Question about OT Episode Order
 

OK, so this has been an obsession of mine since 1989 - I always wanted to re-organize the episodes in to the order that made the most sense. I'm starting to rewatch the series again now (BTW, this guide http://www.thetechnodrome.com/loceplist.shtml was very helpful in understanding production vs. airdate, and it was more helpful than the ninjaturtles.com guide). So question for you guys about the 1989 season because I was looking through my notes and found this order:

1. Beneath These Streets
2. The Old Switcheroo
3. April Fool
4. Attack of the Big Macc
5. The Ninja Sword of Nowhere
6. 20,000 Leaks Under the City
7. Take Me to Your Leader
8. The Four Musketurtles
9. Sky Turtles
10. Turtles on Trial

For whatever reason, I didn't copy down the order past #10. Does anyone know where this order comes from or if it works any better (I'm currently only at "The Mean Machines" in my current run-through). I had it marked as tv.com, but that's definitely not the order there now and I couldn't find it in the internet archive either. No other site I see has this order so it got me thinking if I should have copied down the rest of it (notes are dated 2005).

I thought they made good sense as they are listed on the official TMNT site and the DVDs (outside of the two missing eps). The only hangups I have are the appearance of the Turtle Tubes in an episode or two before their official introduction by Donatello in a later episode (however, the references escape me at the moment). Also, one of the turtles makes a throw-away gag reference to a random episode number in "Sky Turtles" that has no basis in production order. :lol:

Then, of course, there is the whole "European Vacation" arc between seasons 3 and 4.

The only thing that really matters is the location of the Technodrome in terms of continuity. Aside from that, and the first eps for major characters (like Rat King, etc.), it doesn't matter THAT much when you watch the episodes.

I just watch the episodes in the order they're on the DVDs. Of course I know they skipped 2 episodes, so I watch those online where they fit in.

It's in the Old Switcheroo when he says "What's that thing?" But that's not the only element here. In another episode, they are surprised when lava rises from the ground after Shredder escapes, and Leonardo says "What was that about?". In early episodes, they burn their feet on the lava, in later episodes the lava is expected. It's maybe subtle and not important to the stories, but there's a definite progression there.

Hm, I don't know about one in "Sky Turtles" but Donatello makes a reference to "Sky Turtles" in another episode saying "I wish we had those boots from Episode 6."

I'm not quite there yet, one headache at a time!

See the thing is -- the Technodrome moves within season 3. It's on the move in "Return of the Fly." In other episodes, the Technodrome doesn't have enough power to move. So it goes from no power -> some power -> getting stuck in the other spot -> I think it's Bye Bye Fly where Bebop and Rocksteady comment on the hundreds of holes the modules drilled. Also there's stuff like that episode where Donatello invents the trash-can ooze flipping thing and it shows up in another episode; an episode where Donatello invents the transporter to Dimension X and that shows up in other episodes. Those didn't quite show up in the right order on the DVD IIRC. I will get in my thoughts on season 3 later, but like I said I'm only on "The Mean Machines" right now!

The main gist of my original question was that I was mostly curious if anyone knew where that list I posted came from or what the rest of the list was, I'll bore everybody with my own thoughts about episode order on a different thread later.

Ah, yes, thanks for pointing that out. You are right.

Once again, I am corrected! I just assumed Sky Turtles since that was when they got the boots!

I guess there is a need for a continuity list!

Yes, there was another member on this forums about a year or two ago that also wanted to place the episodes in order since they aren't on any official guide.

It'd be awesome if someone actually did it. Yeah, the continuity doesn't matter but it'd still be nice to have it in order.

I think the original airing order was pretty much in correct order as far as when things were introduced and reappeared.

Also on the season 4 DVD, "The Dimension X Story", in which the Tech gets stuck in the hardened lava, is waaay out of place.

To sorta answer your question, there are three different ep-lists you can compare it to: NinjaTurtles.com, TV.com and the Library Of Congress list. If it's not one of those three, I haven't a clue where you might have found that. As you said, the continuity clues are generally subtle, but there also aren't very many of them. Technodrome where-abouts and invention introductions are pretty much all there is. In CBS's premiere season, the manhole cover Zipp took a bite out of is shown in other eps that season. I'm willing to wager the entire syndicated run (including the Euro Cruise eps which weren't technically syndicated as they were aired exclusively on cable) was supposed to come before the CBS run. They never showed how the Technodrome came to be on the tropical island meteor from its eye-ball turret-first crash on that little Cybertron wannabe, but it was on the island all during syndicated season four as well as the Euro Cruise.
I believe there was another one possibly in the first CBS season by Raph, the Turtle with the most disregard for fourth walls. I think it was a three-digit number, but I can't seem to remember the context of it.
I nominate JoeD80! I mean, heck, he already started on it. Besides, I already put in my hours at LOC.gov a long time ago...

I know there is a season 6 episode "Leonardo is Missing" where the Technodrome isn't under water.

Is Planet of the Turtleoids suspose to be a season 5 episode?

Here is one of the threads I mentioned:
http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=18031


That user (Krangstein) used to make posts about it, I'm sure he'd love to help.

Also, while not a big deal but in Season 4 with the Big Zipp Attack, one of the zipps eat the manhole cover to the sewers that they show in other episodes that season. So that helps out somewhat when placing certain ones after the Zipp episode. hahaha!

And in Season 3, when the technodrome moves slightly in the episode introducing Zack.

Of course, those are only minor things that overall don't really matter but I think would be somewhat helpful as well.

Thanks for all the information on stuff I had forgotten about everyone (Fifth Turtle, Zipp, Arctic vs. Ocean etc.)

Gobo, thanks for the info on the lists; must have been someone's personal list that got lost somewhere along the line I guess.

OK, thanks for the nomination. There's more interest on constructing this list than I thought! Since I've had lots of notes on episode orders over the years I'll try and find them all out and see what's on them. So let's say "Go" for this episode order project!

I think a separate thread for this is best to separate the project from the question in this thread, so join me in the next thread.