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View Full Version : Other places where the Technodrome could have ended: the key of the ot survival?


Bill
09-14-2014, 03:44 PM
The All Mighty Technodrome, the reason why this site exists, we love it, we worship it, we wish we have one to destroy, to conquer or just to see it. So huge, impressive, arrogant, unstopable, a Death Star ripp off maybe? No way, this one is way more cooler.

I´ve always thought that one of main reasons of the Tmnt OT success, was because of the villains, Krang, Shredder, Bebop,Rocksteady and that most of the episodes revolved about the Technodrome, its problema, creations, and the fact that it was always a threat.

If you don´t believe me, read this

Location
1987 TMNT cartoon

Season 1 (1987)
The Technodrome is first encountered under New York City. Although it was already known to be there in the pilot episode Turtle Tracks, it was only actually seen later, in Enter the Shredder. In the last episode of the season, The Shredder Is Splintered, Donatello reverses the Technodrome's dimensional portal, causing the battle machine to be sucked into Dimension X just before Krang's forces could gain a foothold on Earth.


Season 2 (1988)
The Technodrome spends most of the season in Dimension X. In the last episode of the season, Return of the Technodrome, Krang decides to bring himself and The Technodrome back to Earth and try to commence the invasion. Shredder diverts energy from the power plant situated at Niagara Falls, allowing Krang to open a portal big enough to enable the Technodrome to return to Earth, but the task drains the machine of much of its energy. Krang then burrows beneath New York City, and uses an earthquake generator to threaten the residents of the city into surrendering. The Turtles break into the Technodrome and Donatello tampers with the generator. When Krang activates it again, the Technodrome burrow itself further underground, and goes all the way down to the core of the Earth.



Season 3 (1989)
For most of the season, the Technodrome lies powerless near the Earth's core. The one exception was in the episode Shredderville, where the Turtles dream of a world ruled by Shredder, the Technodrome is above the surface in a very run down New York City. In the third-to-last episode of the season, The Big Rip-Off, Krang and Shredder manage to steal power cells and recharge the Technodrome. Then, in the following episode The Big Break-In, the Technodrome returns to the surface and attempts to shrink Earth's military defenses with a minimizing ray, but the Turtles turn the device on the machine. In the final episode of the season, The Big Blow Out, Shredder and Krang bring the Technodrome to New York City and open up a giant portal to Dimension X in the sky over it, with Krang's armada waiting to attack it on the other end. The Turtles manage to trick Shredder into positioning the Technodrome over a sewer, where they had set up a missile they had borrowed from the US Army. They launch the missile straight up; it picks up the Technodrome and carries it through the sky portal and into Dimension X. Krang's forces mistake the Technodrome for Earth and attack it, severely damaging the machine.


Season 4 (1990)
In the first episode of the season, Plan 6 from Outer Space, it is learned that the Technodrome landed on an asteroid in Dimension X. In the episode The Dimension X Story, Krang finds out that the asteroid has a volcano. He comes up with a plan to make the volcano erupt, and harness the energy to return to Earth. But due to the Turtles' interference, the eruption instead causes a flow of lava, which quickly solidifies, causing the Technodrome to become half-buried in solid rock.


Season 5 (1991)
The Technodrome begins the season in Dimension X. Early in the season, in the episode My Brother, the Bad Guy, Krang and Shredder finally come up with a plan to get it back to Earth. However, the Turtles intervene, and although they do get to Earth, they end up trapped in the North Pole. It would remain there, trapped in ice, for the rest of the season.


Season 6 (1992)
In the first episode of the season, Rock Around the Block, Krang sets up a super-laser to free the Technodrome from its icy prison. This time, the Turtles are powerless to stop him. However, Bebop and Rocksteady's own incompetence causes the plan to fail, as they accidentally hit the super-laser's controls and direct it to melt the ice directly under the Technodrome. As a result, the Technodrome sinks to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, where it will remain for two seasons.


Season 7 (1993)
In the first thirteen episodes of the season (the "Vacation in Europe" Sideseason, which takes place during season four) the Technodrome is back in Dimension X, but once the up-to-date episodes begin, the Technodrome is beneath the ocean, where it has remained since the sixth season. The Technodrome remains trapped until the final episode of the season, Shredder Triumphant. Then, Krang steals some Regenerative Power Cells and uses them to re-power the Technodrome, and move it to New York City. Donatello re-programs the Technodrome's dimensional portal and sends the Technodrome to Dimension X via remote control, but without Krang, Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady.


Season 8 (1994)
In the second episode of the season, Wrath of the Rat King,[2] Krang finds out that the Technodrome fell into a black hole in Dimension X. The intense gravity kept the Technodrome trapped there, and all the Rock Soldiers inside it. The black hole also caused the Technodrome's dimensional portal to have difficulty opening where they wanted it to. Due to this Shredder and Krang choose to remain on Earth, working out of an old science building. It is implied Krang's Rock Soldiers somehow free the Technodrome and transport it to the planet Balaraphon off-screen prior to the events of the final episode Turtle Trek. In that episode, Krang and Shredder finally make their way back to the Technodrome. The Turtles follow them to Dimension X, where they learn that Shredder and Krang are on Balaraphon. They go to the planet, defeat Shredder and blow up the Technodrome's main engines, finally disabling it for good. The Technodrome is motionless as it is dragged into the pit of a tentacled monster. According to Master Splinter in Season 10, the Technodrome is considered to be destroyed.


Season 9 (1995)
The Technodrome is not seen in this season.


Season 10 (1996)
The Turtles, specifically Donatello and Michelangelo, travel to the Technodrome once, in the series' finale Divide and Conquer to retrieve Krang's android body. The Technodrome is abandoned and ruined on the planet Balaraphon, following the events of Turtle Trek. Donatello and Michelangelo find the Technodrome upright and sitting on a small hill. Since it was last seen upside down in a deep hole, Krang and Shredder must have attempted to repair the massive fortress before declaring it a lost cause.
(source Wikipedia)

As you can see almost every Tmnt season was ruled by the Technodrome and its location. It was many of us remember. But after season 8 finale and the dramatic change of events, animations and villain all changed forever and the rest is history….

In my humble opinion, it was a big mistake, maybe the biggest mistake of all the ot series. The Tmnt should never have gone to a darker path, this is not Batman The Animated Series. The way I see it, Tmnt should have continued revolving around the Technodrome, Krang and Company (sorry Dregg not you), the mutant, mobster ot mad scientist of the week and the many places where our beloved Technodrome could have been sent and believe there is plenty of places for it.

Season 8 should have been longer (without the drastic changes) and more about trying to get back the Technodrome.

Then it could have ended in many diferents places like the Sahara desert,
a swamp (like the Legion of Doom´s Slaughter Swamp from Challenge of the Superfriends), the moon, the astral planet, a limbo, the jungle and the list goes. Many new stories and mutant characters (that only appeared in the toyline) could have been introduced, like I said in this thread
http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=38826


All in all, I think it could have helped a lot to stay with the original plot that was develop from season 1 to most of season 8, to continue a bit more this amazing cartoon. Could have worked? Maybe, maybe not, perhaps it was its time but I never liked the abrupt way it changed.

Whay do you think about it? Could have worked? Your thought ares more than welcome.

Thanks for Reading.

Coola Yagami
09-14-2014, 04:18 PM
It would have died out sooner. At that point it was really getting old and even shredder and krang felt tired of always losing all the time. They were in a rut. It was either tired ol shredder or a scientist so lame that you want shredder back.

DarkFell
09-14-2014, 06:16 PM
The Technodrome was both a neat concept for a fortress *and an all-terrain fortress at that* and to the OT Shredder & Company a huge pain in the a** to power up and to keep it maintained. So it was both a blessing and a curse to those guys.

One thing that sorta got me thinking as I re-watched those episodes *most of them which I haven't seen in years*, was that The Technodrome always had to be powered up by some outside source of energy that seemed to be outside of this machine's ability to do for itself. Okay. Understandable in some episodes, but this sort of issue seemed to drag out in the OT series.

Here's two more kicker's for me.

When it burrowed into Earth's core, it basically was at a location to harness Earth's most rawest materials for repairs (molten metal can be found in Earth's core), and crystalized rock (diamond for example) could be obtained to power up any of Krang's laser cannons and perhaps used as alternate power sources, and yet they chose to steal random artifacts above surface.

Another possible outcome idea for moving an entrapped Technodrome on / in most parts of the Earth: Krang could have that android body go macro again and just push his Technodrome loose or pry it out of where ever it was trapped in *i.e. that magma that harden around the fortress in Dimension X or when it was trapped within Earth's core* - Then it could resume to being back on the Earth's surface to cause more chaos and panic. - Only drawback to that last idea is even that android body would probably start to malfunction being exposed to the intense heat of Earth's core for a few minutes. That android body might have just shut down altogether if it tried to get The Technodrome out of the ocean.

It would have be cooler to see it in different locations on or near Earth. I guess that the writer didn't want to take something of the JLA approach *even though they pretty much did* - say putting the machine fortress on the Moon's surface or in The Himalayas -. Maybe that is why the writers did their own thing with locating the 'Drome.

..Maybe forums are bad places for me *laughs*; my inner nerd seems to to really enjoy coming out to play here. ;p

Andrew NDB
09-14-2014, 08:15 PM
Blah blah blah. It was wherever the disconnected writers wanted it to be, with no elaborate future plan for it whatsoever.

Casey
09-14-2014, 08:25 PM
Blah blah blah. It was wherever the disconnected writers wanted it to be, with no elaborate future plan for it whatsoever.

Yeah. Pretty much what he said.

Refractive Reflections
09-14-2014, 09:24 PM
From a writing standpoint and considering the direction of the series in 1993 & 1994, the series had to evolve with the changing landscape of cartoons as children's cartoons became more action-based and darker in tone. (I enjoyed the Red Sky tone of the series, but as I've said before I think the bar was set so high in the past seasons that the Red Sky episodes would seem a bit of step back compared to seasons 1-7.)

But anyways...
since the landscape was changing, they had to change with the times and I believe even David Wise himself said the whole chasing Shredder, Krang, and the Technodrome theme was getting old by then, which is the reason for the series having Dregg and ignoring the Technodrome's condition. I think after Season's 8 unimpressive ratings, it would appear to be more of motivation to having something new for the OT Turtles outside of Shredder, Krang, and the Technodrome (even after the darker, Red Sky tone) and use more elements from the more popular kids' shows of the time.

But I agree that the change of villains, tone, and loss of the Channel 6 crew was too abrupt, and should have had a smoother transition throughout Seasons 8 and 9, but that seems a bit difficult with only 8 episodes per season and with a series no longer on the top of viewership ratings.

DarkFell
09-14-2014, 10:35 PM
From a writing standpoint and considering the direction of the series in 1993 & 1994, the series had to evolve with the changing landscape of cartoons as children's cartoons became more action-based and darker in tone. (I enjoyed the Red Sky tone of the series, but as I've said before I think the bar was set so high in the past seasons that the Red Sky episodes would seem a bit of step back compared to seasons 1-7.)

But anyways...
since the landscape was changing, they had to change with the times and I believe even David Wise himself said the whole chasing Shredder, Krang, and the Technodrome theme was getting old by then, which is the reason for the series having Dregg and ignoring the Technodrome's condition. I think after Season's 8 unimpressive ratings, it would appear to be more of motivation to having something new for the OT Turtles outside of Shredder, Krang, and the Technodrome (even after the darker, Red Sky tone) and use more elements from the more popular kids' shows of the time.

But I agree that the change of villains, tone, and loss of the Channel 6 crew was too abrupt, and should have had a smoother transition throughout Seasons 8 and 9, but that seems a bit difficult with only 8 episodes per season and with a series no longer on the top of viewership ratings.

Good feedback. I like it.

Icebot
09-15-2014, 01:59 PM
Maybe planet Mars.

Original TMNT Cartoon Fan
09-20-2014, 10:28 AM
Moon, Mars, Titan, Pluto, or just some other deserted place on Earth (like Antarctica, Sahara Desert) or whatever.

Galactus
09-22-2014, 08:32 PM
This may not be a popular sentiment given the site we're on but I never thought the Technodrome was a key component to the Fred Wolf show.

Don't get me wrong it looked great but if you think when it was most consistently effective was in the first season when it was seemingly at full power but presented as a mobile battle base.

Subsequent seasons making it into an all conquering death machine were fine during the few episodes were it was fully powered but made it seem more like a drag to have around when it wasn't.

Then again that's the drawback of all these world destroying mobile weapons. Just look how easily the Technodrome's cousin the Death Star was defeated both times it appeared in the Star Wars movies.

neatoman
09-23-2014, 07:49 AM
The Technodrome is an odd thing. They keep saying it's this terrible, unstoppable monstrosity of a weapon. But because it's always stuck somewhere and looks really silly (let's be honest here, it's basically the Ericsson Globe on treads with forks and a bored looking eye sticking out of it), it comes across more as dead weight scrap iron.

Prowler
09-24-2014, 11:38 AM
The OT was episodic, so no. They just kept changing its location throughout the series due to the Turtles facing off against it at the end of most seasons.

The Technodrome is an odd thing. They keep saying it's this terrible, unstoppable monstrosity of a weapon. But because it's always stuck somewhere and looks really silly (let's be honest here, it's basically the Ericsson Globe on treads with forks and a bored looking eye sticking out of it), it comes across more as dead weight scrap iron.

Well, if it was on the loose all the time, it would eventually take over Earth.

CyberCubed
09-24-2014, 11:46 AM
The Technodrome could have gotten lost in the desert. Imagine if the Technodrome landed near the Sphinx in Egypt?

Come to think of it I think the desert was the only other scenario they didn't use.

neatoman
09-24-2014, 11:53 AM
Well, if it was on the loose all the time, it would eventually take over Earth.

Well too bad would never happen due to being easily defeated with button pushes. It took like what, five minutes to beat it each time?

Prowler
09-25-2014, 03:15 AM
Well too bad would never happen due to being easily defeated with button pushes. It took like what, five minutes to beat it each time?
What other way was there to stop it other than from the inside? Its exterior was non-penetrable. The army attacked it once and not a single scratch was made.

DarkFell
09-25-2014, 03:35 AM
What other way was there to stop it other than from the inside? Its exterior was non-penetrable. The army attacked it once and not a single scratch was made.

Other than the few times that it got trapped in Earth's core, Dimension X, in the Arctic Circle, on the ocean floor, and eventually back into Dimension X ....I would say no. It would seem to me that getting the Technodrome stuck somewhere was the only way to stop it until it's turbines (?) were blown out.

Bill
09-25-2014, 04:20 PM
Other than the few times that it got trapped in Earth's core, Dimension X, in the Arctic Circle, on the ocean floor, and eventually back into Dimension X ....I would say no. It would seem to me that getting the Technodrome stuck somewhere was the only way to stop it until it's turbines (?) were blown out.


I was so hurt when the Turtle did that in Turtle Trek.

DarkFell
09-25-2014, 09:19 PM
I was so hurt when the Turtle did that in Turtle Trek.

I basically said "What the f**k..?" when I saw the Technodrome destroyed and halfway abandoned in Divide and Conquer.

Jephael
09-26-2014, 04:25 AM
It was wherever the disconnected writers wanted it to be, with no elaborate future plan for it whatsoever.

Hey it could've been worse. The developers wanted the TMNT to live there at the end of season 1.

Icebot
09-26-2014, 09:37 AM
I was so hurt when the Turtle did that in Turtle Trek.

So was I! I was hoping the Microbots would rebuild the Technodrome.