Project: Episode Order for OT

[JoeD80]

*Please Read Guidelines Before Posting in This Thread*

Guidelines:

The goal of this project is to place every single episode in an order that will have as much continuity as possible.

1) I'll keep the list updated at the top of this thread. Each episode will be added to where it appears to make the most sense continuity-wise based on my thoughts and the discussions here.
1A) Don't post your own list; the list will be updated here. Make your relevant comments in the thread and I will update the list here if it makes sense or we come to consensus. Remember, I am open to changing this list even after we have passed the discussion of a particular episode.
1B) Commenting on future episodes is fine as well, I'll try and keep that up to date here as best I can
2) Thoughts about the episode just watched will appear at the end of the thread. Make your comments there as well.
3) The order I am watching from is air-date, even though this places some in obviously incorrect locations. Exception: I am going to separate the Group W episodes from the CBS episodes. So Plan 6, European episodes will come *before* Dimension X Story, etc. in our discussions
4) All comments welcome, including comments disagreeing with the already agreed upon order! We're going to finish this project!
5) If you want to watch the episodes at the same time so you can make comments, I will post the next 3 episodes I am planning to watch.
5A) I'll put a date-stamp on when I plan to post my comments on the next batch. Weekends will generally have no update, but for the most part I'll do 3 episodes per night.
5B) I'm going to try to add extra episodes over the weekend, so on the Monday update you'll see maybe 7 - 10 episodes. I'll make sure to update the "upcoming" list so that you'll know how many episodes to expect on that Monday.

Season 3 done. Sorting through my notes

New expected dates:

X. Season 3 (2/1 Done / Sorting through notes)
X. Season 4 Syndicated (3/18 )
X. European (3/18 )
X. CBS Season 1 (3/28 )
X. CBS Season 2 (3/28 )

Current List:

1. Turtle Tracks
2. Enter the Shredder
3. A Thing About Rats
4. Hot-Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X
5. Shredder & Splintered

1. Return of the Shredder
2. Case of the Killer Pizzas
3. The Incredible Shrinking Turtles
4. It Came from Beneath the Sewers
5. The Mean Machines
6. Curse of the Evil Eye
7. Enter: The Fly
8. New York's Shiniest
9. Splinter No More
10. Invasion of the Punk Frogs
11. Teenagers from Dimension X
12. The Catwoman from Channel Six
13. Return of the Technodrome

1. Beneath These Streets
2. April Fool
3. The Old Switcheroo
4. Attack of the 50-Foot Irma
5. Ninja Sword of Nowhere
6. 20,000 Leaks Under the City
7. Sky Turtles
8. Burne's Blues
9. The Maltese Hamster
10. Enter the Rat King
11. Super Bebop & Mighty Rocksteady
12. Attack of Big Macc
13. Camera Bugged
14. Four Musketurtles
15. Turtles on Trial
16. Turtles at the Earth's Core
17. The Fifth Turtle
18. Cowabunga Shredhead
19. Take Me to Your Leader
20. Beware the Lotus
21. Blast from the Past
22. Casey Jones - Outlaw Hero

- episode placed today
- Expecting more episodes to go before this one
- Plan to rewatch for placement
- New placement by consensus
- episode moved to new spot today

Future List (these will get numbers when they are added to the current list):
(compiled from comments made)

X. April Fool (unexpected lava)
X. Bye Bye Fly (Sewer Tubes invented)
X. Case of the Hot Kimono (Sewer Tubes Used)
X. Pizza by the Shred (Sewer Tubes Used)
X. Once upon a Time Machine (year is mentioned as 1991)
X. Elementary, My Dear Turtle (year is mentioned as 1991)
X. The Dimension X Story (Technodrome gets stuck in lava)
X. The Big Zipp Attack (Zipp eats manhole)
X. Planet of the Turtleoids (Technodrome on Earth)
X. Leonardo Is Missing (Technodrome still in arctic)

[Krang]

Great idea! Thanks for organizing this.

Originally Posted by JoeD80

(Moderators: can we change the title of the other thread to "Question about OT Episode Order" to distinguish it from this thread? Thanks )

No problem, it has been taken care of.

[JoeD80]

Originally Posted by Krang

Great idea! Thanks for organizing this.


No problem, it has been taken care of.

Thank you Krang.

BTW, to the others that posted information on stuff like The Fifth Turtle, The Big Zipp attack, etc. I have all your messages saved with responses for when I get to those episodes, so don't think I've ignored it!

Now on to the current three episodes:

Curse of the Evil Eye: This seems to be placed in the only place it can, at the end of all the eye episodes. So The Incredible Shrinking Turtles & It Came from Beneath the Sewers both involve the first fragment since Baxter misplaces it; The Mean Machines covers the 2nd, and Curse covers the 3rd. Baxter becomes progressively more agitated by Shredder, which leads me to my first real question of these early episodes ---

Case of the Killer Pizzas -- in this episode, Baxter is still fairly obsequious and I've always wondered if this made more sense *before* the episodes involving the Eye. Krang does help Shredder a little bit in this episode though, so maybe he wasn't willing to do that until Shredder went through the adventures with the Eye. The main thought I had is that Shredder wouldn't be as willing to accept Baxter's help after the whole trying to steal the eye for himself thing. So I'd be interested if anyone else had similar thoughts about this episode or if it's just me.

Enter: the Fly -- the end of Baxter and Bebop & Rocksteady return from Dimension X. This one only has one spot to go in since all the episodes without Baxter have Bebop & Rocksteady on Earth.

Check the top list for my updates.

[gobo]

Originally Posted by JoeD80

Case of the Killer Pizzas -- in this episode, Baxter is still fairly obsequious and I've always wondered if this made more sense *before* the episodes involving the Eye.

I always thought that was weird too. But, since no one ever questioned it, I overlooked. Best not to start a revolution unless you're certain the government's corrupt, you know

[JoeD80]

Originally Posted by gobo

I always thought that was weird too. But, since no one ever questioned it, I overlooked. Best not to start a revolution unless you're certain the government's corrupt, you know

That's the beauty of this thread; it's time for the revolution! Remember, we are going for as much continuity as possible, so if it makes more sense in that order, we should put it in that way, but also remember, everyone is allowed to make comments on episodes already placed if they don't agree with its position. I want to hear some good arguments from other people rather than just listening to the voices in my head! Meanwhile, I count that as two votes for moving this one so I will.

Now on to the next three episodes:

-Invasion of the Punk Frogs -- Splinter makes an interesting comment in this episode -- that "all indications are that Shredder plans to get the Technodrome back from Dimension X." Yet there hadn't been any indication of this yet. I believe there are some other episodes coming up where Shredder does try to open a portal to Dimension X, so I would think those would go before this episode.

-The Catwoman from Channel Six -- The big bit here is that Irma finally meets the Turtles, so any episodes where she still is wondering about April and the turtles has to go before this episode. It was kind of fun to watch this right after Fly and Frogs -- Shredder tries to train another mutant to go after the turtles in all 3 episodes (Fly, Frogs, Cat)!

-New York's Shiniest -- I noticed in this episode that Irma never does visit the turtles here. This one has a very interesting event -- the Turtles crash the Turtle Van off the bridge -- and then Splinter & April leave the sewers in the Turtle Van! Interestingly in this episode Krang says he's not going to help Shredder any more if he messes this one up. Since he gets a matter transporter from Krang in Catwoman, perhaps this one does go after. Irma doesn't ever show up in the sewers though, although she doesn't make her usual comment here about April always talking about the turtles.

As always, check the top of the thread.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by JoeD80

Curse of the Evil Eye: This seems to be placed in the only place it can, at the end of all the eye episodes. So The Incredible Shrinking Turtles & It Came from Beneath the Sewers both involve the first fragment since Baxter misplaces it; The Mean Machines covers the 2nd, and Curse covers the 3rd. Baxter becomes progressively more agitated by Shredder, which leads me to my first real question of these early episodes ---

Case of the Killer Pizzas -- in this episode, Baxter is still fairly obsequious and I've always wondered if this made more sense *before* the episodes involving the Eye. Krang does help Shredder a little bit in this episode though, so maybe he wasn't willing to do that until Shredder went through the adventures with the Eye. The main thought I had is that Shredder wouldn't be as willing to accept Baxter's help after the whole trying to steal the eye for himself thing. So I'd be interested if anyone else had similar thoughts about this episode or if it's just me.

That's a GREAT point about the Shredder/Baxter relationship. You have to think Shredder would have been done with him after the Eye of Sarnath arc. Yet, in Killer Pizzas, he actually gives him a compliment about his good catch saying, "we might make a ninja out of you yet!" I agree, Killer Pizzas probably precedes the Evil Eye. In Japan's TMNT manga adaptations, the Frogs and Killer Pizzas stories happen before the Eye of Sarnath arc. Not that any of that is really relevant to episode order though, especially since the Punk Frog story can't happen till Baxter is gone.

Originally Posted by JoeD80

-The Catwoman from Channel Six -- The big bit here is that Irma finally meets the Turtles, so any episodes where she still is wondering about April and the turtles has to go before this episode. It was kind of fun to watch this right after Fly and Frogs -- Shredder tries to train another mutant to go after the turtles in all 3 episodes (Fly, Frogs, Cat)!

That's an interesting connection between the "Shredder trains mutant" theme. I think this one goes after New York's Shiniest though. I like to think this one immediately precedes Return of the Technodrome because of Krang's ominous boast about raising the Technodrome. But maybe it's a weak argument on my part to build it on that one point. Good point about Irma's reactions, although she seems fairly comfortable with the Turtles' existence before she even meets them in Catwoman, so maybe she's just more flexible than we give her credit for.

Originally Posted by JoeD80

-New York's Shiniest -- I noticed in this episode that Irma never does visit the turtles here. This one has a very interesting event -- the Turtles crash the Turtle Van off the bridge -- and then Splinter & April leave the sewers in the Turtle Van! Interestingly in this episode Krang says he's not going to help Shredder any more if he messes this one up. Since he gets a matter transporter from Krang in Catwoman, perhaps this one does go after. Irma doesn't ever show up in the sewers though, although she doesn't make her usual comment here about April always talking about the turtles.

Hmm, you might be right that this one comes after Catwoman on account of Krang's threat. Then again, when has he ever made good on his threats against Shredder?

And, yeah, LoL about the van. That mistake even made it into the UK comics adaptation and (I think) the manga adaptation.