When a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot/remake was recently announced- fan boys rejoiced. However, this joy was somewhat muted when Michael Bay was named producer, and spoke about some of his plans for the new turtles film. Now there’s no doubting Michael Bay is a talented producer/director- his films are loaded with brainless special effects which help his movies rise visually when they may not have the strongest plot. But Bay has needed to calm the fears of some fan boys with his plans for TMNT, by stating the film will do the turtles justice and telling upset nancy-boys to “calm down”.
Here are some ways that Bay can do the TMNT film justice:
Stay Away From Outer Space: TMNT fans panicked (like this guy) when Bay said he was toying with the idea of making the turtles’ origins from outer space. I’d like to think Bay would have his own take on the origin stories of the turtles turned mutant teenagers, prior to becoming engulfed in the ooze- but the turtles’ origins don’t include outer space.
Special Effects: If there’s one way that Bay can put his mark on the TMNT franchise- it’s by adding cool fight sequences with his trademark special effects. I think it’s safe to say that TMNT movies in the 90s’ look cheesy and were limited in terms of quality fight sequences, and A-list special effects. But with today’s technology, Bay has the ability to make the new TMNT movie as good looking as his Transformers trilogy.
Realism: In the past turtle movies, everything from the costumes to the plot lines where more cartoon than real looking- even if it was a live action movie. And realism is a major part of the reason why fans have embraced Christopher Nolan’s recent Batman trilogy. Bay should make a movie that looks more real than cartoon-ish and bring to life a script that is believable and relatable than those of the past films.
More Splinter: Fans love the characters of TMNT. And most notable of the series is the turtles’ mentor- the rat Splinter. Splinter is like the Obi-Wan Kenobi to the turtles’ Luke Skywalker, and part of the story origin can focus directly on the martial arts training of the turtles by their mentor.
Good Script: The Transformers movies looked good, no doubt. But what Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen lacked compared to the other two in the series was a quality story. The story seemed forced, the dialogue was child-like, and, despite good effects, the movie was considered a critical dud compared to the other two movies in the trilogy. Part of this is because production was rushed on it- this movie should not proceed into production until a quality story is written, so the old and new fans alike will be pleased.
Original Characters: We’ve already expressed our need for Splinter, but the movie should not shy away from including original characters from the series, such as reporter and trusted ally April O’Neil, top-villain Shredder, and some of the other characters we’ve come to know and love from the children’s cartoon and comics.
No Vanilla Ice: Vanilla Ice has already appeared in one TMNT movie too many. Let’s not go there again.
Comedic Wit: The turtles were cool- they should be perceived as being cool. We’d love to see witty dialogue written for them. C’mon, they are teenagers after all!
