Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman have both spoken out in support of saving the latest big screen version of the half-shell heroes, praising the script that the studio indefinitely abandoned production of five months ago.

Widely reported concerns about the script and the direction Michael Bay’s alien themed Ninja Turtles would take, seemed to have convinced the studio to take the unlikely decision of abandoning the potentially lucrative franchise altogether.

Although Peter Laird had been previously cynical about the ill-favoured reboot, speaking to NBC he seems to have had a change of heart.

“From what I’ve seen of the script, it’s fantastic… (its) like The Avengers for scope and roots origin and The Raid: Redemption for fight scenes and Rise for the Apes as far as computer-quality style.”

Namedropping some of the most commercially and critically successful action blockbusters of the past year may seem a little over the top. Laird’s newfound optimism may also have been further undermined by the fact he also boldly asserted during the same interview

“Michael Bay has made some great … movies.”

While fans were busy fiercely debating Michael Bay’s alleged ‘greatness’ , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman was busy leaping on The Avengers reference for his own interviews. Adding his own splash of eager enthusiasm for the project:

“If we learned nothing else from one of my favorite Comic Book Based Films, The Avengers, it’s that there’s a lot to be said about never forgetting that core concept and core fan-base.”

Again it’s a statement that is a little contradicted by plans for Ninja Turtles to largely ignore the Turtles traditional back-story and completely reboot the franchise with a mystical alien warrior theme.