2005-11-14 - 12:48 p.m.

Sold Separately contains an egregious error when it quotes the theme song of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as saying, "Donatello leads, Leonardo knows machines." Any child of the 80's worth their snuff knows that it is Leonardo who leads and Donatello does machines. The downplaying of character archetypes in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is part of what made its vast media empire collapse (starting with the utter tripe that is the movies).

Each of the Turtles represented aspects of the child viewer's developing sense of self - Leonardo represented the burden society places upon us to be responsible, respect authority, and follow the rules; Donatello represented the child's natural curiosity and need to learn (and was one of the few positive portrayals of an intellectual in children's media); Raphael was the wiseguy in all of us, a quick-witted grump with a short temper; Michaelangelo was a "party dude", the eternal child who just wanted to have fun and never take things seriously.

These archetypes are carried on to the new show, which is slightly darker, more mature, and better written and animated than the original by far. On top of the Turtles' established personalities, they have also gained siginificant personality flaws - Leonardo is starting to crack under the strain of leadership and has become too blindly driven' Donatello is dealing with the fact that while he is brilliant, he isn't a great fighter' Raphael is learning that being a hothead is dangerous and discipline and planning are important; and Michaelangelo, though still playful, is a well-trained fighter and sweetly loyal to friends and family.

My mother claims that I wasn't allowed to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a child, which I don't remember - in any case I've seen a whole lot of it. I feel that those who blindly dismiss it on account of the violence don't take into account how important it is in helping children develop narrative structures and keen understanding of personality.