| “Back to the Egg” | |||||||
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| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode | |||||||
 Captain Krulik | |||||||
| Season Code: | S04E13 | ||||||
| Episode: | 93 | ||||||
| Original airdate | September 26, 1990 | ||||||
| Written by | Dennis Marks | ||||||
| Producers: | |||||||
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"Back to the Egg" is an episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Plot Synopsis
After Michelangelo finds a special flyer for a pizza sale, the Turtles head out to buy dinner.
On the Technodrome, Krang is displaying his latest invention: an age-reversing serum, which has the capability to de-age a living being into a helpless baby. He demonstrates this on a chicken; when the chicken eats the serum, it turns back into an egg. However, he doesn't want Shredder to administer the serum to the Turtles. He is instead giving the task to Captain Krulik, an intergalactic circus ringmaster, who wants the infantilized Turtles for his show.
The Turtles arrive at Posh Pizza just before Krulik, Shredder and Kroolix's tracker Grillox do. Krulik squirts the serum on the pizzas, but only manages to do two of them before Shredder "accidentally" causes him to spill the rest into a lobster tank.
Leonardo and Michelangelo suddenly shrink down into small children, and begin throwing food at each other. Raphael and Donatello take their de-aged brothers back outside, where Krulik and Shredder attack them. The two pint-sized Turtles wander away from the fight and straight into traffic, only narrowly being saved by Donatello and Raphael.
At the lair, the children are placated with pizza and coloring books while Donatello tries to figure out what to do. But when left on their own, they hop on a Cheapskate and begin zipping around the streets, ending up where "Auntie April" works. The rambunctious kids accidentally destroy her computer and trash her office.
Meanwhile, Donatello and Raphael find the leftover, thrown-out pizza slices that their brothers had been eating, in hopes of creating an antidote. But when they return to the lair they discover the other two are gone.
April tells Donatello that she has the two child-sized Turtles, and agrees to look after them until Donatello can make an antidote. She places them in the audience of a children's TV show, only for Shredder and Krulik to show up and attempt to kidnap them. Fortunately even small mutant turtles are still dangerous, and successfully deal with of the "bad guys."
Donatello successfully develops the age-reversal antidote and puts it on two pizzas.
April checks on Leonardo and Michelangelo, only to discover Shredder, Krulik and Grillox holding the two hostage. They capture April as well.
Donatello and Raphael rush into the set and toss the antidote-laced pizzas up to Leonardo and Michelangelo. After some cajoling, they finally eat them, and turn back to their adult selves. With all four Turtles now back at their right ages, the villains flee the scene.
An enraged Krang blames Krulik, who in turn blames Grillox until the beast turns on him and tosses him into the circus cage filled with hostile mutants.
Back in the lair, Leonardo and Michelangelo are forced to clean up the mess they created, and begin bickering immaturely over whose drawings are superior.
Characters
- Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
- Donatello (Barry Gordon)
- Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
- Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
- April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
- Shredder (James Avery)
- Krang (Pat Fraley)
- Captain Krulik and his intergalactic space mutants
- Maitre'd (Pat Fraley)
- Louie (Barry Gordon)
- Grillox
- Uncle Bob
- Murphy, Channel 6 Security Guard - Townsend Coleman
Locations
- The Posh Pizza
- Channel 6
- Turtles' Lair
- Technodrome
- Alleyway
Home media releases
DVD
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 4
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection
Notes
Errors
- In one of the most bizarre animation errors in the series up to this point, there is a moment near the beginning of the episode when Capt. Krulik introduces Grillox and the creature fires a finger beam at the Technodrome's entrance with Krang standing next to it. At the exact moment the laser hits, Krang starts to move out of the way and the shot changes to an image of the inside of the Technodrome, complete with a spot of damage as if the laser hit there, and Krang is zapped out of the shot in the same instant. The next shot has him standing right next to Shredder and Krulik as if he were calmly there the whole time.
- In the scene where Krang explains what the serum does, Shredder's movements and facial expressions suggest he's laughing, but there is no sound to prove so.
- When the turtles are leaving the restaurant, Raphael is seen holding little Michelangelo while Donatello is holding little Leo. But in the scene where they go through the door, Raph is holding little Leo while Donnie is holding little Mikey.
- Raphael is only seen holding one pizza just before he and Donatello entered the Channel 6 studio before switching back to holding two as they enter it.
- Bebop and Rocksteady are not seen or mentioned in this episode.
- When Michelangelo and Leonardo are playing with April's computer, for a split second after the computer breaks, Leonardo replaces Michelangelo on the chair.
- When Leonardo and Michelangelo revert to their teenage-selves and start fighting their enemies, they automatically pull out their weapons, but they didn't have them earlier when they were turtle tots, so where did they come from?
- April's fanny pack flashes back and forth from grey to white when she leads Leonardo and Michelangelo out the door.
- When Leonardo and Michelangelo look at their pizzas, they're facing the wrong way, as the toppings are facing the camera.
- There appear to be no mushrooms on the pizza Leonardo gets as we see only red dots on it, which is probably pepperoni or spots of sauce.
- The pizza crusts change to white when Leonardo and Michelangelo say, "No way," to Raphael when he wants them to eat the pizza.
- When Leonardo and Michelangelo are eating their pizzas, the toppings appear to change as they go from what can be assumed to be pepperoni to something that looks like onion slices.
- Donatello appears to pour the antidote on only one of the pizzas.
Trivia
Raphael breaks the 4th wall by saying "anyone who thinks that a Ninja Turtle's life is all fun and games should see this episode", when he and Donatello were rummaging through the trash.