After Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) makes a joke about the Ninja Turtles, Cliff (John Ratzenberger) mentions how not too many people know they started out as a comic book. Kermit the Frog (Frank Welker), Fozzie Bear (Greg Berg), Animal (Dave Coulier), Rowlf (Katie Leigh) and Bean Bunny (Dave Coulier) do a musical number dressed as the Ninja Turtles. While helping Rose (Betty White) deal with a co-worker, Sophie (Estelle Getty) brings up the fact that she once owned a tranquilizer dart gun, but it had gotten confiscated after an incident with some Trick or Treaters. "In my defense it was dark out, and I was unaware of this Ninja Turtles craze." Joey (Dave Coulier) wears Ninja Turtle pajamas at a slumber party he attends with Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin). D.J. (Candace Cameron) babysits a young boy who pretends to be a Ninja Turtle and calls her Krang. In a similar incident Rebecca (Lori Louglin) invites her little nephew over who annoys Michelle (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) by pretending to be Raphael and calling her Shredder. When Rebecca learns she's pregnant, she decides to surprise Jesse (John Stamos) with the news via a game of charades. During the game, Michelle guesses Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While Joey is under investigation for purchasing a stolen vehicle, the Tanner family shows the detective all of his toys and cartoon memorabilia, including a pair of Ninja Turtle slippers. Danny (Bob Saget) goes on a date at an 80's nostalgia restaurant and in the background there's a Ninja Turtle poster. Kelly (Christina Applegate) teases Bud (David Faustino) for having a Donatello pillow. The Bundys check out a coffin shop and see a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle number, which the salesman mentions Michael Jackson picked out for Macaulay Culkin. While Homer (Dan Castellaneta) is being lectured by a children's birthday party conglomerate, they cut to a shot of college grads dressed in Ninja Turtle costumes popping out of a cake. Similar to a Futurama episode title (see entry below), this show had an episode titled "Teenage Mutant Milk-Caused Hurdles"! As Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith) stays home sick from school, she reads up on the history of the Italian renaissance, most notably Leonatdo Da Vinci. The textbook has a humorous drawing of a Ninja Turtle named Leonardo Da Ninji. Upon meeting famed Italian renaissance artist Leonardo Da Vinci, Bill S. Preston Esquire (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) assume he's Leonardo of the Ninja Turtles and ask where some of the other Turtles are.  NOTE: In the 1989 live action film this cartoon was based off of, Bill and Ted gathered several historic figures to help them pass their history report, including Napoleon Bonaparte and Genghis Khan, both of whom happen to be namesakes of the two Punk Frogs from the 1987 TMNT cartoon series that got their own action figures in the original Playmates toyline! The Ninja Turtles make some amusing appearances throughout the course of the series, and at one point are parodied as Immature Radioactive Samurai Slugs. Wheeler has pizza delivered, which upsets his fellow Planeteers who are concerned with helping sea turtles that are being exposed to toxic waste. Wheeler comments how turtles somehow gave him the subliminal craving. Later in the same episode Captain Planet makes a couple other funny references to the TMNT! When Jules Brown (Josh Keaton) invents a money tree, he claims "I've found myself more popular than those juvenile martial artist mutations on the half-shell.". The Ninja Turtles are parodied as cavemen. Al (Richard Karn) mentions that his pet turtle Scooter likes to watch the Ninja Turtles. While attempting to infiltrate Warner Bros. Studios, Plucky (Joe Alaskey) and Hampton (Don Messick) go into the sewers where the Ninja Turtles are seen running across the screen. Plucky immediately says to the audience "Who saw that one coming?" Squat and Baboo create a turtle monster named Shellshock and send him to fight the Power Rangers. At one point Rita enlarges Shellshock, who says "Lets show those teenage mutants what a full grown turtle can do!" In the opening to an episode about the artist Michelangelo, the Ninja Turtles make a brief cameo. Steve (Corbin Allred) says to a forlorn Marty (Mike Damus) "I haven't seen you this upset since you found out the Ninja Turtles aren't real." Bobby (Pamela Adlon) looks at an old picture of himself dressed as Raphael for Halloween and comments on how dorky he looked back then. When Stan (Trey Parker), Kyle (Matt Stone) and a couple school friends travel to Imaginationland, several famous fictional characters can be seen, including a generic Ninja Turtle with a black bandana. While none of the characters in the show itself have ever made any direct references to the Ninja Turtles, the ongoing plot about mutants living in exile within the subterranean ruins of the original New York City and a river of toxic waste capable of mutating humans could be perceived as an homage.  Mayor West (Adam West) and Meg (Mila Kunis) watch an episode of Ninja Turtles in a hotel room. Only the theme song is heard. Around the time actor Seth Green got the role of Leonardo on the 2012 CGI series (replacing Jason Biggs) his Family Guy character Chris Griffen paid homage to that connection in a cutaway where Chris is in the hospital. The doctor tells him to stop lifting manhole covers, and Chris rebutts by explaining that he's friends with the Ninja Turtles, when a sewer worker shows up to bring him flowers, who Chris assumes is Donatello (Personally, I think it's ashame they couldn't have actually used Rob Paulsen for this scene, though he doesn't usually get involved with adult oriented animated programming) Francis (Christopher Masterson) discovers Grandma Ida (Cloris Leachman) had been hoarding years worth of Christmas presents from him and his family. Among them is a Pizza Throwing Donatello action figure. The Ninja Turtles are parodied as Adolescent Genetically Altered Karate Cows. NOTE: This episode occurred five years before Nickelodeon acquired the rights to the TMNT. Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen) claims to be the writer of the original Ninja Turtles cartoon theme song. NOTE: This show's producer Chuck Lorre is known for having written the theme song back in 1987. Roger (Seth MacFarlene) tells Steve Smith (Scott Grimes) that he imagines what it'd be like if the Ninja Turtles went to college. While at an art show with Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Marshall (Jason Segal) makes a joke about the Ninja Turtles' namesakes, who were all renaissance artists. Later that night a young artist by the name Strickland Stevens (Chris Smith) hears Marshall mention the Ninja Turtles and the two of them talk about the original Eastman and Laird comics. In the 16th season's premiere Charlie (Charlie Day) invests in a box full of the very rare Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pies that were made by Hostess over 30 years ago. Frank (Danny DeVito) offers to buy some. Charlie makes a bargain with him while eating one of the pies and as they finally make the deal, Charlie starts to cough and gag on the pie. NOTE: I never really got into this series, so I don't have much knowledge of the plot to fully understand the characters' situation here. Also I keep getting Charlie Day's name mixed up with Disney/Marvel's Daredevil star Charlie Cox. Upon hearing of the archangel known as Raphael (Demore Barnes) Dean Wichester (Jensen Ackles) jokes that his colleague Castiel (Misha Collins) was murdered by a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Angel". In a similar instance, Dean meets a prophet by the name Donatello (Keith Szarabajka) who he assumed was named after the Ninja Turtle, but the old man corrects him, saying that he was named after the Renaissance sculptor. TRIVIA: A year prior to landing the role on Supernatural, Ackles had a recurring role throughout season 4 of Smallville, in which he portrayed a mysterious young man who courted Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk); ironically, in the earlier seasons of that series Lana actually had a horse by the name Donatello, but they never referenced TMNT. It's possible that since the series was based on Superman they didn't want to get too carried away with referencing other well known comic book properties. Liz (Tina Fey) orders the writers not to submit anymore sketches about Krang. Sam (Bret Harrison) visits his friend Mimi (The OC star Melinda Clarke) who's moving away, when her daughter Cady (Jessica Stroup) warns her not to sell her Ninja Turtle toys. Mimi jokes that Donatello was Cady's first boyfriend. During a conversation about Spider-Man, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) starts singing the theme song to the original Ninja Turtles cartoon. Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Howard (Simon Helberg) and Raj (Kunal Nayyar) quickly join in. NOTE: This show's producer Chuck Lorre is known for having written the theme song back in 1987.  While being lead through a subway tunnel with a freaked out Caroline (Beth Behrs), Max (Kat Dennings) says "All we really need to worry about are the Ninja Turtles!" Sophie (America Pie star Jennifer Coolidge) mentions how she was once engaged to a guy who lived in the sewers and claimed to be friends with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Max responds with "If he can introduce me to Donatello, get him back!" While hanging out at a photo art gallery, Han's (Matthew Moy) attire embarrasses Earl (SNL alumni Garrett Morris) who comments "Nobody went with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle as a wingman." While in a long distance relationship with L.A. lawyer Randy (Ed Quinn), Max asks the sleazy diner cook Oleg (Jonathan Kite) to help her send naughty texts to Randy, but a while later she worries they might've been a little too racy. Oleg comments "You asked Michelangelo to paint, and then you criticize the painting!" and Max promptly asks why he's bringing up the Ninja Turtles. Early on in the series Officer Jake Peralta (played by Saturday Night Live alum Andy Samberg) has a Leonardo action figure on his computer. Later on in the series Jake is down in the sewers along with Sergeant Jeffords (Terry Crews) searching for a perp. Jake comments on how Leonardo was too fastidious for the sewers, while Michelangelo was the sloppy one of the group. Jeffords gets annoyed with Jake's geeky ranting and tells him to shut up, to which Jake replies with "Sarge, we're in a sewer. I'm goin'st to talk about the Turtles!" Later on, Jake's girlfriend Officer Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) defends Jake's love for the awesome foursome, saying the same thing. A few years later, a now married Jake & Amy are dealing with her issues with one of her seven brothers. Jake admits that while he himself never grew up with any siblings, he got most of that experience vicariously through the Ninja Turtles. In a more recent episode, this time regarding Jake's rocky relationship with his family, Jake has a conversation with his grandfather Admiral Walter Peralta (Martin Mull) who asks him "Are you still watching those cartoons about the karate lizards?" to which Jake briefly brings up the 2012 CGI reboot and how it changed Splinter and Krang's backstory, though he quickly changes the subject by stating that he has grown up despite retaining his childhood interests. While hanging out with the Titans, M s y Menos (Freddy Rodreiguez) take several boxes of pizza to the Ninja Turtles' lair. In an episode about pizza, Robin (Scott Menville) explains how he asked the Ninja Turtles for help when he originally formed the Titans. Later on the Titans learn that the TMNT have taken all the pizza in the world, and a wacky battle ensues between both teams. NOTE: Throughout the episode, the Titans refer to the TMNT as "Cool Turtle Dudes" either as a way to avoid copyright infringement or to simply poke fun at the title. My money's on the latter since voice actor Greg Cipes involvement in both franchises was most likely what gave them the incentive to do this story in the first place. In the season 3 premiere Missy Cooper (Raegan Revord) is confused by her dad George's (Lance Barber) explanation of football, to which he replies that she now knows how he feels when she tries to explain the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Missy retorts with "The title tells you everything you need to know" Later on they're watching an episode of the original series [footage of the episode of "Donatello Makes Time" is shown on their television screen]. Missy exclaims that she finds Leonardo hot. NOTE: This series is a prequel to The Big Bang Theory, set 30 years ago, circa 1990 when the Ninja Turtles fad was at its peak. In a more recent episode the title character, Sheldon Cooper (portrayed as a child by Iain Armitage) plays Dungeons and Dragons with his twin sister Missy and their Meemaw (Annie Potts) along with her ex Dale Ballard (Craig T Nelson), Missy gets bored and changes her character into a Ninja Turtle princess, which basically looks like Raphael in drag. An updated version of the original theme song plays during this scene, which is of course a nod to producer Chuck Lorre who really likes to milk the fact that he didn't get enough credit for writing that theme song back in the day! Dr. Reagan Ridley (Lizzy Caplan) relives a painful memory of her childhood when she wanted to impress her father Randall (Christian Slater) by transforming her four pet turtles into the Ninja Turtles by subjecting them to radiation, only for him to laugh at her and tell her that she basically doomed her pet turtles by giving them cancer. Cutting to present day, Reagan is over-flowing a cup of coffee while watching what appears to be a rebooted iteration of TMNT where Michelangelo uses lame modern day internet lingo, like "on fleek" and "dead-ass lit"  "Here's looking at you, kid!" - Raphael impersonating Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in Casablanca from the Fred Wolf series season 1 (1987) episode Turtle Tracks "Didn't I see you in The Jungle Book?" - Raphael during their first ever fight with Bebop and Rocksteady from the Fred Wolf series season 1 (1987) episode Enter The Shredder "That thing will blow this whole city clear to Oz if we don't stop it!!!" - Raphael commenting on the tornado caused by General Traag's weather maker. from the Fred Wolf series season 1 (1987) episode Hot Rodding Teenagers From Dimension X Both Baxter's permanent cross-mutation with a fly and April's temporary cross-mutation with an ally cat were a direct parody of the classic creature feature titled The Fly, though April's feline form could also be considered a nod to the famous Broadway play. from the Fred Wolf series season 2 (1988) episodes Enter the Fly + The Catwoman From Channel 6 While comparing a monster movie to a love story, Michaelangelo gets asked by Raphael about his relationship with Kala of the Neutrinos. Mikey insists that he's merely just good friends with her, which Raphael quips "Sure you were, like Romeo and Juliet!" HEAD-CANON: I like to imagine Donatello mentioning that the famous play by William Shakespeare ends with the two star-crossed lovers killing themselves over each other, but of course due to the kid-friendly nature of the program, such a subject would be a huge no-no! from the Fred Wolf series season 2 (1988) episode Teenagers From Dimension X While zooming through the sewers on their cheapskates... Donatello asks Michaelangelo why he isn't shouting his trademark catchphrase. Mikey admits to being bored with "Cowabunga!!!" and attempts to steal Fred Flintstone's classic line "Yabba Dabba Doo!!!", though Don vetoes it immediately. from the Fred Wolf series season 3 (1989) episode Beneath These Streets While helping the Ninja Turtles search the sewers for April, (whom was kidnapped by Baxter Stockman) the Rat King is informed by one of his rodent followers who he affectionately named Mickey, much to the Turtles' shock. Rat King shrugs and explains "We all have our role models." Considering what a strange person Walt Disney was known for being, it's not really that much of a stretch. from the Fred Wolf series season 3 (1989) episode Return of the Fly "Who're you gonna call, gator busters?" - Atilla of the Punk Frogs paraphrasing the catchphrase from Ghostbusters from the Fred Wolf series season 3 (1989) episode Leatherhead: Terror of the Swamp In the Fred Wolf series season 3 (1989) episode Camera Bugged a police officer resembling actor Don Knotts as his character Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show appears in a couple scenes. "Another super hero already holds the patent on telephone booths!" - Raphael referring to Superman from the Fred Wolf series season 3 (1989) episode Turtles, Turtles, Everywhere In the live action New Line Cinema film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Original Movie (1990) April O' Neil mentions then popular film star Harrison Ford Michelangelo does impressions of Sylvester Stallone's film character Rocky Balboa, and James Cagney's character from the 1932 film Taxi! Donatello later comments on April and Casey's love-hate relationship being reminiscent to characters from the TV series Moonlighting Donatello and Casey Jones argue over who Mary Anne from the TV series Gilligan's Island would end up with. While trying to watch a samurai film parodying Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs... the Turtles are challenged to a battle against Shredder at a dump where a giant whirlwind appears, immediately sucking April's Channel 6 rival Vernon Fenwick into it. Donatello explains how Shredder is using a tornado shaped dimensional wormhole to drag them to Dimension X, to which Raphael replies with "Are you sure he's not trying to drag us to Oz?!" That same moment a pair of ruby slippers go passing by. from the Fred Wolf series season 4 (1990) episode The Dimension X Story "Well, don't have a cow, man!" "Uh, wrong show." - Michaelangelo stealing Bart Simpson's catchphrase and getting chastised for it by Raphael from the Fred Wolf series season 4 (1990) episode Super Hero for a Day Irma dates a fellow by the name Howie Hardy for a couple of episodes. The four-eyed fellow looks, sounds and acts an awful lot like actor Woody Allen trying to be like Buddy Holly, singing all sorts of silly songs about the Ninja Turtles... one of which happens to be a parody of "A Teenager In Love" by Dion and the Belmonts! from the Fred Wolf series season 4 (1990) episodes Name that Toon + Menace Maestro, Please Two alien turtles from an intergalactic wrestling program that the Ninja Turtles tune into are somewhat reminiscent of a Saturday Night Live skit from the same era, which featured Kevin Nealon and Dana Carvey as a pair of wannabe body builders who try to emulate Arnold Schwarzenegger and proceed to trash talk slimmer guys by calling them "girly men" from the Fred Wolf series season 4 (1990) episode Planet of the Turtles While trying to find April in a small rural town, Leonardo befriends a young man named Billy Jim Bob, who mentions having seen E.T. before. A little later April activates her captor Dr. Davens Vita-Ray beam gun, which causes food crops to enlarge, wreaking havoc all over the town of High Falls. At one point a local news reporter by the name Scoop Oliver gets his car hit by an enormous tomato, and he comes up with a clever title for an article, only to have another resident tell him that it s already been done (a nod to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes). While dealing with a giant beanstalk, Leonardo comments how he feels like the famous fairy tale character Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, whom he and Raphael actually happen to meet in another episode. from the Fred Wolf series season 4 (1990) episode Unidentified Flying Leonardo "Look, the Foot Soldier's scaling those girders like a... spider, man!" - Michaelangelo making an obvious reference to the wall crawling superhero from Marvel Comics from Archie's TMNT Adventures #18 (March, 1991)  In the New Line Cinema film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) Raphael wants to watch Oprah instead of April's interview with Professor Perry While the Turtles are cleaning April's apartment, Michaelangelo shows off his Karate Kid impression, while scrubbing a countertop, though Raphael gets quickly annoyed by it and makes him stop; Later on, Mikey mimics Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in Casablanca to get a laugh from April, only to be cut short by Donatello The completed anti-mutagen gets poured into a Bart Simpson glass. "I just cleaned up the Sarah Conner mess in L.A." - Renet referring to the main character in The Terminator from Mirage Vol. 1 #46 (April, 1992) "Help the kid with the flying DeLorean... that sounds like fun!" - Renet referring to Marty McFly from Back to the Future from Mirage Vol. 1 #47 (May, 1992)  In the New Line Cinema film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Turtles Are Back... in Time (1993) Michaelangelo does an impression of Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii, which Splinter later mimics at the end of the movie to cheer the forlorn turtle up! Upon arriving in Feudal Japan, Donatello references the TV series Quantum Leap (1989 - 1993) Raphael and Donatello refer to Niles and 2 of Walker's other henchmen as The 3 Stooges Upon taking notice of April's bare legs, Leonardo and Donatello briefly mimic Wayne and Garth from the popular SNL skit-turned-comedic-film Wayne's World Lord Norinaga gets referred to as boxing promoter Don King by Donatello Walker gets referred to as The Phantom of the Opera by Raphael, and then Tinkerbell (Peter Pan's fairy sidekick) by Leonardo Donatello also makes random out-of-place references to M.C. Hammer and The Addams Family, though ya gotta admit the "Help, I'm a turtle and I can't get up!" line referencing Life Alert's old catchphrase was pretty damn funny!!! In the Archie Comics adaptation of the movie, there's a scene early in the story where Donatello is explaining to Splinter and the other Turtles his hypothesis of how equal-mass displacement works. The following exchange takes place - DONATELLO: "We know the past and present are inter-changeable!" RAPHAEL: "We do?" LEONARDO: "Sure... Michael J Fox said so, remember?" SPLINTER: "I believe it was said by the professor with white hair." This is clearly a humorous reference to Back to the Future, and it's safe to guess that at some point when the movie itself was being written, an early draft could've had this joke, though it might have been dropped due to time constraints and/or copyright issues prohibiting them from making that reference in the film, while comic books usually have a lot more freedom when it comes to that sort of thing. "Yes, Commissioner Gordon?" - Donatello answering the phone using a Batman quote, which refers to one of the Caped Crusader's most trusted allies from Archie's TMNT Adventures #47 (August, 1993) In Saban's short-lived live action series Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation (1997) A marquee for the 1997 film Batman & Robin can be seen in an opening shot of the city Also in the episode Mutant Reflections Raphael and Michelangelo debate who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman!  Dreamwave's short-lived comic book series that adapted the 4Kids cartoon in 2003 had some humorous pop culture references. In one issue Raphael saved a little girl's cat from a tree and she tried to tell her mom, only to get smacked for making up crazy stories, which was a direct homage to a scene in Superman: The Movie (Raph even acknowledged the exact scene, but didn't name drop the specific super hero). In another issue Leonardo was having a conversation with Casey Jones who asked Leo to do his Cheshire Cat impression, by making a huge grin as he slowly moved himself back into the shadows. Casey got a good laugh and rode off on his bike making references to other Alice in Wonderland characters. "Next time lets leave the wall crawling to the dude in the blue and red tights!" "You read way too many comic books!" - Michelangelo referring to Spider-Man and getting chastised for it by Leonardo from the 4Kids series season 1 (2003) episode A Better Mousetrap TRIVIA: Actor Sam Riegel who played Donatello in this series went on to provide the voice of Andrew Garfield's version of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man in the video game spin off of Sony's 2012 film reboot titled The Amazing Spider-Man; at one point in the game, Spidey follows a rat creature into the sewers and quips "Hey, where are ya going... off to eat pizza with your adopted turtle sons? Can I come?" "A very wise frog once said It's not easy being green! But believe me, he didn't know the half of it!" - Michelangelo quoting Kermit the Frog from the 4Kids series season 1 (2003) episode Attack of the Mousers "Uh guys, the shark is here... and he's humming the theme from Jaws!!!" - Michelangelo referring to the aforementioned 1975 classic horror film from the 4Kids series season 1 (2003) episode Garbageman In the 4Kids series season 1 (2003) finale episode Search for Splinter Part 2 - Donatello and Michelangelo follow a pair of Utroms who are preparing to be disinfected after the tussle with Casey Jones in the lobby of TCRI. One Utrom complains that he barely touched Casey, though his companion states that another Utrom by the name Newman had come into direct contact with Casey who in turn had come into contact with the both of them. The first Utrom grumbles "Newman" under his brearh, similar to how Jerry Seinfeld would when dealing with the fat obnoxious mailman played by Wayne Knight on the TV series Seinfeld. In the 4Kids series Turtles in Space: Part 2 - The Trouble with Triceratons has a scene where the Turtles and Professor Honeycutt infiltrate a pub on the planet D'Hoonib looking for space smugglers to get them off-planet. Honeycutt briefly points out a pair that greatly resemble Han Solo and Chewbacca of the classic sci-fi film Star Wars In the 4Kids series Turtles in Space: Part 3 - The Big House the Turtles' get sent to a Triceraton prison, during which their trademark weapons are confiscated, so during a break out they make due with cleaning supplies from a janitor's closet. Raphael gets a pair of spoons to use in place of his sai and in the moment of a fight, he screams out "SPOON!!!" just like The Tick who of course was voiced in that cartoon by Townsend Coleman (Michaelangelo in the original Fred Wolf series) In the 4Kids series Turtles in Space Part 5 - Triceraton Wars Mikey references Captain Kirk from Star Trek and Han Solo from Star Wars during the Turtles' getaway in Prime Leader Zanramon's star cruiser. "Whatcha talking about, Willis?!" - Michelangelo using Gary Coleman's famous catchphrase from Diff'rent Strokes in response to Donatello pointing out how Utrom Shredder was partially responsible for their mutation. from the 4Kids series season 2 episode Reflections "Captain America, eat your heart out!!!" - Michelangelo referencing yet another iconic Marvel comics super hero as he hurls a trash can lid at several Foot Soldiers chasing him down an alleyway!!! from the 4Kids series season 2 (2004) episode City at War Part 2 TRIVIA: Shortly after his brief stint as Johnny "The Human Torch" Storm in 20th Century Fox's Fantastic 4, actor Chris Evans was cast as the voice of Casey Jones in the 2007 CGI film TMNT; just a few years later he landed the now iconic role of Steve Rogers, aka Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!!! "Hurry up, Leo, or you're going to miss the opening credits to The Simpsons! You never know what's gonna be on the couch!!!" - Michelangelo getting ready to veg out in the lair, shortly after the events of "Return to New York" from Mirage Tales of the TMNT Vol. 2 #3 (May, 2004) In the 4Kids season 2 episode The Golden Puck the TMNT and Casey are up against three cowboy criminals called the Texas Roughnecks working for another cowboy criminal named Mr. Arboost. At one point Slim, the leader of the Roughnecks introduces himself and his associates: "This here's my brother Robbie, and my other brother Bobbie." That line is actually a humorous reference to a character named Larry from Newhart who would often say "This is my brother Darryl and that's my other brother Darryl." Later in the episode, Casey takes out Mr. Arboost, calling him Boss Hogg, which is a reference to the villain in The Dukes of Hazzard. "It's like finding out your dad is Superman!!!" - Michelangelo name dropping the Big Blue Boy Scout from DC Comics upon learning that Master Splinter is a well known Battle Nexus Champion from the 4Kids series season 2 episode The Big Brawl Part 1 "Those are the worst ones! I've seen Jurassic Park twice!" - Michelangelo, when he and his brothers come across velociraptors from the 4Kids series season 2 episode Return of Savanti Part Two In the 2014 Michael Bay film reboot, Mikey refers to Raphael's gravely voice as an impression of Batman. TRIVIA: Actor Alan Ritchson, who played Raphael in both movies, was Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman during the later years of the WB series Smallville which never showcased Batman, but made a few small references to the character! Donatello and Michelangelo refer to their lair as their... "Fortress of Solitude" (referencing Superman) "Hogwarts" (referencing Harry Potter) "Xavier Academy" (referencing X-Men) During the flashback sequence of their upbringing we see the Ninja Turtles watching the music video "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani Mikey later admits he didn't understand the ending of Lost. In the sequel Out of the Shadows, Michelangelo briefly joins in a Halloween parade where he runs into a guy dressed as a human sized version of the Bumblebee character from Michael Bay's Transformers. "Come out to the mutant hotel... we'll get together, have a few laughs!" - Leonardo as he climbs through a vent, doing an homage to Bruce Willis in the iconic role of John McClane in the 1988 action film Die Hard from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles season 1 episode Bug Busters  In Seth Rogen's 3D animated film reboot Mutant Mayhem (released August 2023) Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael pick on Leonardo for trying to imitate Batman (which in itself is a humorous nod to a similar joke in the Michael Bay reboot as listed above). The Turtles go on to mention how they would love to meet famous real life humans like Beyoncé, Drake, Tom Brady and Guy Fieri The four of them go to Brooklyn to catch an outdoor viewing of the classic 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Actual footage is played and the Turtles even comment on the plot, all while noticing the many teenaged humans happily enjoying one another's company and wishing they could join in. While preparing to record Raphael throwing a ninja star through a watermelon held up by a very nervous Michelangelo, Donatello jokes that Mikey's head looks like a cross between Stewie from Family Guy and Nickelodeon's Hey, Arnold! My personal favorite scene in this movie is when Mondo Gecko, Rocksteady and Wingnut are listening to the radio while driving a van with the Turtles in the back, and they start singing the popular chorus from "What's Up?" by 4 NON BLONDES. The amusing moment is interrupted when Michelangelo hits the breaks on the van via Donatello's bo staff, causing the aforementioned mutants to go flying through the windshield and onto the street. Seconds later Superfly orders his brothers and sisters to go after the Turtles, resulting in a hilarious chase scene accompanied by the tune of "HEYYEAAAEYAAAEYAEYAA" which is a remix of the song as heard in the popular He-Man parody video Fabulous Secret Powers! A couple of scenes later Mondo Gecko and Ray Fillet are doing a more melancholy version of the original song until Superfly yells at them for bumming him out. Throughout the movie, Donatello is shown to be an avid fan of manga, particularly Attack on Titan, which comes in handy when they have to figure out a way to defeat Superfly in his monster form! Donnie also has the entire Akira original set, which excites Wingnut when she and the other mutants move into the lair at the end! In the Paramount+ series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; season 1 episode Leo Nardo Stands Alone April comments on Bishop having no last name reminds her of the rap singer known simply as Drake; when she and Leo go to the Halloween party, one of the guests comments that only having one of the Turtles present is like only seeing one of the Jonas Brothers In the Paramount+ series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; season 1 episode Mikey Does the Right Thing Rod compares Michelangelo's celebrity status to actor Tom Cruise; Rod later explains that his eye color is due to a condition known anisocoria, a condition he mentions late pop singer David Bowie also had; When Mikey and Rod break into the New York City Zoo by disabling the power, Michelangelo brings up what happened when the power went out in Jurassic Park; When Rod struggles to figure out a cool mutant hero name for himself, Mikey comments that pop singer couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé probably didn't come up with their daughter Blue Ivy's name on the first shot In the Paramount+ series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; season 1 episode Raphael Thinks it Through Raphael refers to Hun as "Hagrid", "Gigantor" and "Sad Shaq" In the Paramount+ series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; season 1 episode Bishop Makes Her Move Rod mentions popular films about androids like I, Robot and RoboCop In the Paramount+ series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; season 1 episode Raph vs. Water Raphael says he wants to give Splinter a voice like Batman for April's video report; In the beginning of the story Donatello and Wingnut are arguing over the backstory of characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender; When Splinter tells the Turtles to set an example for their older cousins, Mikey comments "That's like if Baby Keem mentored Kendrick, which is ridiculous!!" In the Paramount+ series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; season 1 episode Mikey Takes Charge Hun's large figure reminds Michelangelo of André the Giant and Shaq; Angel refers to Genghis Frog as Kermit when she orders him to drop his axe; When Cane attempts to leave Khatri's Foodmart as it starts to flood, she gets pulled down into the water by Lee the Eel who thrashes her around, similar to what happened to Chrissie Watkins in the opening scene from Jaws; Michelangelo tells Lee how much he loves going to the Natural History Museum to see works of art like "The Starry Night" by Vincent van Gough In the Paramount+ series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; season 1 episode Splinter and April Fight a Goldfish Both Michelangelo and Raphael bring up the latter's Batman impression to dub over Splinter's vermin voice; When Goldfin tells April and Splinter his name, April presumes the mutant fish got the name from watching James Bond movies In the Paramount+ series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; season 1 episode Donnie Goes Deep Lee the Eel brings up how her species got a bad rap because of Disney's The Little Mermaid; Donatello helps Wingnut overcome her fears with their shared interest in anime like Akira and sci-fi movies like Star Wars; Donatello attempts to reason with an alligator he and Wingnut assume is a de-mutated Leatherhead by talking about fictitious reptiles like Godzilla, The Lock Ness Monster, Kermit the Frog, Tik-Tok the Croc from Disney's Peter Pan and Lyle, Lyle; When the real Leatherhead shows up, Donatello realizes that the alligator he was trying to reason with is just an ordinary reptile, which begins chasing him under water. When Donnie finally comes back up for air, he says he saw his entire life flash before his eyes, which mostly comprised of Star Trek: Enterprise reruns; While Donatello and Wingnut put together a device to incapacitate the alligator, Leatherhead comments that they remind her of the original MacGyver series... not the remake! Upon seeing the finished device, she says "What in the Glenn McGrath are you gonna do with that?!"; Once the trio finally gets out of their predicament, Leatherhead and Wingnut discuss what they enjoy about being mutants, including anime, comic books, Steven Spielberg movies and friends, which Wingnut clarifies is not in reference to the iconic sitcom Friends; In the Paramount+ series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; season 1 episode The Pearl Leonardo says to his brothers "Lets finish this... together!" in a heroic manner ala Batman, whom Donatello tells him to stop imitating; When Wingnut begins to panic over the explosives, she mentions that she never got to finish watching the anime One Piece |