TURTLE POWER!

Twenty-five years ago, as a spoof, two comic book guys got together and changed the fate of the comic medium for all time. With elements of Ronin, Daredevil, and the X-Men, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created four teenaged mutant turtles that just so happened to have an affinity for pizza and ninjitsu.

If you haven't figured it out yet, then welcome to reality and how comfortable was the rock you've been living under? I speak of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one of the most successful character franchises EVER.

The Turtles have since transcended from their modest beginnings to TV, movies, action figures, video games, music, and every other popular form of media you can think of. After 25 years of dominating every one of those mediums at one point or another, we were given a chance to look back and celebrate everything these four lean, green, fighting machines have given to us.

On April 23, 2009, in New York City, it was officially the Heroes in a Half-Shell's day and we had a chance to follow them across the city as they spread the word about their turning 25.

It began at the Empire State Building with the Turtles' flipping the switch to light the building green and ended in Tribeca with a special screening of their original live-action blockbuster movie from 1990.

Along the way, we caught up with some special guests and got some amazing news, that you can see below, as we documented a TMNT major announcement at their press conference at the Empire State Building. We then followed up with Mirage Studios' CEO Gary Richardson and the director of the original TMNT live-action feature film, Steve Barron, to get their thoughts on the announcement and the day's events.



After the amazing news at the Empire State Building, we needed a pizza break before we headed over to Tribeca where we got to explore the conversion of the party van into a mobile museum including trailers of TMNT Smash-Up, the new Turtles fighting game coming out this year, and the original cartoon's Seasons 7 and 8 that are coming to DVD later this year as well.

We then had a chance to talk about the newly announced movie and the scope of TMNT25 with some of the fans, Ernie Reyes Jr. (Keno in TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze),TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, and the producers of TMNT V (tentative title), due out 2011, Galen Walker and Scott Mednick.



CLICK HERE to check out my YouTube page to check out the entire interviews with Gary Richardson, Steve Barron, Kevin Eastman, Ernie Reyes Jr., Galen Walker, and Scott Mednick. The full interviews include EXCLUSIVE details about the new TMNT video game coming out later this year, TMNT Smash-Up, and TMNT V's plot.

It was an amazing day for TMNT fans, old and new alike, as the news of a new movie clearly stirred great emotion from all the fans as it spread like wildfire through the crowd. The anticipation now begins to mount as the 25th Anniversary Shell-ebration of TMNT is only just starting.

With two new DVDs of the classic cartoon coming out, a revamped version of the classic TMNT IV: Turtles in Time video game coming to XBOX Live in June, a completely brand-new game, TMNT Smash-Up, coming out later this year for Wii (later to be ported to other systems), and a new live-action feature film due out in 2011, it is clear that the Turtles are only just getting started.

Here is to TMNT's next 25 years being as glorious as the 25 they have already given us as we celebrated not only the past on this day in New York, but the future of this ground-breaking franchise as well. GO NINJA, GO NINJA, GO!

(I made a funny! Hahaha)

-Ray Carsillo