Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)

Original Air Date: 1987-1996

Network: Syndicated

They, are the world's most fearsome fighting team. They, are heroes in a half-shell and they're green. And you know what? When the evil Shredder attacks, these turtle boys don't cut him no slack. Welcome to the world of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Following the adventures of four mutated turtles that were taught by a martial-arts trained rat (the radical Splinter), Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo keep the streets of New York safe from Shredder's Foot Clan. As amazingly preposterous as the idea is, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's comic book was adapted into this fun series that hypnotized a generation into buying toys and taking kung fu lessons. While it may not be as faithful to the source material as other TMNTcartoons, and the animation may not be to the same quality as some of the more recent adaptations, hell if any of the other series made as large of a dent on pop culture (and many of the lives of us editors here at IGN) as the 1987 animated program. Plus, how could we not give the nod to the series that created Krang, the talking brain housed in a giant man suit?