If You Were To Reboot The Franchise

[Dirty Blond]

What non-canonical changes would you make? Personally, I would put the Turtles in another city. Maybe Los Angeles, but that's my preference since it's my hometown (plus, I get bored with New York being the setting for every comic and TV show).

I know you guys must have some better ideas than me . . .

[zkarlette]

I don't think the Turtles would like to take on south central.:lol:

[Powder]

Well in a sense you're kinda asking what our ideal version of the TMNT would be, right?

If that's the case, I've always wanted something very traditionally Japanese, with no scientific content. Take place in the 1600's or so, feudal Japan. The turtles are sages or gods or guardians of the earth. Born of mystical or supernatural causes, very turtle-like in appearance. Sort of like Souls Winter but not as scary. Moreso spiritual than violent. They'd live in a swamp or something, dress like priests when gathering materials (the kinds of priests who covered their heads & stuff). Be more like Samurai than Ninja. Virtually no human interaction short of doing in bad guys or whatever. Close connection to nature, protecting it as well as the animals within, etc. Perhaps nomads who travel place to place dealing with supernatural activity, sort of like Mushi-shi meets Usagi Yojimbo meets Souls Winter.

[Cowabunga Carl]

I think IDW is going along the lines of what I'd want. I had started a fan fic sometime ago that was going to try and mix all the different universes together. I never got past the prolog though. But my ideal would be to take the best aspects from each universe and make one "Ultimate TMNT" universe much like Marvel's line of comics.

After that I'd have loved to see the Souls Winter universe continue on.

[Zulithe]

I agree NYC is overused in these type of properties, but some characters like TMNT and Spider-Man have such a storied history being in those cities that I can't imagine changing them. Besides... I don't know if any city has a sewer and subway system quite like NYC. Thankfully we are starting to see some characters move out of NYC... for example the X-Men moved to San Francisco, which I think is way more fitting for them as a location.

We are at a pivotal moment in Turtles history, with their biggest reboot to-date just now upon us. I really don't want to think about yet another reboot at this point... maybe after I've seen most of season 1 I'll have an opinion on it.

[Method101]

Hard to imagine the Turtles being in any other city other than NYC, esp with Pizza being such a tie in with the franchise, and no, California Pizza Kitchen will not do lol

[Zulithe]

The turtles want gummi-worms on their pizza, not avocado

[Icegaze]

Well, my personal reboot would basically mean taking some aspects of all the TMNT versions I adore (understand 1987, 2k3, 2007, Mirage and IDW) and making them into a coherent ensemble.

(Incoming spoilers for those how are yet to read the IDW comics)


Here's my take on the origin of the "turtles" (not tortoises): I like that IDW actually drew them as (sea) turtles. unlike every other version of the franchise. Furthermore, I like the mythos/fundamentals of the origin story in IDW more than any other version out there except from the reincarnation bit which I don't care much for (not that it distracts me from liking the IDW issues for what they are).

So the story would take place in New York in 2020. The turtles and Splinter would be scientific experiments of Stockgen labs.

However, one fateful night, the Foot clan tried to steal a powerful mutagen canister and the 5 (already) genetically altered animals but their plans were thwarted by Hamato Yoshi, a high ranking Foot ninja (jonin) who had a change of heart and disagreed with the evil plans of the clan head, Oroku Saki (same world domination goal like in the IDW comics). Hamato, with the canister, rodent and terrapins, escaped with the aid of intern April O'neil, who happened to be the caretaker of the 5 animals.

Splinter and the turtles were named and adopted by Hamato who betrayed and was forced to hide from the Foot clan in the sewers of New York city. But eventually, Hamato was slain by the Foot. In the process of fighting, the canister was broken and Splinter and the 4 turtles were covered in the ooze that came out from it. Splinter, still a normal sized rat (but a highly intelligent one due to the experiments on him), fled with his companions. A few moments later, the mutagen transformed all 5 of them.
Enter: Icegaze's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (origins). lol

[Drose18]

Season 1 of 2k3 except shredder is human and dies. In season 2 there is a new villain that i am yet to think of. Season 3 kraangs invade nyc and triceratons invade nyc don turns monster and mikey gets shot by the season 2 villain and he runs away from home trieng to find his purpose in life. Season 4 starts sorta like the image 1 except its splinters birhtday. Mousers break in instead of robot things also in this season the kraangs make shredder a cyborg that looks sorta like cyber shredder and revealing they were working for him before they arrived on earth, mikey returns. Season 5 has a little twist in that the kraang revolt on the shreddder and he kills them all The city at war arc takes place except the turtles tell karai later on that he is alive, also the season 2 villainn returns to plot his revenge onn the turtles and builds a spaceship called the technodrome. season 6 the turtles find the tcri building with utroms.

[ZariusTwo]

I'm working on a TMNT Fanfilm script right now (complete with s*itty concept art), so I'm sort of knee-deep in a "reimagining"

Really, I wouldnt change too many things, just a few cosmetic tweeks, lessen the Turtles mystery a bit, yet keep certain member of the group (like, say, Leo) constantly on edge over his brothers overexposing themselves so there is some kind of drama. I'd also tie Hamato Yoshi in with TCRI, possibly Saki also (inspired a tad by Ch'rell's conflict with them in the 4Kids show), so things flow in less "coicidental" ways.

Pair one of the Turtles up with a human too.

[Icegaze]

Pair one of the Turtles up with a human too.

That's one realm I don't like meddling with. :S
Not fond of human x (humanoid) animals or human x alien (unless they look like humans but with larger/smaller physical attributes, ala Star Trek people with long pointy ears).

So what do you think of my "origins" retake?


Edit:

Some trivia about the main cast in my reboot:


• Leonardo:
 Likes: books about bushido code and martial arts, training/sparring
 Dislikes: noise, dishonorable acts

• Raphael:
 Likes: hanging out with Casey and running night vigils, weightlifting
 Dislikes: being told what to do

• Donatello:
 Likes: mechanical engineering, information technology
 Dislikes: unfounded facts being considered as truth

• Michelangelo:
 Likes: pizza, comic books, playing video games, skateboarding, heck - having fun
 Dislikes: not having fun, arguments/verbal fights

• Splinter:
 Likes: meditating, drinking tea
 Dislikes: unjustified/mindless violence

• Casey Jones:
 25 years old, unemployed
 Likes: hockey, baseball, running night vigils with Raph
 Dislikes: gang members, street crime

• April O’neil:
 22 years old, StockGen intern
 Likes: biology, self-defense training, action/spy films
 Dislikes: ninja, anything that has dirt

[oldmanwinters]

I'm really not sure what I'd do with the Turtles and Splinter. I don't think there's too much reason to reinvent the wheel. I'd probably keep the tone close to the Fred Wolf/Archie verse, but as I've written before (http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?p=990317#post990317) in another thread, I'd definitely reinvent April as a spy character who does reconnaissance work for the TMNT. I might even make her allegiance a little morally ambiguous with unclear motives as to who she's really working for. Ultimately, she'd still be a good friend of the turtles, but she wouldn't be above serving her own personal and professional interests from time to time.

And I think it would be fun to reimagine her old obsession of "Getting a story for Burne" with a new obsession to please her benefactors... whoever they might be.

[KROW]

That's one realm I don't like meddling with. :S
Not fond of human x (humanoid) animals or human x alien (unless they look like humans but with larger/smaller physical attributes, ala Star Trek people with long pointy ears).

I think he's talking more of a Raph/Casey team up.

[ZariusTwo]

I think he's talking more of a Raph/Casey team up.

...Sure.

...That's totally what I meant.

Nothing to see here folks.

[CyberCubed]

Between the 4kids series, IDW comics, and Nick cartoon, we already have 3 reboots that did pretty much a lot of what we wanted.

I love the idea of mixing Mirage with original cartoon characters, but the IDW comics and Nick cartoon are already doing that.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

What non-canonical changes would you make? Personally, I would put the Turtles in another city. Maybe Los Angeles, but that's my preference since it's my hometown (plus, I get bored with New York being the setting for every comic and TV show).

I know you guys must have some better ideas than me . . .

If TMNT was sent somewhere between 1920-1970, Chicago would be an ideal place of setting, because of gangsters.

[pannoni1]

If TMNT was sent somewhere between 1920-1970, Chicago would be an ideal place of setting, because of gangsters.

I'd have the Turtles start in Miami to reboot the franchise, since lots of Turtles live in that area and Miami has lots of gangs. It would still be a lighthearted show given the setting, though the moments of violence would give the series a wild ride. I would also make Leatherhead and a mutant shark the Turtles' first main villains. The move to New York would happen with the Season 1 finale, where we introduce ourselves to the Shredder. I would also bring back 2D animation since there are lots of people who miss that even after watching lots of 3D. I'd give each Turtle a separate favorite food to add some variety: Leonardo's are cold cuts just like real turtles, Michelangelo's is still pizza, Raphael's is mexican food, and Donatello's is pasta. I'd also have Shredder attack and battle in the Turtles' lair near the end of Season 2. But what would make this series most shocking is that a fifth Turtle is needed because I would make Shredder demutate one of the Turtles around the beginning of Season 3 and use DNA experiments on it throughout the Season, creating new mutants and even a clone of that captured Turtle. This would lead up to a season finale where all Turtles except the fifth unnamed one, who becomes the hero along with April's scientific skills to steal Shredder's forumla and punish him into Dimension X, and Utroms/Kraang would be introduced. Season 4 would start the Technodrome phase of the show, bringing in Lord Krang and having lots of characteristics of the OT, though the Turtles still use their weapons quite a bit. Season 5 would make the Turtles spend the season in Dimension X since the resources on Earth would not be enough to stop attacks for Krang and Shredder. Triceratons/the Federation/the Fugitoid would also be involved, since later in a series is when Sci-Fi becomes more reasonable according to a Nick employee who is working on their series. This will all lead up to Season 6, in which the entire universe becomes a "Forever War", where forces of good and evil collide, with the ultimate goal of punishing the good into a black hole, leaving only the evil, lead by Shredder and Krang to conquer the universe. Many galaxies would be explored, and gives this series almost a Star Trek quality at this point. The series finale would be a five-parter where the forces of evil join and start to attack life on other planets in one dimension, and continues to grow until all that's left are the Turtles and Splinter, in which Donatello tries to develop an interdimensional defense system to defeat the bad guys. The Turtles take out one foe after another, until it comes down to a final battle in the Technodrome, where Splinter and Leonardo triumph and causes Shredder to demutate into a spec of dust and the Turtles escape just in time before Dimension X gets swallowed into a black hole.

Currently, the reboot market is getting saturated so let's enjoy what IDW and Nick and perhaps the new movies have to offer.

[Vivi]

Honestly, there is not a lot I would change from the general movies/mirage/2k3 gist. I think a good ongoing story would be if they were separated in their teens and spend the following years looking for each other. Although the human to rat mutation always made more sense to me.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I'd have the Turtles start in Miami to reboot the franchise, since lots of Turtles live in that area and Miami has lots of gangs. It would still be a lighthearted show given the setting, though the moments of violence would give the series a wild ride. I would also make Leatherhead and a mutant shark the Turtles' first main villains. The move to New York would happen with the Season 1 finale, where we introduce ourselves to the Shredder. I would also bring back 2D animation since there are lots of people who miss that even after watching lots of 3D. I'd give each Turtle a separate favorite food to add some variety: Leonardo's are cold cuts just like real turtles, Michelangelo's is still pizza, Raphael's is mexican food, and Donatello's is pasta. I'd also have Shredder attack and battle in the Turtles' lair near the end of Season 2. But what would make this series most shocking is that a fifth Turtle is needed because I would make Shredder demutate one of the Turtles around the beginning of Season 3 and use DNA experiments on it throughout the Season, creating new mutants and even a clone of that captured Turtle. This would lead up to a season finale where all Turtles except the fifth unnamed one, who becomes the hero along with April's scientific skills to steal Shredder's forumla and punish him into Dimension X, and Utroms/Kraang would be introduced. Season 4 would start the Technodrome phase of the show, bringing in Lord Krang and having lots of characteristics of the OT, though the Turtles still use their weapons quite a bit. Season 5 would make the Turtles spend the season in Dimension X since the resources on Earth would not be enough to stop attacks for Krang and Shredder. Triceratons/the Federation/the Fugitoid would also be involved, since later in a series is when Sci-Fi becomes more reasonable according to a Nick employee who is working on their series. This will all lead up to Season 6, in which the entire universe becomes a "Forever War", where forces of good and evil collide, with the ultimate goal of punishing the good into a black hole, leaving only the evil, lead by Shredder and Krang to conquer the universe. Many galaxies would be explored, and gives this series almost a Star Trek quality at this point. The series finale would be a five-parter where the forces of evil join and start to attack life on other planets in one dimension, and continues to grow until all that's left are the Turtles and Splinter, in which Donatello tries to develop an interdimensional defense system to defeat the bad guys. The Turtles take out one foe after another, until it comes down to a final battle in the Technodrome, where Splinter and Leonardo triumph and causes Shredder to demutate into a spec of dust and the Turtles escape just in time before Dimension X gets swallowed into a black hole.

Currently, the reboot market is getting saturated so let's enjoy what IDW and Nick and perhaps the new movies have to offer.

Will that be set in the future?

[ZariusTwo]

I'd have the Turtles start in Miami to reboot the franchise

"Can I give you a ride to the airport...in my stolen van?"

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

"Can I give you a ride to the airport...in my stolen van?"

And who originally stole Baxter Stockman's van? :)

[Dirty Blond]

I'd have the Turtles start in Miami to reboot the franchise, since lots of Turtles live in that area

Would they be wild turtles or pet shop turtles?

[CyberCubed]

I like the idea of the Turtles growing up in Feudal Japan, which we've already seen done in some comics here and there.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I like the idea of the Turtles growing up in Feudal Japan, which we've already seen done in some comics here and there.

And everyone would think they are demons?.

[Cryomancer]

I'm really not sure what I'd do with the Turtles and Splinter. I don't think there's too much reason to reinvent the wheel. I'd probably keep the tone close to the Fred Wolf/Archie verse, but as I've written before (http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?p=990317#post990317) in another thread, I'd definitely reinvent April as a spy character who does reconnaissance work for the TMNT. I might even make her allegiance a little morally ambiguous with unclear motives as to who she's really working for. Ultimately, she'd still be a good friend of the turtles, but she wouldn't be above serving her own personal and professional interests from time to time.

And I think it would be fun to reimagine her old obsession of "Getting a story for Burne" with a new obsession to please her benefactors... whoever they might be.

Will she also ride a bike and have huge boobs? Heh. You read her IDW micro? Got some decent April-as-a-spy action going on there. I'm always for her having more to "do", and if the TMNT aren't bothering to do the espionage part of being ninjas, she is certainly a logical fit for it. I could dig it.



As for if I were asked to reboot TMNT...I probably wouldn't. There's plenty of well established versions of it by now and plenty of ways to connect them to each other. Plenty of stories that could be told via the battle nexus and whatnot. Or at least it could make an OK video or card game or something. ****, now I want to nerd out about character stats for a pan-universal TMNT CCG.

[oldmanwinters]

Will she also ride a bike and have huge boobs? Heh.

Yeah, I'm afraid I'm really starting to buy into the April as Fujiko idea a little too much. Maybe she could sometimes leak information to major news agencies if she felt it warranted.

You read her IDW micro? Got some decent April-as-a-spy action going on there. I'm always for her having more to "do", and if the TMNT aren't bothering to do the espionage part of being ninjas, she is certainly a logical fit for it. I could dig it.

That's actually what gave me the idea, as I posted in that thread (http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?p=990317#post990317).

[Cryomancer]

Don't really blame you, it's a fun idea. TMNT could always use more characters working outside the TMNT or Foot factions, so I'd be down for it being tried, sure.

[thelouisguy]

I think IDW is going along the lines of what I'd want. I had started a fan fic sometime ago that was going to try and mix all the different universes together. I never got past the prolog though. But my ideal would be to take the best aspects from each universe and make one "Ultimate TMNT" universe much like Marvel's line of comics.

After that I'd have loved to see the Souls Winter universe continue on.

I agree that IDW is doing a great job. It is different yet familiar at the same time. It is not a reboot for the sake of a reboot.

[Donatello19]

Why Would You Guys Want To Think About ANOTHER Reboot? The New Show Hasn't Even Started Yet...

[Jephael]

Ever since Smallville I've wanted to see a more dramatic take on the classic toon TMNT where they really dwell on the origins of all the various characters.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Ever since Smallville I've wanted to see a more dramatic take on the classic toon TMNT where they really dwell on the origins of all the various characters.

The Archie Comics are actually considered more serious sometimes.

[Jephael]

Right but as I said, I want to see them do a fresh take on the Turtles' past, not their future like the Archie comics did.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Right but as I said, I want to see them do a fresh take on the Turtles' past, not their future like the Archie comics did.

You mean when the turtles were kids?

[Spitfire]

I agree that IDW is doing a great job. It is different yet familiar at the same time. It is not a reboot for the sake of a reboot.

No but it purposefully changes things for the sake of being different and not really to serve the story. A lot of the nods are fan service level.

I'd personally change a lot. Not sure how other fans would like my take but I have a lot of ideas. Some I've written into comic scripts.

[ZariusTwo]

Ever since Smallville I've wanted to see a more dramatic take on the classic toon TMNT where they really dwell on the origins of all the various characters.

Smallville is the last thing one should think about when wanting a "darker" FW Turtle show

[cartoonistaaron]

Some neat ideas in this thread. I think it would be cool to do a Turtles origin story from the point of the Shredder, who sees his brother killed by Hamato Yoshi, who then flees to NY with Tang Shen in disgrace. I guess it would be sort of like the idea George Lucas had for the prequels.

The Shredder would arrive in NYC, kill Tang Shen and give Yoshi the beatdown, who would then stumble out into the street, knocking over a young boy carrying a bowl of turtles, and then being hit by a TCRI truck and ending up in the sewers.

Saki would be the Mirage Oroku Saki, not that Utrom Shredder crap. An angry kid who pours himself into his training and works his way up thru the ranks for the sole purpose of avenging his dead brother. He styles himself as The Shredder (a nickname given to him by his henchmen and Foot soldiers - I don't think he'd call himself that) and leads a criminal organization much like the first TMNT movie.

April would definitely be a journalist though not a TV reporter. Casey would be Casey.

And the Turtles? ALIEN TURTLE WARRIORS. (kidding)

[Loudo]

Something I would love to see is a universe in which the Turtles don't grow up together, but they meet later in life.

I was thinking of something like this:
Leonardo is raised together with Usagi (as his brother) by an honorable samurai.
Raphael is raised by the Shredder as one of his lieutenants and has an ongoing rivalry with Karai for their master's favor.
Donatello is raised by Dr Quease and Dr Stockman as a secret lab experiment, but Dr Quease grows fond of him and Don start to think of him as his father.
Michelangelo grows together with April and they both become journalist. For this last idea to work, I was thinking to give each Turtle a "mutation power" like in the aborted Next Mutation movie, with Mikey being able to appear human when needed.

Leo and Raph meet one day in battle as enemies. Leo wants to save his lost brother from the Shredder and teach him honor, while Usagi tries to convince Leo that you can't teach honor to a Foot Ninja.
Raph acts sort of 2k3 Karai-like. He doesn't think about leaving the Foot Clan but he doesn't want to battle against Leo and wants to know more about their origin.
Mikey, while investigating, finds out about Don and "frees" him.

[oldmanwinters]

April would definitely be a journalist though not a TV reporter. Casey would be Casey.



That's probably a good distinction to acknowledge. Probably my favorite piece of April fan-art came courtesy of "Wonder Dookie" Dan's reimagining of the character:
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/061/a/0/April_O__Neil_by_WonderDookie.jpg (http://wonderdookie.deviantart.com/art/April-O-Neil-155932208)
http://wonderdookie.deviantart.com/art/April-O-Neil-155932208

Speaking of WonderDookie, he did a whole set of amazing TMNT revamps:
http://wonderdookie.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=turtles#/d2pmos5

I wouldn't necessarily want to see his turtle designs became the new standard, but I am really intrigued by his take on the supporting faces and the villains. Just look at his Rat King!
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs51/f/2009/263/d/8/Rat_King_by_WonderDookie.jpg (http://wonderdookie.deviantart.com/art/Rat-King-137612111)

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Something I would love to see is a universe in which the Turtles don't grow up together, but they meet later in life.

I was thinking of something like this:
Leonardo is raised together with Usagi (as his brother) by an honorable samurai.
Raphael is raised by the Shredder as one of his lieutenants and has an ongoing rivalry with Karai for their master's favor.
Donatello is raised by Dr Quease and Dr Stockman as a secret lab experiment, but Dr Quease grows fond of him and Don start to think of him as his father.
Michelangelo grows together with April and they both become journalist. For this last idea to work, I was thinking to give each Turtle a "mutation power" like in the aborted Next Mutation movie, with Mikey being able to appear human when needed.

Leo and Raph meet one day in battle as enemies. Leo wants to save his lost brother from the Shredder and teach him honor, while Usagi tries to convince Leo that you can't teach honor to a Foot Ninja.
Raph acts sort of 2k3 Karai-like. He doesn't think about leaving the Foot Clan but he doesn't want to battle against Leo and wants to know more about their origin.
Mikey, while investigating, finds out about Don and "frees" him.

Sounds like an interesting alternate history fanfic.

[cACHI]

from a guy who was raised in Miami i liked that idea. There are allot of canals streams and beaches that they could swim around town unnoticed plus we have small unpopulated island very close to the city's when i say close i mean they have a few under the bridges

But something tells me that the turtles would have an issue traveling in down town miami and overtown. But around the beaches they will be ok.

in fla it is illegal to keep turtles as pets unless it for educational use they might of been a class pet and some kid(casey or april) had to take them home for the weekend or something and tie it to the back story. They could also have a class rat that came from an exchange student.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Something I would love to see is a universe in which the Turtles don't grow up together, but they meet later in life.

I was thinking of something like this:
Leonardo is raised together with Usagi (as his brother) by an honorable samurai.
Raphael is raised by the Shredder as one of his lieutenants and has an ongoing rivalry with Karai for their master's favor.
Donatello is raised by Dr Quease and Dr Stockman as a secret lab experiment, but Dr Quease grows fond of him and Don start to think of him as his father.
Michelangelo grows together with April and they both become journalist. For this last idea to work, I was thinking to give each Turtle a "mutation power" like in the aborted Next Mutation movie, with Mikey being able to appear human when needed.

Leo and Raph meet one day in battle as enemies. Leo wants to save his lost brother from the Shredder and teach him honor, while Usagi tries to convince Leo that you can't teach honor to a Foot Ninja.
Raph acts sort of 2k3 Karai-like. He doesn't think about leaving the Foot Clan but he doesn't want to battle against Leo and wants to know more about their origin.
Mikey, while investigating, finds out about Don and "frees" him.

Maybe Mondo Gecko and Michelangelo growing up together?

[n-zero]

I had thought of this after reading a previous thread on creating an ideal TMNT universe. I wanted to address the laws of how mutagen would work, involve Fred Wolf characters, and keep Yoshi as Splinter. Here's what I came up with:

First, I'm drawing from "Ancient Aliens," particularly their take on Sumerian creation myth, because that makes some great SciFi fodder. In my universe, the Utroms crash landed on earth in the middle east. Their exoskeletons and ship damaged, they turned to their attentions to their chemical supplies and created Green Mutagen to jumpstart the evolution of early hominids and create a workforce to help them mine materials and repair their technology. Green mutagen imbues animals with enhanced intelligence and human-like size and body structure, with some variance based on the original subject. Humans, being the result of its effects, are immune to further mutation.

The Utroms eventually left earth, but due to their interference in human evolution were given the task if watching over the planet until humanity became a space faring race. They would move their operations from city to city throughout history. During the fuedal period in Japan, the Utroms were based out of Tokyo. There, and Utrom named Krang decided it was his place to rule over this planet rather than acting as a silent observer. He raised a mutated army and was only stopped by a ninja named Oroku Nagi working with the Utroms and using a trans dimensional portal gun with a claw-like structure on it to send Krang and his warriors to dimension X, a Phantom Zone like prison dimension. Since legend would remember this story as a ninja defeating powerful Oni with a dragon's foot, the organization he would create to protect the Utrom's secrets would be known as the foot clan.

Hundreds of years later, Hamato Yoshi would be the master of the foot. Oroku Saki, a descendant of the foot's founder, challenges his leadership, saying that they should use Utrom tech for their benefit rather than hiding it. Unable to sway him, Yoshi would banish Saki, who then went on to form strong Yakuza ties before coming back and taking over the Foot and killing Yoshi's wife. Yoshi and the Utroms fled to New York, where the Utroms formed TCRI and Yoshi set about hiding their artifacts (perhaps with teh help of an antiques dealer named O'Neil?).

Eventually, the foot tracked Yoshi, chasing him into the sewers. They were met by a group of giant, mutated rats underneath the TCRI building. As teh foot battled the rats, Yoshi fell into a mixture of Green Mutagen, Transmat fuel, and rat blood which would form Pink Mutagen- an ooze capable of mutating humans into whatever animal's DNA had been prepared into the mixture. Yoshi mutates into a rat and hides amongst the rats to evade the foot.

Yoshi would live amongst these rats and their leader, a bandaged homeless man who claimed to be a mystic, and took the name Splinter. (I'm thinking of the New York sewers being full of mutants and aliens the turtles would slowly discover and consider their neighbors) Eventually, when four turtles fell into the sewer along with a canister of ooze from a TCRI truck, Splinter would leave the Rat Kingdom to raise them.

Fifteen years later, a corporate rivalry forms between TCRI and Stockgen. Splinter notices Stockgen mousers patrolling the sewers and ignoring rats in favor of tracking something else. He suspects the hand of Saki, and has his sons investigate. Donatello reverse engineers one to find that they're tracking high-yield energy signatures, beyond any electrical power levels.

The turtles join forces with April, as Stockgen intern on the run from her employer after finding evidence of criminal activity. They learn that Baxter Stockman has joined up with the foot as a technology adviser under the promise of being able to reverse engineer alien technology. In the final confrontation, the turtles manage to exile Stockman and Shredder to Dimension X, where they meet Krang ...

[Huree]

I think it would be great to see a 2D animated film in the style of the original cartoon, with no huge changes in origin or character design but animated REALLY well --as in the quality of the opening theme sequence, sustained for a 90 minute feature-- keep all the personalities intact from the OT and as many of the original voices as possible but have a really awesome intelligent and fun plot concerning Krang and Shredder powering up the Technodrome with some kind of new Dimension X Technology with enough power to take over and enslave the population of NYC.

It would be pretty simple, don't mess with the OT too much just put alot of time money and care into the animation and you can't go wrong.

[Refractive Reflections]

I would love to see a 2D animated movie of the Old Toon also (similar to the 1st season mini-series of the OT), but I think it would be very interesting if they were able to incorporate more backstories that complicate their present situations.

Possible plot twists/backstories:
1) Going to Japan to visit Splinter's relatives (I always thought it was interesting that this whole Splinter vs Shredder feud started in Japan, but they never visited it once. Okay maybe old Feudal Japan in "The Legend of Koji" but you would think that Splinter would want to restore honor back to the Foot Clan in the present day.)
2) Exploring how Shredder and Krang first met and developed an alliance
3) Exploring Splinter's family and possibly a shadowy, morally enigmatic relative brother/sister
4) Exploring the whole Dimension X warfare origins of the Neutrinos vs. Krang and how Krang was able to get to Earth in the first place, and who/what exactly made him just a brain.

I think these ideas could have really helped the last few seasons in the mid 90s during the ratings. Maybe not "save" the OT from cancellation but it would have created some great episodes.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I had thought of this after reading a previous thread on creating an ideal TMNT universe. I wanted to address the laws of how mutagen would work, involve Fred Wolf characters, and keep Yoshi as Splinter. Here's what I came up with:

First, I'm drawing from "Ancient Aliens," particularly their take on Sumerian creation myth, because that makes some great SciFi fodder. In my universe, the Utroms crash landed on earth in the middle east. Their exoskeletons and ship damaged, they turned to their attentions to their chemical supplies and created Green Mutagen to jumpstart the evolution of early hominids and create a workforce to help them mine materials and repair their technology. Green mutagen imbues animals with enhanced intelligence and human-like size and body structure, with some variance based on the original subject. Humans, being the result of its effects, are immune to further mutation.

The Utroms eventually left earth, but due to their interference in human evolution were given the task if watching over the planet until humanity became a space faring race. They would move their operations from city to city throughout history. During the fuedal period in Japan, the Utroms were based out of Tokyo. There, and Utrom named Krang decided it was his place to rule over this planet rather than acting as a silent observer. He raised a mutated army and was only stopped by a ninja named Oroku Nagi working with the Utroms and using a trans dimensional portal gun with a claw-like structure on it to send Krang and his warriors to dimension X, a Phantom Zone like prison dimension. Since legend would remember this story as a ninja defeating powerful Oni with a dragon's foot, the organization he would create to protect the Utrom's secrets would be known as the foot clan.

Hundreds of years later, Hamato Yoshi would be the master of the foot. Oroku Saki, a descendant of the foot's founder, challenges his leadership, saying that they should use Utrom tech for their benefit rather than hiding it. Unable to sway him, Yoshi would banish Saki, who then went on to form strong Yakuza ties before coming back and taking over the Foot and killing Yoshi's wife. Yoshi and the Utroms fled to New York, where the Utroms formed TCRI and Yoshi set about hiding their artifacts (perhaps with teh help of an antiques dealer named O'Neil?).

Eventually, the foot tracked Yoshi, chasing him into the sewers. They were met by a group of giant, mutated rats underneath the TCRI building. As teh foot battled the rats, Yoshi fell into a mixture of Green Mutagen, Transmat fuel, and rat blood which would form Pink Mutagen- an ooze capable of mutating humans into whatever animal's DNA had been prepared into the mixture. Yoshi mutates into a rat and hides amongst the rats to evade the foot.

Yoshi would live amongst these rats and their leader, a bandaged homeless man who claimed to be a mystic, and took the name Splinter. (I'm thinking of the New York sewers being full of mutants and aliens the turtles would slowly discover and consider their neighbors) Eventually, when four turtles fell into the sewer along with a canister of ooze from a TCRI truck, Splinter would leave the Rat Kingdom to raise them.

Fifteen years later, a corporate rivalry forms between TCRI and Stockgen. Splinter notices Stockgen mousers patrolling the sewers and ignoring rats in favor of tracking something else. He suspects the hand of Saki, and has his sons investigate. Donatello reverse engineers one to find that they're tracking high-yield energy signatures, beyond any electrical power levels.

The turtles join forces with April, as Stockgen intern on the run from her employer after finding evidence of criminal activity. They learn that Baxter Stockman has joined up with the foot as a technology adviser under the promise of being able to reverse engineer alien technology. In the final confrontation, the turtles manage to exile Stockman and Shredder to Dimension X, where they meet Krang ...

So the Utroms and Krang are not from Dimension X in this story? No matters, turn your TMNT universe into fan fiction, and publish it somewhere on the Internet.

[chrisdude]

Let's say it's a movie.

I'd create a situation where the turtles are 14/15. They would know they were being trained to defeat Shredder. But Shredder would find them first.

Sticking close to the original comic origin: Yoshi kills Oroku Nagi while defending Tang Shen, Oroku Saki follows Yoshi and Tang Shen to America becomes leader the US Foot, Saki kills Yoshi and Tang Shen, and Splinter is training the Turtles to defeat the Shredder. All that is just an intro cinematic flashback, perhaps as Splinter tells the story.

But one day, the turtles do something foolish on the surface and get themselves noticed by the Foot. Their fighting style is recognized, they’re followed, and their lair is discovered. The turtles are all equally involved in these shenanigans, and each later feel full weight of the blame.

Shredder deduces that these "freaks" must have been students of Yoshi’s. The Foot storm the lair with the intent of capture all of them, but only manage to catch the aging Splinter, and the turtles manage no better than to escape with their lives. Raph doesn’t give up easily, but Leonardo sees that it’s suicide to pursue.

The turtles spend that night scared and alone. Leo and Raph clash for leadership. Donatello feels that he failed as a fighter and that he should have been able to save Splinter. And Mikey’s just really friggin’ scared, he’ll bawl his eyes out and everything.

Splinter is brought to Shredder’s lair, and is recognized as the rat who $*#@&? his face up while he was killing Yoshi and Tang Shen. But he is not satisfied. He wishes to exterminate all remnants of Yoshi and his influence, so he sends the Foot back out to find and kill the turtles. Only then will he personally kill the rat who scarred him.

My foot ninjas would be well-trained, formidable opponents, and the turtles would have never faced such enemies. A one-on-one fight between a turtle and a foot ninja is an even fight - except there would be hordes of Foot and only four turtles, forcing the turtles to team up in order to survive. The turtles are always teenagers, but these turtles would be terrified children who have never faced evil.

The last two thirds of the movie is that next day and night. The turtles try to continue their search during the day, which can provide some, by this point, much needed comedy.

In the search for Splinter, the turtles face groups of the Foot as they occasionally encounter them, becoming better fighters and more of a team each time:

Leonardo becoming a leader and becoming strong for his brothers
Raphael learning to work as a teammate and realizing that Leo is a better fit for leadership
Donatello learning that his brain is his strength (he’s physically the weakest, in this interpretation)
Michelangelo learning to face his fears, primarily with humor (he’s the youngest and the most afraid.

They eventually track the Foot ninjas back to Shredder’s hideout.

All of this builds to the rooftop battle with The Shredder. Shredder is killed and Splinter is freed.

The end.

I did not expect to type this much...

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Let's say it's a movie.

I'd create a situation where the turtles are 14/15. They would know they were being trained to defeat Shredder. But Shredder would find them first.

Sticking close to the original comic origin: Yoshi kills Oroku Nagi while defending Tang Shen, Oroku Saki follows Yoshi and Tang Shen to America becomes leader the US Foot, Saki kills Yoshi and Tang Shen, and Splinter is training the Turtles to defeat the Shredder. All that is just an intro cinematic flashback, perhaps as Splinter tells the story.

But one day, the turtles do something foolish on the surface and get themselves noticed by the Foot. Their fighting style is recognized, they’re followed, and their lair is discovered. The turtles are all equally involved in these shenanigans, and each later feel full weight of the blame.

Shredder deduces that these "freaks" must have been students of Yoshi’s. The Foot storm the lair with the intent of capture all of them, but only manage to catch the aging Splinter, and the turtles manage no better than to escape with their lives. Raph doesn’t give up easily, but Leonardo sees that it’s suicide to pursue.

The turtles spend that night scared and alone. Leo and Raph clash for leadership. Donatello feels that he failed as a fighter and that he should have been able to save Splinter. And Mikey’s just really friggin’ scared, he’ll bawl his eyes out and everything.

Splinter is brought to Shredder’s lair, and is recognized as the rat who $*#@&? his face up while he was killing Yoshi and Tang Shen. But he is not satisfied. He wishes to exterminate all remnants of Yoshi and his influence, so he sends the Foot back out to find and kill the turtles. Only then will he personally kill the rat who scarred him.

My foot ninjas would be well-trained, formidable opponents, and the turtles would have never faced such enemies. A one-on-one fight between a turtle and a foot ninja is an even fight - except there would be hordes of Foot and only four turtles, forcing the turtles to team up in order to survive. The turtles are always teenagers, but these turtles would be terrified children who have never faced evil.

The last two thirds of the movie is that next day and night. The turtles try to continue their search during the day, which can provide some, by this point, much needed comedy.

In the search for Splinter, the turtles face groups of the Foot as they occasionally encounter them, becoming better fighters and more of a team each time:

Leonardo becoming a leader and becoming strong for his brothers
Raphael learning to work as a teammate and realizing that Leo is a better fit for leadership
Donatello learning that his brain is his strength (he’s physically the weakest, in this interpretation)
Michelangelo learning to face his fears, primarily with humor (he’s the youngest and the most afraid.

They eventually track the Foot ninjas back to Shredder’s hideout.

All of this builds to the rooftop battle with The Shredder. Shredder is killed and Splinter is freed.

The end.

I did not expect to type this much...

But how about the mutations? Utroms? Krang?

[chrisdude]

But how about the mutations? Utroms? Krang?I forgot to mention the mutation. The canister and mutation would be mentioned in the intro cinematic, but the hows and whys wouldn't be dealt with in the first film. I really haven't thought ahead as to what is do in a sequel, but I certainly wouldn't use Krang.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I forgot to mention the mutation. The canister and mutation would be mentioned in the intro cinematic, but the hows and whys wouldn't be dealt with in the first film. I really haven't thought ahead as to what is do in a sequel, but I certainly wouldn't use Krang.

But Utroms.