Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 4, Episode 2 Recap And Review: The Moons Of Thalos 3

One episode in, Season 4 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has given us a brand new status quo, an important new ally and a potential new Big Bad. Yet that’s just the beginning of the Turtles’ adventure in space, because their new mission is to prevent the Triceratons from assembling the black hole generator that led to the destruction of the Earth.

No pressure, right? Especially since they only have six months to do it …

With David Tennant’s Fugitoid as the Turtles’ guide, there’s a definite Doctor Who flavor to the proceedings, and the title of this week’s new episode, “The Moons of Thalos 3,” also reminds one of a certain Time Lord. Let’s find out what new adventures await.

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Turtle-Powered Recap: Being surrounded by a hostile alien fleet is bad, right? Fugitoid’s ship takes damage as it tries in vain to evade the Triceratons, and it looks like it’s headed for a crach landing. Even the typically sunny Android suggests they’re probably all going to die. On the way down, the ship ricochets off another ship flown by lizard-like aliens. I have a feeling that might be important.

It’s not death when the ship crash-lands, but it’s not good news either. It’s heavily damaged, and the moon the crew finds itself on is super cold and made of methane ice. They only have a few hours of power, heat and oxygen, though Donatello finds a supply of refined metal not far away.

Unfortunately, so have the lizard aliens, who refer to themselves as Salamandrians. They alo want the metal to repair their own ship, and while the male admires the Turtles for their courage, the female reminds him that they have been insulted because the collision prevented them from glorious battle, so the Turtles need to be destroyed.

The meeting comes just a few moments later, with Fugitoid trying his best to negotiate some peaceful cooperation. Leonardo even tries extending his hand to shake on it, but in Salamandrian culture, that’s an invitation to fight. The lizards are really good combatants, and when Raphael notes that the female hits him harder than he’s ever been hit before, he finds himself … getting a crush?

The pacifist Fugitoid ends up busting out some lasers, but the resulting explosions bury our heroes under a ton of ice. The android digs everyone out, though time is now running out for their heat and oxygen. It’s going to be a race against the Salamandrians for the metal.

As they set out again, Raph admits his feelings for the female Salamandrian and is quickly ridiculed by Casey Jones and his brothers. Never one to let that bother him, he breaks off from the group and uses his sai to climb straight up the mountain. The rest of the Turtles and friends run into ice dragons, whose cold breath freezes Donnie.

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Meanwhile, Raph has caught up with the lizards, but despite his suggestion that they work as a team, the female blasts the ice underneath his feet and sends him sliding down a cliff. Of course the could have just shot him … No time to ponder that, as ice dragons attack and the male is frozen.

Raph makes his way back up and saves the female, taking out a pair of dragons. She appears to draw her blaster on him, but ends up saving Raph’s bacon from a monster behind him. Unable to pronounce her name, Raph dubs her Mona Lisa, and she returns his feelings, saying that their noses will meet someday in the flesh. That totally sounds dirty.

While they thaw out the Salamandrian commander, Fugitoid does the same for Donnie. The Turtles are surprised when Raph arrives with the lizards to save the day, but a brief discussion buries the hatchet, with Mikey naming the male Sal Commander and Leo exchanging some kind of funky leader fist bump with him.

There’s one more issue though, and that’s the fact that the metal they need is contained within a Triceraton space mine — like the kind that explodes. Fugitoid can salvage what he needs and the power from the mine’s dark matter regulator, but only if he has time. The ice dragons’ arrival says he might not have it.

A grand chase down the mountain ensues, with Donnie using Casey’s photon pucks to detonate the ice behind them and complete their escape. The Turtles, Salamandrians and humans all fall unconscious one by one, with Raph and Mona Lisa holding each other and Fugitoid hurrying to salvage what he needs from the mine before everyone dies.

What, you didn’t think they were going to kill off everyone again, did you? Raph wakes up on Fugitoid’s repowered ship, happy to see everyone okay. Mona Lisa is especially pleased to see him, and their noses do, in fact, meet. Or they kiss or something, as we only see everyone else’s reactions to it.

Leo tells Raph that he’s sure they will see the Salamandrians again. But for now, the Triceratons have a big lead on them for the first part of the black hole generator, and they’ve got to make up time.

Favorite Moment: Who couldn’t love Raph finding love in a hopeless place? Not only was he obviously attracted to a bigger, stronger woman, but he puts his own twist on a famous line by saying, “My nose will be ready.”

Final Thought: Maybe a little heavy-handed in its lessons about teamwork, friendship and getting past misunderstandings between different cultures, but those are always good, positive themes. I’m looking forward to my kids watching this episode for those reasons. Raph was the lone member of our crew never to fall in love, so this was a nice adventure for him, and yes, I’m sure we’ll see Mona Lisa and Sal Commander again. The Turtles need all the allies they can find.