What If: Tim Burton directed TMNT?

[nick_crenshaw]

In neamathla's Five Colors timeline there was no Adam West Batman so there was no real need for the Tim Burton Batman. So in my version of the timeline he instead does TMNT. What would it look and what are the chances of the OTL cast still being cast for the ATL movie?

[LibraryOgre]

April O'Neil played by Helena Bonham Carter.
Casey Jones played by Johnny Depp.

[nick_crenshaw]

April O'Neil played by Helena Bonham Carter.
Casey Jones played by Johnny Depp.

Are they honestly good choices or is it just that they work with Burton a lot?

[The Glyphstone]

April O'Neil played by Helena Bonham Carter.
Casey Jones played by Johnny Depp.

I was going to say this, but I checked the dates first. Batman was 1989, and he didn't meet HBC until 2001. Burton and Depp collaborated for the first time with Edward Scissorhands in 1990.

Are they honestly good choices or is it just that they work with Burton a lot?

The latter.

[Kitten Champion]

I'd imagine it would look a lot like Batman '89. He'd emphasize the alienating aspects of being a mutant person since he likes monstrous heroes.

New York in general would be more stylized as per his tastes, and the sewer set in particularly would be indulged in to be more of an intricate subterranean world since he likes that whole grimy clockwork aesthetic.

No idea what he'd do with Shredder, he's not a style of villain Burton tends to go for based on his filmography. He might radically change him like the Penguin, I dunno.

Also, Burton's not an action movie director, so you'd expect about the level of Batman in that area as well.

[Magic_Hat]

Casey Jones played by Johnny Depp.

No, he'd be a turtle because I think that's funnier. Also Michael Keaton is a turtle too. And Danny Devito. And there's a 20% chance it's stop motion.

[nick_crenshaw]

Is there a better choice for director if you wanted to stay faithful to the source material? Also what would a Rankin/Bass cartoon look like?

[Legato Endless]

Splinter would be softened into an even warmer father figure.

April would at best get a punky redesign. Or at worst she'd fill the blonde ingenue role.

Knowing him he'd try to have half the movie take place in Suburbia. The humor would be more morbid and that would tonally alter the turtles significantly.

Danny Elfman trying his hand at the TMNT'S theme wouldn't be the worst thing...trying to incorporate his love of stripes and spirals on the other hand...

[Magic_Hat]

Would there be a sequel that's never made where the Turtles goes to Hawaii?

[No brains]

It would go a little something like this:

Spoiler: Honest Trailers: Every Tim Burton Movie

Show

https://youtu.be/8tWG2t_ZugU

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Are they honestly good choices or is it just that they work with Burton a lot?

It's practically a running gag at this point that Tim Burton likes to cast HBC opposite Depp.

[LibraryOgre]

Are they honestly good choices or is it just that they work with Burton a lot?

Since when did them being bad choices keep Burton from casting them?

[Leewei]

I was going to say this, but I checked the dates first. Batman was 1989, and he didn't meet HBC until 2001. Burton and Depp collaborated for the first time with Edward Scissorhands in 1990.

Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands) as April O'Neil, then?

[nick_crenshaw]

How about Gary Goddard as the director the TMNT film? Or any of the following: Goran Dukic, Timur Bekmambetov, Gregory Widen, Joel Shumacher, Alex Proyas, Peter Jackson, Christophe Gans, Katheryn Bigelow, Ridley Scott?

[The Glyphstone]

That's just throwing a random list of names at the wall and hoping one of them sticks, it's not really engendering any discussion.

[Kitten Champion]

I don't really think the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies were particularly notable for their direction, is the thing. Not that changing the director won't alter the substance of a film to a certain degree, but unless you subscribe to auteur theory it's not going yield massive changes in reality. At least to what was produced with what they were working with at the time.

I honestly have no idea who directed the first live action Turtles movie. Apparently it was the guy who did the Coneheads according to imdb.

Though this is shaping more into that meme thing on Youtube where it's the Steamed Hams bit with Chalmers and Skinner from the Simpsons but they change the art-style and direction around in every iteration.

[nick_crenshaw]

That's just throwing a random list of names at the wall and hoping one of them sticks, it's not really engendering any discussion.

I don't really think the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies were particularly notable for their direction, is the thing. Not that changing the director won't alter the substance of a film to a certain degree, but unless you subscribe to auteur theory it's not going yield massive changes in reality. At least to what was produced with what they were working with at the time.

I honestly have no idea who directed the first live action Turtles movie. Apparently it was the guy who did the Coneheads according to imdb.

Though this is shaping more into that meme thing on Youtube where it's the Steamed Hams bit with Chalmers and Skinner from the Simpsons but they change the art-style and direction around in every iteration.

According to the alternate timeline linked above (first post) the original poster states that the Ninja Turtles her had the super kid friendly cartoon and movie, but I love the Turtles to much to not have them. So in my version of the timeline I have Rankin/Bass (the same production of ThunderCats and SilverHawks) going the show (with the same animation company). In this version of the show I see the producers (or writers) making the show close to the source material and having more faith in their audience (i.e. now color coded masks or labelled belt bucklers, but still different skin colors). The cartoon later inspires the movie. The above isn't just a random list of directors hoping one sticks but chosen by a former collaborator as possible chooses for a similar film (I personally like Gregory Widen after learning he created the Highlander franchise). I hope this help explain my idea.

[Vinyadan]

Are they honestly good choices or is it just that they work with Burton a lot?

Johnny Depp + Tim Burton = meaningless, pointless love story that attracts droves of paying costumers who still believe they're watching Edward Scissorhands instead of a heartless moneygrab.

Anyway, I don't think he would do it, simply because there is too much green. He doesn't really work with that kind of colours, at least as far as I remember. They're fairly round-shaped, though, so he'll probably enjoy that.

[Leewei]

Burton's movies pretty much always revolve around one or two outcast, underdog characters rebelling against an oppressive normalcy. Right away, TMNT looks like a pretty poor fit. We have four relatively boisterous, colorful, protagonists opposed by an exotic ninja clan. The struggles Burton usually covers have already been won -- the exuberant turtles may have been outcast, but now they're part of normalcy, nomming on pizza, popping ollies on their skateboards, and zinging off dialogue in surfer brogue.

We could turn the situation on its ear, though. The turtles absolutely would make great Burton villains. The Shredder would be cast as a misunderstood victim, and would even have some clear elements of Edward Scissorhands.

Add an out-of-context threat that overshadows the turtles, make April come around to a romantic interest in the Shredder, and have the misunderstood ninja win the day, earning the grudging respect of the turtles along the way.

[No brains]

Burton's movies pretty much always revolve around one or two outcast, underdog characters rebelling against an oppressive normalcy. Right away, TMNT looks like a pretty poor fit. We have four relatively boisterous, colorful, protagonists opposed by an exotic ninja clan. The struggles Burton usually covers have already been won -- the exuberant turtles may have been outcast, but now they're part of normalcy, nomming on pizza, popping ollies on their skateboards, and zinging off dialogue in surfer brogue.

We could turn the situation on its ear, though. The turtles absolutely would make great Burton villains. The Shredder would be cast as a misunderstood victim, and would even have some clear elements of Edward Scissorhands.

Add an out-of-context threat that overshadows the turtles, make April come around to a romantic interest in the Shredder, and have the misunderstood ninja win the day, earning the grudging respect of the turtles along the way.

Are you telling me that Tim Burthon's TMNT would be one of those live action Disney Remakes?!

[Tvtyrant]

If anyone should make a TMNT reboot it should be Wes Anderson. Splinter and Shredder are basically brothers (same master) and Splinter can go missing to give the four turtles narrative focus. Even them creeping on April is in the bounds of an Anderson film.

[nick_crenshaw]

Are you telling me that Tim Burthon's TMNT would be one of those live action Disney Remakes?!

If anyone should make a TMNT reboot it should be Wes Anderson. Splinter and Shredder are basically brothers (same master) and Splinter can go missing to give the four turtles narrative focus. Even them creeping on April is in the bounds of an Anderson film.

It's not a reboot but an alternate history.

[Vinyadan]

What about a musical, though?

[nick_crenshaw]

What about a musical, though?

Not that, anything but that.

[Wookieetank]

Not that, anything but that.

*maniacal laugh*

[GrayDeath]

You're all looking a ti9t from the wrong angle.

An alternate Tim Burton Timeline would focus on poor, misunderstood scarred Sciss....ahem Shredder on his quest to rid the world from the Fiance-stealing Rat Mutant and his gang of vile, Punkrock and break dance loving Reptilian Ninja-Monsters in Turtleform.

And be Darque and Moody of course.

With Johnny Depp as the Shredder (for the seconds you see him without Mask and Scars that is^^).

[Vinyadan]

Darque

Burton in a word. Was this a misspelling, or a stroke of genius?

[The Glyphstone]

Probably deliberate. Burton loves his Gothik aesthetics.

[druid91]

Their lair in the sewers would be a bizarre manor house full of quirky old things.

[Bohandas]

No, he'd be a turtle because I think that's funnier. Also Michael Keaton is a turtle too. And Danny Devito. And there's a 20% chance it's stop motion.

That sounds about right