Somewhere In The Sewers
Just a few minutes ago, the official Facebook page for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had a live event where they officially revealed the new look of the Turtles, April O’Neil, and Master Splinter from the upcoming Nickelodeon series, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Myself and a ton of other fans tuned in to see what our favorite heroes on the half shell would look like and here are my thoughts along with photos of the characters and the cast that will play them.
Raphael is up first. In this incarnation of the group, Raph will be the leader. According to a panel at the live event that featured Ant Ward (co-executive producer), Andy Suriano (co-executive producer), and Rob Paulsen (voice of Raph in the 80’s, Donnie in the 2012 series, and voice director on the new series), Raphael will be a reactionary, think first leader. Based on the photo, you can see that he’s ditched the sai for tonfas. Not much else was revealed about him except that he’s voiced by Omar Miller.
The tech-savvy Donatello is next, with a streamlined look and a ton of gadgets. He’ll be voiced by Josh Brener. He’s still a nerd, but according to the panel he will be more confident than other incarnations. Donnie will still use his trusty bo staff but, as in recent years, it’s loaded with gadgets.
Here’s the new look for Leonardo. Much like Donatello, Leo features a slimmer look. He won’t be the leader (at least for now, hopefully that changes), but seems to have been placed into a fast-talking, fun-loving, turtle with attitude role. Leo’s Katana blades are gone, replaced by a single Odachi sword. The way it was explained by the panel made it seem like he’s basically a sharper version of Michelangelo. He’s voiced by Ben Schwartz.
The last turtle is Michelangelo. He’s an artist and according to Paulsen, the one turtle that most closely fits the legacy of TMNT. Voiced by Brandon Mychal Smith, Michelangelo will lose the nunchucks and use a Kusari-fundo instead. Oh, and don’t worry, he still loves pizza according to the panel.
April O’Neil and Splinter finish up the new looks. April was the first character revealed at the event and she’s definitely different from the classic April O’Neil and even the newer, teenaged version thanks to a glowing green bat. Many fans have mentioned their dislike for her race change. That personally doesn’t bother me, but when asked about her new look (and not specifically her race), Ant War and Andy Suriano mentioned that they wanted to reflect the “diversity of the world around us” and “wanted to portray a contemporary teenager.” It sounded like a roundabout attempt to address the race change without directly addressing it. I did see negative comments posted during the feed but, c’mon, people, this is just a character. Get over it. O’Neil will be voiced by Kat Graham.
Splinter looks very different from his former incarnations as well. He reminds me of Master Shifu from Kung Fu Panda. He’ll be voiced by Eric Bauza. Not much was said about his character, but it seems like he’ll have a tad more attitude in this incarnation than in the past.
According to the panel, the turtles were designed around their personalities and attitudes. Based on what I’ve read (and with a small bit of input from the panel), Raph will be a snapping turtle, which fits his angry attitude. Donatello will be a softshelled turtle but more confident than previous incarnations. Leonardo will be a red-eared slider who is very sure of himself and Michelangelo will be a box turtle who likes to “tag his shell” with stickers and paint.
The overall look doesn’t impress me very much. I’m completely willing to give the show a chance, as I believe that if the stories are strong enough, the animation won’t matter as much. Folks who know me know that I love Donatello, but this version of him is the least visually impressive one I’ve seen so far. I don’t care much for how lean both he and Leonardo look. Michelangelo looks better, but he has an extremely amphibian vibe going much like the other turtles. Raphael looks the best in my opinion. Of course, he also looks more like a reptile than his brothers in this version of the characters. I’m not too fond of April’s design and I can’t stand Splinter’s design at all.
Again, I’ll hold off judgment until I watch the actual series, but the overall look and feel of these characters is not very impressive.
Thanks for reading my post. Let me know what your impressions are of the characters. Do you like the look? Does the race change of April bother you? All opinions are welcomed and encouraged.
Ken's Alternate Universe! 