10 Best 80s Episodes

[pferreira]

With the anniversary of the Fred Wolf series this year I wondered what everyone considers the ten best episodes the show did.

Here's my list in no order:

1) Planet of the Turtleoids

2) Splinter Vanishes

3) Invasion of the Punk Frogs

4) Turtle Tracks

5) The Big Blow Out

6) The Old Switcheroo

7) Enter: The Fly

Once Upon a Time Machine

9) The Legend of Koji

10) Turtles on Trial

[FredWolfLeonardo]

My personal top 10 are (in no order):

1. Shredder Triumphant
2. Take me to your Leader
3. Michealangalos Birthday
4. Cowabunga Shredhead
5. Enter the Fly
6. The Big Rip Off
7. The Big Break In
8. The Big BlowOut
9. Enter the Rat King
10. Divide and Conquer

This was quite a hard list for me to make, since I enjoy all of the old cartoon and have lots of favourites. In the end, I didn't rank them by which episode is best compared to others, but which episodes I tend to revisit the most.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Splinter Vanishes rocks!

[Powder]

Dunno about "best" in terms of quality but I'll try to list my ten favorites at least (in no particular order, barring the first)..

The Big Cufflink Caper
Leatherhead Meets The Rat King
Planet Of The Turtleoids
Once Upon A Time Machine
White Belt, Black Heart
The Legend Of Koji
Revenge Of The Fly
Night Of The Rogues
Napoleon Bonafrog: Colossus of the Swamps
Sky Turtles

The first season stands alone, honorable mention.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

So many liked Planet of the Turtleoids?

[MikeandRaph87]

For me it's...
1. Night of The Rogues
2. Get Shredder!
Leatherhead: Terror of The Swamp
The Big Cufflink Caper
Planet of The Turtloids
Wrath of The Rat King
Shredder Is Splintered
Return of The Fly
Turtles on Trial
Casey Jones: Outlaw Hero

As a kid I liked the concept of Michelangelo forced into being the mature one as the underworld gathered so I give it honorable mention to Adventures In Turtle-sitting.

I have a definitive #1 and #2 favorite episodes while the others are in no particular order.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Season 1
Return of the Shredder
Return of the Technodrome
Big trilogy

They're all classic, but it isn't easy to choose.

[ranger_scout]

These are in no particular order:

Cowabunga Shredhead
Napoleon Bonafrog: Colossus of the Swamps
Splinter Vanishes
The Incredible Shrinking Turtles
Snakes Alive!
Son of Return of the Fly II
Landlord of the Flies
Night of the Dark Turtle
Leonardo Cuts Loose
New York's Shinest

[MrPliggins]

Season 1 as a whole
Case of the Killer Pizzas
The Old Switcheroo
Bye Bye Fly
The Big Blow Out
Shredderville
The Legend of Koji
Green With Jealousy
Turtles on Trial
Cowabunga Shredhead

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Ooh tough call! Here are mine (in descending order.)

1: Splinter No More
2: Turtle Tracks
3: Turtles On Trial
4: What's Michelangelo Good For?
5: The Old Switcheroo
6: Night of the Dark Turtle
7: Green With Jealousy
8: The Gang's All Here
9: Raphael Meets His Match
10: The Legend of Koji

[oldmanwinters]

I always exempt the Pilot season from the discussion, since each of those episodes would make the list.

Here's the list of episodes that I think I could best argue as objectively "good," and as representations of the series formula at its best.

Enter the Fly
Turtles on Trial
Casey Jones, Outlaw Hero
Burne's Blues
The Big Cufflink Caper
Planet of the Turtleoids
White Belt, Black Heart
Legend of Koji
Revenge of the Fly
Get Shredder

Honorable Mention: The Incredible Shrinking Turtles, The Curse of the Evil Eye, The Ninja Sword of Nowhere, The Making of Metalhead, Usagi Yojimbo, The Big Rip Off, My Brother the Bad Guy, Shredder Triumphant

I never considered the individual turtle "spotlight" episodes to be among the best of the series, simply because they focus on a single character sometimes to the detriment of the rest of the cast. But they serve their purpose by giving characters some depth and chances to show off their special skills. So here's my list of best spotlight episodes for each of the main characters:

Leo: Leonardo vs. Tempestra
Michelangelo: Michelangelo Meets Bugman
Raphael: Raphael Meets His Match
Donatello: Donatello's Degree
Splinter: Splinter No More
April: Leonardo, Renaissance Turtle
Irma: Donatello's Degree
Shredder: Shredder's Mom
Krang: A Thing about Rats (sad we didn't get more Krang-focused stories)
Rocksteady and Bebop: Rocksteady and Bebop Conquer the Universe

[CyberCubed]

Hard pick here because I liked a lot of episodes, and the lists everyone made so far looks good and I agree with.

For me, Season 1 was great, so excluding Season 1 eps:

- Legend of Koji (literally my favorite episode)
- White Belt, Black Heart
- Night of the Rogues
- Son of Return of the Fly
- Leatherhead meets The Rat King
- Splinter No More
- Splinter Vanishes
- Get Shredder
- Shreeka's Revenge

Honorable mentions:

- Season 3 three part finale
- Invasion of the Krangezoids
- Atlantis Awakes
- Casey Jones: Outlaw Hero
- Usagi Yojimbo
- Snakes Alive
- The Big Cuffling Caper
- Were Rats from Channel 6
- Making of Metalhead
- Camera Bugged


Damn, so many episodes I can list.

[sdp]

I made a thread about this a while ago and got some good responses, check it out.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by sdp

I made a thread about this a while ago and got some good responses, check it out.

Five years ago...

[Ulisa]

This is actually pretty hard because I'm a fan of most of these episodes. I'm not counting Season 1, because as most have said, it would take up four episodes in and of itself. So, let's see:

1) What's Michelangelo Good For?--As a Michelangelo fan, this is one of my favorites. I was quite fond of Dr Goodfellow and her interactions with Michelangelo were fun to witness. Likewise, I always like when Mike's affinity for animals or children is brought up.

2) Eye of Sarnoth Saga--Okay, so maybe this is cheating but I have to count these episodes together because I really love the overarching theme they created here. Each one of these episodes I can enjoy on its own but they work even better together. The last one is especially satisfying for me.

3) Michelangelo's Birthday--Well, it's Michelangelo focused and I do love the interactions between the other turtles and Shredder during this episode. Aside from the odd ending, I really like how this one played out.

4) The Big Trilogy--I think everything that can be said about this episode has been said. It really was an exciting finale and some of the best action with the Technodrome. Much like Eye of Sarnoth, I can enjoy these together or separately

5) Enter: The Fly--I loved the conflict in this one. It gave some weight to what the turtles were doing. In the later episodes, it became more comical so I enjoy when the episodes actually have some lethal consequences at stake, in this case, April's life.

6) Shredderville--Always been a fan of the 'it's a wonderful life' scenario in shows and this one is no exception. Seeing a Shredder wanting to NOT be in charge at the end was also classic.

7) Donatello's Duplicate-- Donatello's vanity has always been a great trait in the 87 series and this episode really played with it. Seeing a duplicate without Donatello's morals is awesome.

The Legend of Koji-- Well, what can I say? If this was used as a base for TMNT III, it would have probably worked a little better. Seeing time travel used well, seeing the turtles interacting with the creator of their clan, Koji's characterization...

9) My Brother the Bad Guy--I love the contrast between Shredder and his brother. It leads to some great emotional humor near the end and the way he learns to interact with the turtles is also a lot of fun to watch. The turtles' reaction to his heritage is still one of my favorite moments in the series.

10) Splinter No More--They finally address the 'we'll make our master human' plot detail. I like how Splinter finds that he no longer really fits in with society and Shredder's device to turn the turtles against one another led to some really great interactions.

Honorable Mentions to Rebel without a Fin, Adventures in Turtle Sitting, Bye Bye Fly, Mutagen Monster, Name that Toon, Bebop and Rocksteady Conquer the Universe, Son of Return of the Fly II, Get Shredder and Artless. I love each of these for different reasons but mainly for individual character moments. I have a thing for small, seemingly insignificant moments and these all had some great ones

[2K3]

My 10 are in chronological order (I just can't rank them). Multiple Episode stories I count as one big story arc:

1) Season 1 arc
2) The Eye of Sarnoth arc
3) Splinter No More
4) The Big Trilogy
5) Raphael Meets His Match
6) Night of the Rogues
7) Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter
Get Shredder
9) The Power of Three/ A Turtle in Time/ Turtles to the Second Power
10) Divide and Conqueror

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Krang: A Thing about Rats (sad we didn't get more Krang-focused stories)

I don't see that so much as a Krang-focused episode, more just the start of the rivalry between Krang and Shredder.

[1/2Shell]

1 - Season 1 The first 5 episodes of 1987. It works as one episode for me.
2 - Turtles on Trial
3 - Enter The Fly
4 - Invasion of the Punk Frogs
5 - Cowabunga Shredhead
6 - Casey Jones: Outlaw Hero
7 - Corporate Raiders from Dimension X
8 - Pizza by the Shred
9 - The Big Rip-off / Break-in / Blow-out . It also works as one episode.
10 - Return of the Shredder

Best writers - Michael Reaves, David Wise

Best Seasons - 1 - 3

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Since some multiple episodes are considered one, maybe it should be changed to "10 best storyarcs"?

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Powder

Dunno about "best" in terms of quality

Oh you. But great choices.

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

Splinter Vanishes rocks!

Rocks so much I bought a copy of the script off the writer!

Originally Posted by sdp

I made a while ago and got some good responses, check it out.

I knew someone would have made a similar thread. Thanks though.

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I never considered the individual turtle "spotlight" episodes to be among the best of the series, simply because they focus on a single character sometimes to the detriment of the rest of the cast. But they serve their purpose by giving characters some depth and chances to show off their special skills.

I get what you mean. There are some I enjoy. Ensemble ones I always enjoyed more but individual stories for the Turtles provided some nice character development. There was some good writing in there.

Originally Posted by Ulisa

I love each of these for different reasons but mainly for individual character moments. I have a thing for small, seemingly insignificant moments and these all had some great ones

Bye Bye Fly is one I do enjoy quite a bit. Episodes like Take Me To Your Leader was TMNT with it's best humour, The Gang's All Here and The Foot Soldiers Are Revolting remind me why I love the show.