TMNT Season 3 Best Episode Tournament: Mega Shredder! vs. Eyes of the Chimera

[JTH]

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ROUND 1

After a day to recharge ourselves, we're back with match number three of Round One of the Season 3 Best Episode Tournament.

In a weird bit of irony, after Matches 1 & 2, Episodes 1 & 2 have gone kaput, as last time A Foot Too Big got the predicted smackdown laid upon it.

We're about to kick off the 12 vs. 21 match. Let's see what this one holds.

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Round 1 Polls will last 3 days and will be private polls, but of course you can still discuss who you voted for and your reasoning why.

To check out the complete up to date bracket, the link is here:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=460628&tclass=TMNT%20Season%203%20Best%20Episode

With all that said, it's time to take a look at the "Tale of the Turtle Tape"!

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Official Seed: #12
Where JTH seeded this episode: #18
Total Points Received: 29
Official IGN Review: 8.2/10
Current TV.com Rating: 9.3/10
Highest Rating Episode Received: #6 (GoldMutant)

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Official Seed: #21
Where JTH seeded this episode: #23
Total Points Received: 8
Official IGN Review: 7.7/10
Current TV.com Rating: 8.4/10
Highest Rating Episode Received: #6 (snake)

Winner Faces: #5 Dinosaur Seen in Sewers! in Round 2

JTH's Prediction:
Can't lie, I wasn't a big fan of either episode. But if I had to choose, I'd probably go Mega Shredder. Chimera just didn't do anything for me, and Leo's "woe is me" attitude made him look real weak here, and the April situation I felt was a strange plot that could have been something else with better results. Leo clearly looks stronger in the former than the latter. So Mega Shredder gets my vote for the win.

#12 Attack of The Mega Shredder! - 20
#21 Eyes of the Chimera - 6

Which episode wins in your mind, vote away. Remember...please...HAVE FUN!!! :D

[Vicky82]

Another hard one, both great episodes, Greg Weisman wrote Eyes of the Chimera but Leo and Mikey were pretty badass in The Mega Shredder and the return of the Turtle Mech so I have to vote for Attack of the Mega Shredder.

[The Happy One]

Hmmm.....Both episodes were pretty good, I think. They both gave interesting revelations. Eyes of the Chimera followed up on April's diverse, really confusing powers and Attack on Mega Shredder told us more about the brain worms so....

Attack on Mega Shredder....? I mean it was a good Mikey/Leo episode that didn't get resolved by Mikey’s 'dumb luck' moments which is a plus.

And the Turtle Mech? That made the whole episode. :D

But they're really close. I think the Turtle Mech scene made the episode, though.

[JTH]

I'm actually a little surprised with the result so far. Chimera was just meh to me, but my opinion.

Still time to see what happens.

[Tarris Vaal]

Chimera was a strong episode in the Northampton arc though - with the exception of Leo, it was a real return to form. It was the start of the toning down of the Capritello arc and actually did go some way to delving into April's psychic powers - even though it didn't actually reveal much by the end of it.

Not to mention it was surprisingly dark in places - the nest being of particular note. It was also nice that it linked so directly from the previous episode and introduced an interesting monster design.

That said, I think Mega Shredder was one of the best Leo and certainly best Mikey episodes to date. Everyone got some opportunity to shine in it and the action was superb.

Just a shame about the monster itself really.

[GoldMutant]

Mega Shredder wins personally for me. Though it's plot is pretty damn stupid, it's among the best we've seen of Leo and Mikey thus far in the show. (far better than the Croaking for sure!) In addition, the surprises taken are quite intriguing even if Shredder didn't mutate as presumed by others. It's glaring weakness though is the pacing being somewhat off and some parts ending too quick when we get to the good stuff, such as the Mega Shredder itself. Plus, though there's some foreshadowing possibly with Casey's angry face in the lair, I honestly can't get why Raph still needs to be the one injured or suffering, it's very glaring and irritating.

In comparison, Eyes of the Chimera was backed with an interesting plot that had nothing to build off of like the majority of Northampton episode. Greg knew what he was doing, very good episode writing wise and the shots with flying on the Chimera are pure eye candy. The problem to me at least is though it attempts to cover the overused plot device of Leo's injury and doing something with April, the episode feels unwarranted of all of Northampton's episodes.

All in all, not too tough a call in comparison to the previous polls, but still mispotential episodes nonetheless. I vote Mega Shredder.