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Donatello (TMNT)
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Donatello (sometimes shortened to Don or Donny), a fictional character, is one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT). His bandanna is known to be purple, though in the Mirage comic books, his bandanna is red like the rest of his brothers. Donatello is the "brains" of the Turtles and is the most curious regarding the unknown, to an extent. He wields a bo (six foot staff) and is a practitioner of Ninja Juhakkei.
tello's bo staff is the most historically accurate to the Ninja Juhakkei out of all four Turtles, as Bojutsu is one of the eighteen disciplines of ninjutsu.
s universally portrayed as something of a geek, is good with technology, and invents many of the gadgets used by the other team members.
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Encyclopedia
Donatello (sometimes shortened to Don or Donny), a fictional character, is one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT). His bandanna is known to be purple, though in the Mirage comic books, his bandanna is red like the rest of his brothers. Donatello is the "brains" of the Turtles and is the most curious regarding the unknown, to an extent. He wields a bo (six foot staff) and is a practitioner of Ninja Juhakkei.
Weapon
Donatello's bo staff is the most historically accurate to the Ninja Juhakkei out of all four Turtles, as Bojutsu is one of the eighteen disciplines of ninjutsu.
Comic books
He is universally portrayed as something of a geek, is good with technology, and invents many of the gadgets used by the other team members. Something of a pacifist (although he fights alongside his brothers), he is the most introspective and nonviolent of the Turtles, preferring to use his mind and intellect to find a solution to a problem.
In the Image Comics incarnation of the TMNT, he became a cyborg after his body was partially destroyed from being shot and dropped out of a helicopter (he maintained a positive attitude nonetheless, although he was constantly at risk of losing his mind to the cyborg half). The Image Comics were later treated as non-canon by the Mirage Publications.
In the current comics after a trip to South America, Don was shrunk to the size of an action figure by a group of Utroms living there and the effect could not be reversed, possibly due to his mutation. To make himself a bit more mobile, Don converted a robot (similar to the Fugitoid that the Turtles got while on a yet unseen return trip to Dihoonib) to look like a turtle and so he could control it from the inside. Don was also disconcerted by both his and Raphael's current transformation (Raphael having become larger and more dinosaur-like).
1987 animated series
The original animated television series depicts Donatello as a genius capable of inventing revolutionary technology (despite an obvious lack of funding), usually to combat enemies, and he is apparently solely responsible for the design and construction of the Turtles' assorted vehicles as well. He has little appreciation for humans and has a dim view of interpersonal relationships. Unlike in the 2003 series, his minor inventions often malfunction, but many eventually end up having some practical use. In the original English language voice version of the show, Donatello's voice actor is Barry Gordon, who also voices Bebop. Greg Berg was the 1989 alternate voice actor for Donatello as well as Bebop.
2003 animation
Like the Mirage comics, Donatello has a complex personality in the 2003 animation and thus is a popular character. Several episodes concentrate on him, as well as his emotional and intellectual struggles. As in his other incarnations, he is intelligent, good with his hands, and very introspective, frequently becoming pensive over things he doesn't understand. He typically has a very close, however platonic, relationship with April. He also displays closeness with Michelangelo akin to that seen in the original movie. Even more pacifistic than his other incarnations, Donatello shows a greater interest in technology than his ninjutsu training. Even so, Donatello will defend his brothers at any cost, and he frequently assists the team in many ways through the technology he develops, mostly vehicles and communication devices. In this animation, Donatello is generally well-liked by all of his brothers, never engaging in major confrontations with them. In fact, Donatello was the one to reunite his brothers against the Shredder in the episode "Same As It Never Was." His skin color is a light, brownish green color; this particular color is only used for him in the 2003 animation. In the fourth season, he was infected by a monster, and in the episode "Adventures in Turtlesitting", he mutates into a monster himself, which happened to Raphael in the comics. In the seventh season, also called "Back to the Sewer", Donatello blamed himself for Master Splinter's decompiling and vowed to restore his bits from cyberspace. This obsession caused him to disregard anything else, such as the war between the Purple Dragons and the Foot clan, as unimportant. It wasn't until seeing his brothers in danger from the Cyber Shredder did he realize he was ignoring his responsibilities to help them and promised not to let his obsession with saving Master Splinter take control again. Donatello is voiced by Sam Riegel in English and Yuji Ueda in the Japanese series.
Movies
In the first three live action films, Donatello, like Leonardo, is arguably less mature than he was in the original comics and the 1987 animated series, as he is shown joking around more. The first film never officially identifies Donatello as the group's resident whiz kid, though he is occasionally shown tinkering with various devices. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, however, clearly established Donatello as the most scientifically-minded turtle as well as the most introspective. The first film plays up the relationship between him and Casey Jones, in all other versions of the TMNT, Raphael, not Donatello, is closest to Casey except for the 1987 cartoon where Casey Jones only appears in some episodes. This is apparently because the scene in which Donatello and Casey bond over the fixing of an old pickup truck was based on a similar scene involving Casey and Raphael in the Mirage comics. Corey Feldman famously provides Donatello's voice in the first and third live-action films, while Adam Carl filled in for the second movie during Feldman's stint in rehabilitation. In the third film, Donatello is the only Turtle who is not tempted to stay in the Feudal Japan of the past, saying that he can't live without technology. The films also portray Donatello as being close with Michelangelo, bantering with him during fight sequences, going off to the side when Leo and Raph are arguing and in general hanging out in their spare time.
In the 2007 movie, Donatello runs an IT tech support line to earn money for the family. He has a more confrontational relationship with Raphael, angry that the latter was not pulling his weight to support them, as a family and as a team member, when in actuality Raphael was secretly fighting as the Nightwatcher. This disagreement is further explained in the prequel comics by the fact that Donatello does not trust Nightwatcher, because no one knows what side he is really on and because he uses fear to accomplish his ends. Donatello states that Raphael uses many of the same tactics, and hints that he may suspect what his brother really does at night. Donatello also tries to guide Michelangelo away from the idea that vigilantes are heroes. Such action develops Donatello as an older brother while Leonardo is in Central America, forced to be the responsible one in Leonardo's absence and teach his brothers what Leo would in his place. Don is clearly yet still unofficially established as second in command here, much more than in the other three movies. In the game tie-in his IQ is "off the charts". Don is voiced by Mitchell Whitfield. In the Hebrew language Version, he was dubbed by Ido Mosseri who also dubbed Leonardo in the 1987 Cartoon.
Coming Out of Their Shells Tour
In the "making of" video for the Ninja Turtles musical tour, producer Adrian Selby notes that Donatello had "some very unusual ideas about what musical instruments are and how they're constructed."
Video games
In the video games based on the 1987 animated series, Donatello has the longest range, although he cannot inflict as much damage as Leonardo, who has the second-longest range; one notable exception is the first NES game, where Donatello both did the most damage and had the longest range, though his attacks were slow. This has been carried over into the games inspired by the 2003 animated series. He will appear in TMNT: Smash Up as a playable character.
See also
External links
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