ROCK AROUND THE BLOCK

01PLOT

The Turtles are sparring with one another, and Donatello is frustrated by Leonardo's seeming inaction - even more so because Leonardo easily defeats him with it. Splinter explains that he's been defeated by "Wu Wei," which can turn attacks back without action.

At the Technodrome, Shredder is suffering from cabin fever due to the constant Arctic snowstorm. Krang watches Channel 6 news, and learns of a rocket-propelled satellite with a laser beam that is about to be launched into space. He also has a plan that will keep the Turtles from interfering: he summons General Traag from Dimension X, and gives him the "Rockolizer", which will control any mineral substances. Sent to Central Park, General Traag begins causing mayhem by controlling the very rocks under the ground.

Donatello is trying to practice Wu Wei (and getting a couch thrown at him) when April tips the Turtles off about what's happening at the park. The news van nearly tumbles into a Traag-made chasm, but the Turtles rescue her, only to be assaulted by enormous dancing boulders.

Shredder and his two mutants arrive at the rocket base, where they easily get rid of the men guarding the place.

The Turtles spot General Traag standing in the street, and only damage their weapons by trying to apprehend him. He then turns the very road against them, flinging them down the street and disintegrating a house on top of them.

Traag constructs a vast pile of stones, and melds them together into a giant rock soldier. But before it can destroy the Turtles, it goes chasing after the Turtle Van (driven by April) and heads for the Channel 6 building. As the rock giant starts punching down the building, the Turtles distract it and barely manage to escape in time.

Fortunately, Michelangelo spots some construction/demolition equipment, and the Turtles start smashing the giant with a wrecking ball and a crane, reducing it to boulders once more. Unfortunately, Traag turns it into several smaller rock soldier-like giants, which are just as difficult for the Turtles to injure. Leonardo manages to lure them onto a massive rock grinding that completely destroys them.

At the base, Rocksteady and Bebop play around with the rocket's controls.

Raphael destroys the Rockalizer, and a panicked Traag escapes into the dimensional portal. Unfortunately, just then the laser rocket takes off into the sky, and the Turtles deduce that it was hijacked by Krang. They make it to the base as the satellite aboard the rocket reaches orbit, and begins burning away the ice around the Techodrome. The Technodrome rolls freely across the ice, but Donatello finally grasps the concept of Wu Wei, and decides to allow inaction to crush Shredder's plans.

Just then, Rocksteady and Bebop are fighting over a comic book, and accidentally cause the laser to melt away all the ice in front of the Techndrome. Its momentum carries it right over into the Arctic water, where it sinks to the bottom.

02CAST & APPEARANCES

03OBJECTS, VEHICLES & PLACES

04SCREEN GRABS

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

05NOTES & GOOFS

• At the end of the opening sparring scene, Leonardo becomes Raphael as Michelangelo asks for an explanation from Splinter.
• When the Turtles are looking up at Traag's giant rock warriors in the opening shot of Act Three, the colors of Donatello's bō and its strapping are switched.
• The gold rings on Splinter's kimono are missing when he first explains about Wu-Wei to Donatello.
• When Leonardo's turtlecom beeps after the couch incident, he is wearing Donatello's colors and they remain that way so it appears as though 2 Donatello's are exiting the lair.
• When the Turtles rescue April from the giant hole in the ground, three Donatello's can be seen sitting in the Turtle Van.
• When Raphael says "Why didn't I just stay in bed this morning?" Leonardo's left elbow pad is colored red.
• When Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady made their way back to the Module, Krang's image on Shredder's Comlink shows him in his android body but he wore his bubble walker for the entire episode.
• As the Turtles are being piled on by the Rock Giants, Leonardo is on top of Raphael & Donatello, above Michelangelo. However, when Leonardo points out the rock-grinder for his plan, he is suddenly in Michelangelo's place and crawls out from the same spot..
• During the climax of the episode as the Technodrome prepares to be free from the ice, Donatello tunes the monitors at the space center to the _Antarctic_, whereas the Technodrome was actually in the _Arctic_.

06HOME MEDIA

07FAN REVIEW

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