| “Battle Nexus: New York” | |||||||
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| Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode | |||||||
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| Season Code: | 075-076 | ||||||
| Episode: | 11 | ||||||
| Original airdate | July 17, 2020 | ||||||
| Written by | Dale Malinowski | ||||||
| Supervising Producer | Alan Wan | ||||||
| Producers: | Vladimir Radev | ||||||
| Directed by | Kevin Molina-Ortiz Alan Wan | ||||||
| Voice Direction | Rob Paulsen | ||||||
| Storyboard Artist: | Max Collins Christine Liu | ||||||
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"Battle Nexus: New York" is the twentieth episode of the second season (Episode 11) of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and is the sixty-sixth episode overall in the series. It first aired on July 17th, 2020.
Synopsis[]
Big Mama turns New York City into her new Battle Nexus arena and the TMNT have to fight to save everyone they love.
Appearing in Battle Nexus: New York[]
Major characters[]
- April O'Neil (Kat Graham)
- Big Mama (Lena Headey)
- Donatello (Josh Brener)
- Baron Draxum (Roger Craig Smith)
- Foot Clan
- Foot Recruit (Zelda Williams)
- Shadow Fiend/The Shredder
- Leonardo (Ben Schwartz)
- Michelangelo (Brandon Mychal Smith)
- Raphael (Omar Benson Miller)
- Splinter (Eric Bauza)
Minor characters[]
- Amphisbaena (debut)
- Carl Sando (Jason Mantzoukas)
- Cortex (Eugene Byrd) (debut)
- Ghostbear (Jorge Gutiérrez)
- Hypno-Potamus (Rhys Darby)
- Meat Sweats (John Lydon)
- Sloppy Joseph (cameo)
- Sprite (Zelda Williams) (debut)
- Todd Capybara (Thurop Van Orman)
- Troll (debut)
Additional voices by Dave Boat
Species[]
- Demon
- Human
- Mutant capybara
- Mutant crab
- Mutant hippopotamus
- Mutant meat product (cameo)
- Mutant pig
- Mutant polar bear
- Mutant rat
- Mutant turtle
- Yōkai
Objects and vehicles[]
- Kuroi Yōroi
- Kusari-fundō
- Lemonade
- Mystic baseball bat
- Mystic Collar
- Mystic Ōdachi
- Mystic Orb
- Mystic Ring (debut)
- Statue of Liberty
- Tech-Bō
- Tonfā
Locations[]
Plot[]
The episode starts with the Turtles, Splinter, Draxum and April on a family trip on the tour of New York City. Draxum says they must hurry, because he left Sloppy Joseph in the kitchen.
Suddenly, the sky gets dark and all the New Yorkers vanish. The Turtles exit from an elevator (not noticing that April, Splinter and Draxum went missing, too) and are shocked at seeing their city so empty. Then, they hear a woman laughing from the distance. It is Big Mama, who has turned New York City into a massive Battle Nexus and has trapped all the people in the Mystic Orb. Inside the orb is an illusion of a peaceful cruise, so the people remain unaware of what happened.
Knowing that the Turtles work so well together, Big Mama opts to not only separate the brothers, but also handcuff them to their enemies. Each pair must face off against one Battle Nexus champion.
- Raph is with Ghostbear, much to his joy. They must fight the most aggressive yōkai, named Troll, on the George Washington Bridge. Ghostbear doesn't want to participate, and tries breaking free. But, Raphael convinces him to help. Together, they perform Ghostbear's signature move, the Hibernator, and defeat Troll. But, all of them ended up being flung off the bridge and into the water below. Raph's and Ghostbear's masks float up to the surface, much to the horror of his brothers.
- Leo, along with Carl Sando, must make the fairy named Sprite laugh. Ever the sourpuss, she possesses the Statue of Liberty and threatens to squish them. Leo tries cracking jokes, but she doesn't laugh, and an argument between him and Carl ends up causing them to fight each other and the Sprite to start attacking them at the same time. Leo eventually discovers upon seeing the Sprite trying to stifle a laugh following the pair falling over from slipping on a banana peel that they can only make her laugh with physical comedy. Leo "fights" Carl by improvising all manner of ways to subject him to pain, such as making Carl fall down and hitting him with pies. The Sprite eventually laughs aloud, and Leo and Carl ended up winning just as she realizes what happened.
- Mikey is with his favorite chef, Meat Sweats. The pair must feed the Amphisbaena, a two-headed snake yōkai who is always hungry, until it is satisfied. Meat Sweats throws food at one head, while Mikey painstakingly prepares a dish. Meat Sweats yells at Mikey to hurry and feed the other head, but Mikey insists that a single well-prepared dish will do the trick. Meat Sweats soon runs out of food and Mikey starts to panic when he is missing an ingredient. Meat Sweats helps him out with some spices, and Mikey tosses the completed dish at the unfed head. The head Meat Sweats had been feeding snatches the dish, and the other head, wanting a bite, eats the first head. This results in the Amphisbaena effectively eating itself out of existence as Mikey had expected, leaving him and a dumbfounded Meat Sweats as the victors.
- Last of all, Donnie is with Hypno-Potamus. They must beat Cortex, the most intelligent yōkai, at chess. Donnie offers to play, but to his dismay, Cortex ends up turning him into the white set of figures. Worse still, by his own admission, Hypno has little experience in chess and therefore doesn't know how to play it. Hypno, unsure of what to do, takes too long to make his first move and eventually, Cortex ends up becoming stressed out and demands Hypno to make his move while pounding his fists on the table. This impatience unwittingly ends up costing Cortex the match as the force of slamming his fists down is enough to cause his own king piece to fall over; Donnie immediately declares victory by default for both himself and Hypno because Cortex has legally surrendered having "slain his own king" (with Hypno declaring himself as "king of chequers"). Cortex slams his head on the table in defeat having accidentally defeated himself.
Meanwhile, Draxum suddenly realizes that he and the rest of the group are in the mystic orb. He tries to tell the others what is happening, but they don't listen until he points out that the Turtles are gone and no one would willingly bring Foot Recruit anywhere. He leads the escape to a weak point at the bottom of the orb.
Returning to the center of the city, the three Turtles are reunited at last, but they are heartbroken over Raph's demise. While the villains make their escape, Big Mama congratulates the Turtles, but announces that she is still keeping New York and its people for herself; she plans to use the New Yorkers as unwilling contestants in her new city-sized Battle Nexus. The Turtles then tell her that they anticipate that Raph, knowing his obsession with pro wrestling, will have survived his encounter with the Troll by playing dead and that he will launch a sneak attack on Big Mama using Ghostbear's Hibernator move. Indeed, Raph emerges from Big Mama's tower and uses his mystic powers to suplex her. Meanwhile, April, Draxum, Splinter and Recruit are freed from the orb. Now outnumbered, Big Mama calls the Shadow Fiend to fight them. He begins to chase Draxum, who is trying to find a way to open the orb to free the rest of New York. Eventually, they make it to the top of Big Mama's tower, but the Turtles combine their powers to defeat him. Big Mama is about to use her ring to control Shadow Fiend again, but to her shock... the ring is gone!
Foot Recruit then reveals the ring in her grasp and tells everyone that there is no Shadow Fiend. As the monster's cloak blows away, the ominous figure is revealed to be the one and only Shredder. Foot Recruit orders him to attack the heroes, as Splinter orders Leo to open a portal to escape. The demon proves to be too fast as he knocks them around and begins to crush Raph and Donnie. Leo uses Mikey as a weapon to stop Shredder from beating their brothers, while Draxum helps April up to her feet. Leo cries to Splinter for help. Splinter watches in horror by seeing his family in danger. Thinking fast, he uses Leo's ōdachi to open a portal, allowing them to escape. As they all disappear through the portal, Splinter asks Big Mama to come with them, feeling that there is still something good inside her. Touched, Big Mama attempts to go with them. However, Shredder cuts off her exit.
Foot Recruit is furious with Big Mama for using the Shredder for her own deeds. The Shredder destroys the Grand Nexus Hotel, and it collapses to the ground. The recruit rides on the Shredder, and declares that the Foot Clan has risen again, leaving the episode on a cliffhanger.
Quotes[]
Trivia[]
- Shadow Fiend is revealed to be the Shredder in this episode.
- The mystic orb reappears in this episode, its first appearance is in "Insane in the Mama Train".
- Cindy's parents who debuted earlier in "Operation: Normal" are seen in this episode.
- This episode marks the final appearances of Ghostbear, Huginn, Meat Sweats, Muninn, Carl Sando, and Sloppy Joseph.
- Carl's brother Ben does not appear in this episode at all, his final appearance having been in "Man VS. Sewer".
- Huginn and Muninn only appear briefly in a flashback, their final in-person appearance having been in "Goyles, Goyles, Goyles".
- It was revealed in July 2020 by Rise of the TMNT assistant director and story artist Ashe Jacobson in a Tweet that Leo's playful walk cycle right before he throws his final pie at Carl is a reference to a YouTube video by Roy Purdy.[1]
- Big Mama's heel click following the conclusion of the Battle Nexus matches is a reference to a recurring visual associated with Kill la Kill's Kiryūin Satsuki. This was also referenced earlier in "Many Unhappy Returns".
- The cat that eats the bird on the powerline following the conclusion of the Battle Nexus matches debuted earlier in "The Mutant Menace".
"The Mutant Menace" appearance.
Errors[]
- During Mikey's line, "The thing about that is us four work together," a claw on Big Mama's black arm is missing its color.
- During the second camera angle of Raph's Hibernator entrance, a claw on Big Mama's black arm is missing its color.
- Big Mama's left black arm only has three claws instead of four claws during Big Mama's line, "You'll never take the orb from my champion."
- Throughout the fight between Shadow Fiend, Big Mama, and the Mad Dogs until this episode's end, Big Mama's black arms only have three claws instead of four claws.