First Glance at Nickelodeon's TMNT?

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Hey, look - an update! Sorry about the disappearing act, but fact is that TMNT news has slooooow. I have been posting occasional links to stuff over on the Ninja Pizza Facebook page, so you can join the party over there if you haven't yet. However, this will still be the central location for all TMNT news.

On to today's business, the image we see here was included in an article posted by The Wall Street Journal. It was part of an article titled "Nickelodeon Gives New Kick to Ninja Turtles." You need either a subscription to the WSJ or the ability to work some Google magic to read the whole article, so I'll copy the relevant parts of it below.

Viacom Inc.'s Nickelodeon is betting that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles still have some fight left in them. The cable channel spent $60 million to acquire the global rights to the franchise and plans to offer a new television version of the series using computer-generated animation in 2012.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were introduced in 1984.

Ciro Nieli, an executive producer of the new Turtles series, says that the coming computer-animated version will be slightly different than past incarnations. The four turtle protagonists, who previously could only be distinguished by the color of their masks, will each have "more individual attributes," Mr. Nieli says. The show will stress their martial-arts combat abilities, he adds.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were first launched in 1984, and have spawned comics, toys, movies and other products. "The TMNT generation is now of the age where they both have children to share with and look to reconnect with their own childhood," said Joe Wos, executive director the ToonSeum, a Pittsburgh cartoon museum.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com's box-office division, says that because the 2007 movie "TMNT" grossed just $54.1 million at the domestic box office, "some of the magic" may have worn off the franchise. However, Mr. Dergarabedian said via email that "I think a re-booted version could still find favor with audiences given the long-time popularity of these characters." Nickelodeon plans to help reintroduce Turtles toys to the marketplace and Paramount has a feature-length movie in development with filmmaker Michael Bay ("Transformers").

New Writers On Board TMNT 2012 Project

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Less than a day after learning that Paramount was looking for a new writer for the TMNT movie project, we now know who they got. Again, Slap Happy from the Technodrome has found that Deadline.com is reporting Art Marcum and Matt Halloway as being on the project. Marcum and Halloway were among the writers credited for the 2008 Iron Man movie, and have more recently written a Highlander reboot. The first draft of the TMNT script is reportedly due in October.

Here's hoping Marcum and Halloway can delivery a TMNT movie that does the fans proud while making accessible to a wide general audience!

Fusco Script of TMNT Movie "Not Great"

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Technodrome forum member Slap Happy found this link, which has an very interesting line concerning the TMNT movie currently in development with Paramount:

Fusco draft not great; looking for another writer to come on this quickly as its a huge Viacom property.

Of course, John Fusco was the writer who was hired to write this movie last year before Nickelodeon/Viacom bought the TMNT from Mirage Studios. Hopefully the movie gets back on track and hopefully it'll be something that does justice to the potential of the TMNT brand.

TMNT 2007 Score by Klaus Badelt

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One of the most asked questions I get over on YouTube, which I've always left unanswered, is where one can download the score from TMNT (2007) by Klaus Badelt. You may have noticed that I've uploaded some of the tracks there.

The unfortunate truth about the tracks is that they were leaked to the Internet a couple years ago when Badelt released a limited promo CD of the score. So, copies of it aren't exactly legal.

However, because I do get so many requests, I've decided to share all of the tracks (some of which I wasn't able to put on YouTube). My stipulations for doing this are that the MP3s are only 128kps, and if at anytime Warner Brothers or Mr. Badelt request that the tracks be removed, they will be.

Track list:

1. Love Being a Turtle
2. Story of TMNT
3. Winter's End
4. I-Beam Fight
5. Stars Align
6. Nightwatcher
7. Leo Returns
8. Final Monster
9. Stone Generals
10. Raph Quits
11. Fighting the Stones

Download the album here.

I've also included a bonus track taken from the TMNT soundtrack that was released. There were two score tracks included on that album, and when Warner Brothers had the album streaming on the movie website, one of those tracks was longer (by a couple minutes!) than what was on the CD. So, if you want, you can take that MP3 and replace the one from the album.

Ideally this score would see a proper CD release. To show your support for such a release, click the "Like" button at the top! And if you happen to have one of the tangible promo CDs, I would be very interested in buying it from you. ^_^

San Diego Comic-Con 2010!

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It's here! The convention of all conventions is a mere two days away, and while there will be a minimal TMNT presence on the Con floor this year, there are still some points of interest that TMNT fans might want to be tuned into.

• TMNT artist Michael Dooney will be in Artists' Alley throughout the week. You can find him at table DD22. (And note that the location of Aritsts' Alley has changed this year!)
  
  
• Michael Zulli, writer and artist of the Soul's Winter trilogy from TMNT Vol. 1, is a special guest at this year's Con. And as is the case with all special guests, he'll have a panel dedicated just to him. Check out the Spotlight on Michael Zulli panel on Friday.
  
  Friday, July 23
  1:00-2:00 Spotlight on Michael Zulli— Artist and Comic-Con special guest Michael Zulli is best known for his work on Sandman with Neil Gaiman. Zulli talks about his career and what's coming next, including his new book, The Fracture of the Universal Boy. Room 4
  
  
• Corey Feldman, the voice of Donatello in the first and third TMNT movies, will be at the convention on Thursday promoting the new direct-to-DVD movie, Lost Boys: The Thirst. He will be signing autographs with co-star Jamison Newlander on Thursday, from 3:00-4:00pm at the WB booth.
  
  
• Sideshow Collectibles will be holding their panel on Sunday from 10:00-11:00am. It was at this panel last year that they first announced their line of TMNT comiquettes. While new TMNT announcements are unlikely at this time, you never know.
  
  Sunday, July 25
  10:00-11:00 Sideshow Collectibles— The Sideshow Collectibles Design and Development Team present an in-depth look at some of Sideshow's most popular product lines and licenses, including Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Marvel Comics, The Lord of the Rings, and many more, offering insight into the design process, sneak peeks of upcoming products, a Q&A session, and giveaways. Room 32AB
  
  
• Tales of the TMNT writer Jake Black will be at the con, and while he will not be at any set location at a scheduled time, he his willing to meet-up with any fans who would like to chat. You can reach Jake by tweeting him @jakeboyslim.
  
  
• And, of course, TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman can be found at the Heavy Metal booth throughout the weekend.
  

Be sure to watch the Ninja Pizza Twitter and Facebook feeds for updates live from the floor throughout the week! If any surprises happen, you'll find out in one of those two places first!

Sideshow Mouser Comiquette Pre-Order on Thursday and Friday

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The time is nearly here to pre-order the San Diego Comic-Con exclusive Mouser comiquette from Sideshow Collectibles!

For convention attendees, the pre-order event is on THURSDAY at 10am Pacific time - SHARP! For non-attendees, the pre-order event is on FRIDAY at 10am Pacific time.

Because this is a Priority Pre-Order event, which is different from the previous TMNT pre-orders, to be able to participate in the pre-order you need to already be subscribed to the Sideshow weekly newsletter. Login to the main Sideshow site at sideshowtoy.com at 10am Pacific and click on the Mouser banner to go through the ordering process.

If that sounds complicated, it's not. It's actually super easy and you should be in and out within a few minutes. But this is one thing you definitely need to be on time for!

Good luck to anyone wanting to add a Mouser to their collection!

"Turtles Forever" DVD Details Emerge

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Just a day after signs of a DVD release were first found, TVShowsOnDVD.com has posted some more solid information, including the (absolutely horrible) box art to the left.

More troubling than the cover art, however, are the details of the DVD release that state it will be in full screen and approximately 70 minutes. If these details are not in error, this is absolutely inexcusable.

Turtles Forever was animated as a widescreen production, and even aired in widescreen when it was presented as a Saturday morning movie. Turtles Forever is also approximately 78 minutes in length, having been edited down to 70 to fit into a 90 minute TV slot.

The complete and widescreen Turtles Forever is available to view on the 4Kids.tv website, and that is the one and only version that should be released on DVD. Hopefully the provided information is in error, and hopefully that is what will happen; it is probably too soon to panic.

However, if you would like to be pro-active about the situation, you can contact Paramount Home Entertainment customer service via this e-mail address: phe_customerservice@paramount.com