| “Donnie Hangs Tough” | |||||||
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| Tale of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode | |||||||
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| Season Code: | 001 | ||||||
| Episode: | 4 | ||||||
| Original airdate | August 9, 2024 (Paramount+) | ||||||
| Written by | Alex Hanson | ||||||
| Producers: | Louis J. Cuck | ||||||
| Seth Rogen Evan Goldberg James Weaver Josh Fagen | |||||||
| Alan Wan Christopher Yost | |||||||
| Voice Direction | William Gleason | ||||||
| Supervising Director | Colin Heck | ||||||
| Storyboard Artist: | Eleisiya Arocha Gabriela Camarillo Lyndsay Simpson Tim Yan | ||||||
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"Donnie Hangs Tough" is the fourth episode of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It aired on August 9th, 2024.
Synopsis[]
It's a battle of the wits between Donnie and Bishop as he races through NYC's subway system to stop her evil Mechazoids. But how do you beat an AI that counters your every move?
Appearing in Donnie Hangs Tough[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
- Bishop (Alanna Ubach)
- Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu)
- Michelangelo (Shamon Brown, Jr.)
- Raphael (Brady Noon)
- Splinter (Fred Tatasciore) (flashback only)
- Subway police (debut)
- Michaels (Amad Jackson) (debut)
- Slater (Robbie Daymond) (debut)
- Train conductor (Robbie Daymond) (debut)
Species[]
- Human
- Mutant rat (flashback only)
- Mutant turtle
- Robot
Objects and vehicles[]
Locations[]
Episode[]
Voice-over introduction[]
Raphael: Previously on the "Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", some crazy lady came at us with these robots called Mechazoids. You should've seen Donnie. He got so excited. Leo walked us into a trap, stuff blew up, blah, blah, blah. I got kidnapped by a bunch of rejects called the Purple Dragons. Yeah, you can't make that stuff up. A Mechazoid showed up in the middle of it, and I -- I don't know, man, I'd never done anything like this without my family by my side. But me and the Dragons teamed up and stomped the thing. Pretty cool if I'm being honest. Then I stole their leader's bike and went to save my brothers because I'm awesome.
Plot[]
A quick flashback of the previous episode is narrated by Raphael. Then another flashback shows the Turtles as they are about to leave the Lair. Each Turtle assures Splinter that they can handle anything, as long as they're together.
Donatello races across rooftops, with Mechazoid 04 chasing him. Donnie tries to call April O'Neil, but gets her voice mail, which says to text. He tries to send a text, but the constant pursuit by the Mechazoid interrupts him. Just as Donnie begins typing in the message, he drops the phone onto a sidewalk grate. He jumps down to retrieve it, but ends up pushing it slightly and it falls out of reach. Donatello turns and sees the elevator entrance to the subway. He is pushing the button in order to change the light so that he can cross the street while nearby pedestrians call attention to him and ask for autographs. When the Mechazoid emerges, the pedestrians change their minds about the autographs. Donnie quickly crosses the street to the elevator and pushes the button to close the door. Just as it's sliding closed, the Mechazoid reaches through and grabs Donnie's ankle. Donnie keeps pushes the button and the door finally close on the Mechazoid's arm. As the elevator descends, the Mechazoid's arm is ripped off. Donnie falls backwards, his head hitting the floor of the elevator hard. Near the elevator, two Subway police officers are enjoying donuts when the elevator door opens. Donnie stumbles out, holding the Mechazoid's arm, and says he has a crazy story to tell them, but he thinks he's going to pass out now, which he does.
At the subway police station, a handcuffed Donnie tries to explain to the officers the events that had transpired (computerized game and Final Fantasy style), but they're more focused on taking selfies with him to take him seriously. He tries to explain that he has to find his brothers because he has to save them. They continue to ignore his predicament, so Donnie asks why he's handcuffed. He says he can't be under arrest because that goes on his permanent record. They tell him he's not under arrest per se, they just need to question him - for their book. They hold up a spiral notebook bearing the title "Subway Cops - Mutant Edition" by Michaels and Slater. They hope it'll become a movie adaptation so the officers can retire and open a cop themed restaurant. Donnie tries to remind the officers of the situation he is in and that they are all in danger. Taking the Mechazoid's arm down from a file cabinet, the officers say it looks like some fancy backscratcher to them.
Suddenly, the arm comes to life just before the ceiling crashes in. As the Mechazoid rises up before them, Donnie says it's what he's been trying to tell them the whole time. One of the officers deploys his taser, shocking the robot. While the officers are distracted, Donnie uses his foot to grab the keys and unlocks the handcuffs. Donnie then inches past the Mechazoid and grabs the officer's laptop, promising to bring it back. He's about to escape when he sees the Mechazoid break the taser and grab the officer. Donnie throws a figurine at the Mechazoid's head, gaining its attention. He yells that he's the mutant and it wants him. The Mechazoid drops the officer and turns to chase Donnie, who says he's already regretting that one.
Donnie races to the escalator and proceeds to fall down along the handholds, with the Mechazoid in hot pursuit. As he rounds a corner, Donnie runs into a woman and causes her to spill her coffee. She then begins taking pictures of him, ignoring the robot that's chasing him. The Mechazoid bashes into walls and support posts in its pursuit, and then stomps on a musician's tip can as it runs past a pair of subway performers. They start to say something, but a look from the Mechazoid makes them go back to playing. Donnie ducks behind a support post and the Mechazoid runs by without seeing him. As Donnie takes off in the opposite direction, the security camera at the top of the post comes on a tracks Donatello's movements.
Bishop, seated before a bank of viewing screens, informs Mechazoid 04 that its target is headed north and tells it to move to intercept. The robot changes direction and chases Donnie, who snatches a subway ticket out of a man's hand. He slides the ticket through the reader and enters the turnstile. Donnie makes it through just as the Mechazoid hits the turnstile. The young Turtle turns to see the Mechazoid, now stuck, power down. Donnie makes a joke about that's what it gets for not buying a ticket. He then notices the antennae on the robot's head begin to blink red and realizes that it's receiving a signal. All around him, the digital subway screens change to an image of Bishop's head, and then a panel on the Mechazoid's chest slides open. Bishop appears on the chest screen and asks Donnie what he thinks he's doing.
Bishop then asks how long he thinks he can evade her Mechazoids, because they are stronger than him, faster, smarter. Donnie snaps back that if they're so smart, how did he defeat it? She tells him that he didn't, and the Mechazoid burns away the turnstile to continue chasing Donnie. He races through another set of waist high turnstiles and the robot busts through, grabbing the broken turnstile arm as it runs. As Donnie runs, Bishop informs him that the Mechazoids are self-repairing and that they are built to learn and adapt. Donnie makes it down to the subway platform, while Bishop continues to tell him her plans to find all mutants. A train arrives and the doors open. Donnie sees the Mechazoid coming down the stairs and he runs to the train, telling Bishop to go find Rocksteady and Bebop. The train doors close and it begins moving, but the Mechazoid races alongside, but then runs into the tunnel wall.
Donnie turns to see passengers looking at him. They all start talking at once and one woman wants Donnie to sign her baby. He tries to explain this is not a good time, but at that moment, the Mechazoid, now using the turnstile as an arm, breaks open the car door. The passengers run towards the front of the train, and Bishop tells Donnie that he's the true danger here. He snaps that she's the one with the assassin bots hacking into everything, which is kinda of cool. He guesses she must have some insane processing power and gets her talking about her tech, until she realizes Donnie is trying to distract her. The Mechazoid returns to attacking Donnie, who runs to the end of the car and locks the door behind him. Bishop says the Mechazoid is connected to her systems and she can find him anywhere he goes. Donnie glances at the Mechazoid's antennae, and the "all connected" gives him an idea. He pulls the lever that disconnects the train coupling, causing the Mechazoid's car to slow as the front of the train continues on.
The Mechazoid forces the door open and leaps out of the train to begin running along the track. It receives a shock from the third rail, but keeps going. Donnie hugs his laptop to his chest and moves forward in the train, trying to find a signal. Meanwhile, the Mechazoid manages to latch onto the back of the train and is dragged along the tracks, losing parts of its body. In answer to his question, a passenger tells Donnie to try the front of the train if he wants a signal. Donnie makes it to the driver's compartment and the elderly driver calls him "Missy" as he says no one is allowed there. The driver informs him that he's been driving the train for the last 52 years. Donnie wants to know if he can see.
At the back of the train car, passengers gather around the opening after hearing strange noises. When the Mechazoid pulls itself onto the train, all of the passengers run screaming. Donnie opens the laptop and as he works, explains to the driver about Bishop and the robot, but then notices the driver has fallen asleep. He tries waking the man, and then goes back to the laptop, finding that the signal keeps cutting out. Above him is a security camera and Bishop asks what he's doing and if he's actually writing code. Donnie says maybe and then disables the camera. As Donnie continues searching for a good signal, Bishop talks to him from a monitor on the train's controls. She guesses that he's trying to upload a new code into the Mechazoids so that he can take control. As she is about to tell him it won't work, her cell phone starts to ring and on the screen it says "Underwood".
While Bishop is distracted by the call and trying to get her assistant robot to decline it, Donnie continues to work. He surprises Bishop by hacking into her network admin setting and tells her never to get into a battle of the wits with a mutated turtle. A jolt throws the driver forward, but Donnie catches his head with a foot and is thanked. Then the driver tries to stop the train at their next designated stop, but is unable to apply the brakes. The train rushes past the stop and Donnie hopes the driver skipped the stop on purpose. However, the driver doesn't know what's happening, so Donnie asks if this is Bishop's doing. She is going to crash the train.
The Mechazoid, hopping on one foot, makes its way through the train car and past frightened passengers. Donnie tries to tell Bishop that there are people aboard, but she considers them a small sacrifice for the good of the species. She says that mutants are too dangerous to let even one of them survive. He tells her that's messed up and that even humans have mutations. If her Mechazoids start searching for anything with mutations, they'll start targeting humans too. Everything mutates eventually. Bishop argues that her Mechazoids are perfect and would never hurt what they were made to protect. Donnie says that's exactly what she's doing right now with the train. Just then, the Mechazoid crashes through into the car just behind the driver's compartment.
Seated at her desk, Bishop monitors the ongoing fights between her Mechazoids and the other Turtles. Meanwhile, the train barrels on and Donnie ducks down behind the driver compartment door, hoping the advancing Mechazoid doesn't see him. Donnie checks his computer screen, which is only a quarter of the way through a download, and he complains about the signal. He asks the driver if there's an antennae on the train somewhere and the man says he thinks they put some rabbit ears somewhere on the topside. When the Mechazoid bursts through the door, the driver tells him no one is allowed in there. Then the Mechazoid hears something on top of the train and uses its infrared scanner to spot Donnie on the roof. Donnie is almost to the end of the car when the Mechazoid begins punching holes in the roof to get at him. Though Donnie avoids most of the blows, one hits his shell and fortuitously flips him over atop the next car, where the antennae is located.
The Mechazoid bursts into the next car and starts slicing through the roof all around Donnie, causing the Turtle to drop into the car. As the train speeds through the tunnels, Donnie tells the other passengers that the Mechazoid is trying to crash the train. This makes the passengers begin throwing things at the robot, which gives Donnie time to climb back up on the roof. He opens the laptop and plugs it directly into the antennae, giving him an excellent signal. With the download now at 72%, the robot reaches up, snags Donnie's ankle, and throws him back down into the car. It grabs him and shoves him through a window, pressing his shell against the wall of the tunnel, which grinds away at his carapace. Donnie looks at the passengers, who are frozen. Realizing the end of the tracks are approaching, Donnie's inner voice says that sometimes, you just have to go beast mode (something he heard from Raphael.
Gripping the sides of the train, Donnie shouts, headbutts the robot, and reenters the car. He picks up a loose grab bar and uses it like a bō as he fights the Mechazoid. As the Mechazoid analyzes Donnie's moves, it notices the laptop sitting on the roof and detects the threat. The Mechazoid grabs Donnie and tosses him back before climbing up towards the laptop. Before it can destroy the laptop, Donnie catches hold of the robot's legs and pulls it back. The Mechazoid pulls against Donnie's hold while Bishop urges the robot on. Just before its hand can reach the laptop, the download completes and all of the Mechazoid's systems shut down. Bishop begins to rant that it isn't possible, but her image is cut off and replaced by "reset complete".
The train, however, continues on course and Donnie rushes to the driver's compartment. The driver is frantically trying to stop the train, though Donnie is sure the brakes should now be working. As the passengers huddle together, the train bypasses another stop and then begins crashing through barriers. Suddenly the monitor lets the driver know the brakes have finally activated. They are still quickly approaching a dead end. Both Donnie and the driver close their eyes, but the train stops right at the final barrier. Everyone exits the subway car and Donnie drags the Mechazoid out with him. He sits on a bench and says that beast mode does work sometimes, thanking his absent brother.
He looks up when he hears voices and sees the two subway officers approaching. They have the Mechazoid's leg. Donnie is happy to see them and says that they can track down Bishop to wherever she's sending her signal from. They can find her and save his brothers. Neither of the officers is willing to help, saying they have enough material for their book, which they have to be alive to write. Then they ask if they can keep the leg, but a frustrated Donnie snatches it away from them. As the officers leave, they wish him good luck and tell him to call his mutant buddies, because it sounds like he could use some backup. Donnie looks at the Mechazoid and gets an idea. He takes wires and tools from his fanny pack, saying that help is on the way. As he works, he uses the yellow strip of cloth that had become wrapped around the Mechazoid's leg as a bandana for his newest creation.
See also[]
- Donnie Hangs Tough/Animations
- Donnie Hangs Tough/Gallery
- Donnie Hangs Tough/Transcript
Quotes[]
Bishop: Mutants are too dangerous to let even one of you survive. |
Notes and errors[]
- At least two of the passengers on the train who are shown fighting the Mechazoid are also shown on the platform waiting for that same train when it whizzes past their stop.