Blast from the Past #441: comments on Ep. 98 (nee 99) (“The Return of Savanti Romero Part I") outline

Subj: comments on Ep. 98 (nee 99) outline
Date: Friday, October 8, 2004 9:52:54 PM
From: Peter Laird
To:   Lloyd Goldfine

Lloyd, 


Here are my comments on Ep. 98 (nee 99)  outline.


“The Return of Savanti Romero Part I”


1.) When the Turtles are first in the museum, it might be a fun Mikey moment if he starts asking if they have a snack bar.


2.) Re: the following:

"Then they finally come to the star piece of the exhibit… a full skeleton of the Tyrannosaurs Rex!  Twenty feet tall, with some teeth up to a foot long, even Raph can respect this.  As they stare up at it, they can’t help but notice when the skeleton begins to move.


In shock, the Turtles and April freeze as the massive skeleton lunges at them!"

I really don't care for this, for a number of reasons. The "dino (usually T-Rex) skeleton comes to life in the museum" bit is somewhat of a cliche, and really is somewhat pointless action. And I think it is over-the-top nonsense for the Turtles to be responsible for destroying the museum exhibit -- I mean, what is April supposed to tell her friend who let her into the museum at night?
I also think the original (comic) bit with the way the bones of the dino form Savanti Romero's face is creepier than the way it happens here.
Here's a suggestion that might make everybody happy (or not): The T-Rex skeleton DOES come to life (or seems to) at the end of Act One, and then and/or at the beginning of Act Two we see the Turtles whipping their weapons out in a kick butt ninja action pose as the skeleton thrashes around and roars -- the Turtles are prepped for a battle -- but then April yells at them that they shouldn't be afraid... it's part of the exhibit, one of those animatronic dinos. The Turtles put away their weapons, a little abashed... but then one of the displays starts to change (as in the comic) for REAL! Mike could at first laugh it off as just another exhibit trick, but then is freaked out when Savanti Romero's head is formed by the bones.


3.) Re: the following:

"The Turtles stand, weapons out as they take defensive poses… ready for anything.  And then… THOOM.  THOOM.  THOOM.


Mikey:  If we’re lucky… King Kong is coming."

Why would it be lucky for them if King Kong was coming? I'm not averse to a funny Mikey line here, but it would be good if it made some sense.


-- Pete

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Subj: comments on Ep. 101 outline
Date: Thursday, October 14, 2004 7:40:56 PM
From: Peter Laird
To:   Lloyd Goldfine

Lloyd,


Here are my comments on the Ep. 101 outline.


1.) When the power goes out and April's apartment goes dark, and Casey and April have to go downstairs to try to get the emergency generator going, I wonder if it would make sense -- and add some fun "scary" lighting possibilities -- if they have one flashlight that they are using to find their way around in the dark. Or maybe a couple of candles.


2.) It occurred to me as I was reading the scenes where April and Casey are following mutated Don around April's building that it seemed odd that at no time do they try to contact the other Turtles via a Shell Cel. Don they no longer have these?
(Okay, now I see that AFTER Monster Don follows them back upstairs and attacks them, April makes a call. Doesn't this seem kind of late? And wouldn't a frantic call from April to Leo right in the middle of the Turtles battle with the mutated monsters be a great way to ratchet up the tension?)


-- Pete

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Subj: comments on Ep. 100 premise
Date: Friday, October 15, 2004 12:20:15 PM
From: Peter Laird
To:   Lloyd Goldfine

In a message dated 10/15/04 10:41:12 AM, Carole writes:

"Peter,
 Thank you very much for your notes on Ep. 101 : “Adventures in Turtle Sitting.”    Were you able to look over the premise for Ep. 100 “Master Yoshi?”  When you get a chance to send your notes on that – I would greatly appreciate it.

 Thanks again Peter.

 Carole"

Carole,


I did get to read the Ep. 100 premise this morning, and here are my comments on it.

1.) Re: the following:

"And, Splinter urges his sons to tell stories.


Nobody is quite sure where to start; and soon, all the other turtles “gang up” on Leonardo.  “Tell us about the Ancient One, Leo.”  “Tell us what you did.”  “… about your training.”"


I think that this scene might allow us to do some fun stuff. Instead of the "Nobody is quite sure where to start" bit, it might be cool if we briefly show what might happen if each Turtle tried to tell a story in their individual fashion. For example, Mike might start to tell the story of how he became BattleNexus champion, and all the other guys could immediately act like they are bored to tears, faking snores, etc.. Don could tell some long, involved story about how he worked out some pet theory or created some gadget, and that actually DOES put the others to sleep. Raph could start telling a story about some wild adventure he and Casey had -- but just as he's getting into it, he notices Splinter looking at him with a raised eyebrow of disapproval, and Raph tones it down and quickly ends his story, leaving all the juicy parts unsaid. 
And if we needed to, we could SUGGEST that they told longer stories just by fading in and out, without actually showing them telling the stories -- in other words, we could just show them STARTING and ENDING. 

2.) Re: "Matsuda Takeshi" -- I did a quick Google search and got 584 hits for this name. Is there some particular reason this name was chosen? Should we be concerned?


3.) Re: the following:

"Tang Shen boards the plane … being watched by an angry and scarred Tak!


Tang Shen and Yoshi are reunited.  And, she has brought him a present: a rat in a little cage."

I wonder a little bit about the timing of this. It seemed to me from previous episodes that Splinter knew quite a bit about the Ancient One, and perhaps even knew him personally (at least, as a normal rat). So perhaps it would be better if Tang Shen gave the rat to Yoshi while Yoshi was still a student of the Ancient One. AND... perhaps even better... what if the rat had actually once been a pet OF the Ancient One, and HE had given it to Tang Shen as a gift? This would, as I see it, accomplish three important things:


-- it would show us when and how Splinter encountered/knew the Ancient One.


-- it would make the gift of the rat a much more important/emotionally significant gesture from Tang Shen to Yoshi, as she would have cherished a gift from the Ancient One, and Yoshi would know this -- and realize what that gift from her meant.


-- it would help to answer -- or at least SUGGEST an answer -- to fans who have wondered for a long time exactly HOW a common rat could learn ninjitsu just from watching somebody practicing it in a dojo. The idea that I am suggesting is that while the rat was the pet of the Ancient One, it absorbed, or was given, some kind of special SOMETHING which raised it above the level of a mere rat... and prepared it for its future evolution/mutation into Master Splinter.


4.) This looks like it could be a very cool episode and a fine and fitting 100th show!


-- Pete