Thursday, April 19, 2012

Return of the Shredder

Episode 6
We are now in season two and it’s easy to notice.  The drawing style has changed to a more light-hearted feel from the previous season.  It’s not enough to abandon watching the show but I always preferred season one in nearly all aspects so it takes a moment to adjust to what I’ll be viewing for awhile.  Season two has a total of 13 episodes and this first one starts off well enough.  It manages to keep an overall funny sense of humor as well.

Let's kick their @$$! -Leonardo
                Leonardo and Michelangelo are doing grocery shopping in their standard trench coat disguises.  I’ll refrain from the “it’s obvious their not humans” remarks as you have to accept the disguises they’ll wear as we move forward in the series.  A couple of thugs try to rob the cashier lady when the turtles decide to take matters into their own hands.  They rip off their disguises and charge the thugs!  I wonder why they took off their clothes.  I know I always do when I’m trying to prevent a public crime.  It usually throws off the perpetrator you’re dealing with.  At one point Michelangelo gives a powerful gust of breath toward one of the thugs that topples a bunch of drinks forward onto him.  Mutant turtles must have a powerful set of lungs, it’s silly though and a bit much.  Leonardo makes a mess slicing open egg cartons all over another thug.  Why were eggs on display stacked up near the front of the store?  Aren’t they usually in a cooling storage area of some kind?  The two turtles tie up the thugs and flee since the police are on the way.  I suppose the goofy cashier lady hit a silent alarm.  The turtles sure are weary of being seen by the police, what did you guys do?  Would they really arrest you for foiling a robbery?  It might be the ninja stealth techniques of invisibility.  The cashier lets them leave with the groceries for free since she claims they saved her life and Michelangelo steals the shopping cart as well.

A small parting gift
                April shows up to get the scoop on the scene and finds out that two turtles, or alligators, saved her.  She tries hard to show the turtles are the good guys.  Let’s jump over to dimension X where Shredder is begging Krang to send him back to earth.  Krang being sick of Shredder finally does just to be rid of the baby.  Bebop and Rocksteady assume they’re going to but slam back as the portal closes.  Krang explains he loves to see humans and animals suffer what a freak.  Since Bebop and Rocksteady are both they’re screwed basically.  The toughness and voice of these two has changed to a “dumbed” down version from season one.  Hopping back to earth at channel 6 April tries to convince her boss, Burne Thompson, the turtles are not crooks.  However the boss is being manipulated by a fox named Tiffany who hates turtles.  It’s sad for him but rather funny actually.

                Irma is a new character in the show now and has a brief run in with April before she talks with Burne.  Irma mentions she broke a nail and it’s a disaster.  Why?  Well she adds what if a hunk calls me for a date?  It’s obvious from the get go she is desperately seeking men.  To further this after April storms off stating something about “Bigfoot”.  Irma shouts to her to find out if he’s married if she finds him.  What the?  Irma you’re incredibly hopeless, how embarrassing.

Shredder seems irritated fellas
                Michelangelo and Leonardo, back in the sewer den, share how simple it was dispatching the thugs they encountered with Raphael adding he wished he could have helped.  Raphael is always looking to go at it, he even states he wants to take Shredder one on one.  I would like to see that!  Splinter shouts all of their names and informs them he feels that Shredder has returned.  Splinter sure has a psychic aura to him doesn’t he?  Shredder arrives in a park and runs into a couple of thugs.  He intimidates the crap out of them by doing an incredible leap up onto a tree branch some ten feet up then chops it off with his metal claws. Obviously he was not taking them seriously enough or he could of just killed them right?  Would the world miss two petty thugs?  Shredder contacts Krang with a communicator he now uses that is handheld.  Krang informs him that he is on his own now and won’t get a shred of help from him.  Krang has a wicked sense of humor this episode.  He also states Shredder needs to prove his worth if he will get any help.

Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang in action
                Shredder has a hair brain idea to take over the “Slash for Cash dojo” and train a bunch of worthless fighters to commit crimes in turtle outfits.  The leaders name is Slash and it would be cool if he later was the mutant Slash that enters the show.  However that’s for a much later episode.  It doesn’t seem he trained them for too long but they robbed enough banks and such to make the news.  April contacts the turtles to come check out the video tape of one robbery.  They jump from the turtle blimp they came on from the balloon part of it.  I swear a door opened from the actual blimp and they jumped through a window into the building.  Leonardo recognizes the fighting style on the tape very quickly.  He knows only Splinter or Shredder could teach that.  How could he tell that?  I clearly am not well versed enough in the ways of the ninja as he is.  The “crooked ninja turtle gang” also kicks open safes!  For being humans they learned some powerful moves from Shredder.  The force you would need for that is insane.  They should be able to defeat the turtles, at least Slash since he was the one actually seen doing it.  Tiffany enters and screams while Raphael says, “It’s a sonic death ray!”  The turtles take off and Burne insists on running the tape for tonight’s news.   I wonder what Tiffany sees in Burne?  He is probably earning a high salary maybe that’s why.

                Shredder asks Krang for help upon revealing his initial plan to frame the turtles it was funny as Krang refused noting nothing has been done yet.  Krang didn’t seem impressed either, he was probably laughing about it over dinner later.

Oops, wrong Napoleon
                Our old buddy Baxter Stockman is in an insane asylum having a wonderful chat with some weirdo who thinks he’s Napoleon Bonaparte.  I suppose he’s there as a result of the mousers and claiming he’s seen giant humanoid turtles and rats.  Baxter explaining the turtles to crazy Napoleon is hilarious as Napoleon mentions he never had those problems in France.  That guy is a nut for sure.  Shredder enters through a window after bending the metal bars like straw.  I guess they just make it look like metal to make the inmates think there’s no escape.  Baxter says he can make the ultimate rat catching machine from a drill machine he watches out of his window every day.  He really is nuts to think that, it’s clear Baxter is a bit more looney than last season.  He captures Splinter very easily in the sewer den, where was your psychic sense for that Splinter?  I wonder if he heard that giant machine echoing in the sewers.  Let’s back up and consider how Baxter built this machine.  He had to steal it so we assume Shredder broke him out and helped.  How quickly he did it is amazing.  Where did he get all the parts?  I think it’s too much to question, ha-ha!  Sometimes you just have to let it go.

What are you waiting for Shredder?
                The turtles arrive home to find Splinter gone so they follow the path of the machine.  It leads to the crooked ninja turtle gang.  They dispose of them very easily with the classic fashion they do it in.  Leonardo cuts a sofa couch cushion and provokes two goons to him as they get caught in the springs.  Raphael kicks barrels onto two more amazingly enough while Donatello whips some tires onto some more with his bo.  They force Slash to spill the beans of where Splinter is.  The dojo is where Shredder has a giant fist shaped battering ram aimed at Splinter.  How did he get that thing up there?  Even with all his goons it still seems impossible.  The turtles show up while Baxter crashes through a wall in his rat catcher machine.  The turtles dismantle the machine forcing Baxter to leap out as they pile on top of it.  Shredder cuts the rope holding the battering ram while Leonardo quickly cuts Splinter free just as Baxter’s machine gets destroyed by the ram threw the wall.  It’s a solid finish although I would like to see Shredder fight the turtles some and throw them around.  He doesn’t engage very much which is disappointing as I like to see more battling from him.  Shredder takes Baxter with him and the police show up again to force the turtles to retreat as well.  Why did the police show up?  I’m guessing it was April when she found the message of where to find Shredder on the side of a building near the caught crooked ninja turtle gang.

                The conclusion has April revealing on her news report that the crooked ninja turtle gang were humans.  She also winks into the camera as the turtles argue over who it was meant for.  April obviously can hear them and states on the air it was for Splinter.  Somebody left their turtle com on, how else could she hear them?  Anyway props Splinter, you did nothing and get the wink.  The episode is pretty good and I’d rank it higher on the list of overall episodes.  It’s funny and doesn’t get too silly to where you’d rather turn it off.  Next up is “The Incredible Shrinking Turtles.”  It sounds awful already doesn’t it?  I hate shrinking in general as a plot for any show or movie, until next time.

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