I really want to see Nightmares Recycled.
 

It's been 20 years, I'm really curious just HOW screwed up this episode was and the concept sounded awesome.

We know that the first pass was done on the episode, is there any chance of it EVER seeing the light of day now that so much time has passed?

That's the one where Hun and the Garbage Man were supposed to be revealed as twins, right?

4 Kids
 

Maybe, since the work with animation had begun before 4 Kids pulled the plug.

https://mutantooze.org/ninjaturtles/...opses/110.html

An interested fact is that Hun had another brother (not conjoined twin), named Ahnold, in the storybook Lean, Green Smackdown Machine, published late in August 2004.

Well what do you mean exactly by "see the light of day". I doubt much animation was ever done for any of that to be released. I think we did see some storyboards, depending on how far they were they might have storyboards for most of the episode and the script could come out. IIRC I think Peter laird commented that it was good it was cancelled since they didn't have the budget for it regardless or something along those lines, correct me if i'm wrong.

Now as far as the episode, I don't know I think I've mentioned this before in other Nightmare Recycle threads but the two gargbage man episodes are easily the worst in the series so I would not have wanted another episode with him, especially since it could taint the legacy of Hun who was good in his own right. But I guess if the episode was good I guess it coudl've also helped The Garbageman become a decent villain in the end?

Response
 

The fully animated rough cut of the episode that was produced, it's been confirmed to exist by a few people on this site and Emilio Lopez as well.

They should revive it into a one off comic with Khary Randolph as the artist. It'd be a cool way for fans to get some closure.

Continued
 

I think it could've been a really good episode and regardless of how you feel about it it still is an episode of the show that was never released for censorship reasons. I think for that reason alone it should be released in some form. I myself personally really enjoy the Garbageman episodes and I think this one could've been another Insane in the Membrane, being a good horror and character piece.

Most of if not the entire episode was already animated by the time the plug was pulled.

I mean that's just speculation, I really doubt the episode was anywhere near finished to the state that you think it is. I mean what exactly is a rough cut to you? To me that only means some state of the storyboards being either animated or put togther to what they want the animation to be, that's basically just a glorified stop motion comi made of the storyboards at best. There are no lines recorded, there's no episode that was done or sent to be animated.

I thinkt he script is the most you could expect to get an actual idea of what was going to happen.

It isn't speculation, it was blatantly confirmed by three different people that worked on the show. The first pass of animation was completed on the episode, voice lines were also recorded for it. The episode was animated and a rough cut was made for it. But a fully finished cut was not.

A rough cut can be any cut of something made for internal view lacking the polish of a finished version.

QUOTE=tortugapower;513244]Yes. They are dead in the water.



They were not that far along. Lost Season is complete (except for "Nightmare's Recycled" which is only in work print form, meaning it's watchable but has no music/foley/dialogue or animation retakes.)

From all I hear the retooling will probably make the show more along the lines of the movie.



Thanks![/QUOTE]

Looks like I was wrong. If it really got that far I'd love to see it released or leaked one day.
Hell someone like ZariusTwo would likely finish it up adding the missing grunts and whatnot.

I'm actually planning to if it's ever found, I'm very good at sound design and I already have a friend recreating the tracks from the show

I've always considered the story to be canon. Even though we never saw it, as far as I'm concerned it happened.

The episode being finished doesn't make sense, they seemed to cut it while working on it. They wouldn't spend money to produce the animation to axe it. This is like "Master Fighter 105" from Fast Forward Season 2, the animation wasn't done but you can hear the voice work.

The episode wasn't finished, they stopped it after it came back from the animation studio but before it could be sent back for corrections. It was finished to the point where it could be edited into a final cut but it would've needed work that the team didn't feel like putting into an episode that wouldn't make it to air.

The rough animation is what I'm talking about, not a fully finished episode.

As for the animation you're right that it doesn't really make sense to cut something that made it that far, but even the lead art director confirmed that a rough edit with the first pass animation was put together.

I swear I downloaded the animatic from some website back in the day.

You're probably thinking of Master Fighter 2105, the first episode to the canned FF Season 2. That was released on the 4Kids website back in the day.

This was an episode from Season 5, as far as I know nothing from it outside of some concept art and some storyboards have surfaced.

I do wonder why they even tried to push the envelope so much knowing the episode can be canceled or banned and they risk doing all that work for nothing.

Maybe somebody from 4Kids still has all this stuff. If PAramount was inclined they could request 4Kids material and throw it up on youtube with ads for a bit of free money.

Everything's done years in advance, it most likely started production before the network started getting cold feet about the darker content. By the time Insane in the Membrane was banned a lot of work on Season 5 was done so they probably didn't know until late in production that the episode wouldn't make it to air.

It's possible but they'd definitely not be allowed to release anything, Emilio did confirm that if the rough cut still exists it would be at Paramount as all their production materials for TMNT were transferred to them when the rights shifted.

Hopefully a 4Kids era fan will join the team at some point and pitch the idea of sticking the materials up on youtube. I say if you've got it, milk it.

I don't remember if I saw this when it was first posted, but in 2023 Emilio Lopez shared some colored concept art and model sheets from the episode. Ever wondered what Hun's parents looked like? Lol.

https://x.com/EMannLand/status/1684299544366817281

I always just assumed Hun’s mother looked exactly like Hun except in a sundress and plumed hat.

lol that is a terrifying image

LMAO XD
Hun really took after his mother!

I know! It was really cool to see some colored art of the episode after all these years of just having those two sketch drawings! If you look in the replies you can also see him confirm the episode got really far in production!

The ironic thing is I'm willing to bet Nickelodeon would have allowed it to be produced and aired. The 2012 series was notorious for doing some dark stuff, even if it came out a little cheesy.

Good point. That’s what made it awesome in my opinion.

I agree. Any body horror related to Hun and Garbage Man is similar to stuff like that failed April clone.

You know what I realised? We kinda have something like this episode already.

So Emilio Lopez confirmed that someone on his team may still have the rough cut for the episode with the first-pass animation, tho it's unlikely to release.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TMNT2003/s/UztxAktHKb

If Dinosaur Planet could make to the public, then so can this!

Lmao April Derp. Looking at April if you did acid. Almost forgot about that.

I need to go back and watch those episodes. Been a while. Forgetting so much on that series now

Did they ever do clone April in the comics ?

I didn't catch wind if this at the time but Emilio Lopez confirmed back in 2022 that Nightmares Recycled was fully animated before being cut. Check the 20 minute mark.

https://on.soundcloud.com/kuu3LDapwuFZmzC8lM

https://on.soundcloud.com/kuu3LDapwuFZmzC8lM

Check the 20 minute mark. Emilio Lopez confirms it was fully animated.
It doesn't make any sense, I agree.

This is news. I thought it didn't get beyond storyboard stage before Fox pulled it from the production cycle. It should have been treated just like Insane in The Membrane. It would have been perfect for it to debut on the series DVD series release.

I seriously doubt animation was fully completed. I feel like it's like FF Season 2's first ep, "Master Fighter 2105" which has full animatrics/storyboards and voice acting but no completed animation

I just sent you proof that it was. Emilio Lopez would know, he was heavily involved with production on the show.

He says it was "fully animated", I don't know what else that could mean. He has also expressed a few times on Twitter that the episode had a fully animated "take one with a rough edit", that means it was animated.


From the way he says it, it sounds like they were abruptly told to stop. Real confusing all around especially with how much money it would've cost to have the episode written, storyboarded, layed out, voice acted and animated, the fact that it was just scrapped is insane to me.

You'd think it'd cost less to just do post on it and release it straight to DVD or at least include what was done as a bonus feature.

If it was almost completely done (like maybe 90% done with some voice/music edits or rough edges), it would have been leaked. How do you think we got Master Fighter 2105 leaked? It was the first episode of the canceled Season 2 of Fast Forward, it was never officially released but it somehow got leaked on youtube 15+ years ago. Fully voiced episode with storyboards of every scene but no finished animation.

At best I can see it being partial animated with rough sketches in place, keep in mind animators use different terms than we do. If such an episode exists in any form, it would have wound up on the internet at some point.

And if it really was a fully complete 90-100% done episode, there's no way it wouldn't have gotten an official release on DVD at some point even if they skipped it on TV. Insane in the Membrane has always been on all the DVDs, both the old ones from 4kids and the new ones, the same would have happened here. The old Ninja Tribunal DVD from 2007-2008 or whatever it was doesn't have it.

I know that. It doesn't make sense at all. But he literally said it was fully animated, those were his exact words. I don't think he would've said that if it was only partially animated.

Also, Insane in the Membrane was finished. That's the only reason it got released at all. Nightmares wasn't. It was apparently close but it never had a final edit. Many people have claimed it was fully animated including Emilio Lopez, a few people went into more detail about how done it was on these forums.

Quote about the episode from 2007. Written by a 4Kids employee

Second post about the episode by another user that worked at 4Kids.

More info on it from the first user.

Same claim from the first user around 2008.

Side note: Master Fighter 2105 was not leaked. It was released on the 4Kids website and later reposted to YouTube, from what a few 4Kids employees were saying at the time there might have been similar plans for Nightmares Recycled but those clearly never materialized.

After all these years, cybercubed’s still got it :lol: