Official Ep Discussion: #4 "New Friend, Old Enemy"

[Cure]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

Continuity note: we're currently in mid-July.

Is that a hobby of yours? I'm not trying to be dickish, I'm honestly asking, what with your 4Kids continuity thread and whatnot.

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by Cure

Is that a hobby of yours? I'm not trying to be dickish, I'm honestly asking, what with your 4Kids continuity thread and whatnot.

Lol, yeah. I love nitpicking chronology in fiction.

[Doomsword]

Anyone have a link to the episode from this morning? I didn't get home till it was already over & they aren't replaying it tomorrow like they did last week.

[Kendamu]

Originally Posted by Xav

I kind of wonder something. Why would Brad teach Mikey a real move, and not just a fake one?

When you're good enough at fighting, you start to notice high percentage movements vs low percentage movements (the latter being less likely to work in real combat). I doubt that Mikey would fall for a BS technique if he's good enough to freestyle it against alien robots.

[shinefra]

Originally Posted by Doomsword

Anyone have a link to the episode from this morning? I didn't get home till it was already over & they aren't replaying it tomorrow like they did last week.

Same here

[chrisdude]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

I'll blog about it during the week once my brother saw the episode too. My main complaint is how April was just... kind of... there. No concern over her dad? Why were they just chilling instead of looking for the Kraang? Instead of backflipping through the rooftops they should have mentioned they were looking for The Kraang before the Foot would show up to change things....

I would appreciate a little more consistency... I wouldn't like this episode to end with the threat of the Shredder... and the next ep to be about something else with everything completely forgetting about it.

It does seem weird to have April just hanging out in the lair without even as much as a scene where she first enters it.
This makes me think that:
A. They've broken from production order.
B. The episode where April is first brought into the lair was ditched
or
C. It's assumed that people are so comfortable with the idea of April being a friend, that the powers that be don't feel the need to show her becoming comfortable around the turtles.

Spoiler:

Also, I think it's worth noting that Mikey held his own pretty darn well against Xever and Bradford, considering how Bradford served hot slices of pain to everybody else in the alley. Mikey might have done just as well against Bradford the first go 'round, if things hadn't got broken up by Leo and the cops.

ALSO: People seem to waltz right into these episode discussion threads without having seen the show. Do we need to use spoiler tags in these threads, or are they responsible taking that risk?

[Rooish]

Ditto about a link, PM me please if you find one. I didn't see the episode and it's not on iTunes yet.

[Ninjinister]

Hm the ep's not up on the site yet. Peculiar. Guess I'll have to resort to the ol' VCR.

[Xav]

Originally Posted by Goongasnootch

When you're good enough at fighting, you start to notice high percentage movements vs low percentage movements (the latter being less likely to work in real combat). I doubt that Mikey would fall for a BS technique if he's good enough to freestyle it against alien robots.

I don't know, Mikey isn't exactly bright.

[Donatello19]

The only thing that I didn't like in the episode was April. After seeing her in their lair, I was expecting her to actually be involved in the episode. It feels like she made a brief cameo. I hope they actually use her more in future episodes

[The Big Bad]

Originally Posted by chrisdude

ALSO: People seem to waltz right into these episode discussion threads without having seen the show. Do we need to use spoiler tags in these threads, or are they responsible taking that risk?

The trend here is to not spoiler tag things, although I'd appreciate it if people would. Not everyone makes it a point of checking out all the released info beforehand, so if you're going to speak about details from future episodes (say, if certain characters will mutate into certain other characters) please tag them. Thank you for asking, though!

[chrisdude]

Originally Posted by The Big Bad

The trend here is to not spoiler tag things, although I'd appreciate it if people would. Not everyone makes it a point of checking out all the released info beforehand, so if you're going to speak about details from future episodes (say, if certain characters will mutate into certain other characters) please tag them. Thank you for asking, though!

I don't like the future episode talk, either. I'm not into the whole analyzing clips and character bios thing. Before the show started was one thing, but now, I don't even like seeing preview clips or synopsis. I'm the guy who cuts the TV off when shows start doing that "Next week, on..." thing.

[Machias Banshee]

Originally Posted by The Big Bad

The trend here is to not spoiler tag things, although I'd appreciate it if people would. Not everyone makes it a point of checking out all the released info beforehand, so if you're going to speak about details from future episodes (say, if certain characters will mutate into certain other characters) please tag them.

I agree with this sentiment. I know many people have gotten the books and the action figures with the little background stories. Not everyone likes to know these things ahead of time. I'll mention it in my future threads. I think people would appreciate the spoiler tag usage After the show's been aired..

I'M still gonna be a troublemaker, though... I haven't yet had the chance to see the episode yet, so I'm keeping a vigil at the nick site till it's posted.

[Veedubguy83]

Great episode this week! I love this Shredder. Just from seeing him in the few brief clips that we have seen, he seems quite menacing and the voice actor sounds awesome! Can't wait for next weeks episode!

[The Big Bad]

Three/four episodes in, I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying this series. There's tons of stuff about it that bugs me or that I just plain don't like, and yet, unlike with Generator Rex or the new Thundercats, I sort of don't mind--possibly because I feel that the previous series managed to realize most of its potential, so being disappointed here doesn't seem like such big deal as it was then.

Random thoughts:

• When I first saw the preview for the episode, I though that the episode would be about Mikey and Bradford becoming actual friends before realizing they worked for opposite sides, which I was really excited for, since I prefer it when The Foot is portrayed as something other than a group of uniformly evil people. And while that didn't happen--to the episode's detriment, I feel--I at least liked the idea of Bradford being a somewhat famous martial artist. The idea isn't precisely new--Khan in the 4Kids toon had a somewhat similar background, in that he was publicly a martial arts instructor--but it adds some interest to someone who, design aside, isn't terribly compelling yet.
  
  
• Between its attempts to establish Bradford, teaming him up with someone he didn't like in order to find out more about the turtles, his plan to pursue the turtles' back to their lair, and the Foot's defeat by sewer, this episode was very reminiscent of "The Way of Invisibility", with Bradford in Hun's role. Using that standard, I feel the earlier effort was more successful, since the Foot's plan was more competently executed there, and the resolution to that battle didn't feel quite so...cartoonish.
  
  
• Xever, the other goon introduced in this episode, initially felt like the most interesting of the two. Although he didn't do much this episode--aside from showing that he's not a slouch himself when it comes to fight--I really hope that something is made out of the idea that he's meant to be the Foot's expert on the subtleties of the New York underworld. Also, although I'm fairly sure it's a coincidence, his character design reminded me a lot of this particular extra from the previous cartoon.
  
  
  
  
• April continues to feel like a background character, and I'm getting the feeling that the writers are going out of their way to not develop her. It could have been the easiest thing in the world to use April's exposition on social networking to say something about her--a casual comment about her friends (of lack thereof) could have done a lot to flesh her out. Given that she continues to be the show's only female character, this is not at all a good thing.
  
  
• While this Mikey is funnier than the 2k3 Mikey, I'm totally over basing most of his jokes on the idea that he is stupid. I mean, we're almost reaching latter-season Joey (Friends) territory here, and we're only four episodes in.
  
  
• I'm not sure what to make of Splinter's advice here. Sure, there are times when fairness shouldn't be the overriding concern. However, I would have liked to see him acknowledge how incredibly easy it is to take that policy too far, and what the consequences of doing so are.
  

[Kendamu]

Originally Posted by Xav

I don't know, Mikey isn't exactly bright.

But he does have raw athletic talent and actual combat experience. That should be enough when learning skills directly related to combat. Had he never been taught Ninpo or had never been in a fight before, he might not have caught on to an obviously BS technique.

[FoxZerro]

Originally Posted by Xav

I kind of wonder something. Why would Brad teach Mikey a real move, and not just a fake one?

It was part of his plan. You teach Mikey a move from the Foot and tell him not to show anybody, knowing full well that being the kind of person that he is Mikey will instantly go back and show his brothers. From there their sensei sees them doing moves from the Foot's Playbook and instantly wants to know where they learned the moves of his rival Oroku Saki. This revelation leads the turtles to confront Bradford, where they find Mikey tied up as a clever ruse. Just happy to have their brother back, they proceed to head back home not thinking of who might be following and bam we now know the location of their secret lair.

The only problem was they underestimated the Turtles understanding of Nineties cartoons and assumed that they wouldn't realize the whole sting was actually a trap.

[CyberCubed]

I come home 10 hours later and Nick didn't upload this episode to their website? What the?

[demonsweat]

Wow, this one was great! I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said. I keep coming into these discussions too late.

I just want to say I thought it was really cool how Splinter drove home the whole survival thing with Leo. It's so freaking ninja, I love it. And, it's kind of nice to see them deviate from that wholesome bs kid's shows seem to adhere to, that everyone must be a do-gooder no matter the consequences. I mean obviously they won't be cutting down ninjas in the streets or anything, but Splinter was right - there's a big difference between sparring with your brothers and fighting for your life.

There's a dark edge to this show that I have to say I'm really into. To me, that is the essence of the turtles. They've always skated this edge between heroes and anti-heroes, depending on the iteration. Even though it's clearly for a younger crowd, I'm really glad some of that found its way into the new show.

[shuriken]

I liked the episode. Although this Mikey is probably the dumbest incarnation of Mikey ever. But the family dynamic is definitely there and a faux Chuck Norris getting beat up by the TMNT was pretty awesome.