| “Peking Turtle” | |||||||
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| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 Cartoon) episode | |||||||
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| Season Code: | 4 | ||||||
| Episode: | 4 | ||||||
| Original airdate | September 13, 1990 | ||||||
| Written by | Antonio Ortiz Carmela Ortiz | ||||||
| Supervising Producer | Fred Wolf | ||||||
| Producers: | Michael Algar | ||||||
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Peking Turtle is a season 4 episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series).
Synopsis
After playing a ball game inside the lair, the Turtles tune in to April's news broadcast about a museum exhibit: a marble army of life-size warriors, created to protect the world's largest pearl in the hands of a jade dragon.
In Dimension X, Krang has also seen the broadcast and reveals that the statues are carved from rare, ionically-charged marble. If he can activate them, then he'll have an army of unstoppable stone warriors at his command. Also, the pearl could be used to create a force field beam that could help them loose the Technodrome from where it's imprisoned.
Shredder brings the army's leader, General Chang, to life and sends him into the sewers with Rocksteady and Bebop. They stumble across the Turtles finishing a basketball game with Splinter (which Splinter has been effortlessly winning), and the Turtles are quickly outmatched by the unstoppable statue. They manage to lure him over a ledge, shattering him.
Meanwhile, Shredder activates all the statues, and marches them from the museum.
Analyzing a bit of Chang's broken sword, Donatello is able to figure out what Krang and Shredder are up to. Just then, April tips them off that the marble warriors are marching through the city, which Burne Thompson is eager for her to report on.
The Turtles try to leave the sewers, but find the marble warriors placed at every exit. When they do eventually escape, they find themselves cornered by Rocksteady, Bebop and four marble warriors, whom they are able to defeat by using their wits.
As Shredder prepares the pearl for use by Krang, the statues are sent out to kidnap April as a hostage, and the Turtles are unable to rescue her. Leonardo has the clever idea to use the Turtle Blimp to rise above their enemies, and allowing them to get into the museum relatively unmolested.
As April's van is carried in, the Turtles descend from the ceiling, and Donatello manages to dislodge the pearl from Shredder's device. The Turtles bounce the hot pearl like a basketball until the marble warriors are called in, forcing them into a retreat. Leonardo uses the pearl like a bowling ball to knock down Rocksteady, Bebop and the soldiers. And as Shredder prepares to attack again, Donatello smashes the controller, returning the statues to their dormant state. Shredder, Rocksteady and Bebop escape through the portal.
Back in the lair, the Turtles are horrified when they see what appears to be the shadow of a stone warrior, but it turns out to be April with a tiny commemorative statue.
Characters
- Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
- Donatello (Barry Gordon)
- Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
- Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
- Splinter (Peter Renaday)
- April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
- Burne Thompson (Pat Fraley)
- Vernon Fenwick (Peter Renaday)
- Shredder (James Avery)
- Krang (Pat Fraley)
- Bebop (Barry Gordon)
- Rocksteady (Cam Clarke)
Vehicles
Home media releases
VHS
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Big Blow Out
DVD
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 4
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection
Notes
Errors
- The strapping on Donatello's bo was missing and Raphael's belt was coloured red when Leonardo used the pearl to bowl over the marble warriors.
- In the shot of the turtles fighting the marble army, after Shredder set up the pearl, the animation for the turtles Leo was striking was really wonky. The way the stone soldiers were drawn made it look like either they were cardboard cutouts or they were too far away from Leonardo to hit yet he was striking them anyway.
Trivia
- General Chang and his marble army are based off the Chinese Terracotta Army of Xi'an.
- Leonardo broke the fourth wall by saying "and you thought all the other Turtles made witty remarks".