Nostalgia plays a large part in modern filmmaking. Many of the properties that find success on
both the big screen and the small are properties that remake or reimagine
something that already exists. The
concept would be something from a person’s childhood, something that they love,
being brought about again in order to fulfill that nostalgia within them. Few properties come with as many reboots,
remakes, and reimaginings as Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles began as a comic book in the early 1980s. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird came up with
the idea and published the comics through Mirage Studios. The series was originally meant to be a
parody of popular comics from the time, including Daredevil. Soon, it would be a multi-platform franchise
comparable to almost no other property.
1986 and early 1987 saw the release of different lines of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys. If the comic books weren’t getting the money
that the creators wanted, merchandising and licensing would. They would make their money through the
children who wanted to fight with their Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures.
And things would only go up from there.
The first animated series to come from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters
would happen in 1987. It began with a
five-part mini-series at the end of 1987 before continuing as a full series in
late 1988. The combination of the
cartoon and the action figures would push the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property from a niche comic book series into a
full-blown mainstream success. It was so
mainstream, in fact, that the characters couldn’t be kept from the stage or the
big screen.
A movie series based on the characters began in 1990. Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles saw the four brothers teaming up with April O’Neil,
Splinter, and Casey Jones to take down Shredder as his foot clan was taking
over their city and causing kids to go bad.
It was followed by two sequels, one with a great Vanilla Ice song and
the other with a time travel aspect, before the film series went dormant. The live action film series did inspire a
Saban-produced television show that introduced a new, female Ninja Turtle and a
travelling stage show musical for kids.
Three more animated television series would come out after
the live action series came to a conclusion.
The most successful was a series that lasted from 2003 to 2009 on
FOX. It had more edge than the previous
animated series, though it was still light enough for children. Once the series ended, there were a few years
before a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
CGI animated series began in 2012. That
series lasted until 2017, and now, in 2018, a new 2-D animated series has
begun.
During the second animated series, the one from 2003 to
2009, a CGI animated movie came out, simply called TMNT. It wasn’t a huge success, though it has since
garnered a strong fanbase. It was
released in 2007 to mixed reviews, but it turned a profit, showing that the
fandom would always be there for the franchise.
After all that, though, the nostalgia truly crept into the
franchise. Another reboot was announced
for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
franchise, from Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes production company. They’re the same company that made many of
the big horror remakes of the 2000s. And
reboot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
they did. It was the Michael Bay version
of the characters, though the movies weren’t directed (at least in credit) by
Michael Bay. His influence was still all
over them.
Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles came out in 2014. The turtles
were large, muscular, CGI creations that flipped through the city streets while
trying to take down Shredder and the foot clan.
They teamed up with April O’Neil and Vern to stop Shredder and Eric
Sacks from infecting the world with a virus that would wipe out a large portion
of the population. The chemical that
made the turtles into their large, mutant selves was a large part of the story,
as it was involved in the virus contamination plotline.
The writing was the downfall of the reboot. It was all in the tonal shifts that never
quite worked. Particularly, in the
comedic side of the movie, it felt like two separate writers with completely
different sensibilities instead of one consistent style. There was slapstick, in both the visual and
aural sides of things, that worked for what it was. Then there was the “this is what teenagers
are like” style of comedy that felt like a 50 something writer going into the
script with stereotypes. The four
turtles were caricatures of teenagers.
It felt like what adults thought teenagers were like, instead of what
teenagers were really like. It was the
most irritating aspects without any of the good.
Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles: Out of the Shadows, the 2016 sequel, did even worse with the
writing. It wasn’t just the comedy that
felt tonally off, but the actual story as well.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their human friends, now including
Casey Jones, were in a grounded cartoon world.
Sure, they were giant, talking, martial arts using turtles, but there
was a reality to it. There was a
seriousness to the characters, outside of them being teenagers. That wasn’t the case for the rest of the
movie.
The new villain was Krang, an alien that looked like a
brain, that lived in the chest of a giant robot. They were using Shredder to get three
mechanical devices that would allow them to bring a giant space war machine to
Earth. Shredder enlisted two criminals,
and turned them into giant, bipedal animals.
These criminals were Bebop and Rocksteady. The man who would put the devices together
was Baxter Stockman. Together, these
three provided much of the over-the-top comedic relief that would plague the
film. In a cartoony movie that still
grounded itself in a reality, these three performances were so off the charts
that they took down what could have been a mildly amusing reboot series.
Though the movies have gone dormant for the time being, the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles empire remains strong. The television series have helped that. The merchandising has helped that. The nostalgia people have for the movies, series,
and toys of their past have helped. This
nostalgia fueled Michael Bay to produce two movies about the superhero turtles,
and it will likely inspire many more people to bring their own spin to the
material that they love. That’s how
nostalgia works in movies.
Nostalgia is something that has helped bring a new version
of old characters and stories to modern audiences. It has also helped to shine a spotlight on
old tales, bringing new eyes to the properties that past generations
loved. That’s why so many remakes,
reboots, and reimaginings exist. People
love things and want to see more of them.
They want to share them with everyone else. Nostalgia drives things forward while keeping
them in the past, and that’s where movies are now.
The notes for this post will go up later this week. I haven’t had time to properly compile them. It's been a long week of making a short film. Thank you for understanding.
No comments:
Post a Comment