How Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Reinvents (And Improves) April O'Neil
Fans of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" might be surprised to learn that April O'Neil, the Turtles' brave and plucky reporter friend, started her existence as a scientist and lab assistant. The character was first introduced in 1984 as a computer programmer who worked for Baxter Stockman, an engineer who built specialized robots that could burrow into bank vaults. April eventually gave Stockman the slip and was rescued by the Turtles. She opened up an antique shop and later retired to a farmhouse in Massachusetts. At no point during these adventures was she a journalist.
It wouldn't be until the 1987 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" animated series that April (Renae Jacobs) would become a reporter, often investigating otherworldly phenomena and alerting the sewer-bound adolescents to any interdimensional or criminal malfeasance. In the animated series, April was rarely seen without a banana-yellow jumpsuit, a look that eventually became a hallmark of the character. In the 1990 live-action feature film, April (Judith Hoag) synthesized most of the descriptors above (yellow, antique shop, distant farmhouse).
In other comic book or cartoon iterations, April began her career as a reporter, but eventually left the gig to become a skilled martial artist and Indiana Jones-like archaeologist, a conceit borrowed for the 2007 animated film "TMNT."
When most people think of April O'Neil, they usually think of her as an adult. She often served as an emissary between the teenage Turtles and the adult, human world. Many might find it odd that adolescent boys are always hanging out with a grown woman ... and vice versa. This was changed in 2012 with the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" animated series when she was finally a teen, and again with the series and film titled "Rise of The TMNT," which saw Kat Blaque as the voice of the character, who was also introduced as a Black teenager.
In the new animated film "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," April (Ayo Edebiri) melds these various April characters together as an aspiring journalist who is still a high school student. April is a peer to the Turtles, changing the dynamic most familiar to the OG generation that grew up with Turtles, and some might say for the better.
April the peer
In "Mutant Mayhem," April meets the Turtles when one of their idly thrown ninja stars embeds itself in her motorcycle helmet. While she was bawling out the Turtles for their recklessness with illegal weapons — they were on a rooftop, she, on the street below — a ruffian snuck up behind April and stole her Vespa. The Turtles, seized by an attack of heroism, chase the thief and try to get April her scooter back. This misadventure leads to a discreet conversation later where April asks the Turtles all about their lives. The Turtles, as all fans know, were once animals that were exposed to green glowing ooze that mutated them into turtle/human hybrids. It's a tale as old as time. Or at least as old as Rainbow Brite.
April, in exchange, reveals some details about her own life. She sneaks the Turtles into her high school. She's only 16 years old, and once aspired to be the on-camera news reporter for her school's news channel. She gave up on her dream, however, when she was struck with a case of severe on-camera nerves and exploded into a fit of vomiting. With the unfortunate high school nickname of "puke girl," April now only wishes to remain safely behind a notepad. Her on-camera nerves will eventually become a plot point in "Mutant Mayhem."
In most previous iterations, April had a babysitter/substitute teacher relationship with the Turtles. She would give them information and drive their van. One might wonder what she got out of the arrangement. She also was often the Turtles' crush object, and the reptiles' occasional lascivious comments seemed a little icky. In "Mutant Mayhem," however, April — in being their exact age — is a friend to the Turtles. She relates to them more closely. It's similar to what was done with 2012's "TMNT" series and Netflix's "Rise of the TMNT," but this is the first time we're seeing her in this way on the big screen, which is a huge change to oldhead Turtle fans.
Outsiders
April's high school status as "Puke Girl" also gives her a mutual understanding of the Turtles' outsider status. The Turtles are monsters who hide in the sewers away from the prying eyes of humanity. April may not have to hide in a sewer, but she is shunned and mocked by the people around her. Her locker is regularly vandalized, and not a day passes when she doesn't think about the vomit incident. In a way, all five characters have been forced into the margins after being coated in gross green goo.
It also feels more appropriate when Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu) openly confesses a crush on April. Leonardo is dazzled, as he is moved by her take-charge attitude and tenacity. He too aspires to be a more mature person but, as a 15-year-old, doesn't really have a handle on it yet. Neither April nor Leo has everything figured out just yet, and that's kind of sweet. Near the end of "Mutant Mayhem," Leo and April have a chance to go on something resembling a date, and the nature of it — romantic or platonic? — becomes a new fulcrum for their relationship. That's far more textured and relatable than merely pushing four teenage turtle boys up against a babe in a yellow jumpsuit and having them occasionally ogle her.
It's also perhaps more believable that a teenage reporter would be less freaked out by the appearance of humanoid reptiles. Less concerned with the tenets of professional journalism, the 16-year-old April kind of approaches the mutants with a friendly fascination. Her gleeful reporting aspirations make her upbeat, exciting, and interesting.
The first word of the whole franchise is, of course, "Teenage." "Mutant Mayhem" is very much about youth. Continuing the trend of aging down April was a wise, wise move.