Country of origin United States Original network Nickelodeon | No. of episodes 26 | |
Original release September 29, 2012 (2012-09-29) – August 8, 2013 (2013-08-08) | ||
The first season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aired on Nickelodeon from September 29, 2012 to August 8, 2013. The season introduces the four turtles Leonardo (voiced by Jason Biggs), Donatello (voiced by Rob Paulsen), Raphael (voiced by Sean Astin) and Michelangelo (voiced by Greg Cipes).
Production
On October 21, 2009, a press release was made indicating that Viacom had bought the complete rights of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise from Peter Laird for $60 million. Viacom would be developing a CGI animated TV series for its Nickelodeon family of channels for broadcast in 2012. A feature film was released by Paramount Pictures, which is also a division of Viacom in 2014.
Jason Biggs voices Leonardo and Rob Paulsen voices Donatello. In June 2011, it was confirmed that Sean Astin is playing Raphael and Greg Cipes is Michelangelo. In August 2011, it was revealed that Mae Whitman would be the voice for April O'Neil. In April 2012, it was announced that Phil LaMarr would be playing the role of Baxter Stockman and Nolan North would be playing a race of aliens known as the Kraang, while Roseanne Barr was confirmed to voice their leader, Kraang Prime. Actress Kelly Hu confirmed her role as Karai in May 2012.
Production art was leaked on the Nickelodeon website before it was taken down. The images showed the designs of all four Turtles, Shredder, Splinter, a teenage April O'Neil and the Kraang, an alien race that combines elements of both Krang and the Utroms. A trailer for the series was released on June 21, 2012, on Nickelodeon USA.