A few weeks ago, Paramount delayed their upcoming "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reboot, and rumors circulated that the studio was unhappy with the direction the project was headed. However, series co-creator Kevin Eastman insists that isn't the case at all and that the new film is shaping up to be the "best Turtle movie yet."
Eastman name-drops the likes of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "The Raid: Redemption" when discussing the new film's effects and fight scenes. He also claims that the six month delay will allow the film to coincide with the franchise's 30th anniversary in 2014.
Furthermore, the creator also touched on how the Turtles would be realized this time out and said it's "still being discussed" whether or not motion capture suits will be utilized.
However, will any of this placate fans who may still be faced with a new interpretation of the Turtles? At this point, the radical conception that they'll be aliens instead of mutants is a little infamous; even producer Michael Bay had to take to the internet and tell fans to chill out over it.
Eastman is a little more diplomatic on the subject, but he echoes Bay's thoughts by pointing out how these sorts of properties (including The Avengers) have been "reinvented, reformatted, restructured, [and] replatformed" over the years. He has a point, but it's worth noting that this reconfiguration radically alters the fundamental core of the characters; after all, half of the title isn't even relevant anymore since the characters will no longer be mutants or teenagers.
A lot of this sounds like spin control as well. Obviously, Paramount isn't going to admit to having any reservations about the project, especially since they're sitting on two disasters in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and "World War Z," so if they're retooling the original script for this reboot, it'll be doing so quietly.
At any rate, this is a sober reminder for fans who were quick to blame Bay for mucking with their beloved franchise; while he's signing the checks, it's guys like Eastman who are calling the shots on this attempt to update the Turtles for a modern audience.
