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A NEW YORK SEWER — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fans everywhere got all kinds of excited when it was announced the franchise was getting another trip to the big screen. That excitement soon turned to anger when the film's new director, Michael Bay, made an announcement about a change in TMNT's origin.
Over the weekend Bay revealed that the turtles in the new live-action film will actually be from an alien race. For those who do not know, the turtles originally came about when toxic ooze spilled on four baby turtle brothers, ultimately turning them into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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Fans immediately turned on Bay calling this change a heresy in the turtle canon. Even a former turtle himself expressed outrage.
"I know believing in mutated talking turtles is kinda silly to begin with but am I supposed to be led to believe there are ninjas from another planet?" wrote Robbie Rist, the original voice actor of Michelangelo in the first turtles movie, in a letter to Bay.
Fans hit the web immediately and it didn't take Bay long to reply.
"Fans need to take a breath, and chill. They have not read the script," Bay wrote on his website. "Our team is working closely with one of the original creators of ‘Ninja Turtles' to help expand and give a more complex back story. Relax, we are including everything that made you become fans in the first place. We are just building a richer world."
If this is the case shouldn't we change the title to Teenage Alien Ninja Turtles? And to be honest, I'm not totally confident I like the sound of that acronym? And anyway, they already made a video game of this same basic concept, it was called Battletoads. FYI, that game was made to combat TMNT.
Admittedly, it is hard to lose it and get after Bay immediately without knowing anything else about the new film. However, as a child of the 80's and one who spent entirely too much time playing with TMNT action figures, watching their movies and trying to pop manhole covers in my neighborhood to get into the sewer system, this change makes me skeptical. Well, that and Transformers 1, 2 and 3.
What do you think about the new take? Is it too early to judge or is it time to hand the reins over to someone else? Let us know on the comment boards and on Facebook.
