New Ep Discussion: "I, Monster"
 

Alright, folks, I figured we might as well continue the ep discussion here. :D

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Greetings, all! I have returned once again to provide you with entertainment before this week's ep. I had originally planned on revealing my information this week, but due to my computer being a pain, me still recovering from the plague, and being unavailable for the rest of the week, I might have to put it off for a bit. Or not, I dunno yet…

Alrighty then... The boys have been exploring the more abandoned parts of town. Practicing, hell-raising, searching for new furniture for a lair makeover, who knows. As the boys root around the abandoned brickworks, they’re unknowingly going to let one of their enemies know of their return.

Well, wait.. Hun and the PDs know of him. So does Bishop. The Foot and Karai are out of the picture (or ARE they?), so who could it be?

Yes, it has finally come to fruition. The debut of Everyone’s Favori—Second Favorite Villain!

The Rat King

Hide your wives!
Hide your daughters!!
Hide your Cheese!!!

A creature. Part man, part machine, part…rat? It sounds like a cheesy B Movie, but No! Not only is it true, but its also gonna make for GREAT trouble in the future! It is said to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. But what do you do when your enemy Knows how you fight?
With abilities still unknown to the TMNT and the surrounding characters, the Rat King is going to be a new challenge, not to mention threat, to the delicate balance of enemies and allies.


WHO WILL THE MYSTERIOUS CREATURE BE?! (like we don't already know..)
WILL THEY CONSIDER THE TMNT FRIEND OR FOE?!
WHY AM I TYPING LIKE... There we go.

STAY---


WAIT!

Alright, I've decided I might as well share the info that I know, since I won't be here to see the preview for next week, and I don't want it to ruin my chances next time. :P ;)


Alright... Now, we know that the guys have been back from their interspatial ordeal for several months now. Not that anything’s calmed DOWN at all…


Before they’ve even gotten a night’s rest, Casey’s cousin Sid decides to stop by the Farmhouse to find Grampa’s fortune, only to have some scuzzballs follow him there. Northampton has PD! How Quaint!

In the city, they meet up with two winged warriors who are battling it out to gain control of their floating kingdom. (Alright, so it wasn’t about getting free cable, so sue me.) Though I’m pretty sure its not as interesting as the Female wrestling match for control of a intergalactic civilization… :rolleyes:

The Planeteers—I mean, the turtles and their human counterparts discover an elusive dying race of fishpeople in the middle of a massachusetts river. (wait, what’s the Nexus Rematch?)

THEN, back in the city, They meet up with a bigger better Purple Dragons, not to mention have a brawl with one of Bishops critters. The critter also turns out to have been a former friend of Bishop’s, not to mention a local yokel and a former naval officer. (What’s with all the oranges and bellybuttons?

Oh yes, Bishop gets his arse chewed out by President Howard Dean (YEAH!!!!!). :evilgrin:


Now hold on..

Northampton
Northampton
Town
Northampton
Town
And now Town again…


For reasons unknown to us (and the official site?), 4Kids has been showing the episodes out of order. One theory was that 4Kids wanted to show the monster eps together as an October special. Now here’s where the important thing comes up…

Due to the severe jumbling of episodes, there is indeed… and I am positive on this. There is a “Missing” Episode that they have yet to show. I repeat, a “missing” episode.

Now why, you ask, am I making a big deal of this” Not only is this important for the continuity of the show, but it could also answer many of the questions that have been circulating around the forums.
Perhaps this will explain some more of Leo’s shell?
Or his sudden voice changing into that of a 40 year old chain-smoker? Does Splinter Finally talk to Leo about his troubles?
Or are we gonna have to wait to see Leader-boy get smacked upside the head for a later time? :evilgrin:

You know what I always say… ;)


STAY TUNED!!!

Didn't Karai give Leo that scar? Anyway the battle Nexus rematch that they speak of seems to be next week's episode so we'll see how that unfolds.

As for the Rat King... he certainly didn't dissapoint.

I said it once and i'll say it again...

I really really really really really HATE Rats.....

I liked this Ep , I wonder for how long Is Leo gonna be acting up and how are they going to manage on getting rid of this" rat king"...... but Im really looking forward to next week:D

Great ep...Rat King is such a badas**...i can't wait for the toy...

While so far all of the eps have great, i hate having this feeling that we're missing something...i really hope they let us in on what's happened b/w seasons...

And for the record, this new Leo is really started to get old and on my nerves..i hope there is a good reason for this

Wonder why the guys, especially Mikey, were all freaked out by the rats, considering their master is a rat..."Any relatives?"

Maybe they were afraid cause they were small didnt talk or wore robes:|

I think even Splinter in that situation woulda been freaked out... i mean hundreds of rats, with red beady eyes bearing full speed at ya?

Did anyone else notice that His name, "Rat King", was not mentioned at all in this episode. So new young fans of this show still don't know what he's become and who he's called. It's almost certain then, there will be at least one more episode about this Rat King, a.k.a. Slayer.

Yeah...the one where he messes with Splinter's head...

do you mean an episode where Rat King commands all his rats to hunt down Splinter, or maybe the rats will lead Rat King to him.

No...where Splinter falls into an old Silo in North Hampton and is taunted by the Rat King...

i was pretty disappointed by the episode, actually. they didn't really show anything about the rat king, they all just kinda ran around and fought the whole episode. the last part with rat king talking about being in their nightmares and stuff was cool and makes me look forward to another episode with him with more explanation, but this one on it's own was not very good as far as i'm concerned.

I loved this episode! I missed it when it aired so I was pretty excited to watch it on the DVD. The dark setting was really cool, and I like what they did concerning his origin...and I thought the episode being one long fight worked pretty well, 'cause now we see that he's not just a nut that controls rats, he can kick butt too. They made him into a pretty scary dude. o_O

I'm not getting tired of the new Leo though. *big grin*

You have to remember, though, that this is a show that depends on being a multi-episode story. We may very well look back at this one later (as the Rat King is visited in later episodes) and either say this is the best episode ever...or that it sucked. Personally, I like what I'm seeing so far, and this was a great intro. It's better that they're not taking things too fast by dropping the "Rat King" name on him before the TMNT really know who and what he is.

As for dark Leo... every time I see the poor guy I feel bad for him, but this show tends to do a good job with character development. It will be distinctly "old" for me if they finish out the season without him having made some decent progress. As for now, I'm just enjoying the ride.

i can agree with that to an extent. like i said, i definitely hope to see more of him and learn more about him, but they really didn't tell us anything. i wouldn't want them to give away his whole story in one episode, but there could be a bit more than just him laughing meniachely and chasing the turtles.

i still have high hopes for future episodes.

There'll definatly be another Rat king episode for Season 5 atleast(don't know what will happen in later episodes cause they're not giving out future synosis on any websites.)

I still need to get the recent DVDs since they have some of the Season 4 epsiodes in them.

oh thank the damiyo the forum's back on! :D

i know the leo things been talked about a lot, but i can't resist. does anyone else feel a major leo/raph character development ep comming up? cause i do i do! :thyper: i've been really disappointed w/ what the writers have done (or more like not done) w/ raph this season up until this ep. i definitely said "finally!" to the tv when raph was holding don & mikey back, saying leo needed this. although, i thought that leo would get hurt & raph would feel really guilty. meh, i like angst, but leo's got enough anyway. i really do hope he starts talking to some1 (like his bros, not just april) i agree that it's nice to see some character development, but this just doesn't seem like leo. all the qualities (like his voice, compassion/care for his bros, fun/teasing side, etc.) that made him leo are basically gone. i just really miss him (& his voice) & want him back. & i'm also all for raph coming back too. he had a good start in this ep, but he'd better not sink back into the shadows (ha, no pun intended;)). i like what they're doing w/ don & mikey though. it was great to see don as the main turtle in a couple eps, he doesn't get enough of those.

ok, i'm done. (hey, give me a break; it's been like a month! it was so hard to read all you're posts & want to join in & not be able to) i feel better now.

Okay, when I first saw I, Monster, I was blown off my rocker by the wonderful misenscene (heheh... my cinema teacher would kill me for misspelling that) of the episode. However, the Technodrome boards were down and for some reason my brand-new account wasn't working, so forgive me if this post is long--it's several days' worth crammed into one.

This episode was amazing. The animation, pacing, colors, lighting, and overall visual mood in this episode was among the best I have seen of season four (perhaps in the entire series). The dialogue flowed, stayed to the point, and didn't rely on cliches to be witty (and if it did, it was done with subtlety). The action choreography was far more creative and exciting than most live action series I have seen... Wow. So good. This episode really appealed to me, in terms of visuals and timing. Click click click. Everything came together very well. Ah! Did I mention the beautiful palette of colors used? The angle and color of light was actually reminiscent of reality--and very well done, too.

The cutting of Rat King's flashbacks was very quick--something that is done more in action movies or shows, and doesn't seem to work its way into saturday morning serials very often. Why, I don't know. I got to see stills of those flashbacks, thanks to LUCKFF, and even the stills were works of art. Of course, when it comes to animation, what matters most is how the images move together--not just how well they stand alone. Great art (up there with Sons of the Silent Age, IMO).

There is finally weight behind the lines that :D everyone is saying. I love it. I don't notice much generic expression anymore. They have become so realistic, that when they speak, reveal emotion, etc. it's believable. Don (in both script and VA) :D is developing more and more one important aspect of his geek character; he's smart and knows it. At times he is just a tad condescending towards his more philistine brothers when it comes to explaining stuff. (And in a believable way--I know that kind of person; I go to a school with a bunch of "smart" students.) Wayne Grayson... I don't even want to analyze his performance. He IS Mikey. And he's a Mikey who can act very well, too. Raph, I'd say is still the only Turtle who still sounds kinda generic--then again, perhaps the vocal timbre for Raph inhibits the VA from being too expressive. Although I like his tone, Raph's audial performance could use some work in the emotional range area, IMO. However, it's not bad. I guess it'll only get noticeable when everyone else gets really good at delivering their lines. Even so, he's darn good.

The VAs truly understand the characters they are portraying and perform their roles passionately and seriously. You can hear it especially in Leo's anger, and whenever he reveals his immense frustration in the character-revealing vignettes in the new season. (Yes, vignettes are a good thing... it's the only reason why we could feel for any of the characters in The Magnificent Seven.) Generally, I don't get terribly concerned with TV characters--animated or live action. But especially in an animated show, it's amazing how one can relate Leo's troubles. The emotional themes are based off of what actually happens to some people in reality. I myself went through my own period of intense darkness (conicidentally, I was about Leo's age: 15)when, after trying so hard to help someone I cared about overcome a serious problem, that person only retaliated with fierce resentment. I was so frustrated, infuriated that this person would not change even after having seen his options. I couldn't understand why he would continue to keep doing what he was doing and be a compelte dick to anyone who gave a rat's arse about him and tried to support him, and just continue to spew forth his envious hatred of practically everything in existence.

Anyways, I made a series of very stupid decisions. I dwelled on things I knew I should've let go, but I was driven by my sense of "right and wrong." It was so wrong... it was such a big deal, I felt. Night after night, these thoughts of how wrong this guy was was all that filled my mind--that and violent thoughts, thoughts of destroying and revenge. Little did I know at the time, but I was allowing that person to hurt me--even relishing in my own "betrayal."

Needless to say, my personality absolutely changed. I ended up treating those I really cared about with impatience and bitterness--even though I didn't have reason to be mad at them. I became focused, yet at the same time controlled mindlessly at times by my anger. If my enemies weren't aroung, I'd lash out unnecessarily against my family (sound familiar?). I ended up burdening everyone when I initially wanted to help the situation. And for the longest time, I didn't get why I felt so aggressive. Then one day, I realized I had become far worse than the person I was initially trying to help. I had become the essence of what I hated.

That's why I feel so strongly for the character Leo right now. The dark spell is not unlikely to end soon or suddenly. And Leo will not simply "snap" back into place. After seeing the negative effects of his unhealthy, self-tormenting anger, he'll go through a long process of learning to fight the anger that has consumed him. It's going to be hell to beat that monster back into submission, because once this particular mindset takes over, it is bloody hard and slow to fight. Leo's personality will remain grimmer--he won't perceive life with the same purity and wholeness that he did before--although he may relearn how to laugh. Instead of going back to his "old self" he will need to start a new foundation and rebuild his identity.

This, my friends, is a part of growing up. I'm sure Leo and I are not the only ones who have endured this sort of adolescent bitterness (although I suppose it can happen later than adolescence). But if they followed through with this, I would be amazed and this would rank the new TMNT series in my top 5 list.

I really hope they follow through with Leo's problem the right way. This does not involve killing Karai--that will solve nothing in the long run. The longer Leo allows that anger to fester, the harder it'll be to tame. If he wants to survive and REALLY protect his family, he must let go of that deadly rage--it's only going to endanger everyone, as we saw in I, Monster when Leo rashly followed the Rat King to satisfy his need to "defeat" something and get a temporary sense of security. Instead of feeding his anger, Leo should instead be motivated to protect his family out of... don't throw tomatoes at me... love. I'm serious. You may think it's corny if you haven't lived it. I learned the hard way that such indignant anger incited by a sense of betrayal only destroys the self and hurts those you love. Forgive, forget, and move on is the best route in the long run for everyone.

Hoo dang, that was... lengthy. :ohwell: If you have read this far, I applaud your superhuman patience. Please excuse me. I had a lot to say.

TMNT is graduating from the light-hearted class of sat morn kids shows. I'm enjoying it.

And Rat King is baaaad... absolutely insane...

OMFG!! What is wrong with you people!?

Can't let the boy have a little change of direction and some character developement!

Damn it! *walks out of thread*