Michelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko

Michaelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko is a 1991 episode of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series.

Synopsis
Michaelangelo wakes up in the middle of the night after a bad dream. Splinter tries to hypnotize him. Michelangelo recalls the mutation of the TMNT many years ago, how they fell into the sewers of New York City and when they landed in the green ooze. He also remembers a small lizard, but then some guy picked up that lizard and carried it away. That is all that Michaelangelo can remember. Michaelangelo can't sleep, so he walks around in the sewers, searching for the tunnel he dreamed about. Suddenly, he hears a noise up on the streets.

Michaelangelo enters the street, where he encounters three punks running away from the Second City Bank with money. Michaelangelo tries to stop the punk, but fails. When returning home to the sewers, Michaelangelo is run down by one of the bank robbers riding a skateboard. Michaelangelo chases the bank robber into a cul-de-sac, where he discover that the punk is a mutant lizard known as "Mondo Gecko". Something about Mondo is very familiar to Michaelangelo, but before Michaelangelo can find out what, Mondo Gecko attacks him and leaves Michaelangelo tied while Mondo Gecko escapes.

Michaelangelo manages to untie himself and follows Mondo Gecko. The tracks from Mondo Gecko's skateboard lead Michaelangelo to an abandoned warehouse where Michaelangelo overhears Mondo Gecko and the other two punks, "Basher" and "Sluggo". A man identified only as "Mr. X" sends the robbers out to hijack an army truck, carrying a top secret explosive.

Michaelangelo tries to stop Mondo Gecko, but is once again captured. Basher and Sluggo first want to feed him to the sharks, but Mondo Gecko decides that they first should take him to Mr. X and let him decide what to do with him.

Afther the hijacking, Michaelangelo contacts the other TMNT via his "Turtle Com", but before he can tell them his exact location, Basher destroys it. Immediately afterwards, April O'Neil contacts the other TMNT with news of the same hijacking.

Back at Mr. X's hideout, Mondo Gecko goes inside to deliver the top secret explosive. Mondo Gecko also instructs Basher and Sluggo to watch both the truck and Michaelangelo. Then they do it, they watch the truck go over a 1,000 foot cliff. Mondo Gecko returns in time to save Michaelangelo's life but, he doesn't know why.

Mondo Gecko takes Michaelangelo to Mr. X. Mr. X has just finished blackmailing the army for the return of the top secret explosive. If they do not deliver $5 billion in seven minutes, he will set the bomb off.

Michaelangelo now recalls that Mr. X was the guy in his dreams who picked up the lizard many years ago. Mr. X orders Mondo Gecko to "finish him off." When Mr. X leaves the room, Michaelangelo fools Mondo Gecko with Splinter's trick and hypnotizes him. Mondo Gecko tells about how he remembers being a "normal" lizard in a dark sewer, and then he and with some turtles were crawling around in some green ooze when some guy picked him up and took him away and raised him to be a criminal.

Michaelangelo then de-hypnotizes Mondo Gecko and tells him that he is not bad, Mr. X made him that way. Michaelangelo tells Mondo Gecko that they both came from the same sewers and should be friends, not enemies.

When Mr. X comes back to the room and finds Michaelangelo still alive, he orders Basher and Sluggo to finish Michaelangelo. Mondo Gecko protects Michaelangelo and causes the two punks to knock the top secret explosive off of the desk, activating the timer.

When Mr. X tries to finish Michaelangelo to do the job himself, the other three TMNT finds Michaelangelo's location. They save Michaelangelo. Mondo Gecko ends his life as a criminal and moves into the sewers where he becomes "neighbors" to the TMNT and Splinter.

Character voices

 * Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
 * Donatello (Barry Gordon)
 * Michaelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
 * Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
 * Splinter (Peter Renaday)
 * April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
 * Mondo Gecko (???)
 * Mr. X (Peter Renaday)
 * Basher (Cam Clarke)
 * Sluggo (Greg Berg)

Trivia
The main villain of the episode is named Mr. X, which is also the name of the main antagonist and final boss of the Streets of Rage video games. The only similarity the two characters have other than their names is that both are powerful crime lords. Interestingly enough, the first Streets of Rage game was released a month before this episode aired.