Heroes in a Half-Shell!, Part 3

The adaptation of the rest of the fourth and the fifth episodes of the original TV series.

Heroes in a Half-Shell, Part 3

Script and Pencils: Michael Dooney
Inks: Dave Garcia
Lettering: Steve Lavigne
Coloring: Barry Grossman

Adapted by the scripts by: David Wise and Patti Howeth

• Major Characters: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, The Shredder/Oroku Saki, Splinter/Hamato Yoshi, Bebop, Rocksteady, April O'Neil, Krang, Zak, Dask, Kala, General Traag, Morph, Scrag (cameo)
• Cover Date: December, 1988

Synopsis

Chapter Four cont.

The Shredder and Krang meet up with two of Krang's loyal Rock Soldiers, General Traag and Morph. Krang and the Rock Soldiers tell Shredder about the Neutrinos and how they should be stopped, saying that they hate war and encourage the other inhabitants of Dimension X to have fun.

The Turtles, meanwhile, have some difficulty with the Neutrinos, but manage to convince the teen trio that they are on the same side. After getting exposure to some of Earth's cultures and pastimes, the Neutrinos agree to help the Turtles take on Shredder and Krang, while General Traag leaves a weather device to leave New York in chaos.

The Turtles and the Neutrinos have a battle with Krang and his Rock Soldiers as they try to open another portal to Dimension X and summon more warriors. Instead, Donatello uses the portal to send Krang's two Rock Soldiers back to Dimension X and the Neutrinos go as well saying they have to help their people fight back against Krang's forces. The Turtles make a quick retreat to destroy the weather bomb Traag activated earlier.

The Shredder finally gives in to Krang's demands and agrees to build him a new android body.

Chapter Five

The Shredder appears to the Turtles on their television set informing them that he has a retromutagen ray, a device that can undo mutations. He demonstrates the ray's effects by de-mutating the punk Scrag, who had been mutated into a bat. Shredder proceeds to challenge the Turtles to fight him for it.

The Turtles are eager to get the retromutagen ray, knowing that they can use it to change Splinter back to his human form of Hamato Yoshi. Splinter, however, insists that he must get it himself, pointing out that while the ray would make him human again, it would turn the Turtles back into ordinary turtles. April O'Neil uses the Turtle Van to get back to the Channel 6 building while the Turtles take a car left behind by the Neutrinos. After the car breaks down, Donatello goes off to Baxter Stockman's workshop to make a new vehicle for the Turtles.

To keep the Turtles from getting to him, Shredder sends Bebop and Rocksteady after them. After fighting the two mutant punks and trapping them in concrete, the Turtles go to the Technodrome.

Krang points out the dire of the situation to Shredder, who reveals Krang's finished android body and goes on to install a molecular amplification unit at Krang's request and then put Krang into his new body.

As Krang awakens in his new body, he signals General Traag to ready his army and help him conquer Earth. The Turtles find him, but Krang then starts to use his new body to grow to a colossal size. Splinter meanwhile finds the retromutagen ray, only to find himself baited into a trap by Shredder. He proceeds to fight him.

The Turtles try to fight the now gigantic Krang, but are no match for him. Help arrives when Donatello comes back with the Turtle Blimp, and April also catches what's happening and starts recording it on her camera.

Donatello destroys the circuit enabling Krang to change his size, causing Krang to shrink back to his normal size. Krang calls Shredder for help, and Shredder promptly stuns Splinter and rushes to Krang's aid.

The Shredder tries to use the retromutagen ray to de-mutate the Turtles, but Splinter destroys it. Shredder and Krang retreat back to the Technodrome, where they summon General Traag and the Rock Soldiers. Donatello tampers with the portal to send the stone army back to Dimension X along with the Technodrome.

April reports the Turtles' victory on Channel 6 and the Turtles enjoy their victory, but Splinter warns them that Shredder and Krang may return.

Differences between episodes and comic

Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X

• General Traag's unnamed partner does not look anything like the way he appears in the episode and instead looks completely identical to Traag. He also has less dialogue, General Tragg saying most of his lines.
• When listing the rebellious traits of the Neutrinos, the Rock Soldiers do not mention their refusal to join armies.
• The scene with the Clown Time Food and Games Emporium employees commenting on how weird the Turtles and the Neutrinos are is cut.
• Michelangelo's lines spoken to the female Neutrino Kala are spoken by Donatello instead.
• We do not see Shredder giving the Rock Soldiers their vehicle, making it confusing as to how they suddenly have it.
• General Traag's unnamed partner does not say that they do not need to know the weather. In effect, neither does Traag call him an idiot for misunderstanding the weather machine's purpose.
• General Traag does not try to drive a normal car, nor does he have trouble with the controls due to mistaking it for a Dimension X craft.
• The Turtles defeat the Rock Soldiers and send them back to Dimension X by using their momentum rather than tripping them with a conveniently-placed barrel of silicon lubricant.

Shredder & Splintered

• Scrag is the only mutated punk aside from Bebop and Rocksteady seen, when a brief scene in the episode showed all the mutated punks, including Scrag despite his onscreen de-mutation, in a cage.
• Burne Thompson is absent from the adaptation. As a result, April is not fired and she doesn't threaten Burne into getting her job back. Vernon Fenwick is also absent in the adaptation.
• Bebop and Rocksteady's threats during their battle with the Turtles are either toned down or omitted entirely(e.g., Rocksteady simply says "Take this" instead of "Eat blazing electric death" and Bebop does not threaten to strangle Splinter).
• Rocksteady and Bebop do not have trash dumped on them before they are trapped in cement.
• Rocksteady is the one who demands the Turtles to come back after he and Bebop are trapped in cement, when it was Bebop who did so in the original episode.
• Krang's android body does not show any signs of being able to change its arms into weapons.
• The scene where the cleaning lady bothers Donatello and mistakes him for Baxter Stockman is cut.
• Donatello destroys Krang's growing circuit immediately after figuring out that it's enabling him to change size, when the episode had Leonardo try to use his katanas on it first.
• When leaving his battle with Splinter to help Krang, Shredder stuns Splinter instead of trapping him in a cage.
• Krang does not turn his arms into wings.
• Unfortunately, Shredder's classic "Tonight I dine on turtle soup" line is omitted.
• Shredder does not whine like a child when expressing his disdain for taking over Dimension X, nor does he remove his mask.
• April O'Neil does not interview any bystanders during her news report in the ending.

Notes

• The story is continued from Heroes in a Half-Shell, Part 1 and Heroes in a Half-Shell, Part 2.
• A read-along adaptation of the entire mini-series was released as Heroes in a Half-Shell!: The Complete Adventure!
• General Traag's partner is very different in the comic adaptation of "Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X". In the original episode, he was a gray Rock Soldier with a pointy nose. In the comic adaptation, he was completely identical to General Traag. While unnamed in both appearances, the instruction manual to the NES port of the arcade game(where he was a boss) identified him as Granitor, while the audio tape version of the comic identified him as Morph.
• The Neutrinos Dask and Zak's hair and clothing are colored the same.