The Great Boldini (episode)

The Great Boldini is a episode from season 3 (1989) of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series.

Characters

 * April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
 * Caitlyn (Renae Jacobs)
 * Donatello (Barry Gordon)
 * Don Turtelli (Peter Renaday)
 * Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
 * Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
 * Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
 * Rat King (Townsend Coleman)
 * Zach (Rob Paulsen)
 * Dr. Fishfine??? (Cam Clarke)
 * The Great Boldini (Pat Fraley)
 * Rodney (Rob Paulsen)
 * Sergeant O'Flaherty (Pat Fraley)
 * Lt. Bronski??? (Barry Gordon)

Locations

 * Turtles' Lair
 * Don Turtelli's Penthouse
 * City Museum
 * Museum Basement

Vehicles

 * Channel 6 Newsvan
 * Turtelli's Van

Plot Synopsis
April O'Neil is seen reporting at a museum where the Great Boldini is expected to perform a magic trick where he will make the famous Turtellini Emerald disappear. While there, she meets up with the Turtles and Zach, the young teenage boy who befriended the turtles in the episode The Fifth Turtle, and his new friend Caitlin. Watching a broadcast of the event is mob boss Don Turtelli. According to him, the Turtellini Emerald once belonged to (i.e. was once stolen by) his grandfather Tony "The Tickler" Turtelli, and he plans to bring it back into the family. As the Great Boldini is about to perform one of his disappearing act, the lights suddenly go out, and once they come back on, he is seen tied up, claiming someone stole the emerald.

Zach and Caitlin are suspicious of this and begin to investigate and follow Boldini to see that he and Don Turtelli have the emerald. They learn that the Great Boldini is Don Turtelli's cousin, and he staged the robbery so he could steal the emerald for Turtelli. Meeting up at a rendezvous point in the sewers under the museum, Caitlyn snatches the emerald from Turtelli and runs, but they run into a wall. Caitlyn gives the emerald to Zach and tells him to run, but Turtelli grabs Caitlin and offers to trade Caitlyn for the emerald. When Zach refuses, Don Turtelli and threatens to tickle Caitlyn with a feather if Zach doesn't return the emerald. Meanwhile, the NYPD arrives on the scene and searches everyone, and discover the Turtles. The officer in charge of the investigation jumps to the conclusion that the Turtles stole the emerald while Sgt. O'Flaherty, a bumbling policeman, somehow believes that the Turtles are leprechans, which gives the Turtles a chance to escape.

Suddenly, Rat King arrives and accuses Turtelli and Boldini of trespassing in his kingdom uninvited when Turtelli built a tunnel in his domain. This allows Zach and Caitlin to escape and manage to hide the emerald back in the museum. The Rat King offers to find the kids for a reward Don Turtelli agrees. The Rat King uses his rats to sabotage the museum's master controls, locking everyone, including the turtles, outside, with Zach and Caitlin trapped inside with the villains, where they are re-captured and tied up by Don Turtelli, and subjected to foot tickle torture to try to get them to reveal where they hid the emerald. Caitlyn fights off the foot tickling and not breaking, but Zach gives in and returns the emerald, when they get away sabotaged computer system creates a snow storm inside the museum. The turles sneak back near the museum to meet up with April and see a truck marked "Turtelli", and with the influx of rats conclude that Don Turtelli and the Rat King are holding Caitlin and Zach hostage. However, the turtles are suddenly cornered by Sgt. O'Flaherty, who is more competent than believed when he has managed to sneak up and trap the turtles undetected (although he still believes the turtles are leprechauns). However, O'Flaherty actually believes in reasonable doubt, as there was no proof that they stole the emerald, and allows them go so they can try and infiltrate the museum. The turtles find a way inside and manage to rescue the kids. While Donatello and Caitlin fix the computer system, the other turtles and Zach go after Turtelli, Boldini, and the Rat King and successfully retrieve the Turtellini Emerald. The Rat King manages to escape capture. It is later revealed that the Great Boldini was attempting to steal the diamond in the show, and faked its robbery. He is arrested along with Don Turtelli. Sgt. O'Flaherty is credited with foiling the larceny, but claims he could not have accomplished it without help from the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Leprachauns". Michaelangelo, watching this news footage, says that it is true and starts performing an Irish dance for everyone.

Trivia

 * One odd note is that this episode seems to contradict the information on Zach's age given earlier. While Zach is said to be going on 14 in the episode in which he first appears, here he acts more like a younger child (around 8 or 9). When one of the villains captures Caitlin and threatens Zach with harm to his "girlfriend", Zach acts disgusted and says "yuck, she's not my girlfriend" - behavior one might expect from a pre-adolescent, but not an adolescent.
 * Final appearance of Don Turtelli and his goons.

Errors

 * When Raphael remarked that he'd look terrible in stripes, his mouth didn't move.
 * Raphael and Leonardo's colours were switched when Donatello was reading the writing on the side of Don Turtelli's van, plus the L on "Leonardo's" belt was white instead of grey.
 * Zach was missing his backpack just before he told Turtelli where the emerald is.
 * In the close-up shot of Donatello's face at the museum, his eyes are overlapping his mask and his mask does not have an inkline applied to it.
 * When Catlin was Captured by Don Turteli and camera made zoom on Torteli holding her, her t-shirt colour changed from pink into yellow, that was Zach t-shirt color.
 * When Caitlin tells of Donatello in the computer room his belt letter is coloured white.
 * When Donatello lifts Caitlin onto his shoulders in the art gallery, a shot of the wooden crates from the museum basement are shown instead.