Entertainment Weekly sat down with Sean Astin (Sam from the Lord of the Rings) where he confirmed that he would provide the voice for Raphael in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series. Jason Biggs (Leonardo), Greg Cipes (Michelangelo), and Rob Paulsen (Donatello) round out the cast.
The crazy thing is that Rob Paulsen played Raphael in the original series, and now he’s playing Donatello and I’m playing Raphael. [At the recording session] I was looking at him, like, “Am I doing this right?”
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is this a darker series or should i be expecting extra cheese on my pizza?
I don’t real buy his a Raph, maybe Leonardo, but not Raph. I wonder if that image above is a work in progress, or close to final.
That image is actually a artist rendition that has been on the interwebs for a few years now, not really any indication of whats to come. :)
I also don’t buy him as a Ralph. He’s freaking Rudy, he doesn’t do brooding. And if they have the original, why switch things up and confuse people? I also don’t see Biggs as Leonardo, Donatello or Michelangelo would be better for him IMO.
I will go on record now as saying this cartoon will blow if this is where they are going. I like Sean Astin…but Raphael he is not. And Biggs as Leo…really!? I can almost hear him whining already! I guess the turtles will now be known as Moe, Larry, Curly, and Shemp…probably saving the day by accident through some hilarious coincidence after doing something obnoxiously wrong. Im not looking for gruesome anime, but for petes sake please stop watering down my youth. I guess I shoudnt be that bothered because I doubt I will ever watch what is seemingly looking to become another hardcore ‘kids cartoon’.
However, I REALLY hope they dont drop the ball on the upcoming comic and more importantly…the intended “feature film”. How is it that the original 1990 live action film is still my standard for all things considered mainstream turtles? They. just. got. it. right.
So they’re still planning to reboot the live action Turtle films.
I’m on board.
I hope they make it a point that Splinter has them wear the red masks as kids and then somewhere along the way they change to the color masks on the basis that they don’t need masks to hide their identity as much as they need them to express their individuality.
As someone who grew up on the Original cartoon series before ever touching a comic I can say that I wouldn’t mind if they strayed from the source material again. Some of the original comic plot was overly convoluted. The original series was fun and entertaining, and a different take on the concept that successful, so you can’t knock it too much.
I do agree though, that the first movie is where they got it right. A perfect balance between the comics and what could actually appeal to a large audience. The turtles were fun in that movie while still able to be taken seriously.
I will go on record now as saying this cartoon will blow if this is where they are going.
Lotta “if”s in that assessment, I think. If they blow it, it won’t be long before they reboot anyway. :)