TMNT Reboot Wishlist

We're all familiar with the TMNT origin story by now, and if for some reason you're still not, there's an onslaught of new media that's going to give you the details. IDW is putting out an excellent new comic series (read it!), there's a fresh animated cartoon series coming to TV, and there are rumors of a new video game as well. So if you're not currently knowledgeable about their origin tale involving the ooze and all that jazz, then you undoubtedly will be by the time the reboot hits theaters. We've seen a handful of movies successfully skim over the dull task of slowly going through the motions of an origin story we're already familiar with. The 2007 animated film accomplished this and another excellent example would be 2008's The Incredible Hulk. There's no reason to believe the same cannot be done here in order to throw us into an awesome new TMNT adventure without having to sit through their creation all over again.

Raphael and Leonardo are undeniably the easiest to work story-wise out of the four heroes, but Mikey and Donny have just as much depth as their brothers and it's about time a movie gave them some extra focus. The master of the bo-staff and his comedic counter-part deserve just as much love and it would be nice to see more emphasis placed on the two this time around. Given the chance, Donny can prove to be far more than an IT guy who babbles about tech that most of the audience won't understand, and Mikey is far more than just a stereotypical goofball. 

You're probably thinking "more Shredder?" but we must remember that he is considered to be the iconic turtle villain for a reason. The return of the classic and dangerous Shredder isn't something we've seen in awhile (hinted at the end of TMNT and slowly being introduced in the IDW comic). Despite being killed in the first Mirage comic, Shredder's awesome appearance and dangerous methods left a lasting impact and he quickly became known to many as the Turtle's biggest foe. Plus, who in their right mind doesn't want to see an epic battle between the turtles, the Foot Clan and Oroku Saki? Let's not introduce the whole worm clone thing, though. I'm cool with Krang, but worm clones might be pushing it with the general audience.

It's being reported that director Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: LA, Wrath of the Titans) is in talks to direct the fifth Ninja Turtle installment. Liebesman is a very interesting choice for what has become a very kid-friendly franchise, seeing as he has only directed horror and rather violent films. If anything, this should give us some confidence that this new movie won't be geared heavily towards the wee ones and will hopefully feel more like the 1990 flick. Battle: LA's action was tons of fun, so I'm cautiously optimistic about how he could handle the intense melees this movie would require.

Then we have Michael Bay as executive producer. I have some complaints about the man, but there's no denying he can help create some visually stunning work and having his name slapped on the film might help it gain extra attention. Let's just hope the reboot doesn't have the same explosive visuals and chaos as Transfomers because that really, really wouldn't be fitting for this series at all. And, having the writers of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol onboard almost ensures that this will hold the potential to be a blast.