Malpractice

Mike i have to point out a misconception in your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles review. you keep saying it is based on the cartoon but it is not. The only elements used from the cartoon is April being a news reporter (although she did have the antique shop from the comics), the turtles bandanas being blue, orange, purple, and red as opposed to just all being red, and the logo at the beginning of the movie. The rest of the movie is taken right out of the comics with the first 12 issues as well as the "Silent Partner", and "Return To New York" storylines. The director Steve Barron and writer Bobby Herbeck were insistant that they keep the dark and gritty tone of the original Eastman and Laird comics and even got Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman heavily involved in the process. The original cut of the movie was i believe PG-13 but pushing an R rating and that's when the major cuts came into play and it eventually landed a PG rating. Steve Barron and Peter Laird have both talked at length about releasing the unrated cut but apparently New Line is not intrested (why they aren't i will never understand). Some of the cut footage included an extended farm sequence which delved more into the training and how the turtles are dealing with losing splinter and it should be noted that this is where Michaelangelo goes crazy and from what i have heard from people who have seen it is that it is an extremly powerful scene. Also Casey has an introduction scene which sounds totally badass, April has a lot more screentime, more scenes with Shredder beating the shit out of the kids in foot clan training, and we also learn apparently that Master Tatsu killed Shinsho in that one scene and that the "you're going to be okay" line was ADR'ed in at the last minute, a brief shot of the turtle shells comin out of the water at the beginning of the movie, and even an alternate ending where april tries to sell the idea of the TMNT to Mirage comics. There is probably a lot more too that hasn't even been mentioned. I still hope one day that cut gets release or even just a special edition of the current cut would be awesome. One thing i am suprised you guys didn't mention is that the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the highest grossing independent film of all time up until like a year or two ago.

the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon sucks yea sorry i couldn't come up with a more articulate reply to that but yea i really hate that show. as a huge fan of the Mirage TMNT comics (Vol. 1 is my fav comic series right next to Watchmen) i always hated the fact that the version from the cartoon is perceived to be the "real" version of the Turtles when in actuality they are a 180 from how they are really supposed to be portrayed. The 2003 animated series on the other hand is excellent. I can't wait to hear what you guys have to say about the first movie because it is one of my favorite comic book adapted films.

4 hrs 48 min 37 sec

now that i listened to the whole episode i'll throw my 2 cents in on a few topics Mike bought up the whole standards and practices thing in relation to the how they got away with certain things on the show and i would say there is a good chance that the network just didn't notice it or did not have enough money to go back and change it. I don't know if you guys are familar with Clerks: The Cartoon (which Paul Dini did work on) but in the audio commentary for that series you can hear the creators and animators talking about how the network would never pick up on stuff like the "all black jury", or the word "moe" and a lot of other jokes that you would be shocked to see on a network television show and a big reason why the people running the networks never picked up on them because they for the most part were only looking for certain words and nothing else really. It wouldn't shock me that B:TAS got away with a lot of that because of how subtle it is. Another point that the Clerks guys bought up was that the network would send them a list of like 100 things they took issue with on each episode and once they explained to them that it would cost money to change it and reshoot it, the list changed to about 3 things. I wouldn't be suprised if the folks at Fox and the WB decided that it would cost too much to go back and change certain scenes of violence or something to that extent and not to mention they weren't sure the show would be a hit either so it might not of been worth it to pool more money into it at that time. I was a little dissapointed that "Joker's Favor" only got in the 6/7 range because it is my favorite episode of B:TAS but you still said positive things about it. The thing i love so much about the episode is the entrance of The Joker at the beginning after he get's out of his car because even though he's making jokes and everything he still has this prescene or aura about him right when you see him that once he's in your prescene, you're dead. It's something i have seen in all the best interpertations of The Joker and it's something i didn't see at all in Nicholson's portrayal of The Joker which was probably a big reason i didn't care for him in that movie (but that's a different story). I just love the creepyness of The Joker in that he would follow this guy around and keep tabs on him and make him live his life in complete fear every second he's alive just for fun. It was just so great. I also loved this episode so much just because it is the introduction of one of my favorite characters Harley Quinn. I am not 100% sure if that was supposed to be Harley at the beginning of the episode in Jim's office but if it was i would say she was just there to remember her face and how easily she would be able to get into places. Also the point of the ending with Batman laughing was clearly just to piss off The Joker and it clearly succeded in doing that lol. Also I believe Gotham City is supposed to be located in the NYC/NJ area but i am not 100% sure on that. Can't wait for the next episode.

I thought the same thing about Hagen and his assistant when i watched this recently lol

yup that is definetly a homage to star wars. i have heard Bruce Timm confirm that.

I think your 2/5 rating for Spider-Man 3 was a little too generous lol. What a complete pile of shit that movie was, and Mike i echo your sentiments on Kristen Dunst. I disagree with you on one thing you mentioned in the episode though and that was your statement that Spider-Man 2 is the best "superhero" movie ever. Now don't get me wrong i thought Spider-Man 2 was great and i enjoyed it a lot but i wouldn't say it is the best. Superman: The Movie, Batman Begins, and X-2 are all better films in my opinion. But then again that's a petty squabble because at the end of the day i think we can agree they are all great movies.

awesome, i got mentioned on this episode. this was a great batch of episodes with the exception of "I've Got A Batman In My Basement". You guys bought up some intresting points about "It's Never Too Late" which is probably one of my favorite episodes. one of my fondest memories was watching that episode with my dad when i was a kid and him remarking that this was far more sophisticated than most anything that was on tv at the time. I would also add that out of all the B:TAS episodes that one felt the most Chris Nolan-esque. Also i had a similar reaction to "See No Evil" when i watched it recently, I never picked up on the subtext as a kid but when i recently watched it i found it extremly dark and disturbing and the opening score still sends chills down my spine. Props to you guys though for taking the time to do this podcast because it has been one of my favorite things to listen to recently and i wish i had thought of it first lol. oh and btw that definetly was Arleen Sorkin in "Heart Of Ice"