Same As It Never Was

"Same As It Never Was" is the seventy-third episode of the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), which originally aired on March 19, 2005.

Major Characters

 * Donatello (Sam Regal)
 * Leonardo (Michael Sinterniklaas)
 * Michelangelo (Wayne Grayson)
 * Raphael (Frank Frankson)
 * April O'Neil (Veronica Taylor)

Secondary Characters

 * Splinter (Darren Dunstan)
 * Ultimate Ninja (Ted Lewis)/Drako (Marc Thompson)
 * Future Raph
 * Future Mike
 * Future Leo
 * Future April
 * Future Hun (Greg Carey)/Stockman (Scott Williams)
 * Future Mega Shredder (Scottie Ray)
 * Future Karai

Voice-Over Introduction
Karai: Attention servants of the Shredder, your Lord and Master will now address you.

 The Shredder : For those of you who are still living under the illusion that you will have freedom, know this: My armies have exterminated the last pockets of resistance and I now control the entire planet. The traitorous Utrom scientists I have captured are completing a colossal trans-mat device. With it, I will send forth my armies and enslave the stars, one world after another. There is no hope. There is only the Shredder.

Karai: Remember, the Shredder is always watching.



Plot Synopsis
Don calls April 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 heavier and older, and immediately asks Donatello where he's been, confusing him for the Donatallo of his time, who apparently disappeared over 30 years ago.

Michelangelo then takes Donatello to see Splinter. On the way there, Michelangelo explains that Shredder had won, and that the entire planet was now under his control. He further explains how Donatello was the glue that held all the other Turtles together, and 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, who 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 O'Neil is the leader of a Rebel army. She then sets up a meeting between the Turtles.

Leonardo, who's heavily scarred and possibly blind (ala Zatoichi), 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. 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 their good friend Casey Jones die in battle. Donatello convinces them and they set their plan in motion. Hun, with Baxter Stockman on a jar attached to him, in a wheelchair (They are at this state due to one of Shredder's punishments) plan to join them.

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 him to be brought in, 'with or without his head'. 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 encounsced in a far larger battle suit then his present version, with his Ultrom 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 him squished by the Shredder's giant foot. While Donatello battles the Shredder, the other Turtles fight the Legions. Michelangelo is surrounded by several mechs and is the first killed. Leonardo faces Karai, who beats her but just as he's to deliver the finishing blow, a Legion distracts him and Karai cuts him with her sword, killing him. Raphael, in a fit of rage, attacks Karai and she kills him too. April appears and shoots a missile at Karai, killing her in turn.

With all his brothers dead, 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 driller appears, the chains pulling Shredder's Ultrom body into it and tearing him to shreds.

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. Just as Donatello begins to collect his thoughts, he begins to shift through time once more, leaving April behind to rebuild her world and reminding him that there is always hope.

Quotes
Michelangelo : You mean the ones that survived? They're forced to work 18-hour days in the Shredder's labor camps. No one's allowed at night.  Donatello : What happened to Leo and Raph? Michelangelo : Let's just say they got in a big fight a long time ago. [...] When you never came back, Donny...well, everything just...fell apart. We were a team. Without you, it just didn't work. I guess we really needed that level-head of yours.
 *  Donatello : Where are all the people?

Raphael : Oh, what's the matter, Leo? I remind you how you made us abandon Master Splinter when he needed us most?! Leonardo : It's what he wanted, Raph! To save us! If we had gone back there we'd all been destroyed. Raphael : We could have saved him! Leonardo : You know we couldn't! He was gone! Raphael : Grrr...NO! Leonardo : Alright, Raph, I'm through talking! Let's settle this once and for all!
 * Leonardo : Raph? April's guys didn't say anything about you being here.

Michelangelo : Believe it. Brainiac here wants to go up against the Shredder. Leonardo : We've already tried it, Donny. How do you think we lost Casey? Raphael : The Shredder's palace is surrounded by an army of Foot police— Leonardo : And neutroninators— Raphael : And Karai-Legions. Leonardo : You can't even get inside to fight him. Baxter Stockman: And if you could you couldn't beat him. The Shredder's new exo-suit is stronger than ever. I should know...I designed it. Leonardo : It's impossible. <font color="DD0000">Raphael : Can't be done, Donny. It's hopeless.  Donatello : I don't know what happened to you guys but the Turtles I knew believed that nothing was ever hopeless. Please. We can do this. <font color="0000DD">Leonardo : Alright, Donny, we'll do it one more time but please, tell me we have a fighting chance.
 * <font color="0000DD">Leonardo : Donatello! You're back! I don't believe it!

 Donatello : My brothers. My poor brothers. This world. This future. It's a nightmare. April: It was a nightmare, Don. But you, Leo, Raph, and Mikey, you gave us back our future.  Donatello : (begins to phase in and out of focus) April! It's happening again! Something's pulling me away! It's stronger this time! April: Donny! Remember! There's always hope! No matter what! (once he disappears, she speaks softly) ...And thank you.
 * (Once the fighting has stopped, April drops the missile launcher she had used to finish off Karai. Donatello steps away from the carnage that was the Shredder and looks distractedly at a wall. The full impact of what just happened hits him)

Trivia

 * This episode is known amongst fans as one of the darkest of the 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 and Image TMNT comics: Raphael wears an eyepatch (like his future counterpart in the Archie Future Turtle trilogy and the version of Raph from the Image Comics run), Michelangelo lost an arm (which is what happened to Leo in the Image Comics run), and Donatello's exosuit is a reference to the cyborg Donatello from the Image Comics run as well.
 * Angel is mentioned leading a resistance army like April, fighting the Shredder's forces someplace else.
 * Deaths in this episode:
 * Splinter (died protecting his sons from the Foot)
 * Casey Jones (died fighting the Foot)
 * Hun and Baxter Stockman (stepped on by the Shredder, literally)
 * Michelangelo (killed by Karai-bots)
 * Leonardo (slashed in the back by Karai)
 * Raphael (killed by Karai)
 * Karai (blasted by April's Missile Launcher)
 * Shredder (shredded by the Turtle Tunneler)
 * 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 is ranked #7 on the TMNT Top Ten.
 * Due to the final attack on Shredder, April's suit and Mini Missile Launcher she had, resembles Rambo (Silvester Stallone).