Kevin Eastman co-created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In comparison, I have done relatively little with my life. So it’s a bit humbling to speak to Eastman on the phone and pick his brain about some of the weirder creative decisions made for the films and TV series over the years. Fortunately, Eastman is a very positive person who takes even some of the least popular aspects of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series in stride. He still kinda likes Venus de Milo from the live-action TV series, and even thinks Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III is a pretty good movie.
With the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie arriving on Blu-ray today, we invite you to read this interview to find out what Kevin Eastman thinks is the best film in the series (it’s probably not the one you expect), and hint that a return of Usagi Yojimbo may be in the Turtles’ future (if he has his way, at least). Enjoy!
Check Out: An Exclusive Clip from the New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Blu-ray
CraveOnline: I wanted to ask you about your experience with all the movies to date, if that’s okay.
Kevin Eastman: Oh, of course!
Could you tell me a bit about the process of making the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, I guess it was back in 1990?
Yeah, you know it’s interesting. Each version of the Turtles from the black and white [comic book] series to the animated series has always made allocations and exceptions and adaptations to fit the medium. Certainly at that time, I would say that the first Turtles movie was hands down one of my favorites because I thought it was a perfect blend thanks to the Steve Barron, who directed it, and the wonderful – more than wonderful – Jim Henson and his Creature Shop, who brought them to life. It was a perfect blend of the black and white series and the animated series, sort of making something that was for all audiences.
There’s no greater feeling than walking onto the set and seeing the costumes in full motion, being worn by an actor. These things weighed 80 pounds, and the way they brought them to life with the technology that Jim Henson created to make them work and be believable… I saw the film recently within the last couple of years with Steve Barron, and we were like, “Holy smokes, it still actually holds up!” in that the technology still works.
It was such a giving you goosebumps sort of feeling the first time around. And then each time around since, whether it’s the second or third movie or even the 2007 animated look, I thought it was a fantastic version of the Turtles, but we’ve always done various adaptations including the new movie with Jonathan Liebesman directing it and Michael Bay and crew producing, that we want to take advantage of new technologies, new possibilities, ways to tell a story better, bigger, but at the same time stay true to the Turtles’ heart and soul, if you will. I thought that he did a great job applying all of those in this new film.
“There’s no greater feeling than walking onto the set and seeing the costumes in full motion, being worn by an actor.”
Do you have a favorite? Is there one that you think does The Turtles best?
Well, to me, I think because it was a time – the early ‘90s – when we did the first Turtles film, that will always stand out as my favorite version of the Turtles. But I also like… Nickelodeon put out a movie, 2009 I believe, it was called Turtles Forever, where they show the 2000 Turtles, as we call them, the Fox Toon series, which is a bit edgier version of the Turtles as opposed to the black and white series, but they also include the original ‘80s version of the Turtles and also the black and white version of the Turtles. They blended all the universes together and I thought that was a really wonderful version of bringing all the Turtles’ universes together into one story. That was quite enjoyable.
So I would say Turtles Forever and Turtles #1, with Turtles #1 being my favorite and Turtles Forever being one of my other favorite versions. But I’ve enjoyed all of them for all of their creativity and effort that it takes to bring these things to life in the big screen, if you will.
I always liked the way that Turtles Forever legitimized every single version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. No one has to compete and say “my version is better than yours” anymore.
Yeah. I grew up as a kid of comic books and pop culture, and you think of the Batman comic book movie and the Batman comics, they have different versions of Batman to the Batman TV series, which was enjoyable but goofy! It was the “Gilligan’s Island” version of Batman, if you will. And then The Dark Knight came out. You enjoy all the different versions for different reasons. “Star Trek.” Same thing. I grew up watching “Star Trek” on a black and white TV, and I thought the J.J. Abrams version was just fantastic. Keep an open mind. They don’t take away the heart and soul of the characters. It works for me on a number of levels. Same with the Turtles.
