Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3 Review

Or: How TMNT Went From Woodland Hideouts to the Destruction of Earth

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ third season began more somber than usual, as the gang retreated to April’s family cabin after their defeat against the Kraang. It was a bold way to start out, with the whole first third of Season 3 taking place in and around the farmhouse. This included some great woodland foils for our heroes like The Creep, the Dream Beavers and Speed Demon. Unfortunately, other episodes like “A Foot Too Big,” “Buried Secrets” and “Eyes of the Chimera” weren’t as engaging and left the farmhouse storyline feeling somewhat bloated and dragged-out.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3 Finale Review

Luckily, the Turtles’ respite ended on a high note with “Vision Quest,” as the brothers got in touch with their spiritual side and forged new armor and weapons to overcome their greatest challenges. In addition to being the very best of the farmhouse episodes, it was also one of the standouts for Season 3 in general.

New and improved

This season also marked one of the show’s biggest changes behind the scenes: Seth Green replacing Jason Biggs as the voice of Leonardo. Admittedly, the switch took some getting used to for the first few episodes, but ultimately I thought Green’s raspier timbre was perfect for the slightly more jaded, world-worn Leo of Season 3 — especially while the character was still recovering from his injuries at the end of Season 2.

That’s not to mention the production values, which have only gotten better this season. The show has really come into its own from a technical standpoint, thanks to ever-improving shot composition, choreography and character/set design.

Rise of the Foot Clan.

Of course, the eponymous “Return to New York” was the episode fans were waiting for, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. But subsequent episodes fleshed out the season even more with fan-favorites like Bebop, Rocksteady, Muckman, Mondo Gecko and the Mighty Mutanimals hitting the scene, while Splinter and Karai were given their due in episodes like “Serpent Hunt,” “The Deadly Venom” and “The Fourfold Trap.” All of these felt like a return to form, not just for the Turtles but for the series as well.

THIS.

Meanwhile, April and Casey didn’t have quite as much to do this season, at least not on their own. For example, I would have liked to see April’s ninja training make some notable headway, like it did with the Turtles in “Vision Quest.” On the other hand, “Casey Jones vs. the Underworld” and “Meet Mondo Gecko” were both strong entries for Casey, who finally met his match in the Purple Dragons’ new leader Hun.

IGN’s History of Awesome: TMNT

But while the New York-based episodes were great, I think the final third of Season 3 contained the best two arcs — the first being “Turtles in Time,” which introduced Renet and Savanti Romero, followed by “Tale of the Yokai,” which beautifully expanded upon Splinter and Shredder’s infamous falling-out. The second, not surprisingly, was the Triceraton invasion, which began with Zog’s debut in “Dinosaur Seen in Sewers!” and ended with the Turtles’ being whisked away into space in “Annihilation: Earth!”. Both arcs effectively planted the seeds for Season 4, while also standing on their own merits.

Michael. Freaking. Dorn.