The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are returning to the big screen! Director Michael Bay set to serve as a producer. And not all turtle fans are feeling that Turtle Power! Bay recently spoke about the upcoming project, which is scheduled for a December 2013 release, at the Nickelodeon Upfront presentation. He said that the backstories of the turtles would change in the new movie. They won't be mutants anymore.
"These turtles are from an alien race, and they are going to be tough, edgy, funny and completely loveable," Bay said at the upfront presentation, (via Entertainment Weekly). WHAT?! This is a totally switch up from how The Ninja Turtles came about! What next? Teenage ALIEN Ninja Turtles? Robbie Rist, who voiced the character of Michaelangelo in previous "TMNT" movies is one of the many that aren’t happy with the change. Rist criticized Bay in a letter he posted on his own Facebook page.
"You probably don't know me but I did some voice work on the first set of movies that you are starting to talk about sodomizing," Rist wrote. "I know believing in mutated talking turtles is kinda silly to begin with but am I supposed to be led to believe there are ninjas from another planet?"
Bay posted the following statement on his website: "Fans need to take a breath, and chill. They have not read the script. Our team is working closely with one of the original creators of Ninja Turtles to help expand and give a more complex back story. Relax, we are including everything that made you become fans in the first place. We are just building a richer world." I’m a huge TMNT Fan and I’m on the fence if Bays version will come off as a success, either way I’ll still be one of the first in-line to see the Green Team back on the Big Screen!