Which moments did the OT subtly deal/discuss about ACTUAL death?

[Refractive Reflections]

With the OT, most to everyone would agree it's the lightest cartoon version of the TMNT, but after watching a few episodes I noticed that in some of the dialogue, the characters (minor or villian though) had dealt with death. Here are some examples:

"Shreeka's Revenge" - Shreeka becomes upset with Krang and has a punishment "worse than death" by returning Bebop and Rocksteady to Krang. So she must have been familiar with killing others then... I guess...? :-?

"Night of the Rogues" - Krang's executioner from Dimension X. Therefore, he must have killed prisoners or enemies within Dimension X.

"Poor Little Rich Turtle" - Buffy Shellhammer's grandfather passing away and giving her the formula for an explosive.

So besides these examples, are there any other occurrences in which the dialogue or backstories may have suggested/implied that any of the OT characters had experienced death? It's actually interesting that the OT wasn't completely free from dealing with the issue, but of course these moments were so insignificant/unnoticeable to the overall light tone of the series.

[ObiWanFan4life]

Return of the Fly: Baxter Stockman gets pushed into the portal to Dimension X, Which we can infer was where he met his Demise.

[Candy Kappa]

Yoshi was framed for murder attempt on the Grandmaster of the Foot

[CyberCubed]

The guy who invented the super formula for the Maltese Hamster died after he created it.

[oldmanwinters]

In Enter the Fly, we had Krang throwing Baxter into an incineration chamber (which had unexpected results) and also Shredder looking to poison fatally April O'Neil. That scene with Splinter tending to an unconscious April with the turtles looking on with sadness was actually one of the more poignant moments of the series.

[TurtleTitan97]

That alien the turtles rescued in "The Incredible Shrinking Turtles" who just disappeared before them

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

With the OT, most to everyone would agree it's the lightest cartoon version of the TMNT, but after watching a few episodes I noticed that in some of the dialogue, the characters (minor or villian though) had dealt with death. Here are some examples:

"Shreeka's Revenge" - Shreeka becomes upset with Krang and has a punishment "worse than death" by returning Bebop and Rocksteady to Krang. So she must have been familiar with killing others then... I guess...? :-?

"Night of the Rogues" - Krang's executioner from Dimension X. Therefore, he must have killed prisoners or enemies within Dimension X.

"Poor Little Rich Turtle" - Buffy Shellhammer's grandfather passing away and giving her the formula for an explosive.

So besides these examples, are there any other occurrences in which the dialogue or backstories may have suggested/implied that any of the OT characters had experienced death? It's actually interesting that the OT wasn't completely free from dealing with the issue, but of course these moments were so insignificant/unnoticeable to the overall light tone of the series.

You forgot Raphael Meets Hs Match. And you can say any situation when someone's in danger, accident or in fight, is dealing with death in some ways.

[miru]

In Divide and Conquer, Lord Dregg was sent to dimension X holding Krang's Android body, which was about to explode.

[Icebot]

In State of Shock, that colonel Wesley Night mentioned that Alex Winter made the ultimate sacrafice for his country, later finding out he was wrong.

Wasn't High Tech launched into space to die in The Return of Dregg?

[DonatelloNinja82]

How about Donatello's Duplicate...the clones were technically alive...so when the clone machine was thrown into reverse and they all "disappeared"...couldnt that be considered a death in a way?

[CyberCubed]

I'm pretty sure the Mobster from Dimension X killed that one gangster he slimed.

[Refractive Reflections]

In Enter the Fly, we had Krang throwing Baxter into an incineration chamber (which had unexpected results) and also Shredder looking to poison fatally April O'Neil. That scene with Splinter tending to an unconscious April with the turtles looking on with sadness was actually one of the more poignant moments of the series.
And you can say any situation when someone's in danger, accident or in fight, is dealing with death in some ways.

Well yeah...:ohwell: any fight or perilous situation can be life-threatening, but I'm focusing more about the subtext of a character that has experienced a close one or witnessed actual death, and whoever they witnessed doesn't exist anymore. In other words, the finality of death, and not being rescued at the last second from it whether it was from luck or heroics. Sorry to everyone if I didn't convey that properly. :(

In Divide and Conquer, Lord Dregg was sent to dimension X holding Krang's Android body, which was about to explode.
Return of the Fly: Baxter Stockman gets pushed into the portal to Dimension X, Which we can infer was where he met his Demise.

Yeah, but those were a bit too ambiguous. They both are more of a loose story end, and their lives could be spared at the last minute rather than anything in the show supporting/hinting of an actual death. (Am I kinda making sense?... Sorry if I'm not. :()

I'm pretty sure the Mobster from Dimension X killed that one gangster he slimed.

Wasn't he just simply "vacuumed up" and not actually dead? :-? I dunna know... :ohwell:

The guy who invented the super formula for the Maltese Hamster died after he created it.
This is more in line of what I was asking and thinking about. The "finality" of death, and not perilous situations or ambiguous story endings of a villain's demise.

That alien the turtles rescued in "The Incredible Shrinking Turtles" who just disappeared before them
That could work too I guess, even though the death associated words/phrases weren't used. Were they?

In State of Shock, that colonel Wesley Night mentioned that Alex Winter made the ultimate sacrafice for his country, later finding out he was wrong.
That's a good example too because a character experienced the "finality" of death, even though it was later mistaken.

This might be an iffy one, but in "Get Shredder!" the Turtle believing the Channel 6 news crew was killed in the explosion. I mean there's a momentary period of realization with Michelangelo when he says, "But what about April and Irma, and even Vernon? We'll never see 'em again..." (I consider it iffy because on one hand, the Turtles are experiencing the finality of death, but on the other hand the experience was so brief and the crew was saved by heroics/luck.)

[IcyKali]

Wasn't there some silly episode where Raphael thinks he has a terminal illness?

[DonatelloNinja82]

Wasn't there some silly episode where Raphael thinks he has a terminal illness?

Raphael vs the Volcano.

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

"Bye, Bye, Fly"-Baxter Stockman got caught in a spider web and a spider approaches him as he screams in terror. (Perhaps he was originally intended to be killed off at that moment.)

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

April almost ending up killed by the fire in the first Bugman episode.

[oldmanwinters]

April almost ending up killed by the fire in the first Bugman episode.

Yep, having a twisted ankle and then burning to death is a rotten way to go!

[cammy85]

I don't think they mean death traps.

Season 2 had a few instances where Shredder was possibly killed. Curse Of The Evil Eye had him disappear after the eye exploded and the Technodrome sank into the lava with a hole in the hull at the end of the season, signifying the possible end of their plans.

[DonatelloNinja82]

The aliens getting absorbed into Dregg's exosuit in Divide and Conquer.

[InsaneZane]

i always kind of felt like Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael died temporarily when they turned into giant, lifeless balloons in "Michelangelo's Birthday"

[billbot85]

In a few episodes, including "Shredded and Splintered," when the turtles are caught up in a life or death situation, Raphael would say "It looks like we are headed for that big fish bowl in the sky."

[DonatelloNinja82]

i always kind of felt like Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael died temporarily when they turned into giant, lifeless balloons in "Michelangelo's Birthday"

Yah, I've always been confused about what exactly happened to them there...they were unresponsive blobs lol.

[1/2Shell]

In Enter the Fly, we had Krang throwing Baxter into an incineration chamber (which had unexpected results) and also Shredder looking to poison fatally April O'Neil. That scene with Splinter tending to an unconscious April with the turtles looking on with sadness was actually one of the more poignant moments of the series.


This was such a dark episode. Baxter was skeletonized in there! This was during the show's prime-time era. They could never get away with this on a network.

There were also a few times in the first season of the OT where the villians would directly mention 'killing' the TMNT, and shot at them with actual bullets. Raphael also takes his sais to Baxter's throat and threatens to kill him if he doesn't talk.

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

I remember an episode where Shredder actually shoots down a security guard with his laser blaster.

[pferreira]

Shredder traps April inside a vault in The Big Rip-Off and she almost suffocates to death.

[Krum]

Yes, in Get Shredder, when he blew up channel 6. That really stands out for me. Also in Michaelangelo's Birthday the other 3 turtles really believed Michaelangelo was dead for a short period.

Often they completely ignored death though. For example when giant Donatello was fighting the giant ape and whole buildings were coming down. How many people would have died in that episode?

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Dangerous gas used by Captain Hoffmann inside the prison, Invasion of the Punk Frogs.

[Refractive Reflections]

In "Shredder Triumphant!", Weezer the slave trader creature that sells the TMNT to the mine pits, is assumed to have died, but only momentarily when he crashes his starship into the fortress.

Leonardo is heard saying, "...he made the ultimate sacrifice." But then Weezer appears a couple seconds later behind them, in the distance to surprise them.

[DonatelloNinja82]

First episode of season 3, "Beneath These Streets", Splinter gets hit with the Medilaser by Shredder in reverse and goes into a coma. Donatello says they need to get the Medilaser back or he could even...*gulp*

[Refractive Reflections]

In "Michelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko" (Season 5), Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael try to track Michelangelo by following his TurtleCOM signal but then it "mysterious vanishes". They approach an exploded gasoline truck and Raphael states that they "lost him (Michelangelo), ...maybe forever". Donatello comments that not even Michelangelo's hard shell couldn't survive it.

Raphael starts crying saying, "If only he was alright, I'd never make fun of him again."

Then suddenly the signal appears again and Raphael remarks, "That's Michelangelo for you, he's always got a lousy sense of direction."

[InsaneZane]

Yah, I've always been confused about what exactly happened to them there...they were unresponsive blobs lol.

yeah it was pretty frightening when i was little i remember

[Prowler]

In "Turtle tracks", during the Turtles vs. Foot Soldiers rooftop fight, Leonardo cuts a Foot Soldier in half. Remember, this was before they found out that the Foot Soldiers were robots and not human...

[DonatelloNinja82]

yeah it was pretty frightening when i was little i remember

It was rather strange to me as a youngster too!

[snake]

Not really in the OT. But, on Antrax's toy bio card, he is mentioned to be Krangs executioner or something like that.

[CyberCubed]

April nearly dies in a number of episodes, and some really gruesome ways like being crushed to death or torn to shreds by a machine and so forth.

[Prowler]

April nearly dies in a number of episodes, and some really gruesome ways like being crushed to death or torn to shreds by a machine and so forth.
Leonardo(I think) almost died in the beginning of "Turtle Trek".

[cammy85]

Yup, and you could see the sadness in Shredder's eyes for a second when it was about to happen. I later assumed it was the foreshadowing that this would be Shredder's last episode.

[Prowler]

Yup, and you could see the sadness in Shredder's eyes for a second when it was about to happen. I later assumed it was the foreshadowing that this would be Shredder's last episode.
Shredder had his mouth and nose covered by metal, so it's hard to tell what his expression meant. I believe he was more surprised than anything thinking "Hey, whaddya know? One of those wretched reptiles is finally going to die."

[Refractive Reflections]

April nearly dies in a number of episodes, and some really gruesome ways like being crushed to death or torn to shreds by a machine and so forth.

Well, I started this thread to discuss when the OT characters (major, minor, or discussed to have killed/executed others) were already assumed to be dead, or died, but it evolved into perilous, life-threatening situations which of course is numerous throughout the series. **shrug** Whatever... :ohwell:

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

In "Turtle tracks", during the Turtles vs. Foot Soldiers rooftop fight, Leonardo cuts a Foot Soldier in half. Remember, this was before they found out that the Foot Soldiers were robots and not human...

And Raphael hits the Foot soldier with his sai in the same episode.

[Refractive Reflections]

I found a couple more:

"Michelangelo's Birthday" - Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael go to Shredder's hideout to see where he's holding Michelangelo. When they arrive, the three believe that Michelangelo had turned into a puddle of mutagen and that they arrived too late.

"Carter, the Enforcer" - Just after Landor and Merrick tell the Turtles to go back to their present time to save the future. Raphael mentions that they (Landor and Merrick) don't have a hope of surviving. After the Turtles leave, both Landor and Merrick hold hands together as the Technogang begins to fire directly at them.

[FlogginMcMurryZombiePizza]

I would like to be the one to point out the original movie dealt heavily with the concept of loosing a loved one.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I remember an episode where Shredder actually shoots down a security guard with his laser blaster.

April's fool. But wasn't that Bebop and Rocksteady? We never saw if that laser was just paralyzing hem for some minutes.

[Krang100]

Enter the Fly is one of the most dark episodes. Baxter was nearly killed, in fact we can see his skeleton when he went to be disintegrate in a cool and cruel manner. April was nearly killed in this episode, Shredder used it to challenged the turtles in order to save April, but Shredder planned to not keep his promise. These are some of the most evil acts doing by Krang (sent Baxter to be disintegrate) and Shredder (Planned to kill April).

[ticktack]

"Splinter vanishes"- Someone called Donatello through phone to warn that an explosion is about to go off then he took an escape. Leonardo falled in "deepest hole in the sewer". Mike got freezed, Raph got hooked from high.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

"Splinter vanishes"- Someone called Donatello through phone to warn that an explosion is about to go off then he took an escape. Leonardo falled in "deepest hole in the sewer". Mike got freezed, Raph got hooked from high.

Loved that episode.

I would also say Sky Turtles, when Krang's machine turns gravity on the Manhattan Island becomes waker. We never saw those buildings being abandoned. Maybe they were, but those remaining would die if the buildings left the Earth's atmosphere, ending up in space with no spacesuit or spacecraft with oxygen.

[ssjup81]

Haven't read back, but what about the Star Child ep? That kid blew up a tank. There were people in the tank. Oh and I'm sure it's been mentioned, but the first thing to pop into mind was when Baxter was thrown into the incinerator. If that doesn't imply blatant murder I don't know what does.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

*A Rat acutally seems to get killed by a mouser when Baxter Stockman demonstrates it in "A Thing About Rats".
*The monster that gets killed in "Splinter No More".

[pannoni1]

"Cowabunga Shredhead": Had Shredder (as Michelangelo) not lost the graphics disk while fighting with the real Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael would have become Shredder's hot plate special by being burned to death in an oven at Vinnie's Pizza. It haunted me and was the climax of the episode IMO. I felt that any Turtle never got closer to being killed than any other point in the series, since in Shreddered & Splintered and Michelangelo's birthday, the Turtles would simply become de-mutated meaning that there could still be mutagen to revive them; being burnt to death is simply that- a pile of ashes.

In "Divide and Conquer", Dregg even gave the Turtles a choice of their death.

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

"Cowabunga Shredhead": Had Shredder (as Michelangelo) not lost the graphics disk while fighting with the real Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael would have become Shredder's hot plate special by being burned to death in an oven at Vinnie's Pizza. It haunted me and was the climax of the episode IMO. I felt that any Turtle never got closer to being killed than any other point in the series, since in Shreddered & Splintered and Michelangelo's birthday, the Turtles would simply become de-mutated meaning that there could still be mutagen to revive them; being burnt to death is simply that- a pile of ashes.

In "Divide and Conquer", Dregg even gave the Turtles a choice of their death.

I'm glad you thought of that one. In fact, I remember, when they were on the conveyer belt, one Turtle worried that they would be baked into a pizza and be eaten by Shredder. The other said, "Or worse yet, Michelangelo!"

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

*The Mean Machines (the OMNSSS computer takes over the Turtlevan control)
*Four Turtles and a Baby (running into traffic)
*Adventures in Turtlesitting (running into traffic)
*Back to the Egg (almost, those inside their cars had to run out when Shredder tries to run over them with that tank-vehicle)