If you could have given the FW series a different ending...

[Prowler]

...what would it be like?

I'm generally fine with the way the series ended, but I think it should have ended with a major final battle against Shredder and Krang. In fact, that's how I imagined it would end. It's kinda funny how most of the show was about the Turtles trying to stop Shredder and Krang and getting Shredder nearly every single episode with him always getting away. It was a chronic cat and mouse chase type of deal. Yet, the show ended with a completely different main villain.

The season 3 finale felt pretty epic when I first watched it. And Shredder Triumphant, the season 7 finale had a very final episode vibe to it and I honestly thought that was gonna be it... but it wasn't as we all know.And Turtle Trek also felt like a final episode, but again it wasn't. So a final battle vs. Shredder and Krang had to be REALLY EPIC. Not sure what I'd do with it, but it just feels like the logical way to end the show, really, and I suspect most of you will say something like that as well. How would you do it, though?

[FredWolfLeonardo]

I am one of those people who think that the FW series had a perfect ending, the best of all tmnt cartoon endings bar none.

Even though it ended in the less iconic Red Sky era, the FW series ending has (almost) everything, for the reasons below:

1. The turtles finally become Splinter's equals after 10 seasons.

2. They finally defeat Dregg, who perhaps was their greatest threat after absorbing all those aliens (it also spares Shredder and Krang from being killed off).

Plus, Dregg was so bloodlusted at that point that even Krang called him insane.

3. We get to see the technodrome one last time, in ruins and abandoned (honestly creates a great atmosphere).

4. Krang's android body finally gets to show its true power after being teased all the way in the 1st season ("No force on earth will be able to stop me!")

The only things I would've changed was to make the setting in the normal Blue Sky aesthetic (same for the entire Red Sky seasons), and give Shredder and Krang some sort of actual physical appearance alongside Dregg rather than just being mentioned (although I still wouldn't have killed them off).

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

I am one of those people who think that the FW series had a perfect ending, the best of all tmnt cartoon endings bar none.

Even though it ended in the less iconic Red Sky era, the FW series ending has (almost) everything, for the reasons below:

1. The turtles finally become Splinter's equals after 10 seasons.

2. They finally defeat Dregg, who perhaps was their greatest threat after absorbing all those aliens (it also spares Shredder and Krang from being killed off).

Plus, Dregg was so bloodlusted at that point that even Krang called him insane.

3. We get to see the technodrome one last time, in ruins and abandoned (honestly creates a great atmosphere).

4. Krang's android body finally gets to show its true power after being teased all the way in the 1st season ("No force on earth will be able to stop me!")

The only things I would've changed was to make the setting in the normal Blue Sky aesthetic (same for the entire Red Sky seasons), and give Shredder and Krang some sort of actual physical appearance alongside Dregg rather than just being mentioned (although I still wouldn't have killed them off).

It was definitely a pretty solid final episode for the series. Even though you don't see it, I've always assumed Dregg died. However, nothing implies that Shredder and Krang were gone forever. All we knew was that they were stuck in Dimension X. If they were able to survive the massive alien plant in Turtle Trek, then I don't see why they couldn't possibly come back again after we saw them in the Turtles to the Second Power three-parter in season 10. It's not like they were hobos starving to death in Dimension X.

I'd hesitate to kill them as well, tbh. Shredder was a bad guy in the series but kinda "cool" and likeable. Plus, they got embarrassed by the Turtles so often that you just couldn't help but feel bad for them. And even the Turtles at some point didn't care that they always got away at the end of the episode. It's like it became some sort of "Stockholm Syndrome" deal. Both parties needed each other, and a lot of the episodes without Shredder and Krang weren't that good.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by Prowler

It was definitely a pretty solid final episode for the series. Even though you don't see it, I've always assumed Dregg died. However, nothing implies that Shredder and Krang were gone forever. All we knew was that they were stuck in Dimension X. If they were able to survive the massive alien plant in Turtle Trek, then I don't see why they couldn't possibly come back again after we saw them in the Turtles to the Second Power three-parter in season 10. It's not like they were hobos starving to death in Dimension X.

I'd hesitate to kill them as well, tbh. Shredder was a bad guy in the series but kinda "cool" and likeable. Plus, they got embarrassed by the Turtles so often that you just couldn't help but feel bad for them. And even the Turtles at some point didn't care that they always got away at the end of the episode. It's like it became some sort of "Stockholm Syndrome" deal. Both parties needed each other, and a lot of the episodes without Shredder and Krang weren't that good.

I actually thought Dregg would've died too.
Sure, we don't actually see it directly but he was caught in the massive explosion and it was the final episode so he is most likely dead for all intents and purposes.

And the thought of Shredder and Krang being homeless hobos in Dimension X who beg for food and money cracks me up for some reason

I agree too that Shredder and Krang are too likeable to be killed off.
Atleast their last appearance had them help the turtles indirectly by fighting Lord Dregg (whom they were surprisingly competent against).

[shredder orokusaki]

The best would had been to kill the turtles and splinter!. I and krang then went to live in one of dimension x planets because we didnt have the portal to return to earth but we found some friendly aleins who took us in their home. That was until 2003 when i became Utrom and i came back to earth !

[ZariusTwo]

The team-up between Dregg, Shredder and Krang should have been the finale, it tied up virtually every loose end, even Carter. Had the last part of that arc ended with Splinter telling the Turtles they had 'graduated' then it would have been perfect.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

The team-up between Dregg, Shredder and Krang should have been the finale, it tied up virtually every loose end, even Carter. Had the last part of that arc ended with Splinter telling the Turtles they had 'graduated' then it would have been perfect.

This is actually what I was going to post. It seemed odd that Dregg immediately came back striking from Dimension X yet Shredder and Krang also in Dimension X did not. It needed to end with Shredder and Krang not Dregg in a final battle. Turtle Trek left it open like Shredder and Krang would strike yet again, but ultimately did not. There needed to be some closure instead of Shredder and Krang wondering around Dimension X allegedly stuck there. Krang could rebuild and would be content eventually, but Shredder needed to end up jailed on Earth after some finality.

[ZariusTwo]

This conversation has actually prompted me to edit the final scene of "Divide and Conquer" into the climax of "Turtles to the Second Power"

The actual final scene of "Turtles to the Second Power" annoyed me, it doesn't end on a punch line or something from the Turtles, the last word goes to Carer, he is transported to the future and then it just abruptly ends, so the new ending I find adds a lot more closure to things.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

This conversation has actually prompted me to edit the final scene of "Divide and Conquer" into the climax of "Turtles to the Second Power"

The actual final scene of "Turtles to the Second Power" annoyed me, it doesn't end on a punch line or something from the Turtles, the last word goes to Carer, he is transported to the future and then it just abruptly ends, so the new ending I find adds a lot more closure to things.

It would have fit better.

Slightly off topic, it also annoyed me that we did not get the '88-'93 designs. It would have emphasized the different time small budget or not. The impact the series had deserved a proper budget and I believe that visual difference would have helped the story. Also, the budget would have shown the VAs more appreciation and Rob would not have walked to Warner Bros.

[neatoman]

Karai shows up, kicks Shredder out of the Technodrome, sells that thing for scrapmetal and turns Krang into calamari.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by neatoman

Karai shows up, kicks Shredder out of the Technodrome, sells that thing for scrapmetal and turns Krang into calamari.

Wasn't that the hypothetical FW City at War adaptation?

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

Wasn't that the hypothetical FW City at War adaptation?

Wouldn't that be fitting though?

[pferreira]

They should have spent the last season giving closure to the roster of villains and reoccurring characters. The last episode should have been a two parter and had an epic battle between the TMNT and Shredder/Krang the forces of Dimension X.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by pferreira

They should have spent the last season giving closure to the roster of villains and reoccurring characters. The last episode should have been a two parter and had an epic battle between the TMNT and Shredder/Krang the forces of Dimension X.

We know The Rat King got arrested. As for Leatherhead and others... who knows.

[IMJ]

It's hard to give a show like Fred Wolf some kind of true "ending" because it wasn't truly serialized and it ran on comedy and the merits of "kids".

But with that said and putting any kind of "plot finale" aside, I think some kind of ending where the last few minutes showed every ally the Turtles had throughout the show coming together to hang with them in the sewer for a party or something would have been a good ending.

Why?

Because as an appeal to kids the message would've been that being a Mutant Turtle makes it hard to fit into society and have a future, but even the TMNT found a sense of family outside of their den.

This could have ended the FW show on any adventure, but with a conclusion that there was some familial future for the group outside of perpetually stopping burglaries for a society that mostly didn't care.

[Leo656]

Not bad. Would have fit the specific universe well enough.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Not bad. Would have fit the specific universe well enough.

Thanks! I'm always waiting around to be hired in a writer's room.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

One thing I do appreciate about the last episode of the FW series is all the subtle callbacks to the first few episodes, like revealing that Krang's android body design came from an alien in Dimension X. I always felt that the ending of the show should've included a flashback to how Shredder and Krang met, but I guess its forever left to our imaginations now.

[neatoman]

If I'm going to give a serious answer to this question, isn't the season 7 finale good enough as a "true" ending? The main villains are essentially stripped of their piece of shi... I mean "deadly war machine"... for good. About the only thing left would have been to show them get taken into prison or something, just to tie it up neatly.

As for something different... Probably not too different from my joke ending to be honest. It would definitely still involve the revelation that the real Foot Clan has been ignoring Shredder the whole time while he was off playing with robots.
Here is a list of things that might be a good idea to work in:

• Splinter is returned to human form.
• The Technodrome is destroyed for good.
• Krang, Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady are brought to justice.
• The Turtles get some kind of happy ending.

So, something like this I would say:

Spoiler:

Shredder is about to pull another stupid plan when he gets a call from Karai. She tells him up until recently, everyone just assumed he disappeared. Here we find out that Shredder never actually seized control over Foot and his betrayal of Hamato Yoshi was figured out rather quickly because of how obvious it was but not before Yoshi disappeared, which is why he wasn't welcomed back. Shredder was actually banished from the clan and the only reason he didn't just end up a homeless bum is because he stumbled upon the Technodrome by accident.

Karai tells him they just now found out about the Technodrome and are about to seize it because such an idiot can't be trusted with it. Shredder freaks out because he knows he stands no chance against the real Foot Clan with his useless robots. In his desperation he thinks he can take contact with Krang's homeworld, even though Krang protests for some reason, for aid but ends up finding Baxter Stockman instead. Baxter tells him he has been working on an anti-mutagen bomb that will get rid of the Turtles forever. Not wanting to deal with the Turtles in this time of Crisis, let's him go after the Turtles with Bebop and Rocksteady.

The real Foot shows up at the Technodrome and the Turtles notice them and follow. In the Technodrome a fight between the real Foot and the Fake Foot breaks out, the Turtles don't know who to root for and look for information. Here they find the portal to Krang's homeworld and go there. Here we find out Krang's people, the Utroms, banished him for being a dangerous idiot and didn't really mind letting him keep the Technodrome because they knew it was a fragile piece of shit to begin with.

Meanwhile, Stockman and B/R find Splinter. They follow him to above ground and explode, the anti-mutagen bomb at very high altitude. This spreads it across the city and possibly beyond, curing all mutants in the city. This immediately cures Stockman, Splinter, Bebop and Rocksteady. The Turtles are of course spared because they're with the Utroms.

Shredder is losing the battle and flees. The Utroms show up and dismantle the Technodrome. Krang is taken back to their homeworld where he is put to do community service. Bebop and Rocksteady are sent to prison. Shredder becomes homeless. Splinter is welcomed back to the Foot. The Turtles retire to Northampton and April quits her job to pursue her true passion, computer engineering.

That is about as "respectful" as I can get for the Fred Wolf cartoon and probably requires tweaks but it would be something along those lines.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by neatoman

If I'm going to give a serious answer to this question, isn't the season 7 finale good enough as a "true" ending? The main villains are essentially stripped of their piece of shi... I mean "deadly war machine"... for good. About the only thing left would have been to show them get taken into prison or something, just to tie it up neatly.

I think that the nature of the series - as exemplified even by your point there - is that a finale needed to be "spiritually directed" towards the characters rather than "narratively directed" to the plot.

The show was a "villain of the week" show that had extraordinarily light continuity. And even then the continuity wasn't compelling - it was just "oh the Shredder got the Technodrome out of the volcano and now he's back".

So given this pattern to the show, you find the through-line of the characters as a send off rather than the through-line of a plot to tie up as a send off.