The Showdown

“The Showdown”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode
Season Code:	09
Episode:	05
Original airdate	October 14, 1995
Written by	David Wise
Producers:
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "The New Mutation" "Split-Second"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1995 Season 1995 List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes

Episodes: "The Unknown Ninja" "Dregg of the Earth" "The Wrath of Medusa" "The New Mutation" "The Showdown" "Split-Second" "Carter, the Enforcer" "Doomquest" 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 Showdown is a the fifth episode of season 9 of the 1987 TV series. It originally aired at CBS on 14 October 1995.

Appearing in The Showdown

Major characters

• April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
• Carter (Bumper Robinson)
• Donatello (Barry Gordon)
• Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
• Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
• Jet McCabe (Robbie Rist) (debut)
• Lord Dregg (Tony Jay)
• Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
• Sleazebug (Cam Clarke) (debut) (mutates)

Minor characters

• TechnoGang
  • Hi-Tech (Rob Paulsen)
• Alien Guard (Robbie Rist)

Species

• Aliens
• Humans
• Mutant turtles

Objects and vehicles

• Teleportation ray
• TurboFlex

Locations

• Pan-Galactic Tournament
• Turtle Lair

Plot

Michelangelo and Carter are playing a video game when it freezes up, and the conversation switches over to an invention Carter created, the TurboFlex. It increased human strength by a factor of twenty, but froze up when a certain move was used. As he leaves, Carter encounters Jet McCabe, an old rival who wants to challenge him to a martial arts battle.

April O'Neil informs the Turtles that every TV station is being jammed with a strange signal, and begins fading into a trance. The Turtles and Carter - whose fight is interrupted - head off to check on it, knowing that Dregg must be behind it. He's using a hypnotic device that will prevent humans from ever turning against him - and in twenty minutes, it will become permanent.

The Turtles mutate again as they break into the satellite station, allowing them to easily whip the TechnoGang. Carter destroys the hypnotic device, breaking April and all others out of it.

Angered, Dregg decides that he could make the TechnoGang more powerful if he could get his hands on mutagen. To do this, he must capture two of the Turtles. He contacts an alien known as Sleazebug, who is paid to find recruits for the Pan-Galactic Tournament, and suggests that the Turtles might be good candidates... but only if his plan is carefully followed.

As Carter and the Turtles recover from their mutations, Carter comes back to his workshop and finds the TurboFlex being used by Jet. Just then, Sleazebug bursts in and abducts Michelangelo, Leonardo, Carter and Jet, sending them to a far-off asteroid elsewhere in the galaxy. All four of them find themselves facing a lifetime of gladiatorial matches, with Michelangelo and Leonardo thrown into the first fights.

Donatello has rigged up a device to help him track Sleazebug, but quickly are trapped by him instead. Dregg comes in to scan their genetic code, and smashes the teleportation ray that transported the others to the asteroid.

Back in the arena, Leonardo throws a fight to save the life of a fellow prisoner, and Carter finds himself fighting the powered-up Jet. During the last fight, the prisoner whose life Leonardo saved sets them free, and tells them where the nearest teleporter is. Jet tries to stop Carter, but ends up frozen when Carter tricks him into doing the move that the TurboFlex can't do. Jet declares that he's staying on that world.

Dregg mutates Sleazebug, who is quite pleased by his new monstrous form, and attacks Donatello and Raphael. Just then the other Turtles and Carter reappear in the room, and Donatello promptly destroys the mutation machine that Dregg had created. It triggers a chain reaction that brings the entire underground facility down around them.

Michelangelo and Carter manage to reprogram their video game, but discover that now it features characters getting along rather than fighting.

See also

• The Showdown/Gallery
• The Showdown/Transcript

Notes and errors

• In the first shot of Dregg on the monitor the background is solid green, but when we see Dregg in person, the walls behind him are colored in correctly.
• When the Turtles are recovering from mutating, the lettering on the front of the Turtle Van is black instead of white.
• When Donatello & Raphael follow the trail and find a secret entrance in the playground, the lettering on the front of the Turtle Van is black again.
• Right before Donatello & Raphael are trapped by Sleazebug, Donatello appears a lot bigger than Raphael, even though Raphael is "closer" to the audience.
• When Leonardo says "Way to go, Michelangelo," his mouth doesn't move.

Trivia

• Robbie Rist who was famous for voicing Michelangelo in the first three movies did the voice of Jet McCabe.

Home media releases

DVD

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Season 9
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection