The Unconvincing Turtle Titan

	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 1; February 8, 2003 - November 1, 2003; List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes
	Episodes: Things Change; A Better Mousetrap; Attack of the Mousers; Meet Casey Jones; Nano; Darkness on the Edge of Town; The Way of Invisibility; Fallen Angel; Garbageman; The Shredder Strikes, Part 1; The Shredder Strikes, Part 2; The Unconvincing Turtle Titan; Notes from the Underground, Part 1; Notes from the Underground, Part 2; Notes from the Underground, Part 3; The King; The Shredder Strikes Back, Part 1; The Shredder Strikes Back, Part 2; Tales of Leo; The Monster Hunter; Return to New York, Part 1; Return to New York, Part 2; Return to New York, Part 3; Lone Raph and Cub; The Search for Splinter, Part 1; The Search for Splinter, Part 2; Season 1 – Season 2 – Season 3 – Season 4 – Ninja Tribunal – Fast Forward - Back to the Sewer

“The Unconvincing Turtle Titan”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) episode
Season Code:	S01E12
Episode:	12
Original airdate	May 3, 2003
Written by	Marty Isenberg
Supervising Producer	Lloyd Goldfine
Producers:	Gary Richardson
	Frederick U. Fierst
	Al Kahn
	Norman Grossfeld
	Thomas Kenney
Supervising Director	Chuck Patton
Story Editor:	Lloyd Goldfine
Episode chronology
"The Shredder Strikes, Part 2"	"Notes from the Underground, Part 1"

"The Unconvincing Turtle Titan" is the twelfth episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It first aired on May 3rd, 2003. It had 2.04 million views on the 4kids website as of 2007.

Characters

Major Characters

Dr. Malignus (David Brimmer) (debut)
Michelangelo/Turtle Titan (Wayne Grayson)
Silver Sentry (Terrence Archie) (debut)

Minor Characters

Episode

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

Voice-Over Introduction

Michelangelo: Nope, you haven't tuned into the wrong show. That's me, Mikey, under the cape and cowl. The flying dude up in the sky, his name's Silver Sentry. We're in the middle of our first superhero type team up - he just doesn't know it yet. You'd think an earthbound turtle like me would have a rough time keeping up with a guy who can soar through the sky like an eagle, and you know what? You'd be right.

Plot summary

While training above ground, Michelangelo comments on how peaceful it is since they defeated the Shredder and how they ought to do more to help mankind. A little further on, they come upon a burning building with a child trapped inside. Mikey wants to save her, but Leonardo tells him to stay put. Before long, Silver Sentry shows up, saves the kid, and puts out the fire. Awed by seeing one of his heroes in action, Mikey suggests that the Turtles become a band of superheroes, but his brothers just laugh at the idea.

Back at the lair, Master Splinter is training Leo, Don and Raph, but rather than paying attention to his exercises, Mike is doodling some sketches of costumes that the TMNT might wear as super heroes, which becomes the point of general criticism and ridicule for the evening. Mikey tries to convince Splinter that they could do more good as superheroes than as ninjas, but Splinter cautions him against being seen and declares that everyone must choose the path that is true to themselves.

Mikey gathers his sketches and heads topside to get some advice from April. April encourages Mikey in his intentions and helps him create a costume from stuff at her shop. With his new costume and the alias "Turtle Titan," Mikey patrols the streets in search of crime, but each time he tries to help, he ends up looking guilty or silly. Also, everyone he tries to help turns out to be in a trance until a robotic bug scurries away from them, at which point they recover with no memory of what has happened. At the end of one his misadventures involving a runaway bus, the Silver Sentry saves Mikey from going into the river with his cape trapped in a bus door. Afterward, he warns Mikey away from super heroics, telling him it's too dangerous. Mikey, however, is able to show him the robotic bug he managed to take off the bus driver, and Silver Sentry recognizes it as the work of his archenemy, Dr. Malignus.

Silver Sentry tracks the bug's signal to a warehouse. Instead of bringing Turtle Titan along, Silver Sentry flies him in the opposite direction, telling him that he will take care of Malignus. He then flies off to Dr. Malignus' secret lair, but undeterred, Mikey follows on foot. The Turtle falls behind, but is able to find the building. As Mikey enters the building, he becomes acquainted with Dr. Malignus, who shortly sends Silver Sentry, now under his mind control, to attack him!

Mikey engages the Sentry, but proves no match for his flight powers, super strength and resilience. When things start to look hopeless, Mikey decides to lose the superhero costume and fight like a ninja. Using the techniques Master Splinter was teaching earlier, Mikey is able to dodge the Silver Sentry's attack and remove the bug from him. Silver Sentry, recognizing Turtle Titan's talent, teams up with him to capture Dr. Malignus, who is stopped by Mikey while attempting to use an escape tunnel through the sewers.

Once Malignus has been taken away, Silver Sentry thanks Mike for his help, and Mikey decides (for now, at least) that a superhero's workload is a bit out of his league. He gets back to the lair and, after shrugging off some more teasing from his brothers, turns on the evening news, where the Silver Sentry officially thanks the Turtle Titan for his help. Leo, Don, and Raph are taken by surprise, but Mikey denies any involvement in the matter and then asks Splinter to renew their training session.

Quotes

Michelangelo: Have you noticed how much safer the streets are since we put the smackdown on that Shredder dude? Looks like we really accomplished something for the greater good.
[Leo, Don, and Raph laugh]
Leonardo: "Greater good"? Puh-lease.
Donatello: What are you, running for office?
Raphael: Get over yourself already.
Michelangelo: Fine, make fun. But I still think we could be doing a whole lot more to help people.

Michelangelo: See? Now that's what I'm talking about. There's a guy who doesn't have to stick to the shadows and look what he's able to do! [pauses] Hey, that's it! We should become super heroes!

Donatello: [raises brow] Exsqueeze me?

Michelangelo: Yeah yeah! Go out on nightly patrols, thwart crimes, help the helpless, rescue the...rescueless!

Donatello: I think you've got your mask on too tight, Mikey. The oxygen's not making it to your brain.

Michelangelo: Don't you get it? We'd have secret identities to protect ourselves. We could work out in the open.

Leonardo: Reading way too many comic books, Mikey.

[Leo, Don, and Raph look at Mikey's superhero sketches]

Leonardo: Hey, check this out.

Raphael: What is that? The Ninjustice League?

Donatello: More like the Shelltastic Four.

Leonardo: The Legion of Sewer Heroes!

[All three laugh]

Michelangelo: Well, hardy har. Even our level-headed leader gets a funny in.

Splinter: [To Mikey] There are many paths, my son. You must choose the one that's true to yourself.

Michelangelo: I'm a Turtle, not a titan.

Trivia

First time a superhero appears in the series.
Officers Eastman and Laird show up at Crazy Manny's store.
Turtle Titan (Michelangelo in disguise) uses a grappling hook. Michelangelo also used a grappling hook as his regular weapon in the UK's Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles series and in the later seasons of the 1987 Ninja Turtles series, when nunchakus were banned for being too violent.
In 1993, Playmates Toys released an action figure of Michelangelo as a superhero, called Super Mike. This figure only slightly resembles the Turtle Titan of the 2003 cartoon.
In this episode, Don refers to Star Wars by saying "Exqueese me," (Jar Jar Binks). He also later makes a reference to the Fantastic Four, as does Raph to the Justice League, and Leo to the Legion of Super Heroes.

Gallery

The Unconvincing Turtle Titan/Gallery

External Links

"The Unconvincing Turtle Titan" at The Official TMNT Web Site (archived)