TMNT Season 3 Best Episode Tournament: Match 6 + Tiebreaker

[JTH]

ROUND 1

We're more than half way through the first round and we have a hand full of matches left, so let's not waste any more time. But first...

That moment you've all been waiting for, we have a tie in match at the end of the voting stage. So now in this thread, there won't be two episodes to pick from, there'll be four. Our current 10 vs. 23 matchup and a tiebreaker from the 15 vs. 18 matchup.

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Round 1 Polls will last 3 days and will be private polls, but of course you can still discuss who you voted for and your reasoning why. With a tie breaker, this will be a multiple poll, you can pick as many as you want, of course I would think people would pick just two...I would think.

To check out the complete up to date bracket, the link is here:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cf...Best%20Episode

With all that has been said, it's time to take a look at the "Tale of the Turtle Tape"!

Official Seed: #10
Where JTH seeded this episode: #16
Total Points Received: 41
Official IGN Review: 8.7/10
Current TV.com Rating: 9.3/10
Highest Rating Episode Received: #3 (TurtleTron)

Official Seed: #23
Where JTH seeded this episode: #17
Total Points Received: 3
Official IGN Review: 8.2/10
Current TV.com Rating: 8.7/10
Highest Rating Episode Received: #10 (Meliwen)

Winner #10 vs. #23 Faces: #7 Serpent Hunt in Round 2
Winner #15 vs. #18 T.B. Faces: #2 Tale of the Yokai in Round 2

JTH's Prediction:

Spoiler:

Although these two are right next to each other not only in the official order, but my rankings...I had to actually re-watch Noxious Avenger again because frankly...I didn't remember anything that happened in it. In fact it may arguably be the most forgettable episode of the series (Not in a "Good episode" "Bad episode" kind of way, just a "Nothing of note" way) That said Turtles in Time is far more memorable in my mind, which says something considering they were only a week apart in airing order. Regardless, I think Turtles in Time wins here, and may be a threat to steal a second round match.

#10 Turtles in Time - 23
#23 - The Noxious Avenger - 3

Which episode wins in your mind, vote away. Remember...please...HAVE FUN!!!

[Tarris Vaal]

I have to agree with JTH that Noxious Avenger - whilst not 'bad' per se - was supremely forgettable. Had it been at least more notably connected to the rest of the series, or more made of Grody's efforts to find out about the turtles in subsequent episodes then this particular story might have had more going for it. Time will tell, but for the moment this remains an episode that is as close to filler as Season 3 got.

Turtles in Time however was a lot more interesting. Renet was an interesting character and the episode was full of good laughs and certainly memorable. It also helped to set up several further episodes which were also very good. However, I did find that Savantei was weirdly underwhelming as a villain and defeated rather easily.
The episode almost commits one of my pet hates - which is to put Camelot in as 'real olde England' - as a history graduate this really grinds my gears (I know, I know its just a tv show, BUT IT JUST KEEPS HAPPENING *nervous twitch* )

As a result, I find that I actually prefer both In Dreams and Venom to both of these other episodes, and I've already made my feelings clear on the comparisons between the two of those.

In Dreams it is for me

[Meliwen]

For me, Noxious Avenger is one of the better filler episodes. I like it when anyone who gets mutated has issues with it, and I thought they explored that well enough in the episode. I also liked the turtles on the news and thought it was nice that they focused on the turtles need for secrecy again.

Turtles in Time, I thought that other than Renet, nothing else in it really captured my attention. While the episode in and of itself set up a lot and introduced some interesting things, Savanti came across as somewhat underwhelming and I don't really like the turtle's larp costumes. Noxious Avenger was more interesting to me, so that get's my vote.

[Aaronardo]

I definitely enjoyed Noxious Avenger much more than Turtles in Time. Avenger kind of returned the series to the level of comedy it once had in Season 1 for 22 minutes. Very enjoyable. Turtles in Time, however... okay, I have literally no clue why everyone seems to love this episode. It's poorly and lazily written, the characters introduced are badly executed, and their actions with the previously established characters are less than tasteful to watch.
Everything good didn't stick out, everything bad was REALLY bad, and the only reason the episode exists is to set up the next episode, which is considerably better, as pretty much everyone knows. Noxious Avenger definitely gets my vote, but I have a feeling it won't win anyway.

[ssjup81]

I liked both choices, but I went with Turtles in Time because of the irony of it regarding Romero. I also enjoyed the Mikey and Raph moments as well as the adorable moments between Mikey and Renet. The ep was also somewhat whimsical and I like whimsy. lol

[GoldMutant]

(Still In Dreams over Deadly Venom)

I might have ranked Turtles in Time around the middle of an old and frankly outdated list right now and Noxious Avenger at the bottom of the heap, but I really don't care for either episode. I'll start with the latter...

The Noxious Avenger is an okay tribute to the cult classic The Toxic Avenger, but it's easily the most forgettable episode of the series and I find it one of the weakest episodes of the whole season and possibly the series. Besides it being a new version of Muckman Messes Up I didn't find too much appeal. I got a tiny chuckle out of the parallel parking joke, but otherwise the episode simply didn't entertain me in the slightest. Furthermore, the episode ultimately felt extremely useless because of Clash of the Mutanimals' first two minutes, destroying the 22 minute plot this episode had; not a very good formula for this show to waste an episode. If Muckman didn't return in the finale, this easily would be my third least favorite episode this season next to the Croaking and COTM.

On to Turtles in Time; on my first viewing it was a reasonably decent episode due to the scenery and actual time travel. However, the travel is probably it's most crippling weakness considering the name of the episode; the episode easily could have ended in medieval times instead of the entire duration. Besides that, I hated Menet/Renetangelo because it's even more shallow of a romance than Donatello and April because Mikey had no justification for liking this Renet incarnation. The romance of this show is beyond atrocious in it's handling; the previous handling with Leo, Don, and now Mike concern me for Raph at this point with Mona. Combine that in with a cliche Savanti here and this episode's good points falter.

Honestly, I frankly don't care for either episode winning, but I'll vote TiT alongside In Dreams once more.

[kelligrafie]

I had to go with In Dreams. Robert Englund and John Kassir were so so good.

Really fun episode. The Dream Beavers were delightfully evil and yet oh so cute. They're only seconded on my list of TMNT characters by Tiger Claw.

Still waiting for a Dream Beaver plushie, or four. Might have to make one at this rate.