NickToons TMNT Episode 11- Mousers Attack!

 By Mark Rodriguez

Originally written on Dec 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 of knowing what to expect.

Who doesn't remember the Mousers? These little guys have appeared in several versions of the cartoons and comics, and of course, in the videogames they're always thrown in as extra cannon-fodder for the Turtles to smash up among the usual Foot Ninjas and killer robots. So how will the Nick2012 version of the Turtles handle the Mousers? 

'Mousers Attack!' starts out with the Turtles sparring. Leo and Raph trade insults and start fighting each other until Splinter stops them. He then suggests the Turtles split into teams and fight each other two on two. However, instead of it being Raph VS Leo... this time it's Raph and Leo against Don and Mike. Leo and Raph are hesitant because they consider themselves too good for Mike and Don. Mike and Don are offended, but sure enough, they both get easily taken down. This brings me to a good point that was never directly pointed out like it is here, but I'll mention it after the synopsis.

Elsewhere, the mutated Bradford tells Shredder that he threatened the Purple Dragons into paying 80% of their cuts now. Shredder sees that Bradford's new form has its advantages, but it still doesn't help them find Hamato Yoshi. Xever swims around and tells Bradford that if he wasn't stuck underwater, he would have found Yoshi by now. Bradford reminds him that he IS stuck underwater and that he's useless to Shredder as a fish. Shredder agrees that Xever is useless, and also tells Bradford that if he doesn't find the Turtles and Yoshi soon, he will also be missing his legs. Again... Xever got so screwed in his mutation.

Back to the sewers, after some arguing, Mikey calls himself and Don the 'B Team' and Leo and Raph stick with that, still mocking them. Leo says they might not be the best fighters, but they still have a role to play in the team.  Leo shows them an episode of Space Heroes as an example, and yes, the guys wearing the orange and purple shirts were killed off the moment they joined the leading characters on another planet. This was an obvious playful jab at the Star Trek red shirts and it got a chuckle out of me. April comes in looking upset because the Purple Dragons mugged her and stole her phone. The Turtles are determined to get it back, but Splinter warns them to let it go since it's just a phone. I have to say at this moment I was thinking 'Just a phone??? April has the Turtles' numbers on it!!! They can be tracked that way!!!' but everyone kinda carried on like it's just a phone. No biggie. But hey, it's April's phone. So let's get it back. NOW!!

The Turtles find the Purple Dragons and fight them out demanding the cell phone back. This is the part where Leo yells out that they stole the cell phone belonging to a friend of theirs... and that made me facepalm so hard. Not only does that tell them that the phone is important..... it also singles out April as a potential future victim if the guy that mugged her remembers the person he stole the phone from. And noone pointed that out.  Anyways the Purple Dragons have a bunch of stolen phones and while the Turtles try to see which one is April's.... the Mousers come in and steal them all. Well... almost all of them. Sure enough one of the Purple Dragons was clever enough to snatch April's cel and consider it important enough to show to his boss.

The Turtles decide to split up. Leo and Raph choose to follow the Mousers, and leave the 'B Team' to get the cellphone back because 'even they can handle something like that'. Don takes offense but they go to it anyway. The Purple Dragons also decide to find out where the Mousers came from.

Leo and Raph follow the Mousers to Baxter Stockman, who was using them for robberies. Baxter sprays Leo and Raph with something that confuses them because it causes them no harm. However, now the Mousers will lock onto them and follow them wherever they go. Leo and Raph easily take down the Mousers... until Baxter reveals he has about 2 thousand more. Leo and Raph run off, leaving Baxter to laugh at his villainry. Until the Purple Dragons show up and knock him out.

Don and Mike stake out the Purple Dragon's hideout, trying to figure out the best way to sneak inside. Don keeps coming up with different strategies while Mike keeps naming them. Inside, the Purple Dragon member arrives and tells Bradford that they had the Turtles, but little robots came in and stole all their stolen goods. Bradford is pissed, but the gang member shows him the cell phone that belongs to the Turtles' friend and figure it must be important.

Leo and Raph try washing off the stuff Baxter sprayed them with, but the Mousers are still after them. They admit they need Don's advice, but don't want to admit that their 'A-Team' needs help from the 'B-team'. They  figure they can call at least to say 'hi', but Don tells them they don't need any help and hang up.

Bradford and the Purple Dragons have trouble hacking April's phone since its encrypted. Just then, Baxter Stockman is brought in and the Dragons tells Bradford that he was the one that created the Mousers. Bradford is pissed, but Baxter tells him that he hates the Turtles too and has already sent Mousers after at least two of them. The mutant dog asks if he is good at hacking phones. Stockman says it would be a snap for him, and Bradford makes him do it. Just then the room goes dark as Don and Mike cut the lights and try to steal the phone. However, Dogpound finds and catches them.

Baxter starts working on hacking the phone and tells the Turtles that with its built-in GPS, it can lead them to their lair. Dogpound/Doggypark tells the Turtles that he will either kill them after Baxter finds out where they live... or he can beat the info out of them if Baxter's attempts fail. Either way it's a win-win for him.

Back to the 'A-Team' Raph suggests busting up a fire hydrant to splash water all over the Mousers, and then dropping a lamp post over them to electrify them all. The plan was a success... however, even more Mousers would appear and continue to chase down the now-exhausted Turtles. Raph and Leo try calling Mike and Don again... but this time Dogpound is around to hear their phones go off. However, as Dogpound is about to walk off with Mike and Don's T-phones, Don yells out 'T-Phone Self-Destruct!' which makes them blow up. That's actually really clever.

Leo and Raph are confused since the others aren't answering and Raph says they need their help. Sure enough, Baxter is close to hacking April's phone when Leo and Raph burst into the scene. Baxter asks them how they got past his Mousers. Leo says they didn't, as Mousers start raining down into the building.

Throughout the chaos, Leo and Raph tell Don about the stuff Baxter sprayed them with. Don says it's some sort of radio-controlled isotopes that can't be washed off but deteriorates in time, but if something else gets sprayed, the signal will be stronger on that and the Mousers will go after that. Baxter is about to spray the Turtles, but they toss shuriken at the spray can making it burst and spray all over Baxter and Dogpound. Now the Mousers are all over them.

Even though Baxter managed to get the cellphone, Mikey's kusarigama destroys it. The Turtles pat each other on the back and realize that they do need each other and each member of the team is important. Later on, Shredder is angry at yet another failure, but sees some use in Baxter Stockman.

Back to the lair, the Turtles chill out, each in their own way, and Splinter tells them that they hoped they learned to choose their battles wisely. They return April's cellphone, but it falls apart in her hand. Don gives her one of their T-phones and Mike tells 'just don't say T-phone self-destruct!' and everyone backs off as the phone is about to explode.

My thoughts-

This was an awesome episode. There were just so many points to mention here and there. First the main point. The Turtles and their roles when it comes to their battle prowess. When Splinter pitted Leo and Raph against Mike and Don, I agreed when Leo and Raph were hesitant. Yes, each Turtle has a role, but when it comes to actual fighting, Leo and Raph are usually on top. Leo is the most disciplined, the closest to a true ninja warrior and Raph is usually the most intense and in this version he is definitely the strongest of the four.

Yes, Don is the tech-head, usually with a counter-measure in tow whenever the villains uses science against the Turtles, and Mike is the heart of the team. But when it comes down to battle against powerful or numerous enemies, Don and Mike are usually the first ones down and Leo is usually the last Turtle standing. Even though it's said (at least in the Mirage version) that Mikey is the probably the most gifted Turtle in raw talent alone and would probably be the best if he did focus solely on his martial arts skill.... this is obviously not the Mikey we're seeing in the Nick version.

This reminds me a little of when Leo and Don were pitted against Mike and Raph in an episode of the 80's show in a little game similar that 'defend your fort' kids game. Again, it seemed lopsided since Leo and Don were better in strategy and Mike and Raph were mostly comic relief. However in that case, Mike was the clear winner on willpower alone since Leo and Don accidently trashed his pizza. Don't mess with Mike's pizza. In this episode there was no clear winner in the 'A-Team VS the B-Team'. But again... Mikey was the 'waste of space'. What was Mikey's role in the team?

Even the ads label them as 'the leader, the brains, the muscle and the wild one'. How does being the wild one help??? During the episode Leo and Raph clearly needed some help from Don when it came to getting rid of an army of killer robots... And Don and Mike probably needed some extra stealth advice from Leo. But when did Leo or Raph ever mention they needed Mikey? Mikey was the one to destroy the cellphone before it fell into the wrong hands... but that could have been anyone. It just feels that Mike's role on the team is just... it's better to have four ninjas than just 3.

As for the Xeverfish... well again, I feel bad for his current state. Bradford's comment about 'maybe the Shredder will get hungry and want some sushi' and Shredder commenting on how useless Xever is as a fish not just clinched it. Not only that but Bradford is also running the Purple Dragons instead of Xever. Well now with Baxter around we'll probably see Xever get his breathing device and robot legs soon. For a while there's been a lot of discussion on wether or not Shredder will grab Baxter and make him build the robot legs for Xever, or if he will team up with The Kraang and that they will be the ones to build the robot legs. Now we know it's Baxter. And I also realize how much of a heavy spoiler the Dogpound and Fishface figures were.

As for other things to mention, we finally get to see Splinter about to spar with April... even though the actual scene is cut away to something else. At least we know she actually started training and it's not just another casual mention. Dogpound is still a bad-ass and a threat, despite Paige calling him Doggypark. One thing I heard at the Technodrome forums is how Shredder is always making threats to his men but never actually follows up. At least this time Baxter Stockman distracted him from laying the smackdown on Dogpound.

I also like how despite the Turtles calling him Dogpound, Shredder still calls him Bradford. And it makes sense. The Turtles never called him Dogpound to his face, and Shredder wouldn't know that anyway. And honestly, being mutated animals doesn't mean Bradford and Xever suddenly have to adopt mutant monster supervillain names. I know this is a minor detail, but a LOT of cartoons overlook stuff like this. One of the things I always notice in cartoons is that characters that only see each other in passing during battles or whatever, would somehow each other's names in a following episode even when they didn't have a chance to learn it the first time they fought. I assume eventually Xever will be called Fishface by Mikey, but Shredder and the rest will continue to call him by his real name.

Baxter Stockman continues to be a goofball and tries too hard to be a true comic book super villain.. and that's his charm in this version. I hope he continues to be a threat while still being a hopeless nerd trying too hard to be evil. He reminds me of Emperor Pilaf from Dragonball in a way, except he's actually dangerous...alright... Emperor Pilaf mixed with Steve Urkel.

Finally, the Mousers themselves were quite a threat. Sure the Turtles defeat them rather quickly, but it's the sheer numbers of them that do them in. We actually see Raph and Leo getting worn out and running out of options as more and more of the little munchers kept coming at them. Similar to the IDW comics, now the Mousers are an acronym while in Mirage, the 80's and 2K3 show they were just called Mousers. I went back to the comics to double-check. The IDW Mousers stand for -Minefield Ordnance Unarming System Enhanced Robots, while the Nick2012 version stands for Mobile Offensive Underground Search Excavation and Retrieval Sentries. I suppose this was because originally they were designed to find and kills rats and be sold to the general public, but Baxter (the Mirage and 2K3 versions at least) had evil plans for them. In the IDW and Nick2012 versions, they were solely created to commit crimes and be outright killing machines and not necessarily seek out rats... but so they don't lose their catchy name, the creators had to come up with some sort of acronym for MOUSERS. I'd hate to be the guy at IDW and Nick whose job was to do that.

Johnny also caught the episode and managed to notice this little nod to the OT. A close-up on April's cellphone reveals she was getting a call from Irma, who was her friend in the 80's cartoon. And the girl on the phone even has glasses. LOL Oh... and when Baxter and Bradford broke through a wall, one of 'em yelled out 'OH YEAH!!!!' when they did it. Gotta love the Kool-Aid Man. I think both that and the red shirt gag were the things that made me chuckle the most in this episode.