- 24,017
- 3,124
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2001
That's real?
Last edited:
Official TMNT thread, R.I.P to the OG Master Splinter
- Thread in 'General' Thread starter Started by pr0phecy718,
- Start date
jchambers
Banned
- 5,282
- 2,025
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2008
Bend_The_Knee
formerly gotholesinmysocks
- 61,763
- 23,509
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2008
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
wait, hold up - where are you guys reading that '87 Krang will be in the movie? No official confirmation has been made yet.
Last edited:
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
Kevin Eastman Talks Michael Bay Film
Though Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo have recently gotten a very successful make-over on Nickelodeon, a new big screen, live-action adaptation is also in the works at Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes that will star Megan Fox. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman spoke with CBR about the project, and he seems to have high hopes about the film's possibilities.
"One of the things that's awesome about the relationship I've had with Platinum Dunes and Michael Bay and Jonathan Liebesman and some of the producers, Scott Mednick and Galen Walker on the series, is that it's probably amusing to a lot of people what the press puts out there and what they say people behind the scenes really want to do with the movie, but [Platinum Dunes'] main goal is actually to make the best possible "Turtles" movie with respect to the fans and the core audience as possible.
"From everything that I've seen in the ["TMNT"] script and the development and everything they've asked my input on specifically, it's gonna be an awesome, familiar, solid "Turtles" movie. It'll have everything that fans are gonna want and then some.
"Much like you look at what they're doing at Nickelodeon with the new animated series, it's all based solidly on the "Turtles" foundation, but they've hit the reset button. They've taken it back to the first episode, with the Turtles first time above ground after many years of training with Master Splinter. They're making a "Turtles" origin that is firmly rooted in "Turtles" history, but a slight tweak here and a slight tweak there. It's been enjoyable and the IDW series is much the same, in that it's firmly rooted in "Turtles" history, but multiple "Turtles" universes."
The film is rumored to begin production this April. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles features a screenplay by Josh Appelbaum, Andrew Nemec, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and John Fusco, based on the characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. The Jonathan Liebesman-directed film is scheduld for a June 6, 2014 release date.
Though Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo have recently gotten a very successful make-over on Nickelodeon, a new big screen, live-action adaptation is also in the works at Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes that will star Megan Fox. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman spoke with CBR about the project, and he seems to have high hopes about the film's possibilities.
"One of the things that's awesome about the relationship I've had with Platinum Dunes and Michael Bay and Jonathan Liebesman and some of the producers, Scott Mednick and Galen Walker on the series, is that it's probably amusing to a lot of people what the press puts out there and what they say people behind the scenes really want to do with the movie, but [Platinum Dunes'] main goal is actually to make the best possible "Turtles" movie with respect to the fans and the core audience as possible.
"From everything that I've seen in the ["TMNT"] script and the development and everything they've asked my input on specifically, it's gonna be an awesome, familiar, solid "Turtles" movie. It'll have everything that fans are gonna want and then some.
"Much like you look at what they're doing at Nickelodeon with the new animated series, it's all based solidly on the "Turtles" foundation, but they've hit the reset button. They've taken it back to the first episode, with the Turtles first time above ground after many years of training with Master Splinter. They're making a "Turtles" origin that is firmly rooted in "Turtles" history, but a slight tweak here and a slight tweak there. It's been enjoyable and the IDW series is much the same, in that it's firmly rooted in "Turtles" history, but multiple "Turtles" universes."
The film is rumored to begin production this April. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles features a screenplay by Josh Appelbaum, Andrew Nemec, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and John Fusco, based on the characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. The Jonathan Liebesman-directed film is scheduld for a June 6, 2014 release date.
- 3,969
- 340
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2011
those fila's look pretty decent. but as far as the cgi thing goes, i really hope they dont get that weird "green lantern suit" makeover. if tmnt turns out bad then michael bay would be pretty much ruining peoples child hoods starting with our childhood cartoons one by one...he must be stopped! 
Last edited:
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
Last edited:
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
TMNT: Out of the Shadows brings back grittiness and sophisticated fighting
http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/21/412...-sophisticated
By TRACEY LIEN
When Red Fly Studios' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows releases this summer, players will be able to experience a grittier take on the Turtles and an in-depth fighting system that hasn't been seen in any TMNT game before it, according to lead designer Chris Frechette.
In an interview with Polygon, Frechette demoed a pre-alpha build of Out of the Shadows and walked us through Red Fly's take on the TMNT universe.
"I wanted to make a Turtles game that a 30-year old gamer who grew up watching TMNT would relish and say, 'This is what I remember, this is awesome," Frechette says. "The game is inspired by the Nickelodeon cartoon (which is currently in its first season on television) but it's basically our take on this fiction and this new incarnation of the Turtles: What would it look like in a realistic, more gritty setting?"
Frechette says that when Activision approached the studio to work on the licensed gamed, the team at Red Fly saw an opportunity to make the Turtles game they'd always wanted to play. As avid TMNT fans themselves, they didn't want to carelessly throw together a licensed game: they wanted to create something that did the brand justice.
RED FLY WANTED TO PLAY ON ONE OF THE BIGGEST STRENGTHS OF THE BRAND: THE TURTLES THEMSELVES.
According to Frechette, the studio approached the game with the intention of bringing out the personalities of each turtle through their fighting styles. Rather than have four turtles that look the same, act the same and play the same, Red Fly wanted to play on one of the biggest strengths of the brand: the Turtles themselves.
"They each have different physiques — Donnie's the tallest, Mikey's the smallest, Raph's kind of the brute, Leo's a bit of an all-rounder — and we've gone a step further by bringing their personalities into combat," he says. "For example, Donatello is the slowest of the turtles, but he's got the the most reach, so when he's twirling his staff he can hit multiple enemies. He's great for composed players and his style actually has a bit of a kung fu influence to it."
Every character has a different move set, with each turtle having up to 70 unique attacks. The timing of a attack will also determine how it is executed, and whether a player is attacked from the front or behind will determine how a defensive move is pulled off.
Frechette cites Batman: Arkham Asylum as a source of inspiration. He says the team incorporated some elements of Arkham's battle system of balancing offense with defense and the timing of attacking and counter-attacking. The studio also looked to more traditional fighting games for inspiration, particularly for counter-attacks and special attacks.
"It could have been so easy to give them all the same moves," Frechette says. "But since they don't have your typical classes like a tank or a paladin, they don't necessarily have roles. They're all ninjas. They can all hold their own. It's more about how they hold their own."
Frechette says that by giving each turtle a "unique flavor," when the four characters play together it brings an interesting dynamic to the battles. The game allows for up to four-player co-op, and when there are fewer than four players the AI will take control of the remaining Turtles. In single-player mode, players can swap between Turtles using the D-Pad. Every character can be utilized in the team, and when all the Turtles are working together they can chain combos and finishing moves.
"THEY'RE ALL NINJAS. THEY CAN ALL HOLD THEIR OWN. IT'S MORE ABOUT HOW THEY HOLD THEIR OWN."
"For example, I could launch a guy into the air and now you go after him and slam him down," Frechette says. "So there's push and pull, like I'm giving you an opportunity to do something awesome, and we're working together as a team with a unified goal. It was a lot of fun to plan and design."
Frechette says it's important for all four Turtles to be present in the campaign mode because that's when they're at their best. They fight together, taunt together and perform special team attacks together (at one point, players can connect with Raphael to perform the bowling ball maneuver seen in the original movie). Players won't get the best result if they button mash – there's a sophistication to the fighting system and, once they understand the system, the rest will flow like kung fu.
http://www.polygon.com/2013/3/21/412...-sophisticated
By TRACEY LIEN
When Red Fly Studios' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows releases this summer, players will be able to experience a grittier take on the Turtles and an in-depth fighting system that hasn't been seen in any TMNT game before it, according to lead designer Chris Frechette.
In an interview with Polygon, Frechette demoed a pre-alpha build of Out of the Shadows and walked us through Red Fly's take on the TMNT universe.
"I wanted to make a Turtles game that a 30-year old gamer who grew up watching TMNT would relish and say, 'This is what I remember, this is awesome," Frechette says. "The game is inspired by the Nickelodeon cartoon (which is currently in its first season on television) but it's basically our take on this fiction and this new incarnation of the Turtles: What would it look like in a realistic, more gritty setting?"
Frechette says that when Activision approached the studio to work on the licensed gamed, the team at Red Fly saw an opportunity to make the Turtles game they'd always wanted to play. As avid TMNT fans themselves, they didn't want to carelessly throw together a licensed game: they wanted to create something that did the brand justice.
RED FLY WANTED TO PLAY ON ONE OF THE BIGGEST STRENGTHS OF THE BRAND: THE TURTLES THEMSELVES.
According to Frechette, the studio approached the game with the intention of bringing out the personalities of each turtle through their fighting styles. Rather than have four turtles that look the same, act the same and play the same, Red Fly wanted to play on one of the biggest strengths of the brand: the Turtles themselves.
"They each have different physiques — Donnie's the tallest, Mikey's the smallest, Raph's kind of the brute, Leo's a bit of an all-rounder — and we've gone a step further by bringing their personalities into combat," he says. "For example, Donatello is the slowest of the turtles, but he's got the the most reach, so when he's twirling his staff he can hit multiple enemies. He's great for composed players and his style actually has a bit of a kung fu influence to it."
Every character has a different move set, with each turtle having up to 70 unique attacks. The timing of a attack will also determine how it is executed, and whether a player is attacked from the front or behind will determine how a defensive move is pulled off.
Frechette cites Batman: Arkham Asylum as a source of inspiration. He says the team incorporated some elements of Arkham's battle system of balancing offense with defense and the timing of attacking and counter-attacking. The studio also looked to more traditional fighting games for inspiration, particularly for counter-attacks and special attacks.
"It could have been so easy to give them all the same moves," Frechette says. "But since they don't have your typical classes like a tank or a paladin, they don't necessarily have roles. They're all ninjas. They can all hold their own. It's more about how they hold their own."
Frechette says that by giving each turtle a "unique flavor," when the four characters play together it brings an interesting dynamic to the battles. The game allows for up to four-player co-op, and when there are fewer than four players the AI will take control of the remaining Turtles. In single-player mode, players can swap between Turtles using the D-Pad. Every character can be utilized in the team, and when all the Turtles are working together they can chain combos and finishing moves.
"THEY'RE ALL NINJAS. THEY CAN ALL HOLD THEIR OWN. IT'S MORE ABOUT HOW THEY HOLD THEIR OWN."
"For example, I could launch a guy into the air and now you go after him and slam him down," Frechette says. "So there's push and pull, like I'm giving you an opportunity to do something awesome, and we're working together as a team with a unified goal. It was a lot of fun to plan and design."
Frechette says it's important for all four Turtles to be present in the campaign mode because that's when they're at their best. They fight together, taunt together and perform special team attacks together (at one point, players can connect with Raphael to perform the bowling ball maneuver seen in the original movie). Players won't get the best result if they button mash – there's a sophistication to the fighting system and, once they understand the system, the rest will flow like kung fu.
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
gatzbygordon
Banned
- 4,501
- 1,927
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2012
thats for the video game or something right??
- 6,709
- 7,351
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2007
If he's citing Batman: Arkham Asylum as a source of inspiration than i'm excited to see how it turns out
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
yea, video game
- 20,626
- 13,496
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2008
Don't think I posted this here........
Got the hats earlier this month, and the Filas in Feb.
Got the hats earlier this month, and the Filas in Feb.
- 495
- 352
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2012
^^
Where'd u get the hats???
Need a Leonardo or Michaelangelo.
Pic makes me want to pickup the Filas too
Where'd u get the hats???
Need a Leonardo or Michaelangelo.
Pic makes me want to pickup the Filas too
- 20,626
- 13,496
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2008
Local New Era shop here in ATL. They were limited from my understsnding. Sold out online already. Check your local new era flagship store, if you're near one.
- 1,126
- 113
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2005
hats were on the new era site, but they look like they are gone now.. maybe flagships still have em..
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
filming has already started in ny state
http://www.wcax.com/story/21823083/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-sighted-in-the-adirondacks
http://www.wcax.com/story/21823083/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-sighted-in-the-adirondacks
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
Will Arnett Joins Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
by Silas Lesnick
April 02, 2013
"Arrested Development" and "Up All Night" star Will Arnett has signed on to join the cast of the upcoming live-action/CG hybrid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter.
Arnett's role is currently being kept a secret, but he joins Megan Fox in the role of April O'Neil, Alan Ritchson as Raphael, Jeremy Howard as Donatello, Pete Ploszek as Leonardo and Noel Fisher as Michelangelo.
This is the second big upcoming comic book-inspired role for Arnett. He's also set to voice Batman in The LEGO Movie.
To be directed by Jonathan Liebesman, the film features a screenplay by Josh Appelbaum, Andrew Nemec, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and John Fusco, based on the characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is targeting a June 6, 2014 release.
by Silas Lesnick
April 02, 2013
"Arrested Development" and "Up All Night" star Will Arnett has signed on to join the cast of the upcoming live-action/CG hybrid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter.
Arnett's role is currently being kept a secret, but he joins Megan Fox in the role of April O'Neil, Alan Ritchson as Raphael, Jeremy Howard as Donatello, Pete Ploszek as Leonardo and Noel Fisher as Michelangelo.
This is the second big upcoming comic book-inspired role for Arnett. He's also set to voice Batman in The LEGO Movie.
To be directed by Jonathan Liebesman, the film features a screenplay by Josh Appelbaum, Andrew Nemec, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and John Fusco, based on the characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is targeting a June 6, 2014 release.
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
???
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
Nickelodeon series features villains such as Baxter Stockman and Mutagen Man, as well as an old-school Turtles reunion.
Ciro Nieli grew up with Donatello being his favorite member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but as an executive producer of the new Nickelodeon TMNT animated series, he'd yell "Cowabunga!" for any of them.
"They've taken on a new meaning for me," Nieli says. "I'm single right now and I have no children. I'm at that age where a lot of my friends are married and have kids. They go, 'Who's your favorite Turtle?' And I go, 'That's (expletive) rude. I'm not going to single one of them out. Then the other ones won't feel loved.'
"They've all had kids, and now all of a sudden I have four teenagers. It's literally that demanding, but I love all of them. And every day I see myself a little bit more in one of them than the others."
Just like 10-year-old Cieli was first introduced to them in the 1980s, kids today are watching the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon (airing Friday nights at 7 p.m. ET/PT) and being introduced to katana-slinging leader Leonardo (voiced by Jason Biggs), nunchucks-swinging fun guy Michelangelo (Greg Cipes), bo-staffed gadget man Donatello (Rob Paulsen) and sai-wielding brawler Raphael (Sean Astin).
There have been many different ways to enjoy the Turtles in the nearly 30 years since the first 1984 comic book by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, from video games to live-action movies. Yet it's beginning to look like a new golden age for the pizza-loving heroes, with new LEGO sets, action figures, an upcoming movie produced by filmmaker Michael Bay starring Megan Fox, and Nieli's animated show, which has already been handed a third season when it hasn't even finished its first yet.
"The imagination is fertile in the Ninja Turtle world and it's just wide open. And the characters are a reflection of that," Nieli says.
With so much coming up, Nieli gives five upcoming aspects of the animated series that will make you want to embrace Turtle power sooner than later.
Big things for Baxter Stockman
So far in the Turtles series, the off-kilter and insane villain Baxter Stockman (Phil LaMarr) has mostly been doing grunt work for bad guy the Shredder and getting yelled at a lot. But Friday's episode focuses on Baxter and shows some of the inner machinations of the criminal mastermind.
Fans will begin to see how he interacts with other villains and the Turtles when he puts together a scheme along the lines of longtime X-Men foe Arcade, Nieli says. "He's kind of sick of being pushed around and decides to trap them all and torture him.
"Sometimes when you get stuck in the actual canon of the ninja revenge story and the family feuds with the Foot Clan and Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki, it can get real heavy," he adds. "And then you have this other shade, which is the alien threat with the Kraang. It's nice to have a character as odd and obtuse as Baxter — you see him lashing and doing something, and you forget about those guys. It makes the world bigger."
The scale gets more epic closing in on the season finale
Nieli feels TMNT ups its game every episode in terms of visuals and scale, but also in terms of story. Getting closer to the end of the season, viewers will learn more about Turtle confidant April O'Neil (Mae Whitman) and the story line with the Kraang pays off a little more.
"Fans can guess there's a lot in there that needs to come to a point. The trick is not letting that point burst," the executive producer says. "There's a million things we can do, but we have to temper ourselves so we can have a good series overall and not just a good season."
And there will be explosions. "I always try to end episodes with an explosion," Nieli admits. "Sometimes we can't afford it and they get dust clouds, and I get disappointed and sad. It's kind of a fail. A perfect show ends with a boom."
The grand return of the Mutagen Man
One of the luxuries Nieli has with the show is a few decades' worth of material, and that means having goop and guts in a jar with arms and legs is going to take on an awesome new life.
The toy version of the oozy baddie Mutagen Man was always a favorite of Nieli's, he says. "All of us have one sitting on our desks and it's just a matter of time: 'Well, when are we going to do Mutagen Man?'
"It was just important to figure out a special way to do it so that he didn't just show up like, OK, monster of the week is Mutagen Man. We definitely wanted to have a little bit more of an investment in him as an integral character in that universe and ultimately the responsibility of the Turtles as heroes."
Mutagen Man, who plays a big role in the second season but will appear near the end of the first, had a distinctive look from the old '80s cartoon and toy, and the TMNT producers didn't want to get too wacky with a new design.
"We could have done anything," Nieli says. "I think we just put things in a better place, but in general he's very recognizable."
Making plans for an old Turtles reunion
The second season of TMNT will feature a one-hour special with special cameos by the original voice actors from the 1987 cartoon in their old roles, including Cam Clarke (Leonardo), Townsend Coleman (Michelangelo), Barry Gordon (Donatello) and Paulsen (Raphael).
It'll be a story point, too, that brings classic and current Turtles together.
"We all have a nostalgia for these characters in all their incarnations, and any time we can serve it up, we take the chance," Nieli says. "The trick is finding a way to do it where it doesn't feel wedged in, where you don't even see it coming.
"I really like doing that stuff because I do have respect for the old stuff," he adds. "I try not to geek out but it's more like you just feel some pride in what you've been able to be responsible for. Like, yep, there they are — Turtle reunion. It's not as cool as a Zeppelin reunion, but being able to bring something together, I'm thrilled I get to do that.
Maintaining what's great about the Turtles
Nieli sums up the appeal of TMNT as being like a Saturday when he was a kid: full of cartoon action, kung-fu moves from Shaw Brothers movies, and monsters like you'd see in an old Universal or Hammer horror flick.
And while they may be considered part of the superhero genre, the Turtles are a little bit different — and a lot more affable — than the likes of Superman.
They stepped outside of the genre, Nieli says, "and it was a rule that I didn't think could be broken. We're so used to characters like Batman or these really perfect archetypes. They're almost like statues or totems or this ideal. And then the Turtles came along and broke all that. They were more part of a peer group and you could relate to them so much easier."
Ciro Nieli grew up with Donatello being his favorite member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but as an executive producer of the new Nickelodeon TMNT animated series, he'd yell "Cowabunga!" for any of them.
"They've taken on a new meaning for me," Nieli says. "I'm single right now and I have no children. I'm at that age where a lot of my friends are married and have kids. They go, 'Who's your favorite Turtle?' And I go, 'That's (expletive) rude. I'm not going to single one of them out. Then the other ones won't feel loved.'
"They've all had kids, and now all of a sudden I have four teenagers. It's literally that demanding, but I love all of them. And every day I see myself a little bit more in one of them than the others."
Just like 10-year-old Cieli was first introduced to them in the 1980s, kids today are watching the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon (airing Friday nights at 7 p.m. ET/PT) and being introduced to katana-slinging leader Leonardo (voiced by Jason Biggs), nunchucks-swinging fun guy Michelangelo (Greg Cipes), bo-staffed gadget man Donatello (Rob Paulsen) and sai-wielding brawler Raphael (Sean Astin).
There have been many different ways to enjoy the Turtles in the nearly 30 years since the first 1984 comic book by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, from video games to live-action movies. Yet it's beginning to look like a new golden age for the pizza-loving heroes, with new LEGO sets, action figures, an upcoming movie produced by filmmaker Michael Bay starring Megan Fox, and Nieli's animated show, which has already been handed a third season when it hasn't even finished its first yet.
"The imagination is fertile in the Ninja Turtle world and it's just wide open. And the characters are a reflection of that," Nieli says.
With so much coming up, Nieli gives five upcoming aspects of the animated series that will make you want to embrace Turtle power sooner than later.
Big things for Baxter Stockman
So far in the Turtles series, the off-kilter and insane villain Baxter Stockman (Phil LaMarr) has mostly been doing grunt work for bad guy the Shredder and getting yelled at a lot. But Friday's episode focuses on Baxter and shows some of the inner machinations of the criminal mastermind.
Fans will begin to see how he interacts with other villains and the Turtles when he puts together a scheme along the lines of longtime X-Men foe Arcade, Nieli says. "He's kind of sick of being pushed around and decides to trap them all and torture him.
"Sometimes when you get stuck in the actual canon of the ninja revenge story and the family feuds with the Foot Clan and Hamato Yoshi and Oroku Saki, it can get real heavy," he adds. "And then you have this other shade, which is the alien threat with the Kraang. It's nice to have a character as odd and obtuse as Baxter — you see him lashing and doing something, and you forget about those guys. It makes the world bigger."
The scale gets more epic closing in on the season finale
Nieli feels TMNT ups its game every episode in terms of visuals and scale, but also in terms of story. Getting closer to the end of the season, viewers will learn more about Turtle confidant April O'Neil (Mae Whitman) and the story line with the Kraang pays off a little more.
"Fans can guess there's a lot in there that needs to come to a point. The trick is not letting that point burst," the executive producer says. "There's a million things we can do, but we have to temper ourselves so we can have a good series overall and not just a good season."
And there will be explosions. "I always try to end episodes with an explosion," Nieli admits. "Sometimes we can't afford it and they get dust clouds, and I get disappointed and sad. It's kind of a fail. A perfect show ends with a boom."
The grand return of the Mutagen Man
One of the luxuries Nieli has with the show is a few decades' worth of material, and that means having goop and guts in a jar with arms and legs is going to take on an awesome new life.
The toy version of the oozy baddie Mutagen Man was always a favorite of Nieli's, he says. "All of us have one sitting on our desks and it's just a matter of time: 'Well, when are we going to do Mutagen Man?'
"It was just important to figure out a special way to do it so that he didn't just show up like, OK, monster of the week is Mutagen Man. We definitely wanted to have a little bit more of an investment in him as an integral character in that universe and ultimately the responsibility of the Turtles as heroes."
Mutagen Man, who plays a big role in the second season but will appear near the end of the first, had a distinctive look from the old '80s cartoon and toy, and the TMNT producers didn't want to get too wacky with a new design.
"We could have done anything," Nieli says. "I think we just put things in a better place, but in general he's very recognizable."
Making plans for an old Turtles reunion
The second season of TMNT will feature a one-hour special with special cameos by the original voice actors from the 1987 cartoon in their old roles, including Cam Clarke (Leonardo), Townsend Coleman (Michelangelo), Barry Gordon (Donatello) and Paulsen (Raphael).
It'll be a story point, too, that brings classic and current Turtles together.
"We all have a nostalgia for these characters in all their incarnations, and any time we can serve it up, we take the chance," Nieli says. "The trick is finding a way to do it where it doesn't feel wedged in, where you don't even see it coming.
"I really like doing that stuff because I do have respect for the old stuff," he adds. "I try not to geek out but it's more like you just feel some pride in what you've been able to be responsible for. Like, yep, there they are — Turtle reunion. It's not as cool as a Zeppelin reunion, but being able to bring something together, I'm thrilled I get to do that.
Maintaining what's great about the Turtles
Nieli sums up the appeal of TMNT as being like a Saturday when he was a kid: full of cartoon action, kung-fu moves from Shaw Brothers movies, and monsters like you'd see in an old Universal or Hammer horror flick.
And while they may be considered part of the superhero genre, the Turtles are a little bit different — and a lot more affable — than the likes of Superman.
They stepped outside of the genre, Nieli says, "and it was a rule that I didn't think could be broken. We're so used to characters like Batman or these really perfect archetypes. They're almost like statues or totems or this ideal. And then the Turtles came along and broke all that. They were more part of a peer group and you could relate to them so much easier."
Last edited:
- 21,534
- 18,573
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
An episode with he og cast voicing? 
Flip side to that is its gonna be bittersweet if Uncle Phil ain't voicing Shredder as well.
Flip side to that is its gonna be bittersweet if Uncle Phil ain't voicing Shredder as well.
- 42,072
- 43,813
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2002
They already done that doe.
That was the only episode I watched of the new TMNT I ever watched.
That was the only episode I watched of the new TMNT I ever watched.
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
no, not at all
if you're talking about the turtles forever movie, they never used the OG voice actors for the '87 turtles.
- 30,698
- 5,720
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2002
Had the bodacious privilege to hit Studio A at Nickelodeon in Burbank last week to record a few lines as classic Mikey for an upcoming episode of the new TMNT… what a blast!! Getting to hang with me old pal, Barry Gordon, made it even sweeter!! Cowabunga, dudes!!
- 1,338
- 224
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2007
I've watched a few episodes of the new series when my daughter has it on and it's actually not bad at all. They seem to keep the dynamic between the turtles the same (Mikey seemed more dumb) as the older show. I liked how each of the turtles had a unique look besides the color they were wearing.
