Speaking as an author, we don't want you to be mindless, passive absorbers. We want you to think and use your imagination when you read or view our works. If you come up with an interpretation that differs from ours in an interesting way, that can be very satisfying, or at least interesting, even if we disagree with it. And if a new interpretation satisfies you, that's the most important thing. The creators of fiction are here to provide a service to you. The last thing we want is for you to "defer" to us. What we create is fodder for your own imagination, not a shackle upon it. We find great joy in exercising our own imaginations, and we hope to inspire the same in you.
Besides, we often change our own intent about something, if we come up with a better idea. That's a basic part of the process. A creator's intent is flexible by nature; what we initially intend and what we end up doing instead can be enormously different. Not to mention that different authors working within the same property can -- and almost certainly will -- have different intentions or interpretations, so when it comes to one work within a larger franchise, there can be more than one intent at play to begin with. That's especially true of something with as many branching yet cross-pollinating continuities as TMNT.
My willingness to treat the '07 film as a continuation of the previous films has nothing to do with some need to see myself as a subordinate to the filmmakers' authority. It's something I choose to do because it makes sense to me, because I like the idea. Exploring how different branches of a franchise may or may not interconnect allows me to apply my own creativity to it, to make choices for myself.
Um, yes they can. 
