NickToons TMNT Episode 3 Turtle Temper

 By Mark Rodriguez with Thoughts from Johnny Rodriguez

Originally written on October 9, 2012. Keep in mind, these were our thoughts as they were back in 2012 when the show was new and was written shortly after seeing the episodes after their initial broadcast. At the time we had zero way or knowing what to expect.

‘Turtle Temper’ begins with the Turtles staking out from a rooftop to a place they heard from April that The Kraang might hit next. However, a loud-mouthed fat guy living in the apartment below catches sight of the Turtles. Insults start flying between Raph and the guy, and this grabs the attention of The Kraang who start attacking them. During the fight, Vic (as the guy is named in the credits) gets some footage of the Turtles fighting The Kraang with his cellphone. After the fight is over, Raph tries to get the phone away from Vic, but the guy gets away. With sirens in the background already sounding off, the Turtles have to get away.

Later in the sewers, Splinter tells Raphael that he has to keep his temper in check, especially since due to this, someone has video on them. Splinter then suggests a practice exercise with arrows, in which the other three Turtles have to shoot Raph with arrows (suction cup arrows). Raph dodges the first wave just fine, but when Splinter tells them to insult him as they shoot at him, Raph’s anger distracts him and he is hit by all the arrows. 

 Later on the Turtles find Vic again, and Raph asks him nicely to hand over the video. Vic demands money for it and Raph blows up again. The Kraang find the Turtles and another fight breaks out. During the fight, Vic is accidentally knocked into their van, and Raph jumps after him to get the phone back. This however, leaves the other 3 Turtles alone in the fight. As the van drives off, they kidnap Vic and toss Raph into the others. Don noticed the van was leaking oil so they can follow the trail to their hideout. Leo tells Raph to go back home since his temper is just complicating things for them.

At home Splinter finds Raph sulking with his pet turtle Spike. Splinter tells him a story about how once his arch enemy Oroku Saki insulted him to the point where Yoshi attacked him. Such a fight started a long path of hatred in which eventually Saki would kill Yoshi’s wife Tang Shen. In order to succeed, Raph will have to learn to let insults slide so he doesn’t get distracted during a mission.

The Turtles find the hideout and start fighting with The Kraang again. During the fight, Vic tries to get his cellphone back, which is being knocked around all over the place. When he finally gets it, a spider also leaps on it, and a random gun blast hits a glass casing with mutagen above him. The mutagen spills out and turns Vic into a huge spider monster, which Mikey calls Spider Bytes. The new mutant has the ability to spit acid which makes him very dangerous to the Turtles. Raph shows up and Spider Bytes brings on the insults. This time Raph is able to ignore him and kick his butt. As the other Turtles arrive to join him, Spider Bytes escapes to fight another day. Leo congratulates Raph on being able to control his temper, but Mikey insults him which makes him angry again.

Mark's Thoughts-

This was an interesting episode, and the first thing I have to say is that this was a very original way to cover Raph’s temper. Past versions always have Raph get pissy about whatever, leave the group and run into Casey Jones. This episode about some random jerk wanting to blackmail them after filming them on his cellphone is a whole new way to do it. The whole cellphone thing brings in a nod to modern technology and reminds me that such a plot couldn’t have been made back in the 80’s toon. Sure someone could have filmed them with a regular camera, but how often does one happen to walk around with a video camera, unlike today where almost everyone has a cellphone or an i-phone?

Vic was an entertaining character, just a rude loudmouth jerk. Probably not the brightest guy either. He throws insults at Raph without being freaked out that he’s a giant talking turtle (or kung fu frogs as he calls them) and he wants to sell the video to The Kraang, not minding that these guys all look alike and fire off space age blasters. My favorite line of his was when called Raphael’s sais ‘salad tongs’.

The main issue with the ep was that nothing really happened to move the plot forward. Last time we saw them, they were determined to find April’s dad. In this episode April’s name was a casual mention and they get sidetracked in their mission. Yes, Vic did throw a wrench into their original plan to find the Kraang’s hideout… but later on when they do, the fight with Spider Bytes seems to make them forget all about it.

The moment Spider Bytes appears, the Kraang they were fighting suddenly disappear. And after the monster got away, the Turtles basically call it a day. I mean they just found the Kraang’s hideout and there was not a mention of searching the place for April’s father. Yes, the side-goal was to get the video back, but the main goal was to find April’s father, and it seems forgotten about all of a sudden. Plus, since they were in the hideout… wouldn’t an army of Kraang come in to attack them all after a while? The place just seemed completely deserted. Not to mention the fact that they let some weird spider monster run loose in the city…. At least with Snakeweed they thought he was dead.

I also feel that Spider Bytes really wasn’t necessary in this episode. What I mean was, did Vic really have to be mutated? I think having the Turtles fight it out with The Kraang while trying to rescue an annoying jerk also while trying to get that video back is enough without throwing in a random monster in the end of the episode. But on the other hand, Vic was just a random fat dude, in no shape to actually fight against Raphael… so turning him into a spider-monster was a way to finally end their little feud in actual combat.

One last thing is Spider Bytes’ weird- ass design. He hardly looks like a spider to be honest… he looks more like a Pokemon.. and not even a spider pokemon. He looks more like a demonic radish. And why are the spider legs on his head? It’s just so weird and bizzare looking and out of whack. With logic like that, the Turtles are lucky they didn’t mutate shells on their heads or Splinter didn’t have a tail growing from his side. 

On the upside, the action was awesome and the jokes were funny. My favorite was when Raph was blowing off some steam with his pet turtle Spike, as he was just calmly eating some cabbage. Raph would ask him ‘Am I right? Chew on your leaf if you understand me’, which of course Spike would do so. When Splinter comes in and wants to tell Raph a story, the tempered turtle isn’t in the mood to hear it. So Splinter turns to his pet and says ‘Spike, chew on your leaf if you’re in the mood for a story’, which is exactly what Spike does. I'm just curious why Raph has a fellow turtle as a pet. I want to hear the story about how that came about. 

Johnny’s thoughts-

 Despite the humor and all the fighting action, I personally thought that this 3^rd episode was a waste of time. April’s dad is still kidnapped by the Kraang, and all we have to worry about is the turtles fighting a rude fat New Yorker that took a video of them with his iphone? Like really guys? Yes, this ep highlights facts such as Raphael’s temper and how he has to channel that, but still… so, I think I said it all. Hopefully the next ep will continue with the actual storyline.