TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures Continued # 22

By Mark Rodriguez

This time around the Turtles hit the ballpark, along with Casey Jones. Not only that but Tempestra returns to cause more trouble. Let's see what happens.

"A Strike Most Foul" opens with April O'Neil reporting on the baseball championship game, this time being between both local teams, the Insomniacs and the Quints. As April covers this, Casey Jones is watching from his apartment (and we finally see him without his mask on) as he roots for the Quints. Likewise in the Turtle's Lair, Raphael is rooting for the Insomniacs as Michaelangelo watches on.

April describes how the city is excited as both teams are playing for the championship rather than just clashing during the season. Just then the TV goes to static. Just then Tempestra cuts in and describes how important the game is for all the advertisers, tourism and casinos in Vegas that plan to show the game. She threatens to cancel the game with hurricanes unless the city 'makes it rain' in her bank account with a million dollars. She will sends instructions soon and says the mayor better 'play ball' as well as the teams do. With that she cuts off and we go back to April, who is complaining until she realizes she's back on the air. She states that things have gone serious since the game and it's revenue has been threatened. The game will start in a few days and she tells the viewers to stay tuned to Channel 6 News for updates.

Back at the lair, Leonardo says he thought they trapped Tempestra ages ago. Raphael says bad guys never quit and some of them should just open a frozen yogurt stand at Coney Island or something. Leo dismisses this joke and asks Donatello if he can track the signal. Donatello says he could have if he knew Tempestra was going to cut do that in advance, but after the fact it would be impossible. Raph says Don was able to build a blimp with a detachable glider with scraps he found in the sewers, so he shouldn't know the meaning of the word impossible. Don says he really wanted a dictionary for his third birthday. Michaelangelo, chillin' and eating his pizza, says maybe they can find a clue at Channel 6. Leo says it's good thinking.

The Turtles show up at Channel 6 and April says she could have saved them the trip. The Channel 6 tech guys couldn't narrow down the pirate signal close enough for police to get involved. Donatello asks how far they narrowed it down since they can help. Irma says it's somewhere between Carnarsie and Great Neck. Everyone looks shocked and Raph says that narrows it down to two out of the five boroughs. He jokes they won't even need to hop on a ferry.

April says the mayor isn't taking Tempestra seriously. She says he thinks it's just a prank and he doesn't intend to pay a cent. Michaelangelo comments that she's not going to like that. Leonardo says if they can't find her, they'll have to wait until she comes to them. He asks Donatello if can make another control chip to contain her. Donatello says he thinks so. Irma asks about the control chip. Raphael says Tempestra is a living video game sprite and asks if she wasn't in that episode. Leonardo says they should have time to prepare before the first game begins. He asks if April can get them tickets to the game. April says when it comes to that, they're on their own.

Meanwhile, there's a janitor sweeping up in the background as April and the Turtles were talking. We see that it's actually Casey Jones in disguise.

A few days later at the Quints Stadium, the first of seven games is about to begin between both New York Teams. Stump McCoyle and Hall-of-Famer Sling Evans are there to commentate on the game as suddenly the sky gets cloudy.

Tempestra arrives, calling everyone fools for ignoring what she said would happen if the city didn't pay up. The ball player yell at her to leave, and Tempestra summons monsters made out of electricity to go after them. She grabs one of the officials and says she will leave everyone unharmed but she has now doubled her price. She says if the city defies her again, she won't be so generous. Raphael says if she wants to be generous, she can buy him a nacho helmet with a payment plan. The Turtles are dressed in baseball gear and Raph says they would have shown up sooner but it took forever to get down from the cheap seats. Having purchased cheap seats at some sporting events, I can relate to that joke.

As Leonardo dodges Tempestra's electric attacks, he asks how she got free from the circuit board she was trapped in. Tempestra explains the circuit board ended up in a flea market where some geek bought it to build his own arcade machine. She was able to break free once the arcade machine was completed. Raph commends her on the exposition and asks why she wants money now instead of just electricity. Tempestra says the gamer altered her coding to be a more traditional villain. She comments that she can want more than one kind of power. She realizes that they're trying to distract her with all the questioning.

Donatello steps up and says she's correct as he shows off a new control chip. The control chip is built inside a drone-type device (they weren't terribly common in the 80's I don't think) and it blasts her. Tempestra screams and the electric monsters she created start being sucked into it. Leonardo was expecting this to happen right away. Donatello tells him to have patience. The Turtles dodge Tempestra's electric attacks and Michaelangelo says if they're any more patience, she'll burn the place down.

Just then a baseball smashes the control circuit to bits. Tempestra says she couldn't have held on for much longer, but she still needs to replenish her energy. She tells the Turtles that this isn't over. Donatello finds the baseball and wonders where it came from. Casey Jones says he threw it since he had to stop the lawbreaker from destroying his favorite team's stadium. Raph gets in his face and says it figures he'd be a Quints fan since only they'd be stupid enough to mess things up as the good guys were about to win. Casey says Raph sounds like a typical Insomniacs fan, willing to wreck anything that means something to good citizens.

 

Michaelangelo stands between Raph and Casey and calls for a time out since this isn't helping them stop Tempestra. Raph and Casey both say the other started. Leonardo says it doesn't matter who started and tells them both to knock it off. He then wonders if this how Master Splinter feels all the time. Leo clears his throat and asks Donatello why their trap didn't work.  

Donatello says the trap was working, just not fast enough. Since he didn't have the original game's computer chip to compare it with, the parameters were off. Luckily, Donatello's device also had sensory equipment that analyzed Tempestra so they have her where they want her. Everyone is confused. Donatello dumbs it down and says he can track Tempestra down with instruments in the Turtle Van. Michaelangelo asks why he didn't just say so.

Stump says it's the wildest game in his life and a single pitch hasn't been thrown. Sling says that the league already revised the schedule and they'll be back in action in a few days. In the meantime, Stump wonders about the 'Insomniac fans in Turtles costumes' that scared Tempestra off and asks they'll do next.

The Turtles and Casey drive off in the Turtle Van, as Casey thinks he needs a van like this. Donatello says there's good news and bad news. He was able to track Tempestra to a power plant east of their location. The bad news is she has evolved too much to be trapped by his device. Casey asks if that lawbreaker is going to get away with extortion. Donatello says he found another way to stop her and he will explain on the way.

Later on at a power plant on Long Island, Tempestra says she's returning to old patterns like the video game that created her. She says she will evolve and improve, starting with the riches the New Yorkers will give her. Raph asks what kind of super villain she is if she wants money before revenge. Casey says she's the type of scum that likes to mess with America's favorite pastime. Tempestra fires an energy blasts that blows a hole through the wall.

Raph and Casey run out of the building as Tempestra chases after them. Raph says he doesn't think the building belonged to her. Casey says she's stealing a base. Tempestra says she loathes puns. Raphael asks about baseball themed puns. Casey says he's striking out. 

The rest of the Turtles watch from a rooftop, and Leonardo asks Donatello if the plan will work. Donatello says if it doesn't maybe the power plant will give Casey super powers so he can take care of things. Donatello says that Tempestra evolved but still uses the same attack patterns from when she was a videogame character. She defaults to her atmospheric lightning when she's really mad, ignoring her other powers. Once Raph and Casey gets her mad enough, they will use her own attack against her with their makeshift lighting rod they set up on the roof. Donatello asks to borrow one of Leonardo's swords. Leo hands it over and says the plans sound complicated. Michealangelo says he thought they were going to challenge her to a ball game or something. Donatello says that would be ridiculous since they would need nine players for a game. He's confident the plan will work but they have to hurry since Raph is good at making people angry fast.

Tempestra tells Raph and Casey that there foolish to attack her while she was at a power plant where her powers would be godlike and they have primitive weapons. Casey says he's using a state of the art customized aluminum bat. Tempestra zaps him away and says her plans didn't involve him but she'll destroy him too. The Turtles are ready as Mikey swings the cable wire tied to Leonardo's sword and tosses it. The cable wraps itself around Tempestra as the sword plants itself into the ground. Raph says this was a trap and if video games rot the brain, being an actual video game character must really make her mind into mush.

Tempestra is so mad she is red in the face. She says she will call for the biggest lightning bolt the world has ever seen and blast Raph right out of his shell. The lightning hits the lighting rod and starts traveling down the cable. The comic book editor explains the literal lighting-speed that this would take to occur was slowed down for dramatic effect. Tempestra is confused as to what happened to her attack, and she turns to see moments before the lightning would shoot towards her. Tempestra screams as she explodes. Raph nervously asks if Tempestra was supposed to blow up, since they're good guys and shouldn't be blowing people up. Casey comments what's left of Tempestra smells like a melted Popsicle.

Donatello tells Raph via the Turtlecom that Tempestra is made or pure energy. When they lighting blast hit her the energy spread out. She'll pull herself together eventually and when she does, he'll figure out a better way to contain her. Raphael tells Casey that between this and the recent adventure they had against Rudolph Cobrato, they work pretty well together. He says Casey is alright, even if he's fan of a second rate team like the Quints. Casey says he'll see if he says that after they sweep the Insomniacs.  

Leonardo says they defeated the villain and Raph is arguing with someone, so things are back to normal. He says they can go and make some pizza. Michaelangelo asks if they can bake a cake too. Leo asks why. Mikey says he's got baseball on the brain, and a cake is just a bunch of batter. Donatello groans.

My Thoughts- 

Wow, this issue is full of all sorts of clever references and callbacks, some even referencing other forms on TMNT media. Casey Jones sneaks into the Channel 6 building to find out where Tempestra will strike next, which I have to say is rather clever and stealthy for him. His janitor outfit has the name tag 'Arnold' on it, which is a clever nod to the fact that in Mirage his real name is Arnold Bernid. We also get the two sportscasters named Stump and Sling. It took me a minute for that to hit, but they're a reference to Stump and Sling, the aliens in charge of Stump Wrestling in the Archie TMNT series. Will Cudley the Cowlick eventually make an appearance?

 

We also get to see Casey's face. This wasn't a 'back towards the reader' moment either. We never got to see his face in the cartoon so his look is based on the NECA action figure. His apartment looks like a broken down mess, presumably from a bad part of town, but it's also the first time we seen where the guy lives. It's a bit weird to see his face and I feel it ruins the joke about us never seeing him without his hockey mask on even during times where it would have made sense for him to take it off. Like I can see Fred Wolf Casey still wearing his mask while lounging around in his apartment if this was the actual show. Maybe even a joke where he sleeps or showers with the mask still on.

As for the story itself, I really hate to be that guy, but the whole story seems to forget that the last time the Turtles faced Tempestra wasn't in 'Leonardo Versus Tempestra'. She also returned in Night of the Rogues. While that episode didn't explain how Shredder found her, it did end with her walking off with the rest of the villains when they all found out that they weren't getting paid. She was never trapped back into a circuit board or anything. 

This wouldn't have been so bad if this series hasn't referenced Night of the Rogues a few times. In issue 8, Mr. Ogg referenced a joke the Turtles made from that episode. When Chrome Dome returned in Issue 6, the Turtles commented on how Master Splinter helped defeat him in that episode. So they acknowledged that Chrome Dome returned in Night of the Rogues but not Tempestra?  On top of that, Raph was commenting on Tempestra being after money when in Night of the Rouges she literally walked off because she wasn't getting paid. 

I guess the main reason it bugs me was that so far this comic has been near perfect in terms of referencing the show and not contradicting it. Like they really did their homework, even down to referencing random thugs that appeared in half an episode.

Honestly they could have used Tempestra's expositional monologue to explain how Shredder found her and set her free. I mean, they were going to find a way to trap her back in the circuit board anyway, the story wouldn't have changed at all if they went with 'oh yeah, she was trapped in a circuit board until old Shred Head set her free somehow'. I mean in general every time a classic villain makes their introduction here, the Turtles are very accurate in explaining how they were defeated in their particular episode.

Another random line that didn't make sense, was Raph saying that Donatello built the Turtle Blimp with random scraps he found in the sewers. It could have been a random joke, but Donnie could have corrected him and told him he built it in Baxter's lab before he was mutated. I know these are minor nitpicks but due to how accurate the series has been so far, it looks like whoever they got in the back office in regards to keeping of the Fred Wolf lore fell asleep at the wheel this time.

I did check the Leonardo Versus Tempestra episode and Irma was in fact, in that episode. She never directly faced  Tempestra or got any of the details, so lay off her Raph.

The overall story was cool, though I don't recall the Turtles ever being that heavily interested in sports other than the occasional time they were playing it. I guess you can say following your New York team is part of being a New Yorker, but the Turtles rarely get that deep into human affairs. We are seeing more team ups between Raph and Casey, as they're both getting along a lot better than they did in the original show. Likewise the Turtles use their nicknames more often without feeling weirded out. They're slowly becoming more similar to other versions of themselves. 

I did find it amusing to see that Tempestra was holding the baseball games for ransom for a million dollars, instead of say, ten million or even a billion. Then again, back in the 80's, a million dollars was seen as a more astronomical amount than it would be nowadays. It made me think of the Austin Powers movies and Dr. Evil also wanting to hold a ransom for a million dollars and finding out it wasn't a big as a deal as it was from his era.