Thoughts on season 2 of the Fred Wolf series?

*Prowler* · 04-04-2017, 12:19 AM

As we all know, the FW series had 10 seasons, with 3 and 4 being the longest ones by far.

After a 5 episode only debut season comes a new season with 13 episodes, which is still a fairly low count, but hey I guess the show only hit its height in popularity around 1989-1990.

This season starts out well. Return of the Shredder is alright for what it was an that final battle where Baxter Stockman barges in with a forklift was a bit tense. As was the way he ravaged the Lair to abduct Splinter... man speaking of which how did several characters find out the Turtles Lair and none of them was ever Shredder or Dregg? And their allies that have found the turtles Lair never even told them about it.

Anyway then comes the 4 episode Eye of Sarnoth arc. I really liked this arc when I was a kid and as frustrated that Shredder kept getting every fragment. At the end the whole thing just blows up.. and that's it. never to be mentioned again.

Then there's the Killer Pizas episode which is iconic since those alien like creatures even showed up in Turtles in Time 4 years later. Didn't care much for Splinter No More, the 2nd Neutrino episode or that episode where April turns into a feline. I liked New York's Shiniest, though. And also Enter: The Fly.

The season finale was quite good. Not as great as seasons'3 or season's 7 so I guess it gets kinda overlooked nowadays but I liked it a lot when I was a kid and thought the show was over as the Technodrome sunk into the lava.

Overall this season was a bit over the place. First of all, Baxter is Shredder's sidekick for half of it while Bebop and Rocksteady are stuck in Dimension X with Krang. It's kinda odd how that changed and then Baxter turns into a fly. I had not foreseen that as a kid.

The Eye of Sarnoth arc was also kind of weird when you look at the whole show. Never again did we get arcs until Red Sky came along, unless you count the last 3 episodes of season 3 as one arc. And the payoff of the Eye of Sarnoth arc was Shredder getting all of the alien fragments and then it blowing up at the end... and things went back to normal and it never got brought up again.

I also almost forgot that the Punk Frogs debuted in this season... but they were lame. They were such a poor knockoff of the TMNT and the thing is, they all had the same personality pretty much. Nothing was interesting about them. It's not like the Turtles met their match in them really.

It seems the writers were still unsure how to carry the rest of the show and experimented a bit with this season. Honestly, of all seasons this is one of the ones I go back to the least. Rarely do I feel like watching an episode from this season. It just has a weird vibe to it in comparison to season 1 and 3 for some reason.

So, thoughts?

*CyberCubed* · 04-04-2017, 12:21 AM

It was a pretty solid season and you can tell the writers were trying to figure out what to do with the series. Felt like they weren't sure if they wanted to go full parody/slapstick like later seasons or more action oriented.

I always wondered how things would turn out different if Baxter actually stayed a mutant henchmen of Shredder the entire series like Bebop/Rocksteady.

*Prowler* · 04-04-2017, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

It was a pretty solid season and you can tell the writers were trying to figure out what to do with the series. Felt like they weren't sure if they wanted to go full parody/slapstick like later seasons or more action oriented.

I always wondered how things would turn out different if Baxter actually stayed a mutant henchmen of Shredder the entire series like Bebop/Rocksteady.

I think the action only went down significantly in season 4. Season 4 and 5 seem to have the least action of all seasons and that's when the show became a parody of itself and the Turtles could even go out and get jobs and all. Plus that was probably when the censors and all that jazz were watching the franchise like a hawk the most and they had to tone it down significantly in result. That's also when Mike got a grappling hook wasn't it?

*CyberCubed* · 04-04-2017, 12:26 AM

Pretty much yeah, although there was still action in some of the episodes. It was really weird, like one episode would be all slapstick with no real fighting, and then the episode right after would have a huge fight scene. It must be because all these episodes were rushed and made at the same time by different writers and animation studios so nobody knew what was going on.

*Prowler* · 04-04-2017, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Pretty much yeah, although there was still action in some of the episodes. It was really weird, like one episode would be all slapstick with no real fighting, and then the episode right after would have a huge fight scene. It must be because all these episodes were rushed and made at the same time by different writers and animation studios so nobody knew what was going on.

A shame one of the best fights in those season was in one of the goddamn Howie episodes. I always rewatch that episode just because of that Donatello and Shredder fight. Season 4 or 5 iirc?

*CyberCubed* · 04-04-2017, 12:30 AM

Season 4, the first Howie ep is fun for that reason. The second one was kinda meh, they do the whole phantom of the opera thing better in the Season 6 episode, "Phantom of the Sewers."

*pferreira* · 04-06-2017, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Pretty much yeah, although there was still action in some of the episodes. It was really weird, like one episode would be all slapstick with no real fighting, and then the episode right after would have a huge fight scene. It must be because all these episodes were rushed and made at the same time by different writers and animation studios so nobody knew what was going on.

Frances Moss was in charge of the writing back then. I don't think they were really thinking about massive arcs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Honestly the majority of plots from the original cartoon sound ridiculous when you hear them, since most of them are parodies of old 50's or 80's movies, but when you actually watch the episodes they're pretty entertaining.

Since TMNT is supposed to be a parody the 80s cartoon works fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Possibly. I wish they made a mention of where they got their old beat-up TV set from. It was an old 80's TV with an antenna and missing a leg. Don probably found it in the sewers.

I always wondered how there was electricity down in the sewers.

Honestly Season 2 in my opinion was very strong. There were a couple of weak episodes but for the most part most of the 13 from that season were pretty good. No complaints here.

*neatoman* · 04-07-2017, 02:22 AM

Season 2? Well, it's the start of the downwards spiral from the show being fun in a stupid sorta way to being a full on piece of crap.

*Wesley* · 04-06-2017, 03:30 PM

I think season 2 is decent. I watched all of it for the first time in years recently and thought it held up well, though it's not as good as season 1, 3 or 7. However, it's noticeable as an adult that this was the season when the show started to become repetitive, more lighthearted and dumbed down.

04-04-2017, 12:19 AM	#1
Prowler Emperor Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Portugal Posts: 8,909	Thoughts on season 2 of the Fred Wolf series? As we all know, the FW series had 10 seasons, with 3 and 4 being the longest ones by far. After a 5 episode only debut season comes a new season with 13 episodes, which is still a fairly low count, but hey I guess the show only hit its height in popularity around 1989-1990. This season starts out well. Return of the Shredder is alright for what it was an that final battle where Baxter Stockman barges in with a forklift was a bit tense. As was the way he ravaged the Lair to abduct Splinter... man speaking of which how did several characters find out the Turtles Lair and none of them was ever Shredder or Dregg? And their allies that have found the turtles Lair never even told them about it. Anyway then comes the 4 episode Eye of Sarnoth arc. I really liked this arc when I was a kid and as frustrated that Shredder kept getting every fragment. At the end the whole thing just blows up.. and that's it. never to be mentioned again. Then there's the Killer Pizas episode which is iconic since those alien like creatures even showed up in Turtles in Time 4 years later. Didn't care much for Splinter No More, the 2nd Neutrino episode or that episode where April turns into a feline. I liked New York's Shiniest, though. And also Enter: The Fly. The season finale was quite good. Not as great as seasons'3 or season's 7 so I guess it gets kinda overlooked nowadays but I liked it a lot when I was a kid and thought the show was over as the Technodrome sunk into the lava. Overall this season was a bit over the place. First of all, Baxter is Shredder's sidekick for half of it while Bebop and Rocksteady are stuck in Dimension X with Krang. It's kinda odd how that changed and then Baxter turns into a fly. I had not foreseen that as a kid. The Eye of Sarnoth arc was also kind of weird when you look at the whole show. Never again did we get arcs until Red Sky came along, unless you count the last 3 episodes of season 3 as one arc. And the payoff of the Eye of Sarnoth arc was Shredder getting all of the alien fragments and then it blowing up at the end... and things went back to normal and it never got brought up again. I also almost forgot that the Punk Frogs debuted in this season... but they were lame. They were such a poor knockoff of the TMNT and the thing is, they all had the same personality pretty much. Nothing was interesting about them. It's not like the Turtles met their match in them really. It seems the writers were still unsure how to carry the rest of the show and experimented a bit with this season. Honestly, of all seasons this is one of the ones I go back to the least. Rarely do I feel like watching an episode from this season. It just has a weird vibe to it in comparison to season 1 and 3 for some reason. So, thoughts?

04-06-2017, 03:30 PM	#9
Wesley Mad Scientist Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Republic of Ireland Posts: 1,589	I think season 2 is decent. I watched all of it for the first time in years recently and thought it held up well, though it's not as good as season 1, 3 or 7. However, it's noticeable as an adult that this was the season when the show started to become repetitive, more lighthearted and dumbed down. __________________ Donatello: The tracker! It might work. Donatello goes to the back of the Turtle Van Raphael: Shrewd move, Donatello. If we ignore the problem, it might go away by itself. (from The Mean Machines) Last edited by Wesley; 04-07-2017 at 09:49 AM.

04-04-2017, 12:21 AM	#2
CyberCubed Overlord Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 41,056	It was a pretty solid season and you can tell the writers were trying to figure out what to do with the series. Felt like they weren't sure if they wanted to go full parody/slapstick like later seasons or more action oriented. I always wondered how things would turn out different if Baxter actually stayed a mutant henchmen of Shredder the entire series like Bebop/Rocksteady.

04-04-2017, 12:26 AM	#4
CyberCubed Overlord Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 41,056	Pretty much yeah, although there was still action in some of the episodes. It was really weird, like one episode would be all slapstick with no real fighting, and then the episode right after would have a huge fight scene. It must be because all these episodes were rushed and made at the same time by different writers and animation studios so nobody knew what was going on.

04-04-2017, 12:30 AM	#6
CyberCubed Overlord Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 41,056	Season 4, the first Howie ep is fun for that reason. The second one was kinda meh, they do the whole phantom of the opera thing better in the Season 6 episode, "Phantom of the Sewers."