Are the Nick writers having trouble with Raphael episodes?
 

I think a lot of people are noticing that the Raphael episodes like "Turtle Temper" and "Cockroach terminator" are a bit weaker than the other episodes.

The first had to deal with Raphael not letting his anger get the best of him and the second with his fear of roaches. It seems the writers are just working on Raph's fears/temper rather than his development.

Raphael has been my favorite in the original toon and 4kids series, so I am wondering if they know what to do with him.

Well Jeremy Shipp has wrote both stories, so I don't think it's a matter that writers don't know, but rather he doesn't.

I don't think they are. They're just trying to find ways to make him more likeable besides a hothead.

Besides, no need to be hard on Jeremy Shipp. Yes, he wrote "Turtle Temper" and "Cockroach Terminator," but don't forget, he also wrote "Panic in the Sewers" and "New Girl in Town" (which I must say were really good episodes). Besides, there hasn't been a bad episode yet. Least favorites? Yes. But nothing so far that makes me say, "What happened?"

The problem is that these episodes have the least likeable and interesting villains, with a souless cockroach terminator that's just a computer along with another random Kraang plot, and the other being Spiderbitez. They are both insects and have random, non-continuous Kraang plots. The humor isn't too bad and have decent morals, but to me are just "average" episodes that are episodic and have solid but impressive fights. There seems to be a bit too much time with regards to the development of the battle for the villains leaving less time for the good stuff. There were only seven characters in the Cockroach Terminator episode (The Four Turtles, Cockroach, the Kraang and some of their human supporters) which left little room for variety between characters.

I wasn't crazy about Turtle Temper, but my buddy and I decided minutes into Cockroach Terminator that it was one of the best episodes yet. If anything, Raph doesn't get enough spotlight. I expect they'll dig more into his character when Casey Jones comes into the picture.

Terminator is also one of my favorite franchises, so it was a lot of fun picking out the little nods.

I haven't care for either of them to much and Raph is always my favorite turtle.

I liked Turtle Temper better than the new episode, but I feel like it was to soon to do one about Raph's temper problems. To me it also felt like it was more towards anti bullying than his actual anger issues. It's episode 3 or 2 depending on how you look at it. Doesn't even seem like Raph has that much if a temper yet.

And the new episode? Well...it's like I said in the official episode discussion thread. I feel like he "learns his lesson", but then all that just goes out the window.


Excuse any typos...I hate typing on an iPhone.

I think they are having problems with raphael in general. Some of his phobias and problems are taken a bit to the extreme. In the episode 'New girl in town', when he is confronted with a tough situation he just freezes and doesn't know what to do. If donnie hadn't stepped up his game and pinned snakeweed down so they could escape, they would've been toast! If raph had been the one who saved the others it would at least have given a positive light to his character: he might not be able to lead or come up with good strategies, but he can still protect his brothers in dire situations. I don't know why they stress so much that he has fears and doesn't know how to deal with pressure. It makes him look like a wimp, and historically, raph is anything but a wimp.

As far as the 'weak' episodes business, I have to agree with the others that mentioned that his episodes have been fillers and nothing truly important has happened in them, so that's why they seem weaker than the others. Also we'll probably see more interesting raphy eps when casey jones comes into play next season. I just hope they turn down the wimpiness we have been seeing so far :trazz:

Let's be honest. Usually when they first deal with Raph anger problem it's when Casey first appears. Now they're trying a new route with saving Casey until season 2 and developing the characters in season 1 but honestly I like how they've Bern developing Raph so far and I can't wait to see more Raphael moments. (They just need to downplay it a little)

Honestly I really liked Turtle Temper (aside from Spider Bytez having a mind bogglingly bizarre design, anyway). In fact I vastly prefer it to the 2k3 series episode that introduces Casey, and that's largely because I felt they were trying to cram too much into 20 minutes (Raph dealing with his temper, Casey's intro, and Raph and Casey becoming friends) so it didn't feel natural. TT focused solely on Raph's temper issues, and I liked that. While he'll always have them, it's obvious some things/people set him off more than others, so I enjoyed that episode.

I will say, though, that I agree that some of his issues do seem to be taken to the extreme as others have mentioned. Raph never really seemed the type to "freeze up" to me, or at least not for more than a few seconds, and we've seen him do that twice already in dire circumstances. I think maybe that's why I liked parts of CT, but not the episode as a whole. I know phobias can be debilitating, but Raph just never seemed the type to completely bail on his brothers. It just felt over the top.

I can't help but feel that maybe it will get better next season with the introduction of Casey. This series reminds me of Teen Titans in a lot of ways, and I'm wondering if they're going to take a similar approach to the seasons, meaning the first one was mostly focused on Robin, the second on Beast Boy/Terra, third on Cyborg, fourth on Raven. This first TMNT season feels strongly focused on Donnie to me, and with Casey's intro in season 2, it makes me wonder if they'll switch gears and give Raph more focus. I obviously don't have anything to base this on, but it's just something I've been thinking about.

Honestly, I don't think either episode was that bad. I like how they focused on Raph's temper and phobia of bugs, and it doesn't seem too out there to me that he would freeze up, especially when given the task of taking Leo's place in "New Girl In Town." It just showed that he really couldn't step up to the plate like Leo could and that it was harder than he thought it would be when faced with the prospect. Same goes with the phobia. Things like that can cause someone to freeze up, and I think it's realistic for Raph to do that.

Overall, I like the episodes.

Agree with this. I understand the 2k3 episode was based on Mirage Raphael issue but at least the issue was soley on Raph with a cameo of the turtles(same can be said about the first movie u
combining various mirage comics and the 80s cartoon into one 2 hr and something minutes) but with the 2012 Nick TMNT they are developing Raph character so by the time Casey come they can really delve in Casey and Raph story/fully adapt the comic. I didn't like how the brought in Casey early in the show(although to be fair he came in four issues in the original comics too).

I felt this episode would have been better if we seen Raph quietly freak out at roaches or make comments like "I Hate Roaches". before and it would have been a little more believable.


I do feel like the show has an obvious teen titans feel(but honestly it feels like doing a who's who in the first season and then mainly focus on the character in the next seasons).

I thought the Raphael episodes were hysterical. Raph had me laughing. They did a good job on his sarcasm.

Not from where I'm sitting, they aren't.
I loved both Raph-centric episodes.

I loved both episodes also.

I liked how Splinter was lecturing Raph about his temper and brought up his past :D

and I liked Raph's phobia of roaches XD funny!

And at least he learned his lesson in "Turtle Temper" whereas Don didn't learn his in "Metalhead." I feel that episode was weaker than either of the Raph eps we've had.

You are right about that. At the end he put a missile on the top of the Bo staff. It did get a chuckle from me.
I didn't like Vic. But he was meant to be annoying but I did like the episode. And the last one had its moments.

I liked both Raph episodes! I do think they took his phobia a little to far and made him look like a wimp, but I think they manily did it to be comical. Raph has had some awesome moments in other episodes so it is not a real big deal to me.:P

I see nothing wrong with both episodes.

Raph would jump at the chance of a fight, but is afraid of cockroaches?! Pitiful! But funny though. The cockroach population in the sewers alone would have been higher than that of NYC.

I do agree with this, a little bit. I liked both episodes quite a lot and I do feel like Raphael is being written well enough in all of the other episodes, especially in his interactions with the other turtles. But there is something I feel is lacking about his character, though it's been hard to put my finger on exactly what it is. He's always been my favorite turtle too, so it's possible I might be expecting a lot.

I guess I feel like the temper/anger issues aren't as prevalent in this version and maybe that's a little disappointing to me. It was addressed in Turtle Temper, but it seemed like he conquered it and we haven't really seen any trouble since. It's that aspect of his character which tends to put him at odds with the rest of the family and makes him the lone wolf of the group - another thing I think I'm missing. But again, in past iterations he always turned to his friendship with Casey when the family stress became too much. So like others have said, I imagine this will change in season two when Casey appears.

Either way, the writers are doing a fine job. But I am pulling for a little more in regards to him. What I think is really great is that for the first time, I actually love all four turtles equally. That's never happened for me before, haha! :D