“What's Michelangelo Good For?” | |||||||
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 Cartoon) episode | |||||||
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Season Code: | 04 | ||||||
Episode: | 29 | ||||||
Original airdate | October 16, 1990 | ||||||
Written by | Ted Pedersen Francis Moss | ||||||
Supervising Producer | Fred Wolf | ||||||
Producers: | Walt Kubiak | ||||||
Supervising Director | Bill Wolf | ||||||
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What's Michelangelo Good For? is a season 4 episode of the 1987 TV series.
Appearing in What's Michelangelo Good For?[]
Major characters[]
- Donatello (Barry Gordon)
- Dr. Lesseau (Barry Gordon) (debut)
- Jane Goodfellow (Phylicia Rashad) (debut)
- Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
- Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
- Pigeon Pete (debut)
- Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
Minor characters[]
- April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
- Brutus (debut)
- Splinter (Peter Renaday)
- Zoo director (Rob Paulsen)
Species[]
- Humans
- Pigeons
- Mutant hybrids
- Mutant gorilla/water buffalo
- Mutant tiger/elephant
- Mutant toucan/rabbit/bird
- Mutant wolf/horse
- Mutant rat
- Mutant turtles
- Robots (Chimp, wolf, bear)
- Tiger
- Toucan
- Wolf
Objects and vehicles[]
- Rowboat
- Mutater laser
- Security camera
- Turtle Van
Locations[]
- New York City
- Center Park Zoo
- Sewers of New York City
- Island of Dr. Lesseau
Plot[]
The Ninja Turtles take a visit to the zoo, so that Dr. Jane Goodfellow can give veterinary treatment to Michelangelo's pigeon friend Pete, who had broken his wing. Michelangelo - who communicates with Pete through pigeon coos - is informed that his feathered friend is ready to fly once again.
April also happens to be there, covering the mysterious vanishing of several zoo animals in the middle of the day. While the Turtles are making repairs to the Turtle van, pigeons fly by and Michelangelo sadly releases Pete into the wild.
He decides to hang out at the zoo a little longer while the others set out for home. But a trio of robots appear behind the Turtle Van, disarm the Turtles and drag them into a massive submarine in the lake. The only witness is Pete.
That night, Michelangelo returns home to discover that the other Turtles haven't yet gotten back. Splinter has sensed something evil about an island covered in mist, and tells Michelangelo that he must rescue the other three. Michelangelo doesn't believe he can do it because he lacks the intelligence or leadership of the others, but Splinter tells him that he's ready to do this.
Back at the zoo, Michelangelo finds the empty Turtle Van, and encounters Pete, who tells him what he saw. Dr. Goodfellow finds him sitting outside the zoo, where she offends him by doubting that he can understand Pete. He finds a piece of Donatello's bo, and Dr. Goodfellow confirms that strange footprints were found in the zoo.
The Turtles find themselves caged in a laboratory run by the evil ex-director Dr. Lesseau, where strange mutant animals have been created using a ray gun (such as a tiger-elephant or a toucan-rabbit). His goal is to create a single kind of animal with the best traits of them all, so he can conquer the world. He wants the Turtles' intellects as part of his uber-animal.
Figuring out that the Turtles are on an island, Michelangelo and Dr. Goodfellow find a rowboat and are led to the island by Pete.
Donatello is dragged out of his cell and strapped down under a dissecting laser, when Lesseau is distracted by the imminent arrival of Goodfellow and Michelangelo. Suddenly the submarine fires a torpedo at them, and then tries to ram the rowboat. Michelangelo fouls the propeller, sending it careening off and causing it to explode.
When the rowboat goes through a patch of lily pads, Michelangelo notices that they're ticking. He leaps out and pushes the boat through safely, but seems to have been blown up by the bombs, much to the horror of the other Turtles. Fortunately, it turns out that he was simply hiding underwater.
Goodfellow, Michelangelo and Pete break their way into the power plant on the island, only to be confronted by more killer robots that Michelangelo destroys. Pete also hampers Lesseau's surveillance by putting twigs and mud over the madman's camera lenses.
One of the mutant animals helps Donatello by pecking loose one of his wrist cuffs, allowing the Turtle to free himself. When Michelangelo and Goodfellow make their way, Donatello springs up and frees the other Turtles. They use the mad doctor's laser against another one of his robots, and Lesseau responds by freeing his mutant animals to kill them. However, the animals now hate Lesseau for what he's done to them, ending in the water-buffalo/gorilla Brutus dragging him back down while Pete pecks at his head.
Fortunately Donatello is able use the ray to turn the mutant animals back to normal, and they are returned to the zoo.
See also[]
Quotes[]
Leonardo: "You're wasting your time. You'll not get the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to help you in your evil work."
Raphael: "Don't you just love the way he delivers those noble speeches?"
Notes and errors[]
- After Michelangelo sets off the island's intruder alarm, Leonardo speaks in Raphael's voice.
- When the turtles are first shown in the cages, Donatello is in the left cage, and Raphael is in the right. But in the following scenes they have swapped cages.
- When Leonardo says Michelangelo's come to rescue them, a part of the top of his shell disappears.
- After Michelangelo saves Dr. Goodfellow, some of the water dripping off of him flickers.
- When Michelangelo spots Pete rustling in the bushes, the shell on his grappling hook looks like a folded up Turtlecom.
- The restraining cuffs on Donatello's arms move from his biceps to his wrists.
Trivia[]
- After Michaelangelo says "Me Michelangelo, You Jane" (a reference to the Tarzan movies staring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan) when he and Jane Goodfellow start swinging on a vine, he breaks the fourth wall by turning to the camera while saying "I've waited the whole show to say that!"
- Dr. Lesseau and his island parodies the original novel and movie adaptation of H. G. Well's The Island of Dr. Moreau.
Home media releases[]
VHS[]
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Michaelangelo Meets Bugman
LaserDisc[]
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Leonardo Lightens Up/Michaelangelo Meets Bugman
DVD[]
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 4
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection