01PLOT

The Turtles, equipped with a new tracking device called a Sarnath-o-meter, are on the trail of the third (and last) fragment of the Eye of Sarnath but, once again, Shredder locates it before they do, but not before a fish who beat Baxter Stockman to it spits it out. Now the villain has all three fragments and after fusing them together, attaches them to his helmet, where he is convinced that he can control its power.

The Turtles spy Baxter exiting a Chinese take-out restaurant and try to follow him to a moth-balled freighter that's docked in the harbor, unfortunately Baxter notices them thanks to hidden mirrors in his glasses and uses a raygun that sheds the turtles disguises. The Turtles are noticed by two dock workers who try and fail to catch them. Shredder unleashes the power of the Eye of Sarnath and wills an illustrated red dragon, painted on the side of the box of Chinese take-out, to come to life and attack the Turtles. Shredder is more than pleased with his new found power. The Turtles are frightened by the red dragon and back away as Donatello accidentally drops the Sarnath-o-meter - which is later recovered by Baxter Stockman.

April, Vernon and a Channel 6 News team arrive on the scene to see Michelangelo riding on the back of the red dragon as it flies high over the border. Blodgett, the Channel 6 News van driver, panics and drives away.

Meanwhile, Donatello and Raphael are able to knock Shredder's helmet off, causing the red dragon to disappear and Michelangelo and Leonardo plummet into a nearby pool. Blodgett, returning to the dock, loses control of the van and jumps out as the van veers off the pier and into the harbor. Vernon fires him on the spot and Blodgett sheepishly walks away - but not empty handed, since it seems that he has found Shredder's helmet.

Back at his apartment, Blodgett, wearing Shredder's helmet, laments about losing yet another job. He drops an inspirational tape into his Sony Walkman and accidentally wills himself a brand new limousine.

Back at the Turtle Lair, Splinter instructs the Turtles to locate the Sarnath-o-meter if they wish to find Shredder's helmet. The boys, disguised as pizza deliverymen, hit the streets.

Meanwhile, Shredder is anguished over the loss of his helmet and rebukes all of Baxter's efforts to help. Baxter takes the Sarnath-o-meter and hits the streets himself, finds Blodgett and the helmet and is now determined to use its powers for his own ends. With the helmet, Stockman no longer needs the Sarnath-o-meter and disposes of it in the trash.

!"So. What do you think? Is it me? You can be honest

"So. What do you think? Is it me? You can be honest."

Baxter's first foray into his lust for power is to create a Taj Mahal duplicate. This, of course, attracts the attention of the Turtles. Upon their arrival, Baxter creates a monster to turn them into "Turtle Soup."

Meanwhile, Blodgett, determined to reclaim the helmet, discovers the discarded Sarnath-o-meter and begin his search.

Back at the Taj Mahal, Shredder and Blodgett arrive to claim the helmet. Baxter tries to turn a golden minaret into a monster but is unsuccessful - it seems that the Eye has no effect on gold. Shredder is able to retrieve his helmet, trap the Turtles in a plastic bubble and escapes on a flying carpet with both the Eye and the Sarnath-o-meter, saying he will begin his conquest of Earth by destroying the Interstate Bridge. Donatello warns that Shredder is now a walking time bomb.

Moments later, April and Splinter, who received an S.O.S. from Leonardo while they were engaged in mortal combat with Baxter's monsters, arrive and release the Turtles. Blodgett arrives to save April from a falling wall. He tells the Turtles that the Eye has no effect on gold.

The Turtles, flying high over New York City with golden shields from Ancient Rome, spy Shredder at the bridge, foil his attack attempts and warn him of the danger. It seems that the Sarnath-o-meter was designed to destroy the "Eye" with a massive explosion when the two came in contact and now it is reaching critical mass. Shredder tosses the Sarnath-o-meter into the Hudson River just moments before a massive explosion. When the dust clears, Shredder is gone.

April manages to convince Vernon to give Blodgett his job back, and Blodgett announces that he'll take everyone out to dinner as thanks. April then informs Blodgett that the cost of the van will come out of his salary. Somewhat abashed, he offers the Turtles pizza as a celebratory gesture.

02CAST & APPEARANCES

April O'Neil

Renae Jacobs

Baxter Stockman

Pat Fraley

Blob MonsterDEBUT

BlodgettDEBUT

Townsend Coleman

Barry Gordon

Pat Fraley

Cam Clarke

Townsend Coleman

MortimerDEBUT

Rob Paulsen

James Avery

Peter Renaday

Peter Renaday

ALSO APPEARING

First dock worker · James AveryInspirational tape narrator · Renae JacobsSecond dock worker · Pat Fraley

03OBJECTS, VEHICLES & PLACES

OBJECTS & VEHICLESChannel 6 newsvanSarnath-o-meterTurtle BlimpTurtle Van

LOCATIONSAbandoned freighterBlodgett's apartmentCity docksHudson RiverInterstate BridgeShredder's hideoutTaj Mahal/Abandoned buildingTurtle Lair

SPECIESCatHumansMutant ratMutant turtles

04SCREEN GRABS

9 frames. Screencaps via Turtlepedia (CC BY-SA).

05MEMORABLE QUOTES

Vernon: BLODGETT! Look at the news van! It's ruined! Blodgett: Sorry Mr. Vernin. Vernon: You'll be even sorrier when you hear this! Blodgett, YOU'RE FIRED! Blodgett:: Somehow this always happens.

Blodgett: I can turn this gold watch into lots of gold. Piles of gold! _(nothing happens)_ Oh, it didn't work. I wonder why not? Baxter Stockman: Because you're an idiot, that's why!

Baxter: Surrender, Turtles, and I might spare you! If you can admit that I, Baxter Stockman, have accomplished what Shredder could not! Shredder: _(running into temple)_ I'll bear that in mind, Baxter, when I've delivered your eulogy, you traitorous vermin!!

Donatello: Get ready Baxter, Ninja class is about to begin!! Baxter: _(firing at a mural on the wall)_ No, my friend, _You're_ the one who's about to learn a lesson!

Shredder: So much for your blob monster! Baxter: You won't have as much luck with _this_! _(he fires the Eye at a minaret)_ That minaret, I'll turn it into another monster! _(nothing happens)_ It's...not working! Shredder: So the Eye _does_ have a limitation. It has no effect on gold! _(lunging towards Baxter)_ Now you miserable worm...you're going to pay!! _(snatching back helmet)_

06NOTES & GOOFS

When Baxter is close to finishing the Turtles with his Blob Monster, Shredder's helmet is seen with the eye on the opposite way to how he welded it, and it remains so until Shredder throws the helmet and the Sarnath-o-meter into the river at the end of the episode.
Michelangelo launches his nunchaku to catch the dragon's mouth, but when it disappears, the nunchaku also disappears.
A similar situation occurs when the Blob Monster absorbs Leonardo's katana: the katana disappears when the monster does.
Vernon's suspenders/braces are missing when Blodgett mentions Leonardo and Michelangelo riding on the dragon's back.
The second dock worker is seen with no hair when the shot cuts from the Turtles to him, but his hair reappears just before he kicks the barrel away.
Leonardo's katana sleeves were missing from his belt when he and Michelangelo were falling back down to earth after Shredder's dragon disappeared.
Shredder turns Leonardo's katanas into ice cream cones, but later, they are seen on his shell between shots.
The Eye of Sarnath's crystals seem to fluctuate depending on what scene they're in. The previous episode's crystal was large enough to not be concealed by Shredder's hand, and the one in this episode is the size of a small fruit. Yet when Shredder repairs the Eye, all three pieces are quite small.
How did the Shredder so quickly discover the Eye's ability to modify matter just by putting the helmet on the first time?
When Baxter creates the Blob Monster with the Eye of Sarnath, the fight is outdoors, but after the commercial break, the fight is indoors.
The Eye's effects seem to vary from person to person, since with Shredder and Baxter, losing the Eye seemed to negate everything they had made/transformed, yet Blodgett's living room is still full of comic books long after he loses it.
Similarly, the Eye doesn't work on gold, yet it was able to create the Taj Mahal complete with gold minaret. Though it's possible that it can create gold out of other objects but not vice-versa.

07TRIVIA

One of Baxter's monsters appeared in the _Prehistoric Turtlesaurus_ level in the arcade and Re-Shelled versions of _Turtles in Time_ under the name Cement Man. In the SNES version, he is replaced by Slash.
First time Shredder is seen without his helmet and mask since Splinter's flashback tale in "Turtle Tracks".
The Eye of Sarnath may have been the inspiration for the Hyperstone, the stone used by Shredder in the Sega Genesis game _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist_.
Baxter uses a gun that shoots out hands and feet. His video game counterpart uses a similar gun in _Turtles in Time_.
At the end of the episode, parodies of other popular 80s cartoon shows such as _Smurfs_ and _Alvin and the Chipmunks_ are shown on a TV, as well as a movie or series similar to _Rambo_.
The Rambo parody resembles a Ninja Turtle. Interestingly, the toyline released a Mutant Military sub-line which includes a Lieutenant Leonardo figure resembling the Rambo parody.

08HOME MEDIA

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Incredible Shrinking TurtlesTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 2Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series CollectionTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cowabunga Classics