The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series continues on the Fox Box. This week, we got to see how the Turtles became mutant ninjas. That's right, in the third episode in, we finally got a slight explanation as to how they came about.
Last we saw April, she fainted from the sight of the Turtles. In this episode, she awakens in their lair. We go through the prerequisite "I must me dreaming" stuff before April finally realizes she isn't.
Michaelangelo is once again proving to be my favorite of the four Turtles. He gets all of the funny lines. I apologize that I can't remember what was said specifically, but you'd really have to watch the show and see it yourself to enjoy the humor anyway. Once, Mike asks Raph, "Do you write those yourself?" after Raphael lets out a cliched comic-book line. Another time, when it looks like the Mousers will chomp the Turtles to bits, Raph says, "At least we'll go out fighting," and Mike retorts, "I don't wanna go out at all!" And when Raphael tells the others that it was nice knowing them, Mike asks, "Even me, Raph?"
At first, I was sort of against this type of humor being used in situations where a real-life person would be crapping his pants. Are one-liners truly appropriate when you're about to die? Probably not. But it is a cartoon and at least the Turtles have yet to talk to us, the audience, like they did in the old series.
What did trouble me about this episode was the telling of the origins—well, at least what they revealed up until this point. If you thought any of the old origin tales were cheese-ball, then like Bachman Turner Overdrive sang, "you aint seen nothin' yet."
Splinter explains to April that he was once an ordinary rat—just like in the old comic. But not quite. I always had beef with this part of the origins in the comic. Splinter was Hamato Yoshi's pet rat and as Yoshi busted out his ninja moves, Splinter mimicked them in his cage. Yoshi was murdered, the cage busted open and Splinter escaped. He stumbled upon the Turtles in the sewer. All five of these misfits were covered in "ooze," they mutated, and Splinter trained the Turtles to fight like badasses.
In this new series, they have yet to reveal whether or not Splinter was once Hamato Yoshi's pet. All Splinter tells April is that he was a rat on the street who witnessed an accident. When the Turtles fell into a sewer, a chemical ooze came with them from the back of a truck. He "took pity on them" and brought them back to his little nest in the sewer where he slept. They all mutated and he trained them. April asks how he knew martial arts and Splinter tells her that's a story for a different time.
So as of right now, it left everything pretty lame. Why a rat would even take pity on turtles is beyond me. I know I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief and I sound as nerdy as a Star Wars fan, but the origins in the old series were far better. Period. It was much easier to buy into Splinter being Hamato Yoshi himself, and turning into a rat because those were the animals he spent the most time with, homeless in the sewers. To paraphrase Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, this new series has the worst ... origins ... EVER. I'm sure good old Yoshi will eventually come into play, because he's Shredder's old rival and one of the main plot points in the Turtles saga. But whatever the case may be, I always thought a pet rat mimicking his master's martial arts moves was a weak explanation.
After the Turtles share their origins with April, they learn from the news on TV that the Mousers are being used to rob banks. The police have no idea who's behind it. But April does! She accompanies the Turtles back to Stockman's factory. They manage to capture Stockman and strangely, he doesn't seem too surprised at the idea of life-size, talking turtles. He is, however, shocked to see April is still alive. Stockman hits a button by one of his many computers and it calls all of the Mousers back from their bank-robbing duties. Panic ensues! Is this the end of the awesome foursome (and April)? Not quite. Donatello and April hit the control system as the remaining three Turtles get ready to go down fighting. In the midst of all of this madness, everyone forgets about Stockman and he escapes. But luckily for our heroes, April manages to override the Mousers. They all high-tail it out of there as the Mousers self destruct.
This is where the episode starts to wrap up. We see April pondering what she'll do next now that Stockman fired her ass and her old workplace is shattered. She doesn't know, but what they all do know is that they're now a team. (Cowabunga! ... yes, Mike still uses that word.) As for Stockman, while he's running away, he bumps into Shredder's right-hand man, Hun. This guy is a jacked up 'roid-head, I tell ya'. Hun takes Stockman back to Shredder (who is still just being called Oroku Saki) and Shredder is pretty pissed that Stockman has failed him with the entire bank-robbery deal. Hun drags Stockman off to be punished. Uh oh! Do I smell a mutation coming? Shredder also gets to see a thermal-vision silhouette of the Turtles via one of the broken Mouser's cameras.
Things are heating up, my friend! These episodes blow by so quickly. But that's what happens when a show is so good. It owns us all! Yes, it owns us all!
Unfortunately, the only action scenes in this one were when the Turtles were destroying some of Stockman's laser guns on their way to greet him. Thus far, it was the weaker of the initial episodes, but it's all a part of telling a longer tale throughout the entire season.
Two other interesting points about the latest episode:
- Michaelangelo, for the second time in a row, references Spider-Man. Someone on the writing team must be a fan. Last episode, Mike said something to the effect of "Let's leave the wall-crawling to the guy in the red and blue tights" when the Turtles were scaling their way up a sewer. This time, he remarked that his "Turtle-sense is tingling" right before Stockman started blasting them with lasers.
- While telling their origins to April, the young Turtles were seen chowing down on pizza. Is this a nod to the old series or will the Turtles be as infatuated with pizza as they were the last time around?
Next week, we get to meet Casey Jones. He and Raphael appear to get into a little scrap. Win!
Chris Douvalas
Discuss this topic here.
Missed the other two episodes? Click here and here to read the old Buzz Cuts dedicated to the Turtles.
View character designs of Shredder's new lackey, Hun, along with other characters from the new Ninja Turtles. Click here.
