Yesterday I watched the finished version of episode 4 -- "Meet Casey Jones!" -- which will be broadcast tomorrow (3/1/03). I think TMNT fans are going to dig it -- there's quite a bit of the Mirage RAPHAEL Micro-Series comic story in it, as well as some surprising new stuff. And I have the rough cut of episode #7 to watch tonight.

But the coolest thing I got to see this week was a short (about five minutes long) video of a rough "proof of concept" test -- filmed in London by the people designing the costumes for the Hallmark live-action TV movie -- of the Splinter costume. It was freakin' EERIE. Splinter (portrayed by a short actor within the rough suit) was shown gesturing, walking around, climbing ladders and stairs, and fighting... and it looked AMAZING. As much as I loved the work the Henson group did on Splinter in the first two TMNT movies, I think this one is going to blow that one away. I can't wait to see more. I've been told they are going to start work on a maquette of the Shredder shortly. We've already approved the sculpts of the four Turtles, which are extremely cool. I'm chompin' at the bit to post some of these images, but for various reasons have to wait a little bit.

Another new thing that TMNT fans will want to look for is being checked out by the boys in the photo below. It's a comic book format "TMNT TV Series Sourcebook", with art and descriptions of most of the key players in the new series, as well as four cool trading cards from Fleer bound into it. A lot of the Mirage Studios guys worked on this sourcebook. It should be available soon, in a limited edition, exclusively at Toys 'R' Us stores. Check the official TMNT website (www.ninjaturtles.com) for more details!