OT Continuity errors?

[Jukka]

Sorry if this has been brought up. Tried looking for it but couldn't find.

I'm curious about what are the OT continuity errors known in the fandom? And have they been addressed by any writers/creators working on the show?

One thing I recently heard, was that the flashback of Krang in DimensionX with others of his kind all having small robot-walkers is considered an error? (The Four Musketurtles)
...personally it's a bit of shame, as that's one episode I saw many times as a kid, and while it's not the best episode out there, I do like when they give flashbacks to characters. And it has stuck with me that there are other Krang-like creatures with walkers.

But getting back to the topic.

What OT continuity errors are there? Infamous or subtle ones?

:tgrin:

[Coola Yagami]

I kinda find the white belt, black heart one to be a bit of a continuity error in the sense that somehow Splinter took on a pupil and they had a falling out. I just hate how they have this new character and everyone is acting as if they already knew him and blah blah blah.

[Stingray69]

I kinda find the white belt, black heart one to be a bit of a continuity error in the sense that somehow Splinter took on a pupil and they had a falling out. I just hate how they have this new character and everyone is acting as if they already knew him and blah blah blah.

What pupil was in that episode?

And the thing I never got was in the one episode where krang cloned himself the clones turned into dinosaur things.

[neatoman]

Let's see what I can remember...

It's mentioned that Shredder's family name is Oroku and Saki at different times. In one episode the turtles claim Hamato Yoshi used to be the leader of the Foot when he was just a teacher. Krang is meant to be disembodied but one flashback implies he isn't. Bebop and Rocksteady claim to have started out as animals when clearly they didn't. Bebop and Rocksteady meet up with their old gang like it's the first time after the mutation, twice.

Given the facts that it's written by multiple people with not much interaction, written very quickly and that some scripts are just reworked from other cartoons I think that there are probably way more.

[Icebot]

Here's some:

At the end of The Big Blowout, the Technodrome landed on a metal orb but in the next episode, Plan 6 From Outer Space, it was on an asteroid. In that same episode, the turtles didn't recognize Bebop and Rocksteady in their human forms but they did in a previous episode Shredderville.

At the end of Shredder Triumphant, Krang was in his android body but in the next episode, he was in his bubble walker instead. There's no way that should have changed since he didn't have the Technodrome.

In Turtle Trek, Gargon (from The Hall of Science), said that Krang abducted him from Dimension X but how is that possible when he didn't even have access to Dimension X?

[ToTheNines]

Two conflicting Atlantis episodes. Plenty more, but I'd have to think on it.

[cammy85]

What pupil was in that episode?

And the thing I never got was in the one episode where krang cloned himself the clones turned into dinosaur things.

The pupil's name was Yoku Mogu, Splinter's sensei's grandson. I wonder if Splinter trained him before the series started or if it just happened in the background and just not mentioned. It was cool that the sensei made up with Splinter but didn't eject Shredder from the Foot clan.

Krang had Gargon abducted; he din't do it himself. All this was going on behind the scenes again, just like with Yoku. There's no way they could've built the Retromutagen cannon that quickly. For such a long thought out master plan, it sure fell apart quickly.

[DevilSpooky]

The biggest one is how their mission in life was to find a way to revert Splinter back into human and never think about it again after getting their hands on Shredder's mutating gun. It works, they used it to turn the Rat King's rats to normal on the same episode they got the gun, so why not use it on Splinter?

[Icebot]

The biggest one is how their mission in life was to find a way to revert Splinter back into human and never think about it again after getting their hands on Shredder's mutating gun. It works, they used it to turn the Rat King's rats to normal on the same episode they got the gun, so why not use it on Splinter?

Splinter realized he's better off being a rat in Shredder & Splintered and again in Splinter No More after he was a human temporarily.

Hearing about the retro mutagen ray reminded me of another continuity error. The turtles got it in Revenge of the Fly and then they destroyed the ray. Then they used it again in a later episode The Wrath of the Rat King, it was as if the ray didn't get destroyed.

[Cryomancer]

European Vacation is full of these.

[Coola Yagami]

Splinter realized he's better off being a rat in Shredder & Splintered and again in Splinter No More after he was a human temporarily.

Hearing about the retro mutagen ray reminded me of another continuity error. The turtles got it in Revenge of the Fly and then they destroyed the ray. Then they used it again in a later episode The Wrath of the Rat King, it was as if the ray didn't get destroyed.

Not to mention it was destroyed in the first 5 episodes and Shredder acted as if he had it all along, without any mention of having it rebuilt or making a new one.

[sdp]

In the first season Shredder mentions making an army of mutants with Rocksteady/Beebop being the first batch. In the last episode or so you see a quick scene with the other gang members mutated, you can clearly see one of them is a mutated Bat. Seemed like they were setting something up they completely threw away later but those scenes remained.

My personal theory is that after Beebop/Rocksteady Shredder decided mutants weren't worth the trouble and used the retro-mutagen gun.


Also everytime Rocksteady/Beebops gang comes back in the OT they look different.

[87tmntfan]

Also in the white belt black heart episode. The grandfather is supost to splinters master.
But would that not be the foot clan master he got set up to kill in the first episode??

[cammy85]

Yes, that's the same guy. The first season was animated in Japan and the rest weren't. That's why he looks different here. But this lead to my earlier question about why e didn't expel Saki/Shredder. I guess it had to do with that evidence pouch in "The Missing Map."

[Prowler]

I kinda find the white belt, black heart one to be a bit of a continuity error in the sense that somehow Splinter took on a pupil and they had a falling out. I just hate how they have this new character and everyone is acting as if they already knew him and blah blah blah.
That's a big one indeed. Another big one was them acting like Scumbug and Anthrax had appeared in the tv show before. When I first watched Night of the Rogues, I was like "Wait, what episodes did I miss?!"

[sdp]

That's a big one indeed. Another big one was them acting like Scumbug and Anthrax had appeared in the tv show before. When I first watched Night of the Rogues, I was like "Wait, what episodes did I miss?!"

Well, they could've easily had an adventure that was never animated into an episode just like we never saw Shredder and Krang meet but based on the context we know they had met them before. Not that big of a stretch

Yes, that's the same guy. The first season was animated in Japan and the rest weren't. That's why he looks different here. But this lead to my earlier question about why e didn't expel Saki/Shredder. I guess it had to do with that evidence pouch in "The Missing Map."

Well instead of a mistake this actually adds a layer of depth to the origin since now Saki made Hamato Yoshi seem like he wanted to kill his own grandfather to become the new master.

[Prowler]

Yes, that's the same guy. The first season was animated in Japan and the rest weren't. That's why he looks different here. But this lead to my earlier question about why e didn't expel Saki/Shredder. I guess it had to do with that evidence pouch in "The Missing Map."
The foot clan didn't really exist after Shredder left Japan, I'm guessing. And if it did, who the hell was controlling it? I guess they could have introduced someone like Karai to explain this.

And there's also a continuity error regarding the founding of the foot clan. 2 different founders have been mentioned, one in "Blast From the Past" and the other in "Legend of Koji".

[oldmanwinters]

Baxter's narrative seems to be missing a chapter regarding how his computer friend switched forms into computer/microchip or whatever.

I love the in-episode continuity problems like "New York's Shiniest" when the Turtle Van sinks into the river only to reappear later being driven by April & Splinter.


One thing I recently heard, was that the flashback of Krang in DimensionX with others of his kind all having small robot-walkers is considered an error? (The Four Musketurtles)
...personally it's a bit of shame, as that's one episode I saw many times as a kid, and while it's not the best episode out there, I do like when they give flashbacks to characters. And it has stuck with me that there are other Krang-like creatures with walkers.


The Krang species history really is kinda strange. It was very clear in the pilot episodes that Krang had been separated from his original "body," but that's pretty much contradicted in that episode's flashback. I suppose "Invasion of the Krangzaoids" tried to harken back to the idea of what Krang would have looked like before bodily separation.

The biggest one is how their mission in life was to find a way to revert Splinter back into human and never think about it again after getting their hands on Shredder's mutating gun. It works, they used it to turn the Rat King's rats to normal on the same episode they got the gun, so why not use it on Splinter?

I don't remember rats getting de-mutated by the retro-mutagen gun. You might be referring to the end of "Revenge of the Fly" where the Turtles have to steal the gun in order to reverse the mutations of April, Irma, and the Channel Six staff (and presumably the rest of New York) before destroying it. But as Icebot pointed out, Splinter came to peace with his life as a rat at the end of "Splinter No More" in season 2, so that plot thread had been long since resolved.

Let's see what I can remember...

It's mentioned that Shredder's family name is Oroku and Saki at different times. In one episode the turtles claim Hamato Yoshi used to be the leader of the Foot when he was just a teacher. Krang is meant to be disembodied but one flashback implies he isn't. Bebop and Rocksteady claim to have started out as animals when clearly they didn't. Bebop and Rocksteady meet up with their old gang like it's the first time after the mutation, twice.

Given the facts that it's written by multiple people with not much interaction, written very quickly and that some scripts are just reworked from other cartoons I think that there are probably way more.

The contradictions about Shredder's surname can be found in "Shredder's Mom" (his mother shares the "Saki" surname), "My Brother, the Bad Guy" (his brother also uses the "Saki" name as surname). The error is finally corrected in "Legend of Koji" when both Splinter's and Shredder's ancestors use Hamato and Oroku as their surname respectively.

The ironic thing about the fact Rocksteady & Bebop misremembered they were humans (not zoo animals) prior to their mutation is that David Wise actually is credited with writing that episode "Planet of the Turtleoids," and he was also the one who established the original continuity in "Enter the Shredder!"

It was strange that Rocksteady and Bebop see their "old gang" again in "Once Upon a Time Machine" except they are completely different characters seen in the pilot episodes. That same gang (the one now led by "Jersey Red") made at least one other appearance I can remember in "The Gang's All Here."

Maybe one can reconcile all those problems with Rocksteady and Bebop just being too stupid to remember key details about their past.

I kinda find the white belt, black heart one to be a bit of a continuity error in the sense that somehow Splinter took on a pupil and they had a falling out. I just hate how they have this new character and everyone is acting as if they already knew him and blah blah blah.

I like to imagine that was the explanation for all those episodes where Splinter was nowhere to be seen in the sewer lair. He was off training some other pupil or something.



And there's also a continuity error regarding the founding of the foot clan. 2 different founders have been mentioned, one in "Blast From the Past" and the other in "Legend of Koji".

I think Jester and I tried to figure out some reconciliation logic to this contraction when we did our fan commentary session on Legend of Koji (http://media.tmnt.net/TMNT_Fan_Commentary_-_Legend_of_Koji.mp3).

[Prowler]

I'm talking about Scumbug and Anthrax, though. You've quoted the wrong post, oldmanwinters. :P

[oldmanwinters]

I'm talking about Scumbug and Anthrax, though. You've quoted the wrong post, oldmanwinters. :P

Did I now? I fail at HTML multi-quote editing.

[Prowler]

Did I now? I fail at HTML multi-quote editing.
Yep, you quoted my Scumbug and Anthrax post and mentioned Splinter being absent from the lair. You actually were referring to him training Yoku, not to Scumbug and Anthrax appearing on Night of the Rogues and Shredder and the Turtles acting like they had shown up on the show before.

[cammy85]

The foot clan didn't really exist after Shredder left Japan, I'm guessing. And if it did, who the hell was controlling it? I guess they could have introduced someone like Karai to explain this.

And there's also a continuity error regarding the founding of the foot clan. 2 different founders have been mentioned, one in "Blast From the Past" and the other in "Legend of Koji".

True. It was nice to see Splinter and his sensei getting along after the all too easy "throw the bum OUT!!" I made a fanfic about how they got Splinter to go back to Japan to lead a new and improved Foot Clan, post "Divide and Conquer". So yeah, once Saki/Shredder came to America, the Foot in Japan ceased to exist. Or they were all arrested and that's when Shredder decided on robots rather than humans, especially after meeting Krang and the Technodrome.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Actually, Jersey Red wasn't even the leader of R&B's gang- in both episodes, it was Lugnut, the stocky bald guy. He was the one who put April through the ropes and told her what her "tests" were. Jersey was just their "toughest member". And no wonder- she was a very "butch" gal! And probably the closest an 80's cartoon would ever get to an overtly lesbian character.

The one that sticks out in my mind is the gaffe of Mikey's clothes disappearing and reappearing several times in The Gang's All Here. When he first changes, he's wearing a shirt and shorts. When he turns back into a turtle for the first time, they disappear- then reappear again when he follows April to her apartment- and promptly disappear when he changes in front of her. It happens at least two more times, and when he is finally "cured", he is not wearing anything, even though he was wearing clothes BEFORE he ate the cookies!

[THGhost]

European Vacation is full of these.

Yep, those episodes are a complete mess. :lol:

[pferreira]

So which Atlantis episode is considered more canon by fans, or at least which is considered the best one?

[87tmntfan]

Also the usagi yojimbo episodes.
At the end he stayed with the old man until Donatello can send him home. But then we never seen or heard from it again.

[Prowler]

Also the usagi yojimbo episodes.
At the end he stayed with the old man until Donatello can send him home. But then we never seen or heard from it again.
That's not a continuity error, but a character not having closure.

[ToTheNines]

So which Atlantis episode is considered more canon by fans, or at least which is considered the best one?

Atlantis Awakes was much better, from what I remember.

[CyberCubed]

So which Atlantis episode is considered more canon by fans, or at least which is considered the best one?

Merdude's episode obviously.

[oldmanwinters]

So which Atlantis episode is considered more canon by fans, or at least which is considered the best one?

My in-universe Marvel No Prize explanation is that we see a variety of possible timelines for the Fred Wolf Turtle-verse throughout the show's run. We see different possible futures in some episodes like "Once Upon a Time Machine" and "Enter: Krakus" (implied at least). We see various possible crossovers which surely affect the timeline in the case of Turtles Forever & the Nick toon's "Manhattan Project/Wormquake." And the whole-Archie verse's existence further supports the idea that the Fred Wolf toon could have (and perhaps did in one universe) taken a completely different direction after the pilot season episodes.

Thus, all the timeline continuities like the dual Atlantis problem could be explained as being from different streams of the FW timeline trajectory. At some point, some cosmic even happened that changed the course of the universe's history and created multiple timelines and new multiverses.

Eh... that's the best I've got anyway.

[sdp]

That's a cheap way of explaining things instead of actually trying to. The OT doesn't have that many inconsistencies and most can be easily solved with just a simple explanation.

[oldmanwinters]

That's a cheap way of explaining things instead of actually trying to. The OT doesn't have that many inconsistencies and most can be easily solved with just a simple explanation.

FPxY8lpYAUM

[Sorry for the overkill on this one. I couldn't find a clip with just a single 'scuse.]

[Cryomancer]

Mutagen got spilled on the scripts and they mutated, obviously.

[oldmanwinters]

Mutagen got spilled on the scripts and they mutated, obviously.

-ke87AhXxag

[Sumac]

Baxter's narrative seems to be missing a chapter regarding how his computer friend switched forms into computer/microchip or whatever.
Computer Friend's body was destroyed in the "Return of the Son of the Fly II" (sic?). At the end of the episode Baxter stuck between dimensions with talking chip - last remain of his Computer Friend.

At the end of The Big Blowout, the Technodrome landed on a metal orb but in the next episode, Plan 6 From Outer Space, it was on an asteroid. In that same episode, the turtles didn't recognize Bebop and Rocksteady in their human forms but they did in a previous episode Shredderville.
I've heard that there were at least three unproduced episodes between the end of the Season 3 and begining of the Season 4. Seems they've just skiped'em and tried haphazardly to connect ending of the past season with the begining of the new one.

At the end of Shredder Triumphant, Krang was in his android body but in the next episode, he was in his bubble walker instead. There's no way that should have changed since he didn't have the Technodrome.
This one have always bugged me.

[oldmanwinters]

Computer Friend's body was destroyed in the "Return of the Son of the Fly II" (sic?). At the end of the episode Baxter stuck between dimensions with talking chip - last remain of his Computer Friend.


Ah, that's right. I'm also trying to remember if it was ever explained how the AI went from being a talking spaceship computer in "Bye Bye Fly" to being an actual computer man with a face in that next appearance in "Son of Return of the Fly II."

[CyberCubed]

I always wonder how Slash got back to Earth again in, "Night of the Rogues" when in his Season 6 episode the Turtles take him back to his ship at the end of the episode.

[Prowler]

I always wonder how Slash got back to Earth again in, "Night of the Rogues" when in his Season 6 episode the Turtles take him back to his ship at the end of the episode.
Never mind that. How the hell did Shredder know about Tempestra?

[cammy85]

I'm sure he's seen the reports of their victories over the other criminals/evil video game villainesses etc and knew how to reach said villains, like how Krang knew the addresses of Mad Dog McMutt and Pinky McFingers, despite not dealing with them before.

As for Slash, he was probably sent back to Dimension X in Season 6 and Shredder found him when recruiting Anthrax and Scumbug.

[CyberCubed]

I wish Scumbug got an episode in Season 5. They were introducing new mutants in Season 5 like Mutagen Man, Muckman, Mondo Gecko, etc that Scumbug getting an episode that season would have fit in.

Contrary to popular belief, the Turtles didn't know Antrax in the episode. It was only Scumbug who recognized them.

[sdp]

Not seeing Usagi go home or not seeing the turtles meet Scumbug doesn't mean it's a continuity error, only that we never saw it happen. Tempestra is a bigger mistake since she was pretty much dealt with it her own episode, a bigger question is not how Shredder knows about her but how she came back. I don't even know why she came back, she was a one off villain who wasn't that interesting in the first place and had closure in her own episode. Many other villains deserved that spot.

[Prowler]

Not seeing Usagi go home or not seeing the turtles meet Scumbug doesn't mean it's a continuity error, only that we never saw it happen. Tempestra is a bigger mistake since she was pretty much dealt with it her own episode, a bigger question is not how Shredder knows about her but how she came back. I don't even know why she came back, she was a one off villain who wasn't that interesting in the first place and had closure in her own episode. Many other villains deserved that spot.
Her episode was quite good, but I agree with you that she did not need to comeback. Night of the Rogues should have just featured the biggest secondary villains of the cartoon, and Tempestra certainly wasn't one of them. Should have just brought Baxter back instead. Also, why was she so eager to get the reward? Why would a video game need money? :P

[Sumac]

Her episode was quite good, but I agree with you that she did not need to comeback. Night of the Rogues should have just featured the biggest secondary villains of the cartoon, and Tempestra certainly wasn't one of them. Should have just brought Baxter back instead. Also, why was she so eager to get the reward? Why would a video game need money?
Guess they wanted to have at least one female villain on the team.
Scumbug and Anthrax appearance was really out of nowhere. Especially jarring since Turtles somehow knew about them. I always though that Scumbug was a cool character and wanted to see him in the cartoon...except for when he has appeared it was rather meaningless.

[cammy85]

Shredder introduced them to Anthrax in that episode yet April knew of him too?? Hmm...

[Prowler]

Guess they wanted to have at least one female villain on the team.
Scumbug and Anthrax appearance was really out of nowhere. Especially jarring since Turtles somehow knew about them. I always though that Scumbug was a cool character and wanted to see him in the cartoon...except for when he has appeared it was rather meaningless.
Would have made more sense to bring back Shreeka than Tempestra, then.

And I doubt that was the case. The OT and the TMNT universe in general have never worried much about their low number of female characters. Not to mention Tempestra wasn't a female made of flesh and bones.

[Sumac]

And I doubt that was the case. The OT and the TMNT universe in general have never worried much about their low number of female characters. Not to mention Tempestra wasn't a female made of flesh and bones.
I think her being...virtual reality character (?)...means a little.
As for female villains - I think they indeed wanted to have at least one female viallin, otherwise they could have returned whoever, like Groundchuck, Dirtbag, Baxter. But they went with one of the few female villains.

As for bringing back Shreeka - she and Krang have bad blood between them.

[cammy85]

Krang had nothing to do with the rogues gallery and seeing as how Shredder had been trying to get her ruby for himself after gifting to April, that wouldn't be the best idea.

Why did the Rat King agree to help Shredder and Krang after this?? That's odd, new wardrobe and hardware aside.