The Turtles second trip to D'hoonib?
 

In Volume 4, the turtles make a reference to their second trip to D'hoonib. Yet the asterisk says, "From a yet untold Tales of the TMNT." Of course, there was no Tales issue that had them return there.

Yet in the, "Terror by Transmat" story in the Shell Shock TPB, we see the Turtles return to D'hoonib and then to the Utrom homeworld.

For those who never read it, it was summarized/reviewed here:

http://tmntentity.blogspot.com/2009/...-transmat.html


Was this intended to be there second trip to D'hoonib? I don't believe they ever went there a third time.

Well, in "Terror by Transmat", the Turtles go to a place called Gavat-4 to halt the Triceraton invasion, and I don't think they ever mentioned that being located on D'Hoonib.

So I don't think the editorial note for the unpublished Tale is incorrect. The only time they ever went to D'Hoonib, that I can recall, was TMNT (Vol. 1) #5.

In the beginning of the story though, the Turtles say something like, "This is a lot more relaxing than the first time we were here," on the first page to Fugitoid.

That implies that at least at the start of the story, they were back on D'hoonib. What other alien planet were they flying over in that initial scene?

The Turtles never visited the Utrom homeworld in the #4-7 storyline and besides the Triceraton bases/homeworld, wasn't D'hoonib the only other alien planet they were on in that arc?

So what would them saying, "Then the first time we were here" imply if it wasn't back on D'hoonib?

Actually, they did visit the Utrom Homeworld in #7, but it was off panel.

The Utroms teleport everyone to the Homeworld before the TCRI building explodes. They then teleported the Turtles into April's bathroom. Before teleporting, one of the Turtles even yells, "No! Wait--! We don't want to go to your world--!"


So they're line at the beginning of "Terror by Transmat", about their current visit to the Homeworld being more relaxed than their first visit, is true.

Laird inserted references in Vol. 4 to events that were set during a time when the turtles were not being published to show the turtles lives didn't suddenly stop during these periods. This is fairly common in comics and he intended these references to expanded upon by other writers in Tales.

We saw the beginning of the rivalry with Cha Ocho, Shadow's first encounter with the Werewolves, the Golem at Splinter's funeral to name a few. The second trip to D'hoonib is obviously a story which we never got in Tales.

Why can't we believe the Turtles revisited D'hoonib in this, "Terror by Transmat" story, perhaps before they visit the Utrom homeworld?

The Turtles never mentioned any further advertures with the Fugitoid/Utroms after this.

Well, anything is certainly possible, since in "Terror by Transmat" they say they've been vacationing with the Utroms for a week, but there's no reference to D'hoonib at all in that story, so their second visit could take place just about anywhere, too.

Well it's clearly not what Browne or Laird intended but in lieu of any evidence to the contrary I suppose you could think that.

Of course these shorts were not ever really intended to be followed up on. In answer to someone who wrote in to vol. 4 asking why Leo doesn't use Excalibur that he got in Quest For Lost Dreams he answered that he wouldn't tie himself to something from short stories not even written for the TMNT comic including his own stuff. I'd say a story written for a role playing game would fall under the same criteria. I doubt he even remembers most of them.

While Mirage/Laird were okay with a bit of continuity slop if you take Terror By Transmat seriously then the turtles have contact with the Utroms and go for short vacations on their homeworld wouldn't they extend that to poor Leatherhead who wanted nothing more than to reunite with the Utroms.

I think you all are insane. They obviously visited D'hoonib seven times.

Didn't they go there in Mere Appendix?

Yep!

In what issue of Volume 4 was the editor's note saying that their last visit to D'Hoonib was an untold tale?

You're right that PL probably forgets this story or most of the back-up stories even exist.

Yet it was collected in Shell Shock, and most of the back-up's in this book take place in canon. Remember, this is the same PL who was ready to de-canonize about 50% of the comics since he had no involvement in them.

So while PL said, "It is from an untold Tales of the TMNT," you can easily say they visited it back in this short back-up story.

It was one of the later issues since Don said that's where he got the parts to build that cyborg turtle body he uses when he's the "size of an action figure." It's the first Vol. 4 issue where he shows off that robot body to Gamera Raph.

Alright, cracked open my long boxes and did some research.

Don's reference of the "untold tale" was in TMNT Vol. 4 #23. He says that he built his robot body from a robot he brought back from their second trip to D'hoonib.

"Mere Appendix" was Tales Vol. 2 #54, where they do journey back to D'hoonib. Although at no point in the story do they pick up a new robot to bring back to Earth. Still, the story ends with the Turtles and Honeycutt still on D'hoonib, so they could've picked the robot up at any point before going home.

Tales #54 has to take place in the time gap from Volume 4 #5 since the Turtles are all un-altered in that story, but the Utroms have already set up their base on Earth.

Was the release date of that Vol. 4 issue before Tales #54?

Because if it was, I don't see why the asterisk didn't say, #54.

Nah, the Vol. 4 issue came first, then Tales #54, which would explain the asterisk pointing to an as yet untold tale.

Oh, so then you can pretty much say #54 WAS the "untold Tales of the TMNT."

Sure, the story wasn't about getting the robot, but it WAS another trip to D'hoonib.

So if they didn't visit D'hoonib in, "terror by transmat," was this the second time they went there?

So far as I know, there are no other stories between TMNT (Vol. 1) #5 and Tales (Vol. 2) #54 where the Turtles visit D'hoonib, so from all I can tell, #54 is indeed their second visit.

There's still a partially untold tale in how they got the robot before they returned to Earth, but on D'hoonib, helper robots are common (Honeycutt owned one, obviously, and many were being auctioned off in Fugitoid #1).

So it could've just been some mundane purchase Don made before returning to Earth.

Well I'm glad that little plothole has been solved. I would like to see the timeline updated to reflect this.

Perhaps a notation in Vol. 4 #23 that Donatello most likely gets the robot in Tales #54.

I'll certainly do that when I get around to reviewing either issue and add that info to the Turtle Tips.

It's good that we're able to solve most of the series loose ends given the uncertainty of any more comics. In fact by this point, the series has very few loose ends left.

The only stories that really need closure is of course Volume 4 and that Gang War storyline, and who knows if/when they will be given an ending.