Return of the Shredder

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Return of the Shredder is episode number 6 of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series. It is the first episode of season 2 (1988). This episode of the show was produced by Kara Vallow. The script was written by Christy Marx. The story was written by David Wise and Patti Howeth. This episode of the show originally aired on October 1, 1988, in syndication. It is available on the DVD box set released on April 26, 2005.

Plot Summary
While shopping, Leonardo and Michaelangelo stop two robbers at a supermarket and return home to their home in the New York City sewer system before the police arrive. Later, TV reporter April O'Neil arrives and interviews the woman working in the checkout. The woman Damen tells that two guys tried to rob her, when two turtles saved her.

At Channel 6, April O' Neil says that the TMNT are heroes, but her boss Burne Thompson says that they are a threat to society, and his girlfriend Tiffany agrees.

Later in Dimension X, Shredder begs Krang to send him back to Earth, claiming their defeat to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) was an "accident." Krang, tired of his whining, sends Shredder back to Earth through the dimensional portal. Bebop and Rocksteady try to follow, but Krang closes the portal before they can get through. When they ask Krang why he did so, he answers that he "likes to see both animals and humans suffer," and refers to Bebop and Rockstedy as both.

Meanwhile Leonardo and Michaelangelo discuss how easy it was to stop the robbers in comparation to Shredder. However, Splinter fears that Shredder is back.

Meanwhile Shredder passes through the dimensional portal into a park in New York City, where two robbers demand his money. Shredder thinks this will be no problem, as he orders the Foot soldiers to make quick work of the muggers. When nothing happens he yells "Foot soldiers! Did you not hear my command?!" Shredder then yells for Bebop and Rocksteady but realizes he is alone. Shredder climbs a nearby tree and uses his knives on his armour to saw off a branch that falls on the robbers.

Shredder contacts Krang, who tells Shredder that—since Shredder failed to defeat Splinter and the TMNT with his help—he is on his own until he proves worthy. This means no Foot soldiers, no Bebop or Rocksteady, and no Krang's technology.

Instead, Shredder takes over the leadership of the corrupt local karate school "Slash for Cash dojo" and establishes the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang, a gang who dress up as turtles and start a series of robberies, with the hope that the humans living in the city will believe that the TMNT are the bad guys. April calls the TMNT and tell them to come to Channel 6. The TMNT arrive in the Turtle Blimp. At Channel 6, April and the TMNT watch a videotape that shows the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang fighting and realize that the fighting style of the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang is the same as only two senseis in the world: Splinter and Shredder, and "of course" they believe Shredder is behind this. Just then, Tiffany enters, and when she sees the TMNT, she screams. The TMNT escape. Burne wants to run it on the 11 o'clock news.

Meanwhile, Shredder frees Baxter Stockman from an insane asylum. Baxter Stockman then steals an excavator equipped with a a drill and re-builds it into a rat catching machine, which he uses to catch Splinter in the sewers. When the TMNT return home to find Splinter missing, they follow the trail left by Baxter Stockman's machine. Eventually the TMNT end up on the streets, where they encounter the four members of the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang. The TMNT defeat the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang members in a fight, and force them to tell where Shredder is hiding. The answer is written at a wall: at the karate school Slash for Cash dojo.

At the karate school, Shredder has tied up Splinter and is just about to use his sword to cut down an enormous battering ram and crush Splinter. Just then, Baxter Stockman drives his machine into the dojo and cuts loose the ropes supporting the battering ram, which begins to move. Leonardo uses his katana to cut through the ropes Splinter is tied with. The TMNT free Splinter, and the battering ram smashes Baxter Stockman's machine into pieces.

April has also followed the trail, and arrives after the fight. She goes to a nearby telephone booth and calls Irma at Channel 6 to send a news crew. The police also come, and arrest the "Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang" members. The Shredder and Baxter Stockman escape. Krang tells Shredder that Shredder has been beaten by the TMNT once again, and that Shredder will not get "one shred of help from him" until he has done something. The TMNT head home to the sewers and on TV April O'Neil says to the Channel 6 viewers that the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang were just humans who dressed up as turtles, and that the TMNT are no threat to the city. Tiffany leaves Burne Thompson for a while.

Trivia

 * The animation has been redesigned to give a higher quality, from the design of the characters to the background settings.
 * This episode had many edits in the UK airings in the 1990's. The gang was re-named to The Crooked Turtle Gang and scenes of nunchaku were trimmed.
 * This episode was adapted to comic book format in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #1-2 published by Archie Comics.