'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' on-screen evolution - in pictures

Michael Bay caused something of a storm earlier this week with the announcement that his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles revamp sees the half-shelled heroes originating from an alien race.

As Bay threw out the ooze backstory from Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's original comic book, Ninja Turtles voice actor Robbie Rist weighed in, accusing the Transformers director of "sodomizing" the legacy, while Laird himself was more open-minded about the change.

While we get our prescription for one of Bay's "chill pills", now seems like as good a time as any to take a look back at the screen history of those pizza-loving Ninja Turtles.

Photo gallery - Digital Spy revisits the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: