Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Gettin' Down In Your Town Tour

Anyone with a prepubescent male child is probably over familiar with Raph, Don. Mikey, and Leo, a.k.a., the T.M.N.T., four Big Apple boys who happen to be green turtles with martial arts skills. While Turtlemania is not running particularly high today (X-Men and the new Batman are currently en vogue) the media machine milks what it can--ergo, this "live in-concert" video In a halfshell, four guys in green suits pretending to play intruments either sing or lip-synch four songs emphasizing the benefits of pizza and non-violence. That the TV series thrives on violence (the Turtles constantly fight a neverending battle against the evil Shredder and his henchmen, f.y.i.) presents a contradiction which, needless to say, goes unremarked in the video. (In fact, the video even has the boys singing Gandhi-like lyrics while also having fisticuffs with a guy dressed up as Shredder.) This is the miracle of modern mass media: Big Brother contradictions are not only common, they're accepted. The tunes are bouncy, but everything else about this tape stinks of mass market commercialism. Not recommended. (Available from most distributors.)