Teeny Mutant Ninja Turtles trailer: TMNT is back like you've never seen it before

They’re still mutants, they’re still ninjas, and they’re still turtles, but this time around, they’re not teenagers.

Teeny Mutant Ninja Turtles is the latest animated outing of Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey and this time Nickelodeon Digital Studio will be focusing on their early years as ninjas-in-training, before they became heroes. The series debuts July 24 on the Nick Jr. YouTube channel with 30 four-minute episodes.

In advance of World Turtle Day (that's May 23rd, of course) Polygon has an exclusive look at the upcoming series, including the first stills from the show and a video introducing the most adorable take ever on the Heroes in a Half-Shell.

Image: Paramount/Nickelodeon Digital Studio

First up is the new logo, which makes a point to underline the “Teeny” part of the title and has a bright, chalky, kid-friendly look to it.

The rest of the stills all seem to be from the same adventure where the Teeny Turtles face off against a giant, sentient pizza. This might be the villain Pizza Face, who looked similar to this in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, which was Nickelodeon’s first outing with the characters after purchasing the rights in 2009. The 2012 series is also the version of the Turtles that seems to bear the most resemblance to these new designs, though there are nods to other iterations too, including the letters on their belt buckles, just like the original 1987 series.

Finally, there’s the video clip which features the Turtles introducing themselves before they fall through a manhole cover. It offers a bit of how their voices will sound and what the animation looks like.

Besides the difference in the Turtles’ ages and the intended pre-school audience, there are a few notable changes to the Turtles. Their weapons have a safer, more colorful, jelly-like appearance and Leo carries one sword instead of two. But before OG fans gripe about them wearing sandals, it should be noted that several versions of the Turtles have worn similar footwear (even in the gritty Last Ronin series).

Yet despite the fact that this show is not intended for older fans, the video reveals even more nods to previous versions of the franchise. For example, Raph has a bit of a snaggletooth like he does in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Turtles chanting “Go Ninja Turtles, Go!” at the end seems like a nod to the “Ninja Rap” refrain “Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!” The clip even has the Turtles recreate a bit of animation from the original cartoon’s theme song, where the Turtles fall through the air, concluding with Leo slicing the frame in half.

Those thoughtful nods should cause any long-time TMNT fan to celebrate, as should the fact that Nickelodeon is trying to hook kids on the Ninja Turtles while they're still young, rather than leave them all for Spidey and his Amazing Friends.