The back half of CBS’ first season of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (Season 4, episodes 27-39) (1990) is around the time my interest started to wane. At age 12, I was starting to get into more mature stuff … like “TMNT” comic books. I was far from bowing out of the cartoon, but on this rewatch, my memory indicates that I watched these episodes less than those of the first three seasons.
They aren’t bad by “TMNT’s” (admittedly low) standards; it’s just that by now one would hope the writers would raise the bar a little. That wasn’t done back then, though; it was all about cranking out product and selling toys.
The action figures are revolting
The first of this batch, “Michaelangelo Meets Bugman” (episode 27, written by Dennis Marks) seems like a pitch for a Bugman toy, but – bizarrely — Playmates never made one. NECA did make Bugman and his rival, Electrozapper, this year, though. Weirdly animated in an almost anime style, the story is rushed and nonsensical as Marks attempts a parody/homage of famous superheroes; Bugman has traits of Spider-Man, the Hulk and others.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” Season 4, episodes 27-39 (1990)
CBS
Episodes: “Michelangelo Meets Bugman” (27), “Poor Little Rich Turtle” (28), “What’s Michelangelo Good For?” (29), “The Dimension X Story” (30), “Donatello’s Degree” (31), “The Big Cufflink Caper!” (32), “Leonardo Versus Tempestra” (33), “Splinter Vanishes” (34), “Raphael Drives ‘Em Wild” (35), “Beyond the Donatello Nebula” (36), “Big Bug Blunder” (37), “The Foot Soldiers are Revolting” (38), “Unidentified Flying Leonardo” (39)
Producer: Fred Wolf
Writers: Dennis Marks (27), David Wise (28, 30, 32), Ted Pedersen and Francis Moss (29, 34), Jack Mendelsohn (31), Misty Taggart (33, 35), Dennis O’Flaherty (36), Michael Reaves (37, 38), Sean Roche (39)
Another seeming action-figure intro episode is “Leonardo Versus Tempestra” (33, Misty Taggart). Remarkably, there’s no Tempestra figure yet. She’s a cool concept – a video-game villain who becomes real (and has it out for Leo) thanks to a lightning strike. This is written as a big action showcase, and as fans know by now, the cartoon does not do action well.
At least “Tempestra” lingers in one’s brain as a concept, unlike “Beyond the Donatello Nebula” (36, Dennis O’Flaherty). The first of O’Flaherty’s eight episodes introduces Algernon (again, no action figure), a lizard alien who emerges amid Donnie’s search for intelligent extra-terrestrial turtle life in the Turtle Nebula.
It’s actually a constellation, a mistake we’d expect “TMNT” to make. It’s also no surprise that the show forgets that alien mutant turtles were introduced earlier this very season in “Planet of the Turtles.” In fact, Donnie himself visited that alien world!
The super-smart Foot Soldier Alpha-1, from “The Foot Soldiers Are Revolting” (38, Michael Reaves), is designed similarly to the advanced Foot robots from the Archie comics. But by now I realize things like this are usually coincidences. This is a decent episode, with a relatively smart (for kids) slave-revolt story that finds Krang and Shredder kicked out of their own Technodrome. NECA came through with an Alpha-1 figure in 2021.
A Punk Frog, Leatherhead and the Rat King return
“Big Bug Blunder” (37, Reaves) – wherein Bebop and Rocksteady spill mutagen, mutating a fly instead of swatting it — would seem to be an opportunity to tie in “mega mutant” action figures Killer Bee and Needlenose. But nope, the animators go with other mutant bugs.
However, this half-hour does include a Metalhead cameo and finds Genghis Frog (not coincidentally, the first Frog to get an action figure) visiting the Turtles in the big city. I never reject a Punk Frog guest appearance, but this one is less amusing than “Leatherhead, Terror of the Swamp.”
Also not as strong as past Leatherhead and Rat King episodes — but at least it is a Leatherhead/Rat King episode — is “Splinter Vanishes” (34, Francis Moss and Ted Pedersen). Though not well-written by adult standards — Splinter supposedly abandoning the Turtles is nonsensical — this is a powerful and memorable episode for kids, and it sometimes makes “best of” lists.
The Turtles each go off on their own, a premise the 2007 “TMNT” movie would borrow in surprisingly direct fashion. Donnie repairs gadgets here, computers in the movie; Leo focuses on his ninja skills (teaching a class, and going off to train solo); Mikey gets a job fitting his personality (pizza chef, and party clown); and Raph is a party entertainer here (whereas he’s a solo superhero in the movie). I kind of wish Raph was a cabbie, but we’ll get that (sort of) one episode later.
Because of the surprising premise, mysterious story (by kiddie standards) and return of two cool villains, I have to rank “Splinter Vanishes” as the best of this batch. Some others make a push for that title, though.
Semi-big episodes
“The Dimension X Story” (30, David Wise) is the season’s first episode chronologically, as it shows the Technodrome getting stuck in lava on the Dimension X asteroid, its status for the entire season. With the Turtles – and even April, Vernon and Irma – in the Technodrome and then exploring the surrounding asteroid (including a jaunt to a wrestling ring that calls to mind early Mirage), this is a lively episode.
“The Big Cufflink Caper!” (32, Wise) also has cachet, as it initially aired in primetime before the Saturday morning block kicked off with “Son of Return of the Fly Part II,” which is generally counted as the first CBS episode. It’s fun to see the usual gangsters like Big Louie (voiced in classic mob boss style by Splinter actor Peter Renaday), plus newcomer Baby Face “The Beaver” Cleaver (a little person voiced by Leo actor Cam Clarke).
But the plot is the same as “Case of the Hot Kimono,” which I found funnier. I give a light clap to the purposeful noir cliches, but again another episode did it better – “The Maltese Hamster.”
Venturing beyond the sewers
Some absurdist humor is to be had in “Caper,” and this continues with Baby Face’s appearance in “Raphael Drives ’Em Wild” (35, Taggart). This body-switch romp gains extra amusement from a gruff cabbie’s voice coming from Raphael – a rare case where a voice-character mismatch is on purpose.
A different kind of identity-swap story, “Donatello’s Degree” (31, Jack Mendelsohn), is endemic of a common problem with “TMNT”: A writer comes up with a potential-laden premise, but the execution is flat. Because correspondence degree-owning Donnie is a mutant turtle, Irma must take his place as “Donna Tello” at a banquet.
Humor doesn’t ensue like it should, the writer or animators forget that Donnie is supposed to be undercover, Vernon has his most out-of-character moment (desiring a kiss from April), and the device that makes the Earth increase its rotation speed ranks among the show’s most inexplicable.
It’s Mikey’s turn to leave the lair for a solo adventure in “What’s Michaelangelo Good For?” (29, Pedersen and Moss), another mad-scientist tale but one of the better ones thanks to Mikey’s friendship with a female vet who nurses Mikey’s pet pigeon. This one directly borrows from “The Island of Dr. Moreau” with multi-animal hybrids (such as an elephant head on a tiger body), a rare case where “TMNT” remembers humans don’t always have to provide half of the DNA.
Season 4 ends on a high note with “Unidentified Flying Leonardo” (39, Sean Roche). Roche’s only episode has plot layers and an amusing premise of Leo being mistaken for an alien in an upstate small town. Riffing on old monster movies like “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” and featuring another mad scientist (a mad scientist/farmer in this case), plus a yokel named Billy Jim Bob McJames, this is solid kids’ TV – in on its jokes rather than being accidentally ridiculous.
Poor little worst episode?
At the other end of the spectrum, “Poor Little Rich Turtle” (28, Wise) is the worst “TMNT” episode according to IMDb voters. It’s entirely because of the bratty voice Irma actress Jennifer Darling gives to Buffy Shellhammer, an entitled heiress. It’s not close to being the worst-written episode (Wise can be relied on for at least mediocrity), but voters are basically saying they’re fine watching something dumb, as long as they don’t also have to be annoyed.
In a rare age-appropriate crush for a series where the writers sometimes forget the Turtles are 15, Mikey has a thing for Buffy until he realizes she’s not a nice person; but then she has a nice little redemption arc. Although I don’t desire a rewatch, it’s not terribly far from being a good episode.
That’s a common refrain for adults rewatching “TMNT.” Several episodes are almost good, but not quite. More effort goes into the CBS portion of Season 4 than the syndicated portion, but not to the point where writers or animators are putting a polish on these episodes.