Development
Following their intentions to return the characters to the present day and adapt a tone similar to the recent TMNT movie, 4Kids pitched a revamp of the series to Peter Laird codenamed "Superworld". The initial proposal was given the 'thumbs down' by Laird. Following this was a second proposal called TMNT Overload, which was approved by Mirage, but rejected by Playmates, who then proposed their own idea, only to have that be rejected by 4Kids and Mirage.
On October 24, Steve Murphy confirmed on his blog that Playmates, Mirage, and 4Kids had firmly agreed on the new direction, which will take place in the continuity of the 2003 series and use the "more realistic aspects" of the aborted "Overload" pitch, with character designs similar to that of the 2007 TMNT movie.
Its description was as follows:
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back in New York, ready to race across the rooftops and take on all challengers!
Not only are Casey and April back and ready to bust some bad guy butt, but a brand new, super advanced Turtle Lair is under construction (thanks to some hi-tech know-how Donatello garnered from the future), and of course there are all sorts of new heavy duty Turtle vehicles gearing up to roar down the streets of NYC and give the Foot a taste of some serious Turtle.
The stakes have never been higher, their enemies have never been stronger... and if the Turtles are going to be triumphant they’ll need to work together in ways they never have before.
Further info was revealed in December 2007:
When the Turtles return from the future to their present time, Viral interferes causing Master Splinter to get trapped in cyberspace, bits of his data code scattered all throughout the digital domain. The Turtles must find a way to access the virtual realm so they can gather Splinter’s code and save their beloved father before he is lost to them forever...And what good is a digital realm without a super bad guy! That's right; the Shredder is back in new form. In order to save their master, the Turtles must now face... The Cyber Shredder! Now the Turtles must fight on two fronts - cyberspace and the real world. And twice the locations, means twice the bad guys. That's right; the TMNT will be facing off against Hun, the Foot, Baxter Stockman, and some dangerous digital monsters! Get ready, because the Turtles are back from the future, back in action, and back to the sewers!
Three samples of a new opening theme song were announced by 4Kids to be under consideration on February 22, with the option for fans to vote on each of the samples and determine an official opening theme song. Six pitches for the theme song were released on February 29 most confirming that the Shredder will return in some form. Much of the theme lyrics identify him as "Cyber-Shredder". A trailer was released on August 8.
On September 6, a sneak peek of the season's opening episode was featured on 4Kids official website. The footage revealed that the Turtles return from the future after Michelangelo coaxes Viral into assisting them. However, the Turtles discover they have been sent back a year or so later from when they had left, and also bear witness to a near-future where a war has broken out between the Utrom Shredder (Ch'rell), the original Tengu Shredder (Oroku Saki) and the yet-unencountered Cyber-Shredder. Viral, desperate for energy after being depleted in battle, taps into the present day's network systems, but is overtaken by a Foot Ninja computer code, transforming her body and mind into the Cyber-Shredder.
It is later revealed that Cyber-Shredder is a digital back-up of Ch'rell's memories from prior to his attempted departure from Earth in the third season finale.
Read more about this topic: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) (season 7)
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