Michael Bay, who is well known by now for taking the “Transformers” toy franchise and spinning it into big-screen gold, is working on a new film based on ’80s toys, and it’s already garnering a lot of negative attention by fans of the original cartoon and movies.

Let’s recap what we know about the project so far:

• The Turtles will not necessarily be mutants, but rather aliens. From space.
• They will be “edgy”. No further word on what exactly that entails.
• The new title of the film has been confirmed as “Ninja Turtles“, which sort of suggests that they will not be teenagers in the reboot…unless it’s just a streamlining thing. Shorter, more vague titles are edgy, right?

Fans of the original are pretty much outraged at the changes, with the actor who voiced Michaelangelo in the original film saying that what Bay is doing is considered the “rape of our childhood memories“.

Bay, however, insists that he is working closely with the creators of TMNT to ensure the story is one fans will love…and says everyone should just “chill “.

While it isn’t clear yet just what the changes entail, the few leaks about the film that Bay has provided leave many wondering where the classic goofiness of the Turtles fits in with their new “edgy” makeover. Will they still inhale pizza? Is Michaelangelo still a “party dude”? And perhaps most importantly: will Vanilla Ice make an appearance in the sequel?

I wonder if the world’s biggest TMNT fan is upset about all this….