10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

3. There Was Almost An Usagi Yojimbo Cartoon

Daredevil TMNT
Dark Horse Comics

Considered the sister series to the TMNT comics practically since both's inception, Usagi Yojimbo is nevertheless a very different beast from the Turtles.

Created by cartoonist Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo is a perfect example of your audience being more than willing to follow your crazy ideas so long as you meet them halfway with a great story. And considering the fact that Eastman and Laird's creations would often crossover with Sakai's "The Twelve Kingdoms but with a bunny" feudal drama, it stands to reason that a television network might see potential for their own TMNT clone.

But to give it its own feel (and to distance itself from the shockingly gritty violence of the Mirage comic) they decided to instead adapt the spin-off comic Space Usagi. Which was exactly what it sounds like in the title.

A pilot was animated and even voice acted, but the financial bomb of the show Bucky O'Hare dashed any hope of the show actually making it to air. Fortunately, Usagi has made himself a staple of TMNT lore, appearing at least once in every Turtles cartoon.

Currently, there is also an animated series in the works from Gaumont Film Company. So there is hope that both Usagi and the Turtles will finally have a show airing at the same time as each other, and that they will crossover like the comics before them.

Contributor
Contributor

John Tibbetts is a novelist in theory, a Whatculture contributor in practice, and a nerd all around who loves talking about movies, TV, anime, and video games more than he loves breathing. Which might be a problem in the long term, but eh, who can think that far ahead?