Monsters Among Us!

“Monsters Among Us!”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series) episode
Season Code:	509
Episode:	121
Original airdate	October 11, 2017
Written by	Kevin Burke & Chris Wyatt
Supervising Producer	Patrick Krebs
Producers:	Brandon Auman
Directed by	Sebastian Montes
Voice Direction	Andrea Romano
Supervising Director	Ben Jones & Ciro Nieli
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "The Frankenstein Experiment" "Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady"

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 5 March 19, 2017 - November 12, 2017 List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes

Episodes: Scroll of the Demodragon The Forgotten Swordsman Heart of Evil End Times When Worlds Collide, Part 1 When Worlds Collide, Part 2 Yojimbo Osoroshi no Tabi Kagayakei! Kintaro Lone Rat and Cubs The Wasteland Warrior The Impossible Desert Carmageddon! The Curse of Savanti Romero The Crypt of Dracula The Frankenstein Experiment Monsters Among Us! Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady The Foot Walks Again! The Big Blow-Out! Season 1 – Season 2 - Season 3 - Season 4 - Season 5

"Monsters Among Us!" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth and final season of the 2012 TV series, and is the one-hundred and twenty-first episode overall in the series.

Production-wise, it is the ninth episode of Season 5, as well as the one-hundred and thirteenth episode overall. It first aired on October 11th, 2017 on Nicktoons.

Synopsis

When the Turtles and Renet return to a present-day New York City infested by an undead army of monsters, they realize they may have made the situation even worse.

Characters

Major Characters

• Donatello (Rob Paulsen)
• Frankenstein's Monster (Grant Moninger)
• Leonardo (Seth Green)
• Michelangelo (Greg Cipes)
• Raphael (Sean Astin)
• Renet (Ashley Johnson)
• Savanti Romero (Graham McTavish) (death)
• Vlad Dracula (Chris Sarandon) (death)

Minor Characters

• April O'Neil (Mae Whitman)
• Casey Jones (Josh Peck)
• Hamato Clan Ninja
• Ice Cream Kitty (Kevin Eastman)
• The Pharaoh (Grant Moninger) (death)
• Vulko (Dimitri Diatchenko)
• Esmeralda

Plot

The Turtles - along with their brother Raphael, as their vampirized chained prisoner - and the time mistress Renet plunge in pursuit of Savanti Romero and his monster horde - Dracula, the Frankenstein's creature, Vulko the werewolf and The Pharaoh mummy - through a time tunnel back to the place where her journey began: present-day New York City in the 21st Century, shortly after the onset of the monster plague and just before her ensuing escape back to Ancient Egypt, which can be followed from a nearby roof. Standing on a rooftop, Renet and the Turtles watch as their nearby and oblivious past selves start their beginning of their journey through time to unsuccessfully defeat Savanti. Then, much to their horror, they watch as a horde of monsters, vampires, werewolves, and zombies roam the streets below as all of Manhattan has turned into a dystopian zombie-infested city. After Leo orders Mikey to secure Raph's chain, Raph tries to seduce Mikey to free him through his love for pizza. Donnie criticizes him, but Raph just angrily hisses.

Raphael, still under the thrall of Dracula, continues to intimidate, taunt, threaten, and demoralize the group, gloating over his victory and their downfall. After laughing maniacally, he hisses and screeches, summoning reinforcements from the ranks of monsters below them (such as bats and werewolves). Forced by the growing power to flee, the Turtles and Renet go down to the street as fast as they can and flee back into the sewers, using all their skills. There, they begin to desperately search for ideas on how to defeat Savanti's monsters and undo the monster plague; but unfortunately Raphael manages to hypnotize Mikey and make him take off his shackles. Raphael immediately sneaks into Donatello's lab and grabs the Time Scepter which should just be recharged.

Meanwhile, at his new headquarters, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Savanti Romero fears that Renet and the Turtles may still throw a wrench into the gears of his plan to transform all mankind into monsters like himself. To track them down, Dracula calls his vampire slaves, April and Casey, and using their information, Savanti sends them, Frankenstein's creature and a monster army to the hideout of the Turtles, just after Raphael was able to break free after hypnotizing Mikey. During the ensuing battle, the Turtles' lair is trashed, and Donatello is bitten by April in the chaos of the brawl; this and the surprise element forces the Turtles and Renet to escape again. They entrench themselves in the sub-hall operating room of a derelict underground hospital. Once there, they barricade the door (as vampires hate iron) and frantically scour the medicine cabinets in search of a vampire antidote to stop the vampire bite infection while Donnie screams in pain as the vampire venom spreads through his bloodstream. However it's too late, and the vampire venom completely takes possession of Donatello and turns him into a neo-vampire as well. Donnie (who now an evil, bloodthirsty vampire) angrily hisses and viciously attacks his brothers and Renet. Now only three of them, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Renet are forced flee back to the surface. As the monsters infiltrate the hospital, Donnie turns and looks fondly at them with an evil grin.

But in the meantime there are tensions between the top monsters Savanti and Dracula, who Savanti's plans did not match his right from the beginning, is given the Time Scepter by Raphael, but can not activate the artifact himself to the mockery of Savanti. This goes against what Savanti had planned, causing tensions to flare. Now that the vampire lord has shown his true colors, Savanti sends the Mummy on Dracula, but he destroys it with his own powers with only one stroke. Now that they are in a stalemate, the two are forced to continue working together against their common enemy, catching the three fugitives as they emerge from the sewer system in Chinatown. Leo, Mikey and Renet are surrounded by Savanti's monster tribe who gang up on them. But Michelangelo makes one last attempt to draw Frankenstein back to their side; a desperate move that happily succeeds, with Frankenstein's strength as support, the tide is now beginning to turn in favor of the protagonists.

Savanti and Dracula decide to use the Time Scepter together against their opponents; Michelangelo snatches the rod from them, but doing so accidentally damages the scepter, triggering a time-travel effect that puts all the main participants in the Cretaceous period after a few random stops. There, Dracula attacks the Turtles, while Savanti hastily tries to repair the Scepter; but Michelangelo drives Donatello's staff with the magical seal of protection through the heart of Dracula and destroys the vampire, which also cures (yet painfully) Raphael and Donatello from their vampirism. Savanti is about to use the Time Scepter against them, but is knocked down by Renet, who snatches the Scepter and the emergency time module and opens a time gate back to the present, while Savanti remains stranded in prehistoric times, and is promptly chosen as a meal by a ferocious Tyrannosaurus.

With the destruction of Dracula and the recapture of the Scepter, the curse is taken from the New Yorkers, and all the victims (including Casey and April) are restored to their original state. After the friends have enjoyed a moment of victory, Renet decides to return Vulko back to the past of Transylvania and to his daughter, while Frank is to have a new home in the far more tolerant future. With a kiss on the cheek for Michelangelo, promising to revisit the Turtles once again in the near future, Renet says goodbye to her Turtle friends, who decide to celebrate their victory by resuming their Hallowe'en tour.

Trivia

• The word "Zounderkite", which Dracula uses in English in reference to Savanti Romero, is an outdated form used for the term "idiot" or "klutz", which supposedly dates back to Victorian times.

In Other Media

• TMNT: Monster Mayhem! (July 2017), an illustrated children's book based on the story arc of the 2012 TV series.

Gallery

• Monsters Among Us!/Gallery