Children’s action adventure sequel in which the ‘heroes in a half-shell’ once again do battle with their arch nemesis, Shredder.
Classification Issues
- Violence
- There are scenes of comic martial arts violence, featuring kicks to the head and body, as well as blows with various objects, including sticks and other improvised weapons.
Background
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, four anthropomorphic turtles named after Italian Renaissance artists and trained by a rat in martial arts skills, became a worldwide phenomenon in the late 1980s. Their origin lay in comic books, but soon translated into a hugely successful cartoon series.
The TV series began in the US in 1987 and quickly arrived in the UK, broadcast on the BBC. However, the government of the time was concerned about violence in children’s television, particularly ninjas and their weapons. Therefore, in accordance with the standards applied by TV and other regulators at the time, the broadcasters changed the UK title to Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, together with accompanying merchandise and a tie-in video game. The theme song was also re-recorded and the logo changed for the UK (and European) market. Concerns about ninja weaponry extended to the content of the show as well as the title; as a result, sequences of grappling replaced all sight of the turtle Michelangelo using his trademark nunchaku (chainsticks) weapon.
Additionally, the BBC version of the show changed all uses of the term ‘bummer’ (meaning ‘bad luck’), due to concerns over the term having a homophobic meaning in British slang.
In 1990, a feature film – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – came to the BBFC, after it received PG with no cuts in the US. There was some discussion about the title, which the distributor, Virgin Vision, originally wanted to change in line with the UK television series. However, the ultimate decision was to keep the 'ninja' element of the title.
The BBFC required several cuts to the feature film, due to concerns about easily accessible martial arts weapons. They asked for sequences involving nunchaku to be taken out, with a letter instructing the company to remove from the UK version “all clear sight of chainsticks used or carried by turtle called 'Michaelangelo' [sic], particularly in reels 1, 3, 4 (briefly), and 5”.
Cinema classification
The film’s sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ll: The Secret Of The Ooze, arrived at the BBFC in April 1991 with a PG request.
The Examiners who viewed the film acknowledged that it was much milder than its predecessor, with one report noting that “most of the violence-level here is ‘U’ rather than ‘PG’, though quantitatively there is enough to justify the PG requested by the company.”
However, Examiners also realised there was potentially a problem with some of the violence – in particular one turtle’s improvised use of sausages in a manner resembling chainsticks or nunchaku:
“In the credits sequence in Reel 1, chainsticks are wielded (or seem to be) after a shot of sausages hanging from the butcher’s rail. Since there is real confusion between chainsticks and sausages this sequence needs to be carefully checked before cuts (if any) are listed. Ditto a sequence in Reel 2, where April tries out a pair of chainsticks; could they be sausages?”
Another report stated the then BBFC policy to remove these weapons, but warned that pragmatically it might be unwise to remove sausages used to resemble the weapon.
After contacting the distributor, the BBFC was reassured that all the sequences “involved sausages not sticks”. However, BBFC Director James Ferman thought there was still potential for the sequence to showcase chainsticks-type weapons, and the sausages would look like these weapons “to any streetwise 8 year old”.
A cuts list was therefore written, including the following request to minimise any glamorisation of easily accessible weapons: "After turtle takes down sausages and uses them as a flail, reduce to minimum dazzling display of swinging sausages indistinguishable from chainsticks."
Video classification
The film was classified on video later in 1991, in a version that reflected the cuts made on film.
The second film remained cut on video until it returned for reclassification in 2002. By that time, the BBFC had updated its weapons policy to focus on the glamorisation of weapons rather than targeting specific weapons such as chainsticks. Accordingly, the BBFC waived all previous cuts and the film was classified PG uncut.
The BBFC also waived the cuts to the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film when it returned for reclassification in 2003.
