What started with TMNT live-action, back in 2014 we learn that Splinter the rest of the Turtles were lab animals being tested on by Sacks and April's father. With Mutant Mayhem, we see that Splinter was just a normal ally rat that took the Turtles in and nature took it's course, they get mutated. Now, what do these origins have in common? There is no Hamato Yoshi.
My question to these 'creative' liberties have always been the same. Why? On one hand I do see the need to want alter certain details so that the story can feel fresh, but I don't see the logic to cut Hamato Yoshi from the story all together, whether Splinter is the pet of Yoshi or Yoshi himself. (Personally I feel that Splinter being Yoshi himself is better) The inherent problem that comes with Yoshi being cut from the Turtles story is that the Turtles lose their connection to not just Japan and ninjutsu, but most importantly the Turtles connection to the Shredder and the Foot Clan as a whole. We see this problem Shredder and Splinter's fight in the 2014 movie, their dialogue is tense and personal and makes it seem like they have this deep rooted history with each other and are fated to have this encounter. Here's the thing, they only met just that moment! For these guys to talk so personally to each other just makes no sense, and the movie just expects you to buy it. Of course this was the results of the massive rewrites the movie went through, because Sacks was originally gonna be Shredder, but people gave the writers too much shit for it and change it to include Asian Shredder. Of course they couldn't be bothered to modify the dialogue because that would take too much effort.
Than we have Mutant Mayhem, Shredder obviously wasn't in this movie until the end scene but I can only imagine what they plan to do with him. But still, with the story as is the Turtles and Splinter have no ties to the Shredder or the
Foot Clan. There is a reason why the Shredder is so important to the Turtles story, because Shredder and the Foot are what gives the Turtles their purpose to train as Ninja's. Without Shredder, there isn't a point for Splinter to go through all this trouble to train the Turtles at all, because you have to wonder, "what exactly does all this training help them for?" When they do encounter Shredder, there is no personal connection to him and Saki just loses what makes him important and the turtles and he just becomes another bad guy for the Turtles to take down. That's not something you just do to TMNT's most important villain. Even with the worst interpretations of TMNT, Rise and Next Mutation knew enough to keep the Turtles ties with Yoshi and the Shredder.
But we come across a problem that both movies have when it comes to the Turtles. The way they learn Ninjitsu, 2014 being from a shitty book (no pun intended) Splinter finds in the Sewer and MM Splinter showing the Turtles martial arts tapes. Now I probably don't need to tell you these are probably the worst ways that you can learn Ninjitsu and martial arts in general. Unless these guys are fucking Taskmaster from Marvel comics I don't see them being as good as they are just from learning from books and tapes. The Turtles should not be as good as they are in these movies, because you are not just gonna learn all the fundamentals of being a ninja just by watching a tapes or reading a fucking book; that's just nonsensical. I am willing to extend my suspension of disbelief on a lot of things, hell, that's what allows me to enjoy Ninja Turtles and comics as a whole, but that can only go so far. What do you guys think?
