Peter Laird LIKES The Coming Out of Their Shells Tour?!

[Konchadunga]

I don't know how well this cash-in sits with the fanbase, but one person I never would have bet had a high opinion of it is Peter Laird. He's become rather infamous for his aversion to the cheesy version of the Turtles that became popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, and absolute hatred of TNM, so it stood to reason that the more goofy and fringe the product, the moire he'd disapprove.

Yet according to the "Greenbacks" chapter in the Ultimate Visual History book, he went to the show in New York and liked it. I don't think he's pulling his punches for the purposes of a rose-tinted book, because he doesn't in the chapter about the Fred Wolf show, and plus, he never had to say anything about TMNTCOOTST; positive or negative.

Not sure what the purpose of this thread is, but I thought it was interesting to note.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

Well that's something...

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by whatswiththeheadbands?

Well that's something...

And can't even begin to imagine what. Those "tour" costumes make the Next Mutation ones look pretty good. Clips I've seen of that tour stuff are just uncomfortable to watch. >.<

[neatoman]

Well I've always had some sympathy for his dislike of the cartoon when it's not really anything I grew up with, as such I see more what's wrong with it rather than the redeeming qualities.

But he liked Coming out of our shells? Well, I've heard stranger opinions from creators.

[Shark_Blade]

Kevin Eastman likes The Next Mutation!

STOP THE PRESSES!

Both men have such weird taste at some point I reckon.

[Mutant Ninja Anole]

10 year old MNA listened to the audio cassette tape of their songs on his walkman way too many times for me to criticize the Turtle Rock Band concert much, no matter how cringe worthy it may seem to look back on.

If nothing else, it gave us "Pizza Power" and a rockin arcade game theme.

[Darth Knuckles]

Yeah I've always been surprised at how much flak the Coming Out Of Their Shells Tour gets. The show itself was fine for kids and that was the point of it. I've always thought a hand full of songs are still pretty darn good all things considered. As Mutant Ninja Anole noted, "Pizza Power" is awesome and was on the arcade game for Turtles In Time which, last time I looked, is still the best TMNT video game.

I've always really liked "Pizza Power", "Count On Us", "No Treaties", "Walk Straight", & "Tubin". I definitely like the music better than the show I've got on VHS, but I still enjoyed it when I was a kid. And from time to time I listen to those songs again and enjoy them.

[Wildcat]

^ Yup I love those songs too.

I had the VHS tape and audio cassette tape. Watched the VHS so much I basically destroyed it. It barely played at all last time I popped it into a vcr, which I don't have anymore. Its a fun show even if the costumes are cheap.

I wish they'd put it on DVD. I listen to the songs on Youtube now and then.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I still like all of those songs, as well, as well as "Skipping Stones" and "Sing About It." Say what you will about the show itself, the music was pretty darn good, all things considered!

[Leo656]

I genuinely don't get the hate for the Coming Out Of Their Shells tour. It was, literally, the TMNT equivalent of the Batman Stunt Show. Literally, as in, they were both developed to entertain very young kids at f*cking Six Flags in between the rollercoaster and the dolphin show. I never hear Batman fans gripe about how cheesy the Stunt Show costumes are, or that the Robin who got shot out of a cannon was clearly a cheesy inflatable stunt dummy, for example.

The amount of hype Coming Out Of Their Shells got, with the Pizza Hut deal and the video cassette - which was all done solely because TMNT was SO hot in that five-minute window that literally anything with the logo would sell huge - was the only reason I can see for it becoming such a talked-about thing among the fans. Also, it was A Very Special Time, the late-80s/early-90s, where you could do certain things in the name of entertainment that absolutely would not work today, and I can understand that people who didn't live through that period often look back on some of the things we collectively did back then, and think we were all stupid/crazy. I get it. You had to be there.

It was great for what it was, though. I doubt they figured people would be looking back on it still talking about and critiquing it 20+ years later. I think Laird may have had a soft spot for it based on how many kids loved it. Yes, the same could be said for the OT, but being at the show and physically surrounded by kids going nuts for it, not as an abstract concept but as a physical reality, seeing them interact with the Turtles and April and Shredder and having so much fun with it, probably softened his opinion a little bit. Seeing all those smiling faces probably made him think, "You know, I want to, but I can't hate this." Makes sense to me.

That album is seriously better than it had to be, too. "Count On Us" all daaaaaay, baby.

[snake]

Never expected that. I do love how cheesy the COOTS show is.

[Galactus]

He's said that before in one of the q and a sessions he sometimes has on the comments section of his blog.

Someone asked him if there was anything he wished never happened and ended his question with something along the lines of "I bet We Wish You a Turtle Christmas and Coming Out of their Shells tour" and Laird answered he didn't remember the former and liked the COTS Tour as he though the songs were catchy.

To be honest he doesn't seem all that down on the Fred Wolf show either. I've long felt his disapproval of it was something of a response to snarky fans who attacked any version that wasn't like the 80s show.

[Netkeeper]

Nah, his dislike of the 87 turtles seems pretty genuine to me. It's not anything like what he wanted a TMNT cartoon to be. He has every right to dislike it, and it's not like it makes a creator look good to lie about disliking certain iterations.

But the important thing to note is that what he liked about that tour was the music. Which isn't bad at all.

[The Boston Ninja Turtle]

I love the tour...its want my costume based off of

[BlisterStockboy]

I really like the Coming out of Their Shells tour songs.. I know it's campy, and cheesy, but I really enjoy it. I love having songs to sing about the turtles. The rap to "Turtle Power" is just as 'cheesy' as the rest of the Coming out of their Shells songs.. But that's just my opinion. The tour is enjoyable to watch, and something that I had really wished that I was born to be able to witness! I do have most of the songs on my iPhone though, and the song "You Can Count on Us" is actually really good.

I still don't like Next Mutation though.

[mexichrist83]

I found that part of the book odd too but it's a not big deal. When it comes to the Coming Out of Their Shells Tour it's definitely not the worst thing attached to the TMNT brand. Is it dumb, silly, corny? Yes but it was made for kids who loved the cartoon and the turtles, of course, and it's relatively harmless. When I was a kid I was dying to see this but I never got to. Some of the songs are really catchy while others are downright terrible. The production is not that bad and I still really dig the costumes (except for Splinter and Shredder). Aside from the limited/bad mouth movements and voice syncing I think they're fun. Next Mutation is definitely the worst live action turtles (new movie doesn't count since the turtles are CGI).

[Leo656]

I got to go. Front row, it was awesome. I was like 8. I'd already played the cassette a thousand times by then and knew all the songs by heart. Things were simpler then.

"Cowabunga", however, is the musical equivalent to waterboarding.

What I always found interesting, was that the cassette tape sleeve and the program book from Pizza Hut often have completely contradictory song lyrics in spots (some of which appear nowhere in their respective songs). In several places, the word "Don't" is swapped with "Donatello", for absolutely zero reason. Example: I forget if it was the sleeve or the program book, but in one of them, the lyric, "The word 'gourmet' just don't exist..." from the song "Pizza Power" is printed as, "...just Donatello's exit", which is not only inaccurate, but a total gibberish statement as well. All that stuff is in storage, so I can't give more examples, but I remember being all "WTF?" when I was a kid. I remember it showing up about three times. I wonder if it was some kind of computer spell-checking error?

Man, the stuff you remember.

[pennydreadful]

I think COoTS is harmless fun, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't have the songs from it on my Turtles playlist. Sure it's cheesy, but it's feel-good cheesy.

[cloud]

I guess it's different in a way that the TV shows and movies are messing up with the story and characters and it usually is because the new creative team wants to diverge from the original source for not a good reason.
The tour itself is just another product from the TMNT hype. It's not really trying to tell a story that will hurt the original source. It's just a tour for kids.
Kind of like how strong you feel about the 4 turtles having different color masks with the first released action figures from Playmates.

[Cryomancer]

I'm sure it made him a lot of money too, which would be a factor in enjoying it.