In the UK, Ninjas and their weapons are a taboo subject, and several kinds of weapons are illegal to show on TV (Such as Katana and Nunchaku). To try and get around censorship laws, the show was marketed as "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" and the names of cerain weapons and places were changed. Towards the end of the show's run, the format changed almost entirely as part of a trend to make shows more "extreme" to appeal to a new generation of viewers:
- Shredder and Krang were removed from the show for over a sesaon. New villains came in the form of giant space slugs involved in organized crime;
- Almost all character building scenes were removed to make it an entirely action oriented show;
- April and Splinter's roles were diminished considerably;
- The turtles voices were altered to sound more deep and aggressive;
- The cartoon feel of the show was removed--The sky was changed from blue with white clouds to red with gray clouds and buildings were drawn as if destroyed;
- Irma, Verne, April's boss, Baxter Stockman, Ratking, and numerous other characters were totally removed from the show;
- In addition, the opening sequence was hiked up, changing the music to a techno beat with flashing lights and scenes from the Tutles movies intercut with new scenes from the show.
