I think SMG would be an amazing live action April O'Neal.

badwolf | September 10, 00:59 CET

I know nothing about TMNT except what I read in the RPG but I second this. (Since she's not tall enough to play Empress Katherine the Great and I like her to keep busy.)

DaddyCatALSO | September 10, 01:39 CET

I hear SMG makes a great, live-action Buffy, too. I'm just sayin'.

quantumac | September 10, 01:58 CET

Judith Hoag was a great April. She didn't stick around for the sequels though, if memory serves. She might've been in the second, but it was definitely someone else in the third. I can't remember if Elias Koteas's Casey Jones was all that great. He definitely wasn't as bad-ass and near-psychotic as the one in the `89/`90s cartoon.

Haven't seen the recent CGI Turtles flick. Keep meaning to, it's on The Movie Network, just haven't got around to it.

Apparently the 2003 TMNT series (which will soon be entering its seventh season, very good for any cartoon that isn't The Simpsons or South Park, which I think are on their 14th and 10th, respectively...then again, the first Turtles cartoon lasted 10 seasons) is very good and more true to the dark and gritty of the original black & white comic, but I only got to see the first couple seasons. It seemed good. More of a drama than the more jokey, bad-sci-fi-movie-parodying `90s series (but I liked that one too and still watch it with my little cousin on DVD occasionally).

Kris | September 10, 03:06 CET

Uh, the Simpsons is going on its 20th. Just to clarify. :-)

pat32082 | September 10, 03:13 CET

Haven't seen the knew series, but on Kris's description (admittedly, secondhand) I will have to check it out. Elias Koteas did a great job with Casey. Different from the cartoons, yes, but absolutely true to the original. The cartoon version took the hockey mask thing and tried to psycho him up a bit, for the Jason-associations. I actually thought when they did the CGI movie that SMG and Evans actually looked the parts of the characters they were voicing, and would be good live action casting, which I thought was unique. I'm about where Laird is on the film, which is 95% satisfied. I kept thinking, why not live action with CG turtles? And, where's the grit? The comics, the originals and those clearly continuing that tradition, were always so cool because they had a really silly concept, with a goofy title, treated seriously, or at the very least, realistically... kind of reminiscent of a live action TV show I love to death.

PuppetDoug | September 10, 04:08 CET

I think that she would make a great April, I hope she does it.

Also the 2003 TMNT cartoon is really good compared to other recent cartoons. The first four seasons are pretty good.

TMNT is my first love really. I literally learned to read by reading TMNT comics. They hold a special place in my heart.

userpjx | September 10, 04:21 CET

Good luck getting her to do it. I hated the CGI cartoon version, but love the old franchise. If they could bring some of that style back, maybe they could pull it off.

xMadxScientistx | September 10, 06:07 CET

I'm totally on board with this idea. I thought Gellar and Evans helped ground things nicely through their performances, even during Sarah's scene of obvious exposition. I was quite pleased with the CGI movie (especially April's early scene with Leo and the fight between him and Raph), and I'm hopeful that this new incarnation goes through, especially if these two actors are involved.

I find the newer TMNT cartoon pretty decent (solid animation and inventive fight choreography), but I get bored after a while if I watch more than a handful of episodes (4 or 5). It feels like one big chase scene with no end in sight. It's all Act 2, constant action that never lets up. That may work well for some (comic books are best at it), but I like it when the characters have a chance to breathe and, well, have character.

Although, it's at least leaps and bounds better than the TMNT: Fast Forward cartoon, where they're in the future, in space. Man, that's a world of awful, in my opinion. But hey, you can't win 'em all.

kungfubear | September 10, 06:08 CET

I'm a longtime TMNT fan from the old 80's cartoon and the movies (especially the first, which I still really like). The new cartoon is much better than the old, indeed being truer to the very dark and gritty original comics, though it depresses me that they've taken this stupid "Flash Forward" direction which has basically changed the entire show.

The recent animated movie was okay, and something of a guilty pleasure, but this live-action/CGI integration idea is dumb. I can just imagine so many ways for it to go wrong, especially because I'd actually have to watch the intolerable Chris Evans instead of just having to hear his voice.

And you're right, Kris, Judith Hoag didn't stick around for either of the sequels and was replaced by Paige Turco.

UnpluggedCrazy | September 10, 07:46 CET

I agree, UnpluggedCrazy. I loved the old cartoons, grew up with them, pretended to be April when I played with my friends. The old live action movies are good because they never took themselves to seriously. They went with the goofy personalities. While I enjoyed the new cartoon movie, I don't think it would transition very well into live action/CGI hybrid. But if they make it, especially with SMG, I'll see it.

Linnea1928 | September 10, 13:33 CET

The Simpsons is going on its 20th season ?! Whaaat.

It's interesting to see what movie and TV show revamps of `80s and `90s cartoons last and thrive (the ridiculous amounts of Transformers re-dos there have been, most of them crap from what I've sampled even though I enjoyed the big screen flick for what it was, the TMNT remakes, etc) and which ones die off rather quickly (the 2002 He-Man series, which apparently was lightyears better than the original `80s series and had an actual continuing arc instead of just being a series of one-offs. I only ever caught a half of one episode, it seemed good).

When I say "good" in regards to a North American cartoon, that usually should translate as "good...for a cartoon", only because the standards are generally so low. Unless we're talking the DC Animated franchise or Gargoyles, 'cause I'd pit stuff like that against some of the better live-action material the networks put out any day.

Kris | September 10, 21:57 CET