with "and Stuart Wilson".
  • As with the first film, the ending voice actor roll ends with "and Corey Feldman as Donatello".
• Ash Face: Norinaga's face is filled with dust after he survives being blown up inside the bell he was trapped in.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Lord Norinaga and Captain Walker. The former agrees to an alliance with the latter so he can use their firearms on his enemies, though Walker is the more malevolent of the pair.
• Big Damn Heroes: Towards the end of the film, Whit uses a cannonball to send Walker plunging to his watery death.
• Black Comedy: Surprisingly, for such a lighthearted film, after Walker plummets to his death, Donatello makes this quip.
  "Bungee jumping without a bungee! That could be dangerous."
• Book Ends: The movie begins and ends with the Turtles dancing.
• Both Sides Have a Point: April, who has a life and a job in 1993, New York, understandably wants to go back to the future. Michelangelo and Raphael, who live in the sewers and have to hide from the world, want to stay in Feudal Japan, where people actually acknowledge and appreciate them for their heroics. Raph, actually befriends a boy named Yoshi after complaining how people in New York neither knows nor appreciates them. Even Leo is a little reluctant to return to New York, because of how the people in Feudal Japan treat them like real heroes. Only the tech geek Don, who can not survive without technology, agrees with April, at least until Leo realizes they are being selfish and decides they must go back to their own time.
• Brick Joke: Raph tries to justify his desire to migrate by pointing out that he has a beak. Later, when the Turtles find scrolls depicting the legendary Kappa, who look like them, Don points out that one of them looks familiar.
  Don: Looks like me, but it's got Raph's beak.
• The Bus Came Back: After being missing from the second movie, Casey returns after the turtles call him over for a visit. He is ready to "bust some skulls," until he is told they need him to watch over the people from ancient Japan they are going to be switching with.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Kenshin towards his father.
  Lord Norinaga: Kenshin, I have forbid you for leaving the palace. You have disgraced me.
  Kenshin: It is you who have disgraced me, father. You and your unjust war.
  [Everyone is quiet. Norinaga is about to come down hard on him until Walker arrives.]
• Can't Take Anything with You: The sceptre doesn't let its users carry their clothes through time, making them switch their outfits of the users at the other end. Though, it's a little inconsistent, because April's Walkman and the Turtles, Kenshin and the Honor Guards' weapons were transported with them. Plus, one of the Honor Guards returns to his time still wearing the shorts.
• Comedic Work, Serious Scene: While this film is the most light-hearted of the live-action trilogy, the scene where Leonardo gives CPR to an unconscious Yoshi has some rather dramatic tension.
• Canon Foreigner: Everyone except the Turtles, Splinter, April and Casey.
• Captain Ersatz: Lord Norinaga is depicted as a brutal warlord interested in the conquest of feudal Japan and is making a deal with a foreigner to supply his troops with guns. Can't imagine what sort of real-life person may have inspired such a character. (Though at least this one doesn't have demonic powers.)
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: "This is the worst rescue I've ever had."
• CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: After Michelangelo rescues Yoshi from the burning house, Leonardo attempts CPR on Yoshi. During this, Mitsu claims he's 'casting an evil spell', but April corrects her that 'he's helping'. It's justified, since Yoshi wasn't breathing due to smoke inhalation.
• Dance Party Ending: The turtles have a dance party after Splinter cracks yet another joke at the end of the film.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: Norinaga is at war with Mitsu because he doesn't approve of his son's relationship with her.
• Desperate Object Catch: Mikey, with the scepter, before Walker can throw it off of a roof.
• Disney Villain Death: Walker plunges to his watery doom at the end of the film.
• Dressing as the Enemy: This is done with a justification: the established rules of time travel in the movie state that to go into the past, the turtles would have to swap places — and uniforms — with whoever is holding the scepter in Feudal Japan. It just so happened that the ones in the past were the Daimyo's honor guard. Luckily, the ceremonial samurai masks allow the Turtles to disguise their faces as well. Originally they thought they were gonna be switched with four priests at the palace.
• Equivalent Exchange: The magic time traveling scepter supposedly requires an equal number of people, of roughly the same weight, to travel in each direction. In practice, the muscle-bound, shell-heavy Turtles and the four honor guards are certainly not close in weight (although, one of them is quite burly but the others seem slimmer), and April can't possibly come close to Kenshin.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Walker is evil but he really loves his birds. In fact, his love for his birds his what ultimately causes his downfall, as he forgets about them and returns, only to get hit by a flaming boulder fired at him by Whit.
• Eternal English: The Turtles find that everyone they talk to knows English, which had been introduced to Feudal Japan only a few years earlier. And not only that, but we're talking residents of a remote Japanese village. On the flip-side, those four Samurai transported to the future, don't know a word of English.
• Faint in Shock: Kenshin faints when he meets Splinter. A callback to Keno fainting in the second film. This is Lampshaded by Donatello, who says "You sure have a strange effect on people, don't you, Master?".
• Foreshadowing: The film seems to be trying to set up a sequel where the Turtles travel back even further to the Battle of a Thousand Swords and defeat the Daimyo's ancestor.
• Fully-Clothed Nudity: Prior to the Turtles' trip through time, Michelangelo puts on Hawaiian shorts, advising the others to do the same, so that their counterparts, in switching place with them, don't arrive "bare-butt naked" as he puts it. However, there is no time for the others to follow suit. Nevertheless, when Norinaga's guards switch places with the Turtles in the present day, save the one wearing Michelangelo's Hawaiian shorts, the others arrive wearing white leotards, with no bare butts being shown.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Raphael says "Son of a Snapper!" when Yoshi gives him the scepter, revealing that he had found it in the woods.
• Growing Up Sucks: Both Mike and Raph feel far more appreciated in Feudal Japan, than they do in New York in 1993. Mike is especially bummed after having to return to New York, where they live in a sewer, where no one other than a few of their friends, appreciates them, while everyone in the past looked up to them as heroes. Yet he has to do it, because it is the right thing to do. His brothers and Splinter however, manage to cheer him up by cracking jokes and doing a dance number.
  Master Splinter: Michelangelo?
  Mike: Yes, Master Splinter?
  Master Splinter: Something deeply troubles you, my son.
  Mike: Growing up. I don't think I'll ever laugh again.
• Heel–Face Turn: Whit starts off working with Walker, but eventually switches sides after being betrayed towards the end of the film.
• Heroic Fire Rescue: Michelangelo saves Yoshi from a burning building just before the Turtles are reunited. It convinces Mitsu and the other villagers to trust the Turtles.
• Horsing Around: The Turtles try their hand at horseback riding, but are each in turn thrown off... except for Leonardo, who goes riding off standing on the horse.
• I Choose to Stay: Michelangelo and Raphael want to stay in the past (the former's feelings for Mitsu, the latter feeling more appreciated and have no reason to hide). Leonardo is considering staying, until he realizes they belong in their own time and that they'll meddle too much in the villagers' lives.
  April: Hey, wait a minute. You're going back to New York.
  Mike: Been there. Done that.
  April: Michelangelo, it's our home!
  Mike: Sure! Your home's a nice apartment. My home's a sewer.
  Raph: Uh, I've been thinking the same thing, Leo. People appreciate us here. We don't have to live like moles!
  Don: Hey, whoa! No way! We're all going back! Tell him Leo!
  Leo: Actually—
• I Don't Pay You to Think: Whit says "I think she's telling the truth" about April's information of Kenshin's whereabouts, to which Walker replies "Really? Well, I don't pay you to think, do I? I pay you to lie, cheat, and steal."
• Identical Grandson: April and The Turtles meet an ancestor of Casey Jones (and played by the same actor), a British ne'er-do-well stuck in Ancient Japan.
• Instant Expert: While the other turtles are terrible at Horse riding, Leo eventually becomes better in his second attempt. Donnie groans "You know, sometimes I hate that guy".
• Interspecies Romance: Develops between Michelangelo and Mitsu. Downplayed, however, as Mitsu is in love with Kenshin.
  Michelangelo: But, I want to stay here... with you.
  Mitsu: You will always be here with me, Michelangelo.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Raphael, in his "Turtle Tantrum" complains that no one seems to know about or appreciate the Turtles. Just as his fit reaches high volume, April O'Neil shows up to give them some gifts.
• Layman's Terms: When Donatello dispenses some technobabble in regards to the limited time they have to find April and return to the present, Casey immediately asks for some clarification.
  Casey: Whoa, whoa...now, what does all that mean in, American?
  Donatello: If we're not back in two and a half days, we're turtle soup.
• Kneel Before Frodo: The villagers bow to the Turtles for saving Yoshi twice.
• Match Cut: From the rat in the dungeon April's imprisonment to Splinter in the present.
• The Mole: The rebels have one (a priest) in Norinaga's palace. He saw Norinaga agreeing to Walker's deal of using guns. Later, he snuck out to the village to inform Mitsu.
• My God, You Are Serious!: When Mike says that he wishes to stay back in Feudal Japan, April thinks he is joking. He is not.
• Not So Above It All: Straight-laced Master Splinter, once again, shows that he's not above making the occasional joke like the Turtles while wearing lampshade.
  Splinter: Yo, dude! Like Elvis in Blue Hawaii!
• Numbered Sequels: With no subtitle this time around.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • April has one shortly before the scepter sends her back in time.
  • Kenshin gasps in shock upon meeting Splinter and the Turtles for the first time.
  • Norinaga, just before a bell falls on top of him in the final battle.
  • Walker gets one shortly before he plunges to his watery death.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Raph in one of his usual moods at the beginning.
  Raph: What are we doing this for? Day after day? Practicing? Killing ourselves? And for what?!
  Splinter: (sighs) Raphael...
  
  April: Where's Raph?
  Don: He's on another funk.
  April: Again?
• One-Steve Limit: Zig-zagged. By itself, no two characters share the same name in the film. However, this film is still in continuity with the previous two, meaning we have two different characters named "Yoshi" (the kid that Raphael befriends and Splinter's deceased master; and no, there's no indication that the former is the ancestor of the latter).
• Out-of-Character Alert: Mitsu is about to shoot an arrow at either Whit or April. Raph stops her, which surprises her since apparently Norinaga's Honor Guards would never bother to save or help anyone from their side. Also, he speaks English, which none of the Honor Guards can before.
• Rebel Prince: Kenshin.
  Walker: Children can be such a pest. Especially when they're friends with the enemy.
• Reverse Grip: Mitsu holds her dagger this way.
• San Dimas Time: The Time Traveling scepter (in the present) only has enough power to work 5 times in 60 hours, after which it is destroyed, rendering even the fully intact scepter in 1603 Japan useless as well.
• Scenery Porn: After rescuing April, Raph admires the beautiful scenary of feudal Japan.
  Raph: Hey, Leo. Look at this water.
  Leo: Well, I don't see anything.
  Raph: Exactly! No tires, no beer cans, no dead fish... just water... clean, clear, beautiful water.
• Sequel Goes Foreign: The film ups the ante by taking place in ancient Japan. Of course, the Turtles are ninjas.
• Ship Tease: The ending shows Casey and April next to each other laughing at the turtles antics and exchanging a brief look.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Addams Family line quoted above. It was probably supposed to be a Take That! at Addams Family Values, a sequel to the first Addams Family movie that was coming out the same year as Ninja Turtles III, but even with that kind of context it makes no sense, especially since Donny is asking this to a group of guards in 1603 Japan.
    • The Addams Family TV series itself made a shout out, also doubling as Hilarious in Hindsight. Mainly in "Dead and Breakfast" when Grandmama answered her hotline, apparently talking to Donatello who seeked her help, asking why his pizza was taking too long to arrive from the restaurant.
  • "Help, I'm a turtle and I can't get up!"
  • "Ok, go ahead punk, make my day!"
  • "Whoa, leg-o-rama! Schwing!"
  • it's hammer time!
  • One scene has the turtles comparing a group of guards to The Three Stooges.
  • Before escaping from the dungeon, Raph deepens his voice and says, "I'll be back."
  • As the Turtles prepare to go back to New York, April says "It's Star Trek time guys!"
  • After saving Yoshi from a burning building, Michelangelo says, “Kurt Russell, eat your heart out.”
• Skyward Scream: Raph, when he found the scepter (actually Yoshi gave it to him).
  Raph: LEO!!!! I FOUND IT!!
• Shown Their Work: For all the faults this film has it's extremely period accurate in terms of the costumes used for the Feudal Japan scenes.
• Special Effects Evolution: Inverted; following up on the already cartoonish redesigns for the previous movie, this one goes whole hog with how the turtles look like living cartoon characters. However, this makes the effects themselves even faker and obvious that the Turtles are People in Rubber Suits with animatronic heads that move too robotically to be convincing.
• Team Title
• Title Drop: This is how the Turtles refer to themselves.
  Walker: What kind of demons are you?
  Leonardo: We're Turtles, friend.
  Donatello: ...of the Teenage Mutant Ninja variety, sleazeball.
• Underside Ride: The Turtles do this using a wagon to sneak into the daimyo's palace. Of course, they were already Dressing as the Enemy, but wanted to stay out of contact with the daimyo to avoid a case of Spot the Imposter.
  Donatello: I told you these suits would get us in trouble!
• Wasn't That Fun?: For the first few minutes in Feudal Japan, the Turtles find themselves riding horseback during a massive battle, end up separated from Mikey, and then unceremoniously dumped into a marsh. Raphael remarks, in his classic sarcasm, "That was fun."
• What the Hell Are You?: In the climax, Walker asks the Turtles what kind of demons they are, leading to the aforementioned Title Drop.
• What the Hell, Hero?: The Turtles call out Mitsu for supposedly hiding the scepter, for without it they "have no choice but to stay and fight" (even Mikey believed it). Then her grandfather confesses he was the one who hid the scepter from them (he told Yoshi to hide it, but his grandson didn't want his new friends to die), because he fears Mitsu would be killed and pleads that they help her win the war. Mitsu was likely against her grandfather's decision, because if the Turtles and April stayed she might never see Kenshin again, and the daimyo will continue to wage war.

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