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If you could create your own incarnation of the TMNT
Not all incarnations of the Turtles appeal to everyone.
So lets say for example you were given the ability to create your own incarnation of the Turtles. Would you do it as a TV series, Film (live action or animated), anime, Comic book? How would the plot go? Would Splinter be Hamato Yoshi or would he be a pet rat of Hamato Yoshi? |
A concept for the TMNT I came up with. Basically, the idea here is that their story would take place in 16th century feudal Japan. Their sensei, is Hamato Yoshi, a wise old monk, who raised them at his monastery, in secret. They're not mutants, but rather guardians of the earth, sent by the gods. Yoshi keeps them hidden, for fear of their safety, but trains them physically, & shapes their minds in the higher arts. Splinter is a mere pet rat, one who Donatello keeps with him at almost all times. Donnie would be the outcast of the group, keeping to himself, often silent. Leo is his traditional Bushido self, but also a spiritual guide/healer. Raph's the muscle. Still very much the enforcer of the group (in battle, at least), but despite his harsh appearance, he's more of a gentle giant. Mikey is a sort of Sumo/Chef/Calligraphist. More defensive than offensive. Rather than pizza, they go nuts over riceballs. I'd like to flesh this out more & make a comic of it someday, but who knows. It'd be sorta like Souls Winter meets Usagi Yojimbo.
See the full sized hi-res version here- http://powderakacaseyjones.deviantar...ruzu-462952538 http://i61.tinypic.com/6f369c.png |
Well, I sort of already have with my fan-fics, but if I had my choice of format for it, I'd go with a cartoon series (anime, and DEF a "mature" rating) or a comic. It would be cool as a movie, but maybe too mature and dark for most audiences, especially kids.
My version was based off a cross between the original movie origin, and the OT one, with Splinter being Yoshi's pet, but nixed Shen and used the cartoon's version of Saki usurping Yoshi's position as clan leader through deception and framing him for an assassination attempt. Splinter was witness to it all, and was later left homeless when Saki was ousted by the Grandmaster when his plot was uncovered (Yoshi had sent a letter with evidence of Saki's treachery that proved his innocence) and Saki not only killed the Grandmaster and half the clan, but then followed Yoshi (and Splinter) to New York and killed him as well. The rest of the clan chose to follow Saki- now Shredder- and he met and partnered with Krang during that time. The turtles (and Splinter) were mutated by a mutagen canister that Krang had attempted to send to Shredder, but somehow was misdirected and ended up in the sewer. I've added a few elements from other series, too, like Bishop, or Hun and the Purple Dragons, the Battle Nexus, and even borrowed Xever and Fong from Nick, among other things. But mostly it is based around elements from the three LA movies and the OT. |
I'd do it as a series of browser adventure games. The story begins with Dr. Baxter Stockman buying four turtles and a salamander for his daughter. When he arrives home with the four, and his newly built Mouser robot, his home has been ransacked by the Kraang alien race, seeking to perform experiments outside of the oppressive grip of the Utrom race. He finds his daughter slathered in a weird ooze, and decides to introduce her to the salamander to cheer her up. She touches it, and begins to mutate. In a frenzied panic, she touches the four turtles, and they end up turning into the monstrous warriors Slash, Tokka, Terrorpin, and Gigaia. Gigaia lays five eggs, each a different hue.
The girl fully mutates into Mona Lisa, and the salamander becomes Diogenes. Mona Lisa, Diogenes, and Gigaia are captured by the Kraang aliens, who decide to use them for experiments. Begging to let his daughter live, Baxter decides to work under them. Slash, Tokka, and Terrorpin are impressed by the Kraang's military might and decide to join them. Baxter is moved to an office job, working in a cubicle with the Newtralizer, an ex-pro wrestler from the Kraang's home dimension. Meanwhile, a disgraced ninja master named Hamato Yoshi is looking for a way to redeem himself after his murder of Oroku Nagi. He blames the deaths of his family on Oroku Nagi's death, and decides to seek redemption in the big city. Diogenes and Mona Lisa escape Kraang control, but not before the doom of Gigaia, who is torn apart by Terrorpin. Diogenes and Mona Lisa decide to live in the sewers after being chased by Agent Bishop out of their old home. Hamato Yoshi runs afoul of the sewers, just as the eggs hatch open to reveal bizarre, monstrous THINGS. The contents of the pink egg especially disturb Yoshi, as Diogenes offers him the other four, but chooses to keep the pink one. Yoshi takes the newly-hatched turtles to his home. Yoshi raises the turtles as his sons, but is discovered by Bishop. |
I'm currently writing this as a film script.
The origin would be similar to the Mirage story where Oroku Nagi appears and beats Tang Shen. However it is implied that Nagi and his younger brother Oroku Saki (Saki being 18 years old and not a 7 year old kid) have their way with her not just kill her. Hamato Yoshi arrives and fights the two honorless men. Oroku Saki attacks Hamato Yoshi from behind, Splinter tries to defend his master by attacking his Saki, but is unable to prevent it. The dying Hamato Yoshi kills Nagi before succumbing to his wounds. Alone and homeless Splinter makes a burrow for himself in the sewers until he finds the Turtles. The five of them are mutated. Learning that his masters Murder has left the Japan for America, Splinter and his sons who are now toddlers board as ship bound for America. Years later April O'Neil is working at Stockman industries who are perfecting a bipedal machine called the Mousers. While passing stockman's office, she hears Stockman telling someone that the mousers have been augmented from their original purpose. April is confused by this because the original function was to help diminish the rat population. So she looks up the skimatics and finds they are not only been changed to retrieve valuables such as money, and jewery. They also can chew there way into buildings (or a tank) and be used as IEDs, or as weapons of war. Knowing she couldn't allow these bots she downloads the data onto a Flashdrive. In an effort to avoid detection she escapes into the sewers. Unfortunately Stockman learns there was an unauthorized download and finds footage of April escaping into the sewers. In the lair Mike and Raph arrive with a pizza that they have used their ninja skills to swipe. Leo scolds Mikey that their skills were not meant to be used in that way, but Mikey retorts about how it's not like they could just waltz into a grocery store whenever they wanted. Leo decides to get Donnie who is sitting at his computer scanning the sewer system. Leo has to place a hand in front of his brothers eyes to get his attention and chides his brother about how he's a ninja and should by all rights sense him coming. Before they go enjoy their dinner the computers catch the sound of April screaming for help. Donnie calls up where there voice is coming from and sees the mousers run by. Both Donnie and Mikey feel they should do something about this. Raph insists it has nothing to do with them and besides if they go help this woman they risk being seen. Leo however says that may be so, but they also don't want any one human or robot to come upon their lair. So they go out to stop the robots. In the dark of the sewers can't see who her rescuers are all that well. But she can discern inhuman shapes and asks who they are before Raph knocks her out. When she wakes up she is on a bench in the park, the wounds she had received from the mousers have been dressed and the flashdrive with the mouser data is gone. Back at the lair, Donnie is studying the remains of one of the mousers and the data from the mousers on the flashdrive. He points out that that someone known as the Shredder pops up a number of times. Splinter suggests his sons keep an eye on the woman to see what she knows about these machines and the Shredder. |
I really like that! But how do they get mutated? Or is that mystery something to be answered later?
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ext. City street, Japan. Day Rain is pouring in the city as a small boy is riding his bike down the street. In the front basket of the bike is a glass jar containing four small turtles. The child suddenly loses his balance and the jar with the turtles in it rolls into the street. The boy runs into the road to retrieve his pets, but a speeding truck approaches them. The truck swerves to avoid the child. In the confusion the jar of turtles is swept into a the sewers and a canister of ooze falls off the truck. It cracks open and the greenish muck flows into the sewers. Int. City Sewers-Japan-Day The ooze flows down into the city sewers covering the four turtles. Splinter notices them. Splinter picks up each of the Turtles and puts them in a coffee can. He doesn't notice he is also being covered by the ooze as well. |
Movie series.
TV series is too burdensome. Splinter will definitely be mutated from a man named Hamato Yoshi into a rat. I'd never touch "pet rat turned master ninja" origin. |
Off the top of my head, how about...
The Krang are an alien race, like now, but not everyone is evil. They all live under the rule of their king. One day a garbage krang transporting waste (mutagen) crashes on earth, NY. Not being able to fix his ship or communicate back he secretly lives in the dump. In this the krang have more traditional bodies and are not brain shaped heads in exo-suits. They're still pink and weird looking though. Roaming the city he studies humans and their way of life. One day he finds someone has thrown out 4 eggs. He picks them up and takes them back to his hideout where they hatch and out come 4 baby turtles. Not being able to have any friends he cares for the turtles. However one day they wonder into his ship and accidentally spill the waste (mutagen) onto themselves. He cleans them off but not knowing the effects of his alien waste on earth creatures, the turtles begin to grow. They all live in the dump/junkyard where they watch old movies on old TVs people have thrown out. The turtles take a liking to martial arts movies and mimic them with makeshift weapons from the junkyard. - End Ok before anyone gets all upset I thought of this off the top of my head and more importantly its meant as a more lighthearted cartoon idea. The garbage Krang would be goofy and nice and the turtles would more like fun-loving anthropomorphic characters that wanna fight crime. Don't take this seriously. |
Think something like IDW, with less mutants and call-back reference-y stuff.
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There are some cool ideas in here... :tsmile:
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Really, I just like the idea of a mish mash of a little bit of everything, like in the arcade games, Turtles in Time, ect.
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Ooh, an interesting topic. Here's mine:
Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki are raised together after Saki's father is killed by the Hamato clan. Saki knows nothing of this and is best friends with Yoshi. They meet a girl named Tang Shen who becomes friends with them. As time goes on, both boys have feelings for her, and she isn't sure which one she wants to choose. Saki asks her out and takes her on a date, but she really doesn't feel anything for him so she lets him down gently. He is angry but pretends to accept it. Yoshi then asks her out, and she goes on a date with him and chooses him. They eventually marry and have a daughter they name Miwa. Meanwhile, Saki is consumed by hatred that Shen didn't choose him. He overhears some clan members talking and they reveal that Saki's father was killed by Yoshi's father. Enraged, he rebuilds the Foot Clan and seeks vengeance on Yoshi and his family. During a fight, Shen is killed, and while Yoshi is fighting for her, a candle is knocked over, causing the house to be burned. Miwa is also lost, but what Yoshi doesn't know is that Saki takes her for his own, thinking that he will have one piece of his lost love left. Heartbroken over his loss, Yoshi flees to America. While on a walk through New York's streets, he encounters four young boys who have run away from a foster home. He takes them in and decides to raise them as his own. One day, he decides that they should have pets so that they will know what responsibility is like and what it will be like for them to take care of something on their own. He takes them to a pet store and they each choose a turtle to care for their own. They beg Yoshi to buy a pet too, so he chooses a rat. As the family is leaving the pet store, they bump into some men carrying canisters of some glowing green substance. The men pass by them, but one of the boys is curious and wants to go after them, causing Yoshi and the others to go after him. The boy tries to talk to the man, but the man turns and bumps into the little boy, dropping the canister which falls onto the boy who is holding his turtle. Enraged, Yoshi immediately begins fighting the man, but others come and try to intervene. During the fight, more canisters are spilled, falling on the other boys and Yoshi himself. All of them are changed into mutated turtles and a mutated rat. They flee into the sewers and take residence there for the time being. Yoshi changes his name to Splinter and raises his sons in the ways of ninjitsu. And that's pretty much all I have for the origin story. I'm thinking of turning this into a fan fic and expanding on it further. |
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I thought about it. I think I would try to return the characters to being ruthless anti-heroes just to see how the world would react to it.
What I would do is adapt the whole Triceraton/Fugitoid arc into a lower budget (let's face it, the only way Viacom would allow a violent version is if it was low budget) animated movie in the vein of something like Heavy Metal or mid-90's anime. I might work in Casey and April into the story somehow. Another idea is a cartoon that might have the turtles start out as humans with other signifigant alterations just to see how it would work out. In both cases, damn whatever the popular opinion might be, I'd just like to challenge the majority perception of the Turtles!:D |
-Anime series, with actual japanese writers.
-IDW Origin, with the small change that Splinter is the reincarnation of Yoshi, but the TMNT aren't his four sons. Time span lengthened to 15 years -TMNT were not raised as weapons of vengence, but instead were taught the skills of Ninjitsu to protect themselves in a world that could never accept them. -Turtles are not super heroes, but rather like traditional ninja heroes from Japanese folklore, like Ishikawa Geomon- Robin Hood types. Relied more on being sabotouers and stealth, and leave the hollywood 'gritty ninja assasin' B.S. in western orentalist fiction where it belongs. -Borrow eaqually from every source (4kids, Archie, Fred Wolf, Mirage) for characters, for tone go slightly darker that IDW- No disembowlings, cyborg turtles, beer drinking and cursing, etc. Putting those things into a TMNT story does not make it mature. -Turtles do kill, but only in self defense, or defense of others. On screen kills are lightning qiuck, clean, and precise like the ninja of folkore is supposed to be, not leaving blood and guts spilled everywhere just to show how 'gritty and badazz' they are. -Use the personality traits from other fiction- Mikey's surfer attitude, Leo actually embracing honor and wishing he were a Samurai instead of a Ninja, etc. Raph's more a sracastic prick than angry jerk. -Pizza would be present but not obsessed over. (Pizza Boxes scattered all around the lair, show them eating it often, etc. But kill the obsessive references to it all the time) -Cycle of vengence THEMES present, but not main focus. Upon learning of Shredder's ressurection, Yoshi must balance his desire for revenge for the loss of Tang shen and his sons, against the safety of his new family, and the consequences for the turtles of taking the shredder down. -Use of the multicolored headbands. Clan colors are a celtic cultural trait, not a Japanese one. Colors were based on one's mood and personality, or the season or occasion. They had nothing to do with clan affiliation. Aaaand that's about it for now! |
I don't have my own ideas for a new incarnation, I think Mirage was good enough.
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Oh boy, you put me on the spot like this. Just springing the question on me like this? It’s not like I have been thinking about this for awhile or anything…let me just think of what comes to my mind. As for what way to bring the idea to life, I wouldn’t care.
Spoiler:
still working on story/episode ideas...will make a second post for that |
Finally, a thread where I can discuss my awesome plan!
For a long time now, I have intended to create a fanfiction/graphic novel poking fun of how different some of the TMNT incarnations are; as well as the notion that the further an adaptation gets from the source material, the tamer. So mine would be even more different than Fred Wolf, even more pizza-obsessed, yet also plenty violent and bloody. Get ready for this: Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael are the sons of an Italian, blue-collar family of turtles that runs a pizzeria in Anhattan, a city inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. Their parents, hoping for their sons to have a better economic lot in life than they did, named them after famous Italian artists, and hope for the brothers to become artists as well. They all do their duty well, but somewhere along the line, a villain--I think he'll be a weasel, but maybe I'll be subversive and make him a non-threatening animal--kills their parents. The four turtles fall in with Master Splinter, the rat who owns a dojo and secretly holds his own grudge against the evil weasel/non-threatening animal, and trains the turtles in the martial arts to take him down. Soon, the turtles arm themselves with various cooking utensils from their pizzeria, and flat-out massacre the villain and his forces with them. We later cut to them attending their parents' funeral with Splinter, talking about how life is hard, but he says, "You made them proud. You have become artists. Martial artists." The turtles all yell, "Cowabunga!" and dig into a delicious pizza they made from the villain's blood and flesh. |
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Mirage TMNT, on HBO, produced exactly like Game of Thrones.
Follow the comic, with some small revisions (expanding fights/dialogue to fill time) Bring in Laird to write scenes and consult. I would play out the Yoshi/Saki backstory in the first 2 episodes, lead off episode 3 with issue 1, and split it between episode 3 and 4. Episodes 5-10 would be integration of everything leading up to city at war' which would lead off season 2. No reimagining of origin. The fights would be as graphic as thrones. The humour would be bleak. All set in New York, in the early 1980's. No time shifting to 2014. And yes, we'd see Triceratons. The goal would be to keep it as "camp free" as possible, even with Triceratons, or mutants, alien brains, space etc. This means no "SyFy channel" cheapness. Big budget, real sets etc. The Turtles are Ninjas, but also children. They are assassins, not cartoons. They have a quiet violence about them. They are unnerving, aggressive, and obedient. They are wild animals that have been trained, not tamed. David Fincher directs episode 1 to set the tone. |
^^I'd dig that and would prefer it to a movie, honestly. Gets around all the quibbles like "A movie has no time for motivation, plot, or backstory." That'd be neat to see.
I had an idea for an origin that would tie into the universe of the fics I was writing back in the day, and I still kind of mean to do it one day, but it was more about explaining how the characters would fit into that universe (which was kind of a hodge-podge of various other comic universes) than specifically my own "ideal" version of them. I think it'd be good for its own thing but not at all as a "definitive" version. |
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The turtles can exist in this time, no camera phones, no security cams (of any quality) and a city that needed saving. It's a time when, seeing a turtle in a trench coat, "ah, it's New York! What did ya expect?" Oh, and they'd absolutely prefer a cold beer to over Pizza. Maybe with a pizza. Bah, now I want Beer and Pizza. |
Yeah, I do think being a product of its time is a big part of what made it strike such a chord. Kind of like how "Watchmen" only could have been set in the 80s during the Cold War for it to really work. Changing that detail changes the entire story.
TMNT obviously is much more fluid than that, but I'd argue the early-80s setting was the *best* place for it to work. Of course, saying anything was better in the 80s is kind of like, "Yeah, no sh*t, genius." 8) |
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The Watchmen comparison is exactly my meaning. Sure TMNT can be set when ever, but, why? In a post 9/11 New York, there's no hiding. It's sanitized, not that it's a bad thing, but, if the turtles were created today, they would make way more sense in, say Detroit? Outside the US, like, say, Rio? Or Caracas? How about Fukushima for radioactive waste? I think the story is rather time dependent, at least from my viewpoint. |
If someone came up with it today it would probably be an entirely fictional city, I think, just to make it easier to tell the story without it being nailed down to one time or place, or having to be too tied into "reality". Kinda like how in the first few stories, Batman's base of operations was explicitly "New York", then quickly changed to "Gotham City" a few issues later. It's tough to tell a fictional story in a real-life, contemporary setting. Especially when bad guys in your story are always trying to blow it up and stuff.
Kinda why I'm not huge on Marvel being based in the "real world". It makes no sense, that isn't "realistic" at all. You can have a story where, I'unno, Dr. Doom or someone blows up the Statue of Liberty... but you look outside, it's still there. You do an issue where all the heroes and villains are reacting to 9/11, because they all live in NY in the comics... so, you mean to tell me, these guys combined have stopped a couple hundred alien invasions, dimensional collapses, and even terrorist attacks, yet somehow, 9/11 still happened in their reality? How? Was Spider-Man on vacation in Aruba? Was Captain America taking a sh*t? WTF? I kind of prefer the analogs that DC and other comic book fictions use, because you can avoid those pesky things but still be topical. Like whenever they want to do a story in the Middle East, but don't want to piss off the people who actually live there, they just use "Qurac" or "Pokolistan" or some other made-up city. You can blow up Coast City and wipe it off the map to tell your story; you can't do that with Los Angeles, you know? So, I think if they were just creating TMNT for the first time today, I honestly think they'd set it in some kind of "Delta City" or "Metro City" kind of deal, just to make it simple. |
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Too many films and shows have punches thrown, cars explode, gunshot wounds, etc...with no lasting effects. How many times has a guy been shot, only for the hero to say, "you okay?" For the requisite "yeah, now go get that S.O.B" from their partner. LIKE HELL. Some one gets shot, they scream like a bitch I think a grounded reality ups the stakes. It's compelling when you know that everything that happens will have lasting consequences to the story. I guess that's what would set my version apart. The violence isn't just gratuitous. It would have a real impact on the turtles and supporting characters.. |
My incarnation would be a little closer to the nick story line with a bit of mirage and my own twist. With the Utroms being responsible for the ooze, but my idea is for the ooze to be a coolant for a machine that the Utroms are trying to make to make earth their new home world. The ooze we know is coolant that has been exposed to radiation and was dumped. However Hamato Yoshi(he was banished from the foot clan by Oroku Saki for harboring feelings for Saki's bride to be Tang Shen, but she joins Yoshi in exile and dies on the trip to America) a worker at the Utrom's factory, falls into the waste and washes up into the sewers while they were dumping it. Rats crowd around him, clawing and scratching at him, and he is mutated. Once he is mutated he finds four turtles that had been exposed as well, and takes them in. At first he doesn't teach them to fight, but he decides to after an incident on the surface. While an angry Shredder searches for Yoshi in New York, Splinter hides in the sewers with his sons, ever vigilant.
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Turtles on HBO Mirage-style sounds incredible.
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If I could create a TMNT incarnation, I'd just create a sequel to 2k3 done in the same animation style as season 1, dismissing anything after season 5 as non-canon.
And I'd just hire the same creative team and let them do what they do. This is all hypothetical anyway, and I can just say in this hypothetical scenario that I'm the one funding it. |
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Whether or not it'd be my ideal TMNT, I'd watch the hell out of that show, for sure. I don't even really like Mirage but I think that a "Game Of Thrones"-style "mature" TV series based on it would be un-freaking-believable.
We'd probably get an April shower scene or two just for the sake of it, since those shows all do that now, so yeah, bring it on. 8) |
There's a good chance I'd watch that as long as it wasn't CGI.
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Yep, shame it will never happen but then that's not the point of the thread.
^ Oh yea, defo live-action and not CGI. Doubt HBO would do CGI anyway. I keep trying 'HBO' as 'HBK' and having to retype lol. |
Something like the 4Kids series animation-wise but with:
- Mirage Origin for both Turtles and Splinter - Shredder being human - More mature themes - Blood and more deaths - Better humor - Raphael being closer to his FW persona - Michelangelo having a brain - Bebop and Rocksteady and both being fairly credible threats like in the first season of the FW series ...more or less this. Although I also like things such as April being a reporter, Shredder being an utrom, Krang and The Technodrome, etc. It's complicated to make an ultimate version of the TMNT mixing my favorite elements from each incarnation. Oh well, can't complain about the variety of the franchise, I guess. |
"Michelangelo having a brain" :lol:
Poor Mikey really does take a pounding sometimes :-? I agree though, a less comedic, more intropsective version of him would be nice, e.g. like Mirage where he more more serious and eventually became a writer. |
I always wanted to see Bebop and Rocksteady done in a way that was like, just full-on Beast Mode. Giant, massive, 'roided-up, no-pain-feeling, smoke-breathing, brick-smashing, rampaging power-houses. They don't even need to talk. Just make them uncontrollable beasts who will literally smash anything and everyone in their way to pieces indiscriminately. Insane, frightening, just completely horrifying creatures. It'd be super-easy and I'unno why it's never been attempted other than people's minds being wedded to their insipid cartoon versions. A lot of people absolutely hate the characters, and I can see why, but I think THAT version would be able to win almost everyone over.
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I never understood why people cared about Bebop and Rocksteady at all, really. I've always found them stupid and boring.
And I also don't feel adding blood and deaths make a show more "mature". I like things that are watchable by anybody; the most I'm okay with is an occasional moment that'd bump a single episode up in rating from time to time. |
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