THINGS CHANGE

01PLOT

This series opens with the Turtles enduring another one of Splinter's training sessions (how to extinguish a lit candle without being seen) in their lair, in which Leonardo is the only one to succeed. Raphael and Leonardo nearly get into a skirmish, but Splinter interrupts and gives his sons a lecture on the nature of ninjutsu and what they must learn.

Then the lair starts to shake and crumble. Suddenly, a horde of small robots burst through a wall, chewing their way through solid concrete and brick. A battle ensues between the mechanical menaces and the Turtles, who smash them to bits. Just after the Turtles and Splinter have defeated their robotic foes, the wall that the Mousers entered through collapses.

Leonardo is initially fearful that Splinter has been killed by the rubble, but Donatello successfully contacts Splinter via Shell Cell. The fallen wall has only separated them, and all are unhurt. They agree to rendezvous in another part of the sewer system, but on their way, the Turtles find that another wall has collapsed, effectively cutting them off. To get to the rendezvous point, the TMNT are forced to go above ground, and in doing so, they stumble upon a robbery taking place by the Purple Dragons street gang. During the course of this side adventure, Raph is unintentionally locked inside the Dragons' armored truck. The rest of the guys can only watch and follow as Raphael gets hauled off, along with the stolen loot - forcing them to go after their brother.

Meanwhile, Splinter is attacked a second time by the Mousers, this time at the rendezvous area. He ends up falling into a different level of the sewers, and finds a mysterious glowing doorway.

By taking rooftop shortcuts, the other three turtles are able to see where the truck stops to unload. Michelangelo drops down, dispatches a very large thug named Two Ton, and Don frees Raph by disabling the truck's electronic lock. But, just as they are about to make their exit, the Turtles are cornered by a large number of Purple Dragons—who waste no time in mocking the appearance of the "freaks". The Turtles easily defeat the Purple Dragons and send them running away, but soon after their victory over the street thugs, numerous ninjas show up, surround our heroes, and face them in combat. The Turtles fare well against these mysterious ninjas at first, but they begin to get outmatched after awhile, mainly due to the sheer number of ninjas that keep coming. Therefore, the mutants decide to "borrow" the Purple Dragons' armored truck and get the shell out of there...

After ditching the truck (and leaving the stolen money with the police) in an abandoned sewer tunnel, the Turtles finally meet with Splinter, who has a discovery to share with them. The Sensei has stumbled across an old abandoned chamber in the sewer system, and has decided that this will be their new home and headquarters. After inspecting the cavernous space, the turtles couldn’t agree more, and we leave them as they are beginning to make things tidy for living, much to all four Turtles' disappointment.

Meanwhile, inside an unknown dojo, John, the leader of the Purple Dragons, is apologizing to his mysterious "boss", and swears to him that he won't fail again. The "boss" acknowledges this and says that John won't fail him again... ever, before approaching John and mercilessly killing him (off-screen). Outside the dojo, we hear John scream, and the "boss" laughing maniacally. It also turns out the dojo's on top of a tower of some sort, and the tower has a large red "Foot" logo in the middle of it. What is this all about? That will be revealed in due time...

02CAST & APPEARANCES

03OBJECTS, VEHICLES & PLACES

04SCREEN GRABS

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

05MEMORABLE QUOTES

Splinter _(after Leo extinguishes the flame)_: Well done Leonardo. Raph: Teacher's pet. Leo: Ninja dropout. Mikey and Donny: Oooooo!

_(Donny calls Splinter on the ShellCell)_ Splinter: Hmm, which button do you press to answer this thing? _(presses buttons)_ Hello? Leo: Master Splinter, are you alright? Splinter: _(continues to press buttons)_ _Hello_? Leo: Master Splinter – Splinter: _(presses more buttons)_ Stupid device. Leo: You don't have to press every button. It's already on.

_(A Purple Dragon van is parked right over a manhole cover)_ Raph: Great, just great. The old Turtle luck true to form. Errrg! _(kicks van in anger)_ Leo: Way to be stealthy, Raph. Mikey: Yeah, I don't think they heard you over in _Joisy_!

Mikey: Hey, this is a no-parking zone. Here's your ticket _(holds up paper)_ and here's your fine! _(kicks Two-Ton in the face)_ Leo: Nice work, Mikey. Mikey: Heh, it's a Ninja thing. _(grins)_

Mikey: Don, are we beating them, or are they beating us? _(Donny pulls Mikey into the van and shuts the door just as it gets riddled with shurikens)_ Donny: Ask me again when we're winning, Mikey. Mikey: Yeah, that's what I thought...

_(The guys throw bags of stolen money on the hood of a police car)_ Leo: Take care of this money, will ya guys? 1st Officer: Did you see that?! Some little green men in an armored car just threw a bunch of money at us! 2nd Officer: Tch, rookie.

Mikey: No offense Master Splinter, but this place doesn't seem so great. Splinter: Look with your heart Michelangelo, and not your eyes. Mikey: Um... okay. _(scratches head)_ Splinter: And walk this way... _(Mikey imitates Master Splinter by hunching over and walking slowly with an invisible cane, only to be hit on the head by Donatello's bo staff)_ Mikey: Ow!

06NOTES & GOOFS

• Despite accurately describing the Turtles by their species (albeit thinking that they were costumes), the Purple Dragon leader in this episode calls them "frogs" when pleading for mercy before his "boss".

07TRIVIA

• This episode can be featured in the Game Boy Advance Video.
• This is the first appearance of the Turtles on television since the Saban Entertainment 1997-1998 series, _Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation_.
• The introduction to the episode begins with a voice-over by Leonardo where the Turtles are cornered in an alley by the Purple Dragons. This sequence is identical to the opening of the first issue of the Mirage comic book, _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ #1.
• The first episode of the 1987 TV series also had the Turtles fighting a street gang who took orders from the Shredder.
• The Turtles' original lair also looks similar to the lair in the first issue of the Mirage comic book.
• The two cops in this episode are modeled after series creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.
• This is the first episode where Mikey attempts to say his 1987 counterpart's famous catchphrase "Cowabunga!", but is stopped by Raph before he can finish.
• This episode is ranked #2 on the TMNT Top Ten.
• 2003 TV series Season 1 episodes
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08FAN REVIEW

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