Steve Barron’s 2001 TMNT Mini-series Maquettes!

[d_osborn]

According to Propstore of London, these two maquettes just listed for auction are from the production of the unproduced early-00’s two-night, four hour TMNT miniseries. I’ve had a duplicate of the Donnie maquette in my collection for several months. I had thought (hoped?) they were early designs for the 1990 film. If not 1990, I think the unproduced Barron project is the next coolest option, haha.




Could these be what Peter Laird was posting about on his Planet Racers blog back in the day? The designs don’t really match the look of Brendan McCarthy’s concept art (accessories, clothes, etc.). Still, the maquettes are gorgeous. Could the Henson Company have been involved? It definitely has the look. Who is the father, Maury?

TAIL!



I asked Laird about the maquettes on an old Ask PL thread. “Sculpted and painted in England during the initial phases of the project.”



It’s hard to imagine these designs as 00-era cable-budget CGI characters. Propstore claims in the auction that practical suits were planned prior to the CGI characters. Laird mentioned a live action Splinter puppet test.

"Plans call for a two-night, four-hour program that uses live actors, but casts the Turtles themselves as CGI. -Press Release, 2001”

“The Ninja Turtles miniseries that Hallmark and I are developing will be a darker, more streetwise view of the characters. Taking its tone from the original comics, it will be an atmospheric and spectacular reinvention of the franchise using today’s CGI technology to leap into the 21st century. -Steve Barron, 2001”

More images...
https://www.icollector.com/TEENAGE-M...ette_i34305871
https://www.icollector.com/TEENAGE-M...ette_i34305872

[TommyT]

That's very interesting. I'm always curious to know what sorts of things collectors have stashed away that the public has never seen.

These are fascinating, but I can't see this looking very good in 00's era tv CGI.

do you also have images of the Splinter?

[d_osborn]

Originally Posted by TommyT

do you also have images of the Splinter?

The Donnie and Leo maquettes are all that Propstore listed. Laird mentioned a Shredder maquette in one of his blog posts. I'm sure there was a Splinter maquette if they had already progressed to costume tests.

[TommyT]

Do you collect just the statues, or other stuff too?

[Candy Kappa]

That is wild seeing these, very cool. Seeing a tail on the maquettes is amazing, Leo's mouth reminds me a little bit of the concept art we've seen before

[AquaParade]

Very interesting! One of the coolest TMNT discoveries in recent times, if true. I've always wanted to learn more about this series. Did Brendan McCarthy work on this series? I could never believe they actually got him to work on the concept art for the Steve Baron film(s). Such a great team they had back then. If they had let them loose a bit and let the Steve Baron sequels continue, I wonder if the franchise might be in a very different place today.

[Leonardo87]

Oh man; these are BEAUTIFUL! Now I want to see that mini series lol. All these years it was concept art but I never thought these actually existed.

[IndigoErth]

That's a shame something like that was planned and fell through. Cool maquettes though, and the 90s film inspiration is definitely pretty clear.

[Sumac]

Very beautiful things.

[Galactus]

Those look great. Leo's face in particular looks like the 1990 version with more texture.

Donny sadly gets the short shift in the face department.

[CyberCubed]

This look sooooooo coooool!!!!!!11111!!1

[d_osborn]

Thanks gang! Just to be clear, the images above are from the current Propstore auction. My Donnie maquette is pictured below. Pay no mind to unpainted Slimer in the coffee mug.

Do you collect just the statues, or other stuff too?

My collection focuses on the entire range of the filmmaking process-- creative, technical, boring day-to-day, a little bit of everything, to be honest. I've been dying to do a blog for years. I need to get back on that.

Those look great. Leo's face in particular looks like the 1990 version with more texture.

Donny sadly gets the short shift in the face department.

Oh, I couldn't disagree more! I love the wild eyes that Donnie has in the maquette. The detail is really insane.

Did Brendan McCarthy work on this series? I could never believe they actually got him to work on the concept art for the Steve Baron film(s). Such a great team they had back then.

You aren't kidding. For being such a green director (heh), Barron really surrounded himself with top notch talent. McCarthy worked on both Barron TMNT projects, 1990 and 2001. He illustrated a majority of the shooting storyboards on 1990. The only art to surface from 2001 is conceptual, no storyboards. McCarthy was also writing and designing Mad Max: Fury Road around the same time, although it wasn't produced until much later.

[IndigoErth]

Wow, that is impressive size even, nice piece!

edit: Only scanned over it before (my bad) and only now just caught that Hallmark was involved? I find that a pretty interesting pairing...

Although kinda awesome since I've worked for them for over a year now; albeit not the channel part. Now I want this to come back and have some kind of related employee promotional thingy. lol

[xChri5x]

Looks like the shells were modified to allow them to sit better.

[Donnie]

These are AWESOME! Thanks so much for sharing. They are both so cool. What a shame that this production never saw the light of day. Interesting how the bandannas are tied in a short stub, and I'm definitely a fan of the tail.

[pferreira]

Thanks for sharing.

[d_osborn]

You're very welcome! Hopefully more to come.

[The Deadman]

[AquaParade]

Man, sometimes it's fun to dream about which cancelled film/television projects you would bring back if you could.

If I had a list of three, this would definitely be on it. I love Steve Baron's sensibilities for TMNT.
I love the grungy aesthetic and the reverence for the source material that he brings. I think he would have taken things in an even more dramatic and serious tone than he was allowed to in the first film, given this opportunity.

I can't help but wonder if they tried to get artist/concept artist, Brendan McCarthy, aboard this project. He helped out on the first film, and the would-be Steve Baron sequel, and, in my estimation, was a significant part of the team.

Oh, and in case you're wondering (you're not), the other two cancelled projects I'd resurrect, Tom Waltz-style, would be


1. Darren Aronofsky's Wolverine film

2. James Cameron's Spider-Man film (overall, I'm glad we got Raimi's Spider-Man 2, above all else, but I loved the take Cameron's team was going for. You can read the script online (it even has official concept art/storyboards to go along with it!)

[d_osborn]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

Man, sometimes it's fun to dream about which cancelled film/television projects you would bring back if you could.

Aronofsky's Batman sounded really interesting.