Individual storylines you'd modify

[Utrommaniac]

I'm pretty sure most of us think we have better ideas for a particular episode of TMNT or comic than what the writers would come up with. Either because of some fluke of logic or something just not feeling "right" for the story as a whole.

As an example, I would polish up the Krang Villains Mini. One way or another, he'd have to end up trapped on Morbus and eventually kill his father's arch enemy. But, I'd begin that story a little differently.

I'd begin it as normal, with Krang learning that Ooze has been stolen and one of the Utroms has died. But rather than Krang rejecting the Rock Soldier informant's help and somehow connecting that with helplessness in his youth, he instead thinks of something different, while still connecting to his young brattiness. And make him a lot younger. Bobby Curnow said he figured he'd be 19 or 20, but I'd make him something along the lines of 14-16; same age as the turtles presently. At least in equivalence.

Instead, he'd connect the death of one Utrom to one that affected him in his youth. Like the murder of a relative - but not the mother because damn it, Bambi Syndrome is all over the place in IDW and it needs to stop.

So, when Quanin arrives to speak with Krang it's to tell his uncle has died on Morbus while trying to subdue Traxus. Krang's mother is with him this time, but maybe she'd only have a few lines; her brother just died after all and she'd be pretty shut down. The young Krang, enraged, demands to go on the next mission to Morbus so he can enact revenge. Of course he's told no on the spot. Not only does he have no military training - being too young to begin it - but he's also too important to lose. (Alternatively, it could be Krang's own older brother who was just killed, and it would be the first time Krang's extended family would be discussed. Shredder's needs some work too but that's for another time)

Then the story continues as normal. He stows away, he gets stranded, he mans up, kills Traxus, and gains his father's respect again. And a text box implying he had one thing to fear on the return home - his mother.

Returning to the present, Krang doesn't kill the Rock Soldier because that's dumb. The soldier he had modified to withstand bullets wouldn't be taken down by his tiny little teeth...or strangled...or whatever Krang did to kill him, it was pretty unclear. He just snaps back to reality and goes to deal with the dead Utrom.

Ideally, the modifications shouldn't change too much in the storyline, just within its own little block and maybe even patch up some plot holes that crop up unintentionally.

[PApagreg]

I would probably make sure the Savate ninjas and the Street Phantoms get a few wins here and there. Make them a dangerous faction instead of cannon fodder that are there just to make the Foot look good.

[plastroncafe]

I have to admit, I always thought it was a missed opportunity that in Fast Forward Cody was created instead not of just using Shadow.

[Utrommaniac]

Wasn't he a grandson though? Could be Shadow's kid...

[plastroncafe]

Wasn't he a grandson though? Could be Shadow's kid...

If that was specifically the case I don't remember her name ever being mentioned.
I just think it would have been nice to have that character appear somewhere other than Mirage.

[CyberCubed]

Cody's parents were never named. They died off-screen, it was implied Darius Dunn killed them who was his uncle.

[sdp]

My headcanon now includes Shadow as the mother of Cody but then how does that explain Cody's red hair, wasn't shadow blonde?

Unless Shadow isn't a step-daughter in the 2k3 universe and is biologically April's and then Shadow was redheaded in 2k3.


There, fixed the problem. Headcanon now adds up.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

I'd have Leonardo actually murder some French parkour thugs in IDW's "City Fall."

I can't think of anything in the Mirage/Image comics that I'd want to change... except maybe the April/Renet roach <cough> incident. That still baffles me.

[Utrommaniac]

Yeah, in that regard, I'd erase Robin's cancer story from the timeline entirely - because it doesn't mean anything - and put April in her place.

Let's have April and Casey go to a fertility clinic to figure out what's going on and she's diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. She's sent to the Utroms, who have a new but unusual method of destroying cancer cells. The story continues as usual, but with April instead of Robin. Only more tense because for the Turtles, it's their April. And no twist ending with April not being her parents' biological child. Maybe more like "Okay, the cancer might be gone buuuuuut we can't guarantee a return to fertility right away" and that's where April's depression cues in.

Because struggling to conceive is a very upsetting period for a lot of couples, especially for the women involved, so I think it's okay for April to get that distressed.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

How the Technodrome crashed onto the Volcanic Asteroid, after hitting a rock soldier space station when reaching Dimension X at the end of the Big Trilogy.

[ProphetofGanja]

The only thing I'd change off the top of my head is the timeline during the Attack on Technodrome/Vengeance story arcs. Everything in those arcs happened back-to-back-toback, and I would've liked a little more time to pass with Donnie residing inside Metalhead. If you look at the Turtles' return from Burnow Island and Hun's visits to April's parents' antique shop you see that the whole Vengeance arc takes place in one day/night and I think it would've been neat to see Donnie be a cyborg for long enough to get used to the perks, like the extra processing power and being able to hook himself up to the unternet directly. I would've had Donnie use something other than Metalhead's self-destruct sequence to finish off Bebop and Rocksteady in the Gauntlet battle and then later on down the line his body could be ready for him to return to it, and they could've done a story about how he was struggling to get used to the need to eat and sleep again.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Make Buffy Shellhammer either younger, or not so stupid for her age.

[Utrommaniac]

I'd begin it as normal, with Krang learning that Ooze has been stolen and one of the Utroms has died. But rather than Krang rejecting the Rock Soldier informant's help and somehow connecting that with helplessness in his youth, he instead thinks of something different, while still connecting to his young brattiness. And make him a lot younger. Bobby Curnow said he figured he'd be 19 or 20, but I'd make him something along the lines of 14-16; same age as the turtles presently. At least in equivalence.

Instead, he'd connect the death of one Utrom to one that affected him in his youth. Like the murder of a relative - but not the mother because damn it, Bambi Syndrome is all over the place in IDW and it needs to stop.

So, when Quanin arrives to speak with Krang it's to tell his uncle has died on Morbus while trying to subdue Traxus. Krang's mother is with him this time, but maybe she'd only have a few lines; her brother just died after all and she'd be pretty shut down. The young Krang, enraged, demands to go on the next mission to Morbus so he can enact revenge. Of course he's told no on the spot. Not only does he have no military training - being too young to begin it - but he's also too important to lose. (Alternatively, it could be Krang's own older brother who was just killed, and it would be the first time Krang's extended family would be discussed. Shredder's needs some work too but that's for another time)

Then the story continues as normal. He stows away, he gets stranded, he mans up, kills Traxus, and gains his father's respect again. And a text box implying he had one thing to fear on the return home - his mother.

Returning to the present, Krang doesn't kill the Rock Soldier because that's dumb. The soldier he had modified to withstand bullets wouldn't be taken down by his tiny little teeth...or strangled...or whatever Krang did to kill him, it was pretty unclear. He just snaps back to reality and goes to deal with the dead Utrom.

I've had some modifications to this idea, mostly to make the flow a little smoother.

I'd begin it with one of the human soldiers telling Krang that one of the Utroms was killed - while he's on his way to his quarters to rest after coming through the portal with Fugitoid.
Already exhausted and p*ssed, Krang demands to know "which one" was killed. When he's brought to the scene, Krang does recognize it. Which is where the flashback is launched similarly to my original re-write.

Both of his parents come to say his uncle was killed by Traxus, he stows away to Morbus and gets stranded, he learns independence, figures out what "All is one and one is all" means, and kills Traxus. While he's in the midst of taking over things, he's told of another Utrom ship has arrived.
He goes to meet it, and finds a scout who immediately alerts Quanin that Krang is safe - and has done the unexpected. He's the one that Karai killed to collect the ooze from his container.

Ending the flashback, Krang stalks away to his quarters (passing his mother in stasis), giving the instruction to freeze the body, wanting to wait for a proper burial until after the rest of the Utroms were awake.

I mostly wanted to add an extensively more personal connection to the Utroms in stasis, which is one big thing that I thought was missing from Krang's motivations afterwards. It seemed like he was more upset that ooze was stolen than the fact that one of his people - who he was trying so viciously and violently trying to protect. Namely, I'd want to give him a little more connection to his people before he's brought to trial, so it seems more impactful when his loyalists cause a split in their already fragile community.

Which is...what I would also spruce up a little bit. I'd have a few scenes that don't take place in the stasis room happen in there.

And just for the sheer edginess of it, have a part the second turtles vs Krang fight in there. It would be awesome - trying to keep Krang distracted and freaked out while also trying not to do too much damage.

Fugitiod mentions there being damage to the machinery from their fight anyway, so it would close that hole.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Expand Krang's background, based on the "Four Musketurtles".

[Raang]

Whole season 4 of the OT.
I'd have it match what we saw at the end of season 3 - Technodrome was destroyed when it crashed into a space station/satellite. The ongoing plot should've revolved around reconstruction of the Technodrome with the overall feel of the season being that of seasons 1 & 2, rather than out-of-control comedy that did more harm than good (it's almost like the staff tried getting the show cancelled).

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Whole season 4 of the OT.
I'd have it match what we saw at the end of season 3 - Technodrome was destroyed when it crashed into a space station/satellite. The ongoing plot should've revolved around reconstruction of the Technodrome with the overall feel of the season being that of seasons 1 & 2, rather than out-of-control comedy that did more harm than good (it's almost like the staff tried getting the show cancelled).

I think the rock soldiers from Dimension X continued fire from their spacecraft towards the Technodrome when it had crashed onto that space station (which I believe is one of those rock soldier bases mentioned in "Plan 6 from Outer Space") but instead the missiles hit the space station, breaking it.

As a result, the Technodrome began to drift across interstellar space until getting sucked up by the gravitational pull from the Volcanic Asteroid, crashing onto it.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

The Gang's All Here. Mostly just to polish up the odd visual gaffes with Mikey's clothes and make it more clear that Mikey lost his abilities as a mutant, not his ninja training. And maybe to make the gang more of a threat. I would fix the same issues with Donatello's Badd Day, and maybe adjust the ending to Ninja Sword of Nowhere. Too convenient.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

The Gang's All Here. Mostly just to polish up the odd visual gaffes with Mikey's clothes and make it more clear that Mikey lost his abilities as a mutant, not his ninja training. And maybe to make the gang more of a threat. I would fix the same issues with Donatello's Badd Day, and maybe adjust the ending to Ninja Sword of Nowhere. Too convenient.

Zarius rewrote it here:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12824259/1/The-Gang-s-All-Here-The-Rewrite

[pferreira]

Whole season 4 of the OT.
I'd have it match what we saw at the end of season 3 - Technodrome was destroyed when it crashed into a space station/satellite. The ongoing plot should've revolved around reconstruction of the Technodrome with the overall feel of the season being that of seasons 1 & 2, rather than out-of-control comedy that did more harm than good (it's almost like the staff tried getting the show cancelled).I think after the big finale the writers were kind of stumped as to how to go forward which might explain the aimlessness the show had starting with Season 4.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Writing TMNT by the late-1980's and early 1990's was probably hard.

First, there were fans who just asked for more, now!

But there were also the parents, who complained over the series being "too violent".

[pferreira]

Writing TMNT by the late-1980's and early 1990's was probably hard.

First, there were fans who just asked for more, now!

But there were also the parents, who complained over the series being "too violent".Well Jack Mendelsohn's flippant influence by that point was starting to take hold of the show more and combine this with CBS taking the show but demanding less violence and that's kind of why there was more comedy and less serious action from Seasons 4-6. Even David Wise acknowledges that was a problem which he felt needed rectifying with Season 7 when he took over script editor duties.