For a series about anthropomorphic turtles who learn ninjitsu, eat pizza and fight a supervillain named after a kitchen utensil, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sure has a lot of fans. It doesn’t take a Donatello to explain why: the original comic book series, a parody of Frank Miller’s grim ‘n’ gritty aesthetic, spawned a hit movie franchise, multiple cartoon series, toys, video games, a stage show and even a novelty song by Vanilla Ice (one which, like Vanilla Ice, is perhaps best left to the anecdotal annals of time). People young and old grew up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They are part of the popular culture spectrum; a blue, orange, purple and red wavelength on which we all have coasted from time to time, screaming “Cowabunga” and letting the fact that nothing about the characters makes a hell of a lot of sense drift away with the tide.
Related: Debating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trailer on Most Craved
But for some reason, the latest cinematic reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been met with scorn, derision or at least extreme levels of doubt from the fanbase. Actually, strike that, the reason is obvious: someone once said they were going to be aliens. That makes MUCH less sense than turtles who happened to wander into radioactive waste and get trained by a rat who only happened to be a martial arts master. In any case, people have concerns about Jonathan Liebesman’s upcoming movie, produced by Michael Bay, and so do we. So here are CraveOnline‘s 5 Questions about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Presumably we’ll get the answers when the movie hits theaters on August 8, 2014.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Our 5 Questions
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Will We Ever Get Used to These New Designs?
The new, highly detailed, lippy designs of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles look distracting, and some would say even gross. Many have commented that the animatronic suits from the original live-action film actually look better than the motion-capture versions that obviously cost this reboot millions of dollars more to produce. But we're stuck with them, so the question is, will fans eventually get over their furor and learn to love, or at least accept the look of these new turtles? Or will this remain a sticking point for years to come? Fans got over the once-controversial black leather X-Men costumes, for example, but years later the nipples on the bat suit from Batman & Robin are still a recurring pop culture joke. What fate awaits TNMNT?
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Isn't the Shredder Supposed to Be Japanese?
The whisper heard most often is that co-star William Fichtner will don the costume of The Shredder over the course of the film. We won't confirm or deny this, but if true, what sort of message would it send to take one of the few notable non-white characters in pop culture history (yes, even a villain) and make them white? Granted, "colorblind" casting can be a great thing once in a while, but the Japanese heritage of the Turtles, their mentor and their villain was an important part of their backstory. It's hard to imagine a decent justification would exist for this. We hope the rumors are wrong. -
Where is Casey Jones?
Just about every Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan has their favorite supporting character, so you could replace the "Casey Jones" in that question with anyone from "Mondo Gecko" to "Usagi Yojimbo," but the sports-enthusiast street vigilante Casey Jones was always our favorite so we're sticking with him. If the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is hoping to spawn a franchise, will the new film set up any of the beloved supporting cast members? Hopefully starting with Casey? -
Are They Hiding Anything?
The trailers for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so far don't seem to reveal an awful lot about the film. The Turtles exist, they may have something to do with April O'Neil's father, William Fichtner has some kind of plan... that's it. What's the actual movie "about?" And if they're being this coy about it, does that mean they're hiding something that would either get fans excited about or piss them off? Alien origins? Kang the Conqueror? The return of the Ninja Rap? -
Does It Even Matter?
Look, like a lot of people, we grew up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They're fun characters who have spawned fun TV shows, movies, comic books and video games. But they were silly by design and no one we know has ever been as emotionally invested in their actual stories as they have been in their personal memories of growing up with their toys. If the new film isn't amazing, even if it's silly and only works for little kids, does it even matter? They're anthropomorphic turtles with an obsession for pizza and late 1980s surfer culture. It's not a big deal if the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is just a big, dumb movie... is it?
