Official episode discussion: Rise of the Turtles, Part 1 and 2

[In The Clouds]

Originally Posted by blue_angel99

Leo: Splinter's instructions were very clear. We're suppose to stay away from people....and bathrooms.

It's his expression and the way he holds his hands.

[BubblyShell22]

Yeah, I laughed at that joke, too. Just the serious way Leo said it sold it for me.

As for Snakeweed, I get why the Turtles wanted to stop him, and they didn't actually kill him as we saw at the end. But you have to remember that they're ninjas, and ninjas normally don't have issues with killing people.

[Lisardo]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

**snip**

Which is nonsense. There is no "cellular memory" on a genetic level if I'm trimming my jade plant. And right now we're full of living organisms... if I'm exposed to Fred Wolf/Nick ooze right now and the last living thing I touched was a dandelion, why would I become Dandelion Man and not, say, amoeba man? Or if I had the flu virus, Flu Man?

I'm sorry, but LOL'd at the "Flu Man"! Can you draw a pic of that,

It's just a nonsense, nonsense mutagen that doesn't hold up to even the slightest level of scrutiny and was only invented to crank out a steady supply of mutant toys for Playmates.

Then there's also that whole 'the last thing Splinter touched was the turtles, so why did he become a rat' thing too. Seems the FW/Nick mutagen has a mind of it's own,

[Genesis]

Is there any explanation for how or why Snake ended up working for the Kraang? He seems like the only one, and it seems odd to me that they'd be cool with having him around.

[Powder]

For one reason or another I get the impression this series is gonna leave a lot of things unexplained.

[Cure]

Not that that's a bad thing. Does it matter why he's with them? No. No, it doesn't.

[The Big Bad]

Originally Posted by Lisardo

Then there's also that whole 'the last thing Splinter touched was the turtles, so why did he become a rat' thing too.

I'm a bit surprised that this remains a point of confusion twenty-five years after the fact. Sure, it doesn't all occur on-screen, which is sort out of character for the writers, but I think the sequence of events is clear enough:

1) Yoshi has been with the rats off-screen when he sees the turtles covered in mutagen.

2) Yoshi steps on the mutagen in order to get to the turtles, activating his mutation to rat.

3) Yoshi begins cleaning the turtles. Since his own mutation to rat has already begun, touching them does nothing.

[Threat]

Originally Posted by HeatGuts

why is don missing a tooth?

Originally Posted by TheSkeletonMan939

Don has a missing tooth to give him some personality, the same way C-3PO has a silver leg in Star War IV.

Pretty sure it's a gap and not a missing tooth.

[Jephael]

Originally Posted by Powder

For one reason or another I get the impression this series is gonna leave a lot of things unexplained.

I kinda like it when they do that. It's fun when they leave things up for interpretation.

[Lisardo]

Originally Posted by The Big Bad

I'm a bit surprised that this remains a point of confusion twenty-five years after the fact. Sure, it doesn't all occur on-screen, which is sort out of character for the writers, but I think the sequence of events is clear enough:

1) Yoshi has been with the rats off-screen when he sees the turtles covered in mutagen.

2) Yoshi steps on the mutagen in order to get to the turtles, activating his mutation to rat.

3) Yoshi begins cleaning the turtles. Since his own mutation to rat has already begun, touching them does nothing.

But...he touched the turtles last. So why did he not become a turtle (that's how the mutagen works, the last thing you literallly touched)? That's the part that (if you nitpick) doesn't make sense. Truthfully, there is no explanation. It's just a an eff-up on the writers behalf.

[demonsweat]

Originally Posted by Lisardo

But...he touched the turtles last. So why did he not become a turtle (that's how the mutagen works, the last thing you literallly touched)? That's the part that (if you nitpick) doesn't make sense. Truthfully, there is no explanation. It's just a an eff-up on the writers behalf.

Watch that clip again when Splinter's telling them the story. He's not touching the turtles, he's holding them in a bowl. They actually do show the rat run by and touch him next, then they all get oozed (he drops the bowl and it shatters). So the rat was the last thing he came in contact with. I'm not sure about the other versions, but it looks to me like they got it right in this one. Y'know, at least by their own rules.

How the mutagen works is one of those "suspension of disbelief" portions of it. It doesn't really bother me, but I do think it's more awesome when they try to keep the sci-fi elements rooted in actual science. The IDW series did a pretty good job with that, in my opinion.

[Sumac]

Started to marathon Nick's TMNT.

Rise of the Turtles was good, but I think, compared to the OT 5 parter and Things Changes, it was a bit rushed and Snakeweed was quite a lame villain. Though, maybe it was an idea to make a different approach to the start of this show.

Designs took some time to get used to, but actually were quite nice. Animation, fighting choreography and camera work were very nice as well. The only minor complaint was that city looked very empty, but that's understandable. Voice acting was good too.

Generally new TMNT treads the fine line between OT cornyness and 2k3 seriousness, heavily leaning towards the former. In other words, it does a good work for what it is, comedy action for children, inspired by OT.

Leo was nice, and finally he has some personality beyond "that spiritual guy / default goody-two shoes guy". I liked his love for the Star Trek parody (which was funny).

Raph is pretty much "2k3 Raph: Light Edition". I hope the won't overdo it in the future.

Mike...oh Mike. The only time I genuinly liked him was in OT. In 2k3 he was extremely annoying and obnoxious and in Nick's TMNT they took all those qualities and turned them up to 11, at least in these episodes, making Michaelangelo an aggravating idiot, that I can't find funny in the least.

Don was OT Raph, but with geeky nature and tech skills. Must be THAT voice.

Splinter was awesome. They took his best qualities from his previous incarnations and made it all better, by making him much younger than usual.

Kraang...I liked their speech patterns and brutality with which Turtles have dispatched them. And that's it.

Snakeweed...lame. He was walking defintion of a generic mutant. Not sure why he was chosen to become one of the main threats in the pilot.

Overall, first episodes were as good as I have expected. Which means they were good for what show is aimed to do. Which is a good comedy action show for modern children.

[ToTheNines]

I watched this again for the first time in a while.

Still very fun and a great kickoff to the series. All the Leo stuff hits so hard knowing that Splinter was just tempering his ego, but knew he really had it in him. Same with seeing him be such a dorky, innocent kid at the beginning and knowing how it’ll all go down in Owari eventually. Great stuff.

Splinter letting his past trauma inform his decision to let the guys rescue April was a nice touch too. I wish they would have fleshed out the April/Splinter relationship a little more.

[The Great Saiyaman]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

I watched this again for the first time in a while.

Still very fun and a great kickoff to the series. All the Leo stuff hits so hard knowing that Splinter was just tempering his ego, but knew he really had it in him. Same with seeing him be such a dorky, innocent kid at the beginning and knowing how it’ll all go down in Owari eventually. Great stuff.

Splinter letting his past trauma inform his decision to let the guys rescue April was a nice touch too. I wish they would have fleshed out the April/Splinter relationship a little more.

I recently introduced a friend of mine to the series and the first thing he said was "Why does Michelangelo sound like Beast boy?"

Same voice actor, Greg Cipes.

[ToTheNines]

Did anyone ever point out how stupid it was at the end of part 2 for Splinter to berate them for making the news? If you’re really a hardcore invisible ninja, why are you putting your clan emblem on anything? Let alone your projectile weapons that are designed to be thrown from afar and lodged into people/things?

[Zog The Magnificent]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Did anyone ever point out how stupid it was at the end of part 2 for Splinter to berate them for making the news? If you’re really a hardcore invisible ninja, why are you putting your clan emblem on anything? Let alone your projectile weapons that are designed to be thrown from afar and lodged into people/things?

Look, those shurikans aren't free. How do you think Splinter pays for his ninja arsenal? Advertising!

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Did anyone ever point out how stupid it was at the end of part 2 for Splinter to berate them for making the news? If you’re really a hardcore invisible ninja, why are you putting your clan emblem on anything? Let alone your projectile weapons that are designed to be thrown from afar and lodged into people/things?

Considering that is the reason Shredder relocated to New York, then yes. It's like when "only" having two cans of anti-mutagen was a big deal when a single drop was enough to cure one person, or when they needed to make enough for millions of people all at once and so made enough as a fluke they couldn't repeat.

Maybe it's fine if some minor plot element is really stupid but it is a little too annoying when major twists and turns hinge on something stupid. They could have made it so that Shredder came to New York for just about any reason, it could have taken him over a decade to finally track Yoshi to New York or maybe he's there on mob business and discover that an associate used to rent out an apartment for him or something. There are probably plenty of better reasons than a symbol ending up on the news and that's still what they went with.