Interview: Original Ninja Turtle show Producer... (1 Viewer)

[DeathStar1]

Well, after 7 months, a lot of searching, and a little negotiation, it seems to FINALLY be on the drawing board for completion. Could be finished as early as this weekend depending on the parties involved and their schedules. I thrw in a couple of interesting DVD questions that should interest this group, and hopefully the interviewer will leave those in.

Now, if only I could find contacts for the NEW show and get some type of scoop .

Oh, and for those who remember Pat Fraley, as the voice of Krang And Baxter, and nuemorous other toons, something cool is being done. Well, to me anyway. When he has time, he's going to record a custom character greeting for my site. How cool is that? ...

If anyone cares, I'll let you know when the interview is completed, and I'll get the DVD related questions posted ASAP.

PS....Mega Thanks to the folks at DVDToons.com for helping out .

 

[Mike-M]

I definitely care. If you can find this thread and revive it and state when the interview is complete, that'd be great. Thanks.

 

[ThomasC]

Well, after 7 months, a lot of searching, and a little negotiation, it seems to FINALLY be on the drawing board for completion.

What is "it?" DVD sets for the original cartoon show?

 

[Steve_Knutzen]

Sounds cool. I'd be interested in hearing what comes from the interview.

 

[DeathStar1]

'It' refers to the interview. As stated before, with any luck, it'll be done within the month, but a 95% chance of it happening this weekend.

 

[DeathStar1]

The interview is done! Unfortunatly, due to miscomunications on both sides(re:Mostly mine), things didn't go too smoothly as I'd hoped. Is it a good thing that he thought the questions where to opinionated? .

I was told by an animator friend of mine who worked on the show, that he knows it as well as the fans, so he'd be the guy to ask ANY questions. I didn't think these would sound too insulting, but they do come off as major fan boy questions.

I'll post the questions here for your review...sokme where asked, but based on the above comment, some where changed and added.


>>>
1)First, a little back story for those not in the know. How did you get involved in the TMNT Animated Series? Had you read the comic book before you were approached ? If not, what were your first impressions of the book?

2)Many people consider the first five episodes to be their favorite. Do you happen to have any particular favorite season? Did you find greater satisfaction in doing any specific episodes than the others? Ones where you overcame creative problems in an interesting way?

3)Did you require a lot of rewrites, or rewrite the scripts yourself, to keep the characters and shows consistent with each other? The original show had a bit of continuity here and there, but not much.

4)When I spoke to Peter Laird, he told me that he and Kevin Eastman disagreed with a story line where the Turtles conquer Shredder and Krang and move into the Technodrome by the end of the fifth episode. Were Eastman and Laird uncomfortable with other proposed ideas and if so, could you elaborate? It would be interesting to see wich route it could have taken...

5)Expanding on that, where there any story lines you'd have liked to of done, but for one reason or another, never got around to?

6)How did the 'Lost Syndicated' episodes, and the European Travel episodes come about?

7)Voice Actor Casting. One of the things I've always wondered about, How do you know what a character, who has never spoken before, sounds like? Do you have a certain kind of voice in mind as you audition people?

8)Replacement Voice Actors. Is this even tougher than finding a dedicated VA for a character? I'm wondering if you hire someone based on their ability to imitate the original, so kids won't notice, or someone who can bring something new to the character? For example, Townsend Colemen doing Shredder when James Avery Left, did a good job, but was a bit tough to listen too at times. But his 1989 Pat Fraley replacement of Krang was pretty darned good and enjoyable.

9)Speaking of Voice Actors, the DVD Format allows for many alternate audio tracks for a show. If the series where to be released in seasonal sets, would you consider inviting the original voice actors back to re-record the lines they missed the first time around? It would add a certain sense of continuity that is missing with the replacements, and would make some episodes more enjoyable. It would also be possible to preserve the replacements on an alternate track. Alot of fans would love to have this option .


10)TMNT, as with almost any cartoon of the 80's, seems to be heavilly criticized for it's 'violence'. Considering Anime shows like Dragonball Z and their fighting nature, do you wish you could have gotten away with a bit more ninja action?

Expanding on this. 1989/Syndicated, Michaelangelo had a dedicated weapon called the Nunchucku. 1990/CBS, Michaelangelo was now weaponless, and had a
grappler. Was the reason for the switch concerns about kids imitating violence? I've always wonderd..."Why would a Fighting stick be considered more dangerous than a razor Sharp Katana Blade?" Where there any other weapons of choice considered for Mike other than the Grappler?

11Lets talk Animation. 1989's second season had a very refind look, while most of 1991 looked VERY cheaply done. Krangs eyes where off color for an entire episode, and the backgrounds had very little detail. Is there a reason for switching animation companies season by season? Out of all the animation houses that have worked on the show, wich do you think produced the best quality, and best ontime work?

12)Expanding on this: 1994, the show changed drastically. Fans like to call these, the 'red sky' episodes, because they seemed to take place at dusk, or sunset hours. These episodes in 1994 and 1996 had the best animation of the series, but there where only 8 episodes per season. Was there a reason for the episode shortage?

13)Speaking of Voice Actors: James Avery. What was his true reason for leaving the show, and how come he didn't finish out the season? The 1994 season replacement was a good match, but nothing beats the original .

14)Characters. One of the questions that inevitably gets asked, is how come Shredder and Krang, everyones favorite villians, got written out of the show? I was told that Dregg and Hi-Tech where forced on David Wise by the network execs. Where there any concerns about this change of villans, and how would you have changed the show if you had the choice?

15)The show ran it's last episode in November 1996. Do you feel it was time to end the shows run, and what was the 'official' reason for cancelling it?

16)Im' sure you've seen the first episode by now, so I have to ask, what are your feelings on the new Turtle show? If you
had a chanceto re-invent your TMNT series, what would you do differently for the 21st century?

17)Do any networks currently own the broadcast and syndication rights to the show? Are there plans to syndicate the show or release it on DVD Seasonal Sets?

And Finally, 18)Did you have anything to do with the TMNT Anime Original Video Animation? I noticed Fred Wolf Films is credited in the shows end sequence. If so, is there any chance of this getting released stateside, and dubbed with the American voice actors?

Thank you for your time, and thanks for ten great years of Turtle Entertainment! >>>>>

 

[DeathStar1]

Just an update from my own note.

From DVDToons,com on my interview, : we actually got some info from Fred about another project of his being released on DVd

Maby this is the smoking gun we TMNT fans have been waiting for in terms of info on the shows DVD release. I'll have to wait till next week for my transcript to be done to find out, however