If you could make a TMNT 1990 Special Edition
 

In the same vein of how the Star Wars Special Edition came to be, what kind of adjustments would you make?

This means you can add CGI, add deleted scenes, make small audio adjustments, stuff like that.

You want all red bandanas? Go nuts.
Blood? Make it rain.

Just curious what you guys would do, if anything at all.

Off the top of my head...

-Tighten up some lip syncing.
-Add blinking eyes.
-New orchestral score. I love John Du Prez’s score, don’t get me wrong, but I wouldn’t mind hearing something a bit more timeless as an alternative.
-Add blood where appropriate (Leo slices some guys pretty good in the movie)
-Re-add the scene where Shredder fights the foot soldiers.
-Re-add the scene of Mikey unable to cope with Splinters disappearance.
-Add a CG wide shot of the fight on the streets before the rooftop showdown to show the scope of the action.

This one ventures more into a fan-edit than anything but I’d like to keep Shredder completely mute until “Ah, the RAT! So it has a name. …It had a name.” I like the idea of Shredder being this imposing SOB who enters the roman without saying a word everyone goes silent.

Thats… about it, really.

Insert the following scenes.

Casey helping Raph walk around the house after his beatdown.

Casey and April come back from the grocery store.

Extended blindfold fight scene where Leo teaches them how to fight blind folded.

Raph finally learns how to fight blind folded in the barn.

Casey falling down the well.

Raph and Casey extended chase.

Extended apartment fight

Unconscious Raph being escorted to the van.

Extended angry Mikey barn scene.

Donnie upset barn scene.

There might be more so put them all in or have them on the Blu-ray as deleted scenes.

* Digitally make all the bandannas red.
* CGI blinking eyes.
* CGI some better lip movement in places.
* With CGI, digitally construct some actual impact to the weapons fighting. Quick shots of Leonardo slashing down Foot, etc., with digital blood.
* Extended/deleted barn stuff.

That's all that comes to mind, really, in terms of what could be done to it without massively ripping it apart or fundamentally changing it.

Oof, most of these sound awesome. The movie has a great foundation, but really could use some tightening, added scenes, and yes, blood. I probably wouldn't alter the musical score unless I had something really interesting in mind though.

Pull up Leo's plastron.
Seriously, it looks like it's falling down like a bridemaid's strapless dress after the open bar portion of a wedding reception.

I'd add in Shredder fight the Foot, restore Tatsu killing that kid and add Mikey's voice to the barn roof scene.

And Of course "all red feature", same movie but the masks are recolored red.

I don't think redoing the lipsynching and adding eye blinking would add much to the movie. Too good lipsynching can make things look odd and off putting.

And add as much as possible to bonus features, original trailer before the voice actors where in, deleted scenes, interviews and bts videos/photos.

Nothing, leave it as was.

Go nuts? Oook...cgi glasses, shoes, dorags and computers to the turtles bodies. :lol:

Ok seriously. CGI in the technodrome somewhere secretly watching us. Not super obvious but like a UFO hidden in the sky. Like an easter egg in the background and CGI each letter onto the turtles belts.

All deleted scenes, behind the scenes and 'making of' footage.

I don't want to change the movie. Would just like to see a definitive compilation of all the deleted scenes.

I always thought the Turtles fight scene with Shredder on the rooftop should have been a lot longer. Seriously, all it is, is basically the Turtles going against him one by one and getting knocked down. Then one more scene of them all getting knocked off till it cuts to Leo saying, "Where's Splinter?"

The whole "fight" is less than 30 seconds.

We really didn't get to see the Turtles actually fight him much when you think about it.

I thought it was Raph asking Shredder that question. :twink:
Anyways, I would love to see all the deleted unused, including the B camera scenes with both alternate openings. I think there is 2 because I remember Isaac from the Turtle Doc. said there was a sequence of a boy being chased in an alley from bikers and he kicked their butts pretty good. It was Ernie Reyes Jr.

I would love to see the original Barron/Menke edit, before Golden Harvest took over. Nothing changed or manipulated, other than what's required to finish it out.

Yeah, this would be cool to see, too. Reminds me of a really cool screenprint from James Fosdike.
https://i.imgur.com/CKRJJwj.jpg

I wouldn't mind the aforementioned Menke/Barron cut, but what I really want are the deleted scenes, a good documentary, and a commentary. A lot of the suggestions would be great. For a new movie. But unless you're Steve Barron, leave this one alone.

I wouldn't mind adding back the "alternate ending" scene back in as a mid-credits Easter egg. Other than that, the other deleted scenes others have mentioned, and editing Mikey's voice back into the yell on the barn roof. Always thought it was Raph due to lighting until I learned otherwise from here. That's about it.

Wouldn't make any changes at all.
I love it exactly as it is.

Yeah, I've been saying this for years. It's a tag team wrestling match with barely any consequences, then Splinter takes him out cheaply.

Yes, I made a topic years ago about this very thing. The final battle is awful imo.

Why didn't we get an awesome turtles vs Shredder fight? Instead he flicks them away only to be taken out by a silly sidestep from Splinter. It makes 0 sense that they took him on one at a time...there's 4 of you!

To think it was written that way and multiple people agreed it made sense.

I'm sorry but I've never liked the ending. Soto's is even worse the way Super Shredder died.

I never really thought about it but yeah, the end fight could have been expanded and improved upon.

Though maybe its just me but I always loved his fighting style in that fight. He barely moves. And when he does, it's with purpose.

haven't seen the movie in a while.

during the end fight Leonardo lunges at Shredder with both katanas straight out.
Shredder side-steps him and whacks him over the back.

i'd cut that right out!


remove April being a reporter.


wonder if it's be possible to edit Danny out of the movie?

It always bothered me that the Turtles didn't have cockney accents. Let's just add that in as well...

i'd prefer they all talk like the actors who've portrayed James Bond.


which Turtle gets Sean Connery?

The Sexiest one, of course.

HA! what was i thinking?? :lol:

I've hated that part ever since I was a little kid. Not only was it totally foolish on Leo's part, but Shredder had him dead to rights for an easy killing blow, but he just kicked him to the side.

that part makes me cringe every time!
when they were choreographing that fight, who thought that would've been a good idea?

Hmm... it would be possible, though it might introduce some logic issues in the plot. It would probably cut the running time in half, too.

yeah, guess it might just be easier to add a CG Danny to fall into the trash compactor right after Shredder.

It'd be great to have a remastered 4K/Blu-ray release with an original and director's cut version.

The main thing I'd like would be a proper directors cut with the deleted/extended scenes added back in.

Other than that just a few CGI touch ups I guess. Blinks, tighten the lip sync, nothing that major really. Whilst I'd love to extend the final battle it would have to be all CGI, probably new voice actors trying to mimic the originals (just for grunts and groans but still required), new/extended score for the sequence. That just seems more of a major change and I think I'd prefer to leave the movie as originally envisioned.

Have you ever heard the term "catalog title?" It's typically home video releases that aren't considered priorities due to no longer being in the limelight and therefore don't usually get the best of releases. This includes movies that were once considered blockbusters.

TMNT '90 is what would be considered a catalog title these days. If I had to guess, if this film got another Blu Ray release (that wasn't simply a repackaging), it would be done through the Warner Archives Collection. They seem to be busting out more titles now, including Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and a new release for Superman: The Movie. However, they don't seem to do a whole lot with special features.

The best chance for special features is if these films were licensed to Shout Factory. However, Warner doesn't seem to license their films to anybody.

Even so, it wouldn't have CG. That's too costly for a release such as this, which is for the best in my opinion.

Funny enough, Warner Archives just announced the three-hour cut of Superman! Even if WB wanted to, I'm not sure if they would have access to the negatives to do a complete restoration on the unused material. I'm guessing the original film elements are in Hong Kong, with whatever company acquired Golden Harvest.

The 'Burbs had a FANTASTIC release by a UK distributor a few years ago, which included a workprint sourced from a VHS tape. A similar release would probably be the most realistic way for the Barron/Menke edit to ever see the light of day.

http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/the-burbs/

If the elements are at Golden Harvest then the chances of them surfacing may not be great. I keep hearing stuff like that in relation to Jackie Chan movies. Apparently he used to overshoot his movies like crazy, and so there are probably cans and cans of outtakes in Golden Harvest’s vault, but for “financial and political reasons” nobody is allowed to look for them.

plus that's more George Lucas territory. only he could have gotten away with that sort of stunt and still had it sell.

heck! i'd imagine they could re-release the original Star Wars trilogy adding CG funny-nose and glasses on all the characters and it'd probably sell.

let's just hope Disney doesn't get any bright ideas.

YIKES!!!

Entirely? Nope. Too many plot holes (why would Casey wake up and go to the Foot HQ, for example)

You could cut out most of his scenes, though it'd be at the expense of learning Shredder's origin when he talks to Shredder.

It usually ends doing more worse than good. The new elements stand out like a pink elephant against a black wall. This is particularly true to what has been done to Star Wars multiple times from 1997 to 2011.

The only example I can think of that was actually pretty good was Blade Runner: The Final Cut, where it was used in moderation to make a few minor changes, like changing the sky in one scene and replacing a stunt double's face. The success of that cut wasn't the new F/X, but the improved pacing and restoration in general.

The only other decent example is a few new elements that were added to The Phantom Menace, and that's grabbing for straws. The changes didn't improve the movie, they just didn't make it any worse. And the only reason they fit is because the movie already uses CG.

Phantasm has a small amount of CG added, mostly replacing the flying silver sphere. But even that was weird.

I think if any CG were to utilized on the film, it should be to fix minor goofs, like I believe there's a shot where you can see the actor's face through Donatello's mouth.

Wouldn't feel the need to change anything but...

This I wouldn't mind. :)

I really don't like the Final Cut. I don't like the colour grading and the end credits music is messed up. Director's Cut all the way.

It's the 80s TV edit although maybe slightly longer. I have a copy of that, just downloaded it from a Superman fansite that they put together.

Yep, rented Arrow's release out from LoveFilm. Not missing much, the theatrical cut is better in terms of pacing and what happens, the ending is better.

I wouldn't need to make a special edition, I think the 1990 film is special how it its :)

I wouldn't EDIT the actual film in any way except to maybe add the supposed deleted scenes with Mikey in the barn etc and to darken or erase those areas where the turtle actor's faces are visible. I would add the nonexistent 2 hour documentary on the making of the film that needs to happen, the Steve Barron commentary on the German release and probably just a trailer and actor bios. Maybe include a few key issues of Mirage on a second disc that directly inspired or made it into the film.

That's generally true of most workprints/assembly cuts. They're rough, unrefined, and more importantly, unfinished. If you're a cinephile and are interested in editing, they can be fun and interesting. A workprint for Beetlejuice floated around a few years and it had a few different scenes, including an alternate scene that was eventually replaced with the sandworm's introduction, which strangely appeared later in the cut, when the characters are hanging out the window.