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.


He also expresses that he no longer has any control of the property, despite the fact that he can still make the turtles look bad ass, as evidenced by his header.

These Turtles are from an alien race." That is Michael Bay's exact quote. Now, I suppose if you look at it sideways, with your eyes half-closed, through a glass, darkly, and from a distance in low light, you MIGHT be able to interpret "These Turtles are from an alien race" in the manner you suggest. if that IS, in fact, what Mr. Bay meant, it has to go down in history as one of THE most poorly articulated statements EVER.

However, it IS remotely possible, and I still think TMNT fans really should wait until their worst fears are confirmed (or not) before getting up in arms (or not). -- PL

Oh, they've begun going up in arms already. And I think he supports that:

You know, I've been kind of impressed with the volume and intensity of fan reaction to this alien idea. It makes me wonder what the reaction would have been had the producer of the upcoming "Superman" movie announced that instead of Kal-El being an alien from the planet Krypton, they would be making him a mutant created on Earth by KryptoBioGenetics, Inc..

That's almost as wacky. -- PL

You can argue that this whole thing is revitalizing interest in TMNT. But in reality, it's just reminding its fans of the property's existence. And maybe that is Michael Bay's plan; to get people talking about TMNT early before releasing it without having to spend millions of dollars in the process. Maybe he's sticking to the origins, and is just not good with words. Or, maybe he's just being straight-forward, and people are reading too much into it.

And for those of you who say, "He's not directing or writing it!" Well, he's producing it, and the producer is over the writer(s) and the director.