Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Thread

[CensoredAlso]

I could see a movie exec watching the 80's cartoon and the 90's films and thinking "This is right up Bay's ally."

And they would be wrong, as the 80s/90s cartoon and films had actual humor and nuanced characters, which seems to be beyond Bay, lol.

At best, Bay is a necessary evil because his movies drum up publicity for franchises. But he is never getting my money, as I have zero faith in him as a director, lol.

 

[Drtooth]

I wouldn't exactly say nuanced... But the fact is, Bay is just the producer. He has that much influence in sucking when it comes to cartoon franchises. I'll give the movie credit. It got a major rewrite, and the Alien Turtles idea (which Bay himself swears was never intended in the first place... yeah right) is long gone. I want to give this movie a chance, actually... but the casting is terrible. Jane Leavy (or whatever her name is from Suburgatory and the new Evil Dead) really should have been April. But moreover, I really don't like the Splinter. I hope he's just in a suit or something and he's dubbed in.

Other than that, if it can at least be better than the European Vacation season, Comin' Out of their Shells, and Next Mutation, I can't complain. As terrible as the Bayformers movies were, at least they weren't Transformers Kiss Players.

Ugh... I wish I never found out about that.

 

[CensoredAlso]

As terrible as the Bayformers movies were, at least they weren't Transformers Kiss Players.

Ugh... I wish I never found out about that.

Yeah that was pretty sick. Thankfully it didn't last too long.

 

[mr3urious]

Other than that, if it can at least be better than the European Vacation season, Comin' Out of their Shells, and Next Mutation, I can't complain.

What about the Japanese Turtles OVA?

I'd say it's... okay.

http://turtlepedia.wikia.com/wiki/Mutant_Turtles:_Chōjin_Densetsu_Hen

 

[Drtooth]

The problem with that is it's clearly supposed to be a parody, but it doesn't come off as an obvious one. At least not until you watch it a second time. TMNT is all about parody, even the serious comics parodied Frank Miller's Daredevil comics, so I guess the Japanese producers said "Hey, let's load this thing up with as many obnoxious Shonen anime tropes as possible," short of giving them a big Turtle Mecha. So we have obvious references to Dragon Ball Z Super Sayians in one episode (the one where they turn into Wolverine clones), and a mystical armor Saint Seiya parody in the second one. The humor is very Japanese and impossible to translate. It was made specifically for Japan, and it seems that it would play there. It's not terrible, but it's so tongue in cheek, it's hard to tell if it's serious about all the anime tropes.

Plus, I dig the Shredder redesign. Wish they used it here somehow. We apparently got the toys, but they're VERY rare. They just shoved them into the usual line up of crazy turtle variants.

Yeah, the first TMNT series was a minor success in Japan, but they didn't really get much into the second series and ended after the Tournament arc. I'd say the problem was the show was kinda like the stuff they usually have, and an obvious imitation of it. I mean, they had that Tournament in there...

There was an interesting fact about the 2K3 Japanese dub I'm cloudy about... I think the voice of Donatello was the voice of the original Japanese Horohoro (Trey) from Shaman King... and he was voiced in the American Dub by the guy who played Leonardo. I have to double check that, though...

 

[Scooterforever]

I agree that Jane Levy would make a great April, saw the new Evil Dead and loved it. As I mentioned before in this thread, it would be too cool for words if Chris Evans played Casey Jones in the new film, if he's not too busy with the Marvel movie projects. I feel like the film isn't entirely doomed if Bay is just the producer, and if he had any sense (he doesn't), he'd let the writers and director have free range without getting in the way. Unfortunately, the casting of Megan Fox and the Seinfeld guy show Bay is taking an active role in the filmmaking decisions. He HAS to know the majority of TMNT fans passionately hate him by now and shudder at every new tidbit about the film.

 

[Drtooth]

Like I always say, the guy's a troll. He's purposely casting actors that the fan base will hate.

 

[Scooterforever]

Yes, at this point it seems like he just enjoys torturing nerds.

On another topic, is the new TMNT show any good? I haven't watched it yet; I just don't think it could be better than the 2K3 series, which I believe had a good balance between the humor of the 80's toon and the grittiness of the original comic. Also, Donatello's David Letterman gaptooth is just dumb looking.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Like I always say, the guy's a troll. He's purposely casting actors that the fan base will hate.

It's like how even though they knew everyone hated Jar Jar Binks, they stubbornly kept him in the other prequels anyway (though briefly). Sometimes these creator types don't want to admit they screwed up, ever.

 

[Drtooth]

On another topic, is the new TMNT show any good? I haven't watched it yet; I just don't think it could be better than the 2K3 series, which I believe had a good balance between the humor of the 80's toon and the grittiness of the original comic. Also, Donatello's David Letterman gaptooth is just dumb looking.

Absolutely. It finds a better balance between comedy and action, and it gets surprisingly dark. It has the darkest origin of Leatherhead in any TMNT project. Teenage April wasn't nearly as cloying and ridiculous as anyone thought. And more over, the characters actually act like Teenagers. Leo actually has tremendous character flaws that come with the burden of being chosen leader. It's about as good as 2k3.

It's like how even though they knew everyone hated Jar Jar Binks, they stubbornly kept him in the other prequels anyway (though briefly). Sometimes these creator types don't want to admit they screwed up, ever.

I wouldn't exactly say stubborn. Lessening the character's presence in the second and third movies is an admission of making a mistake. If there's one approach done right, it was taking the character everyone hate, yet was a major character in the first film, and slowly transitioning him out of the franchise. Getting rid of him completely would have incriminated him more, and it would have left to a Chuck Cunningham syndrome and a What happened to the Mouse situation. The real solution would have been to not have had the character in the first place.