What is your favorite episode from the first half of Season 4?

[pannoni1]

Because Season 4 doesn't have as many multi-parter episodes compared to earlier seasons, I will divide this poll up into two rounds. This was around the time that the show started to stray a bit from the Mirage comics and focused on a more distinctive style with new 4kids-exclusive enemies.

[BubblyShell22]

I chose Samurai Tourist as I loved seeing Usagi and Gen come back and take a tour of New York.

[Jephael]

I loved the Halloween episode!

[tone-master21]

I went with I, Monster.

[ABrown]

Bad Day would easily be one of my top ten episodes from this series.

[Ulisa]

I personally feel this season had a lot of strong episodes in it. I like All Hallow's Thieves; I, Monster, Cousin Sid; Bad Day and quite a few others but overall, I loved Grudge Match.

I think the idea of Mikey having to defend his title was a neat twist to throw in. Though, I don't really understand the running gag of him bragging about it, it was an interesting wrench to throw into the works. I wasn't too fond of Mikey's family in this though. Yes, I know a little dose of humility would have been nice for him but the fact that even Splinter turned his back on him for the purpose of teaching him something struck me as pretty cold.

I always felt Mikey's victory in the tournament was something he clung to because he's always up against his brothers in the skills department: Don's got the brains and ingeninuety, Raph's got brute strength, Leo's got the ninja skills...to me, Mikey probably always felt like he got the short end of the stick. Being a champion was probably a sense of "hey, I can best them at somethin'!"

Though not to the same extent as the classic toon, I personally think Mikey usually has a confidence issue which I really saw reflected in this episode. Usually, he would come across as a bit on the arrogant side but with just a few hints here and there that that wasn't his true feelings on the issue. Really wish the writers had not turned his championship into the annoying trait it became.

Anyway, back to the episode, given that Leo had slipped into his 'angry-Rpah-twin" mode, his agreement to help Mikey made for some interesting character interactions. I really liked Leo's whole "one falls, we all fall' spill to him. Really reflected Leo's sense of sticking together despite his overall fall into the self-loathing, I failed them bit.

Of course, I pretty can't talk about this episode without talking about Mikey's fight at the end. As short as it was, I really think that's one of my favorite fights. The writers did a good job as making Mikey fail at first, until something he cared about was brought into play. Given how Mikey generally would rather do something fun like read comics than fight, seeing him finally focus and really show what he was capable of was refreshing. He could be downright dangerous if he selected to be.

[Icebot]

I voted for Samurai Tourist. I especially love how Gen was a Rhino and wore the same clothes as Rocksteady. It felt like Rocksteady was in the episode. It was pretty cool to see the gang at Yankee Stadium.

My choice came very close with Grudge Match. I like how there's the character Kluh, which is Hulk spelled backwords, who is from Levram, which is Marvel spelled backwards.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Bad Day. It featured the return of the Foot Mystics (something Pete probably prompted 4Kids to consider) and also showed the consequences if the turtles went public. Only problem with it was the turtle's reactions to April and Casey's death were pretty poor. Don just stood there and said, "No, no!" with no body movement.

[Jester]

I chose Samurai Tourist as I loved seeing Usagi and Gen come back and take a tour of New York.
Me too. Nothing beats the Gen dresses as Rocksteady bit from this episode. It's gold! The villain being an anthropomorphic wart hog didn't hurt, either.

[CyberCubed]

"I Monster" and "Dragon's Brew" was also fantastic episodes.

[Rooish]

I votes Dragons Rising--such a killer episode ending. Grudge Match, Cousin Sid, I Monster, and All Hallows Thieves and... I'm probably missing a bunch... were also very good.

Only problem with it was the turtle's reactions to April and Casey's death were pretty poor. Don just stood there and said, "No, no!" with no body movement.

As much as I loved the show, the voice actors and animators were a little awkward with strong emotion.

[gobo]

"Samurai Tourist" was Usagi's best ep.