| “Annihilation: Earth! Part 2” | |||||||
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| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV Series) episode | |||||||
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| Season Code: | 326 | ||||||
| Episode: | 78 | ||||||
| Original airdate | September 27, 2015 | ||||||
| Written by | Brandon Auman | ||||||
| Producers: | – | ||||||
| Directed by | Alan Wan | ||||||
| Voice Direction | Andrea Romano | ||||||
| Supervising Director | Ciro Nieli | ||||||
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"Annihilation: Earth! Part 2" is the twenty-sixth episode of the third season of the 2012 TV series, the seventy-eighth episode overall in the series, and is also part 2 of 2 of the Season 3 finale. It first aired on September 27th, 2015.
Synopsis
The Triceratons have arrived to Earth and seek to destroy it. When the other Turtles head out to rescue Michelangelo, Splinter must make an unexpected, and fatal, alliance with the Foot Clan.
Characters
Major Characters
- April O'Neil (Mae Whitman)
- Casey Jones (Josh Peck)
- Donatello (Rob Paulsen)
- Leonardo (Seth Green)
- Michelangelo (Greg Cipes)
- Raphael (Sean Astin)
- Shredder (Kevin Michael Richardson) (death)
- Splinter (Hoon Lee) (death)
- Tiger Claw (Eric Bauza) (death)
- Triceratons
- Captain Mozar (Michael Dorn)
- Commander Zorin (Kevin Michael Richardson) (debut)
- Triceraton #1 (Seth Green)
- Triceraton #2 (Kevin Michael Richardson)
- Triceraton #3 (Nolan North)
- Triceraton #4 (Kevin Michael Richardson)
- Triceraton Pilot (Rob Paulsen)
- Various Triceratons (Eric Bauza, Tom Kenny, Peter Lurie)
Minor Characters
- Bebop (J.B. Smoove) (death)
- Bishop (Nolan North) (death)
- Cat Owner (death)
- Fishface (death)
- Fugitoid (David Tennant) (debut)
- Homeless Guy (death)
- Little Girl (death)
- Mighty Mutanimals (death)
- Dr. Tyler Rockwell (Tom Kenny) (death)
- Leatherhead (Peter Lurie) (death)
- Mondo Gecko (Robbie Rist) (death)
- Muckman (Grant Moninger) (death)
- Pigeon Pete (death)
- Slash (Corey Feldman) (death)
- Rahzar (death)
- Rocksteady (Fred Tatasciore) (death)
Plot
Continuing from the previous episode, as Mikey stares down the barrel of a Triceraton's plasma weapon and is about to be shot, a shuriken lodges into the Triceraton's gun, blowing it apart. We see that this shuriken was thrown by Splinter, who has arrived on the scene with reinforcements: the Mighty Mutanimals, now with two newly recruited members, Mondo Gecko and Muckman; and April. Everyone begins fighting, and Slash manages to use his mace to damage the timer on the Black Hole Generator, but this does not make it irreparable. Meanwhile, Bishop abandons his destroyed robot body and runs off in the middle of the fray, while Muckman, Pigeon Pete and Mondo are incapacitated by a few Triceratons. More Triceratons then beam down, one of them being Mozar, who removes Rockwell's psychic amplifier and traps him in a bubble-like object to contain him; the same is done to Slash, Leatherhead, and Casey. Mikey attacks Mozar, but Mozar grabs him and teleports, with Mikey in tow, back to where he came from: the Triceraton mothership. With the arrival of even more Triceratons and the odds overwhelming, Splinter, April, and the others reluctantly retreat without the Mutanimals and Casey.
Mikey and Mozar arrive in the Triceraton mothership. Mikey asks Mozar for clarification on why he is determined to destroy the Earth, to which Mozar replies that the Kraang want Earth as a hiding place where the Triceratons cannot detect them. To prevent the Kraang from claiming Earth and eluding the Triceratons, Mozar has found the simplest solution: to wipe out the planet. Mozar does not care about the humans' lives and refuses to get along with Mikey, who then somehow manages to break out of his containment bubble but is quickly captured and told that he will be forced to endure the pain inflicted by the Psionic Extractor, a device that extracts one's knowledge.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Splinter, the other three turtles and April collect themselves on a rooftop and discuss their predicament. Leo wants to go back to the square for the others while Raph wonders what's being done to Mikey up in the ship. Splinter wisely proclaims that stopping the Black Hole Generator is their main priority because the Earth is doomed if they don't. Donnie joins the conversation, saying that it may take the Triceratons a while to repair the Black Hole Generator's timer. Splinter instructs the Turtles to rescue Mikey as he and April ally themselves with someone more powerful than the Mutanimals to stop the Triceratons. April and Leo wonder who this is; and Splinter says that it is the Shredder.
Back on the mothership, Mikey is strapped down to a table and the Psionic Extractor device is described to him. It will purportedly extract all of his knowledge of the Earth and the Kraang, and in the process destroy his psyche. The device is then activated and instead of being painful to Mikey, it simply energizes him with feelings of euphoria. After the device is turned off, Mikey begs them to turn it on again and expresses how fun it was, much to Mozar's annoyance. It turns out that the only information extracted from Mikey's brain was his love of pizza. Agitated, Mozar demands that Mikey be eliminated. When Mikey is again about to be shot, he talks his way out of it by (truthfully) saying that he knows of Kraang bases in Dimension X.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Splinter and April arrive at the Foot Headquarters and enter the Shredder's throne room, only to be ambushed and attacked by Tiger Claw, Bebop and Rocksteady before Shredder himself comes on the scene and stops Tiger Claw from killing Splinter, As Shredder demands to know why his enemy has come here, thinking that he came so he can kill him and claim his vengeance, Splinter straightforwardly asks Saki if he will help save the world or watch it be destroyed. Instead of answering this question, the Shredder asks Splinter what he has done with Karai, referring to the events of "The Fourfold Trap". Splinter replies that he and the Turtles searched for her but couldn't find her and came to the conclusion that she is alive but not in the city. While Shredder refuses to believe this and prepares to kill him, April assures him that Splinter is telling the truth, and appeals to his love for Karai, saying that if the Earth is destroyed, he will never see her again, and also believes that he should be a hero for a change if he still loves her. After brief hesitance, he begrudgingly agrees to help them stop the Triceratons.
Meanwhile, Leo, Raph, and Donnie find Mikey's Kraang Stealth Ship and enter it. They begin to fly in it toward the Triceraton mothership, which is located approximately halfway between the Earth and the Moon. As they approach their destination, Donnie activates the Stealth Ship's cloaking device to avoid being detected. Unfortunately, the Triceratons detect them anyway, and Mozar deploys a squadron of Triceraton fighters to take them down. The Turtles manage to fight their way past these ships and proceed to approach their destination when the Triceraton mothership turns on its side and fires a plasma beam in their direction. Just before the Stealth Ship is vaporized, Donnie uses a teleporter that he snagged from a Triceraton earlier to transport himself and his brothers to the opposing ship. There, the three Turtles are greeted by a captive Mikey, Mozar and the other Triceratons.
Back on Earth, the Triceratons march through the city, destroying almost everything in their path. Bebop then appears on a rooftop, distracting a Triceraton so that Rocksteady can take him down. Shredder then attacks another Triceraton, defeating him. Splinter tells them that they should remain stealthy. Following this, Splinter and April, alongside Shredder and his cronies, proceed to Washington Square and hide behind cover upon arrival, and witness a Triceraton technician finish repairing the timer for the Black Hole Generator, resulting in the countdown continuing from where it temporarily stopped. April and Tiger Claw suggest that they come up with a plan fast, but when Triceraton reinforcements arrive to double the number of troops defending the Black Hole Generator, they decide to launch an all-out attack on them without even formulating a plan.
Back on the mothership, Donnie tries to appeal to Mozar's better nature by informing him that the Earth has potential. However, Mozar implies that humans treat the Earth just as bad as the Kraang, and allows everything to proceed as planned by polluting the planet without even using Mutagen. Mozar then orders the Turtles to be thrown out of the airlock. However, before this could be done, Leo, in silent fury, warns Mozar one last time to leave the Earth alone or be destroyed. In spite of this, Mozar remains unimpressed, and thus, Leo snatches a portable prison cell from a Triceraton soldier and hurls it at the dome of the mothership, penetrating it and creating a big hole, sucking multiple unfortunate Triceraton soldiers aboard the ship out into space. The Turtles are about to be sucked out into space as well, but fortunately, with the teleporter Donnie snagged, they were able to teleport back to Earth.
After teleporting back to New York City, the Turtles realize they are near Washington Square when fighting erupts as Splinter, April, Shredder and the Foot Clan battle the Triceratons guarding the Black Hole Generator. April goes to free Casey, and after doing so, the pair go to free the Mutanimals, but Slash and Rockwell inform them that they must destroy the Black Hole Generator first, given that they are running out of time. The Turtles join the fight to aid in fighting the Triceratons. As everyone is busy battling the Triceratons, the repaired timer on the Black Hole Generator rapidly ticks closer to zero, and Splinter, realizing that he is the closest one near the Black Hole Generator and the only one not preoccupied, calls for Shredder to help him stop the Black Hole Generator before it's too late. Splinter runs toward the timer of the generator to deactivate it, though he is unaware that Shredder is following him, and before Splinter can shut down the timer before the countdown ends, tragedy strikes. Shredder, wanting to seize his chance to obtain his revenge by ending his personal war with Splinter once and for all, kills him by impaling him through his chest with one swift strike in cold blood, much to the horror of the Turtles, April and Casey. After Splinter falls to the ground gravely wounded as Shredder stands over him triumphantly, the Turtles scream out in despair over the death of their adoptive father, and rush over to him. April, out of malicious spite, sheer anger and pure grief, screams and unleashes a telepathic burst wave of psychic energy, knocking Shredder away from her dying mentor, with the Kuro Kabuto being flung from his head as a result. Splinter then succumbs to his mortal injury as the timer of the Black Hole Generator hits zero and the countdown ends, ensuring doomsday for the entire Earth.
The Black Hole Generator activates and ascends into the sky, slowly starting to enlarge as a black hole is opened and preparing to devour the entire Earth, along with everyone and everything inhabiting it. All of the Triceraton soldiers on the planet quickly beam themselves back to the Triceraton mothership as Bebop yells out the planet's impending doom in horror with Rocksteady telling him to "hold him close", the pair embracing each other in terror seconds before being lifted into the sky by the black hole's powerful gravitational pull to be consumed, followed by Rahzar and Fishface. Having witnessed the demise of his mutant comrades, Tiger Claw angrily calls out and asks Shredder on what he has done in condemning the Earth to annihilation while holding onto a tree, but the unmasked Shredder holds no guilt or remorse for his actions as he holds onto a bench, saying that he doesn't care if the Earth and all of its inhabitants get destroyed, and he doesn't care if the world's destruction includes himself, Tiger Claw, and even his other mutant henchmen also getting consumed as well, because in his mind, with Splinter dead, he has finally won and gained his vengeance. The Turtles, April and Casey run over to Splinter's lifeless body and mourn his loss, emotionally shattered and saddened, with a heartbroken Mikey wrapping his arms around his body and breaking down in tears. As the black hole continues to grow all over New York City, city alarms, such as civil defense sirens, start to go off as it proves to be a terrifying sight for the city populace, and dozens of humans, animals, vehicles, buildings, structures and objects (along with Splinter's inert body, Shredder, Tiger Claw, Bishop and the Mighty Mutanimals) start being rapidly pulled into the sky to be consumed by the black hole.
Luckily for the Turtles, April and Casey as they hold onto some trees, a mysterious white spaceship descends from outer space and lands near their position at the last possible minute. From a silhouettes distance, a mysterious white robot on board tells them to quickly get on if they want to live, and with no other choice, the gang quickly climb aboard before all of New York City, alongside the surrounding land and water, is torn from the planet surface and swallowed by the black hole. Their mission complete now that the Earth is doomed to destruction, the Triceraton mothership leaves the Solar System, teleporting away with Mozar and the Triceratons aboard victoriously chanting "Long live the Triceraton Empire!" as it does. The spaceship quickly departs the Earth as it slowly starts to crumble into a million pieces, but it gets caught in the black hole's gravitational pull, but by switching to turbodrive, the spaceship is able to break free and fly off into space. As for the crumbled pieces of the Earth, they are all sucked into the black hole. And as the black hole disappears as a result of the generator itself returning to normal size and shutting off following the complete destruction of the Earth, there's an aftershock that sends a giant shockwave across space and hits the spaceship, causing everyone aboard to go through turbulence, but it then passes through and they all remain unharmed.
On board the ship, the gang stare at where the Earth once was (where there is now nothing but a cosmos of stardust and silence) completely shocked, horrified and devastated by the loss of Splinter, their families, friends, allies and the Earth itself. Their mysterious savior then tells them that watching their entire world vanish into the quantum singularity of a black hole is rather distressing, and offers them some hot cocoa as a way of comforting them. Mikey accepts a glass of cocoa and asks the mysterious figure who he is. He introduces himself as Professor Zayton Honeycutt, and explains to the gang that they are about to embark on a wondrous adventure, restoring hope in them. Casey takes one good look at the ship and can only voice his excitement saying how awesome this is as the ship rockets off, flying into the unknown of space.
Errors
- When the Black Hole Generator is activated, the black hole itself is shown to be directly above New York City. But in the shots from orbit when the Earth steadily disintegrates and collapses into the same edifice, New York is on the opposite of the planet from it.
- April is unable to save Rockwell and Slash from their bubble prisons before the Black Hole Generator is activated. However, after it is activated when they are seen ascending into the black hole outside their prisons.
Trivia
- Leatherhead and Rockwell's pose, seen seconds before the Earth was sucked into the black hole, was an homage to "The Creation of Adam", the most famous fresco painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
- Ironically, "The Creation of Adam" symbolizes the beginning of life, while this moment in the episode is actually when all life on earth comes to an end.
Quotes
Tiger Claw: SHREDDER, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?! |