| “The Great Boldini” | |||||||
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| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode | |||||||
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| Season Code: | 03 | ||||||
| Episode: | 38 | ||||||
| Original airdate | October 26, 1989 | ||||||
| Written by | Francis Moss | ||||||
| Supervising Producer | Fred Wolf | ||||||
| Producers: | Walt Kubiak | ||||||
| Supervising Director | Bill Wolf | ||||||
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The Great Boldini is an episode from season 3 (1989) of the 1987 TV series.
Appearing in The Great Boldini (episode)[]
Major characters[]
- April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
- Caitlin (Maggie Roswell) (debut)
- Donatello (Barry Gordon)
- Don Turtelli (Peter Renaday)
- Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
- Great Boldini (Pat Fraley) (debut)
- Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
- New York Police Department
- Lieutenant Fronski (Barry Gordon) (debut)
- Sergeant O'Flaherty (Pat Fraley) (debut)
- Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
- Rat King (Townsend Coleman)
- Zach (Rob Paulsen)
Minor characters[]
Species[]
- Humans
- Mutant Turtle
- Pigeons
- Rabbit
- Rats
Objects and vehicles[]
- Channel 6 newsvan
- Don Turtelli's van
- Magic wand
- Top hats
- Tortellini Emerald
- Turtle Line
Locations[]
- City museum
- Museum basement
- Don Turtelli's penthouse
- Turtle Lair
Plot[]
In the Turtles lair Michelangelo is trying to put on a magic show for the others with Zach, the young teenage boy who befriended the Turtles in the episode "The Fifth Turtle", and his new friend Caitlin as his assistants, He try's to perform the "rabbit out of the hat trick" but fails as the rabbit is still on his head when he take his magician's hat off. . When he tries to perform more tricks, Zach's watch alarm goes off telling him the Great Boldini's magic show is starting soon and they don't want to miss it
Later April O'Neil is seen reporting on the show, which is being held at at a museum where the Great Boldini is expected to perform a magic trick where he will make the famous Tortellini Emerald disappear. While there, she meets up with the Turtles, who are in disguise along with the kids and Zach introduces her to Caitlin. Watching a broadcast of the event is mob boss Don Turtelli. According to him, the Tortellini Emerald once belonged to (i.e. was once stolen by) his grandfather Tony "The Tickler" Turtelli, and he plans to bring it back into the family. As the Great Boldini is about to perform one of his disappearing acts, the lights suddenly go out, and once they come back on, he is seen tied up, claiming someone stole the emerald.
As a search for the emerald begins Zach and Caitlin become suspicious of Boldini due to Zach reading about a magic trick involving tying yourself up in a magic book and Boldini looked identical to the description in it, so they begin to follow him leading them to the museum’s basement where they find him removing the emerald from a pipe, just as Don Turtelli comes out of a grate on the floor leading to the sewers. They then learn that the two are cousin's , with Zach recognizing Don Turtelli from one of the Turtle's stories.
Meanwhile, the NYPD led by Lieutenant Fronski arrives on the scene, he has his men secure the area, and prepares to search everyone.
In the basement, Caitlin is able to snatch the emerald from the Don before he can get away, and she and Zach make a run for it.
April tries to help the Turtles escape by telling the police they are with her but they refuse forcing the Turtles to reveal themselves. Lieutenant Fronski jumps to the conclusion that the Turtles stole the emerald, so orders them arrested.
Trying to escape the basement Zach and Caitlin accidentally run into a dead end with Don Turtelli and Boldini trapping them in. Quickly, Caitlin fake's throwing the emerald to distract them, then gives it to Zach and tells him to run. He is able to run past them and hide but Turtelli is able to grab Caitlin. Holding her in mid air with one arm he calls out to Zach, offering to trade Caitlin for the emerald, calling her his girlfriend, which Zach denies. Don Turtelli tells him he doesn't have time to discuss there relationship so he pulls out a feather with his free hand, threatening to tickle Caitlin with it.
Just as the Turtles are about to be arrested, Sgt. O'Flaherty, a bumbling policeman, somehow begins to believe that the Turtles are leprechauns, which gives the Turtles a chance to escape, borrowing April's news van to escape as O'Flaherty pursues in a police cruiser.
Back in the museum, Turtelli tells Zach, who is still in hiding, that it is his last chance to give him the emerald or he will tickle Caitlin. When Caitlin yell's at Zach not to do it, Turtelli try's to scare her by asking if she wants her armpit's or the soles of her feet tickled. Suddenly, Rat King arrives, accusing Turtelli and Boldini of trespassing in his kingdom uninvited when Turtelli built an escape tunnel under the museum in the sewers which the Rat King says is his domain. Because of this Zach and Caitlin quietly escape while they're distracted. The Rat King then demands they give him the emerald as a tax for using the tunnel, which Tortelli refuses to, however, as Boldini points out the kids have the emerald and they’ve just escaped.
The Rat King.
When the Turtles are eventually able to escape the cops, they receive a call from April checking to see if they are okay and if they've seen the kids. They then realize they must still be in the museum.
Having lost the kids The Rat King offers to find the kids for a reward, and Don Turtelli agrees. The Rat King then uses his rats to chase everyone outside the museum and then sabotages the museum's master controls, locking everyone outside, with Zach and Caitlin trapped inside with the villains.
The Turtles sneak back near the museum to meet up with April and see a truck marked "Turtelli", concluding Don Turtelli must be behind this.
Back inside, Zach and Caitlin have made it to the museum's entrance, only to find it locked. With the villains closing in on them they realize they have to hide the emerald, Caitlin is then able to think of the last place they'd look for it and has Zach follow her.
Outside April informs the Turtles about the invasion of rats. They then conclude that not only is Don Turtelli in there, but the Rat King is too and they have no way of getting to the kids.
In the meantime however, inside the museum's antique furniture exhibit, Zach and Caitlin have already captured and have begun being subjected to tickle torture. Kneeling in front of the two, who have been tied up side by side on a pair of chairs and footstools, Don Turtelli tells them to reveal where they hid the emerald or they'll be sorry, as he uses his feather to tickle the soles of their bare feet,
Back outside the Turtles investigate the van, and they discover a hole in the bottom and that the van was parked over a sewer grate, concluding that this is how Turtelli got in and how they can get in too. However, the Turtles are suddenly cornered by Sgt. O'Flaherty, who is more competent than believed when he manages to sneak up and trap the Turtles undetected (although he still believes the Turtles are leprechauns). However, O'Flaherty believes in reasonable doubt, as there was no proof that they stole the emerald and lets them go so they can try and infiltrate the museum, under the agreement that they have one hour to retrieve the emerald and prove their innocence, or they will willingly surrender to the NYPD.
Caitlin tickled.
Back inside, as Don Turtelli continues to tickle torture Zach and Caitlin's bare feet, the Rat King decides he has had enough of watching so he decides to look for some art to steal. In the art gallery, the Rat King is trying to decide which painting to take when he is confronted by the Turtles. He then throws a smoke bomb to escape. After the smoke clears, the Turtles begin hearing the laughter coming from Zach and Caitlin's tickle torture, so the Turtles decide to follow the sound.
The Rat King then makes it to the computer room and uses the sabotaged computer system to create a snowstorm inside the museum, and the Turtles are caught in it.
Back in the furniture exhibit, Zach finally brakes, no longer able to stand his bare feet being tickle tortured and tells Don Turtelli where they hid the emerald, which is in its original display case. They are then hit by the snowstorm, which the kids use as a distraction to get away. The Don decides not to go after them as they have the emerald now, so he and Boldini make their way to the sewer exit.
As the Turtles fight through the snowstorm, they manage to find the kids, who inform them about the emerald. Deciding they need to shut off the snowstorm, Donatello takes Caitlin with him to fix the computer system as she knows where it is, while the other Turtles and Zach go after Turtelli and Boldini and successfully retrieve the Tortellini Emerald and catch the villains thanks to Zack and Mikey using a little magic to complete those tasks. However, The Rat King manages to escape capture. Donatello and Caitlin then arrive saying they had successfully fixed the computer and opened the doors, followed by April and Sgt. O'Flaherty. The Turtles then decide to make a quick exit followed by Zach and Caitlin, asking April to cover for them.
When Lieutenant Fronski arrives with backup, April is already filming Sgt. O'Flaherty taking credit for arresting Don Turtelli and Boldini and recovering the emerald, but claims he could not have accomplished it without help from the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Leprechauns". Michaelangelo, watching this news footage, says that it is true and starts performing an Irish dance for everyone.
See also[]
Notes and errors[]
- When Raphael said he looks terrible in stripes, his mouth didn't move. (The subtitles cover this up by saying he was thinking the line instead of saying it.}
- Raphael and Leonardo had opposite colors when Donatello read the side of Don Turtelli's van. Plus, the "L" on Leonardo (in Raphael's colors) is white.
- Zach was missing his backpack just before he told Turtelli where the emerald is.
- In the close-up shot of Donatello's face at the museum, his eyes are overlapping his mask and his mask does not have an inkline applied to it.
- When Caitlin was Captured by Don Turtelli and camera made zoom on Turtelli holding her, her hair-clip was changed from pink to blue and her t-shirt color changed from pink into yellow, that was Zach t-shirt color.
- When Caitlin tells of Donatello in the computer room, Donatello's "D" is white.
- When Donatello lifts Caitlin onto his shoulders in the art gallery, a shot of the wooden crates from the museum basement are shown instead.
- The "6" on the Newsvan is reversed when the Turtles pull into the sewers.
- During the close-up of Zach's feet to be tickled, it can be noticed in the background that Caitlin has two left feet.
- When the Turtles catch Turtelli and Boldini in the basement, Raphael is animated as speaking Michelangelo's line.
- When Donatello tells Kaitlin that April is "an associate Turtle", it's being said by Leonardo.
Trivia[]
- One odd note is that this episode seems to contradict the information on Zach's age given earlier. While Zach is said to be going on 14 in the episode in which he first appears, here he acts more like a younger child (around 8 or 9). When one of the villains captures Caitlin and threatens Zach with harm to his "girlfriend", Zach acts disgusted and says "yuck, she's not my girlfriend" - behavior one might expect from a pre-adolescent, but not an adolescent.
- Final appearance of Don Turtelli and his goons.
- Vernon, Mr. Thompson, Irma, Shredder, Rocksteady, Bebop, and Krang don't appear in this episode.
- Giovanni Boldini (31 December 1842 – 11 July 1931) was an Italian genre and portrait painter who lived and worked in Paris for most of his career. According to a 1933 article in Time magazine, he was known as the "Master of Swish" because of his flowing style of painting.
Home media releases[]
VHS[]
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Great Boldini (Burger King Promotional Videos)
DVD[]
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Volume 6
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection