Ack ok I didn't save the e-mail, so I'm not sure who it was that originally posted this link, but thank you!
http://www.alteredearth.com/movies/tmnt/tmnt2kc.mov
In response to your request that we watch it and tell ya 'about it, I transcribed it for ya. (Gotta be able to get SOME use out of my typing skills.) ::
<Splashing sounds of sewer water as we fade from black to a well-rendered but slightly grainy and too-dark CGI pan through a sewer. A graphic displaying "1984" fades onto the screen as the camera pans past four familiar weapons hanging on a sewer wall. Voice-over:>
1984 -- Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird create the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and self-publish a 40-page black-and-white comic.
<Sound of a manhole cover being moved, camera pans upward to see TMNT #1 floating down from above.>
The comic sells very well in comic book shops, going through three separate printings in 1984.
<Camera follows lazily-falling book down into a vertical tunnel, past a crackling and sparking electricity access panel.>
Over the next two years, sales of the self-published black-and-white comic grow to over 50,000 copies -- making the comic the most successful independantly-published comic at the time.
<Comic falls past some comic- and storage-boxes on a ledge in the tunnel with a poster (the famous foursome on the rooftop) hanging over them. Camera continues panning downwards with the drifting book #1. "1986" graphic fades into the screen as comic gets caught on a pipe.>
1986 -- Eastman and Laird engage Serge Licensing Incorporated, founded by licensing agent Mark Friedman, to be the exclusive, worldwide, merchandise licensing agent for the TMNT.
<Posters and boxes of Playmates action figures decorate a section of the tunnel.>
Friedman immediately approaches Playmates Toys about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property.
<Soft sound of theme song from cartoon heard playing, graphic showing "1988" fades onto the screen. Camera pans downward to a T.V. showing the cartoon and some V.H.S. cassette tapes set around it.>
The 1988 animated T.V. mini-series proves immensely popular, and stays on air in repeats while work feverishly begins to produce more episodes for the syndication market. The toy line is launched in June, 1988, and the toys sell out immediately.
<The floating comic wafts back into the screen as a "1990" graphic fades in.>
1990 -- The first of three TMNT movies hits theatres in March and sets all-time box office records for an independantly-produced and distributed film.
<Camera pans down to a posters of TMNT III: Turtles In Time, TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze, a reel-to-reel player showing the second movie, and a TMNT movie poster. Sound bite from the second movie is the scene during their mall battle.>
The film is distributed by the then-fledgling movie distribution company New Line Cinema. CBS begins Saturday-morning network airing of the T.V. show in September. Again, the show goes right to number 1, scoring previously-unseen ratings numbers in children's programming.
<Camera fades to black. "1997" graphic displays as swirling Fox Kids Network graphic fades to front. Music changes to theme song from NT:TNM.>
Fox Kids' Network and Sabbat Entertainment obtain the rights to develop, produce, and broadcast a live-action Ninja Turtles T.V. show.
<Fireball graphic from behind transforms the Fox Kids Network graphic into the NT:TNM graphic.>
The final animated T.V. show airs on CBS in May, 1997, ending a 10-year animation run during which 185 half-hour episodes were produced. The new live-action Ninja Turtle T.V. show starts airing on Fox Kids Network on a Friday afternoon in September.
<Katana suddenly slashes through the screen, impaling the floating book #1. Camera pans to reveal Leonardo as the wielder.>
The show is an immediate hit, consistantly ranking as the number 1 kids' weekday T.V. show.
<Lenoardo grins, winks, and removes the book from his blade before drawing the other and giving us threatening glare as the camera zooms in.>
The TMNT are unique in over 100 countries worldwide. They have been the most successful licensed characters in history.
<Camera swiftly wooshes back to reveal the four turtles floating away swiftly in a cloudy-surreal setting. The graphic "TMNT Still Fresh From the Sewer" with a sword through the stylized TMNT lettering rushes to the forefront.>
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: still fresh from the sewer.
<Sounds fade, Credit screen shows: "Concept......Peter Laird Execution....A.C. Farley
Copyright 2000 Mirage Studios All Rights Reserved" before fade to black.>
My comments -- the sound "blurped" at times, meaning that the speed was inconsistant and he would say "the TM.........NT" but it wasn't often or very bad when it happened. I've not seen smoother CGI, it rocked. The camera swooped and swirled very nicely. My only criticisms are in the graininess of the textures used and how a spotlight effect was used to highlight the center of the screen, but it was still overall too dark.
I love to read too much into things, so I gotta say, if Farley was making "comments" with this, I enjoyed it. The comic book getting stuck on a sewage pipe when E&L made the deal with Playmates seemed to be saying "the original Turtles got forgotten as children's marketing took over." And of course there's Leo slashing the book as the NT:TNM comes out ... I haven't seen the show, but if that's a comment, I gotta agree with Leo & Farley's statement there that it sorta killed what the action figures & 'toons had merely maimed. Overall this thing rocked for information and entertainment, and whoever it was that passed this on to the list, thanks!
~Nobody
_________________________________________________________________
Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
