Shredder and Splintered Review

It is now time to review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Episode 5 Shredder and Splintered. In this episode, Shredder builds Krang his new body and also reveals his retro mutagen device, which can undo mutations. It is the only thing that can turn Master Splinter back to human but it can also turn the Ninja Turtles back to ordinary turtles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Episode 5 Shredder and Splintered aired in syndication on December 18th 1987.


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Episode 5 Shredder and Splintered

This is the final part of the five part mini-series to introduce the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the general population and boy is it a doozy.

So we kick things off with the Shredder managing to hack into the television feed to broadcast a message to the Turtles. He talks about his retro mutagen ray, which can undo mutations. He experiments on one of the random gangsters that has since been turned into a mutant. Obviously while it can turn Splinter back to normal, it can also turn the Turtles back into ordinary household pets.

So the Turtles and Splinter go after the device, but the Neutrino Star Cruiser that was left behind in the last episode, runs out of fuel. It runs on Plutonium which is rather scarce. Donatello thinks that he can rig something up however, but that leaves the final three Turtles and Master Splinter to fight Bebop and Rocksteady. The two mutants are encased in cement, which rather leaves a glaring continuity hole right soon, but we’ll get to that one before too long.

Meanwhile Shredder puts Krang in his new android body, with one minor addition that becomes important later, a molecular implication chip. Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, and Master Splinter show up, causing Shredder to send the Foot Soldiers right after them, but they fight them off. Splinter goes after the gun, while Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo go into the Techndrome, to stop Krang. Shredder fights Splinter, as the Turtles go off against Krang, who’s body grows to about fifty feet tall.

Meanwhile April wants a film crew for the story, but Burne is not receptive. So she threatens him with the Turtle Com, which she claims is a death ray. I’m sure threatening your boss with blowing up his building is considered terrorism or at least illegal. Burne tries to rescind the order but it is too late.

Shredder battles Splinter and the Turtles try and deal with the giant Krang robotic body. Now Krang’s robotic body for lack of a better term looks like a giant bald man in red underwear. An interesting design from Shredder. Donatello saves the day in the Turtle Blimp because we have toys to sell. They try and cut down the chip, with Leonardo slowly and surely trying to hack it with his sword. And he leads. Donatello decides to bust the blasted thing with his bo staff and Krang’s body shrinks. The two Turtles have to make a retreat before they are crunched.

Krang needs more help from Shredder. Splinter is trapped but manages to get out. Of course keeping the remote control to the force field right where Splinter could flick a screw at it might not have been one of Shredder’s smarter moves. Shredder takes the Retromutagen Ray and is ready to blast the Turtles, while saying one of the most quoted lines in the entire cartoon.

“Tonight I dine on Turtle soup.”

Very good but Splinter destroys the gun with his walking stick. Back to the Techndrome, with Shredder and Krang trying to open the portal. In come the Stone Warriors, but thanks to some quick thinking of Donatello, he manages to turn around some circuits, to cause the portal to work in reverse and suck the Techndrome right into Dimension X.

Um, alien science?

And Bebop and Rocksteady were most certainly not in the Technodrome, still trapped in cement and during the next episode they somehow were in the Techndrome in Dimension X. Oh well a small matter, as obviously there was no certainty that we were going to get further episodes past the five episode pilot. So you can’t really complain about it too much.

Shredder throws a tantrum in Dimension X, because he wants to conquer Earth and because Krang is more important. Someone give Shredder a bottle and a binky, I think it’s time for his nap.

Sentiment about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles seems mixed. Nice call back from the gun toting old woman from Episode 1. And that concludes the mini series.

10/10 to wrap up the Mini Series that started off strong, kind of slumped at the middle but reached a peak at the end. You can watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Episode 5 Shredder and Splintered on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 1 DVD.