more mystical origin of the ooze?

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

Hey, I was watching a few Kung-Fu and Chinese fantasy movies the other day, and it occurred to me; The TMNT's origin is one of the most disjointed to tell in movies and television, because it has two unrelated components; the mysticism of east Asian martial arts, and the sci-fi aspect of the alien ooze created by the utroms. Both elements in the origin can seem a bit jarring, so I was thinking what about taking the ooze completely into the realm of the martial arts fantasy?


I'm not saying changing or retconning the origin, but if you wanted to do a TMNT version more close to Asian fantasy (much like Powder's idea of a TMNT set in feudal japan) why not tie the ooze into Taoist Chinese alchemy, and the fact that Chin Huang Di (the first emperor) was going insane trying to get his Taoist alchemists to make him the Elixir of life, so he could be immortal? (in fact, it was the mercury in his potions that made him go dingbats) the ooze could have been the concoction of a group of Taoist Alchemists, that got brought to japan or ended up in the foot clan's hands, and they were planning on using it to make more powerful ninjas, but then this little accident happened...

Also, it could tie in with all the shape shifting is East Asian folklore. Consider the anthropomorphic monkey king (Sun Wukong), who was the 'master of a thousand shapes' and became more powerful after soaking in Lao Tzu's alchemy cauldron. Or all the Chinese heroes who are anthropomorphic animals, or could shape shift, might not the ooze be an explanation for those myths in that universe? Or the ninjas in Japanese folklore, who can change shape and have incredible abilities that go beyond just well-train martial artists and ninja trickery.

I'm not saying replace the utrom origin, just a different idea of where the ooze came from if you wanted a more mystical martial arts based version of TMNT. It would tie the martial arts and the mutation into coming from one source. And it's not like we haven't had different origins for where the ooze came from before; in the live action films it was an accidental toxic waste mixture, in the OT it was a substance Krang game to shredder, in 4kids/mirage it was an accidental run-off of Utrom experiments with the transmat to go home. This is just an idea to tighten things up a bit, that might be neat for one version.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

You know I really like this idea. It fits in with some ideas I had for my TMNT/Gargoyles crossover, tying the Japanese kappa and other anthro-demons in with the mutagen, as part of the mystic origins of the Gargoyles and other "magical" races (the children of Oberon and the New Olympians, etc.) Perhaps the Utroms and/or Krang discovered the alchemical secret and it was used or released on Earth, thus creating many of the world's mythological creatures. I had even worked a scene into part of the overall storyline where Shredder used the mutagen to create his own versions of several mythological monsters as well as creatures based on combinations of some Asian zodiac animals. Obviously, he's a little disturbed in the story.

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

You know I really like this idea. It fits in with some ideas I had for my TMNT/Gargoyles crossover, tying the Japanese kappa and other anthro-demons in with the mutagen, as part of the mystic origins of the Gargoyles and other "magical" races (the children of Oberon and the New Olympians, etc.) Perhaps the Utroms and/or Krang discovered the alchemical secret and it was used or released on Earth, thus creating many of the world's mythological creatures. I had even worked a scene into part of the overall storyline where Shredder used the mutagen to create his own versions of several mythological monsters as well as creatures based on combinations of some Asian zodiac animals. Obviously, he's a little disturbed in the story.

Hm, I like these ideas a lot- except for the utrom involvement- they don't have to be involved in the mutagen's origins 'just because', they really aren't needed. But I love the idea of Shredder having a 'zodiac army' of monsters! :D

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I was thinking more along the lines of IDW and how the Utroms had been on Earth for so long that either they invented it here in the ancient past and humans either stole the secret or stunbled on it accidentally, OR the humans discovered something and the Utroms perfected and began experimenting with it, and those experiments got loose to become the source of all the legends. Either way, tying both into ancient history. Perhaps their alchemy is simply like magic and science being two sides of the same coin in the Thor movies. It would make sense to have the two so entwined that the legends simply grew around the original Utrom interference in Earth's history. Which still gives us a viable origin for the Triceratons just like in IDW too!

[Panda_Kahn_fan]

Okay, yeah, I can dig that.