Michael bay to capitalise on more youth nostalgia

Blasphemy, or awesome gritty reboot of a trilogy that was a bit too childish?

Their human lips look a little creepy, but other than that, I'll withhold my judgement.

I never got into the TMNT comics as the idea was so preposterous that I couldn't enjoy them. It's not much different than the Howard the Duck story only much later (and when made a film was ruined and is a well known bomb). Some things in comics can't translate well into cinema as the idea is so absurd (intentionally so) that it's as fragile as a soap bubble. Then one wonders who the film is marketed to? It is probably hugely expensive, so that's mass appeal instead of the comic book collector who purchased them growing up and remembers them with nostalgia.

Take the comic MAUS. Would that if made into a live action film still be a quality story? I doubt it. As an animated film, it would probably be a great film. Maybe that's what TMNT should be as well? The Dante's Inferno film that was animated proves that it's possible to make a thinking person's animated film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus

I'm holding out for the wicked satirical comic Samurai Cat or maybe Usagi Yojimbo. Two much better comics themed stories.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Cat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usagi_Yojimbo

TMNT where huge though, back in the day, the cartoon series is something every kid knew back then, and then there where the movies, which I actually saw in the cinema as a kid.

Loved them back then, watched them again out of nostalgia when I heard this movie was coming, Couldn't believe how bad and cheesy they where since I remembered them as highlights of Cinema

I'm not saying this will be a masterpiece but I have a feeling it will be better than Transformers.

I don't think the original issues of TMNT were cheesy, but the phenomena became that. Read Samurai Cat or Usagi Yojimbo instead. It's thoughtful stuff, though Samurai Cat is not appropriate for children. Usagi Yojimbo is appropriate for ten year olds on up into adulthood.
http://books.google.com/books?id=dBd...%20cat&f=false

I played the shite out of the Amiga TMNT game, had all the video tapes too!

TMNT on NES was one of the most frustrating things ever

I don't see how this is any more "gritty" than the first TMNT movie.

Originally Posted by the_mango55

I don't see how this is any more "gritty" than the first TMNT movie.

Originally Posted by Sharpe

I clearly said the first TMNT movie, that's the second TMNT movie.

TMNT was riding on the current tropes then prevalent, Japanese illegal ninja instructor immigrants, unnatural mutations that made you super powered, angsty teens, and funny talking animals, though I'm not sure if Howard the Duck was that big. Though the Aardvark was.

Their success allowed the profusion of rip-offs and more funny talking animals to be published, including Sakai's Usagi.

The late 80s-start of 90s TMNT cartoon was different from most cartoons of that era due to the focus being on comedy and not on a fight between 'good and evil'. I recall being of mixed view at the time. On one hand TMNT looked reasonably good, on the other it was way too comedic. I liked shows like The Spiral Zone, and Inhumanoids, both of which were among the bleakest to ever air in the West (although they still were less bleak than some Japanese shows or Anime of the time).

Let's just say that TMNT was nothing like the caliber of many similar comics (as above), but that it was part of the zeitgeist of the early eighties where anything about the martial arts of Japan still held a mystique in America. See the much better Frank Miller Chris Claremont collaboration of Wolverine #1 in Japan which no doubt influenced TMNT.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine_%28comic_book%29



TMNT's names based upon Renaissance artist/sculptors was weird enough but not giving them famous Japanese names was really odd. The writing team of Eastman and Laird admitted to doing it as an homage of Miller, never intending to create something new.

That spirit of the age led to lots of depictions of martial arts in diverse comics of the period. Really there was very limited mention of it prior. For example: the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu had a short run.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadly_Hands_of_Kung_Fu

On occasion Batman prior to the Dark Knight, had vague mention of judo or karate. Mostly depictions of the martial arts were in Chinese or Japanese films, mostly subtitled, in the few venues that would feature them. Sean Connery can be seen learning a form of kobudo as well as karate in one of his Bond films. Mostly it wasn't discussed before the early eighties, with Chuck Norris being one of the few Westerners depicted (in his case the Korean art of Tang Soo Do).

To see someone else perform the martial arts, either a Westerner like Logan in Wolverine, or the Dark Knight, or the various animals comics was something new to comics. Heck there were few ninja movies at all with Sho Kusugi and then the rather odd Enter the Ninja (1981) film.


Likewise Scott Glenn starred in an early Japanese martial arts film to demonstrate a Westerner learning the martial arts. Toshiro Mifune also stars but looks uncomfortable. It's a very flawed film with actually some decent traditional martial arts within it.


With TMNT suddenly ninjas were everywhere, little boys (and some rather strange adults) started buying ninja uniforms in America. The fact that there weren't any schools for them other than the peculiar Stephen Hays (who probably never actually studied any ninjutsu) made it rather hysterical. Meanwhile, there were actual Japanese students learning some ninjutsu along with their other traditional training, but that's another story.

There were indeed tons of mid 80s ninja movies from America. Even child-ninjas...beating up evil bad grown ups

...but not in America prior to 1982 or so. Of course the ninja or shinobi had been in Japanese films for some time. There weren't any schools of ninjutsu in America until Masaaki Hatsumi began them with Stephen Hayes teaching, on the West Coast as I recall. Authentic ninjutsu hasn't ever really made a dent in martial arts in America, only in Japan.

The dubious Stephen Hayes in 1980.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togakure-ry%C5%AB
"The historical claims stated by Masaaki Hatsumi and his Bujinkan organization have been disputed, as there is little evidence to corroborate the history as it is told. The Bugei Ryūha Daijiten has claimed that embellishments were made to the history, changing the age of things to make the school appear older than it is."

For the record Bay is only a Producer, he isnt the director.
Regardless Turtles at this point and in the future will mean very litle to me.
Yes i grew up with its comics, and cartoons, its part of my youth... so i let it remain there.
I realy have no inclination to see this or any other Turtle films.

Those were the days, when everything was about Ninjas and Karate.
I don't know guys I kind of want to stop Michael Bay before he makes Dark Wing Duck live action or Gargoyles live action. Although a well written Gargoyles with a new adaptation would actually be pretty cool, but Michael Bay won't do that.

And of course the greatest-

Such Ghost Doge Wow Wu Tang