Where Did Utroms/Krang Come From?

[PizzaPower1985]

A quick Google search led me down a rabbit hole and got me thinkin' (OH GOD, NOT AGAIN) about the inspiration for the Utroms in Mirage and later, Krang in the '87 cartoon show.

Science fiction is littered with disembodied evil or malicious brains and alien brains but was there a single inspiration for Eastman and Laird to create the Utroms? Is that specifically where David Wise got the idea for Krang from? Do any of you know the direct inspiration for Utroms/Krang?

According to Google, Brain From The Planet Arous, a 1957, sci-fi B-movie is the world's most famous evil brain movie.

Any thoughts/ideas?

[frank_one]

Could their exoskeleton be inspired by the T-800 from The Terminator? They first appeared in 1985, a year after the movie was released.

[neatoman]

The only official word on the Exo-Skeleton I can find is from Eastman, and all he says is that Laird designed it. Interestingly enough, the Utroms didn't have a proper name at their introduction nor was one thought of, they were just called TCRI aliens by Eastman and Laird internally. As far as I can tell, the introduction of Leatherhead contains the first mention of the name Utroms, so I guess it's possible that the name comes from Ryan Brown? I'm going to root around a bit to see if there's something more, because the annotations in the UC kept comparing that whole TCRI/Triceraton arc to MacGuyver and Star Wars, which I don't think have something like the Utroms. Maybe there's an episode of MacGuyver where he fights aliens, I never watched it.

Speculative inspirations... That could be quite a long list:

• The Martians in War of the Worlds
• The Terminator
• The Brain from Doom Patrol
• M.O.D.O.K.
• Arnim Zola
• The Daleks
• The Cybermen
• Kree Supreme Intelligence
• The Cylons

Etc. Disembodied brains, alien robots, tentacle monsters and the mixing and matching of these ideas are surprisingly common.

I know David Wise claimed his idea for Krang came from a sci-fi horror movie when Michelle Ivey interviewed him, of course he only brings up the Utroms when she points out they were a thing in the comics, which makes me think he was lying about how Krang ended up in the show (like so much else). If I'm allowed to speculate, I'd say Krang was probably created within Playmates because they thought a toy representing a singular character would sell better. And since they didn't have a name "Krang" might have been a name considered for the Utroms at some point. It's also possible that the name is in reference to the Marvel character Krang.

[neatoman]

I'm looking through Peter Laird's AMAs. Here's what he has to say in relation to Krang and the Utroms:

I think that somewhere in some issue of TMNT it was mentioned in passing that the "ooze" was a waste product produced during the construction of the Utroms' transmat. I don't think we ever got any more specific than that, probably because we didn't want to pin ourselves down.

...

... I guess I found it pretty boring when the first animated series focused so much on the Shredder and Krang as the main villains -- I preferred the more balanced approach of the 2K3 series.

...

((How the Exo-suit works))

That's one of those incidental details that we never really talked about? and in all honesty, I never gave it a lot of thought, beyond the basics -- that this technology was so advanced, they could very well have been controlling the exoskeletons with their minds through some highly sophisticated brain/machine interface, possibly via surfaces within the "stomach" cavity of the exoskeleton which would press against them and make the link.

I suppose there could be some other functions -- or maybe "backup" functions -- which could be controlled physically by the Utroms through use of their tentacles. -- PL

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((on the subject of Utroms never being mentioned in the FW cartoon despite Krang's design))

I don't really remember the exact reason, but I suspect it was because those making that show wanted to have something that didn't require much thought to understand, and incorporating the Utrom backstory must have been seen as too complicated. -- PL

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The Fugitoid didn't feel any great need to hide while he was with the Utroms, as (a) he was safe with them, and (b) his outward form is that of a common worker 'droid, the SAL-9000 if I recall rightly. So just looking like a common robot is not going to make him a target for the Triceratons and Federats, even if they knew where to look. -- PL

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((Asked if he created Krang))

Kevin and I created, for the original comics, the alien Utroms, the basic look of which was appropriated for the character of Krang by the people who worked on the first TV show. Beyond that, I am happy to say that as far as I can remember, I had nothing to do with Krang.

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That's actually quite a clever idea, except for one thing (from my point of view, anyway) -- I never saw the Utroms' skinsuits as being, literally, skin (i.e. some kind of organic, living tissue). I always saw them as made of some kind of artificial substance, perhaps some polymer-based thing, which they could easily replicate in molds.

In point of fact, it was true that the Mirage ooze was a waste byproduct created during the building of the Utroms' transmat device? though we never went further than that in terms of saying exactly WHAT kind of waste it was.

...

I think it was because I saw the Utroms as simply good, decent creatures, with their own personal quirks, of course, but not at all as creepy/scary as their appearance might suggest. I never got to the point -- except for the work I did with Lloyd Goldfine and the other writers on the 4Kids show -- of trying to imagine a truly evil Utrom. It just never seemed necessary. -- PL

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I've only watched the first season of the Nick show, and I just don't feel that the "Kraang" are Utroms. For one thing, they're too annoying. Some physical similarities aside, they really seem like much different characters.

As for what IDW is doing with them, I find it difficult to comment, having not followed the IDW TMNT stuff beyond the first issue. But if you want a general observation, I find it a little disappointing, as one of the reasons we made the Utroms "good guys" (if you want to call them that) in the Mirage books was that we were playing against stereotypes. I always found that appealing. -- PL

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I think there was input from several sources on the creation/development of the character of "Krang". The basic look of the character -- a brain-like, tentacled alien about the size of a basketball -- is incontrovertibly drawn directly from the visual appearance of the alien Utroms in the early issues of the TMNT comic book, as is the notion that these brain-like aliens were carried in the "stomach" cavities of humanoid robot bodies.

The drawings in the link you sent were rough designs drawn by me in 1987, quite possibly while the final look of "Krang" in his robot body was being discussed, or perhaps they were done to try to convince Playmates and MWS to change the silly look they'd gone with. I don't really remember. It's interesting to see the handwritten note about the "exhaust vents" on Krang's robot body's shoulders as something the Turtles could crawl into -- obviously a reference to the fact that in the animated series, Krang's robot body was supposed to be able to grow to a huge size -- the only way any of the Turtles could have fit through those vents.

And here's a design of Krang that Laird drew:

[ABrown]

Originally Posted by frank_one

Could their exoskeleton be inspired by the T-800 from The Terminator? They first appeared in 1985, a year after the movie was released.

You know I have often thought of the Terminator as being comparable to the utrom exosuit and bio tissue.

[Sumac]

Those sketches...OMG.
Final design is kind of goofy, but this bug-eyed robot and 60s bot are just hilarious.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by frank_one

Could their exoskeleton be inspired by the T-800 from The Terminator? They first appeared in 1985, a year after the movie was released.

Cinema premiere: 26 October 1984

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminator

Comic debut: March 1985

https://www.miragelicensing.com/comi...e01/03/03.html

https://www.miragelicensing.com/comi...01/mirage.html

[DarkFell]

One of the characters from Invaders From Mars might have been used as a reference.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Sumac

Those sketches...OMG.
Final design is kind of goofy, but this bug-eyed robot and 60s bot are just hilarious.

Yeah the heads are kinda odd but in general they raise fewer questions than the final design.