Nicktoons TMNT Episode 43- Newtralized!

 By Mark Rodriguez

Originally written on Sunday, May 11, 2014. Keep in mind, these were our thoughts as they were back in 2013 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. 

This new episode brings back the Newtralizer, as well as Slash. We also get to see that maybe Slash wasn't that bad of a guy after all... and also see if Casey can really keep up with the team or not. Let's see what happens.

The episode opens with Raph and Casey chasing some of the Kraang as they run with a case of stolen plutonium. As the Kraang and Raph jump onto a fire escape, and Casey jumps in last. His weight makes the fire escape collapse and the Kraang got away. Raph and Casey chase after them and find all of the Kraang completely destroyed. As they wonder who did it, Slash is watching them overhead.

At the lair, Mikey is playing pinball as his brothers watch. Raph and Casey come in and tell them what happened. They also mention that whoever stopped the Kraang from stealing the plutonium also stole it for themselves. Leo decides they should blanket the are and split up the team. Raph and Casey argue about them getting in each other's way.

 

As the gang spreads out, Mikey finds more defeated Kraang. Don studies them and determined they were destroyed by plasma weapons. Leo finds even more destroyed Kranngdroids in the sewers. Raph and Casey run into Slash. Slash then says he has a new partner, and the Newtralizer appears to blast all the Kraang down. Slash says they're doing what the turtles can't, take out the Kraang. Casey jumps in to attack Newtralizer, but he just gets smacked away. Newt grabs some tech to powers his weapons from the truck that Kraang were stealing and he gets away with Slash using teleporters.

 

The turtles are back in the lair and Raph gives Casey some ice (thanks to Ice Cream Kitty). Don says he can find them based on the plutonium traces left by their teleporters.

Slash and the Newtralizer attack a Kraang base and blow everybody up. Newt is ready to blow up the base and Slash asks about the humans outside. Newt reminds them of how they met. Slash was captured by the Kraang and Newt rescued him. Newt talks with growls and snarls until he fixes his translator. He's then able to speak and tells him that they can work together to take down the Kraang. Slash agrees and he says he'll d do it whatever it takes. Back to the present, Newt reminds him of his words so they shouldn't worry any innocent humans getting caught in the explosion.

 

The TMNT and Casey show up and fight it out, but Slash and Newt easily over-power them... and Casey mostly gets in the way. Newt tosses a buzzsaw blade at them that they dodge, and then they teleport away. The turtles realize that the buzzsaw blade is actually a time bomb and run for it. Casey barely gets out of the way but some debris is still about to flatten him. Raph shoves him out of the way and saves him. Raph and Casey argue again, the main point being that Casey is just getting in their way and is holding them back. Casey gets fed up with the attitude and leaves. Leo is surprised and Mikey tells him that people have feelings. Raph says he's 'not people'.

Don says while he fighting against Slash, he slipped a spy roach on him so they can hear he's saying through the t-Phone. They overhear that Slash and Newt know that the Kraang will unleash a new weapon on the docks. Newt says they can use the weapon to destroy the city, and Slash asks about all the people. Newt says he doesn't care since he's 'not people'.

The Turtles arrive at the docks and see the Kraang use a portal to unless a giant pod-type robot. After the robot blasts a few things to showcase its power, the Kraang are all happy and impressed. (Magic fingers!!! as Paige would say). Slash and Newt arrive. Newt wants Slash to distract them while he takes control of the robot. Slash asks if he can really trust him in the machine, and he says he doesn't really have much choice. The Turtles also jump into action and the Kraang start to blast towards all of their enemies.

Newtralizer manages to get inside the machine and starts to blast everybody. He nearly steps on and squishes Slash, but Raph gets him out of the way. Slash is surprised that Raph saved him. Slash teleports on top of the robot and starts to fight against Newt. Newt is about to shoot him, but Raph tosses a shuriken into the gun to stop it from firing. Raph and Slash fall off the robot as it continues to shoot things.

Casey suddenly appears and starts firing off hockey pucks with bombs strapped to them. Newtralizer now starts to attack everybody, Slash included, but Casey manages to hit a puck into one of the holes on the side of the machine. It soon explodes and Newt manages to warp away before he goes down with it.

Raph tells Slash that he's always welcome in the lair with them. Slash says it wouldn't work out and he's better off being alone. He leaves the scene, but Casey reminds him that he's his new partner now. Raph says he's the best partner anyone could have and everyone walks off. After they're gone, Newtralizer phases back in to show that he's still in the picture.

My Thoughts-

This was a good episode seeing the return of two powerhouse villains, Slash and the Newtralizer but as a team. The strongest points are the action scenes as well as Raph dealing with both his old partner and his new partner. I liked how Slash noticed he was replaced with Casey. I also liked how Slash was shown to still have redeeming traits. Some people might complain since Slash was always meant to be well... the Evil Turtle from Dimension X. While he did start out that way in some media like the Archie comics or the newer IDW comics, they both eventually reform or become dark heroes. Some fans might rather have this version of Slash just be downright evil and go further down the twisted path.

The main reason I don't have much of problem with this version of Slash being all that bad is.... well, he was Spike. Raph's pet and companion since day one. It sucked seeing him turn against Raph... and it was cool to see him save Raph in 'Metalhead Rewired'. As for Slash being worried about innocent people... well, he was originally all about taking out the bad guys in ways the Nick TMNT can't.

I use Nick here because obviously the Mirage Turtles didn't have the same problem. I'm not saying they'd go out and hack and slash bad guys for the hell of it.... but if it did come down to killing their enemies, they'd do it without hesitation and without remorse. Of course here, they're in a show for kids and they have to set an example and blah blah, even IF and major IF here, we ever see a Nick TMNT take down a bad guy lethally.... they would be feeling sad and guilty for the rest of the episode since 'killing is wrong' and so forth.

Back to Slash... he was about killing the bad guys, but never about innocent people. He did go out after Don, Mike and Leo, but he was misguided and in his warped mind, he saw them as people that were holding Raph back.. and they needed to be taken out. Twisted, messed up and crazy... but he still had some reasons to attack them. He didn't just run through a rampage killing innocent people left and right. He took his violently tendencies on the Kraang.

As for Newtralizer, not much I can say. I love his strength and his high tech weaponry. Yes he's voiced by Danny Trejo but you can't really tell much with his monsterous voice. The main issue I had with him here was what I was afraid of in the first episode when all he did was growl and scream and we would find out he would somehow have a voice in his return episode. If he could talk, even with a busted translator device, why was he just some mindless monster in the last episode? It didn't even look like he tried to communicate not once. And now that he can talk, they gave him this lame ass 'rokka rokka rokka' thing he mixes with his sentences. Why??? He never did that in the last episode. I don't think that's our language so he could have said it without the translator. And when he growls in this one... he never once sounds like the insane high pitched growls he unleashed in the past episode. But yeah... he lost cool points with the 'rokka rokka rokka' thing for me... and I'm afraid that'll become his catchphrase. It's like Nick thought 'whoa oh, he's getting a little TOO hardcore for the kids, better make him say something silly so the younger ones can laugh and imitate'.

 

The flashback when Slash and the Newtralizer didn't make sense. When did this take place? I know it has to do when the Kraang captured Slash among all the other mutants in 'Metalhead Rewired'... but Slash got away at the end of the episode. Did he get captured again and Newtralizer saved him then? Or did he save him before and then they both got re-captured until the Turtles showed up? It wasn't too clear.

As for Casey Jones... the story was mostly about him having to prove himself to be Raph's partner... I guess...? He seemed extra clumsy and careless in this episode... and this is the guy that gave Raph a lot of trouble in their first encounter. I know sometimes it seems he does fall a little behind compared to the turtles, but honestly, if they were holding the guys back so badly, I'm surprised Leo hasn't sent him home yet. That's what he usually does when someone holds them back. He sends Raph home when he was screwing up. He keeps Metalhead back. He keeps April back. Why did it take Raph to send him home if he kept tripping and messing up? I assume in the next episode he'll be back on his game, but it did seem odd that he was such a goober in this episode.

Overall a good ep. A few snags here and there. While it was cool to see Newtralizer return and everyone loves Danny Trejo... for me Slash and his interactions with Raph stole the show.