Official Episode Discussion S2 #17 "Newtralized!"

[Sewer Sirens Podcast]

Thought this was a good episode, just some minor nitpicks.

- was iffy was Newtralizer talking until they explained it in the flashback
- would've been nice to see more acknowledgement from the turtles toward Slash, since he kinda almost killed them
- the Casey and Raph subplot was kind of stupid. It followed the same path and formula as April in The Kraang Formula, which I REALLY didn't like (you can check out my thoughts on that episode on the link to my blog in my signature). It was basically the same exact thing, and Casey eventually was praised for his disobedience. It was cool how they kind of brought up how Casey is inferior to the turtles, however, unlike The Good, The Bad, and the Casey Jones

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by BabyTurtles

The only thing I didn't like about the episode was how the other turtles (Mikey, Don, Leo) seemed fine around Slash. (and to an extent even Raph)

If Slash beat me to an inch of my life then I'd be avoiding him!! Or at least have my weapon in hand whenever he's around.

I mean one does not simply forget a brutal beat down.

I feel like it downplays Slash and Destroy a bit.

Originally Posted by Ramboraph4life aka Matt

But again, to go from giving Mikey the most severe beat down he's ever had (and almost murdering him in quite a few ways, you could say even the most severe beat down that Donnie might have had too if the bruises tell the whole story let alone Donnie's arm), to having a brutal fight with Raphael, and everything else in Slash & Destroy...and then in only his Second Appearance (not counting his cameo in another one) to pretty much become their Ally (set up for future episodes) is very, very weak as well as lame on the part of the writers. Way too quick and you could even say Anti-Climactic as well, since it's obvious that he'll be the ally that will come in once in a while to help out (if for nothing else but out of his Loyalty to Raphael).

Especially with all of the directions and things that you could have done with Slash after 'Slash & Destroy'. And instead they took the laziest and most easy way out. The only way it would have been 'even more lazier/easier' than this would have been if he had gotten turned back into Spike at the end.

Originally Posted by BabyTurtles

they don't need to attack Slash...but the boys could have at least been cautious around him. Noticeably cautious!

Going a step back....I don't think that cameo of him in Metalhead Rewired is enough buildup for him to turn good in the second episode featuring him.

You two are expecting too much from this show to be quite frank.

If they easily brushed aside Season 1's threat of the Kraang kidnapping April in season 2 (April attending school), and made the cliffhanger bombshell of Karai being Splinter's daughter ("Follow the Leader") irrelevant to when Leo was fighting Karai in "Target April O' Neil", then it comes as no surprise that the animosity between Slash and Raphael's brothers would be brushed aside as well in this episode.

...Yet another typical example of this show's selective plot amnesia folks. It starts off strong (April being forced in to stay in the sewers, the Karai bombshell, fallout between Raph's brothers and Slash), but is either ignored (April attending school), brushed aside (the animosity between Raph's brothers and Slash), or ill-timed to the character's logic or the show's suspense (Leo not even acknowledging Karai as Splinter's daughter when he fought her in "Target: April O' Neil").

[Kanon]

I just watched the Episode and think it was a good One.
Sometimes it was frustrating to listen to newtralizer, because i am Bad at Hearing english

One Point that bothers me is, that Slash cares about humans.
He doesnt care about Raphs Brothers and wanted to get rid of them, but not humans?

[JH24]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I just watched the Episode and think it was a good One.
Sometimes it was frustrating to listen to newtralizer, because i am Bad at Hearing english

One Point that bothers me is, that Slash cares about humans.
He doesnt care about Raphs Brothers and wanted to get rid of them, but not humans?

The humans never did anything to him, but Slash did remember all the times (before being mutated) when Raph complained about his brothers, how they didn't understand, how they were holding him back, how they didn't take things seriously, etc. Spike even "smiled" a little before mutation when Raph smacked one of his brothers.

So all those impressions manifested themselves in Slash after mutation. Slash probably felt he was doing the "right thing". Giving Raph his freedom, becoming a partner, friend and teammate Raph would have always wanted. Combined with Slash having a more violent nature it quickly escalated in him wanted to take Raph's brothers out of the picture.


Like others posters above me said, Slash may not be evil, but he was definitely misguided and didn't really have a moral compass which could guide him. And even in this episode he was about to smash Donatello with his weapon.

[victory_angel]

Originally Posted by JH24

Like others posters above me said, Slash may not be evil, but he was definitely misguided and didn't really have a moral compass which could guide him. And even in this episode he was about to smash Donatello with his weapon.

Yeah, in Slash and Destroy we don't see what happened to Donatello aside from Slash grabbing him and dragging him off. And what we can surmise happened is that Donnie was essentially beaten and left for dead.

There are some probabilities as for why was the case.

1. Donnie is a somewhat weaker fighter in comparison with the rest of his brothers. So Slash may have thought there is no point in killing him.

2. Slash may have assumed Donnie was done for and walked away not knowing he was still alive.

3. Raph complains about Donnie the least in his rants to Spike. Normally Leo is Raph's chief complaint when he rants to Spike if you take Slash's comment of "I've been waiting for that for a long time." when he punched Leo to mean anything. Most of the time when Raph complains about Donnie it's when he's lumped in with all three of his brothers.

4. Donnie did cause an accident that did nearly cause Spike his life. Even though he honestly didn't intend for that to happen, Slash wasn't going to let him get off scott free about it either.


This time Slash was downright ready to murder Donnie for daring to interfere with his fight with Raph.

[T-U-R-T-L-E POWA!]

Originally Posted by Ninjawolf

Does anyone else see the obvious parallels between Newt and Leatherhead? Newt is what LH might've became if Mikey didn't find him. And I actually do think He cared for Slash behind his insanity (he's pretty much a well intentioned extremist and not fully evil) but nice to see Slash has underwent a heel-face turn though...

I was thinking the exact same thing about Newt and Leathhead. I really liked the Newtralizer a lot when they first showed him but in this episode he didn't seem AS cool because he was basically like a merc version of Leatherhead. I still really loved the episode and the fact that we got another "Cowabunga". Also what is the name of that character that was sketched on the wall at the first of the ep where Raph and Casey were in the alley fighting? I can NOT think of where I have seen that thing! Also Casey was awesome in this episode and I loved the sort of self loathing way they brought him back to be the hero in the end. They sorta made fun of the fact that it was cliche which in a weird way made it be cool and not exactly cliche. LOL.

[T-U-R-T-L-E POWA!]

Originally Posted by snake

One thing I liked was that it confirmed Donatello has more then one Spyroach.

I'm sure Raph will be glad to hear that! LOL!

[blindturtle02]

Quite a few nice references to past episodes. I agree. As for spyroach, I'm not very happy to hear that Don has more of those I can sympathize with Raph. lol Hope we see cockroach terminator again at some point. I may hate those disgusting little creatures, but I like the idea of a huge indestructible roach roaming around. Keep hoping we'll see Scumbug at some point btw. I forget which dromer came up with said notion, but I like the possibility of Scumbug evolving from ct.

Loved the big Kraang weapon in this episode. I too was reminded of a giant bubblewalker after having it described to me. But those guys just can't seem to keep potent weapons around. First Chrome Dome, and now Mr. Walkies. haha Better luck next time, Kraang dudes. They should really be focused on dredging up their technodrome. Is Kraang Prime still on earth, I wonder? I suppose KP has the means to return to Dimension X if he wants to.

[Darth Knuckles]

I liked this episode, mostly, and it was a surprise to me to see that Slash was in it! I thought this episode would be totally focused on The Newtralizer but it wasn't.

I feel like The Newtralizer's personality is very similar to The Punisher (since he also has the skull marking on the skin of his belly) but he also reminded me of a Predator in this episode. The plutonium he used to "teleport" reminded me of when a Predator cloaks itself to be unseen. The disk he threw around also reminded me of the smart-disc weapon the Predator used in Predator 2. He also had some type of wrist gauntlet that gave him the ability to speak in English which reminds me of the way a Predator can change spectrums of light to see in different situations as well as it being able to learn a language or words of a different species rather quickly.

I also liked the "Cowabunga Skate" (was it?) on the one shop along the street. I also loved The Newtralizer saying something to the effect of "Out of the ten dimensions, The Kraang are the worst." I'm assuming that the tenth dimension is referring to Dimension X itself! Very cool little nod there.

The Kraang Walker thing reminded me of a huge version of Krang's walker back from the original cartoon. At the same time, the way that Casey defeated it, it also reminded me of The Death Star in how it was destroyed.

While The Newtralizer and Slash teaming up made a lot of sense and explained what two other mutants were doing around the city, the ending didn't make perfect sense to me. Having Slash care about humans works I think. It reminded me of Venom in how he hates Spider-Man to no end but he doesn't necessarily have to hate other people. So their disagreement on possibly killing humans was okay with me.

But the very quick change of Slash's feelings on Raph and his other brothers seemed really rushed to me. Feeling comfortable around Raph himself would have worked I guess, but he almost seemed like he forgave Raph and his three brothers already over their last real encounter. That didn't seem like it made sense to me. I'd still think Slash would dislike Donnie, Mikey, and especially Leo still at this point. I also think that Slash and Raph would still have at least a friendly rivalry.

Overall I did like the story elements of Raph and was surprised that Raph and Slash had so much to do with this episode. I'd also like to see The Newtralizer again soon.

[electric_sheep]

Isn't it Waka waka waka, you know like Packman?

[BubblyShell22]

No, it's Rocka Rocka Rocka, and as others have said, it reminded me of Wocka Wocka Wocka as said by Fozzie Bear.

[JTH]

Originally Posted by BubblyShell22

No, it's Rocka Rocka Rocka, and as others have said, it reminded me of Wocka Wocka Wocka as said by Fozzie Bear.

It makes it even more funny being Trejo was doing Fozzie in "Muppets: Most Wanted".

[blindturtle02]

I see Trejo played a prisoner in Muppets, so that's a really weird and wonky TMNT connection. All Newtie needs now is a tattoo on his chest of a woman wearing a sombrero. He made a great Bane in Young Justice btw. Hope he returns as Newtralizer sooner rather than later. I really dig the voice.

[BabyTurtles]

Originally Posted by BubblyShell22

No, it's Rocka Rocka Rocka, and as others have said, it reminded me of Wocka Wocka Wocka as said by Fozzie Bear.

oh that's what that was.....I didn't know what was up with Newtralizer.

[electric_sheep]

Originally Posted by BabyTurtles

oh that's what that was.....I didn't know what was up with Newtralizer.

First time he did it i thought he was coughing out a furr ball...

[blue_angel99]

Glad that Slash ain't completely evil.

Sad he didn't want to join the TMNT.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Finally got to watch the episode, and it was great! Loved seeing Slash again, and I enjoyed some of the little visual gags. (like ICK's cameo, the krang-arm face-palm by Donnie, Mikey "eating" the locations) The 180 by Slash DID seem a bit rushed, but I'm glad he and Raph made up. I was surprised at how Newtralizer sounded. Didn't sound like Trejo at all. Cool episode- not one of the BEST, but certainly good. And am I the only one who was reminded of Cable and Deadpool by those two? (Arm-mounted teleporters, high-tech weapons, Slash's merc attitude, etc.) And yeah, Punisher, too. Hmm, I like that it was sort of like a mash-up of the best parts of those three characters between Slash and Newt.

And that little guy spray-painted on the wall was a WWI (or was it II?) character (I forget his name) that was used as an army recruiting ploy. He used to be on posters and in little comic strips encouraging people to do their part for the war effort, if memory serves.

[MajorViolence]

I'm really happy to see the show establishing characters who aren't clearly defined as "good" or "evil," but just driven by different motivations and moral values. I remember that being one of the stronger aspects of the 80s cartoon, especially since that was a time when a lot of cartoons didn't even worry about villain motivations. You could just dress a guy in black and be like "yeah he just wants to blow up the planet because he's evil" and no one would care.

[blindturtle02]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Finally got to watch the episode, and it was great! Loved seeing Slash again, and I enjoyed some of the little visual gags. (like ICK's cameo, the krang-arm face-palm by Donnie, Mikey "eating" the locations) The 180 by Slash DID seem a bit rushed, but I'm glad he and Raph made up. I was surprised at how Newtralizer sounded. Didn't sound like Trejo at all. Cool episode- not one of the BEST, but certainly good. And am I the only one who was reminded of Cable and Deadpool by those two? (Arm-mounted teleporters, high-tech weapons, Slash's merc attitude, etc.) And yeah, Punisher, too. Hmm, I like that it was sort of like a mash-up of the best parts of those three characters between Slash and Newt.

And that little guy spray-painted on the wall was a WWI (or was it II?) character (I forget his name) that was used as an army recruiting ploy. He used to be on posters and in little comic strips encouraging people to do their part for the war effort, if memory serves.

That's a very apt comparison of Slash and Newt. Now that youmention it, they do remind me of those three Marvel characters. You've got me curious as to who the WW I/II guy was. I'm pretty sure some history teacher or another briefly mentioned him when discussing recruitment. Was that the Uncle Sam personification?

[BubblyShell22]

I think it was because the Uncle Sam posters were often displayed a lot, urging people to join up to fight in the war.