New CGI movie

[TigerClaw]

Some new details about the CGI movie.
https://twitter.com/TheCartoonBase/s...73012781867008

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem' will release on August 4, 2023.

The film follows the four turtle brothers who are trained in the art of their adoptive rat sensei, team up with local news reporter April O'Neil who happens to be their long lost pet owner...

[Vicky82]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Some new details about the CGI movie.
https://twitter.com/TheCartoonBase/s...73012781867008

And some people here thought they were going with the mutant human route.

[Galactus]

Poor Chet scrubbed from the franchise.

Seriously though while the turtles being April's childhood pets is one of the less offensive changes to the canon those Bay movies made it's still a strange thing to keep. If they are keeping her as a TV reporter then isn't it enough that she's investigating the Foot Clan? It seems like overkill for her to be so embedded in two important aspects of the turtles lives. While I think this movie could pull this off in a more heartfelt way than the Platinum Dunes movies did do we really want the turtles relationship with April to be the emotional arc of the movie?

It also sounds as if this is another origin movie. Although I suppose people who whine about not wanting another origin do so in the belief that it takes up a time they could devote to other characters and stories but it seems they are including Krang, the Technodrome and a bunch of mutants as well as possibly a sub plot of them becoming humans. Even though I think people are more forgiving of this stuff in animated form but it still looks like a very overstuffed movie.

Honestly the best thing for Nickelodeon to do is make a clean break from those Bay movies not try and salvage stuff from them.

[neatoman]

I might also point out that in the first instance of April being the one to name them, she was part of the research team who was partially responsible for their mutation. Having her just sort of reunite with them by accident is kind of weird. It's like the writers of the 2014 movie and this upcoming one read this comic and liked that idea, but still felt they needed to make April a news reporter because "that's what everyone knows her as". Seriously, in three out of four TV cartoons, she isn't a reporter and wasn't ever intended to be one in the first place. I think you're fine scrapping the reporter angle if the story doesn't call for it.

[Leo656]

It's just so weird to me how vehemently some people hate the idea of April being a reporter, just because Mirage didn't come up with it first.

It was an improvement, make like Elsa and let it go already. If nothing else conclusively proves that "Mirage got a LOT 'wrong' despite being 'the official original source material", pretty much Everything About Mirage April O'Neil sure does. Bland, unmemorable, and the all-time worst "secret origin" ANY comic book supporting cast member EVER had. I just don't see how anyone could be in any way wedded to anything about Mirage April to the point where the stuff other iterations added or changed to make her a much more dynamic character could be seen as negatives rather than improvements.

Like the masks thing, to me it just comes off every time as "Well Mirage was Like This so this other thing is Really Bad and I hate it," even though the only thing to hate about it is, "It's not what Mirage did" and otherwise is either innocuous or an outright improvement, depending on personal mileage. "Being First" doesn't mean "Being Better", after all. 50 years of lousy Superman comics until John Byrne became the first guy in history to figure out how to write the character properly will stand as testament to that.

I'unno. ((Shrug))

[Galactus]

Laird said the multiple pitches over the years had the turtles be created in a lab so the rout the 2014 movie took could have been their natural direction but I wouldn't be suprised if Kevin Eastman slipped Leibesman the first IDW trade and that sealed the deal. Still the IDW comic origin was terrible too.

I can somewhat get on board with the reincarnation angle but the turtles and Splinter aren't just reincarnated spirits of Hamato Yoshi and his four sons from ancient Japan but also experiments to create super soldiers by a corporation that's a front for an alien invasion force that also gave Yoshi and son's killer immortality so he can battle them in the present is like the worst kind of fanboy kewl idea to ever to ever grace the franchise. Add to that the Fred Wolf style insta mutation were they emerge fully developed in seconds you've got something way too stupid for even this franchise. As much as I hate to say it; if the IDW origin was an influence on the movie they actually improved on it.

Thankfully I can't see them going in the direction with the Rogen movie. I'd wager it will be much more simple like a young April replaces the boy that accidentally loses the turtles down a storm drain. That's probably not the worst revision to the origin but it baffles me that Hollywood loves trying to connect everything in these comic book adaptions (Joker kills Thomas and Martha Wayne, Ra's Al Ghul trains Bruce Wayne, Otto Octavius has tea with Peter Parker etc) but sidelines or flat out ignores the already existing connection between the turtles and Shredder in favour of much more convoluted stuff.

I don't think there's many people who have a huge aversion to April being a reporter. I personally can take or leave that aspect of the character but her coming into the turtles world both with investigating the Foot and being involved in their origin is overkill.

[Leo656]

I can almost kinda buy the reincarnation bit a little better now after I did some reading about Buddhism not long ago, but I still think it's a bit much for the more casual/mainstream audience to swallow. And I agree with you that they've kind of gotten a bit too convoluted and/or "convenient" with some of the more recent TMNT origins but everybody wants to reinvent the wheel, it seems.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Leo656

It was an improvement, make like Elsa and let it go already.

But seriously though, why a reporter in this case? If she has to be the character who names the turtles and reunites with them, why not make her part of the research team?

Like it or not but trying to make her a reporter in everything isn't really called for. It's just a nostalgia grab, even if we accept that it improved her (which I don't), it's not the only way of doing so.

[CyberCubed]

Well at least the Turtles aren't humans.

But the Don design is still terrible.

[AquaParade]

I hope they don’t drop Splinter’s backstory. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if they keep any of that in tact.

My worry is that they are going to skirt all the ninja elements and just lean into them having some destiny to save the world from aliens or such nonsense. Oh, and April too - she is the “key” or whatever.

On the other hand, if we see a trailer and actually get to see the turtles fighting ninja in a dark New York alley, I’m going to start getting excited.

I don’t love the 2007 movie, but another attempt at that type of tone wouldn’t bother me at all. It got a lot right.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by neatoman

But seriously though, why a reporter in this case?

If for no other reason, the fact that it's what 99% of the audience expects is plenty of reason enough, no other reasons even need to be presented.

It's like how Clark Kent is still generally a newspaper reporter even though newspapers are dead. In some modern iterations they tinker with making him an "internet journalist" (impossible, as Clark Kent knows proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation) but the general audience rejects that because "everybody knows" Clark is a newspaper reporter. Even in the 1970s they tried to "update" the character by making him a TV news anchor since that was more "contemporary" and reasonable than being a newspaper reporter, but even then even though it "made more sense" the audience just didn't want or like it. "He's a newspaper reporter, end of story, doesn't matter if it's no longer practical or makes sense."

April, same thing. She may have been a lab assistant originally and may be other things in other iterations, but "everybody knows" she's a reporter and that simply isn't going to change, so trying to fight it is a lot like trying to punch out the ocean.

[CyberCubed]

Whoever got the idea to give Don glasses needs to be fired. How on earth do we have such an outdated stereotype of the "nerd" wearing glasses in 2022? This is crazy. I can't believe this is a thing.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Leo656

If for no other reason, the fact that it's what 99% of the audience expects is plenty of reason enough, no other reasons even need to be presented.

It's like how Clark Kent is still generally a newspaper reporter even though newspapers are dead. In some modern iterations they tinker with making him an "internet journalist" (impossible, as Clark Kent knows proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation) but the general audience rejects that because "everybody knows" Clark is a newspaper reporter. Even in the 1970s they tried to "update" the character by making him a TV news anchor since that was more "contemporary" and reasonable than being a newspaper reporter, but even then even though it "made more sense" the audience just didn't want or like it. "He's a newspaper reporter, end of story, doesn't matter if it's no longer practical or makes sense."

April, same thing. She may have been a lab assistant originally and may be other things in other iterations, but "everybody knows" she's a reporter and that simply isn't going to change, so trying to fight it is a lot like trying to punch out the ocean.

I would say it's less like trying to punch out the ocean and more like the Netherlands damming it up. Difficult but hardly impossible, I mean it's not like kids who grew up between 2003 and 2020 really had a reason to think of her as one, "everyone" in this case are mostly people in their 40's and possibly 50's by now.

But sure but that's kind of the problem I have with it here. It's one of those "universally accepted" notions that is far less "universally accepted" that one might think. Ask people in 1988 and "everyone knew" Batman was the guy who ran around trying to dispose of a giant cartoon bomb over his head. It's not like public perception is bound to last forever.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by neatoman

I would say it's less like trying to punch out the ocean and more like the Netherlands damming it up. Difficult but hardly impossible, I mean it's not like kids who grew up between 2003 and 2020 really had a reason to think of her as one, "everyone" in this case are mostly people in their 40's and possibly 50's by now.

In other words... "The only people who genuinely give a sh*t about Ninja Turtles"? Yeah, that's kind of my point, thanks for reinforcing it.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Leo656

In other words... "The only people who genuinely give a sh*t about Ninja Turtles"? Yeah, that's kind of my point, thanks for reinforcing it.

So they're effectively making a kids' movie for people in their 40's and 50's?

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by neatoman

So they're effectively making a kids' movie for people in their 40's and 50's?

Yesssssss.

I hate to be the one to break it to ya, but if you haven't already noticed, TMNT fans may be physically 40-something but emotionally and mentally they're still very much young children. What're you, new?

Plus Viacom do probably once again think/hope they're gonna get a bunch of New Kids to become TMNT fans with this thing, whatever it turns out to be... but it didn't work in 2003, 2007, 2012, 2014, 2016, or 2017 so they're pretty stupid if they think it's gonna work this time, either. BUT, "You miss 100% of the swings you don't take" and all that. I get it, but when the dust settles they're once again going to have to face the fact that it's not actually a "kids' property", it's a "People Who Were Kids in 1989" property. They still haven't grasped it yet because they're either ignorant or in deep denial, but one would hope that the countless failed attempts to make children care about Ninja Turtles after 1993 would eventually sink in.

Nobody under 40 years old cares about TMNT, but the people with the money simply need to have that lesson reinforced, and that's why we get projects like this. One day they might finally learn but not until we're all dead, probably. Like if they do a TMNT movie in like 2075 and ten people show up, that'll probably clinch it. "Wow, I guess the entire fanbase really WAS just that one group of '80s kids the whole time. And here we thought this thing was 'evergreen'. Haha, whoops!"

[Powder]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

Some new details about the CGI movie.
https://twitter.com/TheCartoonBase/s...73012781867008

This information isn't true. They got it from the "idea wiki".

On an unrelated note, I've seen some concept art for splinter, he's got brown fur, a red robe like the '87 toon, & a chunk of his left ear is missing, like the 90's film trilogy. Pretty conventional design.

[Leo656]

After the past decade of misfires that used "shaking things up" as the blueprint, "conventional" would be a huge step in the right direction right about now.

Regardless: Still Rogen, Still Promises To Be Awful.

[AquaParade]

Originally Posted by Powder

This information isn't true. They got it from the "idea wiki".

On an unrelated note, I've seen some concept art for splinter, he's got brown fur, a red robe like the '87 toon, & a chunk of his left ear is missing, like the 90's film trilogy. Pretty conventional design.

I'm getting flashbacks to when you sketched out the Platinum Dunes Mikey design for us, based on a description, I believe. It was insanely accurate, if I remember correctly, and actually had me excited at the time.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Whoever got the idea to give Don glasses needs to be fired. How on earth do we have such an outdated stereotype of the "nerd" wearing glasses in 2022? This is crazy. I can't believe this is a thing.

Yeah, agreed. And what are the odds, the one Turtle that's "the nerd" is the one that ends up with myopia? How?

It's honestly just as if not even more insulting as putting the damn letters on the belts.