Continuity in the European Vacation arc.

[Jester]

So....how screwed up is it?

I mean, the 1st episode (Tower of Power) shows what happened after Plan 6, and the Turtles take a boat to Paris, where April, Vernon, and Irma are covering Bastille Day.

BUT in Rust Never Sleeps, April is back in New York (it just dawned on me...is it ever called New York, or is it just "The City"? Sorry....) and she convinces Burne to send her to Paris...alone.

THEN she and Irma are in Austria for Olympic training in A Real Snow Job.

THEN April starts in Paris in Venice on the Half Shell, and leaves for the titular city. Irma is now in the city, but Burne sends her to meet April in Venice for Mardi Gras/Carnival.

THEN April is alone in Florence in Artless.

THEN it's April and Irma in Greece in Lost Queen of Atlantis.

and that's just watching them in DVD order not the order listed online.

What's wrong with this season?

(sorry working through the DVDs...just put in disc 2 of season 7....so I haven't sen any of them for this rant yet.)

[CyberCubed]

Don't forget the Atlantis they see in this episode is not the same Atlantis as the one from Merdude's episode either.

[Leo656]

Hah, I remember that. I remember watching the DVD I commented out loud how screwed up the order was. But that whole sequence of episodes was kinda garbage anyway. I had to take a break from watching the OT for a bit after that.

[pannoni1]

The European Vacation arc was made by seven different writing teams/partners, with none by David Wise. While the director of these episodes was French meaning that reasonably accurate portrayals of many European landmarks were provided along with SOME decent animation (especially the cities), the relocating of certain characters along with April stating in "A Real Snow Job" that it's the middle of the winter (its possible to ski in the high Alps in the summer) provides some glaring continuity. The travel, especially for the humans doesn't bother me too much (Channel 6 must have a discount airfare program), but having some of the background music introduced for Season 6 in some episodes along with the Technodrome still in its Season 4 location shows that there were quite a few errors in this arc. And sadly the final two episodes didn't end with a big showdown with Shredder/Foot.

[snake]

I've been confused by it also. Jumping around too much in shows isn't good.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by pannoni1

And sadly the final two episodes didn't end with a big showdown with Shredder/Foot.

You would probably know the Technodrome wouldn't move. But I can't recall the word "winter" .

I can't just understand they say it's 1991 (since they used the actual years, see "Once Upon a Time Machine") in "Elementary, My Dear Turtle". Probably errror, but maybe he says "same 1990 one"?

All gondolas in Venice are black.


Police is "Politie" in Dutch, not "Police" (elevator/lift is ascenseur in French)

[CyberCubed]

This season was such a waste of 13 episodes. Granted they probably wouldn't have given an extra 13 to regular Season 4 in its place.

[Enscripture]

Did ya'll see this thread?

[Jester]

Honestly...nope.

If the mods think it necessary, merge ahoy.

[Icebot]

I would think this would take place right after Plan 6 From Outer Space in season 4 since the turtles talk about winning a free vacation to Europe in that episode, plus the Technodrome is still on the asteroid in Dimension X and not at the bottom of the ocean.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Icebot

I would think this would take place right after Plan 6 From Outer Space in season 4 since the turtles talk about winning a free vacation to Europe in that episode, plus the Technodrome is still on the asteroid in Dimension X and not at the bottom of the ocean.

It's pretty clear it takes place during season 4 and after "Plan 6 From Outer Space" because of the Technodrome location, but it musn't be right after just that episode.

[CyberCubed]

The whole Euro vacation arc is like what the OT would have been if it was filled with crap writing.

[Luke795]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

The whole Euro vacation arc is like what the OT would have been if it was filled with crap writing.

I like a lot of the European episodes. I like Jim Cummings voice for Shredder. I like the suspense in the April gets in Dutch episode after Shredder uses the fake diamond to cut the dimensional barrier. Some of the jokes by Raphael I like too. The Lost Queen of Atlantis where here says something like "If you're nice to someone they will walk all over you" after they fall down that pit. In Turtles on the Orient Express at the end of the episode when he said something like "While we were fighting you guys were having a food fight."

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

The whole Euro vacation arc is like what the OT would have been if it was filled with crap writing.

Originally Posted by Luke795

I like a lot of the European episodes. I like Jim Cummings voice for Shredder. I like the suspense in the April gets in Dutch episode after Shredder uses the fake diamond to cut the dimensional barrier. Some of the jokes by Raphael I like too. The Lost Queen of Atlantis where here says something like "If you're nice to someone they will walk all over you" after they fall down that pit. In Turtles on the Orient Express at the end of the episode when he said something like "While we were fighting you guys were having a food fight."

The writing was good, not as witty and clever as the shows within New York, but it still had the humor. I think the reason the comedy writing *seemed* bad was because of Hal Rayle's voice acting instead of Rob Paulsen, not to be mean, but Rayle's voice was very rough in trying to cover for Paulsen, and therefore didn't deliver the comedic punch we were all so accustomed to. In comparison to Paulsen, with Rayle it sounded like OT Raphael had sinus problems.

Besides the continuity problems (it seems like its winter in the Austrian episode and then back to summer in the others) and zigzag trail of destinations, I think the plots were just too predictable. The viewer just knew that whichever city/country the Turtles arrived in, the episode was going to use its most famous landmarks or culture into the plot, which isn't bad or anything but... as I said before... predictable. Probably a big reason the staff decided to have the European Vacation, was to lure more Europeans into being a fan, seeing that their nation/city was involved in the series. Whether that was effective, well... I think the European TMNT fans have to comment on that.

It would have been a bit more clever and intriguing if somehow all 13 of these episodes had stronger continuity to bind them together for say... Shredder and Krang using all of the valuable European items to control and take over all of Europe, threatening NATO maybe, and culminate in a big showdown in the last two episodes (as pannoni1 suggested) forcing them to refocus their attempts back at New York City. But then again, because of the time period the OT was aired, the show was stuck with the syndication schedule while not having the internet to keep track of the continuity, making the plots episodic.

[sdp]

It's just odd that they wrote and set up very carefully the European Vacation in such a way and then they threw it all out the window continuity wise. I think in my review of all seasons thread I explain it a little bit better but basically in each episode they have this convoluted explanation of why they're there that contradicts the already perfect explanation given at first and all it does is confuse the audience even if they watch it as a stand alone episode, a simple "we're in our European vacation" explanation line would have sufficed but instead we get a convoluted one that confuses kids and contradicts established canon.

I think I tried to find some logical explanation for the continuity goofs during this season, but does anyone in this thread want to give it a shot and explain all inconsistencies?

Edit: Here was my opinion of the season when I watched it for the first time from my Review of all seasons thread:

Finished with the European vacation episodes and apparently the worst the series has to offer, but I really don't think it's that bad. Sure a lot of episodes are lackluster but the whole fact that they weren't in NY made the episodes much more special. Continuity is a bit weird, the first episode starts by re-telling the events from the previous episode but with some retcons like the prize including 5 tickets instead of 4, some other continuity problems are Shredder isn't shocked to see the turtles in the first episode in France but is in the second. I guess the episodes could've happened concurrently? And maybe they realized they had one more ticket a few seconds later?

I wish they had put more effort in explaining why Shredder/Krang/April kept being at the same place as the turtles, instead of explaining every episode as pure coincidence something much simpler could've been mentioned in the beginning like April is going on tour and the turtles want to follow her or she's part of the tour or something, and have Shredder/Krang want something the turtles have or some reason to have them follow them. Some sort of story arc could've easily been sneaked into the episodes to make them flow better, especially since this was a "sideseason" why couldn't they add some continuity...A finale for the season would've also been greatly appreciated.

I'm really curious as to why this sideseason was made, it seems pretty clear there was some sort of reason. It almost borderlines as Edutainment, trying to teach you about European culture, though not really enough for me to think it's the reason they made it. It just seems random, not to mention it would also explain why Shredder/Krang were in so many of them, the ones who wanted this season to be produced wanted the main villains in most episodes. Odd in the age of the internet we don't really know why this was made. I actually really enjoyed some episodes quite a bit, I loved the whole fact that this was in Europe and made this feel more epic than it should be. I really enjoyed artless, the atlantis episode, the thor episode and the first two Paris episodes.

[ssjup81]

Originally Posted by JYX

The writing was good, not as witty and clever as the shows within New York, but it still had the humor. I think the reason the comedy writing *seemed* bad was because of Hal Rayle's voice acting instead of Rob Paulsen, not to be mean, but Rayle's voice was very rough in trying to cover for Paulsen, and therefore didn't deliver the comedic punch we were all so accustomed to. In comparison to Paulsen, with Rayle it sounded like OT Raphael had sinus problems.

That's what turned me off from the eps as a kid. Even now, I still have trouble bringing myself to watch those eps. Rayle, to me, sounded like a guy imitating Groucho Marx who was trying to imitate Rob Paulsen's Raph with a "sinus problem"...and back then, Raph was my favorite turtle because of Paulsen's delivery and portrayal of him.

My other dislike, which was mentioned, was the fact that Shredder, Krang, and April just happened to coincidentally show up. It was annoying.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by ssjup81

My other dislike, which was mentioned, was the fact that Shredder, Krang, and April just happened to coincidentally show up. It was annoying.

April is in all episodes except

"The Legend of Koji"
"Atlantis Awakes"
"Turtle Trek"

In "Take Me to Your Leader", she and Irma just sit at Channel 6 unable to use their Turtlecoms.

[ssjup81]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

April is in all episodes except

"The Legend of Koji"
"Atlantis Awakes"
"Turtle Trek"

In "Take Me to Your Leader", she and Irma just sit at Channel 6 unable to use their Turtlecoms.

I was only referring to the European vacation eps where I found their presence a little too forced.

[blindturtle02]

I'm glad someone put together a continuity for this arc. I watched them in the order they were aired but that didn't make much sense.

I remember wishing like crazy that these would be released in a themed collection similar to the FHE Sewer Heroes, Bad Guys, Big Adventure, and Out Of This World series when I was a kid. But now that I've seen them again as an adult, I'm not sure why I wanted them on vhs so badly. haha The Shredder and Krang eps are alright. But I don't really like Artless, Elementary My Dear Turtle, and April Gets in Dutch.

[dkram230]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Hah, I remember that. I remember watching the DVD I commented out loud how screwed up the order was. But that whole sequence of episodes was kinda garbage anyway. I had to take a break from watching the OT for a bit after that.

LOL I've done the same thing. Starting with the pilot, I've watched a couple episodes of OT in disc order virtually daily since spring. But after watching the European Vacation season 3 weeks ago I have not had the desire to return yet and put in s7d2.