Series Overview: .. The Turtles are coming of age.. the long struggle against Saki the Shredder & his 'Foot Clan' wages on.

Chung I;Spiritual Friend of Splinter ..keeps watch over many things: a Magical Glass that keeps imprisoned an ancient race of Evil Humanoid Dragons known as 'The Rank'. Their Leader :"DRAGON SKULL the Dragon Lord" had performed unspeakable terror around the earth thousands of years ago,they were the unspeakable rulers of the planet. The Terror was so unspeakable..noone spoke of it..but it was so bad they continued not to speak of it and the Magic Users ( Chung I's ancestors imprisoned 'The Rank' within the Enchanted Glass )..Chung I also watched over and trained his adopted daughter,MeiPeiChi (Turtle of Energy). He raised & trained his daughter in the ways of life and the ancient art of 'Shinobi' mystics. MeiPeiChi also happened to be female humanoid turtle in her latter teens.

The Spiritual 'Realm of Dreams' is a holy place quite often where Chung I & his friend Splinter..the ninja rat had often conversed in meditation (quite often). Recently ..though,the same dragons Chung I was helping to keep imprisoned in the glass had used him as a bridge (through his mind) to take the first step in total escape from the supernatural prison and escape into the world of man where they could once again reign in terror (once they regain control). Splinter..showing concern for his friend,ignores Chung I's warnings of the coming tide of Dragons and the insatiability of the Realm of Dreams. Splinter's spirit is captured by Dragon Lord..Chung I is mortally wounded by evil fire from the Glass directed from the Dragon Lord. It is then revealed to MeiPeiChi that she must go to New York City to help free Splinter from his spiritual entrapment ..which sets the coarse of events to further reveal the MeiPeiChi was a 5th in a bowl of baby Turtles who landed in a mysterious glowing ooze in the sewers of NYC. Unfortunately she was washed away in the sewer waters down to China Town. But luckily Chung I had been a resident at the time and took her in as his own.

MeiPeiChi is revealed to the original Ninja Turtles. She helps defeat the 'Foot' & overcame Shredder by revealing the innocence that was Saki to his now evil self & turning him into a crazy,homeless,'Foot'less,penniless,hobo running loose in Central Park (Shredder later returns to set things into motion for himself thanks to his Golden Shuriken..a magical artifact that gives him his power and would become very wanted by the new villians).She is given the nickname 'Venus de Milo' and teaches the fab four to 'dream walk' so they can go to the Realm of Dreams to rescue Splinter. They confront the Dragon Lord himself. It turns out that capturing Splinter was all part of the Grand Scheme. The Turtles escape the Realm of Dreams with the Ninja Master only to have the Rank follow. The Dragons were now free. And thus began a new era of adventures for the green team and their new friend/foil Venus.

Through the 28 episodes the Turtles faced Dragon Lord & his contemptuously annoying alchemist..Wick who wished to gobble up the 5 turtles because in doing so would allow the Dragons to become all powerful for the mutagen that ran in the Turtles DNA'.. the Rank Dragon Warriors(nearly unstoppable,but just as dumm as any Foot Soldier),Dr.Quease.the brilliant but insane scientist who needed the Turtles for his own and Dragon Lord's twisted schemes,Bonesteel..the maniacal Big Game hunter who would stop at nothing to to catch the ultimate prey: the Turtles,Silver the Gorilla..the last in ancient race of silver back gorillas and was bitterly angry for his being the last survivor of his species and now headed the richest #1 crime syndicate in NYC that was notorious for some of the biggest heists in all of New York. .. .. And the vampire ; Vam Mi..along with her undead minions..Bing & Chi Chu set to obtain Vam Mi's heart..that was now in possession of Venus who inherited it from Chung I (he had taken it to protect the earth from Vam Mi's evil). The 'Turtes even faced 'Astronema' ..at the time was the "Power Rangers:in Space" main villain. Astronema had captured the fivesome and brainwashed them to do her bidding. She had them confront & try to destroy Power Rangers by taking over the Mega Shuttle. But magnetic field in outer space reversed the spell and the Turtles were able to help the Power Rangers defeat Astronema's Quantron army & the Turtles were able to get back home.

All in all 'Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation' did well in ratings for 'Fox Kids' for the 1997-1998 season.It was filled with stock footage and some goofy effects but it was not without it's charm,the villains stole the show..it seemed to be a continuation of sorts of the cartoon and was not all that bad as people would claim. It was out performing at the time 'Power Rangers' which was Fox Kid's staple show so ..For this, the show was taken off Fox Kid's line up the following year. A failed cartoon version of the show was turned down & 3-d animation projects of the Turtles got scrapped. Venus & the whole show was marked off by Mirage Studios as just another part of Mirage's Licensing History for "creative reasons" and the Turtles were on TV hiatus until 2003. In February 2003 the Turtles return to Fox once again but go back to the Animated world with a new series & a whole new creative backdrop that focus's on the Turtles roots & starts a new era for the Green Team.. but once upon a time there WAS a girl turtle and her name was Venus de Milo..perhaps she returned to the 'Realm of Dreams' to continue her adventures.. and who knows what she may be doing.. . .. .. You can always dream.