Funimation Productions, which handles the home video releases for 4Kids Entertainment's high-powered Yu-Gi-Oh! series, will also handle the sales and distribution of video products from the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon series now appearing on 4Kids' Fox Box on Saturday morning.  The first two TMNT video releases from the new series will each contain three episodes and will be available on both DVD and VHS tape.  The DVDs will have an srp of $16.95 and the VHS tape will list for $12.95   The DVDs will include an exclusive interview with TMNT co-creator Peter Laird.  The first two volumes from the new TMNT series will be released on September 2nd.

While the new TMNT series easily topped the rest of the Fox Box entries in the most recent TV ratings, the series hasn't reached the heights that it attained in its first incarnation, when it was one of the top children's shows on TV and the number one kids animated home video in the early 90s.  Still it hasn't been a failure either -- the series just bowed on Fox on February 8, so it really hasn't had a chance to turn the Fox Box around.  The fact that Playmates Toys has sold through more than 1 million TMNT action figures so far this year demonstrates that there is still plenty of interest in the Turtles.  The new TMNT animated series has been renewed for next season and Dreamwave Productions is planning a new TMNT color comic book series (see 'Peter David To Write TMNT Comic For Dreamwave'), so with videos from Funimation, toys from Playmates, and comics from Dreamwave there should be a higher level of interest and sales by fall.