It’s a double invasion!
Warning: Full spoilers from the two-part season finale follow.
Wow, so much to talk about!
In truth, I was a little skeptical going into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Season 3 finale, if only because it was centered around yet another alien invasion. But while that idea seemed played-out, “Annihilation: Earth!” made it feel fresh and original again by adding a second alien threat to the mix and raising the emotional stakes even higher. In fact, this two-parter was the darkest we’ve ever seen, but it still maintained a good sense of fun — even after the planet was destroyed by a freaking black hole.
Get your game face on.
But let’s start with Part 1 first. As some fans predicted, the finale introduced Utroms, who in this version were neutral Kraang defectors. Not only that, but their leader Bishop (voiced by, who else, Nolan North) actually invented the Kraangdroid/Norman suits we’ve seen since the very beginning of the show. (Cool!) This also included an interesting history lesson about the war between the Kraang and Triceratons, which set the stage for the latters’ black hole generator plan.
IGN’s History of Awesome: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Turtles’ Technodrome operation also brought about some fun moments, like the group bombing the station, and Bishop confronting his brother — gasp! — Kraang Subprime (“or shall I call you Sub-Subprime?”). However, things didn’t really heat up until the Triceratons arrived. And I loved, loved Michael Dorn (Star Trek: The Next Generation) as the voice of Captain Mozar, who introduced himself in a very TNG-like fashion — onscreen — and then promptly blew up the Technodrome. Right off the bat, this demonstrated just how powerful the Triceratons were, by exploding the most fortified Kraang tech there is. And I guess that meant the end for Kraang Prime too!
Make it so.
On to Part 2, the early highlight for me was the big Triceraton brawl, which included Leo, Mikey, Raph, Donnie, April, Casey, Splinter, Slash, Leatherhead, Rockwell, Pigeon Pete, Muckman and Mondo Gecko. (Whew!) Not only did they these characters all show up to fight at once, which by itself was totally rad, but they also each got their moment to shine — even Mondo Gecko, who made that one Triceraton’s butt hurt, slightly. Maybe. I think. Right? Of course, this also led to Mikey’s capture, which gave the Turtles their next objective — biding their time until the end of the world.
It’s… beautiful!
Meanwhile, April and Splinter had an even bigger challenge ahead of them: recruiting Shredder and his henchmen, which turned out to be my personal favorite subplot of the whole thing. Given that Shredder had no prior deals with the Triceratons, it only made sense that he would ally himself with Splinter’s team. And it was great how April appealed to Shredder’s love for Karai. Plus, you have to admit, it was pretty awesome seeing Splinter and Shredder fight side by side for once… at least for a time.
I think we can all agree, the climax of Part 2 gave us the finale’s best and saddest moments. Coming off “Tale of the Yokai” a few weeks back, it was absolutely heartbreaking to see Shredder murder Splinter in cold blood. (Honestly, I was kind of surprised Nickelodeon let the writers get away with it.) Even Tiger Claw was like, “Dude!” But in Shredder’s own words, “The world can be destroyed for all I care! I have finally WON!” which signaled to me that any chance of Shredder being redeemed at this point is basically gone. (So… Super Shredder time?)
“I wish to know why Hamato Yoshi has come here. Perhaps to end his miserable existence?”
Finally, if there were any doubts about this finale being monumental, “Annihilation: Earth!” literally ended with the Earth being annihilated. But not before Doctor — er, Professor Zayton Honeycutt, aka Fugitoid (voiced by the one and only David Tennant), descended from the sky to save our heroes from certain doom. In addition to beautifully setting up a (hopefully) space-faring Season 4, I have a feeling things are going to get timey-wimey in the future (past?), especially if the Turtles hope to undo the Triceratons’ destruction.
But until then, “This… is… AWESOME!”
Despite being another alien invasion storyline, TMNT’s Season 3 finale was packed with slick action, great character moments and the most devastating cliffhanger the series has ever seen. In addition to ramping up the stakes, “Annihilation: Earth!” made time for both funny and emotional moments — and that’s not to mention the setup for Season 4, which already sounds like a gas.
