| “Scroll of the Demodragon” | |||||||
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| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series) episode | |||||||
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| Season Code: | 501 | ||||||
| Episode: | 105 | ||||||
| Original airdate | March 19, 2017 | ||||||
| Written by | Randolph Heard | ||||||
| Supervising Producer | Patrick Krebs | ||||||
| Producers: | |||||||
| Directed by | Sebastian Montes | ||||||
| Voice Direction | Andrea Romano | ||||||
| Supervising Director | Ben Jones & Ciro Nieli | ||||||
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"Scroll of the Demodragon" is the first episode of the fifth and final season of the 2012 TV series, and is the one-hundred and fifth episode overall in the series. It first aired on March 19th, 2017.
Synopsis[]
The Turtles believe they have defeated their old enemies, but they soon discover a new evil is rising.
Characters[]
Major characters[]
- April O'Neil (Mae Whitman)
- Casey Jones (Josh Peck)
- Donatello (Rob Paulsen)
- Foot Cultists (debut)
- Kavaxas (Mark Hamill) (debut)
- Leonardo (Seth Green)
- Michelangelo (Greg Cipes)
- Raphael (Sean Astin)
- Tiger Claw (Eric Bauza)
Minor characters[]
- Space Heroes: The Next Generation (debut)
- Captain Ryan (Brian Bloom)
- Crankshaw Jr. (Scott Menville) (debut)
- Nefrini #1 (Scott Menville) (debut)
- Splinter (spirit) (Hoon Lee)
Plot[]
The episode starts Season 5 of Tales of the TMNT series. After the death of Splinter and Super Shredder, the Ninja Turtles decide to now adjust on living their own lives as the new members of Hamato Clan, as the Turtles have seven adventure arcs. Let's start first with Kavaxas arc.
The episode starts with Raphael and Casey chasing a mysterious hooded creature through the sewers. The two brawlers corner their opponent in a chamber but suddenly find themselves surrounded by a horde of identical creatures, all with creepy glowing green eyes. The creatures are surprisingly fast and strong and overwhelm Raph and Casey in seconds.
Later in the lair, Michelangelo returns from raiding the basement of the last video tape store in all of New York. To Leonardo’s delight (and no one else’s) the treasure trove contains all the rare VHS copies of Space Heroes: The Next Generation. He immediately slots one into the player and geeks out at Captain Ryan mocking the peaceful Nefrini race’s attempt to negotiate for fairer taxes and ordering Crankshaw Jr. to blow them up. A beaten Raph and Casey limp back into the lair and recount how they came upon the strange cultists attempting to perform some kind of sacrifice on a homeless person. Though Casey embellishes his re-telling he and Raph are both clearly bruised. Donatello muses that his sensors have been picking up a lot of activity lately but he assumed it was simply an influx of homeless people. Leo declares that they must do something about it.
In an underground chamber a hooded figure stands in front of a pentagram carved into an outcrop, addressing the horde of cultists as his children and ordering them to obtain the scroll of the Demodragons in order to bring forth a mighty being who will be able to resurrect their master.
The Turtles begin their search in the sewers, planting Donnie’s homemade motion sensors made from old toys five miles from the lair to track and triangulate the cultists’ movements. As soon as Mikey and Leo are done, Leo’s T-phone registers movement heading down a nearby tunnel.
They follow three of them to a penthouse, scaling the walls with only their bare hands. Leo and Mikey watch through the building’s glass dome as the cultists enter some sort of library, with a pentagram design built into the floor. They steal a scroll from a lectern and begin to chant in victory. The Turtles attack but are no match for their enemies’ speed and strength. Mikey discovers they’re also surprisingly durable when he attempts to sock one in the face only to plunge his fist into a mass of goo. The cultist carrying the scroll makes for the window but Mikey knocks it out of his hand with his grappling gun’s hook. To the brother’s shock all three dive out the window after the scroll and plunge to the alley several feet below.
They make their own way down assuming the enemy is dead, but as Mikey reaches for the scroll the nearby and totally unhurt cultist snags his wrist. Mikey cries out as all three drag him into the shadows, leaving Leo to try and fend off their stealth attacks. He slashes at one only for the creature to catch his blade in its hand. Mikey manages to toss Leo the scroll but the leader is knocked to the ground by a single cultist, who simply dislocates his arm to make him release it. Leo looks up as Mikey is tossed in front of him and another cultist hefts an entire dumpster, preparing to bring it down on the outclassed brothers. Fortunately, a police cruiser approaches and both sides vanish before the authorities spot them.
The others tend to Leo and Mikey’s wounds, Raph popping Leo’s shoulder back into place, while Donnie researches the stolen scroll online. He discovers the penthouse belonged to a private collector of occult artifacts and that the scroll has been used for millennia to summon Kavaxas, leader of the demon race, though the attempts always end in tragedy. Mikey is enraptured with a vision of himself as a “Ghoulbuster” but is promptly brought back down to earth by Raph’s slapping. Donnie notes that his new sensors have tracked movement at three points throughout the city, all converging somewhere in the middle of the sewers.
Leo stands before a shrine to Splinter in the dojo, contemplating the loss of his father, the pressures of leading the family, and the danger of the looming threat. He’s startled by the sound of Splinter’s voice and whips around to come face to face with the spirit of his sensei, who reassures him he will always be with his son and encouraging Leo to “find the light within”. Splinter's mood turns grave, warning that this light will be the only way to defeat these new occult enemies and that they are not what they appear to be. Leo asks what they are…and Donnie walks in, asking who he’s talking. Leo looks away from his brother but the vision of Splinter is already gone. He puts aside his sadness and orders the team to move out while Donnie considers the photo on the shrine: Splinter with the four child Turtles.
The Turtles, April and Casey investigate the coordinates Donnie triangulated. April senses something but is unable to pinpoint it. Casey spots an unaware cultist sneaking down a tunnel and the gang follows. The cultist meets up with two others and uses a hidden wall entrance to enter a mysterious cavern. The team follows, although Casey barely makes it in before the entrance slams shut.
As they follow a torch lit tunnel the sound of chanting grows louder. From a ledge, they look down on the cultists bow and chanting before the pentagram as their leader takes the stage. He throws back his hood, revealing himself to be none other then Tiger Claw! He congratulates his “children” and announces how he will summon Kavaxas and control him using another artifact, the Seal of the Ancients, which the Foot Cultists have already acquired. Leo is momentarily stunned when everyone expectantly turns to him for a plan but recovers, ordering the others to distract the cult while he and Raph go for the Seal. Unfortunately, a group of cultists has snuck up on them, their minds too inhumane for April to sense!
The group is captured and brought before Tiger Claw, who recounts how the Foot has been reborn. After their last battle the clan went underground, discovering the Foot Cultists in the sewers, all of them devoted to the Shredder. The Turtles are forced to watch as Tiger Claw performs the ritual, calling forth Kavaxas. A column of flame erupts from the pentagram, the force hurling everyone back and inadvertently freeing the team. As Tiger Claw recovers, Kavaxas rises out of the clearing smoke, enraged at being summoned by a mere mortal. He attempts to kill Tiger Claw with his fire breath, but the warrior is protected from the flames by the Seal of the Ancients. The lord of the Demodragons is forced to obey his new “master". Tiger Claw’s first order: display fidelity to the Foot by destroying the Turtles.
As Kavaxas takes to the air Mikey attempts to reason with him by offering his last slice of pizza. The demon destroys it with his flame breath, earning him the nickname “Hot Head”. The group scatters from another breath blast and Mikey attempts to bring Kavaxas down by wrapping an extended nunchuck chain around his arm. Kavaxas simply sends green flame traveling down the chain and knocks Mikey back into Leo’s arms. He displays further power by channelling his flame as beams through his fingertips, strafing the entire area and attacking both sides indiscriminately, uncaring when some cultists are crushed by falling stalactites. As a result, Tiger Claw orders his new slave to only attack the Turtles and their allies, prompting the dragon to land and take the physical approach. Donnie, Mikey, Raph and Casey attack him one after the other but Kavaxas beats them all out of his way as he simply walks forward. Leo uses his grappling line to build up momentum with a wall run and slashes at the dragon’s head with both swords, but his weapons shatter harmlessly off the demon's face. Kavaxas notices Raph and Casey trying to pull Donnie up from where he’s almost fallen off the outcrop and prepares a flame blast to destroy them. April throws herself between the three and the flames, protecting them all with a telekinetic force field. Kavaxas is impressed by her “gift” and decides to claim it as his own. April tries to push him back with her powers but Kavaxas simply walks through it, immune due to not coming from this physical reality. Before he can reach April he’s distracted, but unhurt, by some of Casey’s exploding pucks. Leo orders a retreat and Mikey helps April vanish with a smoke bomb. Kavaxas attempts to chase the group as they escape into the tunnels, firing a breath blast after them but a satisfied Tiger Claw uses the Seal to order him to stand down.
The team races through the sewers, putting as much distance between the cult’s lair as they can before collapsing in a tunnel. They despair over Kavaxas' power and facing Tiger Claw’s army when they could barely handle three. They turn to Leo and he notes that they at least know where the cult’s lair is and just need a new plan of attack. He asks April if she sensed Kavaxas taking over the Foot as leader but all she could get a reading on is that Tiger Claw summoned the demon because he’s crucial to the Foot’s plans, whatever they may are.
Tiger Claw uses the Seal to bind Kavaxas to his will and force him to tell the truth, asking if it’s true that the demon can resurrect the dead. Kavaxas promises that he has that power and so much more. Tiger Claw orders him to do whatever it takes to bring the Shredder back from the dead.
Gallery[]
Scroll of the Demodragon/Gallery
Transcript[]
Scroll of the Demodragon/Transcript
Trivia[]
- Starting here, a new theme song is shown to be associated with the fifth season title Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Leonardo uses his signature swords (ninjato) for the last time. At the end of this episode, his blade is shattered upon trying to behead Kavaxas.
- Donatello's motion sensors have faces and make sounds that resemble the popular electronic robot toy Furby.
- After hearing about the Demodragons, Michelangelo imagines what it would be like to catch one, where he's dressed up and using a Ghost Sucker, like the Ghostbusters, even calling himself a "Ghoulbuster".
- Leonardo makes a nod to Screwloose as he exclaims, "Holy geek-out, Wingnut!" upon discovery of the Space Heroes: The Next Generation tape.