Classic Ep Talkback: Planet of the Turtleoids (Pt.1&2)
 

Alright, the elusive two-part episode that still hasn't been released on DVD.
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I don't remember if I got to watch this when it originally aired. I've heard it originally aired in primetime. Anybody catch the live premiere? What time and channel did it air?

As far as the episode itself goes, it is pretty epic with the introduction of Groundchuck, Dirtbag, and Chromedome, three characters who had very notable appearances in the Konami video games. The animation is quite good as well.

I really do wish we had a few more 2-part episodes in the series' run.

Well there were some, but they weren't labeled as Part 1 and 2:
"Heroes in a Half Shell" Mini Series = Season 1
"The Eye of Sanos" Mini Series = 4 Episodes from Season 2
"Usagi Yojimbo" Mini Series = 2 Episodes which occur Back-to-back
"The Big" Mini Serie = 3 Part Season 3 Finale
"Hokum Hare" Mini Series = 2 Part Season 4 "Finale"
"H.A.V.O.C." Mini Series = 3 Episodes which occur Back-to-Back"
"Shredder & Krang Return" Mini Series = 3 Episodes which occur Back-to-Back"

About Planet of the Turtleloids:
Also loved the two episodes, Part 1 was a good Built up and Part 2 had a great finale!

For some reason I always really liked Groundchuck and Dirtbag.

I don't know why. Its not like they're all that different than any of the other secondary animal mutants we were given at the time.

Maybe its because they're not as well known as other TMNT villains, and they actually appeared in the show, unlike some other Playmates mutants.

Yep I did see it then. It was on CBS. Have no idea what day or time it was though since it was so long ago (I'm assuming 7:00 PM where I was, since I was in the Mountain time zone back then). Also I remember Big Cufflink Caper being on in primetime around then too.

Man, I wish I could find some commercials advertising these prime time premieres. I'm guessing it must have been a big deal for kids to learn their favorite cartoon was coming on at a time when the grownups usually had the TV to themselves!

I remember watching this in primetime, and I remember thinking "this is kind of stupid." By then I was pretty heavily into the Mirage comics and while I still loved the syndicated TMNT, it definitely lost something when it started airing on CBS.

I remember a few other cartoons airing in primetime around that same time. Batman: The Animated Series and, I think, an X-Men cartoon? And The Real Ghostbusters Halloween special.

I was about to make a post about this episode but since this thread was just made, I figure I'll ask in here lol

So for those who have the vhs, have you tried transferring this to dvd? I actually bought it new, still in the plastic wrap a while ago and I'm thinking about transferring it since vhs can deteriorate over time through use, etc...

and if anyone has done it, what did you use/or suggest using?


I figure since we may not get a release any time soon (if ever), I may as well just transfer it to dvd :ohwell:

Yes, I remember "Planet of the Turtleoids" and "The Big Cufflink Caper" (which was used to kick off TMNT on CBS. IIRC "Planet of the Turtlepoids" aired on a Sunday night and "TBCC" aired on a Friday night.

One thing confuses me: during the "Planet of the Turtleoids" premiere, they mentioned an episode where Krang and Shredder would finally get free from the ice and take over the world... coming next week. Does anyone else remember this?? Obviously they didn't get free until "Rock Around the Block", but I remember this ad.

Air years and dates
 

Use this http://www.ninjaturtles.com/cartoon/synopses.htm for the air years (sometimes even air dates)

http://www.ninjaturtles.com/cartoon/1991.htm says it was 1993

I got to watch and record this one when it first aired in prime time in 91. I still have the VHS tape somewhere and I remember a promo for season 5's premiere being tagged on there. My Brother The Bad Guy, I think.

I remember my cousin describing Groundchuck and Dirtbag on the backs of some figure packages before this aired so I loved their inclusion in the show. Mom found both of them a couple days after this aired so she let me have them as a sort of back to school present. Ah, that's right, this one aired in late August so that makes sense. I really got a kick out of Chrome Dome. This episode served it's purpose well when it came to plugging the toys because I immediately wanted to add these three baddies to my collection along with that mini technodrome. There was just so much going on here and I watched this thing several times since it was a three day weekend. At least I think it was. This one still makes my top 10 list. Glad to finally have it on DVD. I thought they were going to forget about including it for a while there.

This was a decent episode. The first time I saw it was in 1999 on RTE Two on weekday mornings as a 2-part episode. I saw it for the first time in years on the Cowabunga Classics dvd recently and it's fun to watch every now and then. I thought Groundchuck and Dirtbag were funny. The episode is a bit boring at times, though. It's funny how a mysterious building is in the city and people take no notice of it.

Awesome episode, awesome villians, great story, and great artwork/animation. I didn't know that this ep was originally released in prime time, but I always wondered why the ending credits looked and sounded different (that would be the reason tho, since it was a special). I got my "Out of this World" VHS tape years ago at a Burlington Coat Factory, believe it or not, lol!

I don't think April had ever been inside the Technodrome before this, tho I could be wrong. Was cool to see her abduction actually be "helpful" for once (with Chrome Dome later). Found it weird tho that in the "Planet of the Turtles" episode, which was before this one, the TMNT could CARE LESS about seeing other humanoid turtles like them. Yet here, with these turtleoid creatures they do all of the sudden care, even tho the turtleoids don't resemble them as much as the turtle humanoids in the Planet episode.

I rewatched this again recently and noticed something else, a inconsistency. SPOILER ALERT: If the turtleoids Bork and Jork (spelling..?) were "Herman the Horrible", why did they need Groundchuck and Dirtbag to turn off the force field that protected the city? Counldn't they themselves have just done it since they live in there?

Yeah, the continuity got a little strange considering their polar opposite reactions to anthropomorphic turtles between the two episodes.

Ironically, April had already visited the Technodrome in that very episode "Planet of the Turtles." "Planet of the Turtleoids was, however, the only time in the show's run in which she was taken to the Technodrome as a prisoner. Despite all the video games that feature the Turtles raiding the Technodrome to save one of their friends, that never once happened to April during the course of the show, since they saved her once she'd been taken back to the surface. The one other instance I remember in which Shredder tried to take her back to the Technodrome was at the end of "April Foolish," but she managed to free herself in that one.

No, April had been in the Technodrome three times prior: Return of the Technodrome, The Dimension X Story, and Planet of the Turtles.

Groundchuck and Dirtbag had to destroy the generator because it would've had Bork and Dwark's fingerprints on it otherwise. I imagine "Herman" isn't the first to try and take their gold machine.

Hey bay, you want a planet of alien Turtles? Why don't you just adapt this!

I still think the planet of the Truteloids IS shell-rila, just nobody mentions it. it would be stubid to have TWO plantes of alien turtles out thier (unless one planet is actually the space colony of the other!

April Foolish and Burne's Blues Shredder tried to take her to the Technodrome in the transport module; for whatever reason, who knows. There's times I wondered what both Rat King and Shredder wanted to keep her prisoner for, unless they're just sickos (Rat King for sure, "I remember her....she had very pretty fur....uh..I mean 'hair'!") I dunno how the TMNT would have saved her from the Technodrome. That would have been hard.


I think you got it mixed up, but I get what you're saying. You think that Shell-Ri-La and the planet in Planet of the Turtles, is one and the same. Yeah I didn't see the point of having two turtle planets. Yeah, he should adapt that, lol!

What Oldmanwinters was saying tho is the Turtleoids 2-parter was the only time April got taken to the Technodrome as a prisoner. She may have been taken to the 'Drome briefly as a prisoner, along with Vernon and Irma, in Dimension X Story, tho not solo (and for as long as she was prisoner there in the Turtleoid eps). As many times as Shredder & co kidnapped her, you'd think by now they would have taken her there.

Ah ok, that makes sense now about why the used Groundchuck and Dirtbag.

I remembered this episode within a partial memory; the first time I sawed this was on a CBS "special edition" event on a Saturday night on -of all time slots- a Saturday evening. I have tried to track down this episode on and off for years. Since I got it on a Special Edition DVD, I enjoy all of the randomness that is in this one episode.

This episode is on the Season 10 DVD.

So in my rewatch of the original cartoon, I made it to this two part episode. As this is a "bonus episode" on the season 10 disk, I had to decide where to place the episode. I was under the assumption that this was supposed to be at the end of season five, or at least after the Technodrome was relocated from Dimension X to the Arctic. But when I watched the episode, I noticed that the Technodrome was pretty clearly animated on the Dimension X volcanic asteroid. Then I realized that these episodes actually premiered before the rest of season five. I can't help but wonder if this was supposed to have taken place before My Brother the Bad Guy. Though someone in the episode did say something like "the Technodrome should be frozen". And Shredder did use the transport modules, rather than the dimensional portal. But that just leaves more questions than answers.

DrSpengler placed it approximately between "Leonardo is Missing" and "Rock Around the Block."
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