The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

The series introduced many new elements to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles saga, including new central antagonists, an army of humanoid dragons known as "The Rank" led by the vicious Dragonlord. It was touted (in some of the promotional material) as a continuation of the 1987 TV series, but by the period of time it aired it turned apparent that this was not the case. Instead, the series apparently followed the continuity of the live-action films. The Turtles lived in the same abandoned train station featured in the second and third films, and Splinter's ear is slashed as it was in the original film. However, most fans tend to regard the films and the series as two separate entities, citing differing styles, The Shredder being alive (and no longer Super Shredder), the absence of April O'Neil and Casey Jones (though they were set to appear in the unproduced second season),[citation needed] and Michaelangelo's Californian surfer accent being dropped in favor of a more casual voice (but he still called everyone "dude"). Also, in one episode, Leonardo states that while the Turtles were raised as brothers, they are not biologically related, which is indeed different, as all other forms of TMNT media specifically states that the Turtles are blood-relatives.