Welcome Back, Polarisoids

“Welcome Back, Polarisoids”
1987 TV series episode
Season Code:	05
Episode:	19
Original airdate	November 16, 1991
Written by	Susan Stewart-Taggart
Producers:
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Zach and the Alien Invaders" "Michelangelo, the Sacred Turtle"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1991 Season 1991 List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes

Episodes: "The Turtles and the Hare" "Once Upon a Time Machine" "My Brother, the Bad Guy" "Michelangelo Meets Mondo Gecko" "Enter: Mutagen Man" "Donatello's Badd Time" "Michelangelo Meets Bugman Again" "Muckman Messes Up" "Napoleon Bonafrog: Colossus of the Swamps" "Raphael Versus the Volcano" "Landlord of the Flies" "Donatello's Duplicate" "The Ice Creature Cometh" "Leonardo Cuts Loose" "Pirate Radio" "Raphael, Turtle of a Thousand Faces" "Leonardo, the Renaissance Turtle" "Zach and the Alien Invaders" "Welcome Back, Polarisoids" "Michelangelo, the Sacred Turtle" "Planet of the Turtleoids, Part 1" "Planet of the Turtleoids, Part 2" 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

Welcome Back, Polarisoids is a season 5 episode of the 1987 TV series.

Appearing in Welcome Back, Polarisoids

Major characters

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

Minor characters

• Fripp (Townsend Coleman)
• Millimeter (Jennifer Darling) (debut)
• F-Stop (Rob Paulsen) (debut)
• Saycheez (Susan Blu) (debut)
• Burne Thompson (Pat Fraley)
• Vernon Fenwick (Peter Renaday)

Species

• Human
• Mutant rat
• Mutant rhinoceros
• Mutant turtle
• Mutant warthog
• Polarisoid

Objects and vehicles

• Channel 6 newsvan
• Comlink
• Fripp's and Millimeter's spacecraft
• Polarisoid camera
• Robot Garbage Truck
• Runaway Subway Car
• Transport Module
• Turtle Van
• Turtlecom

Locations

• Channel 6
• City sewers
• City streets
• Technodrome
• Turtle Lair
• Vinnie's Pizzeria
• Outer space

Plot

Krang sends the Polarisoids an invitation to visit Earth, only the Polarisoids think that the "invite" is from the Turtles. It seems that Krang wants to get a hold of the Polarisoids' camera - the one that literally captures its subjects within the camera. Krang has retained one of the Polarisoids' "home movies" and adapted it so that when it is played in the Polarisoids' camera, it will unleash all the terrorizing aliens that the Polarisoids have "videotaped" on their vacations across the galaxies. Krang believes that these vicious aliens will keep the Turtles busy so that he can take control of New York City in the meantime.

When the Polarisoids locate the surprised Turtles, they have no choice but to invite them back to their lair. On the way, Shredder arrives and steals the Polarisoids camera. He inserts Krang's "tampered" tape and unleashes an alien monster which, true to form, attacks the Turtles. Shredder, Rocksteady and Bebop cause havoc throughout the city when they unleash more and more alien monsters with the Polarisods' camera. And while this is happening, Krang's computer is breaking into computer systems all over the city and taking control.

The city's populace is in a state of panic as the Turtles "put out every little fire that erupts." It looks like Krang will be victorious when Shredder plays back some footage that Fripp shot on a planet with no gravity - everything starts floating away - including the Turtles. But when Shredder has the camera inadvertently knocked out of his hands, Fripp retrieves it and turns it off. While everything comes crashing back to Earth, Donatello successfully inserts a "bug" into Krang's computer, thus destroying it and Krang's hope of dominance.

See also

• Welcome Back, Polarisoids/Gallery
• Welcome Back, Polarisoids/Transcript

Notes and errors

• As Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady enter the Transport Module its door is colored dark blue.
• When the Turtle Van is lifted, Donatello and Raphael both have Leonardo's colors.
• When F-Stop and Saycheez make monster faces to a man in the street, their eyes are yellow in one shot and red in the next.
• The 'M' on Michelangelo's belt is white when Leonardo switches off the TV at the end of the episode.
• When the Turtles reach for the pizza at Vinnie's Pizzeria, all the slices are intact, but there are only four slices seen after Donatello has stopped talking.

Trivia

• Second and final appearance of Fripp and only appearance of his family.
• The Polarisoid name is a parody of the Polaroid instant camera company.
• The Zorg/Zark beast that chased Shredder and the mutants looks like a smaller version of the Gorgonzola robot from "Bebop and Rocksteady Conquer the Universe".
• When Raphael sees cats and dogs falling from the sky, he says the expression “it’s raining cats and dogs” as it literally is.

Home media releases

DVD

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 5
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection