Cheese Phone

The Cheese Phone.

The Cheese Phone is an object in the 2012 TV series. It is a special telephone in the T-Phone network that allows the turtles to call Splinter directly in case of a serious emergency. Ordinarily, the Cheese Phone appears as a large wheel of yellow Swiss-like cheese kept underneath a glass lid resting on top of a small cabinet in Splinter's Bedroom. But part of the top of the cheese wheel is actually a corded telephone receiver that can be pulled out when the phone needs to be answered. The base unit itself appears to be wireless.

History

The Cheese Phone makes its first appearance in The Manhattan Project, Part 1. Tiger Claw captured Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo, and coerced Leo into luring out Splinter using his T-Phone. Splinter was in his bedroom meditating at the time, and answered the T-Phone when it rang. His conversation with Leonardo was brief, promising to come to the turtles' help.

The Cheese Phone makes its second appearance in Return to New York. When the turtles break back into Kraang-occupied New York City, one of the first places they check is their lair, searching for the missing Splinter. Leo looks inside Splinter's room, seeing the Cheese Phone knocked off its cabinet, its receiver off the hook.

Trivia

• The Cheese Phone is a joke reference to the Bat-Phone from the 1966 Batman TV series, as both phones are gimmick themed, on a table under a glass case and are used for emergencies only.
• The Cheese Phone is similar to novelty telephones that resemble completely different objects. One of the most famous of these is the hamburger phone popularized by the film Juno.