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)
 * The 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
The Turtles are in their lair when 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, Donnie 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.

Mikey then takes Donnie to see Splinter. On the way there, Mikey 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 heart broken to see Splinter's grave, who had sacrificed himself trying to save his sons. He tells Mikey he has a plan to defeat Shredder but he would need the help of his brothers. Mikey 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 blind, and Raphael, who's missing his left eye, arrive first, each surprised to see 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 Donnie. He tells his brothers he has a plan to defeat Shredder but Leo and Raph are pessimistic, having been beaten several times before, even having their good friend Casey Jones die in battle. Donnie 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.

Just as Karai, Shredder's daughter, is updating her father on their plans (they are building the transmat that the Utrom slaves are going to build and says that Donatello has come and Shredder wants him with or with out his head) the Tunneler erupts from the ground floor and the Turtles immediately jump into battle. Most notable is Donatello, wearing an exo-suit to challenge Shredder himself. The Shredder appears with a very large battle suit with his utrom self attached on its head and in a shredder helmet. Karai commands a unit of robots, called Legions, to destroy them all. While Donnie fights the Shredder Hun jumps out of the Tunneler and pleads with the Shredder to rejoin him, to which he is squished by the Shredder's giant foot. While Donnie fights the Shredder the other Turtles fight the Legions. Mikey is surrounded by several bots and is the first killed. Then 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. Raph, in a fit of rage, attacks Karai and she kills him too. April appears and shots a missile, killing her almost instantly.

Donnie is nearly defeated, Shredder appearing to just be toying with him now. He has Donnie pinned in front of the Tunneler, when Donnie 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 Donnie's exo-suit and the Shredder's. Donnie slips out of the exo-suit just as the Tunneler's driller appears, the chains pulling Shredder closer to it until he is finally dead. Just as Donnie begins to collect his thoughts, he begins to shift through time once more, leaving April behind to rebuild her world.

Quotes

 *  Donatello : Where are all the people? 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, Donnie...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.


 * Leonardo : Raph? April's guys didn't say anything about you being here. 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 : Donatello! You're back! I don't believe it! Michelangelo : Believe it. Brainiac here wants to go up against the Shredder. Leonardo : We've already tried it, Donnie. 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. <font color="0000DD">Leonardo : It's impossible. <font color="DD0000">Raphael : Can't be done, Donnie. 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, Donnie, we'll do it one more time but please, tell me we have a fighting chance.


 * (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)  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: Donnie! Remember! There's always hope! No matter what! *once he disappears, she speaks softly* . . . And thank you.

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), Leonardo is blind (Michelangelo under went temporary blindness in the Archie 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.