Trivia Facts (IMDb)

Judith Hoag was not able to reprise her role as April because of the unfair treatment she gave to the actors and stuntmen and complained about the filming schedule.  She has no ill-will against the actress who got the role, Paige Turco, and 17 years after the movie, became good friends.

In the previous Ninja Turtles movie, the turtles' facial expressions were cable-operated with all the motors, servos, etc. housed in the shell. In this movie, thanks to a larger budget, the animatronics were much smaller and lighter, and were built into the face itself.

Ernie Reyes, Jr. played the fight double for Donatello from the previous Ninja Turtles movie and because the producers liked him so much, they gave Ernie the part of Keno just for him as an alternative to Casey Jones.

Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird both felt that the Shredder should not appear in the second movie. Laird even planned a scene where a garbage man found Shredder's helmet, crushed and twisted which would have been a subtle enough way to refer to his ambiguous fate from the first film and set the scene for his appearance in a third Ninja Turtles  movie. However, the producers wanted the movie to be closer to the cartoon and therefore decided to have Shredder return in this movie instead.

The abandoned subway station, which serves as the Turtles' new lair, is based on the real life "City Hall" Station of the former Interborough Rapid Transit company in New York City. Although the station itself is decommissioned, the track on which it is located is still active.

Before the movie starts, there's an "In Memory of Jim Henson" text because Henson died a few weeks after the first movie's release.

One main concern that Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird had was that the second and any later Ninja Turtles movie stay as much away from the cartoon show, and as close to the original black and white comics as possible, as the first movie did. They felt that there was plenty of material in the black and white books to form the basis for another good movie.

The building entrance where April's apartment is in real life the same building of Jim Henson's Creature Shop in New York City.

In the original comic story, the ooze was made by stranded aliens called the Utroms through a front company called TCRI (Techno Cosmic Research Institute). Since the final script did not include the Utroms, the company was changed to TGRI (Techno-Global Research Industries).

The fight double for Donatello, Steven Ho, kept the Donatello head, became a stand-up comedian and uses it in his act.

David Warner loved playing the part of Professor Perry. In interviews at the time, he said he was proud to finally be in a movie his daughter and her friends would all see, and later on at convention appearances would repeatedly assert it was one of his favorite roles.

Originally, the studio wanted Bebop and Rocksteady, from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) cartoon, to appear. However, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were not in favor of it, so Tokka and Rahzar were created. Tokka and Rahzar became so popular that they made an appearance in the cartoon in season 7.

Besides Super Shredder grabbing Leonardo and throwing him to the other three turtles during the destruction of the pier, the turtles make no physical contact with Shredder throughout the film.

Both Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were disappointed that the studio had replaced Steve Barron with Michael Pressman as director and tried to make the film more like the cartoon show.

When the script called for Leonardo to perform a back handspring, Mark Caso wanted to do it but director Michael Pressman was unwilling to risk an injury. Pressman wanted Caso's stuntman to perform the feat, but the stuntman didn't know how. A search was initiated for an outside party to do the stunt, but Caso - a national gymnastics competitor - eventually won out and performed it himself. Caso later said of the matter: "I was like, well, I want to do my own thing. You are going to go out there and look for someone worse than me. You cannot find somebody to do a better back-handspring than I can. I want Leonardo to have the best one."

Kevin Nash said he was offered the role of Super Shredder at a WCW live event in Greensboro, North Carolina, when he was caught off guard by two Carolco Studios employees who gave Nash their business card as he was about to head ringside. Nash was chosen due to his height and because the actor originally cast, Kevin Peter Hall; was too ill to film his part in the movie. Nash immediately accepted the offer, wrestled his match and later found himself in a hotel room, with breathing straws in his nostrils as he got a head cast molded for his costume. Nash said he made more money from this movie than he did in his first year as a professional wrestler.

Jim Henson's Creature Shop returned but Brian Henson chose not to be involved due to other commitments and his dismay at the loss of Steve Barron as director.

Adam Carl replaced Corey Feldman as the voice of Donatello in this movie. According to Feldman, producers did not want him to reprise the role, due to his rehab stint at the time. They had concerns that having Feldman on board would attract negative publicity, clashing with the family friendly image they were trying to portray.

Only Leonardo and Donatello use their signature weapons during combat in this film.

After the original movie had seen unanticipated success in sales of the soundtrack, Golden Harvest committed a $25 million budget for this movie but with principal technology already developed by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the decision was made to invest heavily in the film's soundtrack. In fact Vanilla Ice has an appearance in the movie performing Ninja Rap and features the Turtles doing a perfectly choreographed dance to it.

In the beginning of the movie, at the the end of Keno's first fight, his line "Stay Down" was improvised.

The glass that Professor Perry uses to mix the mutagen antidote has a picture of Bart Simpson from The Simpsons (1989) on it. One of Bart's trademark catchphrases is "Cowabunga", like that of the Turtles'.

Some of the pizza props used in this movie were reused in Ernest Scared Stupid (1991). They can be seen being thrown at the bullies who try to attack the kids' tree house.

Due to backlash from parents over the darker and more violent tone of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) movie, the producers decided to not allow the Turtles to use their weapons for almost the entirety of this film.

This is the only time we see a character called Keno. He is never mentioned again in any other TMNT variants history.

Leif Tilden (The performer inside the Donatello costume), Michelan Sisti (The performer inside the Michelangelo costume), Kevin Clash (Splinter), David McCharen (The voice of Shredder), Toshishiro Obata (Tatsu), Michael McConnohie (The voice of Tatsu), and Raymond Serra (Chief Sterns) are the only cast to return from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990). Brian Tochi (The voice of Leonardo) and Robbie Rist (The voice of Michelangelo) are the only actors who appeared in all three live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies.

This movie is Paige Turco's first film role.

This is the only movie in the trilogy which does not include the Casey Jones character, and one of only two theatrically released live action TMNT films to not feature him. He also didn't appear in the most recent animated film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

When the Turtles first encounter Tokka & Rahzar, Michaelangelo asks, "Didn't we see these guys on WrestleMania?" In fact, Kevin Nash (Super Shredder) would later make five WrestleMania appearances; including one as WWF Champion at WrestleMania XI (1995). Twenty-five years after this movie's release, action figures ended up being produced, of Ninja Turtles dressed as pro-wrestlers, including: Raphael as The Rock and Sting; Michelangelo as Macho Man Randy Savage and Rowdy Roddy Piper; and Donatello as the Ultimate Warrior and the Undertaker. Ironically, no Turtle figures were dressed as Kevin Nash.

When Splinter has finished telling Keno the origin story of himself and the Turtles and they introduce themselves to him, the order goes as followed; Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael. This is the same exact order in which Splinter introduced them to April after telling her their origin story in the first film. This could be either a coincidence or an intentional callback to the previous film.

At one point during the club scene with Vanilla Ice performing, Leif Tilden (the actor in the Donatello suit) was supposed to roll stuntman Daniel Pesina (a Foot Soldier) and then do a side kick like choreographed. However, Tilden decided to do a roundhouse kick instead without first telling Pesina, and as a result, Pesina almost had his two front teeth knocked out.

During filming of the scene where the turtles are trapped in the net and fall to the ground, one of the stuntmen broke an ankle.

Guns N' Roses front man Axl Rose was late to perform a concert in Tampa, Florida 1991 due to watching the film, his management said that his attention was 100% on the movie and couldn't be bothered.

Although he returns here for the sequel, Raymond Serra only has one scene appearance as Chief Sterns compared to how much screen time he had in the previous movie.

Cameo: Mark Caso: The performer inside the Leonardo costume also plays the man in the news room who tells April that Donatello is calling her.

Cameo: Michael Jai White: as a Foot Clan recruit.

Cameo: Michelan Sisti: The performer inside the Michelangelo costume also plays the Soho Man who talks with April before she enters to her apartment.

Cameo: Leif Tilden: The performer inside the Donatello costume also plays a Foot Soldier, specifically the one who says "everyone else must've been picked up" and "We all knew the junkyard was our fallback spot." Interestingly enough, he also played a Foot Soldier in the first movie; the messenger in the subway scene with April.