Passion

If you pay attention to people defending Bay's words, and saying that TMNT should be aliens, you'll probably see a quote like this:

"All of you fanboys aren't seeing the big picture: maybe Bay changed the back stories because he has no real passion for the original and wanted to make it his own so it could be the best it could be!"

"You Should Be Happy..."

As a defense against the public outcry of Bay's comment, some people on the Internet have been going on a public outcry of their own. We last covered some people's misconceptions of those against T.A.N.T. as cry-baby fanboys, ignorant to the hypocrisy while looking down at us just because we actually enjoy something.

"Fanboy" Accusations

I can totally understand on the surface what this whole outburst says: it's just fanboys being fanboys. However, if you've been paying close attention, the outcry hasn't been minimal. Almost anyone who was a fan of and still remembers the turtles has been very vocal about this. Even Kevin Tancharoen, the director of the recent Mortal Kombat shorts that have largely rewritten the mythos, has expressed his opposition at this.

T.C.R.I.?

If you've never read the comics, huge spoilers are about to come up. If you read the comics, you'd know that the turtles were mutated by ooze that was formulated by aliens under the guise of a research laboratory. That can raise questions concerning what Michael Bay said, and what that makes the turtles.

What Past TMNT Actors Think

According to various sources on the Internet, but summarized in Comic Book Resources, three past TMNT actors have opinions on this matter: two for, and one against.

The people who played April O'Neill and Leonardo think it's a good idea; the actor who played Michelangelo does not, and had very vulgar choice words on the subject.

However, one issue comes up when looking at these numbers: Judith Hoag (April) has been in Michael Bay's films. She's assumed to be in his employ. She admits this, but that doesn't excuse her obvious bias for professional reasons.

The way I see it, it's one to one. I think other TMNT fans would agree.

What Peter Laird Thinks; Marketing Ploy?

Peter Laird, the co-creator of the TMNT franchise, recently blogged about his opinion of the matter. He sarcastically talks about how this is a "genius" notion.

It's possible that with enough truly creative brainpower applied to this idea, it might actually work. I'm not saying it's probable, or even somewhat likely… but it IS possible.

The Arrogance

There are people that disagree, and think that this is blown way out of proportion. And most of them have been shown to:

1. Not know of TMNT, or really cared about them as children.
2. Belong to Bay's personal forum, or are under his employ.

Michael Bay...

Michael Bay talks Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by stuffwelike
The video that started a dramatic Internet shit-storm now referred to as, "Turtle-gate". A shit-storm so big, The Chicago Tribune and CNN have written about it. Everyone on the Internet (including myself) has protested, with a small pocket of supporters left (almost all of them found on Bay's own forum).

It's no doubt that Michael Bay isn't the best director ever. He's not even tied for 27th. But still, leaving the fundamentals of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles alone might have yielded him a small amount of brownie points. However, with this one line; with this small utterance that's meant to give you a glimpse of his plans, he's shown that he plans to change almost everything about TMNT. To the point where they're unrecognizable, and possibly a totally different property all together.