From a writing standpoint, why was Splinter in Fast Forward?

[ToTheNines]

Does he have a single arc or do anything interesting? The only thing I can think of is the episode where he graduates them to Chunin, but that's it.

I just feel like it would have added a little more sense of desperation for their need to get back home. It also would have made more sense that they were being so abusive towards Serling all the time, because I don't think Splinter would have normally allowed that.

Also seems like it could have helped with the budget, unless Dunstan was under contract and they had to use him.

Any thoughts? FF hate will not be tolerated!

[neatoman]

I know that one of the episodes from the scrapped second season of FF was going to focus on him and it's the one that did get recorded before getting canned.


So who knows, maybe more of those canned 13 episodes would feature more of him? As for what he did in the actually completed episodes aside from the graduation episode, he write the bogus diary to teach the turtles a lesson about knowing too much, he had a pretty decently sized role in the botched attempt to upgrade the time window, and there are the "single parent loves soaps" joke. He also tutors Cody to be able to defend himself better, something I suppose the 2012 show decided to steal for April.

It is true that he has surprisingly little to do in the season. What's probably the best episode of the season, the one where they keep the Leo clone as a prisoner, gives him an oddly indirect role to play. Leo and Raph base their treatment of the clone on how Splinter once told them the fable of the Scorpion and the Frog, with Raph taking the fable on face value and thinking the clone should never be trusted but Leo stating that he never liked the story and seeing the potential for good in the clone. Splinter himself never says anything about the fable in the episode, it doesn't state why he told them it in the first place or what his interpretation of it is, the only interaction he has with the clone is telling him that it's better to create than to destroy. If that is meant to have anything to do with his interpretation of the fable, then it's possible he doesn't see it teaching about the value of distrust or hopeless behaviour, but rather as a lesson about the weakness in never trying to be better than you think you are.

If nothing else, depending on how much of BttS they had in mind when making FF (which is probably not a lot seeing how the VR gimmick was just one of several different ones considered for the FF follow up), then he had to be there if the idea was for him to go missing in some sense. It's not hard to imagine the 4Kids writers going "OK, so Splinter going missing in some way is a classic set-up, so let's have him come along so he get lost in time or some shit when they go back and finding him can be the premise of that season" but also having no idea what exactly that would mean.

As a bit of a side note when looking for points, I did notice an amusing thing. The first episode of FF is largely about a turtle getting trapped inside a van and the rest of them trying to get him out without being taken away themselves, after they have suddenly found themselves without a home to retreat to until they find a new one by the end. Remember what the first episode of the entire show was about?

[neatoman]

Was I too long winded?

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by neatoman

As a bit of a side note when looking for points, I did notice an amusing thing. The first episode of FF is largely about a turtle getting trapped inside a van and the rest of them trying to get him out without being taken away themselves, after they have suddenly found themselves without a home to retreat to until they find a new one by the end. Remember what the first episode of the entire show was about?

Damn, that’s crazy. I never made that connection.

Originally Posted by neatoman

Was I too long winded?

No such thing to me lol.

I was honestly waiting until I had time to watch that animatic. I never knew it existed! Are there more?

[CyberCubed]

I suspect it might have been a request from Peter Laird. Casey/April were already absent for the entire season besides "The Journal," and also having Splinter absent the entire season would have made it seem like they were getting rid of too much of the main cast and just for the Turtles. So PL probably requested Splinter go with them so it wasn't just the Turtles surrounded by all-new characters.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

I was honestly waiting until I had time to watch that animatic. I never knew it existed! Are there more?

I honestly don't know if more episodes were recorded/boarded before getting cancelled, or if anyone found them if that's the case. I know about the premise of the Triceraton Shredder though, that he would turn out to be a Triceraton possessed by Ch'rell, but I suppose you do too.

[Antoniocafe]

I actually just finished up with the final Fast Forward episode the other day. Ive never really put too much thought about Master Splinter being featured in the season. There are a couple of questions that have come to my mind. Was Zixxth Sense supposed to be the final episode of the season? I know that when the Fast Forward 1/2 season DVD sets came out years ago, The Day of Awakening was placed as the final episode on the second set, and that felt natural to me.

For whatever it's worth, I didn't really enjoy watching the season very much this time around. I mean it definitely wasn't bad. But every episode or two that I watched left me wanting to watch something else. I'm glad that I've moved on to the Back to the Sewer season. And speaking of that season, the other question that I have is why was Serling featured in that season? We never even got to see him returned home. Though since he wasn't featured in Turtles Forever, I've always assumed that he eventually made it home.