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Camera Bugged
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 Cartoon) episode
Camera Bugged Title Card
Season Code: 03
Episode: 20
Original airdate October 20, 1989
Written by Michael Edens
Mark Edens
Producers:
Episode chronology
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"Invasion of the Turtle Snatchers" "Green With Jealousy"
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Season
September 25, 1989 - Feburary 9, 1990
List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes
Tmnt1987logosmall

Episodes:

  1. "Beneath These Streets"
  2. "Turtles on Trial"
  3. "Attack of the 50-Foot Irma"
  4. "The Maltese Hamster"
  5. "Sky Turtles"
  6. "The Old Switcheroo"
  7. "Burne's Blues"
  8. "The Fifth Turtle"
  9. "Enter the Rat King"
  10. "Turtles at the Earth's Core"
  11. "April Fool"
  12. "Attack of Big MACC"
  13. "The Ninja Sword of Nowhere"
  14. "20,000 Leaks Under the City"
  15. "Take Me to Your Leader"
  16. "Four Musketurtles"
  17. "Turtles, Turtles Everywhere"
  18. "Cowabunga Shredhead"
  19. "Invasion of the Turtle Snatchers"
  20. "Camera Bugged"
  21. "Green With Jealousy"
  22. "Return of the Fly"
  23. "Casey Jones - Outlaw Hero"
  24. "Mutagen Monster"
  25. "Corporate Raiders from Dimension X"
  26. "Pizza by the Shred"
  27. "Super Bebop & Mighty Rocksteady"
  28. "Beware the Lotus"
  29. "Blast from the Past"
  30. "Leatherhead: Terror of the Swamp"
  31. "Michelangelo's Birthday"
  32. "Usagi Yojimbo"
  33. "Case of the Hot Kimono"
  34. "Usagi Come Home"
  35. "The Making of Metalhead"
  36. "Leatherhead Meets the Rat King"
  37. "The Turtle Terminator"
  38. "The Great Boldini"
  39. "The Missing Map"
  40. "The Gang's All Here"
  41. "The Grybyx"
  42. "Mister Ogg Goes to Town"
  43. "Shredderville"
  44. "Bye, Bye, Fly"
  45. "The Big Rip-Off"
  46. "The Big Break In"
  47. "The Big Blow Out"

1987 Season1988 Season1989 Season1990 Season - 1991 Season1992 Season1992-1993 Vacation in Europe sideseason1993 Season1994 Season1995 Season1996 Season

Camera Bugged is a season 3 episode of the 1987 animated series.

Appearing in Camera Bugged[]

Major characters[]

Minor characters[]

Species[]

Objects and vehicles[]

Locations[]

Plot[]

The four Ninja Turtles circle around Splinter, who challenges them to attack if they think they can defeat him. They charge at him one by one, but each one is sent flying across the room. When he asks for their excuses, the Turtles admit to not feeling their best lately, and Leonardo finally admits that they need a vacation. Splinter is initially shocked by the idea, but after considering it, he agrees that they do need a vacation. The Turtles are all delighted, but immediately disagree on where they will be going - Michelangelo wants to go to Malibu, Donatello to the Smithsonian, Leonardo to the War Museum, and Raphael to Las Vegas. Before they can argue more, Splinter adds the stipulation: they can have a vacation if they can agree on the destination.

A passing spaceship sends a small podlike craft down to a New York park, and Fripp the Polarisoid emerges from it. When he causes an altercation, a police officer rushes over to stop him. Fripp photographs the officer, and the unfortunate man is sucked inside. He wanders through the park, photographing monuments, trees and unfortunate people, all of which are sucked into the camera.

At Channel 6, Irma is desperately fielding dozens of calls from people reporting that important things are disappearing without a trace. A smug Vernon attempts to show her how to handle the callers, only to accidentally offend the Mayor. April heads out to pursue this latest story.

In the Technodrome, Krang recognizes that this is the work of a Polarisoid, "the most obnoxious tourists in the entire galaxy." Upon hearing about the alien camera, Shredder wants to use their technology to stop the Turtles. He sets out with Rocksteady and Bebop to find Fripp.

April is staking out a tourist attraction when the crowd starts running away from Fripp. Just then, Shredder appears in the plaza, pretending to be a hot dog vender; April immediately alerts the Turtles, who have been busy debating where to go. Shredder manages to trick Fripp into letting him take the alien's picture with Rocksteady and Bebop, which sucks all three into the camera.

The Turtles arrive just then, but before Shredder can photograph them, April knocks him into a nearby fountain. The Turtles follow him in and a fight ensues, and in the chaos the alien camera ends up beside April's. Shredder picks up April's camera and tries to suck in the Turtles, but nothing happens. He escapes after throwing a smoke grenade at the Turtles, and the sound of police sirens sends them scurrying off.

Shredder rants about running out of videotape to Krang, who is not inclined to hear excuses. When the alien brain glances over the camera, he finds "Made in Taiwan" printed there, immediately telling them both that it's actually April's.

The Turtles enjoy pizza that evening while watching a newscast of what they think will be April's footage. What actually airs is Bebop and Rocksteady begging for help, only to be interrupted by Fripp and the others who were sucked inside the camera. Donatello figures out what has happened, and the Turtles head out to get the camera before Shredder can.

Shredder appears at Channel 6 and demands the camera, only to be distracted by Michelangelo's shadow puppets. Another fight breaks out, which the Turtles seem to be losing after Shredder starts smashing them into desks. But then April uses the camera despite Leonardo's pleas not to, sucking Shredder and all four Turtles inside. When she sees a "Made in Alpha Centauri" sticker on the camera, she panics and hysterically calls Splinter.

The Turtles and Shredder are sucked through a purple vortex and land in a replica of the news room. Shredder leaps through a wall, and the Turtles follow him, landing in a shipyard. They manage to entrap him with a life preserver, only for Rocksteady and Bebop to drop him a rope from a manhole cover in the sky. When the Turtles try to follow, Shredder cuts the rope and sends them plummeting into an alley.

They encounter Fripp there, but before they can make any progress with him, a subway train piloted by Shredder comes roaring at them. They leap through a wall and land on a rollercoaster, accidentally pick up the camera-napped cop while running down the street, nearly crash in the subways, and finally end up on a flagpole on the side of a building.

Shredder severs the pole, sending them falling down into the park that Fripp first arrived in. Leonardo and Donatello argue with Shredder that there's no point in fighting when they're all trapped inside a videocassette, but Bebop and Rocksteady roll up with a tank and holds the Turtles at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, April takes Splinter to the video editing room at Channel 6, where he begins playing the cassette and sees the image of a boat floating on the water. He uses his cane to smash the screen... which then causes the sky inside the cassette to crack open, and floods the park with water. The broken screen starts pouring a flood of water, sweeping out buildings, monuments, and people that include Shredder, his mutants, the Turtles and Fripp. Michelangelo is the last to leave, having somehow found a surfboard. The Turtles, Splinter and Fripp flee the building as Burne comes in, demanding to know what's going on.

The Turtles and Splinter bid farewell to Fripp as he departs with his camera, saying that Earth might be a nice place to live, but he wouldn't want to visit. With the alien gone, Splinter asks if the Turtles have settled on a vacation destination, but they all confirm that they've decided to just stay home. And as Michelangelo would say, "Who needs tourists anyway?"

See also[]

Quotes[]

  • Shredder: I would've brought back the Turtles and that meddling reporter if this blasted camera hadn't run out of videotape!
  • Krang: Excuses, excuses! Where are those cretins, Bebop and Rocksteady?
  • Shredder: In here, along with that Polarisoid and half the city's landmarks!
  • Krang: Good; keep them in there. I want to remember them always that way. Wait a minute! What's this? "Made in Taiwan"?! You metal-masked moron! You brought me the wrong camera!
  • Shredder: That meddling reporter must've picked up the real one!
  • Krang: Shredder, you numbskull ninja! I'm warning you - bring me that Polarisoid camera or else!

Notes and errors[]

  • First appearance of Fripp the Polarisoid.
  • The police officer who becomes Fripp's first victim resembles Don Knotts as Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show.
  • As the Turtles jumped out of the Turtle Van to tackle Shredder, Leonardo is seen with both his katanas drawn, but was seen redrawing one katana when he told Shredder to surrender.
  • In the first shot of Act Two, Donatello's strapping is coloured brown.
  • When Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo are all on a smashed desk, Raphael's upraised arm has Donatello's colors.
  • When Michelangelo and Raphael are knocked backwards by a camera, Michelangelo briefly becomes Leonardo.

Home media releases[]

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DVD[]

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