#and it takes them four seasons a rock opera and a movie to realise they can find that in each other lmao

[feline-evil]

Never gonna be over how unutterably pathetic and in dire need of ANY kind of companionship or friendship that doesn't revolve around their band the entirety of dethklok are. I love these horrible idiots who are so devoid of any real connections outside of themselves that they will latch onto anyone unfortunate enough to get too close to any one of them! And GOD help anyone they latch onto!!

#jay talkin #metalocalypse #im thinking about the doubles episode where they just seem genuinely happy to have 'friends' #who arent like. industry people. these men are so starved of any kind of connection #and it takes them four seasons a rock opera and a movie to realise they can find that in each other lmao #also thinking about how quickly any of them bond and become really intense abt anyone in their life #aka: NATHAN TOWARDS ABIGAIL. oh dear poor abigail oh dear #but also toki to damn near anyone and this goes for the entire band tbh as well they all do this at least once #and yeah its mainly cuz 10min eps mean u gotta progress stuff fast #but also holy shit. charles these boys want friends so bad u gotta set em up on playdates or smth #maybe it'd get some of their dumb stupid idiot energy out and they'd be better behaved. well. no they wldnt but... u can dream #i do think theres smth to be said that yeah all of dethklok are cool theyre metal superstars they r good at what they do #theyre also fucking prophesised saviours too and theyre also incredibly dangerous idiots and terrible ppl #but never forget that they are also. so so SO pathetic and isolated and dysfunctional #these men have not lived in the real world in decades and are disconnected and unsocial and spoilt and u can see that this does impact #the way they interact w the world! they need like. anything other than the band in their lives hah. they do need to pal around #im glad they find that in each other eventually!! #i dont want 2 sound like im babying them or infantilising them these r grown asshole idiot men but like. listen these shitheards r lonelyyy #everyone in their lives is like. assigned to be there and is set as beneath them in a class and workbased system #they dont rlly have ppl who r just there cuz they like em. outside of fans. and fans arent rlly a real connection yknow #their only connections come via work networking sex and violence and worship baby!!!! its fucked up!

[turtlethon]

"Four Turtles and a Baby"

Season 4, Episode 6

First US Airdate: September 17, 1990

The Turtles have their hands full looking after a Neutrino baby.

We continue our journey through season four of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with "Four Turtles and a Baby". This is the second episode credited to Susan Stewart-Taggart, following on from "Turtles of the Jungle". 

The last time we had to endure an episode with the Neutrinos was late last season with “The Grybyx”, in which the Turtles were looking after Kala’s pet. This was followed immediately by “Mister Ogg Goes to Town”, in which Donatello was wheeling his dimensional portal around the city in an attempt to trap an annoying imp from Dimension Z. I mention all of this as today’s episode opens with the well-worn sight of the Turtles watching a monster movie when Donatello interrupts the proceedings, insisting on hooking up his “Interdimensional Tuner” to the TV so they can check in with the Neutrinos.

Leonardo laments that they’ll have to sit through “more alien soap operas”. It’s implied that Donnie has been toying with this new, smaller portal for some time, although we as viewers have somehow missed out on all of this.

The team view the war-torn city of Zott, the Neutrino capital, on their TV. Zenter, the Neutrino leader, is accompanied by his wife Gizzla as he makes a plea for help to anyone who can listen; the word “Traag” is used before the signal cuts out. The Turtles – who seem to know all the key players in this society despite having never been there – recognise they’re likely talking about Krang’s lesser-seen henchman, General Traag.

In Zott, we see a Starcruiser douse some Rock Soldiers in slime. Traag reports back to Krang in the Technodrome, and is slimed repeatedly as he explains that he hasn’t managed to take over the Neutrino city yet. Krang devises a plan to turn things around, sending Shredder, Rocksteady & Bebop to capture Zenter.

Realising they’re in imminent danger, Zenter and Gizzla send their baby Tribble through a portal to be taken care of by their friends, the Turtles. Wait, how do they know the Turtles, who have only ever interacted with Zak, Kala and Dask? It’s beginning to feel like there was supposed to be another episode preceding this one that’s gone missing. Immediately after sending Tribble through the portal, Zenter and Gizzla are confronted by Shredder and his henchmen.

A portal opens and the basket containing Tribble just happens to drop onto the bike of a delivery boy, who’s looking to drop off a pizza with the Turtles. Michaelangelo intercepts the basket, thinking it’s an unorthodox container for his order, and he takes it back into the Lair.

The Turtles are understandably surprised to discover the basket contains an alien baby, and after reading the note from Zenter immediately manage to lose track of the child. Tribble uses her psychokinetic powers to hurl the Turtles around the room. The team soon realise looking after a baby is too much for them, and in a somewhat chauvinistic move immediately decide April will be more suited to the job.

In the Technodrome, Krang taunts Zenter and Gizzla, who very stupidly tell him upfront that they sent their child to Earth. Determining that the Neutrinos will never surrender as long as a member of the family is free, Krang orders Shredder and The Boys to use a tracking device to find the baby.

Shredder and his mutants arrive in a sewer tunnel and quickly end up confronting the Turtles. An exceptionally clunky fight sequence – backed by the ending title version of the TMNT theme music for some reason – devolves into a chase scene, with the bad guys capturing Tribble as the first act ends.

Things don’t get much better as the second act begins, with the Turtles running after Shredder and Raphael missing his head for several seconds. A damaged pipe creates a cloud of steam that allows Shreds to make his escape, but things are complicated by Tribble using her powers to send the villains flying into the air. Donatello catches the falling child before the bad guys are hurled through the tunnels of the sewers via Tribble’s powers.

Later, the Turtles drop Tribble off with April, who finds herself being kept up all night by the baby. Despite a whole night having now passed, Shredder and The Boys are shown to still be floating around underground and only now contact Krang, who orders them to track down the child.

The Turtles go out shopping for baby goods, but Shredder and his men are at the same location. In one of the more entertaining moments of this episode, Shreds peeks into a stroller to determine if a baby is actually Tribble before informing the mother that she has an “ugly child”, and offers his condolences only to get a kick in the shin for his trouble. Another pitiful fight sequence follows with the Turtles confronting the bad guys, defeating them with toys scattered around the store before leaving again.

April receives a call from Burne, who convinces her to visit the office and fill in for Vernon, despite her having a day off. She reluctantly agrees, placing a now sleeping Tribble in a gym bag. Arriving at the studio just in time, April passes the bag on to Irma before beginning a live news broadcast. Tribble soon escapes and causes chaos around the newsroom, sending Irma flying around on a chair and turning April upside-down. The Turtles witness all of this unfold on TV and rush to the studio to help.

The situation escalates dramatically as Tribble wanders through a window onto the outside edge of Channel 6’s thirteenth floor. April precariously follows, and the Turtles watch from the street below as the baby falls, wrapping up the second act.

Act three opens with the Turtles destroying a nearby fire hydrant. Raphael uses the resulting blast of water to soar into the air, only for Tribble to use her powers to begin floating above the ground. Raph ends up being caught by the other Turtles instead.

Turtles loves this trope where a character stands outside an electrical appliance store and listens to a news broadcast on a TV. Shredder and The Boys do just that as they watch Burne – accompanied by Tribble - apologise for the falling baby incident. Channel 6’s boss goes on to remind viewers to bring their infants to the station’s “Pretty Baby Photo Contest”, being held today. The bad guys waste no time in heading to the broadcaster’s headquarters.

Back in the Technodrome, Krang orders a Foot Soldier to retrieve Zenter and Gizzla from a jail cell. The two Neutrinos hide from the robot and, once the coast is clear, make their escape from the fortress in their Starcruiser.

Things take a baffling turn as Bebop and Rocksteady enter the contest dressed as a mother and daughter, respectively. (Notably, Bebop appears to be wearing a variation of the disguise he sported back in “Green with Jealousy”.) Somehow no-one sees through this until the Turtles intervene, confronting the duo as well as Shredder, who’s hanging around in the side-lines in a trenchcoat.

Another battle unfolds, this one featuring Rocksteady – still in baby costume – chasing Donatello and Tribble atop the globe sculpture in the foyer. The three villains wind up in a pile at the doors of the Channel 6 building and crawl off.

Zenter and Gizzla emerge in their Starcruiser via a portal and greet the Turtles, who reunite them with Tribble. The Turtles question what happened to General Traag’s forces, and Zenter reveals that after the Neutrinos discovered they were free, the Rock Soldiers were driven out of the city.

Later, in the Lair, Michaelangelo commemorates the time the Turtles spent with Tribble by way of a baby food pizza, to the disgust of the rest of the team. This scene is a mere twenty-three seconds in length, which is just about the only thing it has going for it.

Aside from a few amusing moments from Shredder and his henchmen, "Four Turtles and a Baby" is a chore to watch. I’m firmly on the record at this point regarding my dislike for the Neutrinos, so this one was always going to be a hard sell for me; one of the few saving graces here is that the usual bunch – Zak, Kala and Dask – aren't present. The most interesting thing about this episode is the suggestion that the Turtles have had adventures that haven’t taken place on-screen. How do they suddenly know so much about Neutrino society? Have they been to Zott? Where did Donatello’s new mini portal come from? It’s enough to make me wonder if this was intended as a follow-up for another story that was abandoned. If that’s the case, at least that’s one Neutrino-themed episode I’ll never have to sit through.

MW Dublin are back on animation duty here, and while there are a few bright spots with character work (particularly during Bebop & Rocksteady’s disguise scene), the action sequences are among the worst that have appeared in the show thus far. It’s safe to say season four’s rough patch is continuing, with only two watchable episodes thus far - “Plan Six from Outer Space” and “Shredder’s Mom” - versus four clunkers.

NEXT TIME: The team encounter an obsessive Turtles fan in “Turtlemaniac”!

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #Ninja Turtles #1990 #Turtlethon #Four Turtles and a Baby