Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 4, Episode 8 Recap And Review: The War For Dimension X

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have one piece of the black hole generator, but they’re going to need some help locating the other two before the Triceratons do.

With that in mind, “The War for Dimension X” will see them seeking aid in a place they’ve been to before, one that Michelangelo loves and Raphael … well, he’s not quite that crazy about it. Plus we’ll get some more history about familiar foes and see the return of some unlikely allies. Sounds good to us.

Turtle-Powered Recap: Hey, it’s the Salamandarians. Haven’t seen them for a while. They’re making an offer to the Kraang to join forces against the Triceratons, an offer that is quickly mocked by Kraang Subprime. Also, they probably shouldn’t have mentioned the Turtles.

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Speaking of our green heroes, they’re trying in vain to explain the concept of a black hole to Michelangelo. Accompanied by Fugitoid, they’re on their way to see the Utrom, hoping that they can get some assistance finding the final two parts of the Heart of Darkness. Casey Jones and April O’Neil aren’t too psyched about being left behind to guard the one piece they already have, but Mikey is excited, because …

They’re returning to Dimension X, where he’s the brains of the operation! Good thing, too, because Fugitoid’s scanners are scrambled by the, uh, unique nature of Dimension X. Savage Mikey is able to find the cloaked Utrom base — and some cloaked troops, though it appears they were observed along the way. Fugitoid knows the secret handshake to greet Bishop, who takes them to see the Utrom High Council (also all named for chess pieces).

The Utrom already know of the Turtles and their exploits, and they tell the story of their race. In the past, the Utrom were a peaceful race with individual personalities until one rogue member discovered the mutagen and turned himself into Kraang Prime, mutating many others to serve him. Now there are only 100 Utrom left.

When the Council hears the parts of the Heart of Darkness are being sought out, all of its members are appalled. They debate helping the Turtles, but it appears their love of parliamentary procedure outweighs their sense of uregency. In the end it matters not, as Kraang Subprime and his troops ambush them from a number of portals. A battle breaks out, during which Subprime grabs Queen and escapes through a portal, followed by Raphael and Mikey.

Inside the Kraang base, Raph spots and frees Mona Lisa, and the two engage in some Eskimo kissing. They help Sal Commander escape as well, but the Salmandarians aren’t up to speed on Kraang-Utrom relations and think all of those aliens are treacherous.

Subprime engages in some verbal sparring with Queen, intending to torture her for information on the Heart of Darkness. The other Turtles convince the Utrom to declare war on the Kraang, and Bishop says that if they all team together to fight, they will give the locations of the other two black hole generator pieces to our heroes. As well, Mona Lisa convinces Sal Commander that her trust of Raph outweighs her distrust of the Utrom. They arrive just in time to save Queen, but Kraang Subprime unleashes a two-headed mechanical beast called a Dracodroid.

Leonardo, Donatello and the Utrom drop in as well, and we’ve got ourselves a huge donnybrook. During the fight, we learn that Kraang Subprime used to be Knight, a member of the High Council himself. He’s typically nonrepentant about switching sides, though Bishop manages to beat him in their one-on-one scrap.

Mona Lisa jumps on the back of the Dracodroid, damaging it badly and being saved by Raph from falling to her death. Her actions pay off when the out of control Dracodroid collides with Subprime’s vehicle, forcing the Kraang to retreat.

As Sal Commander admits that there are “good Kraang,” Queen gives Bishop permission to share the locations of the final two pieces of the Heart of Darkness. One is in the middle of a “cosmic ocean,” while the other is on a world at the very edge of the known universe.

Raph asks Mona Lisa if she wants to go out next time they meet, and while she doesn’t understand Earth dating terminology, she says she’d go anywhere with Raph. Mikey angers his brother with a kissy-face suggestion, but Mona Lisa has the same idea.

Favorite Moment: The huge battle between the Utrom and Kraang was visually satisfying, as most of the action sequences on this show are. For a smaller moment, I enjoyed the Turtles speculating about Casey and April being upset about having to stay behind, and the quick glimpse of them we got — with April reading a magazine and Casey continuously smashing his hockey stick into the floor.

Next: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 4, Episode 7 Recap: The Arena of Carnage

Final Thought: This episode built on the previous one as we continue to hurl headlong into the main Season 4 strory arc. There were a liot of moving pieces here (hence the need to write April and Casey out altogether), but it was fun seeing things like the meeting with the Salamandarians that were set up earlier pay off. Anything that gives us more back story on the Utrom is also okay in my book.