SAME AS IT NEVER WAS

01PLOT

Donatello calls April O'Neil and tells her about their adventure on the medieval Europe. Suddenly, Ultimate Drako appears with the Time Scepter. The Turtles and Splinter make for the Scepter but they are frozen by it. Vowing revenge, Ultimate Drako promises to teach the Turtles and Splinter "the meaning of suffering beyond Time and Space."

We follow Donatello as he lands in an apparently abandoned version of the lair. Except for the Tunneler, a motorized driller the size of a bus, the lair is completely trashed. Confused, Donatello makes his way outside where the Foot Gestapo immediately try to arrest him. Donatello complies until he notices Shredder's emblem on their uniform and prepares to face them. A shadowy figure then intervenes, and the Foot turn their attention at the more aggressive figure. After he kills most of the Foot, the shadowy figure turns out to be Michelangelo, who is missing most of his left arm. He appears to be much older, and immediately asks Donatello where he's been, confusing him for the Donatello of his time, who apparently disappeared over 30 years ago making it taking place 2035.

Michelangelo then takes Donatello to see Splinter. On the way there, Michelangelo explains that Shredder had won and that bar pockets of resistance, most of the planet is now under his control. He further explains how Donatello was the glue that held all the other Turtles together. Once he disappeared, the other three didn't get along as well and drifted apart. When they arrive Donatello is heartbroken to see Splinter's grave. Their master had sacrificed himself trying to save his sons. He tells Michelangelo he has a plan to defeat Shredder but he would need the help of his brothers. Michelangelo considers that a tall order, but goes to someone he feels can get them all together again. They arrive at a secret Resistance base where April is the leader of a Rebel army. April is overjoyed to see him. April walks over to Don and hugs him and tells Donatello that both Splinter and Casey knew he would come back. Donatello asks where Casey is. April's expression turns solemn, as she looks to a picture of Casey on the wall implying the worst. Casey is dead...

Suddenly one man arrives in a wheelchair and a familiar voice says: "Well, well, Well Donatello." Once the man uncovers himself from the Shadows it is revealed that it is Baxter Stockman, whose brain in the jar got contained with Hun! Stockman expresses of how much Donatello looks younger and tells Donnie that this is his and Hun's current stage, due to one of Shredder's apropos punishments. Donatello tries to attack them believing them as a threat until April tells Donnie that they're on their side because they saved them from being executed about 5 years back. Realizing that the Shredder's tyranny must end, Donatello takes a look at Casey's picture for three seconds, then turns to April and asks her if she can bring back Leonardo and Raphael. She then sets up a meeting between the Turtles.

Leonardo, who's heavily scarred and wearing a sunglasses, and his voice got deeper of his current age; and Raphael, who's missing his left eye, arrive first, each surprised to see/encounter the other. The years apart haven't cooled the bad blood between them, Raphael blaming Leonardo for abandoning Splinter and leaving him to die. Before their scuffle becomes too violent, they are stopped by Donatello. Overjoyed, Raphael hugs Donatello, as Leonardo can't believe his eyes after seeing his younger brother for 30 years. He tells his brothers he has a plan to defeat Shredder but Leonardo and Raphael are pessimistic, having been beaten several times before, even having lost Casey in battle. Donatello convinces them and they set their plan in motion.

!Shredder smiles after slaying Hun and Baxter.

Shredder smiles after slaying Hun and Baxter.

We see Karai, Shredder's daughter, updating her father on their plans (they have almost completed the transmat that the Utrom slaves are building) and revealing that Donatello has returned: Shredder orders his head to be brought in, 'with or without his body'. Shredder doesn't have to wait long, as immediately after he speaks the Tunneler erupts from the ground floor and the Turtles jump into battle. Most notable is Donatello, wearing an exo-suit to challenge Shredder himself. The Shredder, having appeared in shadows until now, reveals himself to be ensconced in a far larger battle suit then his present version, with his Utrom self located in the proper head spot in a Shredder helmet, while Karai unleashes an army of robots, called Legions, to destroy them all. Shortly into the battle, Hun jumps out of the Tunneler (to Stockman's panicked, furious objections) and pleads with the Shredder to rejoin him, which gets them crushed by the Shredder's giant foot. While Donatello battles the Shredder, the other Turtles fight the Legions. Michelangelo buys Donatello time and takes down several Karai Legions, but ends up surrounded by several mechs and dies after getting repeatedly slashed. Leonardo faces Karai, who beats her but just as he's to deliver the finishing blow, a Karai Legion distracts him and Karai cuts him with her sword, killing him. Raphael, in a fit of rage, attacks Karai and although he is able to land a couple strong blows, she kills him too. April appears and shoots a missile at Karai, killing her in turn in anger for killing her friends.

With all his brothers dead and Karai is completely defeated, Donatello is nearly defeated as well, with Shredder appearing to just be toying with him. He pins Donatello in front of the Tunneler and prepares for a final blow, when Donatello explains the whole attack was strategized for Shredder to be at _that_ precise position. He then pushes a button and chains come flying out of the Tunneler, wrapping around Donatello's exo-suit and the Shredder's. Donatello slips out of the exo-suit just as the Tunneler's energy drill appears, the chains pulling Shredder's Utrom body into it and vaporizing him.

All that is left from the giant exo-suit is nothing, but a cloud of smoke. Once the smoke clears, there's Donatello on top. Donatello says in a very cold voice: "It's done." April drops her cannon that killed Karai with and closes her eyes. She then opens her eyes and looks in surprise at Donatello, who walks over to the wall and glares at it in deep concentration, implying that the full impact of the future just hits him...

Reflecting on this alternate future, Donatello sees their victory as Pyrrhic and the whole experience as a nightmare; April tells him that it _was_ a nightmare but he and his brothers gave them back their future and gives him a gentle smile. Donatello falls in silence of sadness and confusion. Just as Donatello begins to collect his thoughts that he has won, he begins to shift through time once more, leaving April behind to rebuild her world and reminding him that there is always hope. Outside, the sun rises for a new day on New York City.

02CAST & APPEARANCES

03OBJECTS, VEHICLES & PLACES

04SCREEN GRABS

4 frames. Auto-matched screencaps via Fancaps.net.

05NOTES & GOOFS

• In the scene following Karai's attack on Leo, the side of the eye holes on Raph's mask, which is sewn shut, switches from left to right. Moments later the error is fixed.
• This episode introduces a new credits font that would be used for the rest of the series.

06TRIVIA

• This episode is known among fans as the darkest and saddest episode of the 2003 series.
• At the beginning of this episode, we see Donatello's point of view seconds before the events of "Reality Check" when Ultimate Drako appears and separates the Turtles and Splinter across time and space.
• There are several references in the episode to plot points from the Archie's and Image's continuities for their TMNT comics: future Raphael wears an eyepatch (like his future counterpart in the Archie _Future Turtle_ trilogy and the version of Raph from the Image Comics run), future Michelangelo lost an arm (which is what happened to Leo in the Image Comics run), and Donatello's exo-suit is a reference to the cyborg Donatello from the Image Comics run as well. Even the 1987 TV show had a similar episode, "Shredderville", where Shredder ruled New York City with no Turtles to oppose him, which turned out to be just a bad dream the Turtles had.
• Angel is mentioned leading a resistance army like April, fighting the Shredder's forces someplace else.
• The opening scene is similar to the set up in the book _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ by George Orwell with large telescreen like structures with the Shredder's face and the quote "The Shredder is always watching".
• Deaths in this episode:
• Splinter (died protecting his sons from the Foot many years before) (off screen)
• Casey Jones (died fighting the Foot) (off screen)
• Hun and Baxter Stockman (stepped on by the Shredder, literally)
• Michelangelo (repeatedly slashed by the Karai Legion)
• Leonardo (slashed in the back by Karai)
• Raphael (slashed across the stomach by Karai)
• Karai (blasted by April's Missile Launcher)
• Shredder (shredded by the Turtle Tunneler)
• This episode is ranked #7 on the TMNT Top Ten.
• After Raph falls on Leo's dead body, Karai stares at them with a sad look. This shows that she still cares for Leonardo and she was regretful of not only killing Leo but his brother Raph too, despite them being enemies over many years.
• During the final attack on the Shredder, April's suit and Mini Missile Launcher she had, resembles Rambo (Sylvester Stallone).
• The Utrominator would again appear in _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash-Up_ as a playable character. Though it features a similar backstory, mainly that it's an Utrom controlled by the Shredder, there are notable differences, such as the video-game version not having wings, having its arm functions mirror-swapped, and starkly different head coloring.
• In _Turtles Forever_, one of the screens Shredder displays to the classic and modern 2003 versions of the TMNT shows that the world of "Same As It Never Was" has somehow persisted despite Don's time travel. This makes it no longer an alternate timeline, but a parallel universe and thus, a part of the TMNT multiverse.
• This episode has its own fanmade intro here using the original Japanese song, _Danzai No Hana_, or _Guilty Sky_ as it is called in English.
• This episode also makes Donatello the only turtle to travel through time, rather than a different dimension (all four turtles will experience time-travel beginning with _Fast Forward_).
• The rebel boy whom April sent to deliver strategy plans to Angel is voiced by Veronica Taylor using her Ash Ketchum voice.

07FAN REVIEW

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