Really? Aliens?

Like all people my age, I was a child of the eighties and nineties. I have a certain amount of fondness for TV and music from my childhood. I love New Wave. I love the cartoons I used to watch as a kid. And one that I remember really liking when I was a child was “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. I used to eagerly watch it every Saturday morning on channel 5 when almost all networks had a Saturday morning cartoon line-up.

When the movie finally came out in the early nineties, I saw it. I really liked the first “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie. I was so excited to see it. It was different and a little darker than the cartoon was. From my understanding it was more like the comic book. Unfortunately, I hadn’t read it at that point as my parents wouldn’t let me read comic books.

To this day, remembering waking up early on Saturdays to go over to my dad’s place where I would watch Saturday morning cartoons. Despite all the negativity that I had in my childhood, I have some fond memories. Watching “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is one of them.

Now I hear that they’re making a new “TMNT” movie.

I’m not going to lie. Ever since the “Brady Bunch Movie”, I’ve never been a big fan of not creating new work. At the same time I understand that capitalizing on nostalgia isn’t necessarily a bad idea… and it can be done well (like the Batman series).

However, it seems like, as of late, that’s all they got. At least, it’s what the studios have. Independents seem to be the only outlet for those of us creating original content… but that’s a topic for another day. Now back to the original topic.

Enter Michael Bay.

Now, I’m not going to lie. I saw his version of “The Transformers”. In many ways it reminded me of when I was younger watching the cartoon. It was wonderful… at the same time, it just didn’t feel the same. Trying to sexy it up with Megan Fox. It simultaneously felt nostalgic and tawdry.

Michael Bay wants to remake “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”.

Now, I’m really going to reserve my opinion until I see a trailer. It’s too soon to say what it’s going to be like. I’m not a fan of Michael Bay. I don’t like his movies. I’m not going to lie, I’m probably not going to see it regardless of nostalgia.

But there’s one thing that has me worried about this movie. They’re changing a part of the premise of the show. Michael Bay wants to make the turtles aliens… That’s right, aliens. This makes me nervous. It just doesn’t make sense. He says he’s working with a co-creator of the series, so I reserve any real judgment. Just when I hear turtle aliens, all I can picture is the turtle aliens from “Laserblast”.

We’ll have to wait and see where this movie goes after development. Maybe the rabid fans might get a movie that they want to watch. Who knows. Maybe the movie will tank hard enough that maybe Hollywood might reconsider what they believe to be their latest cash cow.