Nicktoons TMNT Episode 18- Cockroach Terminator

By Mark Rodriguez

Originally written on Saturday, March 16, 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 of knowing what to expect.

The episode opens, oddly enough, with Leo cooking ramen for his bros. Not only are the Turtles NOT eating pizza, but it's the first time we see someone other than Mikey or Splinter making food. I guess they take turns and whenever it's Mikey's turn it's always pizza related. As the Turtles enjoy their ramen, a roach crawls around the table and Raph freaks the hell out. He chases it and tries to smash it with his sai, but Don runs in and stops him. He has actually outfitted the roach with a mini-surveillance camera and plans to use it to sneak inside the Kraang's base to find out their plans.

Using the spy roach, the Turtles discover that the Kraang are ready to move onto 'phase 2' of their plan, which consists of using a device to drill into the Earth and spill lava all over the city. However, they need a lens to be able to use their drill.  Raph keeps distracting Don as he's trying to control the roach, and this causes the bug to fall into Mutagen. The Kraang find out and are taken out by this new mutant roach.

As the Turtles drive off in the Shell Raiser to stop the Kraang from stealing that lens, they accidently run into something. Don finds out that it was their spy roach, now a mutant, but also fused with the spy camera. Raph freaks out and wants to get away. The others are sure the roach is down, but it suddenly gets up and starts to attack the Turtles. It's main target seems to be Raph. Raph runs into the Shell Raiser and tries to take it down by shooting sewer lids at it. As the Turtles drive off to stop the Kraang, the roach gets back up.

The Turtles find the Kraang and try to stop them from stealing the lens. However, the roach arrives once again, armed with one of the Kraang guns. Raph manages to take the lens from the Kraang, but due to his fear of the giant roach, the aliens were able to recover the lens and get away. The roach seems to have gotten blown up with the Kraang's van, and the Turtles are upset that Raph's fears allowed the Kraang to get away with the lens. The roach emerges from the burning wreckage on all-out Terminator parody scene.

The roach manages to latch itself under the Shell Raiser and uses a buzz saw to try to cut its way in. Don watches some of the footage from the bug's spy camera and sees memories of when Raph tried to smash it with his sai earlier. They now realize it's mainly after Raph and try to use him as bait to stop it once and for all. Raph gets chased by the roach and it looks like the Turtles managed to trap him in cement. However, it was only an empty shell, since it has molted into a larger form, which is now a huge white flying bug.

The Kraang have started drilling into the Earth, but it will take time to drill deep enough to start their lava fountain. Raph decides to face his fears and go after the bug in some sort of Turtle Tumbler Cycle thing. The flying bug is now able to throw exploding eggs, which makes it much more dangerous. It grabs Mikey and Raph manages to save his brother and bring the bug's focus back to him.

The Turtles drive into the Kraang base, but their Shell Raiser is caught by their gate doors, trapping them inside. With Raph outside, dealing with the roach, their fight brings them right in front of the laser device. Raph and the roach finally have a one-on-one fight and in the end, Raph uses the drill itself to blow it up. Similar to Snake Weed, we see hints that the roach survived and will be back.

Back home, the Turtles are glad to see that Raph was able to face his fears and no longer fears roaches. Mike said he slipped a roach into Raph's shell, which makes him freak out and run around.

My thoughts-

This was an interesting episode, but a strange follow up to TCRI. What happened to the dimensional portal? The Turtles never destroyed it and the Kraang can just turn it back on again. After going through all the trouble looking for the Power Cell, why did they just forget about it and decide to focus on the drill? I guess they came from a planet full of lava and were trying to recreate it, but it seems weird for them to just abandon whatever they wanted to do with the Dimensional Portal.

One of the main focuses of this episode was Raph and his crippling fear of roaches. He wasn't just grossed out, he was scared and running around. And I have to admit, having a fear of roaches is only intensified when you have to face a giant mutant roach with a buzz saw. Once again we see how once Mikey was in trouble, Raph was able to overcome his fears and face the roach.

The roach itself was interesting, especially with how the spy cam fused with it, making it have vision similar to the Terminator. The whole vibe of it relentlessly hunting down Raph, armed with a laser gun, and especially the part of him walking out of the burning wreckage was cool to see. Of course, having Paige lying next to me singing out the Terminator theme every time the roach did anything did help drill the point home. Unfortunately, it kinda sucked that he couldn't talk and was just another mindless monster, it's main drive being to get Raph due to its memory before it was mutated. I was kinda hoping it would talk to Raph or something, but no, it just went down to a fist fight.

I don't know why, the roach gave me the vibe that it wasn't exactly evil, but I guess part of me was just hoping it would be a friend. I mean, it was originally helping the Turtles spy on the Kraang... and while, of course it didn't have a choice at the time as a normal bug, it could have just 'continued with the mission' and help the Turtles stop the Kraang. That scene when it showed up and started shooting at the Kraang had me thinking that was the part they would realize it wasn't a bad guy. I had the feeling the Turtles were just attacking it because 'ew giant roach' never giving it a chance to explain itself... but no... the final act just made it all go down to a fist fight with Raph making him just another mindless mutant monster. 

The Turtles always seem to freak whenever they see a new mutant and attack immediately. They would have just treated Leatherhead as another villain if it wasn't for Mikey's mercy. Considering that they themselves are treated as monsters whenever people see them, they should ease up a little and give the mutant time to respond before going all 'a mutant that isn't one of us, attack!!!'. Don should have at least been the one to try to reason with the roach, it was HIS spy roach after all.

It just seems the Turtles have so few allies. Other than Leatherhead and I guess Pigeon Pete, all the mutants have been bad guys. And I guess it's due mostly to 'status quo'. If they're bad guys they just run away swearing revenge, but what do you do with them if they're good guys? I suppose the roach could have found some place to live or whatever, but I am disappointed the Turtles have no real allies in their fight against evil.

I'm also surprised the roach has no real name. I'm surprised Mike didn't give him one. I heard his action figure will be called Chong, but as of this episode it still has no real name, until given one. I also don't get the point of it's second form. I don't think roaches turn into gross flying worm things. Plus at that point it doesn't look like the upcoming action figure any more. I guess when it blew up and started to re-spawn, that would be the excuse to have look like the roach again for whenever it returns. 

I have mixed thoughts on this episode. Not saying it was bad, but it could have been better. Especially if the roach was an ally. Possibly my favorite scenes were when Leo talked back to the Kraang using their redundant manner of speaking. Oh.. and the fact that Mikey used bug spray on the mutant roach... and that it was actually working for a while... LOL