The Cartoons That Made Us Gay: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Gayest Episode Ever

“Michelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko” (September 14, 1991)

It’s finally here: The Cartoons That Made Us Gay, our new Patreon-exclusive bonus podcast, focused on queer readings of the cartoons of our youth. While this series will comprise ten episodes only available on our Patreon feed, we’re putting the first part of the first episode on the main feed to show off what we’re doing.

To listen to the full version of this episode, all you need to do is pledge $1 a month on Patreon and subscribe to the Patreon-only feed for fancy people in your podcast app of choice. It’s easy! You should do it! But we’re biased!

This episode focuses on the 1987 run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — specifically “Michelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko,” which is all about Mike being drawn to the man (or man-gecko) of his dreams, and we couldn't think of a weirder way to kick off this new podcast project. In doing this episode, we hoped to make this cartoon series accessible even for people who have never watched the show, but let us know how we did.

Coming up next: Jem and The Holograms!

The logo for The Cartoons That Made Us Gay was designed by Jeff Hinchee.

Show notes that will make more sense if you listen to the full episode on Patreon:

In case you're not familiar with the “Asian cliche” musical motif

Harry Nilsson’s “The Point”

Listen to Matt Baume’s interview with Cam Clarke

Was April O’Neil whitewashed?

Queer readings of kids shows, previously:

• He-Man with special guest Henry Gilbert
• Fraggle Rock with special guest Matt Baume
• Dungeons & Dragons
• Dinosaurs
• 80s Cartoons with special guest Ted Biaselli
• Harley & Ivy

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. This episode was edited by Meika Grimm. This is a TableCakes podcast.