Plot lines we wish they expanded on
With this incarnation coming to a close, there is still so many stories and plot lines that we wish the writers had expanded on.
Some popular examples are who was April's mother and what happened to her. Or the fate of Mutagen Man and what becomes of him. Or even how Mona Lisa is faring with the Mutanimals. Tiger Claw's backstory with Alopex. ETC. One such story I wished they had expanded on was the Retromutagen. I know this is sort of my Donatello Bias talking, but hear me out. In season two we have Donnie finally create retromutagen. It's a reoccurring plot point within season two up until Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman when it's successfully created. But then when it's finally created Donnie says he intends to use it to cure April's father and Splinter. We know Donnie's needed to cure Timothy and Kirby, but the desire to cure Splinter doesn't entirely come from out of nowhere. After all, the turtles had likely seen Splinter mourning his lost humanity more than once over the years he had raised them. So it's only logical that Donnie would have wanted to give his adoptive father a means to regain some of what he had lost. But as they didn't have any samples of the Mutagen to work with, that had to be a dream that would go unfulfilled. And that desire to cure Splinter could start with a flashback moment. It doesn't even have to be that long ago after all the turtles wouldn't look that much different at 13 then they would at 16. Heck their 14 when they are officially given the title of Ninja. In this flashback Donnie is shown telling Leo that if he ever figures out a way to reverse Mutations, he will cure Splinter first. Then shift to Donnie successfully creating the Retromutagen. Following that with the exception of a few mutations such as stockman and the entire city of New York, the retromutagen ceases to work and it's never explained why. The only thing we can assume is the mutagen is too refined for the retromutagen for the retromutagen to fix, or Multiple mutations cause the retromutagen to have no effect. But this whole plot line could have been really expanded on. For example, the Shredder likes to believe he holds all the cards in the farce between him and Splinter. As such if his enemy has something that could be used against him as any sort of advantage, he wants to claim it for himself or destroy it and its source so it isn't of use to any one. That is why he forces Karai to be his living puppet because, in reality, she is the only card he has to play. That's why he chooses to help the Kraang because he shares a common enemy with them. And his short sightedness prevents him from seeing how much more of a problem the Kraang are when compared to the Turtles. The issue doesn't need to be brought up in the Lonely Mutation of Baxter Stockman. But maybe at some point, like later that season or even the third season has one of the characters such as Casey or Mikey points out how disastrous it would be if their enemies got their hands on the retromutagen or learned about it. After all, Stockman and Rahzar only learned about the retromutagen in its initial episode. Stockman is even seen trying to create retromutagen for himself and hides it when Shredder walks into the lab. Stockman is more or less a prisoner of the Shredder and was forcibly mutated because he wasn't successfully coming up with effective hench-mutants. So it would be understandable that he wouldn't want to let on to the Shredder he is trying to become human once again. Rahzar is loyal to the Shredder so why wouldn't he want to report the retromutagen to Shredder. And the reason for it is because he only wants to cure himself only. If he reports it to Shredder, that means that Fishface would also learn about it and want to use it instead. Plus the Shredder isn't likely to let either of them use it, but instead, want he himself would want to use it to restore Splinter to a man so that he doesn't have the advantages he has as a mutant. Then in season three, Bebop and Rocksteady learn about the Retromutagen. Like Stockman, they are also prisoners of the Shredder. If either of them found a way to return to human and escape they would take it, the other be damned. And while they aren't the bunglers their Fred Wolf Counter Parts are. But they also aren't the brightest bulbs on Shredder's roster of Hench Mutants. Both of them are foolish enough to mention the Retromutagen's existence while Shredder is in ear shot. Also there is the Kraang. They want to mutate the Earth into the new Dimension X. In Serpent Hunt there is a moment when Donnie openly says he's nearly done with making his latest batch of Retromutagen, just seconds before they are confronted by the Kraang. There is no way the Kraang would allow anything that can botch their efforts to freely exist. |
Nothing much for me, although they could have made an arc of April's mother in the final season.
Anything else they either finished, or not something I care about much. |
I don't think there is much that I needed more clarification on, sometimes I have found I was expecting them to go a little deeper into something but I always put it down to it being a kids show with shorter episodes.
I wondered about Splinter when they did have enough mutagen to cure the city but then Splinter is supposed to be a rat. I wondered if he would return to form in the after life, but again he is recognisable to the Turtles as a rat. I always wondered if the 7 teens all not having a mother (of course we know the turtles wouldn't) was intentional but I figured it was. Casey never showed that he had an issue with it nor do we know why he didn't have one...I'm curious but it's not something I feel I must know before the show ends. I guess we'll see what is left after the finale |
TMNT as a whole has a problem with absent mothers...I'd almost say worse than Disney :P .
April's heritage is an obvious problem, and that really could have been handled in part with breaking the Kraang hive mind and delving into the backstory of the Council and scientist Kraang's betrayal. Especially with Knight going Anakin Skywalker on everyone. I'm not saying that being an Utrom person (exclusively), but because I think it could have been really, really good material to cover. Especially with the Kraang being the first Utroms that I started to enjoy. |
This isn't exactly what the thread is about, but so I'll just add on what stories they could have 'expanded on'...
*The Slash Story Line. Instead of quickly turning him good? They could have created this 'parallel with Raph' dynamic. Raph is 'Raph' because of his family, while Slash is what Raph would be without the love from his family. But in MY opinion, they dropped the ball on that. *The Raph 'Mind Control' Story Line. I wish they really would have expanded on that plot and made that into an emotional arc...at least two episodes. I think it would have been fitting if Raph seemed like he was ready to give a killing blow to Leo but then Mikey brought him out of it. Perhaps by replaying/re-doing his hug as a remembrance for Raph to snap him out of it. *The Don/April thing. Some will feel that is dumb to say. But instead of relying on whatever this 'finale thing is' (aka 'We Loved Mad Max Fury Road, so let's reference that instead of doing an actual finale with the characters'). But if they wanted to bring it up? Actually go through with them having a relationship. You can still do that in a respectable 'family/kids' show. This 'maybe/maybe not for 5 years' was silly and stretched out way too long. *This isn't an 'expanded on'...but it's too bad that there wasn't a Mikey and Raph episode where those two were the centerpiece and had to work together to 'save the day'. *I know everyone and their buddy will groan on this...but I wish Raphael had been way, way better used. I even gave recent episodes a chance. But whether he was turned int a plant, or turned into a vampire way early on in an arc and was deemed useless/a hassle to deal with, not doing anything with the fact that it was him and April with Splinter when Splinter was killed (the second time...you think maybe they could have done something with Raph witnessing that firsthand and right in front of him), getting mind-controlled, and so forth...as well as most of his story lines were just him needing to 'fix his own mistakes' (dealing with Spider Bytez in a situation he created, dealing with Slash in a situation he created, Raph accidentally damaging a Kraang machine and thus having him switch brains with a Kraang... I know 99% will disagree but for me personally? Part of me distancing away from the series was this stuff. At least Leo was able to kill the Shredder, Donnie making the retro-mutagen, and Mikey either getting electrical powers/stopping the Parasitica/being the King of Dimension X and an expert in it. Pretty much all I could give you is 'Raph helping Leo a little bit when he was healing'. But that's it. And no one needs to get nasty or mean if they read this. This is just me giving my own personal/thoughts on what I wish they would have expanded/done differently with the show. |
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Tigerclaw
How did the fight between the 1987-1996 series turtles and Tigerclaw end?
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I never realized before there was so much missed potential with Raph. That's a shame.
Although one of the moments I liked with Raph was when Tokka came to Earth. Raph’s dedication and love for Chompy saving the Earth and convincing Tokka that her baby would be in good hands. I also like how they established his relation with Mona Lisa in World’s Collide, I enjoy those moments as they show a different side of Raph’s character. |
*The turtles travelling to modern-day Japan.
*The Triceratons' home-planet before the Kraang destroyed it. *The Kraang's past on Earth. They claimed to have found Earth millions of years ago, and used mutagen on some monkeys to speed up evolution. How much of that was true? Or was it just only a lie to trick as many Earthlings as possible under submission. |
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I do like this Raph (I like the design of these turtles) and I love Sean's voice for him, it suits the toughness and the sarcasm... however, the use of him is something different, I can see that there was some missed potential with him. |
Well said ramboraph4life!
I whole heartedly agree that Dark raph was a criminally wasted opportunity I dont know if I can agree Raph was as underused as some say - I think most people with favourites would say similar of their own turtles. I think the problem was that a lot of Raph's more interesting developments were things that needed multiple episodes to develop properly. There was never that much time, so when they did happen they got crammed into one episode and rushed as a result. Mona Lisa, Slash, Casey, Dark Raph, Tokka (to a lesser degree), his distrust of Karai, Rivalry with Fishface, etc, etc. There was a lot of chances, they just never got built on. I'm not sure if its worse to be teased with potential storylines, or simply not to have had them at all. I also think Don/April should have been resolved much sooner - perhaps end of season 4, and then quietly background developed as a relationship over season 5. It does seem like they've avoided the issue a lot and then suddenly come back to it right at the end. I think Casey's family and April's family were also missed opportunities. Although April's mums fate was the primary question, I had hoped there'd be something more done with Kirby - perhaps delving into a budding anti mutant bias. Alopex as well, definitely felt shoehorned in despite the impression we were given at the end of the episode that we may see more of her. Shinigami is in a similar boat, in that she turned up and then just melded into the background. Kurtzman and the Kraang/Utrom war was another rich area for more detail we never got. We also never found out why Dregg was a robot. I loved the Overmind concept, but we never saw it again. Theres loads of things for me I'd have loved to see more deeply explored. |
Raph is my favorite Turtle and I thought he was handled fine. There's not much more the 2k3 series did with him than make him angry/grumpy all the time especially as it progressed. In fact nearly all of the Raph-centered episodes in the 2k3 series deal with him learning to control his temper.
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And one more thing. I would have liked for them to have had a better story for 'Raph's chip on his shell'. I think it would have been more fitting if it was done by Raphael saving Mikey when they were kids. And I say that for a number of reasons. One, it would have created a heart-warming moment. Two, it would have showed a bit more of the friendship between Mikey & Raph. And three, it would be an occasion to show Raph as a protector. And that's what I mean...use every moment to further your story and characters. But again and again and again I saw the show throwing away potential to either get to a new 'reference of movie, TV, old TMNT stuff' or so forth. |
It's kind of interesting the Mutanimals didn't really expand as much as I thought they would. Muckman was part of them in the finale with the Triceratons, but we never saw him with them again. I also thought Napoleon Bonafrog would come back and join them but he never did. We also know Mona Lisa planned to join them after her last appearance but we didn't see that.
Besides that we could have had characters like Spiderbitez, the Owl character, etc. join them who weren't really monster mutants. |
There were other emotional episodes they could have expanded on rather than making them monster of the week episodes.
The Farm House Arc- Usually when the farmhouse arc is used it is a moment for the Turtles to emotionally reflect and mentally recover from heavy experiences in the city. What I liked about the Farmhouse arc in the 2k3 verse is they had the episode "Tales of Leo" where each of the Turtles and Splinter use memories to bring Leo back from the dead. With second invasion we have the turtles face their first major defeat, on top of that the six of them are all orphans because of the invasion. April definitely is, Casey supposedly is, and the Turtle's aren't but they are forced to believe they are because of cercomstance. On top of that Leo is seriously injured and potentially on death's door. And the end of the season ends with what feels like some emotional events to come. Instead, we are told three months have passed since the invasion and we are given scene I don't really see as an event but more like a condensed timeline put in one scene. Which is summed up as the group arrives at the farmhouse, Leo is put in the tub to keep him hydrated, Donnie at some point leaves, Mikey, April, and Casey also go about their business, and Raph takes it upon himself look after Leo as he recovers. First off...Yes, I know the Raph looking after Leo moment is in reference to the first movie where Raph is seriously wounded and Leo is keeping vigil. However, in the first movie, it is also Leo who tells Raph that he is the one who isn't wanted or needed. So he is watching over Raph out of guilt, not just because he is the leader. But in the second invasion, it's Donnie who makes the comment of "You suck as a leader" to Leo. So it is also natural that Donnie would figuratively chain himself to Leo's bedside out of guilt, not just because he's the "Doctor" of the family. So instead of the whole three-month time skip, we have the turtles and their companions arrive at the farmhouse. All of them are reeling because of the defeat they have just experienced and emotional because everything they know and love is either dead, mutated, or lost somewhere in the city. And on top of that one of their own is also at death's doorway. Donnie has been keeping Leo alive throughout the trip to Northampton thus far. April asks him if Leo will be okay, Donnie just morosely responds that if Leo survives the rest of the night, they would have more reason to hope. He then mentions that should Leo survive he would need to be kept hydrated at least for a certain number of hours a day. Everyone begins to wonder about what they should do, how long they should plan to hide out at the farmhouse, etc. While everyone else is talking Mikey kneels by Leo's sickbed and starts talking to him. Everyone notices Leo reacting to Mikey's voice and April remembers her father recognized her when he had been a mutant bat. Perhaps talking to Leo may help him recover. They could have some flashbacks to some moments between each of the Turtles, and April with Leo. These don't need to be childhood memories, they can be recent memories to moments off-screen. Mikey would go first since he likes trying things out. April would go next Donnie would be reluctant but does tell Leo a fond memory. Raph is also reluctant and thinks the whole thing is stupid, but he also tearfully gives his account of a moment where Leo was someone he looked up to. When Raph finishes, morning has broken and it's stated that Leo has thankfully survived the night. Everyone but Donnie gets up to go see what they can rustle up for breakfast before they get some rest as everything over the past 20 or so hours has been hard on all of them. Donnie opts to stay with Leo, this causes Raph some concern but he doesn't do anything about it. But once he is out of earshot of Donnie he tells April that he hopes that Leo does survive, because if they lost him...they could end up losing Donnie as well. Implied some time has passed (a few days or a few weeks whatever you believe), Leo is now being kept hydrated in the tub. Donnie is still keeping vigil over Leo. Raph walks upstairs and sees an untouched plate of food on sitting on the floor. Fed up Raph storms into the bathroom to say it's beyond high time that he let someone else watch over Leo only to find Donnie has passed out from exhaution. Donnie has a dream where he is told Leo died, because of him. He wakes up only to find Mikey tending to him. Donnie recovers, but Raph lets him know that he has lost his privledges in looking after Leo because he's too involved. He then tells Donnie that he is the leader now and they can't depend on him if he's going to become sick too. Donnie then responds by saying he never asked to be leader effectively handing over the raigns of leadership to Raph. |
Whilst I agree some things could have been expanded on a bit, some couldn't due to time.
Are we are looking for a depth that we would likely have in a show made for an older audience? When you think about the story lines in TMNT, they can be quite deep but they are made in to 22 minute episodes with a child audience in mind and so a lot of things aren't explored or shown as much as they could be. Sadly for us. |
I honestly feel since season 1 or even late season 2, the majority of the show has been scattered with plot developments. Although some issues have been addressed, such as dealing with Karai's mind control, Super Shredder, and a few others, some really felt prolonged. Others just didn't have the oomph; whether it comes to writing or maybe budget reasons, some things I hoped for didn't get used. I'll leave what I think in spoilers to not take up much room. Here we go:
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Those are my thoughts for now. There's probably more, but these come the most in mind. I skipped one major one: the space arc. That's a story for another time. |
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I extremely love this show, but seriously, this is killing me. That's exactly what's being discussed as show's fails because nobody is interested in investigating show's pluses, nobody simply cares about them, for most people it's much more entertaining to roast everything on their path. |
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I find it bizarre you'd bring that up of all things, his character was wrapped up. |
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