Nickelodeon’s brand new Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series is a brand new take on the franchise with all new character designs, new villains, and even an overweight and out of shape Splinter. We’re attending the panel at this years New York Comic-Con, so check out what Nickelodeon has to say about what’s to come of this series.
You can order the toys now on Amazon.com, Entertainment Earth and BigBadToyStore.
Rise up! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back in the next mutation of New York’s half-shell heroes. Join us as we celebrate the latest incarnation of The Turtles. Featuring Omar Miller (Ballers) as Raph, Josh Brener (Silicon Valley) as Donnie, Brandon Smith (You’re the Worst) as Mikey and Kat Graham (The Vampire Diaries) as April. Joining the cast are co-executive producers, Andy Suriano and Ant Ward, and legendary voice director Rob Paulsen. Panel highlights will include never-before-seen clips from the series, special guests and exclusive giveaways.
Panel begins.
The Rise of the TMNT was created by Andy Suriano and Ant Ward.
The new design is inspired by the 1970’s comics such as science fiction designs.
The foot clan was also re-created. They used the mythic ninja aspect of this design to create to Foot Clan.
Rob Paulsen talks – grateful for the opportunity. He was Donatello in the 2012 series, and in the original series of the 80’s and 90’s. He voices one of the Foot ninja’s.
More Foot Clan footage shown.
Kat Graham watched the previous shows, and brought some fun and seriousness to the character of April. She wasn’t expecting to get the gig and go to comic-con. She voices April O’Neil.
Brandon Smith asks everyone to stand up and say Cowabunga. He was Donatello as a kid at 6 years old at Halloween. He wanted to bring some fun and seriousness to Mikey.
Josh Brener saids his older brothers wouldn’t allow him to play with their TMNT figures. Now he’s Donnie, and has his own action figure, and its a mission about revenge to his brothers.
Omar Miller wasn’t expecting to get the gig, and is thrilled to be part of this franchise.
Raph was chosen as the leader because his big brother appearance
Q&A
Kraang in this show – creators think it would be fantastic if they can fit a storyline in, including additional characters
Time travel to Japan – making stories for a broad age group, time travel could be tricky and confusing for some audience. Always possible.
Rob loves being a villain for this show.
Will the turtles meet Casey Jones? Will have to wait and see.
animation style – 2D hand drawn
crossover between other turtles universes – they are not committed to alternate universes, but possible
kid asked why isn’t Shredder in the show, as he’s in “every other show” – the creators wanted to do something different
panel ends.
Official Press release:
Nickelodeon’s Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles voice cast and co-executive producers gave fans at New York Comic Con a look at what’s in store for the Turtles and April O’Neil during a panel at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Moderated by Mike Cecchini (Den of Geek), the panel featured voice actors Omar Miller as Raph, Josh Brener as Donnie, Brandon Mychal Smith as Mikey, and Kat Graham as April O’Neil, along with the co-executive producers Andy Suriano and Ant Ward, and legendary voice director Rob Paulsen. Special guest Maurice LaMarche (Pinky and the Brain) made an appearance to discuss his role as the Foot Brute.
The panel featured a sneak peek at the upcoming episode, “The Longest Fight,” where Paulsen and LaMarche reunited behind the mic as Foot Lieutenant, the de-facto leader of the Foot Clan, and Foot Brute, the Foot Lieutenant’s right hand man. Additional highlights included art and clip reveals from upcoming new episodes of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The series stars the voice talent of Omar Miller (Ballers) as Raph, a jagged-shelled snapping turtle; Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation) as Leo, a red-eared slider turtle; Josh Brener (Silicon Valley) as Donnie, a soft-shell turtle; Brandon Mychal Smith (You’re The Worst) as Mikey, a box turtle; Kat Graham (The Vampire Diaries) as April O’Neil, a street savvy native New Yorker; Eric Bauza (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as Splinter, father figure and sensei to the Turtles; and WWE Superstar John Cena as the villainous, Baron Draxum.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premiered on Monday, Sept. 17, on Nickelodeon. New season one episodes will continue to air throughout 2018. The new 26-episode series is co-executive produced by Andy Suriano (character designer, Samurai Jack) and Ant Ward (supervising producer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) at Nickelodeon in Burbank. Veteran animation industry voice actor Rob Paulsen is voice directing the series.
