I only grew up with the TMNT based on both the 2003 cartoon and the 07 movie. Inbetween, I was actually introduced to the original animated series and the trilogy of 90s live-action movies by AVGN's TMNT III movie (and a couple months later, his actual NES review).
The 1990s live-action movies aren't actually quite the same beast as the 1987 cartoon. Its weird, they clearly take some inspiration (the turtles being more wisecracking and loving pizza) but the movie universe and storyline is more like something that would happen in the comics (the first movie is actually an amalgamation of comic arcs).
Going back to the 1987 cartoon is an experience. I was there for the original wave of Turtle Mania so I can safely say it was a huge part of my childhood. But at the same time... well, we have a topic elsewhere called "Bad Consequences of Good Games" or something like that, where we talk about how good video games inspired bad trends in the industry.
I feel like the 1987 TMNT cartoon is a good candidate for a similar topic about animation, because yeah, I love going back to it... but watching it now, its clear a lot of the shit I hate about modern cartoons got their first germlings of existence here.
Most notably the incredibly detached characters who treat lots of things like a joke and waffle between acting like they're living in the situation and realizing they're in a show and making blatant meta commentary about it, and the "anything goes as long as its for a gag" mentality. TMNT 1987 was less bad about this than modern shows would be, but still, without TMNT 1987 we probably wouldn't have Ducktales 2017.
The funny thing with TMNT 1987 though is this shift was
gradual. The first season (actually a five-episode miniseries) had humor but actually told a relatively serious adventure story, but as the show went on it got more gag-centric.... then it had a reverse trajectory as 1990s edge set in and we got the Red Sky seasons, which a lot of people like to claim is a Jump the Shark moment but honestly watching it now I consider it more a breath of fresh air.
That said, the "gag" seasons gave us stories like
Night of the Dark Turtle which are legitimately hilarious.