The Manhattan Project, Part 2

The Manhattan Project, Part 2 is the fortieth episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series). It will aired as an one hour special on March 14, 2013. Although the episode was released a week early on March 2, 2014 on Nick.com

Major Characters

 * April O'Neil (Mae Whitman)
 * Casey Jones (Josh Peck)
 * Donatello (Rob Paulsen)
 * Fishface (Christian Lanz)
 * Karai (Kelly Hu)
 * Kraang (Nolan North)
 * Kraathatrogons
 * Leonardo (Jason Biggs)
 * Michelangelo (Greg Cipes)
 * Rahzar (Clancy Brown)
 * Raphael (Sean Astin)
 * Shredder (Kevin Michael Richardson)
 * Splinter (Hoon Lee)
 * Tiger Claw (Eric Bauza)

Minor Characters

 * 80's Donatello (Barry Gordon)
 * 80's Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
 * 80's Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
 * 80's Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
 * Baxter Stockman (Phil LaMarr)
 * Foot-Bots
 * Jack Kurtzman (Robert Forster)
 * Kirby O'Neil (Cameo)

Plot Summary
Karai prepares to slay Leonardo once and for all, but her attack is then blocked by Tiger Claw. Tiger Claw then reminds her that the Shredder desires to eliminate the Turtles by himself. Karai reluctantly agrees - and the two then begin approaching a paralyzed Splinter. Splinter, however, quickly stands up and shoots a couple of his several remaining ninja stars right at the ropes binding his sons. With his last ounces of strength, he instructs his sons to flee, but he is then kicked down by Tiger Claw. Leo does not want to allow his sensei to be killed, but Raph tells him that they have no choice but to come back for him later on. Tiger Claw then quickly begins to chase them, but Mikey uses one of their smoke bombs to make their escape. So, both Tiger Claw and Karai then take a completely unconscious Splinter back to Shredder.

Meanwhile, under New York City, Donnie, April and Casey are frantically running away from the Kraathatrogon. Casey does manage to slow the creature down by using a paint bomb to throw into it's mouth (which only distracts it briefly). Donnie then spots a nearby sewer ladder, and tells both April and Casey to grab on to his Bo. April is able to grab on, but, just as Casey jumps up and tries to grab onto Donnie’s Bo, the Kraathatrogon comes up and swallows him whole and quickly wiggles away. April is very upset that Casey is now gone, and so is Donatello.

Back in the sewer Lair, Leo is tending to one of Mikey’s wounds. Raph then blames Leo for getting Splinter involved in the situation. Leo then responds that he had but no choice. Mikey then convinces all of them that they must rescue Splinter since they are pretty certain that they know where Shredder’s lair is. The three Turtles then steel themselves and gear up to save their sensei.

Donnie and April soon reach the surface. April still feels increasingly sad about the loss of Casey, and tells Donnie that those Kraang worms must be stopped at all costs. Of course, Donnie agrees, and says that they must go to the one person who knows more about Kraang than anyone, Jack Kurtzman. So, they go to his apartment and explain the grim situation to him. However, as it turns out, Kurtzman already displays a ton of info about the worms and he has already dubbed this little Kraang scheme The Manhattan Project as well.

In the Shredder's lair, Tiger Claw is pouring a small pail of water on Splinter, thus waking him up. The Shredder then enters the scene, along with Karai, telling both Bradford and Xever to leave. He then immediately approaches Splinter and purposely tries to exacerbate things by telling him that he has become 'a wretched rat waiting to be put out of his misery'. Splinter then retorts that, at least he is not someone who wears a mask, hiding the little humanity that they have left. Shredder then says that Splinter is but the one and only reason that he wears his signature helmet. The Shredder then extends one of his gauntlets and prepares to kill his mortal enemy.

However, Karai halts his terrible action (just when the blade is at the back of Splinter's nape). The Shredder then asks why she would dare to try and stop him - and Karai replies that executing a sworn-enemy while the latter is poisoned and chained is just improper. Tiger Claw also ends up siding with Karai on this one. Thus, The Shredder offers Splinter one last chance to exhale before fighting with him. Splinter then asks Karai why she chose to help him. Karai responds that he might have just looked so pathetic. He then mentions Karai's mother, much to her vexation. After Karai tells him that he destroyed all of their lives, Splinter vaguely says that it was Oroku Saki's doing - before passing out once again.

Meanwhile, Kurtzman tells April and Donnie that he hasn't the slightest clue how to stop the colossal worms, but he does know that the Kraang sometimes climb onto their backs and ride them by pulling their attenae. Donnie then comes up with a plausible, yet strange idea: Salt, but before April can ask what he means, she receives a call from Casey, who reveals that he is inside the worm's digestive tract, but he is still unharmed, nevertheless. April then promises that they will be at his aid shortly.

Meanwhile, Leo is climing up a side of the Foot-Headquarter building with some hand spikes. After destroying a few Foot-Bots on gaurd, he successfully makes his way into the building and jumps down to rescue his sensei. However, the throne room is then lit up with dozens of orange lights at the sidelines (that were also seen in "Booyaka-Showdown") - and the Shredder then appears from behind his throne. Just when Leo is about to pull out his two weapons, Tiger Claw (along with the two other mutants) appears out of nowhere and grabs his arm, before pinning him down. The Shredder then asks where the other three Turtles are, but Tiger Claw, using his very keen sense of smell, then claims that they are not currently in the area. The Shredder then removes his own cape, breaks Splinter's bindings, and instructs Leo to watch as Splinter's life is put to a resounding end. Despite being poisoned, Splinter is actually able to avoid just a few of Shredder's attacks, but Yoshi is then kicked really hard, sending him flying a good length of the way across the room. Shredder picks him up and is just about to put him out of his misery for good, when yet another earthquake occurs. Not only that - but our heroes then enter, armed with some handy fire crackers, which they actually use to distract all of the villains and escape with their sensei...However, the Shredder then tells his four henchmen to go after the Turtles.

Meanwhile, April and Donnie quickly find their way back underground and Donnie begins to use his staff to bang on the railroad tracks, creating a vibration to hopefully attract the worm. The plan works - and the worm soon arrives. Donnie then gets a bag with cans filled with salt inside of it. April asks why he is planning on using salt, and Donnie explains that salt molecules can actually seep into the worm's system and slow it down quite a bit. April then throws a can of salt right near Donnie and he hits it with his staff, causing the can to fly right at the worm's face and it hits it. This process is repeated again and again and again, until, finally, the worm is stopped and spits out Casey. However, problems are long from over - as the nearby Kraang still have the absolutely ginormous Kraathatrogon in their possession and could simply release it at any given time.

Meanwhile, the other Turtles are still escaping with their sensei. However, they are followed by Fishface, Rahzar, Tiger Claw, and Karai yet again. The bad guys and the heroes both are soon forced to face off, while Splinter rests in a secluded place, desperately trying to get the poison to exit out of his system. After a little while, this does ring true, and just when Tiger Claw is about to finish Leonardo, Splinter bravely steps in, grabs the mutant by the arm and then drops him to the ground. The Turtles are very happy to see their master back in action - and the team is then forced to face off against the multiple villains.

Back with Casey, April, and Donnie, Donnie plans on trying to reverse the polarity of the portal in the large room, while both April and Casey successfully pose as distractions. While Donnie pries open the perplexing piece of Technology, April comes up with a good idea: Climbing on the back of one of the worms and guiding them around by tugging on their two antenna. This actually works, and, after destroying a few Kraang, she then orders the worm to go up to the surface (exactly where our heroes are engaged in yet another large battle). Meanwhile, another earthquake ends up causing Karai to fall off the edge of the building (though she survives) and Splinter wants to save her, but Tiger Claw steps right on his tail and utterly prevents him from doing so. The worm (along with April and Casey on it) then emerge by bursting right through a manhole. Everyone is quite shocked to see this - but Tiger Claw is not and is still intent on eliminating Splinter. After being knocked out of the battle very briefly, Tiger Claw jumps right back in, though he is then knocked directly into the mouth of the Kraathatrogon. Elsewhere, Donnie has actually managed to reverse the portal's polarity and everything (including the worm, April, and Casey) start flying towards and into it. However, Donnie shuts it down at the last second and both Casey and April are saved.

The following day, on the rooftop, all of the team members regroup and Splinter commends all of his sons on their courage in battle (while the Police are shown down below investigating the giant hole in the ground). Every single one of them is happy that they succeeded in their very own right. Raph then wonders where Karai is now, while April still cannot believe that she is Splinter's daughter. Splinter voices his belief that, one day, Karai may indeed take note of the truth, but staying away is her own decision. Unbeknownst to all of them, Karai is hiding behind the billboard not far from them. She hears every single thing that they said, and finally (judging by her several expressions) seems to finally begin to question if she should have her ambivalent attitude any longer. The team then celebrates their victory, while Mikey is prompted to curiously ask where that giant worm could've gone.

The scene then quickly switches to the world of the 1987 series, where the Turtles there are up on the rooftop, each having a slice of Pizza. Just then, that very same Kraathatrogon emerges in the middle of the street, causing the people to panic as the worm tries to go after them. All of the Turtles observe this, thinking that Shredder and Krang must be behind this. They then vow to take down the worm - and then get another well-deserved pizza. They then jump into action with their famous and classic catchphrase: "COWABUNGA!!!!"

Triva

 * Kirby O'Neil's mutated form appears on a tabloid newspaper that April reads at Kurtzman's apartment. On the back of the paper is a human Chris Bradford advertising "organic goat curds".


 * References from the 1987 series:
 * Channel 6 News building in the background.

Gallery
The Manhattan Project/Gallery

Quotes
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