Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review

5

After multiple seasons of the animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, a saturated toy line, and two feature-length films, by 1993 the franchise had found itself in an active state of decline. Despite the evidence, the studio decided to roll the dice one more time, transporting the action to a new setting with a slightly more ambitious plot, but slashing the budget to minimize its risk. Unfortunately, the final film did little to reinvigorate the series and quite possibly even hastened its decline.

When April O'Neil (Paige Turco) accidentally activates an ancient mystical scepter at a flea market, she inadvertently swaps places with a Japanese prince and finds herself transported to 17th-century feudal Japan. The Turtle gang quickly follows in order to rescue her, only to find themselves caught in the middle of a conflict between the tyrannical Lord Norinaga (Sab Shimono), weapons dealer Wilson (Stuart Wilson), and a group of oppressed villagers led by the rebel Mitsu (Vivian Wu), while racing against time to return home.

Whilst ultimately still financially successful, the film's deficiencies are as obvious today as they were in 1993, which shockingly extended to the Turtles themselves (the suits that weren't created by the Henson studio and lacked the previous level of articulation), unhelped by a script that struck the wrong balance between its core audience who were aging up, but still needed to be family friendly. Despite initial development for a fourth film, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III concluded the original trilogy and rested the franchise's big screen ambitions until the 2007 CG animated film, which served as a soft-reboot but retained some continuity with the events of the trilogy.

5

Video

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in the Rec. 2020 color space, finished with dynamic Dolby Vision and static HDR-10 high dynamic range formats and encoded with AVC H.265 compression.

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Similar to its predecessor The Secret of the Ooze, this new 16-bit 4K scan hasn't been derived from the original camera negative, but instead from a later generation interpositive element - presumably because the camera negative has been damaged or is lost. Still, this is a wonderful scan from Warner Brothers' Motion Picture Imaging division and is in many ways the best-looking film in the trilogy set.

With much of the film moving to gently lit outdoor sets and aided by improvements in film stock, the film looks very decent from a technical standpoint - even if the seams of the penny-pinching production are woefully obvious. Coming from a pre-color timed interpositive, this remains very consistent with previous releases. Notably, the oft egregious level of film grain in the first two features is mostly absent here, assisted by the more well-lit and exterior settings. Again, the elements are in super shape, with only infrequent film artifacts visible.

I suspect most Turtles fans will have purchased the trilogy set in spite of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III and not because of it. But still, for completionists and nostalgia aficionados alike, it's almost certainly the ultimate version of the film.

Audio

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.

Again, Arrow has repurposed the same 5.1 mix from previous DVD and Blu-ray versions, encoded in DTS-HD Master Audio and matched with the original stereo audio mix in uncompressed PCM 2.0. As such, there's no sonic revamp to be found here, with the soundfield remaining firmly fixed to the front soundstage and infrequently being utilized in any aggressive way. There are no major problems to be found, albeit the audio sync from the Turtles' inferior suits is alarmingly bad this time around. Low frequency is used lightly and not always consistently.

Overall, this is a passable presentation that respects the original sound design sensibilities but will in no way test your audio system.

5

Extras

In typical Arrow style, we have a decent collection of new bonus features which have been created by the boutique studio, albeit one that reflects the lower standing of the film. Let's jump in.

5

First up, we have a newly recorded Audio Commentary featuring Director Stuart Gillard. This is different from the commentary recorded for the German Blu-ray release back in 2014 (not offered here), but no better or worse. Those expecting a groveling apology for the quality should look elsewhere.

Next up is the 17-minute featurette Rebel Rebel which consists of a new interview with actress Vivian Wu fondly recalling her time on the set and learning to adeptly ride a horse. Likewise, the 10-minute Daimyos & Demons featurette is another newly shot interview with actor Sab Shimono, who seems adorably unaware that the film was a turkey.

Finally, we have a censored Alternate UK Opening , as well as the Original Theatrical Trailer remastered in HD.