Hypothetical: How would you handle the next reboot if we don't get a sequel?

[Warhorse]

Originally Posted by Powder

I mostly just meant on a scene shooting level. The cinematography of the new film is very poor, IMO.

Yeah it was. I had a hard time making out what the hell was going on half the time. Especially during the fight scenes. Captain America 2 was shaky, but damn, at least I could still see what the f$%^&ck was going on. Not with TMNT though.

[shuriken]

If I were to make a trilogy I'd incorporate some of these elements into my universe.
-I'd have them be ninjas that rely on stealth and finesse as opposed to brute strength. That being said Raph would be the physically strongest of the bunch while not being Hulk jr.
-Have them use elbow pads, knee pads and hand/foot wraps. Of course some of their gear will be slightly different. Leo is more streamlined, Donnie would have a full utility belt, Mikey is a bit more flashy and Raph is the most traditional, only with Jin Kazama like gauntlets.
-their height would range from 5-8(Donnie), 5-7 (Leo and Raph) and 5-5 (Mikey) Splinter will be around 4 feet tall.
-Let the Turtles be the main focus, with emphasis on Leo (he never had a big focus in ANY of the movies, always upstaged by one of his brothers).
-Have it be Casey Jones that meets the Turtles first, after getting into it with some Purple Dragons. It'd be cool to see the crime wave through his eyes first.
-Incorporate elements of IDW as in the reincarnation angle and Stockman being one of the minds behind the ooze.
-April would be a part of the movie, but it wouldn't revolve around her.
-Have Angel, Chet, Harold, Nobody(the cop) and Woody be in the movies. None of these characters are guaranteed to last through the whole movie.
-Turtles would not be bullet proof. Just their shells, and even then it would hurt like hell.
-Leo Slices and dices, Mikey and Donnie use Blunt force trauma and Raph goes for pressure points and weak spots.
-Foot Ninjas will use various weapons, including guns, but katana, yari's, staffs, nun chucks, and sais are used more.

1st movie- The TMNT vs the Purple Dragons and their Leader Hun, who is working for the underworld kingpin the Shredder. As opposed to IDW though Splinter only has flashes of his past life, and as the story goes, he remembers more and more of their origin. Movie ends with Oroko Saki's apparent death and Casey overcoming his corrupted father Hun.

2nd- Baxter Stockman and General Krang attempting to terra form Earth. Eventually Baxter turns on Krang, helping the Turtles destroy the Technodrome and send Krang to Dimension x. The toll on the TMNT is great as all of them are left battered and broken in the final battle, leaving New York to Casey's old Farm house. Baxter survives and has a whole batch of ooze just waiting to be utilized.

3rd-The Turtles return to New York only to find it in worse shape than ever as the Foot, Purple Dragons and various crime syndicates are vying for control. Meanwhile Baxter begins selling his ooze on the black market while experimenting with it, essentially playing all sides. Shredder seemingly returns from the grave to exact revenge on the Turtles. With Baxter's help he is able to create 3 clones and a massive snapping turtle Mutant affectionately called Slash. various other syndicates create their own mutant monstrosities, Bloodsucker and Old Hob come to mind.

[Shark_Blade]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Quit trollin

I'm not.

He's better than Liebsman at overall bringing movie scenes to life, though I take it as it is with the reboot. It's still good, mind.

[Technogeek29]

Originally Posted by shuriken

If I were to make a trilogy I'd incorporate some of these elements into my universe.
-I'd have them be ninjas that rely on stealth and finesse as opposed to brute strength. That being said Raph would be the physically strongest of the bunch while not being Hulk jr.
-Have them use elbow pads, knee pads and hand/foot wraps. Of course some of their gear will be slightly different. Leo is more streamlined, Donnie would have a full utility belt, Mikey is a bit more flashy and Raph is the most traditional, only with Jin Kazama like gauntlets.
-their height would range from 5-8(Donnie), 5-7 (Leo and Raph) and 5-5 (Mikey) Splinter will be around 4 feet tall.
-Let the Turtles be the main focus, with emphasis on Leo (he never had a big focus in ANY of the movies, always upstaged by one of his brothers).
-Have it be Casey Jones that meets the Turtles first, after getting into it with some Purple Dragons. It'd be cool to see the crime wave through his eyes first.
-Incorporate elements of IDW as in the reincarnation angle and Stockman being one of the minds behind the ooze.
-April would be a part of the movie, but it wouldn't revolve around her.
-Have Angel, Chet, Harold, Nobody(the cop) and Woody be in the movies. None of these characters are guaranteed to last through the whole movie.
-Turtles would not be bullet proof. Just their shells, and even then it would hurt like hell.
-Leo Slices and dices, Mikey and Donnie use Blunt force trauma and Raph goes for pressure points and weak spots.
-Foot Ninjas will use various weapons, including guns, but katana, yari's, staffs, nun chucks, and sais are used more.

1st movie- The TMNT vs the Purple Dragons and their Leader Hun, who is working for the underworld kingpin the Shredder. As opposed to IDW though Splinter only has flashes of his past life, and as the story goes, he remembers more and more of their origin. Movie ends with Oroko Saki's apparent death and Casey overcoming his corrupted father Hun.

2nd- Baxter Stockman and General Krang attempting to terra form Earth. Eventually Baxter turns on Krang, helping the Turtles destroy the Technodrome and send Krang to Dimension x. The toll on the TMNT is great as all of them are left battered and broken in the final battle, leaving New York to Casey's old Farm house. Baxter survives and has a whole batch of ooze just waiting to be utilized.

3rd-The Turtles return to New York only to find it in worse shape than ever as the Foot, Purple Dragons and various crime syndicates are vying for control. Meanwhile Baxter begins selling his ooze on the black market while experimenting with it, essentially playing all sides. Shredder seemingly returns from the grave to exact revenge on the Turtles. With Baxter's help he is able to create 3 clones and a massive snapping turtle Mutant affectionately called Slash. various other syndicates create their own mutant monstrosities, Bloodsucker and Old Hob come to mind.

I could go with that. One thing I would change is Yoshi expecting to be a father but never getting the chance, Saki will kill Shen before she gives birth. Of course you have to feel for Saki to so Yoshi had to have taken something equally as viable. What I'm not sure it would add the one missing element from the Mirage with Splinter raising the Turtles out of selfish gain (at least at first) later learns to care about them beyond his personal vendetta.

[D Piddy 1982]

It's been touched on here already, so I'm really only posting to say I agree with the notion of starting the first film based on Stockman and his mousers, with a dark shadowy figure in the background - Shredder. But no Turtles vs Shredder fight in this film.

On top of that you could even have the Krang directing Shredder.

I would also have Splinter as Yoshi mutated into a rat, not a rat into human form. I would also like to see a Splinter that appears old and weak but can make audiences gasp with surprise when he has a fight with Shredder in further films.

But yeah. Drop the Shredder as the be all and end all for a main bad guy/only option.

It all seems so simple and obvious. How they mucked this 2014 reboot up I'll never know...

[Basti50]

If I could do a reboot, I would probably also shoot for a trilogy structure, following the turtles from their 16th to 18th birthday and their development from children to teenagers to adults to heroes.

This post actually got quiet long as I kept on writing, especially for the second part, so I've put them in spoiler tags for better readability. EDIT: Actually had to split the post up too as it did hit the characters limit, wow! I tend to blather, sorry

Spoiler:

The first film has the theme of young people trying to find their place in the world. This is emphasized by the turtles initial lack of distinguishable features (no colour code and they switch weapons among each other occasionally).
I guess it would start out with the turtles sneaking out against Splinters wishes to explore the brave new world outside. The climax of that being them aiding Casey Jones protecting his parents store against some street punks. He serves as their link to the above world for the rest of the film and comes up with the idea of distinguishing them by colour as he has a hard time to tell them apart. To do that he hands them torn off pieces from a peace flag, meant as wristbands. This is when comic book nerd Mickey comes up with the idea of using them as masks instead and for the turtles to take on a 'hero identity'. He argues that by doing so, they could use their training to do some good and there might be even a small hope that they will, ultimately, get accepted by the world at large as they got accepted by Casey. So this is how it all begins: four teenagers having a silly idea.
The rest of the film focuses mostly on team building and establishing the turtles personalities as they + Casey clean up the streets of New York from criminals. The fights are primarily teens vs. teens with lots of improvised weaponry and fighting styles. You can see a crass contrast between the enemies they face (teenagers from broken homes, those with no hope for a better future or those who are just bored of life in general) and themselves (as they lived a rather sheltered life up until that point). The main antagonist is revealed to be Hun, head of the Purple Dragon, who is exploiting these youths to do the dirty work. It ends with a climatic battle between him and the turtles (o'course) and his arrest by the police. While it is shown that the destruction of the Purple Dargon isn't a cure for all ills (especially considering those criminal teens), it gives the turtles the motivation to carry on with what they're doing as they see themselves on the right track. In the last scene, we witness Hun confessing to some detectives that he was involved in illegal foreign weapon trade and that he's willing to exchange informations for some 'juridical favours'. Specifically, he's willing to give out informations about that Foot Clan the detectives are asking him about as those transactions were fairly recently. Before Hun gets a chance to spill his guts however, the detectives are revealed to be agents of the very same Foot Clan and it is heavily implied that they do/will assassinate Hun to protect their secrets.

Spoiler:

Fast forward one year later to the second film, we watch as the conflict between turtles and Foot Clan unfolds. The turtles are an established urban legend by now and feared by the underworld.
It starts with Mickey having a talk with Splinter about how he's afraid that his brothers are growing apart. Donnie spends more time with his research rather than helping them out. Raph (and Casey for that matter) grows increasingly frustrated that crime still apparently flourishes in New York, despite their best efforts and that feeling is starting to turn him into a tireless zealot, much to Mickeys dismay. Leonardo on the other hand, while trying to keep his brothers save from increasingly dangerous foes, is less and less willing to put them to risk and Mickey has the suspicion that his brother is going solo in secret. He would like to change the situation but is concerned that this might be just the nature of things when growing up and he would be trying to fix what isn't broken. Splinter however encourages him very much to get involved if he truly wishes so as people's characters are also forged by the people surrounding them which too is quiet natural, for better or worse.
Switching over to Donnie who is chatting with an online friend. He, indirectly, confesses to him/her that he doesn't feel like he shares the passion of his brothers when it comes to fighting the good fight and that he sees his true destiny in the scientific field. Strangely enough, his friend in response asks him if he was ever in the position to have to do something dangerous for the right purpose.
The friend turns out to be April O'Neil, who works as an intern at an American-Japanese shipping company, which serves as a legal front for the Foot Clan's weapon smuggling. She finds out about it by accident as a file not meant for her passes her desk which reveals some of those illegal transactions and hinting at the connection between her company and the Japanese crime syndicate. By 'doing something dangerous' she means bringing those files to the authorities before someone realizes that they are missing.
Donnie responds that he had indeed been in the position and that he still did it anyway since it seemed like the right thing to do, unwittingly encouraging April to go forth with her plan. She returns to the office at night to retrieve the files but, due to an unfortunate chain of events, has to retreat to the office cafeteria before she can make her escape with them. There, she bumps into Oruko Saki on his quest to conquer his jet-lag with some caffeine. A rather short but muscular man, apparently in his late forties, with his face disfigured by large scars, which would seem frightening if it wouldn't be for his friendly, slightly helpless manners as a foreigner. He introduces himself as a prospective customer who just moved to the US with his family in hopes to expands his own business across international borders. While the conversation between him and April has a friendly tone, Saki doesn't fail to recognize the file she's carrying with her. Once she makes her hastily retreat, he contacts his henchmen to follow and eliminate the leak.
April is therefore soon attacked by Foot Clan ninjas when returning to her apartment but is saved by the turtles. They have been trying to shadow the Foot for a while by now but had a hard time doing so as these people, unlike the criminals they've faced before, actually know the trade (which, as a plus for the viewer, also results in more professional martial arts fight scenes). April is their first concrete lead to bring the organisation down and also the first to bring up the name Saki, who, after some research, is assumed to be the Foot's head of operation in New York.
Feigning hope that they can resolve the conflict with help of April's evidence, Leonardo later on tries to assassinate Saki on his own as he believes it to be the necessary choice that has to be made, if they want to get rid of the Foot for good. The attempt fails but Saki, believing to recognize the fighting techniques of the green demon as those of someone he once knew, offers him a strange 'deal' in form of regular training sessions. If Leo manages to beat him only once, he will leave with no need for anyone to get their hands dirty. These sessions are of course more of a ruse to gather more intel on the turtles but it also gives Saki a good opportunity trying to manipulate a clearly morally conflicted Leo with his own lessons about right and wrong.

[Basti50]

Part 2 continued

Spoiler:

The film splits up into two story threads from here: The main plot focuses in the heroes (including April & Casey) trying to fight the Foot on all fronts while keeping each other alive. The secondary plot involves the turtles consulting either Splinter (Mickey, Donnie, Raph) or Saki (Leo) about their internal struggles. Each of these conversation would trigger a flashback that depicts the life Saki and his best friend, Hamato Yoshi, from their time as street children to partners in crime until they get recruited by the Foot Clan. A once honourable league of peasants loyal to the emperor in the Japanese medieval times, now turned into a den of criminal minded pragmatists, who are willing to go to any lengths to prove their worthiness. Working their way up the food chain, both men fall in love with a woman called Tang Shen, the daughter of the 'Ancient One', a high ranking member of the Foot.
Those flashbacks aren't necessarily in chronological order as they are primarily setting up the connection between the virtues of the individual turtles and of those characters from the past, as well as showcasing for the later how these virtues can get corrupted as time goes on. In more technical terms of virtue/corruption that would be
Mickey → Shen = Innocence / Helplessness,
Raph → Yoshi = Ambition / Carelessness,
Leonardo → Saki = Responsibility / Paranoia
Donnie → Saki = Thoughtfulness / Over-thinking
The most creepy thing about those insights is that you can see the phantom of a good person within the Saki character (e.g. his refusal to use guns because he once accidentally shot a bystander during a robbery gone ugly) which is still kinda there yet twisted to something horrible (e.g. he will claim to Leo that there is no way to conquer the evils of this world but there are ways to control it, which, in his mind, is what he's trying to do).
Meanwhile, Splinter has also become aware that the turtles are in pursuit of the Foot and is doing his part to resolve the conflict his own way. This includes a surprise visit to Shen who is very much alive and who is currently sharing a rather unhappy marriage with Saki. While he doesn't show his appearance to her, he reveals himself to be Yoshi. This doesn't earn him much with the estranged Saki, who blames him for something that happened in the past and refuses him help.
It is around that point that Saki has figured out that the turtles must have been trained by Yoshi and has a fairly accurate pinpoint on their location. He gives Leo one last chance to beat him in a training session, which he again loses. Saki then apologizes to his new scaly friend that he's ruined his final opportunity to come out of this clean before Leo gets ambushed and captured. He's used as bait to lure Splinter and the turtles out of the lair while Saki's ninjas can clear out their lair of any evidence and leave a nasty surprise, in case the heroes make it back. This plan is partly thwarted by April, who is hiding out in the lair for protection and Donnie, who claims that he's more use on the computer and thus stayed behind, although they fail to save the evidence.
Splinter faces Saki for the first time after all these years and the later reveals that he had Shen killed shortly after Splinter's visit as he 'wasn't willing to take chances'. This causes him to be attacked by an enraged Splinter but he's able to fend it off, mortally wounding his former friend in the process. The rest of the cast manages to save both Leo and Splinter and retreat to Casey's place to recuperate.
Splinter, on death's doorstep, tells them the final part of his and Saki's story in Japan. He confesses that the Ancient One chose Saki over him for Shen's hand and thus, indirectly, to be his successor. Enraged by both the loss of Shen and his jealousy of Saki's success, he ambushed him and forced him to a fight to the death. Using the trademark bladed gauntlets, he brutally beat Saki, disfiguring his face and almost killed him if it hadn't been for a last minute intervention by Foot Clan members, which prompted Splinter/Yoshi to flee Japan in shame. After finishing his story, Splinter apologizes to his sons that he wasn't able to protect them from his past but, if anything, he hopes that he was able to set them on the right path, so they would not do the same mistakes in the future.
The turtles, apparently out for revenge, challenge Saki to one final fight on the New Yorker rooftops where they face off against him, now fully armoured and his elite ninjas. This turns out to be a ruse to give April and Casey a chance to infiltrate the Foot's local headquarters, severely crippling their operations in the US. Angered by that realisation, Saki disarms Leo and is about deal the finishing blow when Leo suddenly stabs him repeatedly with a hidden knife. Seeing as there is no longer a way for him to get out of this alive, Saki claws himself into Leo's shoulder and tries to blow them both up. Raph makes a last second save by ripping them both apart and kicking Saki off the roof just before the explosion goes off.
The story ends on a quiet note, with everyone sitting together, still physically and psychologically exhausted but glad to be together and with the turtles having resolved their internal struggles. Donnie realizes that it's a good thing to be able to put your thoughts to action as well, Mickey is more confident when speaking his own mind against his brothers, Raph admits that being obsessed with the 'big picture' doesn't bring you much when you lose sight of the people you care about and Leo is now willing to share responsibilities with his brothers as only tyrants make lone decisions for everybody.
The film closes with a recovered Splinter proclaiming that this gathering is not to celebrate a victory but the end of a tragedy.

Spoiler:

Film number three deals with a full blown Triceraton invasion on earth and the turtles using all their accumulated ninja skills to drive back an enemy who has the advantage in numbers, physical strength and technology.
It starts off on Cassey's family farm with a badly hurt Donnie waking up in the bathtub. The others explain to him that his injuries are due to a failed bomb disposal he walked out of too late and that the Triceraton have taken over New York. After a short recreation period to establish the scenario, the turtles & Co return to the Big Apple to set things right. Despite some gritty scenes about Triceraton prison camps and the depiction of their brutality against New Yorker citizens, the rest of the story has mostly a very light tone and is more of a parody of modern superhero films with several jabs at common tropes. This includes a complaint of Raph about the apparent need to tell their origin story anew at every opportunity, the necessity for big explosions to happen although the turtles actually do the most damage when they aren't heard, unnecessary yet glorified self-sacrifices and the discovery of one convenient 'kill switch' for the entire invasion fleet.
The finale has the turtles travelling to space to the alien mother ship, facing the main villain, a very ill tempered Triceraton warlord, before activating the self destruct system. However, as the explosion radius is too large, Donnie is forced to make a jump through space to an unknown location in the galaxy before he and his brothers can make their escape. Now stranded in a galaxy far, far away, Raph remarks that, seeing they just saved the entire world, one more adventure isn't going to kill them, so they set forth to find their way home.