A Hippie in the House of Mouse (Jim Henson at Disney, 1980)

[Geekhis Khan]

Of course traditionally the COO seat is also about grooming a successor to the CEO. I wonder how much Ron Miller is aware of that corporate tradition?

To drag in some un-requested corporate finance, if you are a successful and mature company then you should be generating lots of profits (if not questions will be asked). Broadly speaking there is a hierarchy of options.;
1. Invest those profits in expanding the business
2. Return the money to shareholders
3. Let the money pile up

No-one likes 3 so it is one of the first two. If you have good investment options then that is generally preferred, though the tension is "what is a good investment option?". Management will always find something to invest money in (more investment, more staff, more power) and shareholders might not always agree. If management admit there are no good options, or if all the good options have been funded and there is money left over, then the choice is to return money to shareholders, through dividends or share buybacks (the US tax code massively favours share buybacks, so they tend to happen much more often).

Disney was famously (in the 80s and 90s anyway) a terrible payer of dividends and didn't do much stock buyback at that point. But it didn't matter because they did have lots of other uses for that money, like expanding parks or investing in other things and shareholders were fine with that. As previously discussed, it is fine to lower quarterly returns if there is a reason and a plan, shareholders are long-term greedy. Short term results matter to the extent they reflect the competence of management (you predicted $x , we got a lot less, how can I trust your long term plans?)


The early 90s were a bit wild for big US corporates - IBM and General Motors both had a catastrophic time as the mistakes of the 80s caught up with them. Shareholders forced out the CEOs in both firms, which was a seismic shock for corporate America and set the tone for a lot of the 'shareholder value' thinking that continues to this day. If there is already blood in the water and Disney makes a 'mistake' or has a big flop, things could get very messy.

Bit surprised it is an arb leading this sort of shareholder complaint. What is the arbitrage they are hoping to exploit? The 1990s saw a lot activist investors start up, so I could see one of those getting involved, it's a bit early for Bill Ackman and co but there are others.

Great info, thanks @El Pip. That helps establish some good background info for the state of US companies. On your questions yes, Ron Miller is aware of the situation. He's been a fan of Kinsey too (he was IRL) and, minor spoiler alert, doesn't necessarily want to stay a CEO forever, especially considering he took the job as much out of a sense of duty as desire.

Oh, and don't let the "arb" thing get you hung up. This particular person has done arbitrage in other cases, but in the Disney case he grabbed thousands of shares in late summer 1984 when the price dropped after the end of the Stock War, held them longer than originally planned because the returns from 1985-1988 were superb (even splitting 4 ways at one point), and got used to those bullish returns and now isn't pleased that the bull appears to be tiring out and in part blames the "passion projects" as the root cause.

I feel like an activist investor should push them to to use the second gate. I remember when they had the Disney's America plan and I thought that would make a perfect second gate for Anaheim.
I also feel like Disney Digital could come up with a good premise for a second movie after Toy Story. I had a perfect idea for a second movie. It would be about a family of vampires trying to live in modern suburban America.
A lot of activist investing is about pushing for a merger? But with who: NBC, Triad, or even a non-media business like Hershey or McDonald's.

Right now the opposite is part of the issue: Disney is spending literal billions between Valencia and Long Beach, with delays piling up. Not everyone is as optimistic about a park in the middle of nowhere in Spain and a super-expensive park in a crowded part of LA whose "theme" is a little off the normal Disney path.

3D's next project will be announced soon, and may surprise you.

So um, I'm wondering if/when we'll see if Disney executive alumni move to other studios in the future as is vice versa.

Very good question. Stay tuned.

I also think having Disney completely cutting out less than healthy fast food will be seen as a form of elitism by blue collar conservatives, especially once Rush Limbaugh starts to rant about it.

Henson would love to cut out the junk food. The board isn't having it. So far Disney food quality is better than OTL since Henson has at least made it clear that the Disney reputation should include quality food for the price. So no cardboard pizza with ketchup and cheese whiz. But it's probably not going to get the full praise of New York Pizza Snobs either.

"We were run on CBS immediately after Star Trek [The Next Generation] on PFN, figuring whoever watched that show could tune in to us next." - this sentence seems a bit odd? @Geekhis Khan

They took the time slot directly after TNG with the hopes that the sci fi nerds would change the channel and watch Buck. It didn't work as well as planned, so they went to the Fantasia channel.

It may sound an odd first thought, but....
Where's there's Buck Rogers, there's often Duck Dodgers. Wonder if WB and Looney Tunes releases a new short from it?

I'm not a Buck Rodgers fan at all by a long shot, but neat! Bruce is always a win!

I take it HPTV is Hyperion?

Duck Dodgers is of course a must.

Oh, this is something.

More on that soon.

Upon further research I've learned that these two aren't brother and sister:

Lorraine Williams - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Minor typo, turns out it's Shari Weiser.

That's something I would have loved to have seen as a TV show, done like an old serial.

Thanks!

I genuinely did a fist-pump reading this post, 1990's Buck Rogers in the 25th Century has all the makings of my TTL favourite live scifi series. The deliberate retro-aesthetic, great casting (including BRIAN BLESSED himself!), and camp-but-clever writing would have pretty much guaranteed my becoming a 'Buckaroo' in high school.

Glad you enjoyed it. I probably would have liked it too. I recall liking Briscoe County Jr.

The wedding between Sam Raimi and Lisa Henson sounds fun, not gonna lie, with the Muppets all going amok, and Kevin Clash singing some inappropriate songs for Elmo (Muppet fans would go nuts over possible footage). As for Bruce's encounter with the Henson family, John Henson sounds like a person that has ascended our current plane of existence, which would be an interesting person to talk to. Cheryl also appears nice, but no doubt the star of the show is Jim himself. Like Bruce, I'd be intimidated as all hell if I sat next to a living entertainment legend and the person considered to be the "Second Coming of Walt Disney".

Well, a tragedy (in the classic sense) ends in a funeral, so a comedy (classic sense) should have a wedding. Thus I took some deliberate cues from Henson's epic OTL funeral here, such as the Elmo songs (he sang the rather risque 'Lydia the Tattooed Lady' there, which was one of Jim's favorites). Nothing obscene, mind you, but like Lydia a bit suggestive at times.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

Duck Dodgers is of course a must.

Did you see my reasoning for having the show bridge the gap between Nickelodeon and Toonami?

 

[Plateosaurus]

Did you see my reasoning for having the show bridge the gap between Nickelodeon and Toonami?

@Geekhis Khan : Fault means this:

Hmmm... Let me see if I've got this straight here.

1: A protagonist whose ego is bigger than anything else.(Lupin III)
2: An unrequited love interest who just so happens to have a fandom of thousands, most of which for her body and voice.(Those Obnoxious Aliens!)
3: Created by two of the most prolific WB crew members you can trust.(Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone)
4: Cameos from the other stars of Looney Tunes.(Tiny Toon Adventures)

Something tells me that an earlier version of this show would be a perfect segue into Toonami, given the combination of anime inspirations and Looney Tunes humor.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

@Geekhis Khan : Fault means this:

Thanks for helping me on this.

 

[Ogrebear]

They took the time slot directly after TNG with the hopes that the sci fi nerds would change the channel and watch Buck. It didn't work as well as planned, so they went to the Fantasia channel.

I get that but the sentence says they are on CBS and PFN?

""We were run on CBS immediately after Star Trek [The Next Generation] on PFN, figuring whoever watched that show could tune in to us next."

So was Buck on CBS and TNG on PFN and they hoped folk would change channel? Seems like wishful thinking depending on what was on after TNG on CBS...

 

[Geekhis Khan]

I get that but the sentence says they are on CBS and PFN?

""We were run on CBS immediately after Star Trek [The Next Generation] on PFN, figuring whoever watched that show could tune in to us next."

So was Buck on CBS and TNG on PFN and they hoped folk would change channel? Seems like wishful thinking depending on what was on after TNG on CBS...

Yes. That. They hoped that Sci Fi nerds would finish TNG and then change the channel to CBS to watch BR, which tells you exactly how much confidence they had that they could defeat TNG in the ratings. Was that wishful thinking? Well, it didn't work out now, did it?

 

[Denliner]

Henson would love to cut out the junk food. The board isn't having it. So far Disney food quality is better than OTL since Henson has at least made it clear that the Disney reputation should include quality food for the price. So no cardboard pizza with ketchup and cheese whiz. But it's probably not going to get the full praise of New York Pizza Snobs either.

Cutting out the junk food or the quick service restaurants in the theme parks is going to be impossible, and Jim Henson definitely has to live with that, even if ITTL Disney has all of these amazing and healthy restaurants by the 2020s like IOTL. I guess the next best option for the 90s is catering to the health foodie crowd and encouraging healthy eating earlier for families, which would be a noble cause.

The latter could be another reason why Disney could partner with Subway instead of McDonalds since I doubt Henson pushing for healthier eating would coincide with the Big Mac.

Well, a tragedy (in the classic sense) ends in a funeral, so a comedy (classic sense) should have a wedding. Thus I took some deliberate cues from Henson's epic OTL funeral here, such as the Elmo songs (he sang the rather risque 'Lydia the Tattooed Lady' there, which was one of Jim's favorites). Nothing obscene, mind you, but like Lydia a bit suggestive at times.

Very nice. I guess with Jim still around, Hunt and Ashman should have rather lively funerals, hahahahaha. Better to find some happiness from the times they were around rather than just sulk and be depressed.

 

[Unknown]

Here's an interesting fact about the TV series Buffy, the Vampire Slayer: Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy in OTL, originally auditioned to play Cordelia (and this was probably in part because she'd played a bitchy character, Kendall Hart (also Erica Kane's long-lost daughter) on All My Children and had won a Daytime Emmy for it (1)) but Joss Whedon (who's an utter bastard for how he treated the actors and actresses on his set, especially Charisma Carpenter (2), who ultimately played Cordelia, IMO) thought she'd make a better Buffy...

(1) There were rumors that Gellar didn't get along with Susan Lucci, who played Erica Kane, on the set (in part because Gellar won a Daytime Emmy, while Lucci was famously snubbed by the Emmys, being nominated 18 straight times and losing), but, for what it's worth, Lucci denied those rumors and Gellar herself said that the rumors were exaggerated. This may have been a case of being professional on set (like Ted Danson/Shelley Long) but not being able to like each other off it (which is not uncommon). And Gellar sent a gift basket to Alicia Minshew, who played Kendall when the character returned to the show in 2002, because she liked how Minshew played the role--Gellar was still on Buffy at that time, although I wonder if she would have reprised Kendall if she had been available...
(2) When nearly every cast member supports the actress making accusations against you, yeah, Joss, it's a you problem...

 

[Migrant_Coconut]

Re: fast food, Jim's best shot is probably to find a smaller, less greasy chain than Subway (Wendy's? Arby's?) and influence them to start dumping calories.

 

[Caellach Tiger Eye]

B

Here's an interesting fact about the TV series Buffy, the Vampire Slayer: Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy in OTL, originally auditioned to play Cordelia (and this was probably in part because she'd played a bitchy character, Kendall Hart (also Erica Kane's long-lost daughter) on All My Children and had won a Daytime Emmy for it (1)) but Joss Whedon (who's an utter bastard for how he treated the actors and actresses on his set, especially Charisma Carpenter (2), who ultimately played Cordelia, IMO) thought she'd make a better Buffy...

(1) There were rumors that Gellar didn't get along with Susan Lucci, who played Erica Kane, on the set (in part because Gellar won a Daytime Emmy, while Lucci was famously snubbed by the Emmys, being nominated 18 straight times and losing), but, for what it's worth, Lucci denied those rumors and Gellar herself said that the rumors were exaggerated. This may have been a case of being professional on set (like Ted Danson/Shelley Long) but not being able to like each other off it (which is not uncommon). And Gellar sent a gift basket to Alicia Minshew, who played Kendall when the character returned to the show in 2002, because she liked how Minshew played the role--Gellar was still on Buffy at that time, although I wonder if she would have reprised Kendall if she had been available...
(2) When nearly every cast member supports the actress making accusations against you, yeah, Joss, it's a you problem...

Best case scenario ITTL, is that someone curbs Joss’s entitlement complex before he grows too big an ego. At least a big part of his issues (not entirely though, don’t get me wrong) is how he was so praised and protected as a sacred cow of sorts, with even people he mistreated and/or abused feeling he was “too important” due to his contribution to geek culture and feminist fantasy… And yeah, based on what Kai Cole said about his indiscretions during their 20-odd gear marriage (and the concerns people had about leaving Michelle Trachtenberg, then a minor, alone with him — which may or may not have been valid in terms of sexual predator concerns but DEFINITELY were valid regarding his verbal, physical and emotional abuse of actors), the latter is a concern as much as his threatening James Marsters over Spike’s popularity or Charisma Carpenter over her choosing to keep her unplanned pregnancy; themselves both being cases where he felt inconvenienced and took it out on the actors unfairly, instead of maturely discussing with Marsters that he wanted Spike to be permanently written out (and not an exception like Angel was to “good vampires”) or compromising with Carpenter so that Cordelia didn’t need to be written out; meeting them in the middle instead of brute-forcing them (not to mention forcing Marsters to do the rape scene, which traumatised James so much he put in his contract that he could not be forced to do it ever again… all because he hated Spuffy being popular with fans and wanted to make it clear Spike without a soul was still evil, evidence to the contrary be damned.

Not to mention his apparently lashing out about Angel getting cancelled, which IIRC was due to him asking for an early word on whether they’d get renewed by WB instead of really late: this can affect actors because if they don’t know they have a job secure the next year, they don’t know if they should be looking elsewhere or not. Elisabeth Rohm, who played Kate Lockley on Angel, had a meaty storyline that would make her side with Daniel Holtz against Angel, which got repurposed for new character Justine in Season 3 (but also led to the Pylea arc to substitute for the end of Season 2, which introduced Fred, so YMMV on how bad that was) when Rohm left for L&O, likely in part due to bot knowing if the show would be renewed or not. I doubt she was alone in this, but is the most pronounced case because of how it jettisoned a long term arc established early in the show that may have played out quite a while otherwise.

Part of the creative process, especially in a big collaboration with crew and cast, is that they too matter and you need to consider that. It sucks whenever you need to recreate things be ause an actor leaves or is unavailable, but they have lives too and need to make money to survive the industry (and be prolific. Even if some of Whedon’s choices ARE creatively driven and the actors should recognise this (it’s unclear if for instance, Kristin Sutherland did anything to upset him that led to him wanting to kill off Joyce or if he really just felt it was right for the story, and the actors SHOULD respect it if it’s the latter), it doesn’t give him carte blanche to abuse the people who give him their time and trust.

 

[Geekhis Khan]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 20th Anniversary!
From Disney Magazine, May 2010

They’re heroes on the half-shell, and they’re celebrating 20 years with Disney! Ever since Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird first created them and published their first independent comic, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have gone on to become a part of our pop culture heritage. After exploding onto the small screen, it was only natural that they’d reach the big screen, and where else do you go when you want to bring the imaginary to life than Disney’s Creatureworks?

CCO Jim Henson visiting the set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990 (Image source Wikimedia)

CCO and Disney Studios Chairman Jim Henson fell immediately in love with the four peperoni-loving, shell-bearing shinobis and the Creatureworks didn’t disappoint, winning the Oscar for Best Special Effects in 1990. Screenwriter and Director Robert Zemeckis didn’t disappoint either, producing a fun, action-packed adventure that took the Eastman & Laird comics (along with some of the embellishments from the cartoon) and made them real. It was fun, it was family friendly, and it was a blockbuster hit, breaking $200 million at the worldwide box office.

TMNT spawned two sequels. The first, 1992’s TMNT 2: The Rise of Krang directed by Kevin Clash, introduced the villainous mutant brain Krang and the popular Rocksteady & Beebop from the cartoon, and was also a hit with audiences. 1996’s TMNT 3: Turtle Power!, meanwhile, written and directed by Terry Jones, took us across dimensions into a parallel world where the TMNT team up to defeat an alternate universe Shredder with the Transgenic Teenage Kung-Fu Iguanas, who were all named by their Chinese red panda mentor Plank for modern artists: Salvador, Vincent, Pablo, and Warhol!

It also spawned the popular Disney Splinter’s Ninja Challenge obstacle course ride and the popular park and travelling stage show TMNT: Shell-Shocked![1]

But whatever Disney Turtle Project you prefer, it all began with the original 1990 film! The cast and crew fondly recall the production even to this day.

“It was my first animatronics film,” recalls Zemeckis. “I’ve always liked playing with the state of the art in effects, and for 1990 that was the latest and greatest. You end up directing multiple people for each mutant character, which makes it a unique challenge. For example, each Turtle had three people bringing him to life: one person wearing the suit, such as Dave Foreman for Leonardo, one person manning the waldo [control mechanism] behind the camera, Marty Robinson for Leo, and finally a third person doing voiceover in post, Brian Tochi for Leo. And then you had some stunt performers like Ernie Reyes and Kenn Troum doing the martial arts in some cases. Keeping that all straight was a job in and of itself!”

Martin P. Robinson (L) and Dave Foreman (R) as Leonardo (Image source “martinprobinson.com”)

“I had a blast,” recalled Kevin Clash, who did the puppeteering and voice work for Splinter, the Turtles’ rat mentor. “I’ve performed a lot of characters from Muppets like Elmo to animatronics like Splinter to motion capture digital stuff, and of them all the animatronics just have so much ability to naturalistically express the characters. There’s a purity and weight to the effects that the modern CG effects just can’t match, in my opinion.”

“I’ll admit,” retired CEO Ron Miller recalled, laughing. “The whole ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ thing was hard for me to grasp. It was too many adjectives! Still, I’d learned to trust my team, so I didn’t stop them! After all, I thought Bio-Force Five wasn’t going to work out either!”

Jim Henson, on the other hand, had no reservations about greenlighting the Turtles. “It was a no-brainer. The turtles were already a huge hit with kids. It’s one of those ideas that’s so insane and out there that it pushes through “nuts” into “pure genius”. Mutant Turtles are odd and scary. Mutant Ninja Turtles are campy. Make them Teenage and it’s impossible to not want to know what their story is!” Henson laughed. “Kevin and Peter knew what they were doing and I feel blessed that we got to play in their sandbox for a while.”

Now, twenty years later, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are returning to the big screen in a mix of computer and animatronic effects. We certainly hope that it helps capture a new generation of Turtle fans! But in the meantime, Disney’s Turtle Power Month is coming to the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland parks all around the world! It’s also coming to the Disney Channel with vintage programming and new Turtle-related Shorts! Here’s a chance to see something old, something new, something borrowed (the old animated cartoon!), and something blue, specifically Leonardo’s Mask and other vintage props from the original films.

Cowabunga, dudes!

---

[1] In a bit of meta-humor, at one point they perform with The Mutations, who go unnamed in the show.

 

[Plateosaurus]

Interesting. Thank god TMNTIII has been butterflied.
Wonder what's going in with the cartoon and how its impacted?

 

[nick_crenshaw82]

So with Corey Feldman's passing ITTL who will play the body of Donatello?

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

So, in other words, not only is the film a major success, even bigger than OTL, but it becomes iconic enough to get rebooted, have a themed month at the Disney Parks, AND get the original cartoon to air on Disney Channel alongside new animated content? Consider me shocked at how good the results have turned out!

 

[Denliner]

TMNT with Disney. Now that's just absolutely wild.

I'm very pleased that the film and its subsequent sequels managed to retain its quality (perhaps even exceeding its OG counterpart with more funding from Disney-MGM). Coupled with the iconic comics and 1990s TV cartoon, the franchise does hold a bright future under Disney, perhaps creating a very large fanbase compared to our own as a result. I hope that we'll get to see a modernized take on the cartoons later on!

Man, it's the 2010s and Jim is still kicking as CCO? He could probably outlive the rest of the Disney Triumvirate and Roy as part of the board if trends continue.

Disney Splinter’s Ninja Challenge obstacle course ride

I'll keep this in mind 😉.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

TMNT with Disney. Now that's just absolutely wild.

I'm very pleased that the film and its subsequent sequels managed to retain its quality (perhaps even exceeding its OG counterpart with more funding from Disney-MGM). Coupled with the iconic comics and 1990s TV cartoon, the franchise does hold a bright future under Disney, perhaps creating a very large fanbase compared to our own as a result. I hope that we'll get to see a modernized take on the cartoons later on!

Well, I'm not sure if this timeline would have Disney own the franchise. The best they can do is a majority stake of 75-80% ownership with Eastman and Laird still owning a chunk of the franchise. Like the outcome of the As Dreamers Do timeline.

Heck, it might not even be a Disney property, and we're just overthinking this.

 

[Denliner]

Well, I'm not sure if this timeline would have Disney own the franchise. The best they can do is a majority stake of 75-80% ownership with Eastman and Laird still owning a chunk of the franchise. Like the outcome of the As Dreamers Do timeline.

Fair point, but the presence of Turtle Power Month suggests that they could own it for real by the 2010s (who organizes a worldwide parks event for an IP they don't own? They don't even treat Star Wars or Marvel this well OTL).

I presume they would have at least both the theme park and film rights to TMNT from Eastman & Laird by the 1990s.

 

[Geekhis Khan]

Interesting. Thank god TMNTIII has been butterflied.
Wonder what's going in with the cartoon and how its impacted?

Cartoon was still by Murkami-Wolf (recall the Mario post) and has gone pretty much as OTL.

So with Corey Feldman's passing ITTL who will play the body of Donatello?

Not sure, actually. Probably a Creatureworks regular.

So, in other words, not only is the film a major success, even bigger than OTL, but it becomes iconic enough to get rebooted, have a themed month at the Disney Parks, AND get the original cartoon to air on Disney Channel alongside new animated content? Consider me shocked at how good the results have turned out!

OTL film made $202M with two sequels and a 2010s reboot, so it actually performed about the same.

TMNT with Disney. Now that's just absolutely wild.

I'm very pleased that the film and its subsequent sequels managed to retain its quality (perhaps even exceeding its OG counterpart with more funding from Disney-MGM). Coupled with the iconic comics and 1990s TV cartoon, the franchise does hold a bright future under Disney, perhaps creating a very large fanbase compared to our own as a result. I hope that we'll get to see a modernized take on the cartoons later on!

Man, it's the 2010s and Jim is still kicking as CCO? He could probably outlive the rest of the Disney Triumvirate and Roy as part of the board if trends continue.


I'll keep this in mind 😉.

Cartoon is Murkami-Wolf after Playmates Toys (the only company to express an interest) insisted on a cartoon. TMNT was an underground thing until they found it as per OTL. Also as per OTL Henson took an interest.

Ambiguous grammar; implication is he as CCO at the time. Whether Jim is CCO in 2010 remains to be seen.

Well, I'm not sure if this timeline would have Disney own the franchise. The best they can do is a majority stake of 75-80% ownership with Eastman and Laird still owning a chunk of the franchise. Like the outcome of the As Dreamers Do timeline.

Heck, it might not even be a Disney property, and we're just overthinking this.

Absolutely overthinking it. Eastman and Laird own the original IP, Murkami-Wolf has the TV animation rights, Disney has the film and park rights. Playmates has toy rights.

Once again, just because Disney produces it doesn't mean that they own it.

 

[Denliner]

Ambiguous grammar; implication is he as CCO at the time. Whether Jim is CCO in 2010 remains to be seen.

Yeah, it's possible that he could retire by the 2000s or the 2010s (he'd already cemented himself as a Disney Legend at this point), but seeing him work his magic on both decades is just so tantalizing at a time where geek culture continued to permeate into mainstream pop culture thanks to social media. We'll see whether this is the case but I do fear losing him for the 10s, as it would leave a pretty big Jim Henson-sized hole within the company in such a pivotal decade. It's hard for any successor to fill in such massive shoes.

Absolutely overthinking it. Eastman and Laird own the original IP, Murkami-Wolf has the TV animation rights, Disney has the film and park rights. Playmates has toy rights.

Once again, just because Disney produces it doesn't mean that they own it.

I keep forgetting the Disney IP post a while back. Give me a minute to groan and roll my eyes at myself before I bookmark it.

It is fortuitous that Disney does have the theme park rights though, as it would mean they do get to make some kind of attraction like the obstacle course. But where though?

 

[Ogrebear]

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles making $200 mill is a sure-fire blockbuster, plus the Oscar should shut up some of those shareholders!

Certainly will not hurt Zemeckis chances of getting bigger and bigger features.

Is that "written and directed by Terry Jones" the Python chap? That would be one wild movie if it is!

I want Transgenic Teenage Kung-Fu Iguanas toys/comics/movies! Plank! Salvador! Vincent! Pablo! and Warhol! TTKFI forever!

Do Epic Comics (Marvel imprint publishing creator owned projects) print TMNT movie tie in books? Is it possible the Mirage books get reprinted via Epic? This helps Epic survive longer, and might prevent Image forming if the creators have a outlet for their creator owned projects without needing to split to a new company.

Hopefully a decent relationship with Disney might help Eastman and Laird ride the behemoth that the TMNT phenomenon better than OTL. Hopefully Laird sells to Disney this time, if they sell at all.

Glad the TMNT got off to a good live action start with the movie!

Great chapter @Geekhis Khan