March 2007 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" 4

[Michaelangelo]

Hey everyone,

This topic is for people to discuss their hopes, fears, excitement, and other feelings about TMNT 4.  What you think so far about the movie...

My questions for everyone is...

"What do you hope the plot will be like?"
"What do you think of the movie being done CGI?"
"Do you perfer CGI to Live Action or the other way around?"
"What voice talents would you like to see in the movie and why?"
"Express your feelings what happened with Mako"
"If you're planning to see the movie on opening day/weekend"
"What do you think of the TMNT teaser?"

TMNT 4 is going to be a growing topic as the time gets closer and closer to the movie... we got a year and a half before the long awaited 4th movie is in theatres.   So let's start speading our thoughts about this up coming event.


             

[Fugitoid]

Geez.... March 2007 seems like such a long time from now. You'd think they could do two movies in the same time frame. But then again Imagi isn't a Pixar or a Dreamworks Animation.

Anyhow, I'm really torn on how the plot should be. Part of me wants it to be original but somehow stay in continuity with some aspect of the TMNT universe. And part of me wants it to be based on one of the story lines that only exists in the comics. I dunno... maybe for me it's one of those situations where you have to see where they actually go with things, then you either say "Awesome!" or "You guys are doing a horrible job."

I do like the fact that it will be computer animated. The freedom with computer graphics is such a great advantage, especially if they choose to do some of the more out-there story arcs. My fear is action scenes, especially when doing such fluid movements as found in martial arts. However, if you've seen The Animatrix, realistic fight scenes are possible. I just hope Imagi is up to the task.

As far as voice talents, as long as the voice matches the character I'm not very picky. Sure, I would love to see the talents from the current animated series get picked. But I know that may not happen.

And I'm quite sure I'll be watching this movie on opening day. Whether it's my choice or not. Someone has already made plans on my behalf... I'm sure.

[Danceingfae]

I'd definately will be seeing this movie on opening day! As far as how plots and things go, it's something i'll have to think about because i'm not sure myself about it. So far the pictures i've seen on the banner on the TMNT website look awesome, that's going to be exciting!

I'd like the voice actors from the current series to do the voices but whether that happens or not, we'll have to wait and see. I just hope they don't go too far out of the loop if they use new voice actors.

[Michaelangelo]

Wayne Grayson told us a few months ago over on NTN, that the voices of the 4kids series will not be the voices of the new movie.   Which isn't too surprising to me, since if you recall back when the original movies came out they didn't use any of the original TMNT voices back than either.

Infact there's only one movie cross over voice that worked on both the movie and cartoon.   Who worked on both the movies and original cartoon?  What season and what character did he/she play?

[Andrew Modeen]

Well, Kevin Munroe has already basically said it's the same universe as the existing 3 movies -- so that settles that -- but by the same token the existing 3 movies will only be used as a kind of vague history.

[Jephael]

Infact there's only one movie cross over voice that worked on both the movie and cartoon.   Who worked on both the movies and original cartoon?  What season and what character did he/she play?

I believe it was Robbie Rist who played Michaelangelo in the movies. In 1995 he had a guest appearance on the show as a rival of Carter's.

[IveyAngelo]

Yup that's right!  Hehe I always found that amusing.   I loved Robbies work on the movies as Michaelangelo.  I'm going to miss him with the new movie, though I'm interested in what new voices we have to look forward too.  

[Andrew Modeen]

My thoughts are... making the whole movie CGI isn't really the best route and makes me kind of feel cheated, to be brutally honest. I mean as a side project or a mini-series or a direct-to-DVD kind of a thing, great, cool, let's roll with it... but as TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #4 (basically), the first Turtles movie on the big screen in well over 10 years... that just strikes me as wrong, but am looking forward to the possibility of being proven wrong when I see it.

What I would like to see is the Turtles as we've seen them, yes, a live-action movie with men in suits as in the 90s movies... but taken to the next level. If they're dying to put CGI to the test, fine, use it on the Turtles' faces and mouths to better articulate emotion and lip-synching to the words.

[Danceingfae]

With the new movie, i'd say it's either got to be all CGI or none at all. Reason for that is because when you try to mix the two, sometimes the result is more negative then positive.

I honestly can't think of a good example right now, since i don't know if adding stuff in digitially using CGI is the same or whatnot, i get so lost in those areas, but if i do think of one, i'll defintately put it up.

I prefer the guys in the suits to be honest, because it's more real. You would know that they are actually there and not some images made in a computer. I guess that's what i get for being a touchy feely person  

[Andrew Modeen]

There's plenty of examples of CGI used phenomenally to aid live-action movies.

Terminator 2 and 3, the Abyss, Lord of the Rings, Gladiator, the list goes on and on.

[Jephael]

Don't forget JarJar and all those other funny gungans in Star Wars Episode 1!

[Andrew Modeen]

Yes, but George Lucas is an assclown.

[Fugitoid]

Still can't sleep... so I did some research on Imagi.

I don't know if this connection has ever been mentioned anywhere else. But Imagi is also producing a Highlander CG film, which is related to the franchise of the same name. Guess who's involved with the project? None other than Kevin Eastman. He's the Animation Supervisor. Check it out. Now it looks like Imagi picked up doing this Highlander film before getting TMNT. So, I wonder if Kevin is the one who brought Imagi to Peter Laird/Mirage Studios...

On an unrelated note, Imagi also produced the very short lived show "Father of the Pride", which had some good animation/graphics. I really wished NBC didn't can "Father of the Pride", I liked it a lot.

So, more and more I'm gaining confidence in Imagi.

[Michaelangelo]

Yeah I know about Highlander, Kevin was going to Japan to work on that film.  I remember getting emails from him last Fall about flying over seas to work on it.  So I can't wait to see it.  I did surf their site before and saw that on there.  

[Jephael]

I always thought Highlander was a cool concept, but I never quite got into it.