Shredder (1987 TMNT)

"Ooohh, those blasted Turtles!"

- after being defeated by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Shredder is the leader of the Foot Clan and the main antagonist of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series until season 10 where he was replaced by Lord Dregg. Shredder was mainly voiced by the late James L. Avery Sr. who was known for playing Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. However in a few episodes, he was voiced by Jim Cummings, Townsend Coleman, and Dorian Harewood as fill-in actors. From the seventh season onward, Shredder was voiced by Bill Martin.

Past
In Japan, Oroku Saki was enemies with Hamato Yoshi in the Foot Clan and came up with a plan to get rid of him. When the master, Shidoshi, visited, Saki pinned the back of Yoshi’s shirt to the wall with a knife so he couldn’t bow to the master, which was a sign of disrespect. Then when he pulled out the knife, it was interpreted as an attempt to murder Shidoshi so Yoshi was banished from the Foot. Afterwards, Saki took over the Foot Clan, using it as soldiers for his own criminal empire. He went after Yoshi, following him to New York and it was at this point (presumably) that he met Krang.

The other dimensional warlord granted Saki advanced technologies, including his robot Foot Soldiers and his new base, the Technodrome. He took on new bladed armor to become the Shredder and eventually found Yoshi, dumping the chemical Mutagen down a drain onto him. However it mutated Yoshi instead, making him the giant rat, Splinter, and giving birth to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Shredder’s greatest enemies.

First Battles with the Turtles
Shredder began a crime wave throughout New York, having his men steal advanced technology for him. He also had his minions pretend to be a security service, then have them rob the buildings they were supposed to guard. After the news reporter, April O’Neil, began reporting the crime wave and that ninjas were possibly behind it, Shredder sent some of his thugs to silence her. However she was saved by the Ninja Turtles and together, they discovered Shredder’s security scam. He sent his Foot Soldiers to get rid of them and even tried flooding the building they were in, but they escaped alive. Shredder decided to ask Krang for help, who nagged at him to make him a body, which he’d given Shredder his advanced technology for, but did give him a idea. He decided to mutate some of his own henchmen, but use more powerful animals than the Turtles and Splinter.

To this end, Shredder used the Mutagen to transform Bebop and Rocksteady into a pair of warthog and rhinoceros mutants. He then had one of his robots capture Splinter, using him as a means of bringing the Turtles to the Technodrome. They managed to get pass Shredder’s death traps and eventually got to Shredder, who introduced himself. He told the Turtles that he was responsible for their creation and then asked them to join him. They refused and Shredder sent Bebop and Rocksteady to take care of the Turtles, but they were defeated and the Turtles escaped with Splinter.

Shredder’s next plan involved recruiting an inventor named Baxter Stockman to create an army of robots called Mousers. He successfully captured Michelangelo and cornered the rest of the Turtles with the Mousers. However when Krang saw Shredder’s plan was working, he freed Michelangelo, since if he succeeded, he’d have no need to make Krang a body. Michelangelo managed to destroy the Master Control to the Mousers. Still determined to avoid having to give Krang a body, Shredder used the Techondrome’s dimensional portal to try and get weapons from Dimension X. However he let in some of Krang’s Rock Soldiers as well as the Neutrinos, a group of Dimension X teenagers, who the soldiers had been chasing. Shredder sent the Rock Soldiers after the Turtles, but they managed to get both the Neutrinos and the soldiers back into Dimension X. Finally Shredder decided he was out of options and built a body for Krang, as well as a ray gun that could reverse the effects of the Mutagen.

He sent a message to the Turtles, telling them the ray was the only means of restoring Splinter to human form, so as to draw them in. Splinter went alone since the ray could’ve turned the Turtles into normal turtles again, but was captured. They went to the Technodrome to rescue him, fighting off Shredder’s minions and Krang’s body, which battled them giant sized. Shredder attempted to use the ray gun on the Turtles to make them ordinary turtles again, but Splinter destroyed it. The Turtles used the Dimensional Portal to send the Technodrome, along with Shredder and Krang to Dimension X. Trapped there, Shredder was stuck following Krang’s commands, but was determined to get back to Earth so as to have revenge on the Turtles.

Conflicts with the Turtles
Krang eventually sent Shredder back to Earth, but without any of his technology or Foot Soldiers until he proved himself. In one of his plans, he took over a dojo to create the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang so as to frame the Ninja Turtles, but they were defeated. Shredder also employed Baxter Stockman to help him get rid of the Turtles, but eventually got tired of his constant failures. Eventually, Krang sent Bebop and Rocksteady back to Earth to help Shredder in exchange for Baxter, who Krang would accidentally turn into a mutant fly.

At one point, Shredder found out about alien objects that had crashed to Earth which could grant great power called the Three Fragments of the Eye of Zamov. He got one part and discovered it could shrink people, which he did to the Turtles and almost killed them with a pipe, but they were saved by Splinter and returned to normal size. Shredder engaged in a race with the Turtles to get the Fragments and eventually got all of them, attaching them up with to his helmet to use their power. However his helmet ended up with Blodgett, but Stockman got his hands on it, though Shredder managed to get the helmet back as well as the Zarvometer which the Turtles had been using to track the fragments.

However the Zarvometer seemed designed to destroy the Eye when they came into contact. The Turtles warned Shredder of the danger and he threw the helmet into the Hudson River, which blew up. After some time, Shredder managed to obtain the energy needed to bring the Technodrome back to Earth. During the ensuing conflict, he faced off against Splinter in combat but lost. However Donatello’s intervention caused the Technodrome to end up trapped in the core of the Earth without the power to even move. Shredder continued to clash with the Turtles by using transport modules he’d gotten from Krang to leave the Technodrome. His plans focused on either getting rid of the Turtles or obtaining the energy to power up the Technodrome.

Shredder eventually succeeded in the latter and planned with his comrades to open a portal to send Earth to Dimension X, where Krang’s Rock Soldiers would fire on it. Shredder fought against Splinter again, but was defeated again. However the Turtles, namely Donatello, got the Technodrome, along with Shredder, sent into the portal instead and was shot at by the Rock Soldiers, leaving it stuck on an asteroid. Shredder and Co. managed to make yet another return with the Technodrome’s Dimensional Portal. But the fortress continued to get stuck in places like the North Pole and the bottom of the ocean.

Eventually the Technodrome was sent back to Dimension X by the Turtles, though without Shredder, Krang, Bebop, or Rocksteady. They were stuck running from hideout to hideout, constantly pursued by the Turtles. Later on, Krang was captured by the Turtles and to get him back, Shredder threatened to blow up the Channel 6 news building if he was not returned within a certain amount of time. They arrived to give Krang back, but a minute late, and found the building intact, so they decided Shredder was bluffing. However he responded that he never bluffed and blew up the building, which would lead April to become a free-lance reporter. The Turtles faced off against Shredder and Krang in a final battle in Dimension X and the two villains were trapped there with the wrecked Technodrome, apparently for good.

However Mung told Lord Dregg about Shredder and Krang, who he brought to Earth. But Shredder had no interest in working with Dregg, so the alien made him a pawn in his plans. He placed the Turtles, Shredder, and Krang in a machine that would drain the Turtles’ life force, Shredder’s ninja skills, and Krang’s intelligence into him so he would become invincible. However Shredder got free and escaped with Krang, while Dregg wasn’t looking. Later on, Shredder gave some of his own life energy to revive Krang and together they resolved to take out both Dregg and the Turtles. In one final conflict, Shredder and Krang, along with Bebop and Rocksteady were sent back to Dimension X, never to be seen again.

Turtles Forever
At one point, Shredder was trying to steal some vials of mutagen and the Turtles were trying to stop him, but the Technodrome’s Dimensional Portal exploded. They ended up in an alternate universe, that of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s cartoon. Shredder was enraged to find out he was in an alternate dimension and was found by 1987 Turtles and their 2003 counterparts. Shredder sent Bebop and Rocksteady, along with his Foot Soldiers against them, but they were defeated. However Shredder realized if there were versions of the Turtles in this new dimension, there should be a version of himself. After making his Foot Soldiers self-destruct as a distraction, Shredder retreated with the Technodrome to find his other self. He managed to bring the Utrom Shredder to the Technodrome, but was shocked when he saw the real form of the Utrom Shredder, the small Utrom alien, Ch’rell. The 1987 Shredder revived him, but this backfired after the Utrom Shredder pretty much overthrew him and Krang, taking control of the Technodrome.

1987 Shredder was forced to stand by as the Utrom Shredder combined the technologies of the Technodrome with Utrom technology and prepared a new plan. He and Krang watched as Utrom Shredder assaulted New York with the Technodrome and his army of cyber ninjas and mutants. As the Turtles arrived, 1987 Shredder and Krang told Utrom Shredder to destroy them, but he struck them down and made Bebop and Rocksteady restrain them. As the Utrom Shredder began destroying the multiverse, Karai freed Shredder and Krang, who sided with the Turtles to face his counterpart. Together, they defeated the Utrom Shredder and 1987 Shredder and Krang formed a temporary truce with the 1987 Turtles to get home. But they promised they would be enemies again when they got back.

Personality
In his early appearances, Shredder was portrayed as a cunning and lethal adversary. But as time went on, he became a villain that, while evil, was incompetent and sometimes petulant. Shredder constantly argues with Krang, since he hates having to play second fiddle when he used to be in charge. They enjoy watching each other fail, even sabotaging each other. Splinter has always been Shredder’s enemy and he has always expressed a desire to finish the rat off by his own hand. Despite his desire to take over, there was one episode where the Turtles went to an alternate dimension where Shredder took over because the Turtles never existed. However he suffered a nervous breakdown due to the stress of having to rule.

Abilities
Despite his deficiencies as a villain, Shredder is a considerably skilled martial artist, outfighting the Turtles on occasion. He is equal in skill to their master, Splinter, but often runs when he is outnumbered. Shredder is extremely intelligent, particularly with technology since he created Krang’s body, along with numerous other devices, and the mutagen formula. With the Technodrome and his army of Foot Soldiers, Shredder can be a formidable opponent, but his personality usually prevents this.


 * For superpowers, see Super Shredder