Question about Laird.
 

Here's my question, does Peter Laird hate the original tv show and the Next Mutation series, and I mean HATE. Or is it because he's desperatly wants the new series to remain true to the comics he and Eastman wrote (Something that the old show seemingly failed to do, ie Splinter starting off as Hamato Yoshi, April working for Channel Six, Baxter Stockman being a goofy white scientist only to be turned into a fly, Dimension X and characters forgein to the comics such as Krang/Bebop/Rocksteady). Kinda like how EON's 007 films fail to be true to the Ian Fleming novels.

I don't see anything wrong with the Post-Flemming Bond movies, there good on thier own merits, but I would agree that "Die Another Day" is the worst Bond film PERIOD.

Peater Laird simply wants to tell people the story of the comics again

i would like to see bebop and Rocksteady, but not like in the old series.

Peter Laird has a more, "My way or the Highway" attitude about TMNT. That's why he's such an ass sometimes, when people react negatively about his work. He's shown utter contempt for the fans in his letters pages in the new books, on numbers of occassions. As for the old show and Next Mutation? I believe he does have a massive dislike for both of them. Especially next Mutation, for the existance of Venus.

Eastman was really the one that was willing to allow new interpretations of their characters and ideas. From what I understand, he's pretty much behind the original toon and even the next mutation being done. Probably why Eastman and Laird, sorta had a falling out and Eastman sold his part of the TMNT franchise and left. But Eastman loves talking about the TMNT still to this day at cons, including the old toon and TNM. He's a lot more easy going and willing to discuss TMNT, without treating people with a differing viewpoint as if they were an idiot.

Where as Laird comes off as very negative and rude to anyone that likes these different versions of his characters better then the ones that he created and nurtured. I can understand a bit, but if it really wasn't for the old toon, the archie book, and even the movies. The Turtles would have probably slipped away into the death of pop-culture a long time ago. I'm happy with the new toon, I just feel Laird really needs to lighten up on how he treats people who disagree with him.

I think many people fail to see that if the old show was redone today, and "upgraded" so to speak, it would be just as good as the comic oriented show. We would see the same old characters, like B & R, but they wouldn't be pushovers and actually get violent on the TMNT. A new, angrier Krang would be nice to see as well, because I'm certain he'd only add to the show and make the episodes more diverse.

Exactly, little plot details (Like THE TECHNODROME and Krang) would be great, but little else, give the new storylines (if any are added) time to develop

Yes DAD is the worst film. But if you compair most other films with the books, you'll notice the only thing they have in common is the titles, example the Moonraker novel had a man called Sir Hugo Drax, develope a nuclear missile called the "Moonraker". M turns Drax's idea down, but Drax vows revenge, he plans on launching his Moonraker into London. Bond saves London by reprograming the missile to fly into the sub Drax is escaping in. The film on the other hand, the only book aspects the film had was the name of the rocket, the name of the bad guy, and the bit where Bond and the girl are left in the blast pit. Instead of making a film about a mad-man bent on destroying London with a missile, they've made a sci-fi film about a man trying to destroy the human race from outer-space then repotulate Earth.

Back to the topic at hand.

Well I pretty much beleive the Americans wanted Drax's threat to be more...Global, I mean, the audience woul'nt care if one city was destroyed.

Another question, do Eastman and Laird still respect each other? What caused them to brake up?

According to Eastman: "Things just became different, not bad but different"

According to Laird: "We had some differences in opinion on the direction to take"

(Neither are exact quotes but both are very similar to ones I've seen in interviews)

I think we can assume that they just naturally grew apart. Also, Eastman became more involved in Heavy Metal. Eastman also moved to LA; while Peter remained in Mass. Hey things happen. Friendships come and go, it's a part of life.

Trust me, I know the feeling.

mabe later on down the line he will add some new Charaters. But not right now.

If I had created something as great as the TMNT, I would resent television networks for altering the original story so much. It happens all the time. I know I'm not supposed to bash the old 'toon, and I won't, but this is what happens. If I put myself in Laird's shoes, it would irk me just the thought of changing the bandanas different colors. I think without the different colors the turtles wouldn't have been as big as they were. Kids respond much better to colors. This is what you get for turning all the rights to these people, so he shouldn't complain. Plus, he did make money. For the benefit of the new cartoon, it's a good thing he was angry enough to make some demands this time around.

If you think about it, if the first cartoon would have been true to the comic, with some animation similar to The Maxx (if any of you remember that), it would have attracted mostly more mature audiences and the movies would have been much darker. Probably something more along the lines of The Crow. But that's hard to say. It would have probably been ahead of it's time and never flourished. It's kind of fun to think about though.

Correction, Eastman was no more invoved with the old cartoon than Laird. On the mail pages of Mirage issues they tell that beyond the first season, they had almost nothing to do with the series. Another thing, on Eastman's message board he said that his and Laird's view of the TMNT became difffrent, he liked it more Violent and gritty[IE Bodycount] and I guess Laird's view is what we see in Volume 4. Why was Eastman doing the Next Mutarion then? Beats me.

A Quote from an Interview:

So to answer the question on the topic, no, Eastman And Laird don't hate the old cartoon. But they aren't a big fans of it either. Can you blame them, If I created a dark and gritty comic book I might not be too fond of Children's version of it either. Both have said the old cartoon could have been a lot better. Next mutation is a diffrent story, I'd say Laird hates it.

he said the that as long as he lives venus wouldn't come back, and.................NEUTRINOS?????.............wha t were they thinking :x

Yea Laird hates it, and is insanely jealous hat he probably gets 100 questions a day about when are Rocksteady & Bebop coming back? And rarely if ever got questioned about Fugitoid, which is his pet project.

However, he should respect a lot more of the old series, especially R & B. since he did have a hand in creating many of the original characters. I know for a fact he created guys like Bebop and Mutagen Man...so why not take credit for them, re-write their bios and re-introduce them to the series? Surely they'd be cooler then "Stonebiter" and all those crappy random monsters.

You got a good point there, Newton. It's better to nurture a character rather than scrap him.

Because Bebop and Rocksteady were originally VERY different from the characters you know and love. In the first season, they were very violent and wanted to kill the TMNT BADLY. After that, they became the childish characters you know today.

they didn't even care about mutating, until shredder mentioned that if they mutated they would be able to have some revenge. In my opinion they weren't that different, but kinda were

woah! You do not flat out insult one of the creators of the great turltes. it is more than understandable that is attitude is as it is. he beleives in the turtles' true beginnings. the old show(not to insult it) and NM drastically changed what the turtles were. his vision of the turtles should remain true, because that's the way it's supposed to be. he is resistant to change now because os how the turles of the 90's lost the true voice of tthe TMNT. i personally, being a hard-core fan of the comics, feel you have to learn to respect such a great man.

Ah its good to be back and have Karpo_007 rebuttle everything thats said about the Cartoon about how it was childish and can't compare to the comic.

I never said Laird would bring back R & B, cause I KNOW he won't, because he dislikes the fact that those characters are more popular then the ones he creates. In a definate way he is jealous.

Sorta like Vince McMahon holding down some of his top talent now, Booker T, Benoit, etc because he knows they were WCW creations and were more popular then his current guys.

Laird definately wants nothing to do with the Cartoon or the TNM, because he sees it all as bad ideas, even though he is willing to create tons of new characters, some equally as bad as the ones he complains about, but refuses to accept that he could have some good creations in some of the old characters.

Can't wait til I recreate R & B in my comics, they'll be very enjoyable characters. Tootles.

which of his characters are poor? Fugitoid was never given any chance in the old toon, just a toy.

and i agree it may be interesting to see some old characters like R & B i'd prefer not to. at least not in the Toon or in Vol. 4. i guess a story about them could be done in Tales, depending on how it's premie will be. but if you enter all those characters that other outlets created, it not only seems like he's running out of ideas, but you lose the true focus oof the TMNT

Well put, Karpo. It's aggravating to see people dogpiling on Laird's reputation just because they can't accept his original vision for the TMNT. Sorry to say it, kids, but the old cartoon simply isn't what Peter and Kevin had in mind when they created the TMNT back in 1983. It was deemed the most profitable, marketable version to put out in the mainstream market, and they accepted that and cashed in. Now, Peter's got a lot more clout and power over his creations, and he's able to create the show he really wanted. And I know some of you really miss Bebop and Rocksteady, but the simple fact is that Peter doesn't want them around. That's his call to make, and he doesn't 'need to respect' the old cartoon simply because you want him to. It's Laird's creation, and he's made his decision.

And, like Karpo said, old cartoon fans have 194 episodes devoted to their preferred version of the TMNT. So far, new TMNT fans have only seen about 30. So keep things in perspective and just live and let live, alright?

If you don't have anything to back up that accusation besides your own bitter theories, I'm going to politely ask you to stop repeating it. It's very disrespectful, and I don't think Peter deserves it.


You won't be able to, as you don't have the rights to the characters.

Well said. Really don't feel up to start arguing over something so riciculous as weather Laird is jealous or not. So let's leave it at that.

I can see the old fans knew more of the Cartoon than the comics.

for me when I seen them i think of the old show.

I didn't know the who the true TMNT until I found the offical website in mid 2002.

and since I know the creator of TMNT more when I view his interview on the DVD of the new show. I can see he didn't have any advantage for the old show or the movies or NTNM.

I don't think he's bossy but I can see he just wants to show the true version of TMNT in the way he likes it.

I would too feel the same for people making my creation of charaters in a wrong direction that leads to no where.

But atleast today he's happy with the way TMNT is today.

:tread: "the orignal creator shows the ture version to the work"

*gasps* oh man, if they did some stuff in the cartoon from the Archies...

Blindsight, or something along the same lines....would be INCREDIBLE...

Then there's a possibility that April might be turned into a turtle...

I love how some people get so upset about people opinions they start actually downing other people. Someone asked I question, I just gave my opinion on it.

I love the work Laird is doing with the turtles now, and honestly don't think anything should change with the cartoon or comics as they are now. I've never said anything other.

Someone asked if Laird hated the old cartoon and such, and I just responded with my opinion which I find is pretty informed. Anywho.

As for not being able to use R & B, I was referring to my figure comics, and I don't see myself getting sued over the use of them, since its just a fun "fan-fiction" website.

Some of you guys should take a chill pill. Its all about fun and Turtle Power!

:)

But your opinion is not correct, since interviews with Laird prove otherwise.

true, I would love to intervew peter laird. Des anybody know his e-mail and can PM me. I will put it on my site.

-_-...........its was an interview for the dvd or something, i don't knw

Eh, Karpo its a opinion. You can't tell me if MY opinion is correct, because its MY opinion. There is no right or wrong, with OPINIONS.

It would be interesting to hear Laird answer this question, as well as some more direct questions about the TMNT franchise. The last time I had a chance to meet him or Eastman was long before any of these questions were even around.

Eh, maybe he'll make the convention circuit sometime in the near future to promote all the new TMNT stuff.

Does anybody have his e-mail address? You I can e-mail him PM me.

You are right, let me put it this way: Saying what some other person thinks is not your opinion, it's a claim. Your claim is wrong, Laird has said many times he does not hate the cartoon, but neither he or Eastman were really happy how it turned out in the long run.

I think Laird is jelous that the old show characters are more popular then his, because they are. I think its a fact that the old show was more popular then the new show and the comics. I know I would be jelous if someone elses characters were more popular then mine.

I already said this, why on earth would he be jealous about the fact that children's cartoon characters are more popular? There is no reason. And since Mirage owns the characters, that would mean he is jealous of himself. Ridiculous claim that has nothing to back it up, I said it once, this should be dropped.

laird, etc.
 

I'll say this, if the rest of the cartoon series had been like the first five eps. I probably would enjoy it even more. Personally, I like Bebop and Rocksteady and the comedy they provide. But I liked them just as well in the first five too, they were cool as human punks. Just wanted to add this....back to the discussion of Laird.

Definetly, even today I wonder why they decided to change the series like that.