“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” Season 6 (1992, CBS) marks the first time when there was only one episode per week instead of two. Likely because of the decompressed (or, some might say, normal) schedule, the writing gets a smidgen better in the first eight episodes, especially three of them, in this year without a “TMNT” movie.
“TMNT” takes time for thought-out sitcom-style premises (rather than always doing the “Krang’s power grab” or “Technodrome needs energy” plots), brings in guest voice actors and gives nods to continuity in this batch. While not an elite stretch, it does feature “Super Irma” (episode 3, written by David Wise), “Shreeka’s Revenge” (7, Jack and Carole Mendelsohn) and “Too Hot to Handle” (8, the Mendelsohns).
Suuuuper Irma!
“Super Irma” is exactly what you think it is, in a good way: Irma gets superpowers thanks to the ooze of the week. It’s kinda cool that she actually takes her new superhero responsibilities seriously and does reasonably good work at stopping street criminals.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” Season 6, episodes 1-8 (1992)
CBS
Episodes: “Rock Around the Block” (1), “Krangenstein Lives” (2), “Super Irma” (3), “Adventures in Turtle-Sitting” (4), “Sword of Yurikawa” (5), “Return of the Turtleoid” (6), “Shreeka’s Revenge” (7), “Too Hot to Handle” (8)
Producer: Fred Wolf
Writers: David Wise (1, 2, 3, 6), Jack and Carole Mendelsohn (4, 7, 8), Marc Handler (5)
We had seen her bungle around like a klutz in “Attack of the 50-Foot Irma” and other episodes, so this goes against type just enough to be interesting. She probably would’ve been good at the job if not for her powers going away and her costume giving her a rash. (The fact that there’s no Super Irma action figure is a definite oversight of Playmates and NECA.)
“Shreeka’s Revenge” likewise is just unusual enough to be fun, as Krang is intimidated (a rare trait in him) by the titular fellow warlord, whose power-ring he has stolen. Joan Gerber does voice work that reminds me of more epic Eighties cartoons. Again we have a sitcom premise involving April’s birthday – and Burne actually throwing her a surprise party! – that shows these characters don’t have to be one-note.
“Too Hot to Handle” features a nice bit of continuity as Professor Filo Sopho, from “Donatello’s Degree,” returns with another insane scheme – instead of increasing the Earth’s spin, now he’s moving the planet closer to the sun. With Baxter having long since become a mutant fly, Sofo makes a play at becoming “TMNT’s” new No. 1 mad scientist. (However, this would be his last appearance.)
The episode is also a thematic companion piece to “Take Me to Your Leader,” where a Krang invention decreases the sun’s heat. It could also be seen as a companion piece to “Poor Little Rich Turtle,” with Vernon’s 11-year-old nephew Foster – who actually invents the solar magnet that Sopho steals – as the male answer to the precocious Buffy Shellhammer.
Back to the egg … again (and other recycling)
The Turtles don’t reference “Take Me to Your Leader” or “Poor Little Rich Turtle” directly, but that’s not as absurd as the failure of “Adventures in Turtle-Sitting” (4, the Mendelsohns) to reference “Back to the Egg,” as both episodes find some of the Turtles reverting to toddlers.
There, it was Leo and Mike; here it’s Leo, Raph and Don. There, it was a Shredder scheme, here it’s Mikey being a klutz around Donnie’s invention. The broad gag is the same, and that makes the episode redundant and a bit annoying.
“Return of the Turtleoid” (6, Wise) of course is a sequel to “Planet of the Turtleoids,” as Kerma returns. Unfortunately, the plot is directly from “The Terminator,” with Kerma as Destructor X’s Sarah Connor. We’ve seen so many killer robots on “TMNT” by now that I can only yawn at Destructor X.
“Sword of Yurikawa” (5, Marc Handler) is a slightly less interesting version of the Ninja Sword of Nowhere; rather than creating dimensional rifts, this sword can do just about anything the handler wants – which paradoxically makes it uninteresting. This is a good episode for referencing a general trend in Season 6 of having a lot of nighttime scenes. Perhaps this was a mild attempt to make “TMNT” visually cooler for maturing viewers.
Traag and Krang
Not that “TMNT” isn’t still shilling toys. “Rock Around the Block” (1, Wise) could be an attempt to clear General Traag figures off the pegs, but it also demonstrates the still low-budget nature of the animation. Rather than Traag leading Rock Soldier armies, he wields a device of Krang’s that brings boring ole rocks to life to harass the Turtles.
“Krangenstein Lives” (2, Wise) is a mix of continuity and toy shilling, as we’re reminded that Krang’s Android Body has the ability to grow in size. This was seen way back in Season 1’s “Shredder is Splintered,” also by Wise.
The large Krang’s Android Body was one of the cooler Playmates toys of 1991; an action-figure-sized version followed in 1993, thus allowing for multiple sizes to be represented, although they never made one that’s precisely in the cartoon’s proportions.
So there you have the first eight weeks of singular “TMNT” episodes – maybe a smidgen better than the average premises and plots, but still very much maintaining the mission of selling toys via cheap animation.