Blast from the Past #534: February 23, 2006: Re: NEW THEME for TMNT Fast Forward

Subj: Re: NEW THEME for TMNT Fast Forward
Date: Thursday, February 23, 2006 12:53:03 AM
From: Peter Laird
To:   Gary


Gary,


I successfully downloaded the file that you sent me. Thanks... I think.


This new theme is pretty freaking horrible. I listened to it a few times while reading the lyrics.


The entire first section:

"Hey! Hey!  Everybody come along with me
We gonna take you on a trip to a new reality
Just jump into tomorrow - from right out of the past
I promise when we get there it’s a gonna be a blast!"

... is a colossal waste of time. Four lines (!) without one mention of the characters and/or how they get to the future. I'm sure we can use this precious time in a much better fashion.


The middle "rap" section is the worst kind of dumbass hip-hop crap. "Michelangelo he be in it for fun"? And... "Ralph"?!


Overall it is garbled and unpleasant to listen to it, with too many obtrusive and extraneous sound effects. I say back to the drawing board. Very disappointing.


-- Pete

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Subj: Re: Revised TMNT lyric
Date: Friday, March 10, 2006 11:57:08 AM
From: Peter Laird
To:   Lloyd Goldfine

In a message dated 3/8/06 3:32:09 PM, Lloyd writes:

Hey Pete -

Attached is a revised lyric for the Fast Forward main title.

I tried to make it a bit more specific (mentioning the year 2105, "Time
jumping," "martial arts," "serious butt kicking ninja action," etc.).

I also cleaned up the "rap"' part and made sure that they say Raphael's
full name.

As per comments we got back from Playmates, we won't be starting the
track with the similar sounding "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" or using
the "I love being a turtle" part (Playmates doesn't want to refer back
to the previous theme that much.

Please let me know if these revised lyrics address your concerns - we're
anxious to get going on the main title.

It was great seeing you at teh convention, and I very much enjoyed
dinner with the guys at Dos Caminos!

Hope all is well,

Lloyd

Lloyd,


It's always fun to see you -- I just wish we had had more time to hang out in a quiet space! The restaurant had great food, but it -- like many of the environments we encountered on our trip -- was NOISY. 


Anyway, on to the song. I appreciate the effort you put into reworking it, but I'm still not crazy about it. That whole first part:


"Hey! Hey!  Everybody you won’t believe your eyes
We’re gonna take you on a trip to the year 2105!
Time jump into tomorrow from right out of the past
I promise that it’s gonna be a martial arts blast!"


.. still seems (nearly) totally generic to me. It could be about ANY set of characters -- the word "Turtle" isn't mentioned once! To my way of thinking, that's four lines wasted. And when that represents about a third of the song, that's not right.
Perhaps another part of the problem is the odd (to me, anyway) choice of setting that first part in the first person ("We're gonna"... "I promise"). It doesn't really fit with the tone of the rest of the lyrics.
Those valuable four lines could be better used to actually say something about our set of characters -- maybe even mention some of the following:


-- the TIme Window (how they actually get to the future)
-- Sh'Okanobo (main new villain)
-- Darius Dunn
-- Cody Jones
-- cool new TMNT weapons (future tech ninja gear)
-- the Turtles themselves


The above are just suggestions -- it might not be possible to include them all, but I strongly feel that at least SOME of them should be included.
Whenever I read this first part (both the original and now this revised version), I am reminded of the theme song from  "The Beverly Hillbillies" TV show, which also began with an unnamed narrator ("Come 'n listen to my  story 'bout a man named Jed") -- the difference being that the next few lines of the lyrics went on to very nicely set up the "origin story", if you will:


"Come 'n listen to my story 'bout a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed
And then one day, he was shootin' at some food
And up through the ground come a bubblin' crude
Oil, that is, black gold, Texas tea"


I'm not saying we should use a narrator at all (in fact, I would prefer not to) -- but I think this is a good example of economically using the limited lines of a TV theme song to get across key story elements.
Also, if we could manage this new theme song without a "rap" interlude, I would be happy. Maybe it's just weariness from being bombarded with it in SO many commercials on TV and radio, but the whole obligatory hip-hop thing is getting tiresome to me. Or maybe I'm just an old fart. Or not.


-- Pete