A testament of the millennial upbringing is whether or not you were a Ninja Turtles kid. For me, I always loved Donatello the best. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the best comic turned show into movies and an empire of these mutant turtles who would fight crime thanks to their rat father who taught trained them in the sewers of New York City. They loved pizza, pop culture, and annoying April O’Neil, and I loved them with my whole heart.
Now, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem brought them to a new generation and I happily spoke with co-creator Kevin Eastman about seeing the Turtles in this new light and what it was like to see the generation he gave them to making them in their own way. When I asked what it was like to see the likes of Seth Rogan (who created the movie with Jeff Rowe and Evan Goldberg) take on the Turtles, he was happy to share the love for the Turtles with a new generation.
“It’s hard to put into words and I mean it sincerely. And I think that, and I always go back to when Peter (Laird) and I originally created of the comic and we didn’t think we’d sell enough copies of the first issue to do a second issue,” he said. “And the fact that we were able to then do that and continue running and drawing and developing these characters that we fell in love with from their creation and then to have them go into an animated series, which we were like, is anybody gonna really watch this back in 87, 88 to the toys and having those things work. The fact that it had the success and the people that we were able to work with from Steve Barron and Jim Henson on the first movie was like alright, it is gonna end next year and that’s gonna be it.”
Eastman went on to talk about how it’s just continued to be a dream to see what the Turtles have meant to audiences and how people have kept their legacy alive. “What a great and wonderful, incredible time it’s been,” he said. “And then it would go on and it would go on. And so fast forward to this wonderful movie, Mutant Mayhem that Jeff Rowe and Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg have put together is just a perfect storm of taking so many wonderful elements of the past and what they loved about the Turtles and what they saw in them and brought it to life in this new movie that resonates on so many levels. And the more it’s such a contemporary way without taking away from the heart and soul of the original concept, I sat there and laughed, cried and just enjoyed, the soundtrack was great, the voices were tremendous and it was just really thoughtful and special. It’s fantastic.”
You can see our interview here:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now available to rent or buy on digital!
(featured image: Paramount Pictures)
