| “Divide and Conquer” | |||||||
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| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode | |||||||
 The Alien Cantina. | |||||||
| Season Code: | 10 | ||||||
| Episode: | 8 | ||||||
| Original airdate | November 2, 1996 | ||||||
| Written by | Jeffrey Scott | ||||||
| Producers: | Bill Wolf | ||||||
| Directed by | Tony Love | ||||||
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1996 Season 1996 List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes  |
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Episodes:
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 |
Divide and Conquer is the 194th and last episode of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series. This episode of the show was written by Jeffrey Scott. It originally aired on November 2, 1996, on CBS.
Plot synopsis
The episode begins with the Turtles battling a strange, heavily-armed alien at an old airport, and eventually subduing him with the tail of an old propeller airplane. When they try to question him, he simply tears off Leonardo's belt and vanishes. Raphael states that he is the sixth alien to attack them, steal something of no particular value and vanish.
The alien is transported back to a cantina, where it is confirmed that he was fighting the Turtles for ninety-one seconds. This turns out to be the doing of Dregg, who has promised power and wealth to whoever survives ninety seconds against the Turtles.
In the Turtle Van, Michelangelo finds a tiny microbot-like tracker lodged in his shell, which has been used to track them. Just then, a four-armed blue alien attacks them, using shapeshifting powers to fight them. The alien steals Donatello's bo, and then departs.
Dregg declares that he has what he needs, and summons the five aliens who have succeeded to come with him. Mung has created more microbots, and Dregg demands a container of them, which will throw off their invasion plans off schedule. His obsession becomes clear as he attacks Mung before taking the microbots and leaving.
At the lair, Splinter invites the Turtles to meditate with him, and later teaches them a new martial arts move, the Flying Claw.
The microbots create a Morphogenesis Exoskeleton for Dregg, which seizes and absorbs the five aliens who succeeded in fighting the Turtles. He beams down to confront the Turtles, and shows off what his new device can do: he has gained the powers of the five he absorbed, including shapeshifting, great strength, X-ray vision, robotic limbs and immense size.
As they lick their wounds, Splinter states that when a hermit crab wants to impress its enemies, it gets a bigger shell. Donatello brainstorms that they could use Krang's robotic body against Dregg - not only is it powerful, but it has a molecular expander that allows size changes. The body was in the Technodrome, which was destroyed in their last encounter, but the suit is practically indestructible (despite being easily disabled by Irma), so it should still be useful.
Donatello tinkers with the portal for awhile, only to be called by Dregg with the news that he's captured April. Leonardo and Raphael will go save her, while Donatello and Michelangelo will go get the robot body.
Donatello and Michelangelo arrive at the abandoned, ruined Technodrome, which is now positioned atop a hill. Unfortunately strange robotic monsters have taken refuge inside, including one that resembles Krang's body, but they manage to find what they came for and make their way back.
Robot Mistaken for Krang's android body
Attempting to rescue April, Raphael and Leonardo are seized by Dregg and narrowly manage to escape. Dregg transforms his lower body into a motorcycle and pursues them to a junkyard... only to be attacked by Michelangelo and Donatello inside Krang's body. Unfortunately, they have only one minute before the body shrinks down and explodes.
They perform the Tiger Claw on Dregg, grabbing him from behind just as Donatello and Michelangelo bail out. They open the portal to Dimension X, throwing him through just before the body explodes.
At the lair, Splinter tells them proudly that they are exceptional students, and that he is proud to be their equal. This confuses the Turtles until he explains that they no longer need a teacher or guide because he is no longer their superior in skill. Leonardo happily declares that they can handle just about anything... only to be distracted when Donatello's microwave popcorn goes out of control.
Character Voices
- Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
- Donatello (Barry Gordon)
- Raphael (Michael Gough)
- Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
- Splinter (Peter Renaday)
- April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
- Lord Dregg (Tony Jay) (death)
- Mung (Cam Clarke)
- Orange Dimension X Alien (Peter Renaday)
- Blue Dimension X Alien (Barry Gordon)
- Pink Dimension X Alien (???)
Locations
Home media releases
DVD
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Final Season
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection
Notes
Animation/Technical Errors
- After the alien at the beginning of the episode steals Leonardo's belt, Leonardo has it back when we see the Turtles in the Turtle Van.
- When the Turtles power up Krang's exo-suit, it's towering over Dregg in terms of height. A few seconds later, it's barely taller than him. The exo-suit would change size throughout the battle. You can try explaining this away as Dregg changing his size to match the suit in terms of power, but shots showing the crane indicate Dregg's remaining the same size throughout the fight.
- The Turtles piloting the suit can appear downright tiny at times, despite Krang implying since the suit's first appearance that they should be growing with the suit.
- When the Turtles are sparring in the lair, Leonardo is fighting Raphael. In a closeup of them holding their weapons in front of Splinter, Leonardo is on the left and Raphael is on right, meaning they should be reversed from the opposite angle (Splinter's POV). But when we see the opposite angle, they're in the same positions.
- In the same shot, Leonardo is first holding his sword with his left hand and Raphael is first holding his sai with his right hand. In the opposite angle shot, their hands switch.
- When Leonardo, Raphael and April leave her apartment, the lettering on the front of the Turtle Van is... blue instead of white, not black for a change!
- In the scene inside the Technodrome when Michelangelo asks the robot where Krang's robot body is, an upside down shot shows Donatello on the right, meaning he should be on the left when looking at him the right way up. But he's still on the right when we see him the right way up in next shot.
- When we see the Turtle Van's mouth being crushed, the lettering on the front of the van is black instead of white.
- For some reason, the ice Dregg generates is yellowish green.
Continuity Errors
- One of Lord Dregg's 'requirements' for choosing the best warriors is having them last 90 seconds against the Turtles. The four-armed shapeshifter is one of the chosen, but she only fought them for 30 seconds before vanishing with Donatello's staff.
- After Leonardo orders the Turtles to head to the lower drains while he tries to slow down Dregg, he opens a manhole cover, dives right inside, followed by the other Turtles, right before cutting a water main and diving into the same manhole cover...again. Wait, what?
- Donatello warns Michelangelo that making Krang's exo-suit grow in size comes with a time limit, right before it 'shrinks to the size of a ping-pong ball and explodes'. When was this ever an issue?
- How is Lord Dregg able to walk on those wooden floors after spraying them with liquid nitrogen? He should have gone under long before Leonardo smashed the floors.
- Donatello yells that they've only got five seconds left in the suit before it explodes, but 15 seconds pass before anything happens.
- Who or what opens the portal to allow Donatello and Michelangelo to push the suit and Dregg to Dimension X?
- The Technodrome's portal is working just fine, but in "Turtle Trek" this would have made Shredder and Krang's 2 year absence pointless.
- When April first sees Krang's android body fight Dregg, she says "What on Earth is that?" Because it's pretty easy to forget something you've seen only a hundred times out of sheer terror, isn't it?
- Donatello refers to Krang's android body as being virtually indestructible, apparently forgetting that it was destroyed and/or dismembered on at least three occasions (including Irma shooting it in the back).
Trivia
- This is the very last episode of the 1987 series, and therefore the last appearances of the Turtles, April O' Neil, Splinter and Lord Dregg in the 1987 series. Years later in Turtles Forever, the 1987 Turtles, April, Splinter, Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady all appear.
- Items stolen in this episode (or mentioned as being stolen) include: Leonardo's belt buckle, one of Michelangelo's grapplers, and Donatello's bo.
- The key technique taught to the Turtles in this episode is the 'Flying Claw', a move that does ultimately defeat Lord Dregg, but is otherwise impractical, since the opponent's arms are free and there's nothing preventing the captured party from flinging himself backwards...if Leo's application of the move is anything to go by.
- According to Raphael, seven aliens have attacked the Turtles in Lord Dregg's contest, not including Dregg himself, who is number 8. Since Dregg absorbed five of the aliens, presumably the other two failed miserably during their attempts to battle the Turtles.
- Raphael gets the last line in the series...and it's to make a dig at Donatello's "cooking..." which is really just heating popcorn in a microwave.
- This is the first and only time the Technodrome is in an episode without Krang and Shredder, who are lost and destroyed in Dimension X by this point.
- The ruined remains of the Technodrome appear in Dimension X, complete with the ominous theme that plays when it usually appears.
- Raphael mentions King Kong during the battle with Lord Dregg.
- Krang's exo-suit makes one final appearance here, and it's instrumental in the Turtles' attempt to finally get rid of Lord Dregg.
- The use of liquid nitrogen as a weapon hearkens to another classic 80's cartoon, namely the Transformers, where it is employed by the character Ironhide.
External links
- Divide and Conquer at The Official TMNT Web Site (archived)