NickToons TMNT Episode 13- I, Monster

 By Mark Rodriguez

Originally written on Sunday, January 25, 2013. 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.

It's been a while since we've seen new episodes of the Turtles, and what a way to bring them back. Not only do we get a 2 hour marathon on a Friday, we got an episode with the Rat King, possibly one of everybody's favorite TMNT villain character besides anyone related to Shredder and the Foot.. After seeing some clips and hearing his voice, I already had a suspicion of who he could be in this version, and wow, I was proven right in the very first scene. Anyways let's check it out.

This episode starts off with Dr. Falco from the 'Monkey Brains' episode, in some rat infested hideout working on experiments involving mutagen and rat DNA.  Some of the rats chew on the already-faulty wiring and cause a big fire, trapping Falco. The scientist calls out for help as the fire starts to consume him, and due to his mind control powers, the rats return to help him. Seeing that he has control over them make him laugh evilly.

Elsewhere, the Turtles are preparing to attack Splinter as part of their training. They decide to send Mikey to distract him. Splinter still takes them down, but as the fight continues, Leo actually manages to lay a punch on him. The Turtles are surprised, but not as surprised as Leo himself, and Splinter takes him down while he's being distracted. Their training exercise is over, and Splinter walks off, but is saddened as he overhears the Turtles mention that soon they'll be so good that they won't need a teacher anymore.

Meanwhile Falco, having been burned alive, has decided to take control of rats everywhere, declaring them as his brothers and considering humans as vermin he must get rid of. In case you haven't noticed yet, Dr. Falco now called himself the Rat King. The city is overrun with rats, and soon a horde of them are after April. Falco is proud of his rats attacking the city but feels the presence of a larger, more powerful rat that he can control to make him invincible. Splinter feels Falco in his mind and lets out a painful scream. The Turtles come to his aid, but Don gets a call on his cell from April.

The Turtles find April trapped on top of a telephone pole (Paige asked how the hell she got up there in the first place, but ok...) as the streets are now swarmed with rats. After some problems, the Turtles manage to rescue April. Don figures that someone is controlling every rat in the city. Raphael worries that could even mean Splinter, so they all race back to the lair.

Alone in the lair, Splinter feels a force trying to control his mind. He struggles as Falco's voice attack him, saying that he has also lost his humanity to being a rat, and they are both kindred spirits. Splinter fights for control saying that he is still Hamato Yoshi, but Falco throws images of his house burning down in Japan. Falco tells him he is not human anymore.

The Turtles and April find Splinter asleep, not knowing that he is still fighting against Falco's influence in his mind. They dare Mikey to poke Splinter with Don's bo, and eventually Splinter does wake up and tosses him into a wall. Splinter warns that their old enemy Dr. Falco has returned, but is now calling himself the Rat King and is controlling all the rats in the city including himself. Saddened that he has lost his wife, daughter and his very humanity, Splinter can't bear to lose the Turtles as well. Since his mind was linked to Falco, he does know where his hideout is and he tells the Turtles about it. As they head off to stop him, April decides to stay with Splinter.

As Splinter continues to struggle against Falco's control, the villain says that he belongs with him.  He tells him that even the Turtles don't need him anymore, showing the flashback of Leo punching him earlier. Splinter finally gets up, now under Falco's control, and he tries to attack April. April dodges his sword strikes, but before he could finish her, Falco's voice calls for Splinter to join him.

The Turtles find the Rat King's lair and make their way past all his rats by blowing up some barrels that were in the way. Mikey complains since the Rat King got to name himself and he could come up with lots of better super villian names. The Turtles finally find Falco and make fun of his new name and new outfit. Just then, April calls Don again to tell them that Splinter is missing. As Leo asks where he is, Splinter shows up, now under the Rat King's control and is told to attack the Turtles.

The Turtles don't want to fight their sensei, and Don realizes that Splinter has been going easy on them all this time. Splinter takes them all down as the Rat King laughs in the background. The last Turtle standing is Leo, and as Splinter defeats him, he shows him the picture of Yoshi with his wife and daughter and reminded him who he is. Mike, Don and Raph tackle him down. The Rat King says that Splinter's place is with him, but the Turtles call out that they need him. Splinter finally wakes up and says his place is with his sons and takes out Rat King with a single blow. As the turtles celebrate that their master is back to normal, a swarm of rats carry the Rat King away. Mikey gives up and says the Rat King can keep his name, but he will get to name the next villain.

In the lair Splinter says he proud of all his sons. Leo says that maybe someday they will be better than him. Splinter throws him against the wall and says that maybe he knows everything they know... but they don't know everything he knows.

My Opinions-

Wow. What an episode. I think everyone was surprised that Dr. Falco returned in this manner, turning from a being generic filler-episode scientist, to now being this show's version of the Rat King. I was curious if they would bring him back, but wow, what a way to do it. The Rat King is probably the creepiest version to date, basically skeletonized by being burnt alive, complete with an epic close up of his cackling teeth. I guess it was too bad he didn't get to fight the Turtles, since Splinter took him down in one hit, but what left an impression is how he controlled Splinter.

Past versions basically just went with 'well he controls rats, and Splinter is a big rat, therefore he must be able to control Splinter as well'. This one went deeper. Due to their mental link, Falco knew that Splinter used to be human as well, and since Falco now started seeing the world through the eyes of the rats, he considers them to be the same. Two normal humans, outcasts of humanity, turned into rats, one quite literally, and the other due to his own lunacy. Falco making him relive the memory of his burning house in Japan that claimed the life of his wife and daughter was just cold, and it was intense to see Splinter yell out 'I AM A MAN!!! I AM HAMATO YOSHI!!!'. Rarely do we see Splinter struggle with the fact that he is now a mutant rat and miss his humanity. At least the versions in which Hamato Yoshi and Splinter were one in the same. I also think this was one of the few episodes of the Nick show that had the Turtles call Splinter their father.

Getting back to the Rat King, I'm surprised more versions are giving him an origin now. The Rat King has always been this mysterious man wrapped in bandages, with the mysterious ability to control rats. The Mirage comics went this route (until Tales of the TMNT Volume 2 went back and decided to give him that Pantheon origin) so did the 80's cartoon and Archie comics.

The 2K3 cartoon decided to make the Rat King into a failed clone of Bishop, who lost his memory and somehow gained control of rats. Like with Dr. Falco, we saw Bishop's clone and we thought it was a one-time villain. We didn't expect him to return in a future episode and 'oh, he's the Rat King now'. The episode was based on the Mirage version of the Rat King's first appearance. So I'm surprised that they went the same route as the 2K3 cartoon and turned a past villain (Dr. Falco) into the Rat King. On that note, this episode title 'I, Monster' was also used for the title of the original Tales of the TMNT issue that introduced the Rat King as well as the 2K3 episode based on it.

As for the Turtles themselves, they were cool. Not sure if Mikey naming the villains is starting to wear itself out or not yet. He spent the last half of the episode pouting because he didn't get to name the Rat King. April finally showed some skill in being able to dodge Splinter's sword strikes. I call BS cause Splinter could have killed her in one swipe, but I guess we can say part of him was holding back or whatever. Either way, I do wonder when we will see April actually get to fight. Another scene worth mentioning was when Mikey was poking Splinter with Don's bo and the blade suddenly poked out of it. I wonder when Don will actually start using his Naginata in battle and not reduce it to a simple sight gag. We've seen Mikey turn his nunchucks into Kusarigama a ka-zillion times now, but the few times we see Don use the Naginata, it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment.

That wraps up this episode of the Turtles. I liked the episode, but I'm curious what you guys think. Is the rat King better off being a mystery or should he have a backstory? And if so, did you like version of the Rat King and the fact that he used to be Dr. Falco?