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MIRAGE COMICS In the original storyline, April was a skilled computer programmer and worked as an assistant for Baxter Stockman , helping to program his mouser robots and demonstrating their operation. After she discovered that Baxter was using the tiny mousers to burrow into bank vaults and steal from them, she attempted to flee Baxter's workshop and found herself in the sewers running for her life, with several mousers in pursuit. Three of the Turtles happened across her and came to her rescue; they later successfully fended off a mouser invasion after Baxter programmed them to attack the Turtles. April's antique shop came under attack by revealed that April's origin was far from normal as fans assumed. The surprise plot twist was that April was in reality a pencil sketch brought to life by a magic crystal. Fan reaction was mixed, as many believed her normality served as a good contrast to the fantastic nature of the Turtles. No other incarnation of April has shared this origin to date. April also appeared in the TMNT comic book produced by Archie Comics , which began as retellings of cartoon episodes but eventually spun off into original stories. In this series, she began as a carbon copy of her animated counterpart, but the writers developed her into a competent warrior after training with Splinter . Because of her frequent adventures with the Turtles, she lost her job at Channel 6 and became a freelance reporter. Archie also published 2 sets of 3-part April O'Neil mini-series. ANIMATED SERIES (1987-1996) In the Original TMNT Animated Series , April O'Neil (whose middle name was purported to be Harriet) was a television reporter for Channel 6 News . She was employed by Burne Thompson, though due to her headstrong nature and passion for her work, she expressed frequent disagreement with the assignments he gave her. She also butted heads on a regular basis with Vernon Fenwick, the director/camera operator whose enormous ego compelled him to scoop April on her stories whenever possible. April was best friends with Irma, the secretary at Channel 6. Though it remains unclear whether this was required work attire or her particular fashion sense, April could usually be found wearing a distinctive yellow Jumpsuit . She lived in an apartment in New York City , though during the course of the series, she was forced to relocate several times due to a variety of indirectly Turtle-related mishaps. In 1987, having been employed at Channel 6 for less than a year, April was reporting on a series of thefts of high-tech scientific equipment, apparently by a Ninja (ostensibly components Shredder was securing for use in the Technodrome ), when she came under attack by a gang of Punk s. Thinking quickly, she managed to squeeze into a storm drain and ran from the mob until she hit a dead end. As it happens, the Ninja Turtles were nearby and soundly beat the punks. They took her back to their sewer lair for rest and recovery where they explained their origins to her. At first, she believed them to be responsible for the equipment thefts, but they agreed to provide her with the true culprits if she provided her assistance. April quickly became the Turtles' link to the outside world, since their unusual appearance effectively precluded them from functioning aboveground without some sort of disguise. April's friendship with the Turtles resulted in the opportunity to film exclusive footage of their encounters with Shredder, but despite her intimate knowledge of the details of their lives, she tended to keep her professional news reports about them impersonal and mysterious. She was a vocal champion of their cause, despite the opinion of the general populace (an opinion shared by Burne Thompson) that the Turtles were a menace to the city. Through no fault of her own, April was frequently captured by Shredder, quite often as bait in order to lure the Turtles out of hiding in order to unleash his latest attempt at destruction upon them. April's innate curiousity and determination placed her in danger on several occasions as well. The Turtles usually waited until the last possible second to rescue her, but they always came through in the end. Her most important contribution to the Turtles was her experience in doing research on the Channel 6 computers and alerting the Turtles to trouble and possible case leads. Like Lois Lane before her, April was normally portrayed as a capable woman, but also filled the role of the typical plot device of damsel-in-distress. Her obsession with "getting a story" led to numerous instances of poor judgement which often resulted in her getting captured for the Turtles to save. Following the destruction of the Channel 6 building in later seasons, April worked as a freelance reporter, exchanging her yellow jumpsuit for a brown leather jacket. This outfit was more practical and less conspicuous than her classic form-fitting "banana suit." She continued to help the Turtles, even after the defeat of Shredder and his subsequent exile to Dimension X . There was also a short-lived animated series in Japan, in which April was voiced by Emi Shinohara . MOTION PICTURES In the first TMNT motion picture, April (played by Judith Hoag ) was a Channel 3 News television reporter working for Charles Pennington, and did a series of stories on mysterious thefts in New York City whose culprits vanished without a trace. One night when leaving work, she was accosted by the Foot Clan, but Raphael was observing from a nearby manhole and saved her. Unsure what to do with her, he carried her unconscious form to their sewer lair. Though her fear of rats initially got the better of her, she eventually came to regard the Turtles as friends, and even allowed them to live in her apartment after the Foot Clan discovered and destroyed their sewer dwellings. Mirroring the Mirage Comics storyline, the Foot once again attacked the Turtles in the antique shop, prompting April, the Turtles, and a wounded Raphael to retreat to her family's farmhouse. She kept a journal documenting their forced sabbatical in addition to drawing sketches of the Turtles. During their respite, April also developed a kind of love-hate relationship with Casey Jones. In the second and third movies, April was played by . ANIMATED SERIES (2003-) April got a radical costume change for the new incarnation of the animated series produced by 4Kids Entertainment , but her role was similar to that of the Mirage Comics character. Again, she served as an assistant to Baxter Stockman until his mouser experiments got out of control, and after the Turtles saved her, she became a faithful friend and ally to them. Unlike in the original toon, April developed a modest knowledge of combat skills after training with Splinter. In this series, she rarely plays the helpless damsel-in-distress role, and her quick thinking is often a key to the Turtles' survival. She was voiced by Veronica Taylor . In the episode, "Secret Origins: Part III," the creators of the show paid homage to the original toon by having April don a yellow jumpsuit familiar to fans. Posing as a reporter in order to help the Turtles escape from the TCRI building, April stalled the military and bought the Turtles enough time to defeat the Shredder. Upon their escape, Leonardo jokes that April seems to have a career as a reporter. She responds with a sarcastic: "in another lifetime." Casey Jones made a wise crack that her jumpsuit might have been more appropriate for moving toxic waste. It was revealed in "Worlds Collide" that Splinter was teaching her ninjitsu. VIDEO GAMES April has appeared in most of the TMNT video games, usually as the damsel in distress who has been captured by the Foot Clan. In ''TMNT IV: Turtles in Time'' for Super Nintendo, she kicks the story off with a brief report (her voice is heard in the arcade version) and appears onscreen to encourage the Turtles to fight when the player characters are idle. She also appears as a playable character in ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters'' for Sega Genesis. Bearing no resemblance to the cartoon likeness, her game sprite appears to have been inspired by the Sega '' Streets Of Rage '' character, Blaze. In Konami 's new series of TMNT games based off the animated series, April resembles her cartoon counterpart. Like in the new show, she is no longer a mere damsel-in-distress but often shows up in various cutscenes to give advice and advance the plot of the game. In ''TMNT: Mutant Melee'', April is once again a playable character and participates in multi-player battles. This game was Konami's attempt to recapture the magic of ''TMNT: Tournament Fighters'', but most critics received it poorly. ACTION FIGURES In the TMNT toy lines produced by Playmates Toys, April O'Neil has appeared in several action figure incarnations. The first of these had a limited production run, notable for the lack of a blue stripe running along the side of her jumpsuit, and is considered valuable to collectors. The more common yellow-striped version quickly replaced it and had much greater circulation. (One item of note is that the badge above her breast pocket that read "PRESS" was removed after Playmates became concerned that children would interpret the text as directions for a gimmick and expect a reaction after following those instructions.) An alternate version of April, with a different head sculpt (closer to her cartoon incarnation) and orange boots and details was a further modification made to the original figure. At one stage, a 13" version was slated for production to accompany the other similar-sized figures, but was never produced. Other notable April figures include the 1988 version, dubbed simply "April," with purple accents on her jumpsuit; "April, the Ravishing Reporter," which was the first such figure to feature rooted hair; "April, the Ninja Newscaster," arguably the most scantily-clad April who came with one of each of the Turtles' signature weapons; and "Mutatin' April," part of the Mutations assortment in which April could transform into a humanoid cat (inspired by the original series episode " The Cat Woman From Channel Six "). For the new TV series, Playmates introduced two April figures, a standard sized April with bonus mouser robots and a miniature April. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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