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Planet of the Turtleoids, Part 1
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series) episode
Planet Of The Turtleoids
Season Code: 05
Episode: 21
Original airdate August 31, 1991
Written by David Wise
Producers:
Episode chronology
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"Michelangelo, the Sacred Turtle" "Planet of the Turtleoids, Part 2"
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1991 Season
1991
List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes
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Episodes:

  1. "The Turtles and the Hare"
  2. "Once Upon a Time Machine"
  3. "My Brother, the Bad Guy"
  4. "Michelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko"
  5. "Enter: Mutagen Man"
  6. "Donatello's Badd Time"
  7. "Michelangelo Meets Bugman Again"
  8. "Muckman Messes Up"
  9. "Napoleon Bonafrog: Colossus of the Swamps"
  10. "Raphael Versus the Volcano"
  11. "Landlord of the Flies"
  12. "Donatello's Duplicate"
  13. "The Ice Creature Cometh"
  14. "Leonardo Cuts Loose"
  15. "Pirate Radio"
  16. "Raphael, Turtle of a Thousand Faces"
  17. "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle"
  18. "Zach and the Alien Invaders"
  19. "Welcome Back, Polarisoids"
  20. "Michelangelo, the Sacred Turtle"
  21. "Planet of the Turtleoids, Part 1"
  22. "Planet of the Turtleoids, Part 2"

1987 Season1988 Season1989 Season1990 Season1991 Season1992 Season1992-1993 Vacation in Europe sideseason - 1993 Season1994 Season1995 Season1996 Season

Planet of the Turtleoids, Part 1 is a season 5 episode of the 1987 TV series.

Appearing in Planet of the Turtleoids, Part 1[]

Major characters[]

Minor characters[]

Species[]

Objects and vehicles[]

Locations[]

Plot[]

Our story opens with our heroes prowling the street in fedoras and trenchcoats searching for an all-night pizzeria when they come across a sumo wrestler, named Tattoo, breaking into a pet shop and saying something about looking "for home." But when the Ninja Turtles try to subdue the gigantic wrestler, he electrocutes himself and transforms into a hamster and quickly walks into a cage with other hamsters.

Donatello deduces that this could be the work of Shredder and Krang... that the deadly duo are once again messing around with the Mutagen.

Donatello reflects on the incident at the pet shop and wonders if maybe they would all be better off if they were still just ordinary turtles

Meanwhile, Shredder and Krang are indeed fooling around with the Mutagen, as they prepare to create more Mutants so that they can break into a museum and steal a giant ruby. The villains hope that they can use the gem to refocus Krang's new heat ray and finally free the Technodrome.

Back at the lair, the effects of being shunned by human society at large have gotten to Donatello, who wonders if there is a place where the Turtles can be accepted for who they are.

Later, that same night, at the City Wild Animal Park, Shredder orders Bebop and Rocksteady to abduct one lion and one gorilla to prepare for mutation.

Meanwhile, while drowning his sorrows in a root beer float and lamenting his status at Channel 6 News, vis a vis April, Vernon encounters a humanoid Turtle named Kerma, wearing a trenchcoat and fedora, and runs screaming into the night.

Nonplused, Kerma arrives at the City Wild Animal Park and sets free Shredder's lion and gorilla before they have been mutated and, thanks to Bebop and Rocksteady's bumbling, a bull and a mole are mutated instead. Shredder decides that these two new mutants will have to do and gives them their outfits.

Back at Channel 6, Vernon tells April about his encounter with what he believes to be one of the Turtles -- only the Turtle he met was three feet tall. April is sure that Vernon did not meet one of the Turtles and contacts them.

At the Zoo he new mutants name themselves Groundchuck and Dirtbag. Shredder orders them to steal the giant ruby from the museum but the two would rather just rip the zoo apart.

The Turtles meet April, Irma and Vernon at the news station where Michelangelo explains that whoever Vernon did see it was not one of them. But the Raphael is concerned that someone is "ripping off their style" and the Turtles set out to investigate.

As soon as the Turtles leave the Channel 6 News Building, not only do they encounter Groundchuck and Dirtbag, who are itching for a fight, but Kerma as well, who captures all six of them and takes them back to his space ship -- which is designed to look not unlike the Chrysler Building. April arrives down on the street with her mini-cam, but the Chrysler Building/Rocket Ship has blasted into space.

On the flight to his home planet, Kerma explains that he and his fellow Turtleoids have a "problem" and he was seeking typical Earth people for advice. Unfortunately, he had no idea that Groundchuck and Dirtbag are not humans - as for the Turtles, he thought that they had honest faces.

Meanwhile, Bebop and Rocksteady kidnap April, along with her Turtlecom, and bring her back to Shredder and Krang at the City Wild Animal Park. Rocksteady informs Shredder that the Turtles have not responded to the TurtleCom signal and Bebop suggests that maybe the Turtles are indeed gone.

Meanwhile, the Turtles, along with Groundchuck and Dirtbag, arrive on the planet Shell-Ri-La. Donatello is ecstatic! This is exactly what he was dreaming about in the first act -- a world where Turtles can live free!

Back at the Technodrome, Shredder, convinced that the Turtles are history and acknowledging defeat in the giant ruby caper, declares that he will build a super intelligent and utterly invincible robot to pull off his latest scheme.

On Shell-ri-la the Turtles see one of the Turtleoid's alchemy machines -- you know the ones that turn lead into gold. And, as Kerma explains to the TMNT, the reflection of the gold light provides the Turtleoids with their energy just like food. But before the Turtles can enjoy anymore of their vacation, Groundchuck and Dirtbag escape.

Meanwhile, April escapes and Shredder has completed work on his new robot, known as Chrome Dome who quickly captures April.

As Kerma takes the Turtles to the high council chambers of Shell-Ri-La, they soon are approached by the Turtleoid's "small problem" a large two headed dragon.

See also[]

Notes and errors[]

  • First appearances of Groundchuck, Dirtbag, Kerma and Chrome Dome.
  • This episode along with "Planet of the Turtleoids, Part 2" originally aired as an hour long prime time special on August 31, 1991 and when rerun for Saturday mornings was split into two half hour episodes
  • Vernon doesn't pay for his root beer float upon receiving it, and he isn't told he can have it on the house.
  • Shredder mentions Chrome Dome's body is made entirely of Adamantium, which is a metal alloy from Marvel Comics.
  • When trying to get ideas for Mutants, Rocksteady suggests a salamander; despite one already being created by way of Mona Lisa (even if she had no interaction with Shredder's group having been mutated when escaping Captain Filch).
  • When Shredder and Krang exit the Transport Module at the monkey house, the pink parts of the vehicle are colored white instead of pink, and its door opens downward like a ramp instead of upwards.
  • The patterns on the back of the Turtles' shells are drawn differently after they leave the pet shop.
  • When Rocksteady uses April's Turtlecom at the zoo, the same shot of the device from earlier on in the street is shown, as it shows a shot of a pavement/sidewalk instead of a tiled floor.
  • Bebop and Rocksteady refer to the zoo as the zoo they came from, even though the two were humans before they mutated. It should be noted, though, that in the Archie's TMNT comics, Bebop and Rocksteady showed signs of remembering the lives of their animal sides.
  • The Arctic landscape surrounding the Technodrome is colored brown like rock in this episode, and resembles the landscape of the Dimension X asteroid where the Technodrome used to be stuck, albeit with a different color scheme.

Home media releases[]

VHS[]

DVD[]

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