Trivia / TMNT

• Acting for Two: Mitchell Whitfield (Donatello), Fred Tatasciore (Gato) and Kevin Michael Richardson (Aguila) also provided additional voices.
• Actor-Shared Background: Like his character Donatello, Mitchell Whitfield was born in New York City.
• Approval of God: Kevin Eastman was not involved with the making of this film, but on two separate occasions in 2024 (in a comic con and in a video by Cartoonist Kayfabe, where he and Peter Laird discussed the original Mirage Comics) said that he really loved this movie.
• Billing Displacement: The voice actors for the turtles are not credited first despite being the main characters. Within the turtles themselves, Nolan North (Raph) is billed first even though James Arnold Taylor voices the group's leader, Leo. Possibly justified however, seeing that Raph is the turtle who receives the most Character Development and is the focus for the majority of the film.
• Creator Backlash:
  • James Arnold Taylor (Leonardo) didn't approve of the celebrities voicing in the movie, with the exceptions of Patrick Stewart and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
  • Director Kevin Munroe, while still proud of the movie, said that he didn't like the studio recut version of the film.
• The Danza:
  • Mikey Kelley shares Michelangelo's nickname, Mikey.
  • In Lionsgate's Latin American Spanish dub, Rafael Escalante shares the same name with his character, Raphael.
• Deleted Scene: There was another ending made which featured Raphael giving Casey Jones his bike, who then proposed to April, as well as another scene featuring Michelangelo giving Splinter a piece of cake from a birthday party he was working at. The former was dropped after the marriage subplot was dropped, and the latter was changed due to the filmmakers believing introducing Splinter in a comical scene would’ve been a disrespectful way to introduce him.
• Died During Production: TMNT was Mako's last film role before he died of cancer during production, so Greg Baldwin, who already had experience voicing Iroh, another one of Mako's characters, provided Splinter's remaining dialogue.
• Directed by Cast Member:
  • The Videomax Latin American Spanish dub was directed by Rubén Moya, who voiced General Aguila.
  • In Lionsgate's Latin American Spanish dub, Luis Navarro was the ADR director and Donatello's voice actor.
  • In the Italian dub, Massimo Lodolo was the ADR director as well as General Gato's voice actor.
• Dueling Dubs: In Latin America, the film was dubbed in Spanish three times in Mexico. The first was produced by Videomax and dubbed at New Art Dub, also in Mexico City for theatrical and DVD/Blu-Ray distribution in Latin America. When Warner released the film on Blu-ray/DVD in North American territories excluding Mexico, they had Auditel produce another dub, also in Mexico City. The third was produced by Universal Cinergía Dubbing for Lionsgate. Oddly enough, Víctor Ugarte provided the voice for Casey Jones in the Videomax dub; whereas in the Warner dub, he voiced Raphael.
• Executive Meddling:
  • The reason Patrick Stewart, Chris Evans, and Sarah Michelle Gellar were in the movie was because The Weinstein Company thought the film didn't have enough star power. Franchise creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman stepped in and told them to keep the Turtles actors as-is, as they wanted the Turtles to be recognized as the characters and not the actors.
  • According to the director Kevin Munroe, the studio tried to recut the film at the last minute and make it a more straightforward kids film.
• Flip-Flop of God: Nobody involved with production can really seem to agree whether or not it truly is a continuation of the first three films, some having said it takes place in a separate continuity, and some saying it takes place after the first three films in Broad Strokes. The comic book prequel seems to put it in an Alternate Continuity, but even then, it's unknown if the filmmakers even put it into account.
• Follow the Leader: After the elements of Rex Havoc And The Asskickers Of Fantasic was disbanded, DreamWorks Animation wanted to capitalize this film for the 2009 film Monsters vs. Aliens, with a similar plot having a human girl joining four unlikely creatures to stop an evil threat.
• In Memoriam: A dedication to Mako appears towards the end of the credits.
• Kids' Meal Toy: McDonald's had a set of eight action figures of the turtles in their Happy Meals; two for each turtle.
• Missing Trailer Scene: The opening of the prologue originated from the teaser trailer, which had more original footage.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Mako reportedly did not complete all of his recording for Splinter before passing away of cancer; Greg Baldwin can be heard delivering some of Splinter's lines to sharp-eared listeners.
  • In more general terms, while a Broad Strokes continuation, nobody from the first three films returned to voice any of their characters in this one.
  • While the tie-in game does bring back the voices for the turtles, Splinter and Max are instead voiced by Montreal-based actors Terrence Scammell and Mark Camacho respectively. For the other game that uses this style, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up, the concurrent voice cast of the 2003 series also return to their respective roles.
  • Also played straight with the dubs of the video games. The French dub of the movie was done in Belgium, with the cast of the 2003 series, but the game was dubbed in Paris. The Italian dub of the movie was done in Rome, but the game was dubbed in Milan.
• The Other Marty: Quinton Flynn was originally brought in to record Casey Jones's lines, but he was replaced by Chris Evans for the final release. Flynn was subsequently given a "special thanks" credit.
• Promoted Fanboy: Several years after this movie came out, while promoting Lightyear, Chris Evans admitted in an interview that he was a fan of the franchise and the first movie.
• Refitted for Sequel: Peter Laird revealed in his blogs that his initial plans for the sequel to the first live-action movie included a possible Love Triangle between April, Casey and Charles Pennington, April's boss. This movie has something of an Imaginary Love Triangle between April, Casey and April's wealthy client Max Winters (the prequel comics has April feeling like Casey doesn't quite support her career while in the movie she has some flirty banter with Winters making adding more to Casey's insecurities).
• Real-Life Relative: In the Latin American Spanish dub produced by Warner Bros., Rodrigo Carralero voiced Donatello and his father Juan Alfonso Carralero played Max Winters.
• Role Reprise:
  • Concerning the Latin American Spanish dubs have different actors reprising their roles: Warner's dub has Jesús Barrero reprise his role as Leonardo from the TV dub of the 1990 film. As for Lionsgate's dub, Alejandro Villeli reprises his role as Splinter from the VHS dub of the 1990 film.
  • In the Canadian French dub, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Splinter, and April are respectively voiced by Gilbert Lachance, Sébastien Dhavernas, Hubert Fielden, and Élise Bertrand, reprising their roles from the first two live-action movies^note the third movie never got a Canadian French dub. As for Raphael and Casey, they are respectively voiced by Bernard Fortin and Pierre Auger, reprising their roles from the 1990 film^note Fortin was replaced by Benoît Rousseau as Raph in the second movie.
  • In the French dub of the video game, Vincent Ropion reprises his role as Raphael from the first two seasons of the 1987 series.
• Sequel Gap: If one considers this a continuation of sorts, then it's 14 years between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) and this film (2007).
• Stillborn Franchise: An odd case where it did well enough for a sequel to start being made, but it ended up not happening. We can attribute this to a combination of said sequel having issues with Development Hell, Peter Laird selling the whole franchise to Nickelodeon in 2009, and Imagi Animation Studios shutting down after their Astro Boy film proved to be a colossal Box Office Bomb the very same year.
• Studio Hop: While the first three films were released by New Line Cinema, this film was distributed jointly by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Weinstein Company.
• Throw It In!:
  • The song Splinter cheerfully sings at breakfast is an old Japanese song Mako himself enjoyed singing that found its way into the film.
  • DVD commentary reveals the scene where the music stops when the Jersey Devil iss smashed by the fridge was actually a technical error, but they thought it was funny and left it in.
• Two Voices, One Character: Most of Splinter's dialogue was voiced by Mako. Owing to his death in 2006, however, Greg Baldwin provided the character's remaining dialogue.
• Voices in One Room: All of the turtles' voice actors recorded together during production, which is helped by them being veteran voice actors.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Kevin Munroe stated that he would have liked to do a sequel, either featuring the Foot Clan (which, given Karai's ominous remark at the end of the film, indicated that the Shredder might have come back), the Rat King, or the Triceratons. Also, according to a concept poster for the unmade sequel, it would have centered around Michelangelo with his brothers and master being demutated. Another story idea would have Mikey joining the Foot Clan and wearing a black mask to be taken more seriously by the other turtles. Munroe also expressed interest in having Sarah Michelle Gellar and Chris Evans reprise their roles as April and Casey in a live-action film.
    • Munroe's second film would've specifically featured Mikey joining the Foot, while the movie also would've loosely adapted the "City at War" arc. Meanwhile, the other Turtles and their allies traveled to Japan where they met Karai and the returned Shredder.
    • Munroe's third film would've introduced the Triceratons as well as the Technodrome and Dimension X. Munroe's first pick to play Commander Mozar was Michael Clarke Duncan.
  • Originally, the backstory of Yaotyl and the Generals was going to be told by Winters when April and Casey deliver Aguila's statue to him, but the filmmakers decided to just have everyone on the front page in the film's prologue.
  • An abandoned sub-plot would have featured Casey working up the courage to propose to April, which he would've done at the film's end.
  • The opening would've been narrated by Splinter, and the opening sequence thereafter would have introduced Raph as the Nightwatcher. This opening can be found on the DVD.
  • In an earlier draft that found its way into tie-in materials, Yaotyl and the Generals would've succeeded in destroying the ancient civilization we see them attacking in the prologue, but they would've been cursed with immortality and being turned to stone by a sorceress from the civilization who was not present at the battle.
  • The fight between Leo and Raph would've started with them fighting barehanded, before resorting to their weapons. The nearly completed scene can be viewed on the DVD.
  • As shown in this video, the movie was originally going to have just voice actors until Executive Meddling kicked in, resulting in some celebrity casting. The creators were able to step in and have the turtles and most of the supporting characters to be played by professional voice actors.
• You Sound Familiar:
  • In Videomax's Latin American Spanish dub, General Aguila is voiced by Rubén Moya, who previously dubbed Fox in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.
  • In the Italian dub:
    • Tommy is voiced by Davide Garbolino, who voiced Michelangelo in the earlier films and TV series^note Nanni Baldini has the role in the actual film.
    • Raphael is voiced by Stefano Crescentini, who voiced Danny Pennington in the dub of the 1990 film.

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