Is the future in "Same as it never was" a real one?

[TurtleFan2012]

Or is it a what-if future Donnie was sent to? According to the episode, Donnie was gone for 30 years because of Ultimate Drako and the future turtles looked pretty messed up. Problem is, the other 3 turtles and Splinter were sent away as well.

Notice the future turtles make no mention of Ultimate Drako.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

My theory is when ultimate drako sent Don to that world, it was an alternative timeline. A world that could have happened.

When don was sent back, it instead became an parallel dimension. think about it: Turtles forever shows the turtles from 'same as it never was' as part of the TMNT multiverse.

^^That's my theory anyway.

[Jester]

6O-8W4TykdQ
Starting at about 1:40, really...

[snake]

All futures could be possible. It's the choices that you make that make them.

[***First of Two Latin Kings***]

I think it was a future that Ultimate Drako created using the scepter, or POSSIBLY the future as things would have came to be had Donatello really disappeared for 30 odd years. When he returns, his return prevents that future from ever actually happening.

[Technogeek29]

I always thought it was a divergence like Archie is from the OT series. At the end of Part 1 when Don almost didn't make that jump I assume in another Universe he didn't make it or something happen where only the others and Splinter were around to face Shredder. It would time just right to Leatherhead's disaperance.

[PApagreg]

More of a alternate continuity, also
TMNT and Community http://ashitarimai.deviantart.com/art/Darkest-Timeline-337905175

[Jester]

More of a alternate continuity, also
TMNT and Community http://ashitarimai.deviantart.com/art/Darkest-Timeline-337905175
Thanks for that....:teek::trolleye:

[Yorae]

SAINW was included in that slideshow of TMNT universes in Turtles Forever, which leads me to think that SAINW is not an alternate timeline, but a parallel universe.

[Shark_Blade]

I like to think that the real future is not so different from SAINW. Leo, Raph and Mikey will die just like in the alternate universe, though may not be from the same causes (killed by Karai/Foot/Shredder). What Don experienced was merely a hint of what's to come for his real future - the death of his brothers, father, friends and many others.

[victory_angel]

Leo and Raph were actually more surprised and glad to see Donatello. While Mikey was more angry with Donny over the fact he disappeared. My guess is Leo and Raph knew what had happened to Donatello thirty years prior to Same as it Never Was. And neither of them told Mikey what happened because they knew that whatever happened would hurt Mikey more then simply saying he vanished.

It is possible he was still alive as it is mentioned that Splinter and Casey believed Donatello would have returned one day. And Splinter for one would have known if one of his sons was dead. But then again Splinter may have been saying that to give Mikey and April some comfort. I don't think Donnie would have willingly defected and joined the foot without the Shredder or Karai knowing. It is possible that Donatello could have been brained washed into joining the foot and betraying his family. And directs the foot in a secret facility so his brothers wouldn't have seen him. But I don't believe that was the case.

However the following season we have the good genes arc. So maybe that is the reason Donatello disappears. Donny could have been captured by the foot and subjected to experiments that made his current mutation unstable. He gets rescued by Raph and Leo, but there is no way to reverse the damage. So Leo and/or Raph are reluctantly forced to put their brother out of his misery. This sows some seeds of tension however between the two older brothers which only comes out when Splinter sacrifices himself to save his sons.

Shredder may have heard or been informed about Donatello being rescued or escaping. But would have assumed Donatello may actually be dead until Donatello's younger-self appears in SaiNW. As he says "30 years, and this is all you've got?"

What I found odd is no one questions why Donny is still looks like he's a teenager when he appears in SaiNW. I mean Leo might have guessed since he was blind and may have been able to guess based on heightend senses. But the others would certainly have wondered about that.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

I think victory_angel has some good points.

[shuriken]

What I found odd is no one questions why Donny is still looks like he's a teenager when he appears in SaiNW. I mean Leo might have guessed since he was blind and may have been able to guess based on heightend senses. But the others would certainly have wondered about that.

The other 3 turtles didn't really seem to age at all. They were all just scarred and missing limbs.
I always saw it as an alternate timeline where Donnie died tried trying to invent something or one where Ultimate Drako was defeated by the other 3 brothers was Don was sent to the future.

[Luigiperps]

All futures could be possible. It's the choices that you make that make them.

That's deep bro.

[raph27]

6O-8W4TykdQ
Starting at about 1:40, really...

:lol::lol: best answer

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I'd say yes and no. Yes in that it was A real future, but not necessarily THE real future. Much like in Back to the Future, when Donnie "disappeared", a new future time-line was created where he was absent for 30 years, and thus, everything went to heck, just like it did for Marty's future once "old" Biff got his hands on the Almanac. But when Donnie returned, it prevented that future from occurring, and thus that alternate future never happened- except that that time-line might still exist as a separate universe/reality, a la the "Granny Paradox".

:tgrin::teek::trazz: Don't you just love temporal paradoxes? It's one of the things I LOVE about comic universes- ANYTHING can (and usually DOES) happen!

[Refractive Reflections]

I don't think it could be the "real" future, because Don was mysteriously gone for that period of time, which isn't like him. Most of the fallout between the Turtles occurred because Don was gone (remember Mikey called Don the "glue that held them together") and not having his scientific/technological input to fight the Shredder was also why everything fell apart.

The SAINW episode had a paralleling theme similar to "It's a Wonderful Life" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life) (i.e. a protagonist that doesn't exist anymore and how others' lives would be affected).

So since the whole episode of SAINW revolved around Don abandoning his brothers, it wouldn't be their future (or even a possible parallel universe) since Don wouldn't do something like that unless Don was tragically killed much earlier, and even if that occurred, I doubt the fallout within the family would be that extreme.

[Leo656]

Multiverse Theory totally in play here: All potential futures exist and are "real" in simultaneous parallel realities. Basically, anything that could happen *does* happen SOMEwhere. BUT, any potential future "you" encounter or visit can no longer become "your" future, because *that* version of you never visited that future when they were in their own past/your present. So simply visiting or being presented evidence of any possible future then creates a splinter timeline.

Case in point: DC's "Armageddon 2001" storyline. Waverider, a time-traveler from the future capable of reading a person's past and future at a touch, searched every DC hero to attempt to find who would become the future villain Monarch. However, he failed his mission because he failed to account for the fact that simply by interacting with them, when he hadn't in "his" timeline, he was changing history and creating parallel realities. Thus, the one person (Hawk, from "Hawk & Dove") who was shown to absolutely, positively NOT possibly become Monarch... became Monarch.

So in this case, it's a possible future, at best, but probably not the "real" one.

[pannoni1]

This was easily the series' biggest satirical moment. But given that the title of the following episode was "The Real World", its logical to believe that this wasn't a real future. It was "Shredderville" without the notion that its only a dream with a much more subdued transition. Instead of Leonardo laying down followed by a weird transition, we go straight from Donatello talking about his trip back to feudal Japan with April followed by a sudden "earthquake" that triggers the alternate dimension. But Donatello disappearing from this dimension next to an older April is too obvious that he's heading back to reality.

[BubblyShell22]

I always thought it was just a possible future that could have happened. Don could have died in battle in that universe, and the Turtles probably didn't know about it, so they just thought he disappeared and never came back. Then again, this was explored in the "Good Genes" arc except instead of Don just disappearing, he becomes a monster, and the Turtles realize what it would be like if Don wasn't there to guide them just as they did in the other universe.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

The SAINW episode had a paralleling theme similar to "It's a Wonderful Life" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life) (i.e. a protagonist that doesn't exist anymore and how others' lives would be affected).



I recall the old TMNT website (or maybe TV Com) describe 1987 show's Shredderville as an "It's a Wonderful Life" story.