April O’Neil (Paige Turco) is going on vacation. Before she leaves she stops by the Turtles’ den to bring them some gifts she picked up at the local flea market. One item is an old Japanese scepter she found for Splinter (James Murray).
In 1603 feudal Japan Kenshin (Eidan Hanzei) is having an argument with his father Lord Norinaga (Sab Shimono). Norinaga is at war but Kenshin believes his father is wrong. A local arms dealer, Walker (Stuart Wilson) will furnish Norinaga with guns in trade for silver and silk. While Kenshin is brooding he finds a scepter. Written on it are the words “Open Wide the Gates of Time”. The scepter begins to light up. Lightning is emitted from it.
In the present April is holding her scepter. When it also lights up and emits lightning April from the present and Kenshin from the past change places. April is accused of being a witch and is thrown in the dungeon. Kenshin, in the present, finds himself surrounded by what he knows as Kappa’s (ancient turtle demons).
Splinter and the turtles realize that they need to go back in time to rescue April before something happens to her. Donatello determines that in order to go back there needs to be an equal amount of weight coming from the other side. If four turtles go back, then four ancient Japanese of equal weight must come forward.
Donatello also calculates that they need to accomplish their task in sixty hours or it will disrupt the space-time continuum. The turtles go back in time and four of the Lord’s Honor Guard are sent forward. Casey Jones (Elias Koteas) is sent for. While he baby sits Kenshin and the Honor Guard, the turtles try to find April and stop a war.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III” was released in 1993 and was directed by Stuart Gillard. It is an action adventure superhero comedy. The film is the third and last installment in the original Turtles trilogy.
The voices of the turtles were Michaelangelo (Robbie Rist), Leonardo (Brian Tochi) Raphael (Tim Kelleher), and Donatello (Corey Feldman). The in-suit actors for the turtles were Leonardo (Mark Caso), Raphael (Matt Hill), Donatello (Jim Raposa) and Michaelangelo (David Fraser).
Elias Koteas also plays the part of Whit, a rebel within Walker’s camp. Corey Feldman reprises his role as the voice of Donatello from the first Turtles movie. Rist who voiced Michaelangelo and Tochi who played Leonardo are the only two people who voiced the same characters for all three movies.
The creature effects were done by All Effects Company instead of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop as had been used in the previous two films. As with both of the previous films, the British PG version was censored due to usage of nunchakus. The cuts were waived for the DVD release. The German theatrical and video version used the UK version.
A fourth installment of the franchise had been planned but due to poor reception for the third film the fourth film was cancelled. There were a lot of complaints on the look of the turtles. Many felt that without Henson the magic of the turtles had disappeared.