The 2003 series is an above-average revamp of the Ninja Turtles concept. Many story lines are adapted directly from the original comics now, and the overall tone is much darker and grittier than the classic 80s series (though its still light-hearted enough to qualify as Saturday morning fare). The series also has lots of continuity and plot development for fans to chew on, so you won't be getting Shredder hatching the same tired scheme every episode.
It's not a perfect series, mainly because 4Kids is the financial backer. The show gets away with quite a bit more than you'd expect from seeing 4Kids' other productions, but every so often an episode suffers as censorship kicks in and chafes a potentially stronger story. Like other 4Kids shows the voice talent is drawn from an extremely small pool, so acting ranges from pretty good (the main cast) to downright poor (walk-on characters). And on the creative end, the scripts and dialogue feel like they could use another pass in the writers room to get rid of the clichés and add more depth.
TMNT 2003 is pretty much "Justice League" if the classic 80s series is Superfriends, only it's not quite as sophisticated. But that's okay, the Turtles were always different from other superheroes. Some fans will infinitely prefer the classic series as its the one they grew up with, but for anyone interested in seeing how Turtle power has translated to a new generation of fans, this show is worth checking out.
