The Big Blow Out (1987 TV series)

“The Big Blow Out”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 Cartoon) episode
Title screen
Season Code:	03
Episode:	47
Original airdate	November 28, 1989
Written by	David Wise
Supervising Producer	Fred Wolf
Producers:	Walt Kubiak
Supervising Director	Bill Wolf
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "The Big Break In" "Plan Six From Outer Space"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Season September 25, 1989 - Feburary 9, 1990 List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes

Episodes: "Beneath These Streets" "Turtles on Trial" "Attack of the 50-Foot Irma" "The Maltese Hamster" "Sky Turtles" "The Old Switcheroo" "Burne's Blues" "The Fifth Turtle" "Enter the Rat King" "Turtles at the Earth's Core" "April Fool" "Attack of Big MACC" "The Ninja Sword of Nowhere" "20,000 Leaks Under the City" "Take Me to Your Leader" "Four Musketurtles" "Turtles, Turtles Everywhere" "Cowabunga Shredhead" "Invasion of the Turtle Snatchers" "Camera Bugged" "Green With Jealousy" "Return of the Fly" "Casey Jones - Outlaw Hero" "Mutagen Monster" "Corporate Raiders from Dimension X" "Pizza by the Shred" "Super Bebop & Mighty Rocksteady" "Beware the Lotus" "Blast from the Past" "Leatherhead: Terror of the Swamp" "Michelangelo's Birthday" "Usagi Yojimbo" "Case of the Hot Kimono" "Usagi Come Home" "The Making of Metalhead" "Leatherhead Meets the Rat King" "The Turtle Terminator" "The Great Boldini" "The Missing Map" "The Gang's All Here" "The Grybyx" "Mister Ogg Goes to Town" "Shredderville" "Bye, Bye, Fly" "The Big Rip-Off" "The Big Break In" "The Big Blow Out" 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

The Big Blow Out is a season 3 episode of the 1987 TV series, written by David Wise. It is the final episode of the "Big Trilogy", also acting as the season finale.

Appearing in The Big Blow Out (1987 TV series)

Major characters

• Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
• Donatello (Barry Gordon)
• Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
• Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
• Splinter (Peter Renaday)
• April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
• Vernon Fenwick (Peter Renaday)
• Burne Thompson (Pat Fraley)
• Shredder (James Avery)
• Krang (Pat Fraley)
• Bebop (Barry Gordon)
• Rocksteady (Cam Clarke)

Minor characters

• General Traag (Peter Renaday)
• Army General (Rob Paulsen)
• Man at Power Plant (Townsend Coleman)
• Motorist (Rob Paulsen)
• Traffic Cop (James Avery)

Species

• Human
• Mutant rat
• Mutant rhinoceros
• Mutant turtle
• Mutant warthog
• Rock soldier

Objects and vehicles

• Channel 6 newsvan
• Rushmore Power Antenna
• Technodrome
• Technodrome eyeball missile
• Turtle Van
• Turtlecom
• United States Army battletank

Locations

• Channel 6
• City streets
• Dimension X
• Mount Rushmore
• Mount Rushmore Power Station
• Technodrome
• Turtle Lair
• Technodrome

Plot

Picking up from the very end of the previous episode, the Turtles and April are driving back to New York, confident that Shredder and Krang are gone for good... until the Technodrome rises from the ground in front of them. Shredder fires missiles at the Turtles, blasting a nearby hillside open and burying them in rubble, before departing.

The Technodrome rolls through power lines, highways and anything else in its path. The Turtles are unsure of how they can possibly stop the Technodrome, but Splinter is confident that Shredder will be his own undoing.

The Technodrome heads west towards the Rushmore power antenna, with the Turtles in hot pursuit. Stealing the antenna will allow Shredder and Krang to draw power from anywhere on Earth. As they carve the antenna out of the ground and install it on the Technodrome's side, Donatello takes a massive power cable and prepares to shock the war machine... only for the current to shut off. All electrical energy is being drawn to the Technodrome.

The Turtles and Splinter are instead forced to infiltrate the Technodrome by climbing up the side. Krang manages to get rid of the Turtles by aiming an eyeball missile at Mount Rushmore, forcing them to climb on the missile to redirect it. They manage to jump off before it crashes into a mountainside.

April returns to Channel 6 and takes over Vernon's broadcast, just before the power goes off.

Meanwhile, the Turtles belatedly remember that they left Splinter at the Technodrome, which has just reached the city and is crushing buildings on its way to the World Trade Center. Splinter is inside, seeking a way to shut down the power antenna. Krang uses all the accumulated electricity to open a massive portal in the sky, large enough for the entire Earth to be sucked into Dimension X.

The military is attacking the Technodrome without success. Leonardo and Michelangelo are sent to infiltrate the Technodrome, while Raphael and Donatello head off to get "army surplus." They need to "borrow" a missile launcher, which Donatello drives into the sewer system.

While Leonardo and Michelangelo grapple with Rocksteady and Bebop, Splinter and Shredder finally confront one another and fall through the levels of the Technodrome. The Turtles arrive just in time to save Splinter from a fatal fall, blasting Shredder away with a spray of water. They escape from the Technodrome.

General Traag informs Krang that an entire armada is prepared to attack Earth when it passes through the portal.

Meanwhile, Shredder aims the Technodrome's weapons at the fleeing Splinter, Leonardo and Michelangelo, enraged at being humiliated. Donatello tells them to lure the Technodrome to a specific location, and Raphael fires a massive missile that propels the Technodrome into the sky and off of Earth. It passes through the portal and is attacked by Traag's forces, before crashing on a spherical base. Krang rages about being trapped in Dimension X before trying to throttle Shredder.

The Turtles are hailed as heroes by the crowds, before heading into a pizzeria for their "reward."

See also

• The Big Blow Out (1987 TV series)/Gallery
• The Big Blow Out (1987 TV series)/Transcript

Notes and errors

• After Vernon's news report on the Technodrome is shown, Donatello is seen with Michelangelo's colours.
• Bebop's grenades were missing from his waistcoat and the eye orbits on his skull necklace were missing after Shredder called Krang a "wet blanket".
• After the missile that the Turtles were riding on launched, the Technodrome was still, even though its treads were moving.
• This episode sparked a period where the Turtles stopped wearing disguises in town and became known as celebrities.

Home media releases

VHS

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Big Blow Out
• The Biggest Ever Saturday Morning Picture Show

DVD

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Volume 6
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cowabunga Classics