The animated TV series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles about 4 mutated turtles quickly became popular all over the USA back in 1987. Because of the huge success, British companies decided to buy the publication rights for the UK. However, since the laws for the protection of children and youth were way more strict than in the USA, most of the episodes had to be censored. They even altered the title - the word Ninja was replaced by the word Hero. Several episodes either re-dubbed or cut out any dialogue that included the word ninja. Also, Michelangelo's nunchucks were very often an issue of censorship and sometimes they even censored the use of other weapons as well.

For this comparison, the shortened German Version (which is based on the UK cut of the episodes) was compared to the uncensored Original Version. Both of these Versions were included in the DVD box-set released by KSM. However, the German Version runs a little faster than the original Version (due to the problem of PAL-speedup), therefore it is a little harder to compare the exact differences in time. Therefore, it is very much possible that the time designations are not one-hundred percent accurate.

For this episode, the British publishers had to make 3 cuts with a total runtime of 9.8 seconds. 2 of these cuts include a fade to black.

The Intro

For the UK Version of the series, the intro was lavishly re-cut. If you want to have a look at a more detailed report about the intro, have a look at the report for the very first episode of the first season of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" on our website. Also, you should have a look at the report about episode 3 which has a more detailed description about the 2 changes that were made for the German DVD's version of the intro.

Comparison of the Versions

2:29
Splinter uses the bad word:
Splinter: "I suggest, doing each Ninja Exercise twice".
No difference in time.

7:49
Leonardo also uses the bad word Ninja.
No difference in time.

9:58
A fade to black was slightly shortened.
2.88 sec.

15:55
This time, the fade to black was completely cut out.
4.68 sec.

16:45
Michelangelo pulls out his nunchuck and swings it around.
Michelangelo: "Oh Boy, you guys could use a bath".
The censored version continues when he puts the nunchuck in a puddle to splash water all over Bebop and Rocksteady.
2.24 sec.