Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Recap - The Battle for New York

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It’s great that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back in New York. Really, it is. The thing is, their city is still overrun by the Kraang, who have done something with most of the residents. It’s about time they got busy doing something about that, don’t you think?

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Yep, we’re at the point where the boys are getting serious about taking back NYC, in a two-part episode appropriately titled “The Battle for New York.” It appears they’re going to get some help from some familiar faces, so let’s jump right into this, shall we?

Turtle-Powered Recap, Part 1: Michaelangelo is tinkering with Donatello’s retro-mutagen. As you might remember, Mikey doesn’t have too much scientific knowledge. It looks like the retro-mutagen is going to explode, but to the Turtles’ relief, it doesn’t. Even better, Donnie discovers that one drop of it will now transform an entire vial of mutagen into retro-mutagen. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Mikey can’t remember how he did it.

Splinter wants the Turtles to focus on the task at hand, which is to find all mutated people and transform them back to normal. Where are they? April thinks they’ve been taken to Dimension X. To make the journey across, Donnie says he has an invention that will help, but the Turtles are unimpressed when they find it is a water tower. Nearby Kraang are scanning for humans, and the ninjas end up getting pinned down when they try to help.

To their surprise, they’re saved in turn by familiar mutants: Leatherhead, Dr. Rockwell, Pigeon Pete and Slash, now calling themselves the Mighty Mutanimals. The foursome explains what happened to them since last they met, though Leonardo is skeptical that Slash has really changed. He asks that the Turtles meet their benefactor, at which point he believes they will all be convinced.

As it turns out, said benefactor is also someone we’ve seen before, Jack J. Kurtzman. He knows the Kraang plan, which is to fire a missile loaded with enough mutagen that it will mutate everyone, everywhere. Unfortunately, the Kraang have followed all the mutants to Kurtzman’s hideout, and in the ensuing fight, Jack takes a laser blast. The Turtles retreat, though Kurtzman is able to save a flash drive he was attempting to grab before he was shot.

That drive has all the info he has about the missile, and Kurtzman urges the two groups of mutants to work together to stop the launch. Splinter, April and Casey agree to tend to Kurtzman’s wounds, though as soon as the Turtles and Mutanimals start talking strategy, they immediately disagree. The Mutanimals head off to try a direct ground assault, while the Turtles decide to try reprogramming the missile with the help of Donnie’s invention, which turns out to be a Turtle Blimp.

At the launch site, Kraang Sub-Prime berates his troops for taking so long to set their plan into motion. They soon have their hands full with the Mighty Mutanimals, giving the Turtles exactly the distraction they need. Donnie goes for the missile controls while his brothers tend to some flying Kraang. Alas, the Mutanimals can’t stop Kraang Sub-Prime from hitting the launch button, and the missile heads for space with the Turtles still hanging on for dear life. They’re able to battle off the remaining Kraang and give Donnie enough time to reroute the missile to the sun. That leaves them still right on the edge of the atmosphere, but it turns out they all have Turtle Gliders and are able to slow themselves enough to land on the blimp. Good thing, that.

Mikey says he saw his life flash before his eyes, and it was mostly pizza. Kraang Sub-Prime tells his troops to retreat, and the TMNT and Mighty Mutanimals agree to work together to free the humans from Dimension X.

Next: The Battle for New York, Pt. 2 Recap

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Recap – Season 3, Episodes 12 and 13: The Battle for New York

By Nick Tylwalk | Mar 15, 2015