Metalhead (episode)

"Metalhead" is the 6th episode of Season 1 in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It premiered on October 27th, 2012.

"Teenage Robo Mecha Turtle."

Official Decription
Weary of using a simple Bo to fight the advanced Kraang, Donatello creates Metalhead, a remote controlled robot, to fight in his place.

Plot
The episode opens with the Turtles engaged in a fierce battle against the Kraang. Donnie is finding it difficult to use his Bo-Staff to fight against the advanced technology of the Kraang. The Kraang soon bring out a large, powerful energy cannon, which intimidates the Turtles at first. However,Leo is able to disable it with a well-coordinated Shuriken attack.

All of the Kraang abandon their robotic bodies. Donnie decides to salvage one and adapt its technology to work to his advantage in a new weapon. In the Lair, Splinter agrees to let Donnie change his weapon altogether, citing that ninjas have upgraded and adapted their arsenal for centuries. However, Splinter also charges Donnie with remembering that it is he that must succeed in battle; not his weapon. He also comments that combat is not a video game. Donnie barely hears this (except for the parts "combat" and "video game") and drags the android into his lab to experiment with it.

Elsewhere in the lair, April has created a message board where people can send her pictures and videos of mysterious events in New York. She looks at a video featuring Kraang activity at a nearby Gas Plant. She believes that she can find information about her captive father there. She asks the Turtles to accompany her to the building, but since they hardly ever leave until nightfall, she walks there by herself. She follows a Kraang-droid into the plant and learns of their plans to poison the local water supply with Mutagen in order to test it over a wide margin. When she accidentally causes a fire extinguisher to fall onto the floor, she is nearly captured, but manages to destroy the Kraang that is threatening her.

Later, Donnie unveils his latest innovation, which is a turtle battle drone that Mikey almost immediately names 'Metalhead' because of it having a head and being made out of metal. Leo and Raph are skeptical, saying that the robot takes the point out of being a ninja. Donnie quickly invites them to attack Metalhead. Leo doesn't want to break Donnie's invention, but Raph does want to and he charges. Donnie quickly uses Metalhead's remote control unit to manipulate Metalhead into defeating Raph. Mikey and Leo then attack, but are also defeated. Donnie asks Splinter if he could take his new weapon out for a test run. Splinter allows this, but tells his son not take Metalhead into combat. However, Donnie decides to do so anyway. It is soon clear that, while Metalhead is a force to be reckoned with in battle, he severely lacks in stealth and mobility.

The Turtles soon find April not far from the gas plant and she tells them about the Kraang's plan. Leo leads Raph and Mikey on a mission to infiltrate the lab, but Leo forces Donnie to stay behind due to Metalhead's clumsiness. In the gas plant, Leo, Mikey, and Raph try to fight off a bunch of Kraang, but end up outnumbered and outgunned. Donnie rushes Metalhead to the rescue and begins to decimate the Kraang forces with all kinds of weapons. However, a stray shot from Metalhead hits a shelf of propane tanks, causing them to explode, sending Metalhead flying across the room and breaking his control antennae in the process. One of the Kraang recognizes that Metalhead is derived from Kraang technology and climbs onto the drone's head, somehow managing to gain control of it.

Mikey, Leo, and Raph are left battered and broken at the mind-controlled Metalhead's feet, but Donnie himself then appears, having been told by Splinter to go disarm his own creation and to embrace the weapon that he has. Donnie is able to trick the Kraang-controlled Metalhead into blasting the base of a support pillar, making it fall onto itself, driving the robot's chest into the sharp, broken end of Donnie's staff. The Kraang vows revenge on the Turtles, before abandoning Metalhead, quickly jumping onto Donnie's face and then scurrying away.

Back at the Lair, Donnie feels like everything that happened was because of him. Splinter quickly assures Donnie that it was only his ingenuity, bravery, and "a stick" that destroyed the Mutagen about to be put in the water supply, saved the people of the city, and defeated Metalhead. Donnie feels much better about himself and his staff. However, this hasn't stopped him from seeking to refine his weapon somehow. The episode ends with Leo, Raph, and Mikey running away from an imminent explosion being caused by Donnie's new Laser-Guided Missile Launching Staff...

Splinter's Wisdom
"Technology is a means, not an end. It is you who must prevail in battle, not your weapon."

"Combat is Not a Video Game"

Character Debuts

 * Metalhead