"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.

One of the arguments you'll see is, "You TMNT fans should feel lucky that someone even wants to make a movie out of your favorite property! This should be like your dream come true!"

First of all, really? We should be lucky? That's insulting not only in general, but to a property almost everyone under 50 remembers in one capacity or another. When this announcement came out, it's not like people went, "Oh yeah, I totally forgot they existed."

And secondly, why should we be lucky that it's Michael Bay that's producing it? His history of box office grosses don't mean jack to me when his movies are terrible to begin with! After the crappy treatment he gave the Transformers, he shouldn't be allowed to produce or direct movie adaptations. If he wants to get this liberal with the source material, why doesn't he pull an Asylum approach and just make his own franchises that hint at the original?

Third, again, how is a Michael Bay-produced movie a "dream come true"? I don't dream of my favorite franchises involved in tragic failures. Personally, my "dream coming true" involving a TMNT movie would involve an ending that looked like this:

And since this is being made under Nickelodeon, there's really no chance of that happening.

So, because we're fans, we're just expected to lap up any kind of crap they happen to throw at us? Are we forced to enjoy it because we should feel oh so fortunate? That's the attitude that Bay's starting to give off with his "chill out" comment.

I do believe that as potential customers, as people expected to pay money to see this when it comes out, we have a little bit of say in what should and shouldn't be in a movie. Not full, but a little bit. And the fans need a little bit of say, or Hollywood would feel compelled to walk all over the movie-going public by just throwing whatever crap out there and expecting you to eat it up and smile (like Bay is trying to do). If I'm a paying customer, I don't want an industry I'm supposed to be supporting to treat me like an asshole.

So, if I raise a concern and say, "Yeah, this doesn't seem right. I don't see why this change would be necessary, or make the franchise better," I don't want to be told in response, "CHILL OUT! SHUT UP AND WATCH THE MOVIE!"

Those are not good business ethics. I know that the original fans represent a minor demographic when compared to every single person on Earth. However, there's a reason they want to bring this property to the big screen. And yes, it's money; it's money that the fans started paying first. And if its using a tried and true formula (especially one that's been used for more than two decades), then why try to "fix" it? Why reinvent the wheel when its original design has cashed in so many times before?

Honestly, if I had the choice between seeing this movie made and nothing at all, I'd choose "nothing at all". And I think any TMNT fan, hardcore or not, would agree, despite how awesome it would be to see TMNT on the big screen again.