"It was twenty years ago today..."

I didn't realize it until I got online today -- apparently, it's the twentieth anniversary of the theatrical release of the first live-action TMNT movie. In honor of this day, I dug through some old photos and pulled out a few shots from our visit to the set of that first movie in North Carolina in 1989.

Kevin and I had been invited to visit the set, and we in turn invited pretty much the whole Mirage crew of that time. As I recall, Steve Lavigne, Eric Talbot, Mike Dooney, Ryan Brown, and Jim Lawson made it down, along with some of their wives and girlfriends, respectively. My wife Jeannine and our less-than-a-year-old daughter Emily also visited the set.

Here we are getting Em ready for her first visit to a movie set (actually, I think it was EVERYONE'S first visit to a movie set!).



Wandering around the back lot where many of the street scenes were filmed, with Steve Lavigne…



Steve tries to get into the dump truck (the one in which the Shredder later meets his "end") while Kevin looks on. Note fake wooden manhole cover in foreground…



This is one of the alley walls in the backlot street set. We were able to get some "Puma Blues" posters put up on this wall as set dressing…



Steve displays his awesome strength by lifting a fake fire hydrant. I think Eric also did this…



Here's Kevin taping on the back lot, using what was then a state-of-the-art consumer camcorder…



Ryan, Mike, Jim and Steve pose in front of a comic book store facade on the back lot street set…



Elias "Casey Jones" Koteas poses for a shot with me and Kevin…



Ryan chats with Elias (can you guess who has the REAL long hair?)…




Kevin talks with director Steve Barron during a night shoot…



… and the Mirage boys (and Emily) pose for a shot standing on a "rooftop" edge -- this was actually one of the interior sets, and I believe it was the one on which the rooftop fight with the Shredder was filmed.




As I recall, it was a fun trip. We saw lots of cool stuff and met some very interesting people. If I hadn't left a day before Kevin did, I would have gotten to meet Jim Henson, something I'll always regret. But it was certainly worth the drive down there. -- PL

P.S. I'd like to put a photo credit here, but I can't remember who took these photos.

A drawing for Emily

My daughter turns twenty-one shortly, and when asked what she wanted for this significant birthday, she responded with a request for two things, one of which was an original drawing of the Turtles celebrating her birthday.

I thought "I can do that!" and set to work. I started with blue pencil and no preliminary sketches, as I pretty much had the layout clearly worked out in my head. Here's a photo of the finished blue pencil drawing:



About the time I finished the penciling, I started thinking maybe I should go a step further with this piece and do it in color, perhaps using watercolors to add the hues over the inkwork. With this in mind, I decided to eschew my preferred inking tool -- the Pitt brush pen -- and go with a real brush and India ink. I didn't want to run the risk that the brush pen ink might run under the watercolor. It was the first time I had done any inking of this nature in a while. Here's the drawing half-inked:



And this is what it looked like when fully inked:



I wasn't sure what to use to color it, but then I remembered a nifty portable watercolor set I'd picked up at an art supply store in Bennington, VT last year on a motorcycle ride. I went out and bought a few new brushes, and got to it. I was more than a bit trepidatious, as I hadn't done anything like this in some time, but once I got into it, the process went quickly, and it was fun. I think it took me about an hour and a half to finish it to my satisfaction, and here's what the completed piece looked like:



I put the drawing in a "floater frame", and gave it to Em at her pre-birthday party, and she liked it! -- PL

The Fugitree is up!

Yesterday my daughter Emily came home for Christmas, happily avoiding the many snowstorm-related flight delays that plagued many people over the last few days. That afternoon, we were able to continue our tradition of going out to buy a Christmas tree together.

Last night we, along with Em's friend Zach, worked to transform this naked tree...



... into the mighty "Fugitree"! As the idea of decorating the tree with vacuum-metalized Fugitoid figures was originally Em's idea, it seemed only appropriate that she should be involved in helping to hang the fifty shiny 'droids on the tree. Here she is -- slightly blurry -- hanging 'Toids on the tree.



We had a disagreement about what kinds of lights to put on the tree -- I wanted our usual mix of white and colored lights, while Em pressed for just white lights. In the end, we went with her idea, and I must say I now agree with her. She also bought a small selection of shiny silver globe-style ornaments to compliment the Fugitoids, and I think they work well. Here's a view of the whole finished tree...



... and a close-up...



... and Em, Zach and Louis posing with the Fugitree.



And finally, here's a shot of the tree as it looked in the light of day when I got up this morning.



I think it looks a little better at night, but still pretty darned cool either way. -- PL

Emily's TMNT thumbnail

Em was inspired a few days ago to craft this image of her favorite Turtle Leonardo's head on her thumbnail, painted on with fingernail polish.



I think she did a pretty good job! -- PL

Playmates' press release

My daughter, who is working for Playmates, sent me the following press release and asked if I would post it on my blog. How could I refuse? So here it is... -- PL

PLAYMATES TOYS SECURES MASTER GLOBAL TOY RIGHTS FOR TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES WITH NICKELODEON

COSTA MESA - Oct. 29, 2009 - Playmates Toys is proud to announce its new global master toy agreement for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products (NVCP). The long-term partnership allows Playmates Toys to continue its phenomenally successful, 20-year tradition with the Turtles brand, which has generated $2 billion (at retail). This new alliance also lets Playmates Toys execute on its strategy to maximize global toy rights in partnership with renowned brands that leverage entertainment across multiple-media platforms worldwide.

"We are very excited about our new partnership with Nickelodeon, which broadens the scope of creative inspiration for Playmates," said Lou Novak, President, Playmates Toys. “We are proud to continue our long-standing commitment of making innovative, fun toys based on the beloved Turtles that have entertained generations of kids around the world."

"Our partnership with Playmates Toys adds another layer of excitement for us as we build upon the Turtles' great, funny stories and characters which have withstood the test of time," said Leigh Anne Brodsky, President, Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products. "The characters have resonated around the world for 25 years, and the toys based on them are part of pop culture and continue to be relevant to today's kids."

About Playmates Toys

For over 40 years, Playmates Toys Inc. has been among the most well respected and innovative marketing and distribution companies in the global toy industry with a proven history in the creation of innovative and imaginative products as well as the development and management of profitable, long-term brand franchises. Key current and past brands include Paramount Studios/CBS STAR TREK, Warner Bros. TERMINATOR: SALVATION, Nickelodeon's TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, 4Kids Entertainment's YU-GI-OH! & DINOSAUR KING, Nickelodeon's iCARLY & H2O: Just Add Water, DISNEY Princess, DISNEY FAIRIES and Hallmark's RAINBOW BRITE. From its offices in Hong Kong, China and the United States, Playmates designs, develops markets and distributes its products in over 60 countries worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.playmatestoys.com Playmates Toys Inc. (HKSE-0869)

About Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products

Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products manages the world's third largest licensing business, representing leading properties such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer, and managing merchandising for Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTVN International, and Spike TV.

Nickelodeon, now in its 30th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 99 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 15 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).

Into the archives

Last week, my wife and I had a treat -- our daughter Emily came home for a short visit. Em and I managed to find time to eat dinner at her favorite restaurant, Bertucci's, and go to see the movie "Zombieland", which was pretty funny.

But Em also wanted to go out to my old studio -- or more specifically, to the storage space under the studio -- to look for some select vintage TMNT swag with which to decorate her cubicle at Playmates. We spent about an hour going through boxes of old stuff, some of it organized (all of those white boxes on the shelves in this photo have labels saying what is inside each one -- part of an organizing project started -- with Em's help -- about eight years ago and never finished)...



... and a lot of it not, as in the stacks of old Playmates shipping cartons behind Em in this photo of her with a couple of plush Turtles.



She eventually found enough interesting things to fill a few shopping bags. Before we left, I amused her by pointing out my stacks of old motorcycle magazines -- some of which I have saved from my high school days.



I'm such a pack rat. One of these days, I've got to go through all this stuff and do a serious winnowing. -- PL

Emily's musings on her first San Diego Comic-Con

Well, my daughter survived her first Comic-Con experience -- in fact, I think it's safe to say she really enjoyed herself, and so did her roommate Colleen, who attended Comic-Con with Em. I asked Em to write up something about their trip, and this is what she sent me, along with all of the photos. -- PL

The Wrath of Con

After months of planning and anticipation, our journey to our very first Comic-Con began very early Thursday morning. We left LA around 2 am, and with hardly anyone on the road, made it to San Diego a little after 4. Since we had been following Twitter updates about the Con, we were not totally shocked to see a line wrapping around Hall H when we arrived at the Convention Hall around quarter to 5 in the morning.



Almost a thousand people were already in line for the Friday New Moon panel: Some were sleeping on air mattresses, some had miniature flashlights and copies of the Twilight books...we even saw one party that had brought their own hookah to the line.



Three Starbucks trips later, we got into another line to get our Thursday badges. This one wrapped around the convention center and extended down the edge of the marina.

Finally, around 11 am, we were herded into Hall H and found seats around the middle of the hall, although there were still two more panels to watch before the New Moon panel began at 1:45. The Disney 3-D20panel showed clips from A Christmas Carol and Tron, but of course the most exciting moment was when Tim Burton surprised the audience by bringing Johnny Depp onstage during the Alice in Wonderland panel. When the Summit Entertainment panel brought the cast and director of New Moon onstage around 2, the screams were deafening.








Even though we were sleep deprived and had been waiting for almost ten hours, I have to say, the clips they showed definitely made it more than worth the wait! It was fun seeing the cast, and listening to their thoughts on the movies, but the clips were really the amazing part. Instead of just showing a trailer or some random part, they showed full clips of two pivotal scenes from the movie. Can't wait to see the movie in November!

After the panel, we checked into our hotel and had dinner with the Mirage team before getting some much-needed rest.

On Friday afternoon, we headed back to the convention center for the TMNT Panel. Thankfully we didn't have to camp out for hours to get in this time, but it really put things in perspective for me to see so many fans lined up for the panel, much like we had the day before. The energy and enthusiasm of the crowd was amazing, and all of the panelists (Gary Richardson, Kevin Eastman, Steve Barron, Scott Mednick, Galen Walker, Matt Leunig, and Llyod Goldfine) did a great job! I even got a little teary-eyed when they first started playing the music and the interview clips came on screen.



Of course, Friday night was the big TMNT 25 party and debut screening of "Turtles Forever". I have to echo everything my dad wrote about the movie in his previous entry... it really was amazing!



Saturday and Sunday were spent mostly wandering around the Exhibit hall...I still don't think we saw everything! We were tempted to buy the Twilight dolls, but resisted in favor of two old school TMNT posters which we will frame for our apartment ("Leonardo Leads" and "Raphael: Cool but Crude") and two t-shirts, a TMNT "Drug Free is the Way to Be" and a "It's Clobberin' Time" with the Thing.

Overall, it was a great, crazy weekend. San Diego is beautiful, and the Convention was ridiculous and so much fun... hopefully we will be back next year, now that we are officially Con veterans. It was great to see the Mirage crew, and to meet all of the many other people who have worked on the Ninja Turtles in all their various forms. And of course, it was a pleasure to meet some of the fans as well!

Cowabunga!
-Emily & Colleen


Here are some more photos from Em and Colleen's first Comic-Con:

Em with the "Turtle Documentary" crew



Em with Stan Sakai



Colleen and Em with Ernie Reyes, Jr.



Mirage dudes with Turtles



Em and Colleen with Turtles

Emily "Shellebrates"!

My daughter, who is planning to attend the San Diego Comicon this year, also had the opportunity to go to one of the "Shellebration" TMNT tour bus 25th anniversary events with some of her friends this past weekend. Here's her report from the scene, taken from an email to me:

"On Saturday afternoon, Golden Apple Comics on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles hosted one of the final stops of the TMNT tour bus for the 25th anniversary "Shell-abration." We figured it was a must see event. I arrived with Nell, Steph, and Lainy around 6PM, when the event seemed to be winding down a bit. The bus was parked outside, where we posed with Leonardo. Inside, fans were lined up to meet with Kevin, and the store had free pizza and Turtle green Kool-Aid.

In these pictures I'm posing with Kevin Eastman...



...and Stephan from GoGreenMachine.org.



I also met Michael Hill, the former creative director of Mirage, who said he had met me when I was little. Inside the bus, there was various memorabilia from the comic books, tv show, and movies. This picture is me at the entrance of the bus, with your photo and biography, as well as what I think are covers from the first comic book.


Overall, it was a fun afternoon, and I got to get my first picture with Leonardo (my favorite turtle) since I was a few months old, when he held me on the set of the first movie.



It was fun to experience the Turtles through the eyes of a "fan" and also to be around so many fans for whom the Turtles mean so much. Looking forward to Comic Con!

-Em"

Girl Turtles

My daughter sent me these two photos of her and three friends -- Sara, Colleen and Ellen -- at a Hallowe'en party this past weekend.



They decided to costume themselves as the four Turtles (although I think they went more for comfort and practicality rather than authenticity). -- PL