TMNT co-creator slams Michael Bay’s Ninja Turtles script

Earlier this week, we posted up some disturbing info on the new Ninja Turtles movie. The rumored scripted for Michael Bay’s reboot had been leaked and it revealed some major changes for some familiar faces in the TMNT Universe. Casey Jones and April Oneil are now teenagers and ex lovers. Also, everyone’s favorite “Shredhead” is now a Colonel of a military unite called The Foot. Obviously, this has many fans up in arms.

One man in particular that is not too happy about the script is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Peter Laird. On his personal blog, the leaked script was brought to his attention by a couple of fans.

Someone else alerted me to the existence of this script, and I just a few minutes ago finished reading it. If it is, in fact, the actual draft that was rejected and caused the production of the next TMNT movie to be pushed back to 2014 because the script was unsatisfactory, then I think all true TMNT fans should be grateful to the new “powers that be” that they did not allow this wretched thing to go any further. It could definitely be taken as a good sign if that is the case. It reminds me of one of the reasons I am glad to not own the property anymore… because I don’t have to tear what little hair I have left out while trying to fix junk like this.

Fans asked what changes Peter would make to the script but the only thing he could suggest is to throw it out a window and start over again.

I think the script that I read is so fundamentally flawed, and — more to the point — so NOT a Teenage Mutant NInja Turtles movie, that trying to make piecemeal changes to it in an effort to make it into something halfway decent is probably a fool’s errand. In my opinion, the thing should just be tossed out, deliberately forgotten, and the process of generating a new script — really a new outline, then treatment, then script — should be started again. I have no insider knowledge of what’s going on with the movie, but from the bits and pieces that have slipped out, it seems like that may be exactly what is happening. While we’re on the subject of this script… I have to say that while reading it, and especially reading the last twenty pages or so, I couldn’t help but think of the brouhaha which erupted a few months back when Michael Bay was heard to say that in the upcoming movie, the Turtles would be revealed to be “from an alien race”, and following that, all the mental gymnastics indulged in by people who wanted to parse his words and make it seem like “No, he didn’t REALLY say they were going to be ALIENS!”… and then this script makes it way out onto the Internet, and if it is legitimate, it’s painfully clear that YES, the Turtles WERE, in fact, going to be ALIENS

Now if only he could talk some sense into his fellow co-creator Kevin Eastman, who is working on the film, we might get this baby turned around or at least put to rest before it gets even more out of hand.

Production on the new Turtles film has been put on hold but the film is scheduled to be released in 2014. May god help us all.

Source: Peter Laird