April O'Neil
April O'Neil is a fictional character in the Mirage Studios franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In each of the many TMNT continuities, she is good friends with the Turtles: Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michaelangelo.
Mirage Comics
In the original storyline, April was a skilled computer programmer and worked as an assistant for Baxter Stockman, helping to program his mouser robots and demonstrating their operation. After she discovered that Baxter was using the tiny mousers to burrow into bank vaults and steal from them, she attempted to flee Baxter's workshop and found herself in the sewers running for her life, with several mousers in pursuit. Three of the Turtles happened across her and came to her rescue; they later successfully fended off a mouser invasion after Baxter programmed them to attack the Turtles.
April's antique shop came under attack by Shredder and the Foot Clan, who had come for the Turtles, and was destroyed in the ensuing battle. She and the Turtles retreated to a farm house where she later had disturbing dreams about the Foot Clan's attack. During the mid-90s, April became romantically involved with Casey Jones and the two eventually adopted a child, Shadow. In TMNT: Volume 4, Peter Laird revealed that April's origin was far from normal as fans assumed. The surprise plot twist was that April was in reality a pencil sketch brought to life by a magic crystal. Fan reaction was mixed, as many believed her normality served as a good contrast to the fantastic nature of the Turtles. No other incarnation of April has shared this origin to date.
April also appeared in the TMNT comic book produced by Archie Comics, which began as retellings of cartoon episodes but eventually spun off into original stories.
Animated Series (1987-1995)
In the original TMNT cartoon, April O'Neil (whose middle name was purported to be Harriet) was a television reporter for Channel 6 News. She was employed by Burne Thompson, though due to her headstorng nature and passion for her work, she expressed freequent disagreement with the assignments he gave her. She also butted heads on a regular basis with Vernon Fenwick, the director/camera operator whose enormous ego compelled him to scoop April on her stories whenever possible. April was best friends with Irma, the secretary at Channel 6. Though it remains unclear whether this was required work attire or her particular fashion sense, April could usually be found wearing a distinctive yellow jumpsuit. She lived in an apartment in New York City, though during the course of the series she was forced to relocate several times due to a variety of indirectly Turtle-related mishaps.
In 1987, having been employed at Channel 6 for less than a year, April was reporting on a series of thefts of high-tech scientific equipment, apparently by ninja, (ostensibly components Shredder was securing for use in the TechnoDrome) when she came under attack by a gang of punks. Thinking quickly, she managed to squeeze into a storm drain and ran from the mob until she hit a dead end. As it happens, the Ninja Turtles were nearby and soundly beat the punks. They took her back to their sewer lair for rest and recovery where they explained their origins to her. At first she believed them to be responsible for the equipment thefts, but they agreed to provide her with the true culprits if she provided her assistance. April quickly became the Turtles' link to the outside world, since their unusual appearance effectively precluded them from functioning aboveground without some sort of disguise.
April's friendship with the Turtles resulted in the opportunity to film exclusive footage of their encounters with Shredder, but despite her intimate knowledge of the details of their lives, she tended to keep her professional news reports about them impersonal and mysterious. She was a vocal champion of their cause, despite the opinion of the general populace (an opinion shared by Burne Thompson) that the Turtles were a menace to the city. Through no fault of her own, April was frequently captured by Shredder, quite often as bait in order to lure the Turtles out of hiding in order to unleash his latest attempt at destruction upon them. April's innate curiousity and determination placed her in danger on several occasions as well. The Turtles usually waited until the last possible second to rescue her, but they always came through in the end.
Special Skills & Strengths
April displayed a number of different skills during the course of the show. Her attractive feminine figure allowed her to gain the attention of practically any man she wanted to obtain information from. Her various contacts included the NYPD. She was quite competent as a driver, demonstrating her ability to manuever the bulky Turtle Van through difficult situations multiple times. Though not normally a fighter, she once aided Splinter in fending off Stockman's mousers using mere kitchen utensils. In "The Catwoman From Channel Six," April was briefly mutated into a humanoid feline and gained heightened senses of smell and agility. She made quick work of Rocksteady and Bebop but was captured and brainwashed by Shredder in an attempt to hunt down and kill Splinter. Catwoman April had little trouble cornering the Ninja Master Rat, but her affections for her friend hindered her from killing him. Thankfully, this gave the Turtles enough time to free her from Shredder's mind control device. April did not retain her powers after reverting back to normal, however. Her most important contribution was often doing research for the Turtles on the Channel 6 computers and alerting the Turtles to trouble and possible case leads.
Character Flaws & Weaknesses
Though a determined and talented woman, April's weaknesses often outweighed her strengths. Her obession with "getting a story" led to numerous instances of poor judgement. Thinking that she was capable of sneaking up on bad guys to video tape them, April took foolish risks and often fell into traps. Her attempts at stealth hardly ever proved successful, leading to her frequently being spotted and captured. Fear seemed to render her helpless, as April never even attempted to defend herself against the advances of her kidnappers, particularly Shredder and the Foot Clan. But because of her faith in the Turtles, this worked to her advantage and she never suffered serious injury from any villian. She is somewhat of a stereotype of the overconfident independent 80s woman, but (much like Lois Lane in the Fleischer Superman cartoons) she usually ends up as a victim rather than hero.
Maturity in Later Seasons
April developed a platonic fondness for all four of the Turtles as well as Splinter. (She never explicitly revealed which among the Turtles, if any, was her favorite, though Donatello once professed that he believed it was him.) Perhaps the closest thing she ever got to a love interest was her attraction to Brick Bradley, better known as the superhero Bug-Man, but the revelation that he sprouted insect parts from his body more or less ended her fascination with him. At some point, she may have entered into a relationship with Casey Jones that would mirror her involvement with him in other continuities, given that he'd given her his phone number by the sixth season. Although the animators went out of their way to make April's figure as attractive as possible, her affection for the Turtles was comparable to that of a "big sister."
Following the destruction of the Channel 6 building at the hands of Shredder, April worked as a freelance reporter, exchanging her yellow jumpsuit for a brown leather jacket. This outfit was more practical and less conspicuous than her classic form-fitting "banana suit." She continued to help the Turtles, even after the defeat of Shredder and his subsequent exile to Dimension X. Although the writers continued the tradition of using her as "turtle bait" from time to time, April's research and computer skills made her a valuable ally in the Turtles' fight to save the world.
There was also a short-lived animated series in Japan, in which April was voiced by Emi Shinohara.
Motion Pictures
In the first TMNT motion picture, April (played by Judith Hoag) was a Channel 3 News television reporter working for Charles Pennington, and did a series of stories on mysterious thefts in New York City whose culprits vanished without a trace. One night when leaving work, she was accosted by the Foot Clan, but Raphael was observing from a nearby manhole and saved her. Unsure what to do with her, he carried her unconscious form to their sewer lair. Though her fear of rats initially got the better of her, she eventually came to regard the Turtles as friends, and even allowed them to live in her apartment after the Foot Clan discovered and destroyed their sewer dwellings.
Mirroring the Mirage Comics storyline, the Foot once again attacked the Turtles in the antique shop, prompting April, the Turtles, and a wounded Raphael to retreat to her family's farmhouse. She kept a journal documenting their forced sabbatical in addition to drawing sketches of the Turtles. During their respite, April also developed a kind of love-hate relationship with Casey Jones.
In the second and third movies, April was played by Paige Turco. In TMNT III, April was temporarily transported to feudal Japan. April also made a live-action appearance in the TMNT: Coming Out of their Shells musical tour, during which her role was to incite the live audience to interact with the stage performers and encourage the Turtles when needed. She was played by Sherri Scott.
Animated Series (2003-)
April got a radical costume change for the new incarnation of the animated series produced by DongWoo Animation, but her role was similar to that of the Mirage Comics character. Again, she served as an assistant to Baxter Stockman until his mouser experiments got out of control, and after the Turtles saved her, she became a faithful friend and ally to them. Unlike in the original toon, April developed a modest knowledge of combat skills after training with Splinter. In this series, she rarely plays the helpless damsel-in-distress role, and her quick thinking is often a key to the Turtles' survival. She was voiced by Veronica Taylor.
In the episode, "Secret Origins: Part III," the creators of the show paid homage to the original toon by having April don a yellow jumpsuit familiar to fans. Posing as a reporter in order to help the Turtles escape from the TCRI building, April stalled the military and bought the Turtles enough time to defeat the Shredder. Upon their escape, Leonardo jokes that April seems to have a career as a reporter. She responds with a sarcastic: "in another lifetime." Casey Jones made a wise crack that her jumpsuit might have been more appropriate for moving toxic waste.
Video Games
April has appeared in most of the TMNT video games, usually as the damsel in distress who has been captured by the Foot Clan. In TMNT IV: Turtles in Time for Super Nintendo, she appears onscreen and encourages the Turtles to fight when the player characters are idle. She also appears as a playable character in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighter for Sega Genesis. Bearing no resemblance to the cartoon likeness, her game sprite appears to have been inspired by the Sega Streets of Rage character, Blaze.
Action Figures
In the TMNT toy lines produced by Playmates Toys, April O'Neil has appeared in several action figure incarnations. The first of these had a limited production run, notable for the lack of a blue stripe running along the side of her jumpsuit, and is considered valuable to collectors. The more common blue-stripe version quickly replaced it and had much greater circulation. (One item of note is that the badge above her breast pocket that read "PRESS" was removed after Playmates became concerned that children would interpret the text as directions for a gimmick and expect a reaction after following those instructions.) An alternate version of April, with a different head sculpt (closer to her cartoon incarnation) and orange boots and details was a further modification made to the original figure. At one stage, a 13" version was slated for production to accompany the other similar-sized figures, but was never produced.
Other notable April figures include the 1990 version, dubbed simply "April," with purple accents on her jumpsuit; "April, the Ravishing Reporter," the first such figure to feature rooted hair; "April, the Ninja Newscaster," arguably the most scantily-clad April who came with one of each of the Turtles' signature weapons; and "Mutatin' April," part of the Mutations assortment in which April could transform into a humanoid cat (clearly inspired by the original series episode "The Catwoman From Channel Six").