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Whilst I was away from my desk, an e-mail went out to those of us who attended the TMNT fan event last week, allowing us to talk about what we saw.
Since Rose (of the NinjaPizza blog) totally beat me to the punch by a mile on this one anyway, I will defer you to her masterful write-up rather than hold up the flow of information from you any longer!
http://ninja-pizza.blogspot.com/2011/04/nickelodeon-tmnt-fan-preview-event.html
Comics Publisher Partners with Nickelodeon to Bring Turtle Power to Comics and Graphic Novels This Summer
San Diego, CA (April 1, 2011) – More than 25 years after its first comic book, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles return to their roots with IDW Publishing. Today at WonderCon in San Francisco, IDW and Nickelodeon announced a long-term agreement to offer an all-new installment of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics and graphic novels. Starting this summer, IDW’s comic series will bring the “Heroes in a Half Shell” back into action. IDW’s new comics are part of a larger initiative to bring Turtles to a new generation of fans, starting with these new storylines from the original series. Additionally, in fourth quarter 2012, Nickelodeon will premiere a new CG-animated version of the wildly popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
“Through this partnership, we’re able to introduce Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to a new generation of fans, while also providing new stories for the fans who grew up enjoying these comics,” said Paula Allen, Senior Vice President, Global Publishing, Nickelodeon Consumer Products. “These all-new comics and graphic novels based on the original series will support the overwhelming demand we’ve received from the millions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans looking to reconnect with this celebrated franchise.”
Created in 1984 by Mirage Studios founders Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles quickly went from an independently published, black and white comic to one of the most popular brands in the world. IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will kick off with an ongoing series this summer, featuring new and exciting storylines that also maintain the “turtle power” core beloved by millions of fans. In addition to the all-new series, TMNT fans will also be treated to newly remastered collections of classic Turtles comics, beginning with the original 1980s series that started this worldwide phenomenon.
“We’re thrilled to be a part of Turtles,” said Greg Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer for IDW. “This is one of the most successful comic book franchises ever, and we look forward to exploring new territory with our ongoing series, as well as reliving all the classic adventures.”
The return of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael and the rest of the TMNT world begins this summer. In IDW’s all-new, original series, readers will follow their favorite characters on exciting adventures that explore new depths of the TMNT universe.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES comics will be available in comic stores throughout North America in Summer 2011.
Visit IDWPublishing.com to learn more about the company and its top-selling books.
About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The Transformers and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s Doctor Who; Toho’s Godzilla; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; and comics and trade collections based on novels by worldwide bestselling author, James Patterson. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studios; and is the print publisher for EA Comics.
IDW’s original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007 by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. More information about the company can be found at IDWPublishing.com.
About Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon, now in its 31st 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 and feature films. Nickelodeon’s U.S. television network is seen in more than 100 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 16 consecutive years. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).
The green curtain has lifted. And as promised, I am ready to talk about what we’ve all been so secretive about for the last few weeks. However there is a ground rule. While I am happy to talk about the event that transpired today, I cannot and will not discuss any particular elements of what we saw, or how I felt about specific elements of the material that was shown.
Today, Nickelodeon hosted a fan event at their Burbank CA animation studio for a small group (about 20) of fans that they hand selected from various sources. As I want to get this information out as quickly as possible, I will get down to brass tacks about the event. Our schedule went like this:
-We arrived at about 9am, where we were served an ala carte breakfast.
-We were then taken to a large decorated conference room where we introduced ourselves and were introduced to the Nickelodeon Executive Team.
-Next we took a guided tour of the entire studio.
-We then returned to the conference room where we screened an animatic of a pilot episode (essentially storyboards with voiceovers).
-Playmates made a presentation about their new toyline and showed a large cross section of the first wave of figures, vehicles, and playsets.
-After the toy presentation we returned to our seats and observed a live reading of part of a script; meaning the voice actors were in the room with us, reading from scripts. This included the voice talents of Rob Paulsen and Jason Biggs.
-Lunch/Social Hour
-We were broken up into small groups to discuss our feelings and opinions about everything we had seen today (this was the focus group portion of the event)
-We ended the day with a Q&A session with the writing and production team.
Again, while I will not give any particulars about content, I will say that the event was amazing. I have never seen a company go through so much effort to involve their fanbase with a product.
As for how I felt about the content and products, I will say that I was impressed with everything I saw today; and for the first time in a long time I will be buying the toys and watching the show because I am genuinely interested; as opposed to simply feeling obligated to do so.
Our boys are in great hands with Nickelodeon, my brothers and sisters.
Co-Creator of the TMNT, Peter Laird, has decided to split his blog in twain (I love finding an excuse to use that word)!
Pete now has a blog specifically dedicated to TMNT related content, while the original blog will now focus solely on personal blogging.
Sometime soon — perhaps in the next couple of days, or maybe even tonight if I get a burst of energy — this blog will no longer feature stuff relating to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. All of that material — and any new TMNT-related items I put up in the future — will be viewable on a NEW blog, at this URL:
http://peterlairdstmntblog.blogspot.com/
Once this happens, I will not be answering TMNT-related questions or responding to TMNT-related comments on this blog’s posts. In fact, I will be deleting such comments from any posts on this blog.
However, I will be happy to respond to TMNT-related questions and comments on the NEW blog, which is very cleverly named “Peter Laird’s TMNT Blog”.
This blog — palblog — will now focus on all the stuff I like to put up which has nothing to do with the Turtles. There may be a TINY bit of overlap — I may mention the TMNT in passing on this blog — but from now on, I plan to keep the two worlds separate. — PL
Got that?
Peter Laird’s personal blog is: http://plairdblog.blogspot.com/
Pete’s TMNT Related blog is: http://peterlairdstmntblog.blogspot.com/