And Then There Was The Time The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Appeared On The Oprah Winfrey Show

The 1990s were a very strange time. Imagine, if you will, a world where the single most popular thing in the entire world was a media franchise about four adolescent anthropomorphic turtles who wore domino masks and knew karate, and that this popularity was so great that they appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to sing songs and promote an arena tour where they would perform more songs instead of doing any actual karate.

If you're having trouble imagining that, and I understand why you would, don't worry. It actually happened, and thanks to Brett White, who unearthed video of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' appearance on Oprah to promote their Coming Out Of Their Shells tour, you can spend the next 45 minutes witnessing one of the most surreal talk show appearances of all time.

It's hard to figure out how to even begin cataloguing the weirdness of what's going on here, but I think we should probably start with the jean vests and Rob Halford-esque studded leather straps that mark the Turtles' transition into live-action musicals. I mean, those are notable for a lot of reasons, but mostly because denim seems to have replaced their actual shells. It's also pretty weird to see the Turtles, who are pretty much defined by their weaponry and skills at the martial arts, completely avoiding any sort of violence in favor of peppy songs about not doing drugs, even when a murderer covered in knives shows up and starts yelling at kids.

Also, speaking of the kids, how great are the children in this audience? This one here is my favorite:

Laid back. Mind on his money, money on his mind.

Seriously, though: If the upcoming Michael Bay/Jonathan Liebesman TMNT movie is even half as good as this appearance on Oprah, I will be shocked beyond all reasoning.

[Via Brett White]