Unreleased movie from early 2000's

[EZweasel]

I remember there being footage or a picture of a costumed splinter (possibly animatronic) climbing up a ladder. I believe this was in production when Eastman and Laird still owned the turtles. It was being produced along side the early 2000's Ninja turtles cartoon. Anyone know where I can see these pictures or footage? Thanks.

[Leolead]

Curious about this as well.

[psychturtle]

Hmm remember this much. Intriguing!

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by EZweasel

I remember there being footage or a picture of a costumed splinter (possibly animatronic) climbing up a ladder. I believe this was in production when Eastman and Laird still owned the turtles. It was being produced along side the early 2000's Ninja turtles cartoon. Anyone know where I can see these pictures or footage? Thanks.

If it was early 2000s then Eastman had nothing to do with it. He sold out right around 2000.

[Powder]

No clue what you're talking about. The only movie worked on during the 4kids series' run was 2007's TMNT. There were some things being developed prior, in like 2001, but nothing that had any footage. None of them got anywhere near a stage involving the creation of props, let alone animatronics/costume/etc.

[Sabacooza]

Wasn't that a Hallmark special that was being worked on or did I dream that up? They did a test for Splinter and Laird said it looked very convincing? I have no idea but it sounds familiar.

[Powder]

That's what would've been closest timeline-wise. I never read about a test though, let alone seen footage. If that's out there, I've gotta see it ASAP!

[TurtleTitan97]

Originally Posted by Powder

That's what would've been closest timeline-wise. I never read about a test though, let alone seen footage. If that's out there, I've gotta see it ASAP!

Looks like it's time to send out the call!

Go forth, my Turtle brethren! Seek out whatever is out there and bring it here post haste!!

[Sabacooza]

Seeing as how movies are so bloated with computer effects these days, it would be nice to see what these practical effects looked like.

I also remember somewhere before Laird sold the property there was talk of making another live action movie and Laird was aiming to do it like "Where the Wild Things Are" where they had suits but cg animation for the facial expressions. I think I read somewhere that they did a test on some 1990 movie footage where they enhanced their facial expressions with cgi. Again, I might be remembering incorrectly but it all sounds vaguely familiar.

[TurtleTitan97]

Originally Posted by Sabacooza

I also remember somewhere before Laird sold the property there was talk of making another live action movie and Laird was aiming to do it like "Where the Wild Things Are" where they had suits but cg animation for the facial expressions. I think I read somewhere that they did a test on some 1990 movie footage where they enhanced their facial expressions with cgi. Again, I might be remembering incorrectly but it all sounds vaguely familiar.

Oh man, that would been so cool. I loved the "Where the Wild Things Are", those kind of special effects would work perfectly for a Turtles movie.

[EZweasel]

It's the hallark special previously mentioned. I swear I seen a picture or video back in the day though. I have no idea where I'd find it though. Even if it is buried deep in this forum the link would have to be dead by now. There is concept art on google for the mini series, but it was all I could find. Pretty cool. They were aiming for a gritty faithful comic book adaption.

[d_osborn]

Originally Posted by Sabacooza

I also remember somewhere before Laird sold the property there was talk of making another live action movie and Laird was aiming to do it like "Where the Wild Things Are" where they had suits but cg animation for the facial expressions. I think I read somewhere that they did a test on some 1990 movie footage where they enhanced their facial expressions with cgi. Again, I might be remembering incorrectly but it all sounds vaguely familiar.

That was the pre-Nick "Nolan Batman-esque" project that was being written by John Fusco. I've heard the script was pretty kick ass-- was told way better than the scripts generated by Platinum Dunes.

I vaguely remember reading about CGI tests done from the movie. Laird is pretty adamant about not posting that stuff due to rights issues. He was pretty open with the 4Kids and Imagi development material. Then again, those projects were actually produced, so who knows. It would be great to see, though.

Originally Posted by EZweasel

They were aiming for a gritty faithful comic book adaption.

Yeah, the OP is referring to the Steve Barron Hallmark mini-series that was being developed from around 2001-2003. The script was being generated by the writers that worked on one of the unproduced TMNT 4 projects from the late-90s. Maquettes for the TMNT, Splinter, and Shredder were sculpted, and a five-minute test for the Splinter costume was completed. Laird has all of this material but has never posted it. According to him, it was VERY cool and had the potential to out-shine the Henson work on the movies.

The Hallmark mini-series project development was mentioned in a press release announcing the unproduced CGI TMNT movie from John Woo's Digital Rim Entertainment. Here are the Hallmark blurbs:

Steve Barron, director of the original TMNT feature film, is attached to helm a Hallmark Entertainment miniseries featuring the CGI versions of the half-shelled heroes. The two-night, four-hour program will blend CGI Turtles with live actors, replacing the prosthetics of past Turtles films and live-action TV series. The yet-to-be-greenlighted mini may air on the Hallmark Channel between May 2003 and May 2004. The current plan is to release the TV movie before the feature film.

Director Steve Barron told THR, "The Ninja Turtles miniseries that Hallmark and I are developing will be a darker, more streetwise view of the characters. Taking its tone from the original comics, it will be an atmospheric and spectacular reinvention of the franchise using today's CGI technology to leap into the 21st century."

Here are a few blurbs from Laird on the Hallmark project from his Blast From the Past articles:

Several weeks ago, I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Steve Barron (director of the first TMNT movie) again for several days of meetings here in Northampton, meetings having to do with a potential TMNT project about which I can't really say anything right now.

A couple of cool things came in this week. First, we got some photos of the sculpts being done for the live action Hallmark TV movie. These are clay maquettes created to fine-tune the look of the Turtles and Splinter before going on to create the suits and computer models. And they look pretty darn spiffy! I'll see if I can post a couple of the photos.

But the coolest thing I got to see this week was a short (about five minutes long) video of a rough "proof of concept" test -- filmed in London by the people designing the costumes for the Hallmark live-action TV movie -- of the Splinter costume. It was freakin' EERIE. Splinter (portrayed by a short actor within the rough suit) was shown gesturing, walking around, climbing ladders and stairs, and fighting... and it looked AMAZING. As much as I loved the work the Henson group did on Splinter in the first two TMNT movies, I think this one is going to blow that one away. I can't wait to see more. I've been told they are going to start work on a maquette of the Shredder shortly. We've already approved the sculpts of the four Turtles, which are extremely cool. I'm chompin' at the bit to post some of these images, but for various reasons have to wait a little bit.

More fun things to look at this week... as well as photos of a beautiful new Splinter head sculpt and a very nice Shredder macquette for the Hallmark project.

Also, it smelled a little like the end of that proposed Hallmark Turtles project (when all the Turtles’ spirits merged) which, at the time, you weren’t too fond of.

I drew and colored this to illustrate a concept under discussion for use in the abandoned Hallmark TMNT tv movie project back in 2003. I'd have to go back and read that script to be absolutely sure exactly what part this critter was supposed to have played in the story, but I vaguely recall something about an "astral plane avatar" or something of that ilk. It's a weird-looking thing, but I kind of like it!

Barron and his storyboard artist from TMNT90 collaborated on some designs for the project. Some of it has popped up over the years. Some of the accessories ring very Platinum Dunes.

[Anima Gemini]

Great post, d_osborn! I actually JUST rounded up all that same material and was about to post all the links on here, haha! But you did a much better job than I was planning on doing by making this slick little presentation out of everything. Thank you!

Here's one more snippet from one of Peter's "Ask PL" blog posts:

It's been many a year since I worked on that stuff, and almost as long since I have looked at it, so a lot of the details are a bit hazy. But I do recall we were working with an idea which incorporated a lot of wild action on the "astral plane", a mystic realm. It was not, I don't think, intended to be a continuation of Steve's TMNT movie.

Rights issues preclude me from doing this, but I would love to be able to post images of the TMNT maquette which was sculpted and painted in England during the initial phases of the project. There was also a very cool five or ten minute long video of an actress dressed in a prototype Splinter costume, stalking around some back alleys in England and demonstrating martial arts moves. The costume incorporated some foot pieces which gave a realistic animal leg appearance -- these were to be later edited out with CGI. It could have been very cool. -- PL

http://peterlairdstmntblog.blogspot..../ask-pl-6.html

[Powder]

Well I'll be. I didn't realize they had gotten any farther than concept art on that. I've been misled, curse you, internet! Too bad we'll likely never see any of that stuff. Ah well, maybe it's for the best. If it was gonna be as cool as he hoped, better not to know what we missed, eh?

[thundermaster612]

Found something
http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/sho...1909&styleid=6

[Mew]

Damn, that's interesting.. I like that TMNT art posted earlier.

[d_osborn]

Originally Posted by Anima Gemini

Here's one more snippet from one of Peter's "Ask PL" blog posts:...

HA! I should have remembered that, as I was the person Laird was responding to. Thanks for posting! It's cool having all of this stuff in one thread.

Originally Posted by Powder

Too bad we'll likely never see any of that stuff.

You never know when this kind of stuff will pop up! Especially with the new documentary in the works.

I agree, though... it's a shame development material isn't made more available after projects are shared. Money was spent generating the content-- they might as well make a little money off of it from fans like us. I'd pay $10 for a script download!

[psychturtle]

Man that is awesome. I never knew about it. I guess this means there are new questions to ask Laird at his next Q&A lol

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Back at the old Ninjaturtles website, there was a FAQ abouht an upcoming TMNT movie. The answer was it would tell the story of the turtles visiting Dimension X and fighting Krang. It remained there for a very long time (at least as late as 2004).

[EZweasel]

Thanks for all of the replies. I must have remembered the details through the eyes of Laird even though in my mind I felt I seen it through my own. I remember being so disappointed when the movie was cancelled.