Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series)

The fifth and final season of the 2012 Nickelodeon television series, titled "Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" aired on Nickelodeon from March 19, 2017 to November 12, 2017, consisting of 20 episodes. It mainly revolves around the turtles facing various supernatural threats, such as ghosts, werewolves, mummies, monsters, vampires, zombies, demons, aliens and other villains after arriving in alternate dimensions and/or time travelling.

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles depicts seven distinct story arcs, showing the last several adventures the Turtles embark in the months following Splinter's passing, such as the Turtles revisited by familiar allies/comrades from previous seasons to battle familiar villains (also from previous seasons) who have cheated their deaths and returned for revenge, as well as encounter and befriend some new allies (especially when transported to alternate dimensions and/or time travel through history) and team up to defeat new arch-enemies. This season also includes a flashback set during the Turtles' early youth in New York City following their mutation, and explores glimpses of possible, hypothetical futures. Throughout the season, fans can expect to see both new and familiar friends and enemies as each story arc unfolds. The final story arc was released on November 12, 2017.

This is the only season where they turtles are left to fend for themselves and are guided by Leonardo (following Splinter's death), although his spirit continues to watch over his family from the afterlife and occasionally visits them (mostly Leo) to offer some advice and suggestions (excluding the Raphael: Mutant Apocalypse arc).

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	20[1]
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon (episodes 1–10; 18–20) Nicktoons (episodes 11–17)
Original release	March 19 – November 12, 2017
Season chronology
← Previous Season 4

Story Arcs and Plot

Tales from the Beyond - The Kavaxas Saga (Shredder resurrection): Episodes 1-4

After successfully avenging the death of their beloved sensei and father Splinter (thanks to the demise of the Super-Shredder at the hands of Leonardo), the four Turtles, April O'Neil, Casey Jones, Leatherhead and Karai have all coped with his loss and re-adjusted to their new daily lives as they wonder about what lies ahead, knowing the Foot isn't over yet and there are still enemies out there. Nonetheless, Splinter's spirit continues to watch over his family from the skies of heaven and occasionally visits Leo to offer him advice. As the heroes prepare for their next imminent threat on the road ahead (knowing that Splinter is still there with them, in spirit), Leonardo succeeds Splinter as the team's new sensei, which makes his life even more stressful and hectic than ever due to the responsibilities he now has on his shoulders as Karai decides to be in charge of and rework the Foot Clan, having become the rightful heiress to the clan.

However, though the Turtles had believed that they have defeated their old enemies, they soon discover that a new evil is on the rise. The Foot Clan has been reborn as an underground cult led by Tiger Claw, who plans to resurrect the Super Shredder with the aid of the mighty demodragon named Kavaxas, who is summoned by the Scroll of the Demodragon and a controlling amulet called the Seal of the Ancients. Upon demonstrating his ability to revive the dead with Rahzar, who fell in an underwater battle against Leatherhead, Kavaxas states that he will need the Kuro Kabuto that contains Shredder's mental energies.

When Karai searches for the Kuro Kabuto, having become the rightful heiress of the Foot Clan, her former sensei, Hattori Tatsu, also seeks rightful ownership by hunting the Shredder's legendary helmet himself. Unfortunately, Tiger Claw and his lackeys are also in search of the helmet, as it is one of the essential items required for Kavaxas to return the Super Shredder to life. This creates a feud between Tatsu and Tiger Claw, who are both in possession of the helmet. Upon Rahzar and Tiger Claw reclaiming the Kuro Kabuto after Kavaxas drained the soul out of Shredder's former right-hand man Hattori Tatsu, Kavaxas states that they will need the Shredder's heart for the resurrection to occur.

Donatello's grudge against Don Vizioso endangers the Turtles' newest and next mission: To retrieve the heart of the Super Shredder, which is in the possession of Don Vizioso himself. However, despite Leo's best efforts to keep Donnie in line, their mission fails, and the Foot Clan obtains the Shredder's heart and the resurrection is set in motion.

With the aid of Karai and Leatherhead, the Turtles, April and Casey must defeat Kavaxas and prevent him from destroying the world with his army of the undead. Kavaxas successfully revives Shredder as an undead zombie horror, who breaks the Seal of the Ancients, freeing Kavaxas and allowing him to raise the spirits of the Netherworld to rule both worlds. As ghosts take over the city, Kavazas (who has now unleashed his true potential) jeopardizes the future. All of this goes against what Tiger Claw planned, so he sides with the Turtles to defeat the undead Zombie Shredder and Kavaxas. While the ghost of Splinter helps Donnie, April, Casey and Raph, who are fighting on the surface, Michelangelo (with the help of Leatherhead) managed to use gum to stick the Seal of the Ancients back together, enabling him to control Kavaxas. He orders and coerces the demodragon to open the portal to the Netherworld and undo all of his damages to restore peace and order. As Tiger Claw watches alongside Leo and Karai, Zombie Shredder drags Kavaxas back to the Netherworld. Now aware of Zombie Shredder and Kavaxas' sinister, ulterior motives, Tiger Claw ends his feud and makes peace with the Turtles before departing (possibly for Japan). The spirit of Splinter revisits the team once more. He embraces Karai, looks fondly at Leonardo, amazed to see how far his son has come before sending his well wishes to the rest of the team (Raph, Mikey, Donnie, April, Casey and Leatherhead). His spirit soars towards the skies of heaven, fading away.

With Zombie Shredder and Kavaxas defeated (sent back to suffer in the Netherworld), in addition to Tiger Claw making peace with the Turtles, our heroes gaze at a beautiful sunset as they prepare for (and wonder about what lies on) the road ahead, knowing that Splinter is still with them, in spirit.

Alien Tales - When Worlds Collide Saga: Episodes 5-6 

The Turtles' romantic plans to hang out with their love interests are put on hold when Raphael's Salamandrian girlfriend Mona Lisa (Lieutenant Y'Gthba) and her superior, Sal Commander G'Throkka (after being gone since Season 4), arrive on Earth, touch down on a New York City rooftop, revisiting the Turtles and their allies, asking for their aid in finding and destroying the Newtralizer (K'Vathrak), whom after being gone since Season 2, had just received unlimited power in search of the Utroms to destroy them. As it was later revealed that the Newtralizer was working with Lord Dregg, who had cheated his death from the Triceratons while swearing his revenge on the Turtles where he launched his original invasion on the Salamandrian home world of Salamandria, putting Mona Lisa and Sal Commander in a goose chase with the Newtralizer, all the way in his new living command ship, revealing in the fact he could now get his revenge on both the Turtles and the Salamandrians by taking over Earth and using the human population for his own malicious intent in the form of Vreen eggs.

Samurai Tales - The Samurai Turtles Saga: Episodes 7-9 

In an alternate dimension inhabited by anthropomorphic animals in Feudal Japan, a lone rabbit samurai Ronin and master swordsman named Miyamoto Usagi has been given a task to protect a childish and bratty pug child named Kintaro, who is deemed as the "Golden Child" of the Sky Buddha and holds hidden super strength. The gray wolf-demon and evil wizard Jei, who is Usagi's long-time sworn enemy, transported the Turtles into his realm, planning to use them as henchmen to murder Usagi and abduct Kintaro to Jei in addition to casting an evil enchantment on the Turtles by posing as a blind and crippled wolf. The Turtles (under Jei's evil spell) almost succeeded but Usagi overpowered them, and with one blow to the head, restored them back to their normal senses. With nowhere else to go, the Turtles, after learning about Usagi's story, allied themselves with him to escort Kintaro to the Temple-Palace of the Sky Buddha atop a tall mountain before Jei prepared for his endgame. Along the way, Usagi lead the Turtles through a haunted forest where they encountered magically mischievous, and dangerous creatures and spirits whilst tensions boiled between Usagi and Leonardo, but they eventually buried the hatchet.

Tales from the Past - Lone Rat and Cubs: Episode 10

A flashback shows how Splinter and the four Turtles as babies found their underground lair, while being pursued by the Kraang. After his victory, Splinter was given a second chance at fatherhood, naming the infant Turtles after his favorite Italian artists of the Renaissance.

Note: This is a flashback set during the Turtles' childhood youth and before the series premiere, Rise of the Turtles, Part 1, when they turn 15.

Tales from the Future - Raphael: Mutant Apocalypse Saga: Episodes 11-13 

Three episodes of the series are set outside the rest of the series' time frame and are typically presented as a standalone television movie, Raphael: Mutant Apocalypse. 

Fifty years later in an alternate dimensional post-apocalyptic future that has been caused by a Mutagen Bomb, turning all of Manhattan (and possibly much of the Earth into a post apocalyptic desert wasteland, wiping out the entire human population), an old and weathered Raphael, accompanied by Donatello, who is now an android robot (due to his original body being destroyed but his thoughts and memories restored into this new form), scour a desert wasteland that was once their home of New York City as they battle road gangs. They encounter a meerkat named Mira, who is being hunted by Verminator Rex and his Honey Badger Ravagers, and who has a map tattooed on her arm that leads to the Oasis. The trio set out to find a hermit called "the Holy Chalupa", who turned out to be an elderly Michelangelo with Ice Cream Kitty and Chompy Picasso, but they were later attacked by Verminator Rex and Imperius Reptilicus. The warlord Maximus Kong pursues them in his mobile fortress, and in a shocking revelation is shown to be Leonardo himself, driven mad with rage from a secondary mutation. Raphael manages to break through his brother's deranged and maniacal insanity and restore him to his old self, and the four brothers travel to the Oasis.

The camera pans up to the sky, where the spirit of the four Turtles (in their teenage years) and the spirit of Splinter are all reunited at the skies of heaven. A shot shows them taking a black-and-whitepicture together, followed by Leonardo holding a picket sign dedicated to the creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman.

Note: This story arc was originally intended to be the "true" ending (series finale, in terms of production order), even though it doesn't fit into the canon timeline (i.e. Renet, who is from the future), and for very dubious reasons on Ciro Nieli's intentions. According to the press release for the final DVD, it's officially "another alternate dimension". Ciro Nieli admits the "Mutant Apocalypse" three-parter, which features the Turtles failing to stop a Mutagen bomb in a flashback and the heavily implied deaths of almost all of the supporting cast, was done so that nobody could continue this series after it was finished. On the other hand, other Nickelodeon crew members themselves disagreed with that assessment, with the last Nickelodeon calling the story an alternate dimension/universe, rendering the arc non-canon.

Additional notes: This episodes originally aired on Nicktoons on September 22, 2017.

 Monstrous Tales - Monsters vs. Mutants Saga: Episodes 14-17

Back in present-day New York City, during Halloween, the Turtles must postpone their Halloween celebration tour when they are revisited by their time-traveling ally and Mikey's crush from the future Renet (from Season 3). They are also reunited with their sworn enemy, Savanti Romero, who, after supposedly being defeated in Season 3, had also cheated his death and vengefully schemes to turn all of New York City into a monster-filled dystopia. The Turtles and Renet escape to the safety of the rooftops after April and Casey (who discover an unholy epidemic has overrun Manhattan, turning it into a dysotopian zombie city filled with strange, real-life monsters, vampires, zombies, bats and werewolves) turn into vampires.

In a desperate race against time to save thousands of lives (all to save New York City, mankind, and themselves), Renet and the Turtles' fun, but terrifying quest to stop their monster foes (trying to battle demon Savanti Romero as he travels through history assembling a team of mankind's worst Universal monsters) sends them back in time to four stops: Ancient Egypt, where Savanti recruits a dangerously powerful mummy pharaoh with evil magic, 1300 Transylvania where he successfully awakens and recruits the vampire lord Count Dracula (who returns Savanti the favor by turning Vulko into a vampire warewolf and also bites Raphael, who also turns into an evil bloodthirsty vampire), and 1818 Germany with Dr. Victor Frankenstein. After the Turtles help Dr. Frankenstein resurrect a corpse, a major battle ensues, resulting in the Turtles successfully re-capturing Raph, but Savanti successfully lures Frankenstein's monster with his monster tribe. Upon returning to present-day New York City, the Turtles and Renet discover (much to their horror) that the city has been infested with even more monsters, vampires, zombies and warewolves now than before, realizing that their previous failures to defeat Savanti when they had the chance has made the situation even worse. They have one last chance to have order restored, but when the Turtles' lair is discovered and trashed by Savanti's monster tribe, who turn Donnie into a vampire in the chaos of the brawl, things become even worse. Casey turns into a vampire, along with April, Donatello and Raphael, until he returns to normal, due to Mikey defeating Dracula.

Notes: These episodes also aired on Nicktoons.

Crossover Tales - Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady Saga: Episodes 18-20

The 3-episode series finale also takes place in present-day New York City as another crossover story arc, weeks following the Monstrous Tales saga, where the Turtles are once again revisited by their '87 counterparts from the 1987-1996 series reality (after originally encountering them during Season 4) due to their versions of the 1987 Shredder and Krang entering the 2012 realm and recruiting the 2012 versions of Bebop and Rocksteady (who are jobless and broke), as they had accidentally left their versions of the 1987 Bebop and Rocksteady behind. Since everything is still going in favor in the 1987 Shredder and Kraang's plans, the foursome are plotting to conquer the Earths of both the 1987 and 2012 realities with a fully powered 1987 Technodrome. While the Turtles and their allies fight off a horde of Foot Soldiers from the 1987–1996 series reality and the 2012 Rock Soldiers, the 2012 Bebop and Rocksteady discover the 1987 Shredder and Krang's plans to destroy the Earth and choose to become heroes in order to save the planet.

Note: This is the actual series finale. Nickelodeon aired "Raphael: Mutant Apocalypse" in the middle of Season 5, even though it was originally intended to be the series finale, before declaring it an alternate dimension. The 1987 crossover arc aired as the actual final 66 minute three-episode series finale on Nickelodeon instead.

Characters

Main Characters/Protagonists

• Leonardo
• Donatello
• Raphael
• Michelangelo
• April O'Neil
• Casey Jones
• Hamato Yoshi / Splinter (spirit)

Allies

• Earth Protection Force
  • Bishop
• Renet
• Commander G’Throkka / Sal Commander
• Lieutenant Y’Gythgba / Mona Lisa
• Utrom High Council
  • Queen
  • Rook
  • Pawn
• The Foot Clan
  • Hamato Miwa / Karai
  • Shinigami
  • Foot Ninja
• The Mighty Mutanimals
  • Slash
  • Leatherhead
  • Mondo Gecko
• Esmerelda
• Miyamoto Usagi
• Kintaro
• Akemi
• 80's Turtles
  • 80's Leonardo
  • 80's Donatello
  • 80's Raphael
  • 80's Michelangelo
• Tanuki
• Mira

Villains

• Kavaxas
• Takeshi / Tiger Claw
• Chris Bradford / Rahzar
• Xever Montes / Fishface
• Anton Zeck / Bebop
• Ivan Steranko / Rocksteady
• The Newtralizer
• Lord Dregg
• Sumo Kuma (brainwashed by Jei)
  • Samurai Army
• Count Vlad Dracula
  • Vampires
• Savanti Romero
  • Vulko (werewolf)
• Verminator Rex
• Vizioso Mob
  • Don Vizioso
  • The Hammer
  • Fulci Twins
• Oroku Saki / Undead Shredder
• Hattori Tatsu
• Ho Chan
• Krang
• 80's Shredder
• Jei
• Joroguma
• 80's Bebop
• 80's Rocksteady
• 80's Foot Soldiers
• Traag
• Granitor

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date [nb 1]	Prod. code [6]	USA viewers (millions)
105	1	"Scroll of the Demodragon"	Sebastian Montes	Randolph Heard	March 19, 2017	501	1.01[7]
Despite the Turtles victory against the Shredder, the Foot Clan has been reborn as an underground cult led by Tiger Claw. As he plans to resurrect the Super Shredder with the aid of the mighty Demodragon, Kavaxas.
106	2	"The Forgotten Swordsman"	Alan Wan	Peter Di Cicco	March 26, 2017	502	0.99[8]
When Karai has became the rightful heiress of the Foot Clan, her old teacher, Hattori Tatsu, seeks rightful ownership by hunting the Shredder's legendary helmet, the Kuro Kabuto. Unfortunately, Tiger Claw and his lackeys are also in search of the Kabuto, as it is one of the essential items required for Kavaxas to return the Super Shredder to life.
107	3	"Heart of Evil"	Rie Koga	Gavin Hignight	April 2, 2017	503	1.12[9]
Donatello's grudge with Don Vizioso threatens the Turtles' newest mission: To retrieve the heart of the Super Shredder, which is in the possession of Don Vizioso himself.
108	4	"End Times"	Sebastian Montes	Brandon Auman	April 9, 2017	504	1.14[10]
With the aid of Karai and Leatherhead, the Turtles, April and Casey must defeat Kavaxas and prevent him from destroying the world with his army of the undead.
109 110	5 6	"When Worlds Collide"	Sebastian Montes Alan Wan	Todd Casey & Elliott Casey Eugene Son	June 18, 2017	510 511	0.91[11]
The Newtralizer returns to New York City, more powerful than ever before, and joins forces with a dangerous and unexpected ally. With the help of Mona Lisa and Sal Commander, the Turtles fight back to defend their city.Note: This a two-part special episode.
111	7	"Yojimbo"	Rie Koga	Stan Sakai	July 23, 2017	515	0.99[12]
The Ninja Turtles are transported to an alternate dimension, where they befriend the Samurai Rabbit and fierce master swordsman, Miyamoto Usagi.
112	8	"Osoroshi no Tabi"	Sebastian Montes	Brandon Auman	July 30, 2017	516	0.93[13]
Usagi leads the Turtles through a haunted forest, where they end up encountering mischievous and highly dangerous spirits.
113	9	"Kagayake! Kintaro"	Alan Wan	Henry Gilroy	August 6, 2017	517	0.97[14]
As they reach their destination, Usagi and the Turtles must help young Kintaro fulfill his destiny.
114	10	"Lone Rat and Cubs"	Alan Wan	Kevin Eastman	August 13, 2017	505	1.06[15]
When Splinter is mutated into a sewer rat, he must learn to survive the life a mutant on the run wile protecting four infant mutant turtles from the Kraang. It is a flashback set before the events of "Rise of the Turtles, Part 1".
115	11	"The Wasteland Warrior"	Rie Koga	Brandon Auman	September 22, 2017 (Nicktoons)	518	N/A
In an alternate post-apocalyptic future, all humans and most of the mutant population have been wiped out, due to an extremely powerful mutant explosion that had mysteriously occurred through unknown means. Only a weathered Raphael, who has most of his childhood memories lost to him, and Donatello (whose consciousness has been transferred into Metalhead) have been traveling throughout the Impossible Wasteland trying to save alive while being pursued by the Verminator and his bikers. Befriending a female meerkat warrior named Mira, the last of her tribe, who harbors the secret to "Paradise" and that she must find a wise turtle called "the Holy Chalupa."
116	12	"The Impossible Desert"	Sebastian Montes	Peter Di Cicco	September 22, 2017 (Nicktoons)	519	N/A
Raphael, Donatello and Mira continue to be trapped by constant sandstorms throughout the desert, but are saved by none other than Chompy Picasso, whose physical self has grown considerably over the decades. On their way, they manage to find "the Holy Chalupa" who is, in truth, an elderly thin Michelangelo himself. He takes them to his home of pizza, where Ice Cream Kitty waits. While, the three Turtles are catching up and trying to accept the loss of their leader and eldest brother Leonardo, they are all attacked by Verminator Rex who abducts Mira but is followed by an angry Raphael.
117	13	"Carmageddon!"	Alan Wan	Gavin Hignight	September 22, 2017 (Nicktoons)	520	N/A
Still trapped in "the Pit", Raphael manages to defeat his two opponents and is hailed as leader of both tribes by the crowd. Aided by Mira, Mikey and Chompy, they flee in search of "the Green Paradise", but they end up having to deal with Leonardo, who ended up having his body undergo a second mutation and his mind scarred by the mutagen bomb, and is now the evil leader of the Wasteland, Maximus Kong.
118	14	"The Curse of Savanti Romero"	Rie Koga	Peter Di Cicco	September 27, 2017 (Nicktoons)	506	N/A
The Turtles' plans to enjoy Halloween are put on hold when strange monsters threaten to transform the city.
119	15	"The Crypt of Dracula"	Sebastian Montes	John Shirley	September 27, 2017 (Nicktoons)	507	N/A
Renet transports the team to Transylvania to stop Savanti Romero.
120	16	"The Frankenstein Experiment"	Alan Wan	Brandon Auman	October 4, 2017 (Nicktoons)	508	N/A
Savanti recruits Frankenstein's Monster and will soon unleash his creatures on the 21st Century.
121	17	"Monsters Among Us"	Rie Koga	Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt	October 11, 2017 (Nicktoons)	509	N/A
When Renet and the Turtles return to a world run by monsters, they realize they have made the situation even worse.
122	18	"Wanted: Bebop & Rocksteady"[17]	Rie Koga	Peter Di Cicco	November 12, 2017[18]	512	0.96[19]
When the 1987 version of the Shredder and Krang appear in the 2012 Ninja Turtles' dimension, they recruit the present 2012 Bebop and Rocksteady in a dangerous scheme to take over both the 1987 and 2012 universes after their versions of the 1987 Bebop and Rocksteady accidentally got left behind (and beaten up by the 1987 Turtles who eventually tracked down the 1987 Shredder and Krang into the 2012 world version). The 1987 Shredder and Krang find their plans succeeding better than ever. Meanwhile, the 1987 versions of the Ninja Turtles also arrive in the 2012 TMNT realm and seeks help from the present Ninja Turtles, April O'Neil and Casey Jones to stop both Krang and Shredder. Note: This is a crossover episode featuring the 1987 counterparts of the Turtles, Shredder, Krang, Bebop and Rocksteady.
123	19	"The Foot Walks Again!"[17]	Sebastian Montes	Mark Henry	November 12, 2017[18]	513	0.96[19]
The Turtles (with the help of April and Casey) train their '80s counterparts to 'fight properly' and face a greater threat than they've ever encountered while Karai and Shinigami spot Bebop and Rocksteady with a hoard of weird looking Robotic Foot Soldiers from the '80s infiltrating a secret military warehouse guarded by the Earth Protection Force to obtain a transmat microchip to open up a portal to Dimension X. Note: A crossover episode featuring Karai, Shinigami and 1987 counterpart of the Shredde
124	20	"The Big Blowout"[17]	Alan Wan	Jed MacKay	November 12, 2017[18]	514	0.96[19]
The Mighty Mutanimals unsucessfully try to stop the 2012 Bebop and Rocksteady from infiltrating the TCRI building to obtain the Krang crystals to power up the 1987 technodrome. Afterwards, the Ninja Turtles and April enlist the help of the Mighty Mutanimals to stop Krang and Shredder from ripping apart all realities...with a little help from the unlikeliness of mutants. Meanwhile, as the Turtles and their allies fight off a horde of Foot Soldiers from the 1987–1996 series reality and the 2012 Rock Soldiers led by Traag and Granitor, Bebop and Rocksteady discovers Shredder and Krang's treacherous scheme to destroy the Earth and choose to become heroes in order to save the planet. Note: April utilizes her strong psychic and extrasensory powers against Krang, but she seemed to be affected by his energy rays.