Splinter-Centered Episodes???
 

Have there been any episodes the featured splinter? Splinter being a main character it would seem that he deserved a couple episodes. He had the micro from IDW.

Splinter episode
 

You mean where the Turtles aren't seen (or just at the beginning/end).

There are a few from OT that star Splinter...none that I can recall that the TMNT weren't in, but where Splinter was the focus.

No just having the story revolve around Splinter.

Splinter Vanishes
 

The TMNT are always around, but how about Splinter Vanishes. I like that one.

Or "Splinter No More", where he temporarily becomes human again.

I like that episode, but I would love to have seen him kick the butt of those robbers in Central Park.

And also Shreddered & Splintered (The only opportunity where Splinter can de-mutate himself from being human again). Let's not forget "The Old Switcheroo" which is another co-Shredder/Splinter centered-episode revolving around a body swap. The Legend of Koji is an honorable mention .

I would also say Enter the Rat King

I always loved the Shredder/Splinter eps. I always wished they would have delved into their pasts more.

"Return of the Turteloid."

A big chunk of that episode is April and Splinter trying to keep Kerma safe as they're being attacked by a Terminator robot with the Turtles elsewhere.

Beneath These Streets. Splinter tangles with Shredder when the Turtles take a break and turn of their Turtle Comms, leading to him being injured by the Mdei-Laser.

I'd vote for everything mentioned here, and would add "The Legend of Koji" and "White Belt, Black Heart", both of which deal with Splinter's human background. "White Belt, Black Heart" is particularly good for that.

And, outside of the OT, #45 of the Archie series, "Mutations" is a filler issue that involves Splinter reflecting on his past as Yoshi and as Splinter. It's great stuff.

How could I forget those episodes? Those are 2 of my favorites.

Speaking of which, I always wished that the OT dived into Splinter's (and Shredder's [besides his mother and brother]) past more and even include some episodes of modern day Japan with it. It would have provided a good source of plots for the OT rather than the filler, formulaic mad scientist plot that was repeated a lot.

Does anyone agree? It could have been especially interesting if their pasts were incorporated into the darker toned Red Sky Season by Season 9, rather than using Dregg.

I agree. But I suppose they didn't because it would have made everything too complex.

How bout the second to last episode of the series: The Day The Earth Disappeared. While the turtles were lost in space, Splinter was in the Dreggnaught the whole time taking out Dregg's batmen and then rescued the turtles.

You're always free to write fan fiction about it.

Eh, people are free to write fanfic, but for some, it's not the same thing as the real deal, or sometimes they just want to wish.

It never bugged me as a kid, but now it does bother me a bit that the backstory of Splinter in the OT was left to all these vague suggestions, and also this weird idea that modern Japan is more like feudal Japan. And what did happen to the real human Foot Clan anyway?

But I know stories like these'd be too intricate and probably too hard for the OT to do well, so I don't mind their absence that much.

Yeah, I would have liked an episode that addressed those themes.

Tony Day offered his own take on the fate of the human Foot Clan in his "Turtle Turncoat" fan-comic.

To be fair to the OT making modern Japan more like feudal Japan, that same tone was already present in the Mirage comics. I think it was sort of a self-conscious tongue-in-cheek in both instances.

Some of the better episodes for getting into Splinter's past and the Foot Clan history were White Belt, Black Heart and Legend of Koji (Jester and I did Fan Commentaries on both of those) and to a lesser extent "Blast from the Past."