“The Return of the Technodrome” | |||||||
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode | |||||||
![]() Title screen | |||||||
Season Code: | 02 | ||||||
Episode: | 13 | ||||||
Original airdate | December 31, 1988 | ||||||
Written by | Michael Reaves | ||||||
Producers: | Kara Vallow | ||||||
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1988 Season October 1, 1988 - December 31, 1988 List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes |
Episodes:
1987 Season – 1988 Season – 1989 Season – 1990 Season – 1991 Season – 1992 Season – 1992-1993 Vacation in Europe sideseason – 1993 Season – 1994 Season – 1995 Season – 1996 Season |
Return of the Technodrome is episode number 18 of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series. It is the final episode of season 2 (1988).
Appearing in Return of the Technodrome (episode)[]
Major characters[]
- Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
- Donatello (Barry Gordon)
- Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
- Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
- Splinter (Peter Renaday)
- April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
- Burne Thompson (Pat Fraley)
- Irma (Jennifer Darling)
- Shredder (James Avery)
- Krang (Pat Fraley)
Minor characters[]
Species[]
- Human
- Mutant rat
- Mutant rhinoceros
- Mutant turtle
- Mutant warthog
Objects and vehicles[]
- Cheapskate
- Exploding shuriken
- Flying Rock Soldier Jeep
- Polarity deflector
- Technodrome
- Turtle Blimp
- Turtlecom
- Turtle Blimp remote control
Locations[]
- Turtle Lair
- Channel 6
- Shredder's hideout
- Technodrome
- Dimension X
- Niagara Falls
- Niagra Falls Hydroelectric power station
- Niagara River
- Earth's crust
- Earth's core
Plot[]
At Channel 6, Irma asks her friend April when April will meet the Ninja Turtles. April says they are not the most exciting thing in her life. Burne Thompson tells April it is a slow news day and to go out and make news.
Meanwhile in the sewer system under New York City, Splinter leaves the Turtles for his tri-annual three-day-long fast and meditation. April comes by, hoping for a story; Raphael says it is a big city so something is bound to happen.
Krang declares that "the invasion can wait no longer!" and that he's bringing the Technodrome back to Earth, after which he will be destroying the Turtles himself. He sends Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady to put a polarity deflector at the Niagara Falls hydroelectric power station, which will allow him to transport the entire war machine to Earth.
Shredder takes over the Niagara Falls power plant and shuts off power to New York City, rerouting the energy to the Technodrome instead. Fed from both sides, a portal opens and the Technodrome begins to activate. Krang also sends through a small contingent of Foot Soldiers and Rock Soldiers.
The Turtles conclude that the blackout is probably Shredder's doing, and Donatello manages to tune his Turtlecom in order to listen to Krang and Shredder's transmissions.
Leonardo is determined not to disturb Splinter's meditations. But while Splinter is meditating in the woods, he senses something dangerous approaching.
When the Turtle Blimp approaches Niagara Falls, the glider is shot down by Bebop and Rocksteady, and they nearly go over the falls. When they make it to dry land, Splinter is waiting there for them.
The Technodrome is lifted by antigravity plates towards the portal, even as the Turtles attempt to distract their enemies and stop the river's flow. But it is all in vain, as the Technodrome arrives on Earth once more, and a small army of Foot Solders and Rock Soldiers appear around them. Krang stops them from attacking, however, as he wants to kill the Turtles himself. However, the Technodrome's weapons have been depowered because of the dimensional portal, and the Turtles escape with the use of the blimp.
Shredder reactivates the hydroelectric plant, which recharges the Technodrome. Krang burrows the Technodrome underground, causing an earthquake in New York City. Krang then takes over the TVs in the city, and demands that the inhabitants leave the city within 24 hours, or else Krang will cause a bigger earthquake, destroying the city. Krang plans to make the evacuated city their base of operations and from there they will use the Technodrome's capabilities to conquer the planet.
The Turtles, who had heard Krang's message, discover the Technodrome underground, and break inside using a bomb. While Splinter fights Shredder in their "final confrontation" on a bridge inside the Technodrome, the Turtles fight Bebop, Rocksteady and the Foot Soldiers in the control room (after telling them not to use their weapons as it will damage the circuitry). Donatello rewires part of the Technodrome, which alters the seismic polarities.
As a result, Krang's attempt to trigger another earthquake instead drills the Technodrome deeper underground, until it falls into the Earth's core and sinks in magma. Krang blames Shredder, whom is last seen dangling by his cape at the end of the broken bridge where he fought Splinter. The Turtles are at first afraid that Splinter is trapped in the Technodrome, but their sensei escapes at the last second.
In the New York City sewer system, the Turtles celebrate their victory with pizza and April comments that it was a great story.
See also[]
Quotes[]
Donatello: I hate to say it, but with the Technodrome in Krang's control, we've got our shells to the wall!!
Leonardo: (to Splinter) Master, we must make plans to defeat Krang and Shredder!
Splinter: Unfortunately we can do little until we learn their plan, and by then it might be too late!!
- Shredder: So Hamato Yoshi, It appears it is time for our final confrontation!
- Splinter: Hamato Yoshi is no longer. There is only Splinter
- Shredder: And soon he will be gone as well!!
- Leonardo: Had enough?
- Rocksteady: Me? (growls) You're about to get plasmarised!!
Notes and errors[]
Animation/technical errors[]

The Turtles with Three Toes
- Throughout this episode, Donatello's mask and elbow pads are pink.
- Krang is also colored in a deeper red than his usual pink hue.
- A little later, when Leonardo reaches for his Turtle-Com, he is drawn huskier then usual.
- And a bit later on, when Michelangelo says, "Yeah! Let's show those creepazoids what Turtle power is all about!" both he and Leonardo are drawn chubby.
- At the same scene, they are drawn with three toes.
- When he does this again later in the episode, he speaks with Donatello's voice.
- When Donatello tunes his Turtle-Com and intercepts Shredder's message, his wrist bands are missing. Oddly, this error not only occurs in this scene, but several others later on as well. Early on in the episode, his wrist bands appear and match his skintone.
- While Leonardo explains they can't keep running to Splinter for emergencies driving the Turtle Blimp, the top of his head vanishes for a second.
- Donatello and Michelangelo vanish when the Turtle Glider hits the water in one scene.
- Donatello's belt buckle has an "L" on it as the Turtles dangle from the blimp.
- Also during that scene, Donatello is at the top of the rope as the Turtles grab it. When the entire group lands, Leonardo's the one at the top.
- Because of a possible layering error, Krang is seen in several shots piloting the Technodrome... several feet away from the controls.
- The window on Krang's exo-suit becomes narrow when Krang relates his plans of world domination to Shredder.
- When Splinter tells the Turtles that he chose to go on retreat not that he had to, his right wrist band was uncoloured.
- Krang (in his android body) should be taller than Shredder, and yet appears the same size or even smaller than him in some scenes.
- The boots on Krang's android are flesh colored like his body instead of the usual red.
- Leonardo's mask and bands are colored dark blue in this episode.
- When Rocksteady lunges towards Leonardo in their fight in the Technodrome, he is missing his strap and bandolier and his belly is colored the same as his vest.
- When the Turtles, Splinter and April are knocked to the floor by Krang's earthquake, Leonardo and Raphael's letters on their belts are swapped.
- At the beginning of the final scene, Splinter is eating from a sushi container but the container disappears in the next shot.
- Rocksteady is missing his shoulder strap and his turtle shell is on the wrong hip when he is sleeping on the ground after being hit with Splinter's sleep spice.
- The hand grips on Shredder's gauntlets are missing in the close up shot of him holding the Polarity Deflector after receiving the device from Krang.
- When Rocksteady falls into the control console, the wiring terminal that Donatello is working on is replaced with a plain steel wall which he is seen fumbling his fingers on in a wiring altering position.
- A Rock Soldier can be seen on the floor of the control circuit room after the fight with the Turtles, even though no Rock Soldiers were seen with Bebop and Rocksteady before they separated from Shredder earlier on.
- When Shredder complained to Krang about the power being shut off, the shot of Krang at the controls showed a shot of Shredder at his hideout from the beginning of the episode instead of inside the power station.
- When Shredder stopped Bebop, Rocksteady and the Foot Soldiers when he sensed Splinter's presence, Rocksteady's teeth flashed from white to grey and back when he was in the middle of talking.
- Rocksteady's dagger disappeared and reappeared a couple of times after Shredder sent them to finish off the Turtles after he went off to deal with Splinter.
- Leonardo and Donatello are missing their weapon covers for most of this episode and Michelangelo's are not seen at all. Incidentally all the Turtles' weapon covers would not be seen at all on their belts starting from Season 3 onwards apart from various noted animated errors.
Continuity errors[]
- When April contacts the Turtles (a little while after Splinter leaves), Leonardo and the Turtles stop their hover-boards just short of the sewer entrance. When the scene cuts to Raphael saying, "You had to open your big mouth!" the Turtles are already in the sewer entrance.
- During Leonardo's ambush of Rocksteady, Raphael causes the latter to blast a Rock Soldier and a Foot Soldier at point-blank range, rendering them unconscious in front of the doorway. Yet, once the Turtles regroup in front of that same passage, neither is seen. Where did they go?
Trivia[]
- Throughout the episode, Krang's suit appears to be smirking.
- First appearance of Donatello's "exploding throwing stars".
- The fight between Shredder and Splinter does feature a nice bit of continuity with "Splinter No More", in that Splinter says that he no longer considers himself to be Hamato Yoshi, and now sees himself only as the Turtles' mentor, Splinter.
- The part where Michelangelo tried to attack the Foot and Rock Soldiers with his nunchakus was omitted from all UK broadcastings of this episode due to censorship reasons.
- The part where Donatello uses the exploding shuriken to blast a way into the Technodrome was deleted from the UK video releases of the episode for censorship reasons.
- First time April enters the Technodrome.
- Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello are missing their weapon sheaths throughout most of the episode.
- The way Splinter and Shredder can sense each other's presence is similar to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader in the original Star Wars movie.
Home media releases[]
VHS[]
- Return of the Technodrome (1990)
- Turtle Video 6 (1991)
DVD[]
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Volume 2 (26 April 2005)
- The Complete Classic Series Collection (12 November 2012)