I Think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Just Became Stranger Things Canon (For Real)

While Netflix’s first Stranger Things spinoff, Tales from ’85, might not be perfect, the show’s bizarre nod to the world of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise was still thoroughly appreciated. Since its inception, Stranger Things has always been obsessed with all things ‘80s pop culture. The show was first pitched as a blend of Stephen King and Steven Spielberg, taking the sentimental visions of suburbia and the wonder of childhood found in Spielberg’s movies and mixing them with the darkness of Stephen King’s twisted horror stories from the same era.

As such, it shouldn’t come as a major surprise that the first Stranger Things spinoff, Tales from ’85, seemingly borrows from a specific, iconic ‘80s Saturday morning cartoon in one pivotal moment. When the show reveals the glowing green mutagen that reanimates the zombie pumpkins in Hawkins, the stuff is identical to the green goo that turned some abandoned pet turtles into the original show’s iconic eponymous quartet of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Stranger Things: Tales from ’85’s Mutagen Looks An Awful Lot Like TMNT’s Green Goo

The mutagen that resurrects the plants and leads to their monstrous evolution looks so similar to the goo that mutated the Turtles that it feels like the moment has to be a conscious reference on the part of the show’s creators. Add in the fact that the more family-friendly spinoff show Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 was specifically pitched as a “Saturday morning cartoon” that takes place within the show’s reality, and it becomes even clearer that this homage is intentional.

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With this fun visual gag, Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 pays tribute to a classic of the ‘80s Saturday morning cartoon genre, but the reference goes deeper than just a visual nod. Like Tales from ’85, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was also a kid-friendly cartoon that was adapted from a darker, more mature piece of source material. While Robocop, Rambo: The Force of Freedom, and the Troma franchise spinoff The Toxic Avenger might be the most infamous cases of R-rated, extremely family-unfriendly movies that spawned unlikely animated kids’ shows, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was also originally for grown-ups.

Stranger Things: Tales from ’85’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nod Highlights The Netflix Spinoff’s Biggest Change

Creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s original comic book series was surprisingly dark and gritty, and it was only when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became a set of toys, an animated show, and a series of live-action movies that their darker edges started to get sanded down into something more palatable. A gritty spoof of the Daredevil comics of the time, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics saw their titular assassin heroes brutally decapitate their enemies and frequently kill villains on-page.

Much like Stranger Things turned down the original show’s darkness for Tales from ’85 to attract a younger audience, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV show was much more tubular and far less gruesome and dark than its source material. Thus, the visual nod to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the spinoff works on two levels. On one hand, it’s a fun reference for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans, and on the other, it’s a tacit admission that Netflix’s Stranger Things spinoff Tales from ’85 intends to let go of the more mature tonal darkness that animated the show’s early seasons.