While the previous films focused on the Foot Clan, this one features samurais, gunpowder plots, and horseback chases. It feels more like a classic Kurosawa film... if the lead actors were wearing giant rubber turtle suits. Production Trivia:

After being absent from the second movie, Elias Koteas returned to play Casey Jones (and his ancestor, Whit).

Jim Henson’s Creature Shop (which did the first two films) did not return for this one. The animatronics were handled by All Effects, which resulted in a noticeably different, more "cartoony" look for the Turtles' faces.

The Turtles—Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael—must travel back in time to rescue April and retrieve the scepter before the "space-time window" closes forever. Once they arrive in the past, they find themselves caught in the middle of a civil war between a ruthless Daimyo (Lord Norinaga) and a group of village rebels.

The story kicks off when April O'Neil buys an ancient Japanese scepter as a gift for Splinter. Unbeknownst to her, the scepter is a magical time-travel device. When she activates it, she inadvertently swaps places with Prince Kenshin from 1603 Japan.

Because of the scepter's "equal mass" rule, for every Turtle that goes back, a Japanese honor guard is sent to modern-day New York. This leads to some of the movie's funniest moments, as 17th-century samurai discover the joys of television and hockey masks (thanks to Casey Jones).

Although set in Japan, the movie was actually filmed in Astoria, Oregon , using the rainy Pacific Northwest to stand in for the Japanese countryside. The Verdict

Raph gets the most emotional heavy lifting here. He forms a bond with a young boy named Yoshi, making him realize that he might actually prefer the quiet, respected life of a warrior in ancient Japan over being a "monster" in a New York sewer.