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More Turtles thoughts.
Jun. 29th, 2016 06:10 pmSo I'm still on a Turtles kick. I watched the very first movie and still loved it. I also wanted to see TMNT, but I wasn't sure I'd still feel the magic for it since there are things I don't like about it. But I did get caught up in the magic again and I was thrilled. It really is a very good, very powerful movie. And the whole thing with the 3,000-year-old warriors and the man cursed with solitary immortality for his mistake and the portals to different dimensions and escaping monsters all reminded me of something out of a YGO film. I think that was part of what excited me so much before.
Also, while I still wish they had actually had Leo apologize to Raph for the nasty things he said to him, they did have quite a touching make-up scene. It wasn't enough for me before, but this time it seemed to mean more (maybe because of Crystal's enthusiasm over the subtleness of Napoleon and Illya). Raph comes and helps Leo up as the drug wears off and hands him some new katana, saying he'll need them if he's going to lead them out of there. Leo smiles and says he'll need Raph too and they smile at each other. Not exactly "I'm sorry" on either of their parts, but it really was a beautiful moment with each acknowledging they had been wrong.
And while I still think the problem was on both sides, I really was horrified at how far Raph allowed his anger and hurt to go, actually fighting with Leo quite viciously and eventually breaking the original katanas and pinning him down. The moment where Raph comes back to himself and realizes what he could have done is very powerful. He can't even stand to be there and turns and runs. And Leo is so drained and shaken from the episode that he isn't paying attention when a tranquilizer dart is shot at him. Raph hears him cry out and runs back, but he's not able to stop the bad guys from kidnapping Leo.
I watched a lot of the bonus material and while I'd seen some of the scenes before, I didn't see all of them. And I didn't remember that originally they were going to have Leo and Raph talk at the end. There was still a lot they needed to talk out: Raph's feelings of abandonment and how he had to take over when Leo was gone, Leo's feelings that he just wasn't good enough to be the leader and the brothers would be better off without him.... I wonder if that scene would possibly be in the novelization. I always wanted to get it, as I knew it had stuff that was left out of the movie. If it's not in the novelization, I'm really tempted to write my own version of it. That movie has so much pain and hurt, especially on Leo and Raph's parts. It seemed to be Raph's movie in a lot of ways, and we didn't really get in-depth on Leo's issues.
Several weeks ago I read through all my journal entries tagged with TMNT (which is the general Turtles tag, not just for this movie). I found that one of the movie's creators had said that he wanted to show that animated movies didn't just have to be about characters running into each other and passing gas. LOL. But yes, it really is a very deep, very serious movie with moments of humor here and there. It's a beautiful film and I love it again and want to see it again very soon.
I decided to follow it up by watching an episode of the 2003 series. I have the first 12 on DVD. So naturally I started with the first one. Mikey was a little more tolerable this time around, but still kind of too much. I seem to like him everywhere else, but I don't know, he just comes across as so obnoxious and frustrating in this incarnation. And Raph ... yikes. He really could be pretty nasty in this version. I forgot that in addition to Leo, he also seemed to have many problems with Mikey, to the point of hitting him and trying to fight with him. I did remember how upset Raph was when Mikey beat him in some tournament thingy later on in the series (and how obnoxious Mikey was about winning and kept rubbing it in everyone's faces). I'm so used to Raph in the movies, who never seems to have any specific problems with Mikey and actually "teamed up" with him in the newest film, that this was kind of a jolt. I had other issues with the 2003 series in the past, and I wonder if I won't like it much at all this round. I was thinking that I seem to prefer the Turtles in movies, any of the movies. I grew up with the first movie more than the original series and I'm absolutely nuts about the current movies while I still don't know if I want to touch Nickelodeon's TV series. Nick seems to have a concept of Raph being rather protective of Mikey in all their stuff, though, so that would be one adorable thing in their TV series.
Another thing I've never been able to make peace with is Nick's decision that April should be a teenager too. They felt it was too illogical for an adult to want to be friends with teenagers. Actually, there's probably not that much difference in their ages. Maybe five, six years. And I never found it illogical that April had made friends with them; I always thought it was beautiful. I like that Nick found a way to make things work in their movies without resorting to making April younger. In the movies, the backstory is that she was the one who owned them before the mutations. That is seriously adorable and I am all for it. And it would totally work in any branch of the franchise. After all, the story is that they were pet turtles that were lost. Somebody owned them. But I don't think April would have to be the previous owner in order for it to make sense that she made friends with them. To me, it still makes sense in every branch of the franchise. April was never conventional and was always open-minded; even though she generally freaks out in every initial meeting with them, she warms up pretty quickly once she knows they're friendly. She was probably always a little strange/different from everyone else. Having unusual friends just doesn't seem such an odd thing for her. And after all the crazy things she went through with the Turtles in their early adventures, it makes a lot of sense that a lasting bond would form and she would want to stay in touch.
I was also thinking about The Next Mutation, which is the bane of the franchise. It was finally released on DVD a little while ago and you can find it at places like Wal-Mart or K-Mart for $5. For that price, I've considered buying it, but I don't know if I want to touch it, either. I'm not that crazy about the idea of a fifth Turtle, or that April and Casey are bizarrely absent, but what bugs me more than anything else is that in this thing, the Turtles are not biological brothers. By all indications, this was done just so that there was a possibility of any of them hooking up romantically with the new Turtle. Um, that is seriously beyond lame. Actually, if the series had instead kept the brothers angle and the storylines were all "Hey, we have a new sister! Yay!" I would probably think it was seriously adorable and would be very enthusiastic about trying it, even if I still wouldn't want the girl Turtle to be canon in any other branch of the franchise. But getting rid of the brother thing was sacrilege, and doing it for the possibility of romance is utterly unforgivable. Why does everything always have to be about romance? The Turtles were always more about platonic relationships. It should stay that way.
Also, while I still wish they had actually had Leo apologize to Raph for the nasty things he said to him, they did have quite a touching make-up scene. It wasn't enough for me before, but this time it seemed to mean more (maybe because of Crystal's enthusiasm over the subtleness of Napoleon and Illya). Raph comes and helps Leo up as the drug wears off and hands him some new katana, saying he'll need them if he's going to lead them out of there. Leo smiles and says he'll need Raph too and they smile at each other. Not exactly "I'm sorry" on either of their parts, but it really was a beautiful moment with each acknowledging they had been wrong.
And while I still think the problem was on both sides, I really was horrified at how far Raph allowed his anger and hurt to go, actually fighting with Leo quite viciously and eventually breaking the original katanas and pinning him down. The moment where Raph comes back to himself and realizes what he could have done is very powerful. He can't even stand to be there and turns and runs. And Leo is so drained and shaken from the episode that he isn't paying attention when a tranquilizer dart is shot at him. Raph hears him cry out and runs back, but he's not able to stop the bad guys from kidnapping Leo.
I watched a lot of the bonus material and while I'd seen some of the scenes before, I didn't see all of them. And I didn't remember that originally they were going to have Leo and Raph talk at the end. There was still a lot they needed to talk out: Raph's feelings of abandonment and how he had to take over when Leo was gone, Leo's feelings that he just wasn't good enough to be the leader and the brothers would be better off without him.... I wonder if that scene would possibly be in the novelization. I always wanted to get it, as I knew it had stuff that was left out of the movie. If it's not in the novelization, I'm really tempted to write my own version of it. That movie has so much pain and hurt, especially on Leo and Raph's parts. It seemed to be Raph's movie in a lot of ways, and we didn't really get in-depth on Leo's issues.
Several weeks ago I read through all my journal entries tagged with TMNT (which is the general Turtles tag, not just for this movie). I found that one of the movie's creators had said that he wanted to show that animated movies didn't just have to be about characters running into each other and passing gas. LOL. But yes, it really is a very deep, very serious movie with moments of humor here and there. It's a beautiful film and I love it again and want to see it again very soon.
I decided to follow it up by watching an episode of the 2003 series. I have the first 12 on DVD. So naturally I started with the first one. Mikey was a little more tolerable this time around, but still kind of too much. I seem to like him everywhere else, but I don't know, he just comes across as so obnoxious and frustrating in this incarnation. And Raph ... yikes. He really could be pretty nasty in this version. I forgot that in addition to Leo, he also seemed to have many problems with Mikey, to the point of hitting him and trying to fight with him. I did remember how upset Raph was when Mikey beat him in some tournament thingy later on in the series (and how obnoxious Mikey was about winning and kept rubbing it in everyone's faces). I'm so used to Raph in the movies, who never seems to have any specific problems with Mikey and actually "teamed up" with him in the newest film, that this was kind of a jolt. I had other issues with the 2003 series in the past, and I wonder if I won't like it much at all this round. I was thinking that I seem to prefer the Turtles in movies, any of the movies. I grew up with the first movie more than the original series and I'm absolutely nuts about the current movies while I still don't know if I want to touch Nickelodeon's TV series. Nick seems to have a concept of Raph being rather protective of Mikey in all their stuff, though, so that would be one adorable thing in their TV series.
Another thing I've never been able to make peace with is Nick's decision that April should be a teenager too. They felt it was too illogical for an adult to want to be friends with teenagers. Actually, there's probably not that much difference in their ages. Maybe five, six years. And I never found it illogical that April had made friends with them; I always thought it was beautiful. I like that Nick found a way to make things work in their movies without resorting to making April younger. In the movies, the backstory is that she was the one who owned them before the mutations. That is seriously adorable and I am all for it. And it would totally work in any branch of the franchise. After all, the story is that they were pet turtles that were lost. Somebody owned them. But I don't think April would have to be the previous owner in order for it to make sense that she made friends with them. To me, it still makes sense in every branch of the franchise. April was never conventional and was always open-minded; even though she generally freaks out in every initial meeting with them, she warms up pretty quickly once she knows they're friendly. She was probably always a little strange/different from everyone else. Having unusual friends just doesn't seem such an odd thing for her. And after all the crazy things she went through with the Turtles in their early adventures, it makes a lot of sense that a lasting bond would form and she would want to stay in touch.
I was also thinking about The Next Mutation, which is the bane of the franchise. It was finally released on DVD a little while ago and you can find it at places like Wal-Mart or K-Mart for $5. For that price, I've considered buying it, but I don't know if I want to touch it, either. I'm not that crazy about the idea of a fifth Turtle, or that April and Casey are bizarrely absent, but what bugs me more than anything else is that in this thing, the Turtles are not biological brothers. By all indications, this was done just so that there was a possibility of any of them hooking up romantically with the new Turtle. Um, that is seriously beyond lame. Actually, if the series had instead kept the brothers angle and the storylines were all "Hey, we have a new sister! Yay!" I would probably think it was seriously adorable and would be very enthusiastic about trying it, even if I still wouldn't want the girl Turtle to be canon in any other branch of the franchise. But getting rid of the brother thing was sacrilege, and doing it for the possibility of romance is utterly unforgivable. Why does everything always have to be about romance? The Turtles were always more about platonic relationships. It should stay that way.
