RHINO-MAN

01PLOT

The Turtles are on their way to return some rental tapes when they spot a criminal breaking into someone's car. But when the criminal runs for it, a young man in a superhero costume calling himself Cheeseburger Man intervenes and catches the miscreant. The Turtles conclude that they've missed something important on the news while watching monster movies.

They ask April what's going on, and she reveals that millionaire J. Gordon Hungerdunger is holding a "best super-hero" contest and will give the Malaprop Diamond to the winner. The most baffling aspect of the case is that Irma investigated the diamond further, and has found no evidence of the Malaprop Diamond's existence.

Krang has also seen the news about Hungerdunger, and concludes that he could use the diamond as a focusing crystal for a calcinator heat ray. To get the diamond, he orders Shredder to become a good guy, but when Shredder refuses, he orders Bebop and Rocksteady to become superheroes instead.

Neither group realizes that Hungerdunger is secretly planning to take over New York City, ordering his servants to put barrels of a mysterious liquid in the reservoir.

The Turtles pursue Vernon when they spot him moonlighting as "Newsman," concerned that he'll get himself into a dangerous situation. He nearly gets shot trying to take on a group of bank robbers, and the Turtles are just about to take on the criminals when suddenly "Rhino Man" and his sidekick "Mighty Hog" intervene. The Turtles are incredulous - Raphael questions whether it's all a dream - but the two mutants successfully subdue the criminals and serve them to the police.

As the Turtles mull over this bizarre occurrence, they see several butler-like men pushing barrels through the sewers. Splinter thinks they should focus more on Hungerdunger and finding out his motivations.

Shredder sends Bebop and Rocksteady out to thwart several crimes, including speeding, burglary and a bomb. Just as he starts to think that the contest is phony, Hungerdunger's butler appears in a helicopter and announces that Rhino Man and Mighty Hog have won the contest. Shredder accompanies them as their "business manager."

April reveals to the Turtles that Hungerdunger desperately wants to run New York, having several times run for mayor and even tried to buy the city. The Turtles are baffled by what this has to do with the contest until they see Vernon transformed into a mindless zombie by the drinking water. They try to warn April and Irma, but arrive seconds too late. Leonardo deduces that Hungerdunger has put something in the water that turns people into zombies, and Donatello says that they have to get to Hungerdunger's mansion to find an antidote.

At his mansion, Hungerdunger shows Rocksteady and Bebop off to the zombified masses, and gives them glasses of water. But his attempt to brainwash the villains is thwarted by the Turtles on their blimp. An aerial fight breaks out, and Hungerdunger himself turns his security measures against the Turtles.

When the Turtles successfully infiltrate the mansion, they find themselves being attacked by Hungerdunger's servants. Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo manage to subdue them, and they manage to learn from Hungerdunger that the antidote is actually inside the diamond.

This is a problem because Shredder has stolen the diamond, but the Turtles are able to intercept him before he can go through the dimensional portal. Donatello manages to empty the antidote into a nearby vase, and tosses Shredder the diamond-shaped beaker it was in. The villains retreat to Dimension X, where Krang instals the "diamond" in his heat ray. He attempts to use it to kill the Turtles, but the lack of an actual diamond causes the machine to overload and explode, much to Shredder's disgust. Rocksteady and Bebop swear off further do-gooding.

That night, April reports on how the Turtles saved the city, and Michelangelo expresses his distaste for the idea of a "good" Bebop and Rocksteady.

02CAST & APPEARANCES

03OBJECTS, VEHICLES & PLACES

04SCREEN GRABS

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

05MEMORABLE QUOTES

Cheeseburger Man: Who are you guys supposed to be, the Super Sailors? Donatello: No, we're the Teenage Mutant Ninja Sailors – uh, Turtles!

Vernon: Have no fear! Newsman is here! Michaelangelo: Newsman? Raphael: Yeah, I can't wait to meet his sidekick, Weather Boy.

Donatello: But Vernon doesn't know anything about being a hero. Raphael: So? He doesn't know anything about being a reporter, either.

06NOTES & GOOFS

• The dark haired burglar from "New York's Shiniest" makes his second appearance this episode albeit with a light skin tone.
• Raphael's remark about "finding out this was all a dream" in regard to Bebop and Rocksteady becoming super heroes is possibly a reference to the Turtles' dream in "Shredderville".
• The shot of Rocksteady saying "We're on it, boss, Ten-four" was recycled when he said "This is getting monotonous" but the later dialogue was probably in the original footage's context.
• The pieces of footage shown after the Turtles left Channel 6 were still images of the bank robbery scene from earlier and the gathering of the zombie people outside Hungerdunger's mansion later on.
• When Krang discusses his plan, his mouth is out of sync with animation.
• When Leonardo cuts the wall rug to trap Hungerdunger's butlers, he has Donatello's colors.
• The water flutes that the butler serves Shredder and the mutants are heard but not seen breaking when the Turtles fire upon them in the Blimp, and they and the serving tray are missing in the next shot having not been seen falling to the floor.
• When Hungerdunger's men are firing at the Turtles in the mansion, the four try to hide behind pillars, but the lasers are still somehow coming at them from the same side of the pillars they're hiding on (making their hiding spot useless as they're still being directly shot at), even though the goons are seen in the next shot being on the opposite side of the pillars from the Turtles.
• Donatello knew the name of Krang's heat ray even though none of the villains mentioned it by name in front of the Turtles.

07HOME MEDIA

08FAN REVIEW

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