Thirty years ago, Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman unleashed a little black-and-white comic book called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . It was a cult success, but a few years later, when it was turned into a toy line and cartoon, a cultural phenomenon was truly born.

For three decades the Turtles have entertained multiple generations in their various incarnations; the dark and gritty Frank Miller send-ups of the original comic, the pizza-loving surfer dudes of the original cartoon, the live-action blend of the two, the subsequent cartoons, video games, comic book reboots, and more. This weekend launches their latest incarnation, a reboot directed by Jonathan Liebsman, starring Megan Fox as intrepid reporter April O'Neil.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVD Collection Review

With so much Turtle mania going on, we've decided to take a look back at the 1987 animated series that launched an empire. While its animation was often crude, it nevertheless captured the imaginations of millions.

10 “The Case of the Killer Pizzas”

Production-wise, “The Case of the Killer Pizzas” is one of the worst episodes of the series, full of continuity errors and animation snafus. However, the simple yet genius plot makes it one of the most memorable episodes of the original TMNT run. What do the Turtles love more than anything? Pizza, of course. So why wouldn’t Shredder revel in the irony of killing the Turtles with their favorite food on the planet.Shredder stages a contest that nets the Turtles three free pizzas – except the pizzas eventually morph into Xenomorph-looking monsters. Naturally, the plan backfires when the Pizza-Alien-Monsters can’t determine who is their target and who’s not. It’s just a fun episode with a clever twist on the Turtles’ immense (but understandable) love of pizza.

9 “Get Shredder!”

Shredder, being an immaculate genius, decides that since he and Krang have lost the Technodrome, they should head to the abandoned site of the 1964 World’s Fair and thief all of the 30 year-old technology from the abandoned Hall of Science. It’s as good a plan as any, and after seven seasons of failing to get a win against the Turtles, I suppose anything is worth a shot.There’s also another plotline about a villain named Berserko, who has been inhabiting the Hall of Science for quite a while, who is actually revealed to be Drakus – the guy who helped Krang design the Technodrome way back when and whom Krang betrayed. But the clincher for the episode is that Shredder has to turn to the Turtles for help rescuing Krang from Drakus. And by “help,” I mean he threatens to blow up Channel Six unless the Turtles do him a solid.

8 “Casey Jones – Outlaw Hero”

Casey Jones meeting the Turtles is always classic, and its occurrence in the original cartoon is no different. Here, the Turtles hear reports of a masked vigilante taking out evil doers all over New York, but it’s not them. Soon they run into him and recruit his help to foil Shredder and Krang’s latest evil plot.There’s certainly nothing as memorable as “A Jose Conseco bat? Tell me you didn’t pay money for this,” but the first meeting of Casey with the Turtles has plenty of the uncomfortable partnership qualities we love about their relationship.

7 “Corporate Raiders from Dimension X”

If there’s one thing that comes to mind when you think of Casey Jones, it’s obviously the term “corporate espionage.” When the CEO of the country’s biggest supplier of pizza dough is kidnapped and pundits predict a pizza shortage, let’s just say that the Turtles take an interest. And so they turn to Casey to help them get information on the suspected kidnappers and restore balance to the Earth.Naturally, the whole thing turns out to have been orchestrated by Shredder, brainwashing corporate executives as some roundabout way of getting the Technodrome back to the surface of the planet. The Turtles and Casey save the day and much pizza is eaten.

6 “Turtle Trek”

By the end of Season 8, we’d seen Shredder and Krang get their butts handed to them time and time again, making one mistake after another. Finally, the masterminds behind the show decided to put an end to the villains and start Season 9 with something different. So in “Turtle Trek,” we get to see Shredder and Krang’s final defeat as the main villains of the show, who wouldn’t make another appearance until Season 10.There’s a trap set for the Turtles that winds up backfiring on the big bads, trapping Shredder, Krang, Bepop, and Rocksteady to Dimension X, seemingly forever, making way for Lord Dregg to become the Turtles’ new arch nemesis.