Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Blast from the Past #330: Pete at Fred Wolf's office

I found this one while rummaging around in the horrific mess which is my room (I was going to say "cleaning", but that would not be at all truthful). It's a photo taken by Kevin Eastman, I believe, during our first visit to the Murakami-Wolf offices in California back in 1986 or 1987 (at this point in time, the dates are starting to blend together). It was during the time when the original TMNT show was being developed.



Kevin and I were out there to meet with Fred Wolf and go over what they he and his crew had already come up with for concepts for the show. Some of them were pretty bad, in our opinion (for example, they had the Turtles defeating the Shredder and his minions at the end of the first three episodes and then moving into the Technodrome, making it their headquarters... which made zero sense to us), but others were good. It was an exciting time.

In this photo, I am sitting at the table where Kevin and I were going over the stuff and sketching out our own ideas for the show. I think I am working on a design for a Foot ninja costume -- it's hard to tell. -- PL

12 comments:

  1. I always wanted a glimpes at behind the scene stuff for the show. LOL they move in to the technodrome and color it green no doubt thank god for u and eastman.

    The creators should of had braclets on that said WWE+LD? (what would eastman + and laird do?)

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  2. Man, I'd love to see some of that artwork. I love seeing developmental artwork for cartoons, and you rarely see old school TMNT production art.

    Great photo! That must have been an exciting time!

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  3. Nice photo! I'm thankful the TMNT didn't take the Technodrome like they did Baxter's van.Nice move. It just might be the most powerful weapon in the TMNT multiverse to this day and its better off in evil hands!

    Its always a treat to see behind the scenes work of the series I grew up with. Thanks a lot! I realize your involvement was minimal,but i do apprecaite what you gave the series and would have loved to have seen some more involvement. Especially the terrifically played out season 7 and 8.

    Merry Christmas to you and your family!

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  4. What a cool ride that must have been for you guys with the turtles, just before the monolithic success thanks for posting =)

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  5. Stuff like this, and your current posts are always my favorite thing about this blog. The TMNT explosion in to pop-culture is well documented, but getting to see a glimpse of your life pre and post Turtlemania is really fascinating to me. I can only imagine how exciting this time must have been to see things right on the cusp of the frenzy that was to come.

    Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't say this for the millionth time...please write a book one day!!! I've seen people with far less interesting stories to share top the NY Times best-sellers list, I know this would reach a really wide audience, especially now that you can put a closure on the TMNT chapter, it could be inspiring, insightful, and interesting all at the same time!

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  6. TMNT using the Technodrome as their headquarters was definitely a bad idea. While I'll always appreciate the 80's TMNT cartoon, it is evident that you probably had more creative control on the 2K3 TMNT cartoon (which is more in tune with the original Mirage comics).

    By the way Peter, whose idea was it to make Splinter and Hamato Yoshi one-of-the-same in the 80's TMNT cartoon?

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  7. "B.Thomas said...

    By the way Peter, whose idea was it to make Splinter and Hamato Yoshi one-and-the-same in the 80's TMNT cartoon?"

    I am almost positive that it was an idea that Playmates or MWS came up with, and I think it was to avoid the sticky (for a kids' cartoon of the time) issue of Hamato Yoshi's death at the hands of the Shredder as shown in the first issue of our comic book. -- PL

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    1. Mr. Laird, after seeing Turtles Forever I have wondered if you watched or worked on the last 3 seasons of the 1987 Ninja Turtles show. Basically this is what happened, the turtles completely destroyed the technodrome which is now trapped in Dimension X and the turtles fought against Lord Dregg and the technogangsters and in the final episode "Divide and Conquer" the turtles presumably kill Dregg. Also the turtles had an ally named Carter in season 9 and also there was a side plot of the turtles mutating again reusing concepts from the fourth live action ninja turtle movie which was cancelled. So PL, I need to ask you that you need to acknowledge characters like Lord Dregg, I mean he was the main villain for the last 2 seasons, he even had henchmen like HiTech and Mung and was MUCH more competent then Shredder & Krang. In Turtles Forever I felt you kinda screwed up the 1987 turtle continuity and also 1987 Leo & Don were MUCH more serious then they were portrayed in the movie (also the 1987 series had a Casey Jones, why didn't he get credit?). My point is that if you haven't watch season 8, 9, and 10 of the original ninja turtles and give credit to obscure ninja turtle characters like Wyrm, Dregg, Slash, Muckman etc. I have also thought that there should be a cartoon series where the turtle from 1987 team up with the 2003 turtles would be very cool and villains could interact with each other. For example 2003 and 1987 Baxter Stockman could team up and destroy the turtles and relate to each other (Misunderstood scientists who the Shredder scarred) or the evil Leatherhead from the 1987 series fighting the 2003 good guy leatherhead, I mean talk about cool. P.S. You should watch the new 2012 tmnt if you haven't and the IDW comics, they are like the mirage turtles mixed with the 1987 turtles which is epic. Also one more thing, I though Venus De Milo was a good female character but it was annoying that the other turtles tried to hook up with her in the Next Mutation (Don't kill me that I mentioned her!)

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  8. Wow, I concur with all the folks who have already stated how much they would love to see some of that artwork! I can see some neat looking April and Splinter designs in that pile!

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  9. I'd love to see you do more posts about the classic animated series.

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  11. Pete at Fred Wolf's office Who's talking? dojin

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