01PLOT

April has gotten the Turtles tickets to the action movie _Rondo 8: Hit Hardest_. Raphael's disgust for the character and Leonardo's training initially cause them to reject the offer, but the free pizza being given out at the premiere changes their minds.

Until the movie, Donatello secretly visits a college biology lab to check out their equipment, and he becomes acquainted with Oswald Dren, a grad student/theater projectionist. Dren has worked on a "vitalizer" that activates the molecules of inanimate things, which impresses Donatello deeply.

Unfortunately, Krang has learned of its existence, and sends Shredder, Rocksteady and Bebop to search for it. A fallen sample of the vitalizer is splashed onto a TV monitor while a cartoon is playing, bringing the cartoon mouse and cat Cheezy and Sleazy to life. At the movie premiere, Shredder appears and attacks Dren, causing a fight to break out between him and the Turtles. During the scuffle, the vitalizer falls on some film reels, causing a pair of monsters from the movie to come to life.

While Donatello and Dren try to figure out a solution, the other Turtles stumble across the movie star Rondo. He's actually a rather short, weak cowardly man who flees almost immediately. As they try to protect him, Leonardo quickly discerns that the movie monsters' weakness is bright lights.

Donatello and Dren try to recreate the formula of the vitalizer, only to be interrupted and captured by Shredder. The villain unleashes a nest of poisonous snakes on the pair, but accidentally unleashes the movie version of Rondo as well, who rescues them and fights off the monsters.

Unfortunately, Shredder is planning to cause more chaos by heading to a monster movie marathon, and bringing all the monsters to "life," including a vampire, a mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, and a giant slug. As the Turtles fight the monsters, Dren brings in the last vial of the vitalizer to Donatello, who has the perfect roll of film for it. Shredder takes the bait, heading back to Dimension X, only for all the vitalizer to accidentally be spilled on the Cheezy and Sleazy cartoon reel, which ends up causing trouble for the bad guys onboard the Technodrome.

Donatello uses a pair of searchlights to drive the monsters back into the theater and back onto the screen.

02CAST & APPEARANCES

Cam Clarke

Barry Gordon

Townsend Coleman

Rob Paulsen

Renae Jacobs

James Avery

Pat Fraley

Barry Gordon

Cam Clarke

Rondo /RondoDEBUT

Dan Gilvezan

Oswald DrenDEBUT

Cam Clarke

ALSO APPEARING

Cheezy and SleazyDraculaFrankenstein's MonsterGiant slugMummy

03OBJECTS, VEHICLES & PLACES

OBJECTS & VEHICLESComlinkTurtle LineTurtle VanTurtlecom

LOCATIONSBijou TheaterCity CollegeCity streetsRondo's condominiumTechnodromeTurtle Lair

SPECIESHumanMonstersMutant rhinocerosMutant turtleMutant warthog

04SCREEN GRABS

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

05NOTES & GOOFS

When Shredder scolded Bebop and Rocksteady for watching Cheezy and Sleazy at the college lab, Rocksteady was missing the bullets on his bandolier.

06TRIVIA

The fictional cartoon Cheesy and Sleazy is a parody of the _Tom and Jerry_ cinema shorts.
Rondo is a reference to the movie franchise _Rambo_.
Raphael broke the 4th wall by turning to the camera when saying "Oh yeah, well which condo belongs to Rondo? I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist".