It’s Turtles… in SPACE!
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
In the parlance of Casey Jones, “That was METAL!”
To put it mildly, things looked pretty grim after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3 finale, as the Turtles lost their friends, family and the entire freaking planet. The Season 4 premiere started off on a somber note, similar to the beginning of Season 3. But instead of April and her diary, Leonardo caught us up with a Star Trek-esque “captain’s log” detailing the destruction of Earth. It was a nice way to start things out, especially since some fans pointed out that our heroes, Casey in particular, seemed too excited after their devastating defeat.
We want to hear it.
Obviously, we knew the Earth wouldn’t be destroyed forever — although I wasn’t expecting it to come back so soon. But I actually liked the setup here, with the Turtles having to track down all three pieces of the black hole generator before their six months was up, or else they would really lose Earth forever. Not unlike the mutagen canisters in Season 2, it gave the main characters a longterm goal to work towards, and in this case especially, I’m excited to see how and where the Turtles recover the machine fragments. In some ways, it kind of reminded me of Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic and the Ebon Hawk crew collecting all four Star Maps to overthrow the enemy. Good stuff.
Bigger on the inside, no?
Also, can we take a second to talk about how amazing David Tennant’s Fugitoid is? In addition to the character’s sleek, Apple-like redesign, I love how Tennant added little “Beeps!” and “Boops!” to his dialogue. I also got a kick out of Fugitoid’s various “facial expressions,” especially his “stern face.” (“See it?”) It seems like he’s poised to be sort of a mentor to the Turtles — a “Space Splinter,” if you will — and I’m already digging his dynamic within the group.
Of course, the big geek-out moment this week was everyone getting new space suits. Leo specifically looked like he was transported to Space Heroes heaven, gleefully donning his helmet for the first time. But I think my favorite part here was finally seeing April in her iconic yellow jumpsuit from the original series. It also felt plausible for her wear it in this scenario, because of course you would dress in a full-body onesie in space!
I also loved how sprawling this episode felt, along with tons of new sets and character designs. The Mos Eisley-esque spaceport, for example, was definitely a highlight, as were all the wacky-looking aliens the Turtles encountered. (Leo’s failed attempt to flirt with an alien woman, for instance, had me laughing out loud.) It was also kind of nice because, unlike on Earth, the Turtles fit right in amongst all the other creatures.
This episode also introduced the new Lord Dregg, voiced by the illustrious Peter Stormare. Cool voice, cool character design, and a fun first skirmish. That said, I would have liked to see a whole episode dedicated to Dregg, rather then him just showing up near the end of the premiere. Regardless, this did set up the events of the next episode nicely, with Fugitoid accidentally transporting everyone to a massive Triceraton fleet.
Life goals.
I would also be remiss not to mention the rad new intros, which is easily the biggest departure we’ve seen from previous intros. It works not just as a new opener, but as a proud declaration of this space-faring chapter in the series.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 4 kicked off with a delightful outer space adventure, coming off the Turtles’ crushing defeat against the Triceratons. With new worlds, aliens and Fugitoid in the mix, the possibilities seem endless, and the premiere set our heroes up with an enticing longterm goal, so we know where the season is headed. “Beyond the Known Universe” also introduced us to Lord Dregg, although his appearance was relatively short. That said, he offered a fun first skirmish for the Turtles in space and sent them running into their new worst enemy: the Triceratons.
