A pitch perfect Issue 1 adaptation on the big screen.

[Slap-Happy]

Originally Posted by Powder

It'd be a treat as an animated DTV feature, but otherwise I want something of a broader scale. Let's do Triceratons, Battle Nexus, things like that. Otherworldly enemies, dimension hopping, space, Utroms, stuff that rings true to Mirage but caters to the Marvel normie-geek crowd without having to pander to Fred Wolf nostalgia.

Ehhh, I'm not so sure about that. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the TMNT movies work best when The Turtles themselves are pretty much the most out there thing about their universe. At least it seems to work that way in a broader, more wide-reaching scale. I wonder if a Battle Nexus movie can really be pulled off when the rest of the world just knows them as characters that never leave New York.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by Slap-Happy

Ehhh, I'm not so sure about that. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the TMNT movies work best when The Turtles themselves are pretty much the most out there thing about their universe. At least it seems to work that way in a broader, more wide-reaching scale. I wonder if a Battle Nexus movie can really be pulled off when the rest of the world just knows them as characters that never leave New York.

I also feel that when making Full on Mirage Adaptations, that it would be necessary to lay a solid foundation with Issue 1 first before moving on to other stories like the Mousers, Fugitoid/Triceratons and City at War etc. (If the movie is popular enough to warrant a sequel). Otherwise it would feel out of place IMO.

[Slap-Happy]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

I also feel that when making Full on Mirage Adaptations, that it would be necessary to lay a solid foundation with Issue 1 first before moving on to other stories like the Mousers, Fugitoid/Triceratons and City at War etc. (If the movie is popular enough to warrant a sequel). Otherwise it would feel out of place IMO.

But that foundation kind of goes right out the window if you're doing stuff like Fugitoid and Triceratons. All that groundwork to make something realistic and gritty turns into these sci-fi multi-dimensional quests.

That kind of thing can work for something like Thor: Ragnarok, because we've become accustomed to the idea that there is a realm with norse gods living in it over the course of three movies, plus the Avengers films.

If the filmmakers want to do stuff with the Turtles in other galaxies or in space, I think it's important to lay the seeds there in the first installment that this universe is way weirder than just mutant turtles. If you start off with just an adaptation of Mirage #1, none of that stuff is there. It was a huge tonal shift back then, and it is today.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

The turtles are special on Earth, so if they go on a space adventure it doesn't make them less special.

[Spike Spiegel]

The initial Triceraton/Fugitoid arc was what kind of cemented me as a fan when I watched 2k3 as a kid and again when I read Mirage in college. I knew them from FW and most of the first season of 2k3 as basically street level heroes, but then forcing them into such a strange situation really helped define the characters and their dynamics.

Even though it was a real slog in terms of gameplay, that was also why I enjoyed the Game Boy Advance Battle Nexus game so much as a kid.

It showed the kinds of outlandish adventures the TMNT can have in comparison to other groups of characters. To see a live action/animated adaptation that is true to that original spirit but also leads just as seamlessly into that arc would be very cool.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

The idea of talking turtles and rats from Earth is actually more fantastic than the idea of life even on other planets than Earth.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

The idea of talking turtles and rats from Earth is actually more fantastic than the idea of life even on other planets than Earth.

Or maybe even the idea of Crisler's Law.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Or maybe even the idea of Crisler's Law.

I think he meant it in a more positive sense like "why have aliens/space travel when mutant turtles is already fantastic on its own".

[newhire13]

Originally Posted by Slap-Happy

Ehhh, I'm not so sure about that. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the TMNT movies work best when The Turtles themselves are pretty much the most out there thing about their universe. At least it seems to work that way in a broader, more wide-reaching scale. I wonder if a Battle Nexus movie can really be pulled off when the rest of the world just knows them as characters that never leave New York.

I agree. I suppose some of the alien stuff would be unavoidable if you’re going with the comic book origin of the ooze but, as open as I am to different versions of the story, I do prefer the turtles in NYC, on a rooftop having it out with the Foot Clan.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

I think he meant it in a more positive sense like "why have aliens/space travel when mutant turtles is already fantastic on its own".

I like the idea of extraterrestrials in TMNT. I say the TMNT are fantastic on Earth, not in the entire Universe.

[sdp]

I can see this happening eventually for an anniversary, it would likely be an animated DTV adapting issue 1 stretched out as an hour long movie and call it a day.

[d_osborn]

Originally Posted by sdp

I can see this happening eventually for an anniversary, it would likely be an animated DTV adapting issue 1 stretched out as an hour long movie and call it a day.

Rotoscoped animation like a few of the segments in Heavy Metal.

Real, kick-ass choreographed fight scenes. Gritty 1984 NYC. Black and white. Hell... Duo-Shade and all.

https://youtu.be/B_MzWF8YLhY

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Spike Spiegel

Do you think hardcore Mirage TMNT without any nostalgic FW elements would get enough normies into the average movie theater to make a profit?

If there's an audience for a Michael Bay produced TMNT there's an audience for something more faithful like a Mirage adaptation.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by pferreira

If there's an audience for a Michael Bay produced TMNT there's an audience for something more faithful like a Mirage adaptation.

Yeah, I think just the title "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is going to attract people, regardless of whether it is Mirage or Platinum Dunes.

[Slap-Happy]

Originally Posted by pferreira

If there's an audience for a Michael Bay produced TMNT there's an audience for something more faithful like a Mirage adaptation.

The audience for Mirage TMNT is far more niche than people think.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Slap-Happy

The audience for Mirage TMNT is far more niche than people think.

People: "Not a lot of people know about Mirage!"

Common sense: "No sh**!"

Because guess what will happen to people if/when such a project happens? A lot more people will know about Mirage.

It's a very stupid argument. It'd be like, when they were making the Fred Wolf show, someone saying, "I dunno... this cartoon sounds pretty risky! Not a lot of people know about these Turtles, with the camp and rainbow bandannas and wackiness. People only know about the Mirage comic!" Do you think that's a conversation that happened? Or ever happens?

Make stuff that's not sh**, throw a decent marketing campaign behind it, people will generally check it out.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

As the saying goes, if you never try, you'll never know.

[Redeemer]

Originally Posted by Slap-Happy

The audience for Mirage TMNT is far more niche than people think.

I don't think so, my reasoning is bc TMNT as a franchise mimics batman in many ways. Batman reached a huge audience with the 66' show and "batman and robin" and "batman forever" were geared towards the 66's style and goofy-ness. But the Nolan movies proved that the dark, grittier comic version of batman if done well fan will adore it as much as the 66'

Batman 66'=FW TMNT

My point being is if Batman can over come the labeling of campy/goofy stereotypes for its franchise so can TMNT.

[Slap-Happy]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

It's a very stupid argument. It'd be like, when they were making the Fred Wolf show, someone saying, "I dunno... this cartoon sounds pretty risky! Not a lot of people know about these Turtles, with the camp and rainbow bandannas and wackiness. People only know about the Mirage comic!" Do you think that's a conversation that happened? Or ever happens?

This comparison doesn’t actually work. The situations are different. In making the Fred Wolf show, both the production companies and Playmates knew they were defining these characters to a larger, broader audience. They were creating a product to be consumed by the masses. Let’s not act like the Mirage comics were very popular outside of the niche market of the adult independent comics reader.

I get that Mirage is your bread and butter, but you don’t seem to be looking at it objectively. Look, I could be completely wrong, but the Mirage comics are such a tonal shift from what the general audience has been fed for decades that I wonder if it can really work.

And the Batman comparisons don’t stand very well either. It took Batman nearly 70 years to get something like Batman Begins, and even then it was after years and years of entertainment moving that way. You don’t get Nolan without Burton.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Slap-Happy

You don’t get Nolan without Burton.

Then how did we get Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman movie without anything since the 70s camp show but a failed pilot and a low market animated movie?

Because one thing worked in the decades past in the mass market doesn't mean that is the hard line in sand forevermore for how a thing must always attain success or relevancy.