Peter Laird gives his thoughts on the Teaser Trailer

[TigerClaw]

Peter Laird, One of the co creators of TMNT gives his thoughts on the TMNT teaser trailer, You can read his whole interview below.
http://tinyurl.com/lkozo89

Here's the part that seems to most interesting.

CBM: What was your first reaction to the new Turtles?
PETER LAIRD: I was impressed with what I saw of the production values -- if nothing else, it looks like the new TMNT movie will have a lot of stuff going on and looking good (that toppling tower, for example) -- but the changes to the basic design of the Turtles seemed to me to fall into the "fixing what is not broken" category. It's altogether possible that, in the context of this new movie, these designs will work well and not seem so odd, but I still point to what Jim Henson's "Creature Shop" team did with their rendering of the Turtles in rubber and paint as the best translation (in live action, anyway) of the Turtles as Kevin Eastman and I created them.

That being said, so far I have only seen this short trailer with just a few brief glimpses of the Turtles. My opinion could change. One thing that comes to mind if how cool it would be if someone did CGI versions of those same Henson designs, with all the incredible flexibility and seamless action potential available with today's CGI.

 

[Kal-El.9859]

It was a good interview and I agree with him on several points...people assume too much based off of that teaser trailer, especially assuming that Shredder and April's dad created the ooze. That's not what Shredder said at all but yet that's what a lot of people want to hear. And if he and Eastman hadn't sold their rights they could have had a contract negotiated for this movie to where they xould have final say on certain aspects of the film and possibly could have prevented the turtles from looking the way they do. Oh well...that was a stupid decision

 

[Zaron]

It was a good interview and I agree with him on several points...people assume too much based off of that teaser trailer, especially assuming that Shredder and April's dad created the ooze. That's not what Shredder said at all but yet that's what a lot of people want to hear. And if he and Eastman hadn't sold their rights they could have had a contract negotiated for this movie to where they xould have final say on certain aspects of the film and possibly could have prevented the turtles from looking the way they do. Oh well...that was a stupid decision

While it is an assumption, it's pretty clear the trailer wants us to make that connection. Even if it is a wrong assumption, it's intentional misinformation, like much of the dialog in the trailers for The Winter Soldier.

And I wouldn't say it was dumb of him to sell his rights. Being involved with such a popular property has to be extremely stressful, and it's entirely possible that he wouldn't have enough pull to stop projects he didn't like regardless, so it's hard to fault him for deciding to just cash in his chips and be done with it. Not the choice I would make in his shoes, but I understand it.

And his attitude about the trailer is pretty reasonable. He dislikes pretty much everything people are complaining about. He's not going overboard with hate, but he doesn't like most of what he sees.

 

[Kal-El.9859]

I wouldn't have sold all my rights to the characters. Although if he hadn't it would probably be a jumbled mess like the Superman property was for several years. This person owns this aspect, that person owns that aspect and so on and so forth. And I'm jot saying he could have stopped production but he could have put a stop to the things he didn't like...

 

[Marvin]

Surprised to hear him say 'wait and see' to the mass of all those assumptions tossed at him. If only the internet was more like that.

 

[Kal-El.9859]

Surprised to hear him say 'wait and see' to the mass of all those assumptions tossed at him. If only the internet was more like that.

The internet....what a place

 

[Lencho01]

I laughed at his comments about TDKR and the film offer they got in the early days.

I think he would've been happy if they had gone the Where the Wild Things Are route he was thinking about before selling TMNT to Viacom.

 

[DigificWriter]

I'm surprised to see him actually being somewhat civil after the hissy fit he had over the inclusion of a fictional character whose existence actually enhanced the TMNT lore/mythos (at least IMO).

 

[Zaron]

I'm surprised to see him actually being somewhat civil after the hissy fit he had over the inclusion of a fictional character whose existence actually enhanced the TMNT lore/mythos (at least IMO).

I'm certain that once the film is actually out and he can say with certainty what he's criticizing, we'll hear a much more in-depth expression of his feelings.

 

[Marvin]

^ After a bunch of spats about a production that seemingly isn't what 'The film is going to be' it would only make sense that maybe he should perhaps wait until he can actually rage about the film in question and look less like a fan boy that follows weekly trades.

Maybe he will end up setting an example for people.

 

[NinjaTurtleFan]

There's definitely a lot of caution and worry in his answers. But also feel he is approaching it as a father who is going to meet his daughter's boyfriend for the first time, "Maybe he might not turn out to be so bad."

I think though there's quite a contrast between him and Eastman though in terms of enthusiasm. Eastman, I feel, only sees dollar signs in his eyes whether this will be a flop or not--- he's still going to make some green out of it. Laird, however, I feel again is like the proud papa that doesn't want to see his property become something it isn't or is pretending to be.

 

[Marvin]

There's definitely a lot of caution and worry in his answers. But also feel he is approaching it as a father who is going to meet his daughter's boyfriend for the first time, "Maybe he might not turn out to be so bad."

I think though there's quite a contrast between him and Eastman though in terms of enthusiasm. Eastman, I feel, only sees dollar signs in his eyes whether this will be a flop or not--- he's still going to make some green out of it. Laird, however, I feel again is like the proud papa that doesn't want to see his property become something it isn't or is pretending to be.

Their is a way to explain their approaches in a way that doesn't favor Laird and does favor Eastman...

 

[TigerClaw]

There's definitely a lot of caution and worry in his answers. But also feel he is approaching it as a father who is going to meet his daughter's boyfriend for the first time, "Maybe he might not turn out to be so bad."

I think though there's quite a contrast between him and Eastman though in terms of enthusiasm. Eastman, I feel, only sees dollar signs in his eyes whether this will be a flop or not--- he's still going to make some green out of it. Laird, however, I feel again is like the proud papa that doesn't want to see his property become something it isn't or is pretending to be.

Kevin Eastman has been pretty busy, Hes one of the writers of the IDW TMNT comics.

 

[Lencho01]

I don't think Laird will view it has that proud papa example. He sold the franchise away, there have been things done he didn't like in the past and there will likely be things he won't like in the future.

 

[TigerClaw]

I don't think Laird will view it has that proud papa example. He sold the franchise away, there have been things done he didn't like in the past and there will likely be things he won't like in the future.

Yeah, I read that Laird isn't a fan of Bebop and Rocksteady.

 

[Lencho01]

Yeah, I read that Laird isn't a fan of Bebop and Rocksteady.

Yep. So, when he's no longer in a position to have any influence, by his choosing when he sold the property, I don't think he'll care as much about what Viacom decides to do with it.

 

[wonderwoman5757]

No, Laird didn't care for the first cartoon.

 

[Marvin]

I don't think Laird will view it has that proud papa example. He sold the franchise away, there have been things done he didn't like in the past and there will likely be things he won't like in the future.

Watching the tmnt intro in the other thread, I can't imagine Laird was all that impressed given his original story.

 

[Lencho01]

Watching the tmnt intro in the other thread, I can't imagine Laird was all that impressed given his original story.

Which intro?

 

[Marvin]

Which intro?

the popular cartoon one from the 80s?

 

[Lencho01]

the popular cartoon one from the 80s?

Oh, ok. I thought you were talking about something different like another interview with him.

He's always been pretty upfront about his feelings about the 1987 toon. I think he's also said some things about 2k3, but just about feeling iffy about what they planned and warming up to it.

Here are his thoughts about what they could've done for the second film...

http://peterlairdstmntblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/blast-from-past-483-thoughts-on-second.html