Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an American animated television series developed by Lloyd Goldfine. It is the second animated television series in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise[1], and the third television series overall[2]. The series premiered February 8, 2003 and ended on November 21, 2009 with the movie Turtles Forever.
At this time, the Fox Broadcasting Company revived the TMNT franchise with the help of 4Kids Entertainment as a Saturday morning cartoon in the "FoxBox" programming block, which was subsequently renamed "4Kids TV". The series was produced by Mirage Studios, and Mirage owns one-third of the rights to the series. Mirage's significant stake in creative control resulted in an animated series that hews more closely to the original Mirage comics, creating a darker and edgier feel than the 1987–1996 animated TV series, but still remaining lighthearted enough to be considered appropriate for children and family.
The series still includes some of the old villains, like the Shredder and Baxter Stockman, but added new villains as well as new friends. Leatherhead helps Donatello in a vital story arc and Karai takes over after her father the Utrom Shredder is exiled far away. April and Casey are also in this series and April has an antique shop like in the first film and the Mirage comics.
The first 40 episodes of TMNT 2003 aired as part of the Miguzi block on Cartoon Network between 2004 and 2007.
In October 2009, the series, along with the entire franchise, was purchased by Nickelodeon[3], making this the only Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series to air on Cartoon Network.