#weesel

The team briefly confront Shredder and his mutants at the museum: in what could be considered a nod to the fact that this will be the last go-around for many of the conventions we’ve seen countless times over the years, Leonardo goads Shredder for continuing to use the same tired old taunts against them. After Raphael threatens Shreds with what turns out to be a paper fan, he’s surprised to see the villain retreat: in reality, Shredder received a radio message from Krang giving the all-clear, and so the next part of their plan is ready to be implemented. The Turtles watch their enemies escape in the module and wonder why they would flee while having the upper hand.

Splinter can’t let go, and when the Turtles return to the Lair he warns that the path they’ve taken by confronting Shredder may lead to “the greatest danger [they’ve] ever faced”. Turning on the TV, the team watch a reporter cover the theft of a regenerative power cell from a space administration facility outside of the city. This, we’re told, is “the world’s most compact source of energy.... invented for a new super space station!” The thieves are said to be “a strange alien creature” and a group of ninjas clad in blue attire. The Turtles are quick to determine that it must be Krang and the Foot Soldiers that are being referred to, but this does raise two questions: How can it be that nobody in the city other than them knows who Krang is when he’s appeared on TV attempting to take over the world multiple times, and since when did the Foot Soldiers ever wear blue?

It dawns on the Turtles that they’ve been played: in a return to a strategy that worked when applied all the way back in season three’s “The Big Rip-Off", Shredder kept them busy with a distraction while the gizmo he was really after was being stolen elsewhere. An alarm sounds in Donatello’s workshop, indicating an impending tidal wave may be approaching the city. Rushing to the beach in their van, the Turtles watch as the newly energised Technodrome emerges. Our heroes are so blasé about the prospect of stopping the fortress now that they all begin to recite, in unison, the dutiful steps they’ll need to go through that they know like the back of their hands. “We break into the Technodrome, fight our way past the Foot Soldiers, disconnect the power device...”

The team use a grappling hook to hitch a ride to the rolling headquarters, and once inside begin taking out Foot Soldiers. Krang has also performed this song and dance enough times that he has anticipated the arrival of the green teens, and made allowances for it in the Scheme of the Day. He has the Technodrome tear through town until it arrives outside City Hall, where he begins the process of staging an invasion, accompanied by General Traag and a sizeable contingent of Rock Soldiers. He demands that control of the city be handed over to him immediately, threatening to destroy the building if the officials within refuse.

Inside the Technodrome, the Turtles move on to begin trying to disconnect the power source as planned, but are captured by Shredder and The Boys. Outside, Krang is borderline ecstatic as he relays the news to Shreds: “WE’VE DONE IT!” Now fully in control, the villains take care of the only force that could plausibly stop them – the Turtles – by tossing them through a portal into Dimension X.

Act two opens with the Turtles floating through a green, glowing void until they’re pulled inside a spaceship. They’re soon introduced to its pilot, a rodent-like slave trader by the name Weesel, who tells the team they’ll “fetch a nice price in the slave pits of Si-Ra.”  Back in the Lair, Splinter snaps out of his meditative state with the realisation that the Turtles are in danger, and the fate of the world is at stake. (He must surely be the only person left in town by now who’s somehow oblivious to the fact that the Technodrome has already flattened a decent amount of real estate on its way to City Hall, the danger he’s so worried about has been here for a while now.)

We start to get a sense for how quickly Krang’s takeover has impacted the city as April and Irma are seen leaving Channel 6′s car park in a news van, commenting on how their computers and phones no longer work. They find themselves unable to exit the building as Krang and a group of his followers are waiting outside, the TV station their next target. Soon Krang is confronting Burne Thompson, and I think this may be the first time we’ve ever had any significant interaction between these two characters. Burne is insistent that any takeover will never work as his employees are loyal to him, an assertion immediately disproven by Vernon, who agrees to work the cameras under the new regime. Splinter watches from an alley as Krang’s victory speech goes out on-air, a group of onlookers gathering to view the unfolding events on the TVs in the window of an electronics store. 

The Turtles try to lecture Weesel about the ethics of his profession, but he remains unmoved, taking them to be examined by Vorx, a slug-like alien who maintains control over his slaves by wielding a whip. Weesel is paid in exchange for the Turtles but before leaving spots his kid brother, Zwerk, chained up and being marched into the mines. When he questions Vorx about his younger sibling being part of the operation he’s warned that anyone could potentially end up working as a slave in the pits, even him should he continue to make a fuss. Reluctantly, Weesel finds himself with no option but to leave in his spaceship, as the Turtles are put to work.

In the foyer of Channel 6, Krang reveals to Shredder that a set of rocket thrusters are kept at the same space facility where the power cell was obtained. The next phase of their plan will involve taking these and affixing them to the Technodrome, effectively converting it into a spaceship. Taking it back through a portal, Krang will then be able to terrorise Dimension X while Shredder uses the Rock Soldiers to gain control of Earth. Bebop and Rocksteady are beginning to wonder where this leaves them, and are thrown a bone as Krang effectively appoints them as the new bosses of Channel 6. Later, the two mutants confront April, Irma and Vernon, keen to begin throwing their weight around.

The Turtles are made to toil away with pickaxes in the pits, and while working strike up a conversation with Zwerk. The young alien insists that his older brother isn’t really such a bad guy, and is simply trying to provide for the pair, an assertion that our heroes find dubious. He goes on to explain that the material the slaves are made to dig for is Ilanium, a rubble-like substance that serves as the diet of the Rock Soldiers. Putting two and two together, the Turtles determine that this must mean Vorx has a business relationship with Krang, and by extension likely has access to a dimensional portal too. The Turtles and Zwerk begin considering how to escape, but find themselves constantly being watched (and fired upon) by the slave master’s airborne drone guards.

In the offices of Channel 6, April, Irma and Vernon are tied up as part of “The Bebop & Rocksteady Show”. Destroying a nearby window with his laser weapon, Rocksteady announces that an upcoming segment of their broadcast will involve sending the three crew members out the side of the building, their final on-screen appearances culminating in them hitting the ground below.

Vorx has learned of the planned insurrection by the Turtles and Zwerk, and orders their extermination at the hands of The Great Chaarg, an enormous drooling cyclops monster. Chaarg looks set to devour our heroes until Weesel swoops in, using his ship to open fire upon the creature. The Turtles and Zwerk soon board his ship, and upon reclaiming their weapons, the green teens begin working with the alien brothers to figure out how to strike back against the slave owner.

Rocksteady fires at the feet of the Channel 6 trio with his laser rifle, nudging them closer to a fall as he joins Bebop in swearing revenge for all the times the station has aired stories that painted the duo in a negative light. (This scene is hampered briefly by a particularly egregious animation error in which it’s the lower body of Rocksteady himself that’s seen being pushed towards the window.) Splinter arrives to intervene, taking down the two mutants and encouraging his friends to snatch their weapons.

In the Turtlethon entry prior to this one (for “Combat Land”) I suggested that Irma taking on a more proactive role in stopping the bad guys may have been intended as foreshadowing for what was to come. That begins to take shape here, as upon picking up Rocksteady’s gun her voice and demeanour immediately change. Irma is livid as she holds The Boys at gunpoint, demanding that they reveal the current whereabouts of the Turtles. Bebop and Rocksteady immediately cave, but can’t provide concrete details about where they are beyond being in Dimension X. She continues to intimidate The Boys until they also cough up the details of Krang’s plan to steal the rocket blasters. Our heroes leave to stop the alien brain, providing Vernon with a blaster weapon so he can keep Rocksteady and Bebop in line; it speaks volumes that the henchmen are terrified of the new Irma but immediately begin to intimidate April’s old rival.

Weesel takes the Turtles and Zwerk to a bunker, where the master controls for the slave pit operation are said to be kept: he warns them that attempting to gain entry is a foolish exercise, as doing so would be near-impossible. Vorx soon emerges, flanked by a group of obedient henchmen, and begins doing battle directly with the Turtles. Nearby, the assembled slaves see the beginning of a potential rebellion taking shape, but the drones continue to keep them in line.

As the fight continues, the Turtles are forced to concede that Vorx’s forces are too powerful for them to prevail. The tide of battle is turned by the return of Weesel’s ship, which crash-lands into the bunker, destroying the systems controlling the drones. The rebellion soon begins, with Vorx and his underlings finding themselves surrounded by the furious prisoners.

The Turtles lament that Weesel was forced to sacrifice his own life so that his brother and the other prisoners could be free, and I must admit that for a second there they really had me going: I genuinely thought that maybe David Wise had been able to convince the powers that be to allow him to incorporate the death of a guest character into the show as part of the transition into the new, darker era to come. For better or worse, that’s not how this plays out: Weesel is alive, having sacrificed his ship but escaping via the use of a rocket pack, and he soon rejoins the group.

Following the capture of Vorx, the Turtles head into his control room and find there never was a portal there after all. The next best thing is a trans-dimensional viewscreen, which they use to call the Technodrome. As Shredder drives the rolling fortress to the space site his conversation with Krang is interrupted by his old enemies, who appear in a transmission where they roast him endlessly, declaring him to be a dishonourable coward. This trolling goes on and on and on until Shredder can’t take it anymore, and is goaded into letting the team come back through the portal so he can beat them legitimately.

Krang waits at the space site for Shredder to arrive in the Technodrome, oblivious to the return of the Turtles, and is soon confronted by April and Splinter. It’s a combination of characters going toe-to-toe that I don’t think we’ve seen in the show’s history, but the way it plays out is even more unexpected. Splinter is no match for Krang’s android body and its built-in weaponry, his walking stick broken in half. It’s clear that the duo is in over their heads, and then...

From the shadows emerges Irma, who is going all-in with her new persona, now sporting a Rambo-esque red headband. Declaring Krang to be “alien scum”, she opens fire on his android body, blowing a huge hole in its back and rendering him immobile. Inside the Technodrome, Donatello spots a cloaking device that can be used to alter a person’s appearance, and decides they could use this gizmo to their advantage.

Donnie and Mikey’s preoccupation with the cloaking machine leaves Shredder now facing just Leo and Raph. With only two Turtles to shake off he eventually makes it to an escape hatch, where he leaps out, bouncing off a nearby restaurant’s awning and running away. (If there’s one thing this show loves, other than TV stores with sets in the window that have the volume turned up and men getting their come-uppance by being made to stand around in their underwear, it’s a good springy awning that can serve as a makeshift trampoline.) Leonardo and Raphael follow, doing battle with Shreds on the street.

April reaches Donatello via Turtlecom, informing him that Irma has successfully disabled Krang’s robot body. I don’t think I praise the voice actors enough, so here’s an example of what a critical component of the show they are: the comedic beat when Barry Gordon (as Donnie) processes the news of who beat Krang - “Irma...? Oh! Well, that’s perfect!” is impeccable. The group agree to meet Donatello outside the Technodrome, leaving Krang where he is. This turns out to be a major mistake, as following their departure the alien brain is free to begin attempting to reconnect the wires of his android body, and is soon mobile again.

Bebop and Rocksteady use similar tactics on Vernon as the Turtles did on Shredder, goading him with threats of what their boss will do to the newsman upon finding out they’ve been held hostage. It’s a strategy that works as the cowardly reporter succumbs to a nervous breakdown, dropping his blaster and running out of the room. Now left unaccompanied, The Boys begin looking for a way to break out of the ropes restraining them.

Krang orders his Rock Soldiers to fall back, an event picked up on by Shredder as a sign that things are unravelling while he continues to battle Leo and Raph. Knocking the two Turtles aside, he tries to escape, but is confronted by Irma, April and Splinter, who work together to disarm him. Sandwiched between this trio and the two Turtles – at this point, even April has balled-up fists and is clearly ready to throw down – Shreds has finally wound up in a position where there’s nowhere for him to run.

Krang emerges from the Technodrome in his bubble walker, accompanied by Donatello of all people, and when he addresses General Traag as “dude” it’s clear that something strange is happening. The cloaking device wears off, revealing that this Krang was Michaelangelo the entire time. The real Krang rejoins Shredder and both watch in horror as the full extent of Donatello’s sabotage becomes evident: the Technodrome is pulled into a portal to Dimension X, doomed to spiral uncontrollably through space.

As in “Night of the Rogues” earlier this season, it falls to Bebop and Rocksteady to save their bosses at the last second. The Boys emerge in a pick-up truck – identical to the one used by yokel criminal family the Badds in “Donatello’s Badd Time” - and pull the villains into the back, Irma continuing to fire upon them as they flee. With the Technodrome, the Foot Soldiers and Rock Soldiers now gone, Shredder and Krang have effectively lost everything.

Throughout this season, almost all of the adventures of the Turtles have taken place at night, a subtle shift from the cheery bright blue skies often seen in years prior and an indicator of the more mature direction things were taking. Today, the Turtles have been out in the open during the daytime, forced to deal with a threat to the city big enough that it justifies them re-emerging from the darkness. As Splinter addresses the group in the closing moments of this outing – warning that Shredder may return to fight another day – sunset arrives, the sky above the city transitioning to a golden hue. In the final shot, a streak of red looms ominously on the horizon. Whether by intention or simple coincidence, it hints at a future still to come for our young heroes, one where things will never be the same again.

Oh, and Irma still has the gun. I’d like to think that she’ll hold on to that thing, knowing how grim things will soon become.

Phew. Okay, there’s a lot to take in here. “Shredder Triumphant!”, I dare say, could be considered a triumph in its own right; here we have not only a big end-of-season-finale for the first time in four years, but one that arguably tops them all. There’s a sense that all roads have led here, the almost one-hundred-and-seventy adventures of the Turtles building to this point: a final battle in which the entire main cast gets to show what they’ve learned, and who they’ve become over this journey.

I say “final battle”, pointedly, because I strongly suspect David Wise was writing this under the assumption that it might mark the end of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a series. Way back in the very first Turtlethon entry I touched upon how Wise had been tasked with closing the book on Transformers with “The Rebirth”, a five-episode final season that wound up being whittled down to three, intended by Hasbro as a hurried swan song for a franchise thought to be in a death spiral. Though “Shredder Triumphant!” doesn’t even have the benefit of being told over three shows, the intent seems to be much the same: achieve a happy ending, conclude with the villains on the back foot and bickering among themselves, and most crucially of all, provide a bit of wiggle room so that future stories can be told should a revival materialise later on.

With that in mind, I wouldn’t blame anyone who considers this their jumping-off point, a satisfying conclusion to a long-running show that for most of its life has been about the light-hearted, often goofy adventures of four youngsters enjoying themselves. What Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be when the story resumes with season eight is something else entirely. For now though, I think “Shredder Triumphant!” is worth celebrating as a tremendous final encore for the series as it was, a fitting end to a remarkable era.

Only three seasons of the show remain, each extending to a mere eight episodes. Before we get to those though, there’s some long-outstanding business to take care of. The first component in a trilogy of significant works of TMNT-related media which, while not a direct part of the 1987 show’s continuity, are too integral to the story of Turtlemania for us not to cover. So...