Rise of the Turtles

"Rise of the Turtles" is the first episode and series premiere of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The first part of the episode premiered on 28 September 2012 while the full episode premiered on 29 September 2012.

"Your favorite three toed, pizza eating heroes are back!!"

Official Description
When Splinter allows his teenage sons, the Mutant Ninja Turtles, to visit the surface for the first time, they discover that the surface world isn't as simple as it first appears.

Part 1
The episode opens up with a shot of New York City. The screen moves down to the sewers, where we see the turtles training. Leo vs Mikey and Raph vs Donnie. Leo beats Mikey, and Raph beats Donnie. The training ends with Leo vs Raph, and Raph wins. Splinter then comes in telling the turtles that they have done very well, but Raph says he did better. Splinter gets annoyed by this and pressure points Raph in the neck causing him to say things such as "good job everyone!".

We then see the turtles eating their dinner, algae and worms. Mikey is the cook and he brings out a cake he made out of more algae and worms for the turtle's "Mutation Day"(which is kind of like their birthday except they were mutated when they were "born"). Mikey begs Splinter to tell the story of how they were mutated, and Splinter does. He tells the story of when he encountered The Kraang and fought them, causing them to drop a canister of ooze, which then caused he and the turtles to mutate. Mikey then call's the empty canister "Mom". Leo then asks Master Splinter, since they are now fifteen, if they could finally go up and visit the surface. Master Splinter is very hesitant, as the boys are young and untested, but he eventually relents (when the turtles do the puppy-eyes) and allows them to go that night. After watching his favorite show "Space Heroes", Leo and his brothers prepare themselves for the trip topside, but not before Splinter gives them warnings about the dangers ahead, and tells them to stay away from strangers and public bathrooms. The turtles journey above ground to the streets of New York City. When they emerge, there is graffiti and garbage everywhere and a hobo sleeping on the street. Mikey takes this in and remarks; "It's so beautiful!".

The Turtles explore New York, and are amazed by all the things that are up there (Donnie being fascinated by all the computers, Mikey with the neon sign in the fortuneteller window, Leo with exploring the city, and Raph just causing a bit of trouble). A pizza delivery guy on a scooter sees them and is shocked. Raph, for fun,  makes a scary face and growls, causing the pizza man to drive away screaming while dropping a box of pizza in the process. Raph laughs while Leo decides to direct his brothers to the rooftops where they'll be less exposed. Mikey notices the pizza, and brings it along with him to the rooftop. The brothers try it, and are instantly hooked. Leo then tells them it is getting late, and that they should head back home, but Donnie seesApril O' Neil and her father Kirby O' Neil walking across the street. Donnie instantly falls in love, and goes googly-eyes on her. Suddenly, The Kraang appear, and attempt to kidnap April and her father. The turtles rush to save them. They have a hard time fighting since they were trained to fight as individuals, and not as a team. They keep bumping into each other, and spoiling each other's attacks. A Kraang grabs April, but Donnie throws his Bo-Staff at it, and catches April. April then screams, causing Donnie to also scream. He tells her they are the good guys, and trying to help. But, just when she is about to grab his hand, Mikey knocks his nunchaku into him, and the Kraang get away with her.

Leo, Raph, and Don chase their truck, and Mikey is about to follow when he sees a Kraang behind him. He tries to fight him but cannot win. He then runs away with the Kraang right behind him. Mikey is cornered, and uses his Kusarigama to slash at the Kraangs face. The Kraang then falls to the ground, and Mikey realizes it was a robot and not really a human. The Kraang brain briefly attaches to Mikey's face before running away. Mikey then tells the other turtles about this, but they don't believe him.

The Turtles then go back to the sewer, where Splinter is disappointed in them. This causes the turtles to start blaming each other; Raph blaming Leo for stabbing him with his swords, Leo blaming Donnie for just taking off, Donnie blaming Mikey for hitting him with his nunchucks, and Mikey then accidentally blames Splinter for letting them go topside. Splinter, to the surprise of them all, agrees. He is partly to blame as he trained them to fight as indviduals and not as a team and, being their sensei and father, he must take some of the responsibility. He then tells them they were not ready for the surface and that they could try again in another year but Donnie tells Splinter about the O'Neils and that they were counting on them to save them. Master Splinter looks at the picture of his wife and infant baby Miwa and finally agrees.

The turtles set out to find clues and run into a man called Snake, a criminal on the Kraang's payroll. The turtles capture him and, under threat of mutation, he tells them about the Kraang and their plot against the Earth. Apparently, they have been abducting scientists all over the city.

Part 2
The turtles have Snake take them to a Kraang hideout and they settle in to stake it out. Mikey is set to guard Snake but, due to his ADHD, Snake escapes. Leo and Raph pursue Snake and, knowing he is hiding in an alley, they stage a fake plan to attack the Kraang compound, knowing that Snake will take the bait and tell the Kraang to prepare. The turtles get ready to go up to the surface again. Leo plans the attack, Donnie fabricates some wall-scaling claws, Raph talks to his pet turtle Spike, and Mikey annoys him. As Leo is planning the rescue, he remarks that he thinks his plan will work. Splinter comes in and tells Leo that no plan ever survives reality, and success will depend on how he and the others cope with the unexpected.

The turtles send Snake's van crashing into the gates of the compound, creating a distraction for them to scale the wall. They enter the compound and realize that Mikey was right about the brains in robot bodies after all. They locate April and her father but they are loaded onto a helicopter and lifted away. Meanwhile, Snake, having been covered in mutagen by the van crash, is now the weed monster; Snakeweed! Raph, Leo, and Mikey fight Snakeweed while Donnie attacks the helicopter and manages to save April. The turtles eventually manage to defeat Snakeweed, however it is shown that he survived and that he will be back someday with revenge in mind.

The turtles take April to her Aunt's house where she vows to find her Dad and the turtles promise to help. Back at the lair, it is shown that one of the turtles' shuriken was found by the police. In Tokyo, The Shredder, along with two of his ninjas, happen to be watching this news bulletin and notice Yoshi's distinguishable insignia on the ninja star. Seeing this, the Shredder is contented, remarking that he can at last finish what he startled all those years ago. After ordering one of his ninjas to prepare his jet, the Shredder stands up, dons his helmet, and prepares to journey to New York to 'visit' his old friend...

Splinter's Wisdom
"No plan ever survives contact with the enemy. It is how you react to the unexpected that will determine if you and brothers succeed."

Saving April

Character Debuts

 * Leonardo
 * Donatello
 * Raphael
 * Michelangelo
 * Master Splinter
 * Spike
 * April O' Neil
 * Kirby O' Neil
 * The Kraang
 * Snake / Snake weed
 * Tang Shen (Flashback)
 * Miwa (Flashback)
 * The Foot Clan
 * Shredder

Reception

 * This episode recieved a 7.9/10 from 124 users on IMDB.com.

Trivia

 * April and her father are introduced when walking in front of the Second Time About... Antique Store, which April inherited from her father in some continuities of the live-action films & the previous incarnation.
 * When the Turtles start exploring the streets, one of the store windows they pass has the word "Ventimillia" on it. This is a reference to J.R. Ventimilia, one of the producers and writers for the series.
 * This is the longest 1-hour special in the series, with a record of approximately 48 minutes long. If the special was split into halves, then part 2 would still be the longest in the entire series with a record of 25 minutes.

Errors

 * When Leo asked Mikey what the frosting on the cake was made out of, his eyes were smaller than they should be.
 * Also Donatello's Bo Staff holer was missing in some scenes.

Gallery
See/Rise of the Turtles/Gallery.