Burne's Blues

“Burne's Blues”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 Cartoon) episode
Season Code:	03
Episode:	07
Original airdate	October 3, 1989
Written by	Bill Wolf Gordon Bressack
Producers:	–
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "The Old Switcheroo" "The Fifth Turtle"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Season September 25, 1989 - Feburary 9, 1990 List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes

Episodes: "Beneath These Streets" "Turtles on Trial" "Attack of the 50-Foot Irma" "The Maltese Hamster" "Sky Turtles" "The Old Switcheroo" "Burne's Blues" "The Fifth Turtle" "Enter the Rat King" "Turtles at the Earth's Core" "April Fool" "Attack of Big MACC" "The Ninja Sword of Nowhere" "20,000 Leaks Under the City" "Take Me to Your Leader" "Four Musketurtles" "Turtles, Turtles Everywhere" "Cowabunga Shredhead" "Invasion of the Turtle Snatchers" "Camera Bugged" "Green With Jealousy" "Return of the Fly" "Casey Jones - Outlaw Hero" "Mutagen Monster" "Corporate Raiders from Dimension X" "Pizza by the Shred" "Super Bebop & Mighty Rocksteady" "Beware the Lotus" "Blast from the Past" "Leatherhead: Terror of the Swamp" "Michelangelo's Birthday" "Usagi Yojimbo" "Case of the Hot Kimono" "Usagi Come Home" "The Making of Metalhead" "Leatherhead Meets the Rat King" "The Turtle Terminator" "The Great Boldini" "The Missing Map" "The Gang's All Here" "The Grybyx" "Mister Ogg Goes to Town" "Shredderville" "Bye, Bye, Fly" "The Big Rip-Off" "The Big Break In" "The Big Blow Out" 1987 Season – 1988 Season – 1989 Season – 1990 Season - 1991 Season – 1992 Season – 1992-1993 Vacation in Europe sideseason – 1993 Season – 1994 Season – 1995 Season – 1996 Season

Burne's Blues is a season 3 episode of the 1987 TV series.

Appearing in Burne's Blues

Major characters

• Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
• Donatello (Barry Gordon)
• Michelangelo  (Townsend Coleman)
• Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
• Splinter (Peter Renaday)
• April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
• Burne Thompson (Pat Fraley)
• Vernon Fenwick (Peter Renaday)
• Irma (Jennifer Darling)
• Wolfgang Plink (Pat Fraley)
• Shredder (James Avery)
• Krang (Pat Fraley)
• Bebop (Barry Gordon)
• Rocksteady (Cam Clarke)

Minor characters

• Elvis Presley-lookalikes
  • First Elvis Alien (Jennifer Darling)
  • Second Elvis Alien (???)
  • Third Elvis Alien (Jennifer Darling)
• Don Turtelli (Peter Renaday) (debut)
• Radio DJ (Barry Gordon)
• First Gunman (Barry Gordon)
• Second Gunman (James Avery)

Species

• Human
• Mutant rat
• Mutant rhinoceros
• Mutant turtle
• Mutant warthog

Objects and vehicles

• Cheapskates
• Elvis Presley-lookalikes' spacecraft
• S&K Truck
• Transport Modules
• Turtle Van

Locations

• Plink's Pizzeria
• Turtle Lair
• Technodrome
• Nutri-Freeze Plant
• City Sewers
• Earth's crust

Plot

A summer heat wave has struck New York, which the Turtles are combating by eating steaming hot pizza at chef Wolfgang Plink's restaurant. The chef laments that his refrigerator has broken down, despite being maintenanced that very day. Immediately after, the Turtles deal with a trio of robbers holding up the restaurant.

Back at Channel 6, Burne berates April for not digging deep enough in her reporting, since she didn't get any footage of the Turtles actually doing anything. He begins reminiscing about "his day" as a reporter. Vernon makes the mistake of calling him "old and out of shape," which provokes Burne into going back into journalism in order to find the Turtles.

Despite the heat up above ground, the sewers are icy cold, which Donatello can't understand. April summons them to help her investigate the broken refrigeration and air-conditioning units, which were all serviced by S&K Refrigeration.

April finds their refrigeration truck and tries to ask the driver some questions, only to discover that it's Bebop. Sure enough, the company is Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady, who are stealing freon for the Technodrome for "Operation Ice Station." Krang dismisses the idea of stealing relatively unstable freon, in favor of Nutrifreeze.

April manages to leave a trail of freon behind the truck, allowing the Turtles to follow them. They manage to catch up before Shredder and his followers can steal all the Nutrifreeze. Unfortunately, Michelangelo touches a ruptured canister and is frozen solid, and the other three are frozen as well when Shredder sprays them with Nutrifreeze. With April as a prisoner, Shredder and his minions leave.

Fortunately, the ice melts shortly thereafter, and the Turtles pursue their enemies down into the sewer. They manage to pursue the pneumatic modules on their Cheapskates, and narrowly avoid being blown up by a missile. One module fires on the other, and Shredder and his mutants eject from their damaged vehicle, leaving April to be killed when it crashes.

The Turtles manage to get her out, leaving the modules to crash into each other, and sending the Nutrifreeze blasting into the air. Snow begins falling.

During all this, Burne and Vernon have been captured by a sinister foreign agent, the mob, and finally some Elvis-lookalike aliens. All of their captors tickle them mercilessly. Upon returning, they conclude that they've been gone for months because of all the snow.

Down in the Technodrome, they have to resort to a treadmill-powered fan to cool the place down. And at Channel 6, Burne rants on the air about the "Elvis clones from Mars invade Earth," and is dragged off by Irma and April.

See also

• Burne's Blues/Gallery
• Burne's Blues/Transcript

Quotes

Donatello: We've gotta stop Shredder before he puts that Nutri-Freeze to some horrible use! Michelangelo: Well like what? Raphael: Well it isn't to open a chain of frozen yogurt stands!!

April: Well, Burne...what did you think? Burne: I thought it lacked some.....basic ingredients. Irma: Are you talking about the story, or the pizza?

Vernon: Are you sure you're still up to this Boss? Burne: Of course I am! A good reporter remembers everything. Vernon: Uhh, Everything? (Holds up Burne's pants) (Burne looks down at his boxers) Burne': Well, almost everything.

Foreign Agent: Enough! If they knew anything, they would have talked by now. No one can withstand three hours of intense tickling.

Krang: Well Shredder, it looks like Operation: Ice Station was a failure. Shredder: Failure?! We cooled the place off, haven't we? Bebop: Can't we take a break boss? Shredder: Oh shut up and keep peddling.

Notes and errors

• When Michelangelo says "...there's nothing better to beat the heat than a steaming pizza!", watch the table as he finishes his line. There is no pizza there (other than the slice that's already in Michelangelo's hand.) A few seconds later, the pizza appears on the table as Donatello's about to speak.
  • Also, observe the pizza carefully as the Turtles reach for it. Donatello and Leonardo both reach for slices at the bottom half, while Raphael takes a slice from the top right hand corner. Inexplicably, a slice from the top left hand corner disappears as well. You could probably explain this away by saying the missing slice was taken by Michelangelo earlier in the episode, but the pizza was completely intact when it's first seen. Two errors for the price of one?
• When the Turtles cast aside their disguises to confront the robbers, Michelangelo's nunchucks are missing, despite the animation suggesting that he's whipped them out. As is, it's looking like he's flexing his muscles.
• When the robbers are flung into the dessert display, the cabinet breaks into four even quarters, despite the fact that there should be glass,wooden splinters and various dessert puddles all over them. In addition to that, the broken edges look more like ripped paper, despite the differences in materials. And, to top it off, it turns completely grey.
• When Krang mentions the effects of the Nutri-Freeze, Shredder's Comlink is coloured grey and part of the back plate is coloured grey when April undoes the valve on the freon drum.
• When Bebop said "He never told ya to brain me!" Rocksteady's dagger sheath was coloured brown and April's face was animated blank.
• Burne's trench coat is white at some point and not brown.
• Don Turtelli looks completely different than he usually does.

Trivia

• One of the goons holding up the restaurant makes a reference to the movie Casablanca when he observes the Humphrey Bogart style trenchcoats the Turtles usually wear.

Home media releases

DVD

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Volume 3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection