I HATE Fathers and Sons!
 

Ok, so maybe hate is too strong a word, but of all of the "fill in the past/Baby Turtle" episodes, this is probably the most, "Really?" for me. For one, it makes it seem that Splinter knew why Yoshi was singled out by the Shredder, especially since he lays some blame on the Tribunal, who the Ancient One wanted Yoshi to train under. Splinter tells The Ancient One that if the Tribunal had taken care of "The Utrom Shredder" Yoshi would be alive...but wasn't Splinter just as shocked as anyone that Saki was in fact an Utrom? And way to shoehorn the Ancient One into the Pre-Teen Mutant Ninja Turtles lives.

I'n not a fan either of the kid turtle episodes

Probably needed another episode to make it a thirteen-episode season when Nighmares Recycled was canceled, so they quickly scrapped up a terrible and boring story.

I love Turtle Tot episodes, so this one was fine with me. I do agree about the whole "Utrom Shredder" thing though that Splinter knew about it all along when he looked just as shocked as the Turtles in "Secret Origins." I think maybe that was due to careless writing on the writers' parts and that they forgot that little tibit. But it's not enough for me to really hate the episode.

100% agree.:thumbsup:

Who can hate this...?
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/4665/turtletots.jpg

or this...

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/963/tmntetoys.jpg

Those are all well and good, but these Turtle Tots have Buck teeth....
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BvMF1cOmSj...T%29+N.M.S.jpg
To be fair the episode killer for me is the ret-con. The Turtles excitedly praising Splinter after he beats the demon is adorable. "Way to go dad!" is sooooo sweet. But I loathe shoehorning "The Turtles met ____ as kids" I'm surprised there wasn't an "Oh, they knew April before they "knew" April" episode.

It seems like an effective technique to gain interest with kid viewers. It's so easy to write these shoehorns into the show to enhance the continuity (though older audiences recognize it as a cop out).
Still, your point is clear and I get why it seems lame.

Side note: I like the episode. It's such a guilty pleasure.:P

Edit: I just remembered a similar situation that I was wondering about when it was written. During the ninja tribunal arc, we learn the tengu shredder is the true shredder... blah! And his symbol is the same as chrell's only it is inverted to be a dragon foot. I didn't care for that. To me, the tengu shredder was the poser. Chrell was the true shredder. The entire series was based on chrell being shredder and then they up and change everything and now there is some demon coming to take over the world... who has been the "true" shredder all along...

I bet one of the writers made a draft for one, but it just didn't get used.

I thought the episode was great. When all the NT episodes were released on Youtube I remember this episode being the highest viewed out of all of them.

I have to rewatch the series again to see if Splinter always knowing Shredder was an utrom. Maybe the writers did it that way so us fans would be shocked as well at the same time.

I agree that this episode wreaked havoc on the continuity, even though the damage had already been done by the revelation that the Guardians knew Shredder was an Utrom all along, yet presumed him dead after his beheading in Return to New York Part 3.

Your right about that, like i said, I believe the writers of the show did this intensionally to leave us "fans" in suspense and shock when they would reveal the utrom thing later on.

The continuity thing wasn't a make or break for me. I really liked the coolness factor of how shocked I was when it was all revealed. It was all part of there storyline as well, leading all the way up to the end through Tribunal.

This is another thing that started to annoy me about the series, since the continuity established the facts that the turtles had met the Ancient One, Casey Jones, and Serling as toddlers. The whole deal with training a young Casey really undermined the concept that April was the first human contact they had, since they were pretty much meeting Casey on a fixed schedule in the daylight. It undermines the whole taboo about going up to the surface in "Things Change."

What's wrong with buck teeth? I had buck teeth as a kid and for even longer until I got my braces. I thought it was cute that they had buck teeth. When I saw it I said to myself, "Hey, they were just like me."

As for them meeting Casey when they were younger, they never knew it was him. We don't even know until near the end when he says his trademark battle cry. At the end of that ep, they wonder about what happened to that kid, never knowing that he was standing right in front of them. I thought that was funny.

And, despite all his rage, Splinter'd still be a rat in a cage... leaving The Turtles defenseless when they get mutated.
But, it's only a 12-ep season without "Nightmares Recycled".
Note to self: write this idea into a 'fic for Jestahman... :evilgrin:

yes, but like Winters said, it undermines the "April was their first human friend" and "DO NOT GO TO THE SURFACE!" in season 1. I guess you could chalk that up to the Turtles learning their lesson at the end of...er...The Lesson.

One part that really stood out for me about this episode was when Splinter had to tell Ancient One that Yoshi was dead. That moment felt like a punch to the gut - like a brief moment of "Tales of Yoshi" all over again.

At the end of TMNT Adventures Splinter reveals to April that she wasn't their first human friend. No. Their first human friend was Lynda Ling (who Splinter knew when he was human but the turtles met her as children). :P

GAH. Countered with Archie. :P

I didn't mind "The Lesson" I got the turtle tot action figures
I kept trying to decide if the whole thing worked for me as far as ages of the characters. I also doubt they would have duped Splinter so easily; all knowing ninja master who doesn't know when his kids are sneaking around

Father and sons I don't care for. Their faces reminded me of bugs bunny crossed with a turtle tot. I understand what they were going for with the cute little kid teeth thing but I think they went over board.

I really enjoyed season 4 but I don't go out of my way to re-watch that particular eppy

As for "True shredder", anything to avoid bringing in a whole new enemy...:P

What's funny about whole "One True Shredder" thing is that in one of the episodes Yoshi says that Ch'rell may be just as big a threat as the demon Shredder.