Turtle Power! Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are rebooting theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesin partnership with Nickelodeon Animation Studios for a feature film with a potential 2023 release.TMNThas remained current since the late ’80s through a chain of animated shows (and of course, merchandise) and animated movies (and more merchandise) but not since the one season 1997-1998Ninja Turtles: Next Mutationhave the classic creature suits been used. With a full reboot in mind fromRogen and Goldberg’s Grey Point Picturesand almost twenty-five years in the rearview, why won’t anyone ever bring back the old-schoolTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlescreature suits?
It was 1987 when theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesanimated series first hit Saturday morning television. Though based on amuch grittier self-titled black and white comicby Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman published in 1984, just as the Care Bears, He-Man and Transformers before them, theTeenageMutant Ninja Turtleswere developed from the page to the cartoon series to create action figures. Playmates Toys, who were interested in creating a line ofTMNTaction figures, lacked confidence there would be enough public interest from the dark but popular comic alone. And so, the animated series was released first as a five-part miniseries, then as a syndicated series with thirteen more episodes added to the season. As could be inferred, the series was a smash hit and a feature film,TeenageMutantNinja Turtles,was released in 1990 to a radical but mixed reception.
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Regardless the OG 1990 film only added fuel to the fire and the fanaticism continued on to two more direct sequels,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Oozein 1991 andTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IIIin 1993. But not once, aside from the 1997 series (which infamously included the “sister” turtle Venus de Milo) has any entry attempted to use, or improve upon, the original Jim Henson Creature Shop animatronic suits. Consistently, every TMNT feature past 1993 has preferred the once cheap, then art, then cheap art, CGI.
This was understandable in the early 2000s. To be fair, the animatronic suits for the 1990 releasedTMNTwere technological wonders for their time, having to allow for kung-fu moves and facial expressions without the use of wires all while keeping an actor cool in a full-body mold. Until Tim Burton’sBatmanwas released in 1989, comic book films, in general, did not instill confidence as a strong financial property and theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfilm, despite the successful cartoon and toy line, was no exception.
The 1990Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtleswas only able to even have such elevatedcreature suits within budget as Jim Hensonwas doing director Steve Barron a favor. The suits were 70 pounds with the actor outfitted top to bottom with the turtle head glued to the body for a completely seamless look. Each suit would require two puppeteers, turning a simple scene like Michelangelo and Donatello waiting in the sewer for a pizza delivery, into an all-day trial. The latex of the feet was slippery. The suits were sweltering. At a certain point, an actor would be heard bellowing for the turtle head to be taken off as claustrophobia took hold. It was some bodaciousApocalypse Now: Hearts of Darknessstuff. Over time, a transition to simple, clean, CHEAP CGI is more than understandable. It’s humane.
But nothing from the franchise is more iconic than those suits. As recognizable as Ronald McDonald, theTMNTcreature suits are legendary. Light years ahead of their time in the 90s and beloved by any fan of any entry to the franchise, it’s bizarre that another attempt to recreate the piecesor that specific sense of nostalgiahasn’t materialized outside the world of YouTube fan concepts. Especially now, as the technology for animatronics has far surpassed what possibly even Jim Henson could have imagined (or maybe he’d have seen it coming). And after the fandom was particularly vocal about the Michael BayTMNTfeature’s redesigns (and everything) in 2014 and 2016. It’s just so weird that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, as geeks themselves, wouldn’t be dedicated to a reboot featuring that 1990 latex feel.
And it’s not going to happen. Though the film isn’t slated to come out until maybe 2023, that the reboot will be CGI has already been announced. And the connection to Nickelodeon Animation Studios doesn’t help the cause here but does mean the audience is at least spared from another gigantic, Oakley-wearing Raphael as was introducedin the Bay features. As long as April O’Neil shows up in a yellow trench coat, the fans should be satisfied but this fandom deserves aTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtleswith creature suits. After all, it was kind enough to get Vanilla Ice’s “Go Ninja Go” into radio play. Cowabunga, indeed.
