Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993)

Director:

Stuart Gillard

Writers (WGA):

Kevin Eastman (characters) &
Peter Laird (characters) ...
(more)

Release Date:

17 March 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

The Turtles Are Back....In Time

Plot:

The turtles find themselves transported back in time to ancient Japan.

Plot Keywords:

Campy | Electronic Music Score | Action Heroine | Part Of Trilogy | Magic

Cast

Elias Koteas	...	Casey Jones / Whit
Paige Turco	...	April O'Neil
Stuart Wilson	...	Walker
Sab Shimono	...	Lord Norinaga
Vivian Wu	...	Mitsu
Mark Caso	...	Leonardo
Matt Hill	...	Raphael
Jim Raposa	...	Donatello
David Fraser	...	Michaelangelo
Henry Hayashi	...	Kenshin
John Aylward	...	Niles
Mak Takano	...	Benkei (Honor Guard #1)
Steve Akahoshi	...	Honor Guard #2 (as Steven Getson Akahoshi)
Kent Kim	...	Honor Guard #3
Ken Kensei	...	Honor Guard #4
Travis A. Moon	...	Yoshi
Tad Horino	...	Grandfather
Glen Chin	...	Jailer
Koichi Sakamoto	...	Young Priest
Tracy Patrick Conklin	...	Sam
Edmund Stone	...	Dave
Jeff Kawasugi	...	Murata
Phil Chong	...	Rider
Yeon Kim	...	Blacksmith
Robbie Rist	...	Michaelangelo (voice)
Brian Tochi	...	Leonardo (voice)
Tim Kelleher	...	Raphael (voice)
James Murray	...	Splinter (voice)
Corey Feldman	...	Donatello (voice)

Directed by
Stuart Gillard

Writing credits (WGA)
Kevin Eastman		(characters) &
Peter Laird		(characters)
Stuart Gillard		(written by)

Produced by
David Chan	....	producer
Raymond Chow	....	executive producer
Roberta Chow	....	associate producer
Kim Dawson	....	producer
Thomas K. Gray	....	producer
Terry Morse Jr.	....	co-producer

Original Music by
John Du Prez

Cinematography by
David Gurfinkel

Film Editing by
William D. Gordean
James R. Symons

Production Design by
Roy Forge Smith

Art Direction by
Mayne Berke

Set Decoration by
Ronald R. Reiss

Costume Design by
Dodie Shepard

Makeup Department
Steven Mack	....	hair department head
Martha Preciado	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Art Levinson	....	unit production manager
Terry Morse Jr.	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
James Cohen	....	assistant director
Phil Dupont	....	first assistant director: second unit
D. Scott Easton	....	assistant director: second unit
Terry Leonard	....	second unit director: additional unit (as Terry J. Leonard)
Michael D. Moore	....	second unit director
John G. Scotti	....	second assistant director: second unit
John G. Scott	....	assistant director

Art Department
Heath Berke	....	set dresser
Jo Brown	....	head scenic
Bruce Robert Hill	....	set designer
Joel Jaspan	....	carpenter
Terry Kempf	....	construction general foreman
Allen Lafferty	....	plaster foreman
Allen Lafferty	....	sculptor
Charles R. Lipscomb	....	lead man
Michael McCombe	....	head greensman
Michael Sexton	....	property master: second unit
Mike Smithson	....	character sculptor
Bob Warner	....	painter
Toni J. Wolf	....	scenic artist

Sound Department
Kevin Bartnof	....	foley artist
Michael C. Casper	....	sound re-recording mixer
Dino Dimuro	....	sound effects editor
Giovanni Di Simone	....	sound mixer: second unit
Richard Dwan Jr.	....	adr editor
Richard Dwan Jr.	....	dialogue editor
Tom Gerard	....	sound re-recording mixer
Scott Martin Gershin	....	sound designer
Ellen Heuer	....	foley artist
Robert Janiger	....	sound mixer
Larry Kemp	....	supervising sound editor
Kraig Kishi	....	boom operator: second unit
Mark Lanza	....	sound effects editor
George W. Scott	....	boom operator
Marshall Winn	....	sound editor

Special Effects by
Eric Allard	....	creature effects supervisor
Tony Allard	....	special effects technician
Gary D. Bierend	....	animatronics technician
Joseph P. Mercurio	....	special effects
Vincent Montefusco	....	special effects: 2nd unit-pyro/mech
Dawn M. Severdia	....	special effects makeup coordinator
Beecher Tomlinson	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Jesse Silver	....	matte artist

Stunts
Barbara Bernhardt	....	stunts
Will Cascio	....	stunts
Phil Chong	....	stunts
Dale Frye	....	stunts
Danny E. Glover	....	stunts
Steven Ho	....	turtle fight double: Donatello
Shishir Inocalla	....	turtle fight double: Michaelangelo (as Allan Shishir Inocalla)
Pat E. Johnson	....	stunt coordinator
Larry Lam	....	turtle fight double: Leonardo (as Harry Lam)
Gary Lauder	....	stunts
Bruce Le	....	stunt coordinator
Alan Liu	....	stunts
Bobby Lovgren	....	stunts
Anthony Marquez	....	stunts
David McKeown	....	stunts
Billy Morts	....	stunts (as William Morts)
Ho Sung Pak	....	turtle fight double: Raphael
Ho Young Pak	....	stunts
Nick Palma	....	stunts
James Pratt	....	stunts (as Jim Pratt)
Danny Virtue	....	horse stunts staging
Danny Virtue	....	stunts
Mark Warrick	....	stunts (as Mark Warrack)
Bill Shaw	....	stunt fighter (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Robert Isenberg	....	still photographer
Brett Mabry	....	electrician
Rexford L. Metz	....	director of photography: second unit
Jason Newton	....	company grip
Louis Niemeyer	....	first assistant camera: second unit
Daniel Pershing	....	dolly grip
Reinhart 'Rayteam' Peschke	....	gaffer
Frank Scheidbach	....	best boy
Joseph D. Steuben	....	camera operator
Rick Whitfield	....	video assist coordinator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Marienne O'Brien	....	set costumer
Peter Greenwood	....	effects costume technician (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Joe Fineman	....	post-production consultant
John Hendrickson	....	assistant apprentice editor
Margaret Liu	....	apprentice editor

Music Department
Baltimora	....	composer: song "Tarzan Boy"
Brad Dechter	....	orchestrator
Larry Mah	....	score mixer

Transportation Department
Scott Doyle	....	transportation

Other crew
Mark Bakunas	....	production accountant
Barbara Bernhardt	....	assistant martial arts choreographer (as Barbara Goldstone)
Daniel S. Frisch	....	production accountant
Pat E. Johnson	....	martial arts choreographer
David Lai	....	technical advisor
Chia-Liang Liu	....	technical advisor
Joe Lotito	....	production assistant: second unit
Rick Lyon	....	animatronic puppeteer: "Donatello"
Karon May	....	script supervisor
Peter D. Steinbroner	....	production associate
Chris Tsongas	....	production assistant
Danny Virtue	....	horse wrangler (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Clearwater Holdings
• Golden Harvest Company

Distributors

• New Line Cinema (1993) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1996) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• 20th Century Fox (UK)
• 20th Century Fox of Germany (Germany)
• Manuel Salvador (Spain)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Sacred Scroll of Death (USA) (working title)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Turtles in Time (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA | Hong Kong

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L (original rating) | Iceland:12 (video rating) | Singapore:PG | UK:PG (original rating) (cut) | UK:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-12/9 | Germany:6 | Norway:11 (video premiere) | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Astoria, Oregon, USA

Company:

Clearwater Holdings

Trivia:

At one point in the movie, one of the turtles refer to 'Stuart Wilson' (qv (Walker) as the "Zorro dude". Wilson later starred in The Mask of Zorro (1998) as "Don Rafael Montero."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: While being destroyed, April's Walkman keeps working (for a moment), even after the batteries have fallen out.

Quotes:

Splinter: Put down your sword, Kenshin. They are not enemies. Only lost warriors, like yourself.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Angry Video Game Nerd: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Part 2 (#2.2)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Tarzan boy (1993 remix)

Tame and sickening kiddie fare

Oh dear, if you're diabetic then I would seriously advise against watching this film. It' so sugary it'll rot the brain right out of your head.

Why on earth Eastman and Laird allowed this to be made is beyond me. It's soooooooo far removed from their black and white comic book. Okay, I know the cartoon series was too but the first movie did have a hard edge to it. I mean, take a look at the cover-the Turtles are smiling and happy. Then look a cover of one of the original comic books. They're almost always gritting their teeth and frowning. THAT'S how it should be. Not like this.

Even the animatronics look fake. The first 2 had a rather believable Splinter but now he's juddering and stiff and obviously operated by a couple of technicians loitering a few feet off camera. His voice is also totally different and he seems a touch more upbeat and lively. HARDLY the way Splinter is supposed to be.

The plot itself defies logic and there are massive holes all over the place. With such a dramatic change in locale from New York to Fuedal Japan you'd think the movie would take advantage of that and go nuts with imagination.

But sadly not. It just...goes nowhere. I mean, what is the deal with the character of Whit. Why does he look like the great, great, great grandfather of Casey Jones.

In fact, the return of Casey is the only reason I am not giving this a 1-star rating. It's a pretty wretched movie but Elias Koteas can make it a tiny bit less unbearable.

Hopefully the new cartoon show and the possibility of another (harder) movie will cancel this one out. It's nothing but dated, mindless fodder for under-fives. At the risk of repeating myself; this is NOT how the Turtles should be.

Extras are almost non-existent but the animated menus are cool. The 1.85:1 anamorphic picture is in pretty good shape but the Dolby 5.1 track isn't up to much I'm afraid. The film was originally recorded in Dolby SR so this is obviously a remastering job. It's just adequate is all I'm saying.