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★ 2003 SERIES · S01 · E03 · THE BEGINNING

ATTACK OF THE MOUSERS

Episode 3 of 144 in the 2003 4Kids series. First aired February 22, 2003.

Attack of the Mousers title card
TITLE CARD
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01PLOT

From the last episode, the Turtles have taken the unconscious April back to the lair and have explained to Splinter that they had no other choice. As this discussion is going on April wakes up, thinking that what she saw was just a dream. But when she notices the Turtles looking at her, she freaks out again, and passes out at the sight of Splinter.

In the meantime, the Mousers are breaking into a bank vault from underground and stealing all the contents, cash, stocks, bonds, jewels, etc. When the police finally arrive and get the vault door open, all that is left is wreckage and a hole in the floor. Back at the lair, April has finally awakened and decided that the giant talking turtles and rat are real and she had better deal with them. Splinter retells the origin story for her, with appropriate accompanying animation. He was an ordinary rat once, who witnessed a child rescue a blind man from a runaway truck filled with a strange glowing fluid. A canister of the fluid fell out just as four baby turtles were dropped into the sewer. Splinter rescued the baby turtles and put them in a coffee can, only to wake up with greater mental and physical faculties the next morning. The Turtles also grew and learned to speak, so he decided to raise them as his children and teach them ninjutsu. How he knew ninjutsu is not yet explained.

!Baxter Stockman argues with his mysterious benefactor.

Baxter Stockman argues with his mysterious benefactor.

As Splinter is wrapping up the tale of the Turtles, Michelangelo sees a report on TV about the bank robbery and calls everyone over to watch and listen. It does not take but a second for everyone to figure out what caused all the damage and robbed the bank. April then proceeds to tell all she knows about Baxter Stockman, and the Mousers. After hearing April’s tale, the Turtles decide to raid Stocktronics and put an end to the Mousers for good.

April helps the guys break into the Stocktronics lab. After making their way past all the guards and security devices, the Turtles and April find themselves in the Mouser storage area, surrounded by currently de-activated Mousers. Just as the silence is getting creepy, things start to get active and a light comes on in the control room to reveal Stockman at the Mouser control panel.

After an exciting battle, the Turtles manage to escape the lab floor and break into the control room, capturing Stockman inside. After Stockman deals with the shock of four giant talking ninja turtles, he activates a program to have all his mousers descend on the control room and destroy everything within. As we hear the Mousers closing in, the Turtles and April try to override the system instructions, but nothing seems to be working. With everyone distracted by the Mousers, Stockman manages to escape the lab.

Just as it looks like it is curtains for our heroes, April manages to stop the Mousers, but only by activating a self-destruct sequence. There is no time to waste, and the Turtles and April rush out of the lab back into the sewer tunnels, leaving Stockman to be dealt with at another time. Meanwhile, as Stockman is running from the lab, he is collared by Oroku Saki's huge enforcer Hun.

The episode ends with April being welcomed into the Turtles' family and Stockman feeling the wrath of a severely disappointed Saki. Saki then orders that Stockman pay the price for this failure. The only thing Stockman can provide of any value is a hazy thermal image of the Turtles. This leaves Saki wondering about this new and unexpected problem before slashing the image with his tekagi-shuko claw.

02CAST & APPEARANCES

Veronica Taylor
Scott Williams
Sam Riegel
Michael Sinterniklaas
Wayne Grayson
Scottie Ray
Frank Frankson
Darren Dunstan
ALSO APPEARING

03OBJECTS, VEHICLES & PLACES

OBJECTS & VEHICLESMousers
LOCATIONSBank vaultOroku Saki's TowerSewer tunnelsStocktronics labY'Lyntian outpost lair
SPECIESHumanMutant ratMutant turtle

05MEMORABLE QUOTES

_[Mikey is listening to music while he waits for April to wake up.]_ Raphael: Hey! Hey, Earth to Mikey! Michelangelo: Ow! What? Raphael: She woke up. Leo made her some tea and she's ready to consider that we might be real. Michelangelo: Awesomely radical, dude! Raphael: You keep talkin' like that, she's gonna pass out again. Michelangelo: Hey!
April: It won't be easy. Stocktronics is rigged with the latest up-to-the-minute security tech. Michelangelo: Pfft, bring it on! Allow me to introduce our very own secret weapon. The techno-turtle himself, Donatello! Take a bow, Don! Donatello: _[Flattered]_ Ah, cut it out!
Raphael: This is it. It's been fun, guys. Michelangelo: Even me, Raph? Raphael: Even you, Mikey. Especially you.

06NOTES & GOOFS

  • After Leonardo says "here's to the new team" Donatello's bandana looks just like Raphael's bandana.

07TRIVIA

  • This episode is based on issue #2 of the Mirage Comics.
  • This episode is ranked #6 on the TMNT Top Ten.
  • The young Turtles grow strong by eating pizza. Pizza was the only food the Turtles were seen eating in the 1987 TV series.
  • Michelangelo's line "can we keep her?" when talking about April is originally from the first TMNT movie.
  • This is the second episode where Mikey says "Cowabunga!", albeit in a flashback.
  • Michelangelo's first line of the episode was "a very wise frog once said", referencing the world famous Muppet, Kermit the Frog. Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets and Kermit's original performer, provided the costumes and Splinter puppet for the 1990 film through his creature shop as one of his final projects. The sequel, which also featured costumes and puppets from his creature shop, was dedicated to Henson's memory.
  • This episode has Mikey's first girly scream after he scares April, and in return April scares him.
  • When Mikey says "Can we keep her?" it may have been a mistake because in the previous episode he said "Can _I_ keep her?".

08FAN REVIEW

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Episode data adapted from Turtlepedia / Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Spot an error? Fix it in the forum.

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