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Michaelangelo
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« on: October 01, 2005, 12:18:35 PM » |
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« Last Edit: January 03, 2010, 11:58:17 PM by Michaelangelo »
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Raphael
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« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2005, 01:06:06 PM » |
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Interesting. Another Mirage adaptation, with a few changes. For starters, Leo's the brooding one in this story, when it was Raph in the original. Interesting how they tied the merpeople to the Atlantis storyline too.
Yeah, Raph's in 'random thoughts' mode.
Ok, the story starts with the turtles, Casey & April preparing for their river ride. Leo's still moody. They cruise down the river, April's reflecting on the way things are and it's a pretty uneventful ride except that they go past a nuclear power plant (which is being shut down-this plays a big part later). We get a few glimpses of the merpeople. The gang makes camp for the night and Casey & Mike tell some really bad Utrom jokes. (trust me...I know puns. If you have to explain the pun, it reduces the humour) Anyway, Leo's off to the side, and April approaches him and finally gets him to open up a bit.
He doesn't mention Karai at all, as he explains how he failed. It's bothering him that the only way they had for stopping Shredder was to destroy themselves as well. He's shouldering the entire blame for it and, despite how much he has tried to rationalize things, he cannot escape the fact that he could not protect his family.
At this point, the merwoman comes from the water and collapses. April & Casey work to revive her, the mermen come out of the water and a fight ensues with the turtles. Actually the fight ends up in the water. Despite the changed theme song lyrics of "Count on Raphael to throw the first punch", once again, it was Leo leaping in to fight first. The merwoman somehow develops in instant psychic rapport with April and shares her history...how their race were slaves, how they helped destroy the Atlantians, how they came to the place they are now, how their numbers have dwindled..and how she is failing to protect the last of her kind...some eggs that are about to hatch in the shadow of the nuclear plant.
Hmm...she doth sound like yon turtle in blue.
Anyway, the merwoman dies and the others sense it while still fighting the turtles. They emerge from the water, take her body and return it to the water, then they leave. While they do still show the angle of the four turtles watching the 4 mermen leaving, they don't get into the heavy "last of their kind, just like..." bit that the comic has, because April comes to the realization that they need to save the eggs.
The gang head for the nuclear plant and come up with a plan to explode one of the stacks (rather than the planned implosion), to block the runoff in the river, which should save the eggs. Casey, Leo, Mike & Raph distract the workers while Don goes to change the destruction plans. April stays off site to co-ordinate.
People confused by last week's preview, here's where all of Don's scenes come from. He rewires the explosive device, slips on a banana peel and loses his shell cell and is confronted by the one worker who didn't go after the distraction team. The confrontation proves dangerous, as time is ticking. The team, meanwhile, are growing worried that they can't get a hold of Don, so Leo rushes in. Between the two of them, they get the worker out, the eggs are saved and April closes the episode, pensive about the future of the baby merpeople.
Next week's episode is another one from the DVD release: Dragon Brew.
It seems there are more comic adaptations this season, which is great, especially since they are actually doing a good job with them.
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Michaelangelo
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« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2005, 11:05:29 AM » |
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Raphael
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« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2005, 11:25:59 AM » |
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Yeah, I was impressed by the handling of this comic adaptation too. They are pushing the boundaries a little for Saturday morning TV, which is nice to see. I think they were able to have the merwoman die because they didn't focus on her death meaning the end of their race, where they had saved the eggs. I really wish we at least had episode titles this season, just to have an idea of what's coming up. Maybe that's why they don't want us knowing too many titles in advance...maybe they're going to be doing more and more comic adaptations? As for Leo, I'm really thinking that him snapping out of this will be brought on by something happening to one of the others either: A) because of his rash actions (ie. acting Raph-like and rushing in without a plan) or  it'll be something he could have prevented, had he not been so focused on not failing (ie. He was off alone trying to be Super Turtle, and an attack happens while he's away). I'm starting to think it'll be "B". |
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Jephael
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« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2005, 02:04:22 PM » |
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That really was a good ending, and I especially liked it when Donatello had his little scene with the hazmat dude in the power plant.
I feel sorry for Leo because I know what it's like to deal with limitations. Though I do feel the whole thing about not being good enough was kinda dumb. If anything, Leo was as good as he could've been.
The simple fact is Shredder is a cold heartless jerk who'll do anything to succeed and Leonardo needs to understand that.
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Fugitoid
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« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2005, 02:26:12 AM » |
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I'm just going to come out and say it... I didn't like this episode. Why? 1. Leo is being dumb. His reasons for being in his funk, the fact that he wasn't strong enough during their last encounter with The Shredder is just silly. Sometimes in life you get situations where it isn't black & white. It's a lesser of two evils situation where there isn't a clear-cut right or wrong choice. And choosing to sacrifice their lives versus letting The Shredder continue on with his evil was the right decision. The reason Leo can't find another solution to the problem is because there wasn't one. That's what a good leader has to understand. 2. The fight scenes in the water... what was up with that! Did the animators forget they were fighting underwater? Leo swinging his katanas without any effort? A mer-man being flung through the water into another mer-man? People standing at the bottom of the river? This may sound nit-picky to you, but it really destroyed any "suspension of belief" I had while watching. Yes, I realize that is it a cartoon. And yes, I realize that it is geared towards children. So, realism is probably not a high priority, but still. 3. I don't agree with having Don blowing up the cooling tower. This is a case where the ends do not justify the means. I can't believe whoever approved this story would want to suggest that it's okay to do something illegal (destruction of private property, endangering people's lives, improper use of explosives, breaking and entering, trespassing, etc.) if it achieves a "higher" purpose. The writers could have easily come up with another way to solve the problem. Am I blowing this out of proportion? Perhaps, but let's face it, children are impressionable. And I guess the fact that the guy at the end saying that whoever blew up the tower probably saved a lot of lives makes things okay.  4. Was this a cartoon or a sermon? This episode was way too preachy for my taste. It's not that I don't agree with environmentalism, but it seemed like the writers went out of their way to bash nuclear power. Yes, nuclear fission does produce harmful waste. But clean-up and disposal of that waste is heavily regulated. If you do your research on nuclear power, you'll see that it's not that dangerous when done properly and it is very environmentally friendly. The public has just been scared into thinking nuclear power plants are leaking bombs ready to explode or contaminate everything, which is just not the case. Remember, back in 1945 they set off the first nuclear bomb in New Mexico without having any real idea what would happen, and New Mexico still has people living there. 5. The original meaning of the story in the Mirage comic is lost. The original story in the comic made a connection between the plight of the mer-people and the TMNT. The fact that the four male mer-men and the TMNT are the last of their respective kind. That once the four mer-men/TMNT are gone, we will probably never see their kind again. The original story made a deep connection with the fragility of life and how every person is unique & precious. Now is that too deep of a story for children? I don't think so. A child may not be able to explain it as I do, but they can understand these concepts. I'm sorry for such a long post, and getting preachy myself. But this is the first episode I truly had a hard time watching. It really bothered me. Every other episode, I either really like or love. But this episode really rubbed me the wrong way. |
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Raphael
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« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2005, 07:45:06 AM » |
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You make some really interesting points, there, Fugitoid. My thoughts on your thoughts... 1) Leo. He's always taken failure very badly and they're really playing up the fact that he has put unnaturally high expectations upon himself. Maybe the fact that he can't see (yet) that their decision was the right and only one just shows that, while he is better able to handle the role of leader than his brothers are, he's still not ready to be a full time leader. Or, maybe, we still don't know all of Leo's reasons for being in this funk. He didn't mention Karai at all and I really think she's got something to do with Leo's mood, too. 2) Yeah, the underwater fight scenes were definitely too unrealistic, even for a children's cartoon. While I did sorta notice it when I watched it, it didn't really register until I read your comments (heh, guess I suspended my disbelief a little too far, too). 3) I think the fact that the guy at the end said "they saved lives", combined with the fact that the plant was set for demolition anyway, is how they justified the whole "illegal actions to serve the greater good" bit. Plus, it also saved the merpeople's eggs, so there were multiple good results in the end. I suspect that, had the plant not been slated for demolition (although, it did seem there was still quite a lot going on for a place on the demolition block), they would have had to go another route. 4) Yeah, every once in a while every tv show seems to produce a requisite "Preachy - deal with it" episode. Judging by the fact that groups like Greenpeace are still actively trying to shut down nuclear power plants, I'd say the issue is still a hot one. It's like plane crashes...one plane crashes and people start to panic and think of how dangerous flying can be...because they don't hear about the thousands of planes that land safely every day. Nuclear power plants...most people know the names "Three Mile Island" and "Chernyobyl"...how many can name the ones that have operated safely for years? It's human nature to focus on the negative and it makes for good scare tactics. Children's television is supposed to have some small amount of education to it...apparently whoever adapted this episode is anti-nuke. 5) My guess is that the powers that be DO think the original comic's concept was too deep for children. The people that put together children's television, in my opinion, have very low expectations of what children can understand. They have cater to the lowest common denominator. Let's say 8/10 kids would get the whole "fragility of life" bit...there are still 2/10 that don't and those are the ones that the stories are directed at. I've seen samples, time and again, of the fact that a lot of adults seem to believe that humans don't actually develop brain cells until they're out of school. (even more frightening is that these are probably the same adults who come up with the ideas that evolve into Reality TV shows...) Ok, wow, between thinking about what you said, Fugitoid, then thinking of what I was saying...way too much thinking for a Tuesday morning.  |
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Mily
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« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2005, 10:02:22 AM » |
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Well let me just say one thing... 4Kids... get the damn episodes in order! Next weeks is not supposed to be 'Dragon's Brew...' I have it on my DVD and it means they're being shown out of order... This episode was very good, I loved watching the new theme song for real,  But anyway, I liked this one because Leo was finally starting to open up and say what's wrong and it was to April, I thought he'd have told one of his brothers, Raphael, most likely but I can see why he told April first. I also found it interesting how he didn't mention Karai at all, because that's gotta be something else that's also bothering him. Also... did anyone else notice this? Part of Leo's shell was like, scratched off and I know I wasn't seeing things, it was like, he injured himself. Ivey said it might have been done in next weeks ep, so I'll be watching that to see if it's normal but I'm wondering if he's like, perminently damaged it. Another thing I was so surprised the fish girl died... I never thought they'd write it like that but it shows they're trying to stick with the comics as close as they can. All in all, the ending was happy and I liked that. I am hoping they show more good episodes like this, And that's my thoughts on it! |
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Raphael
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« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2005, 11:12:13 AM » |
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Leo's shell was damaged in Exodus, at the end of last season...it hasn't healed yet. I believe it's been chipped in all of the episodes so far this season.
As for showing the eps out of order, I con't think the DVD was in order. The two part Exodus was, as was Cousin Sid...but Bad Day & Dragon's Brew are just 'extra' episodes (teasers, to show us what's coming this season, I guess). From what I've seen, some of the other DVDs don't appear to be in order either.
Yeah, even thought the death was in the original comic, I was rather surprised that they went through with it...I guess they tempered it with the generally happy ending.
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OnnaRaphael
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« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2005, 11:29:09 AM » |
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I would be very interested in seeing the comic that this episode was based on, but of course it would be a little much to expect the comic shops around here to just happen to have it. Though I HAVE only checked one so far...
This episode actually made me feel like perhaps I'm not a "good" Leo fan. My first reaction upon hearing his explanation for his angst was that I really wanted to hit him. I think at this point he's being very self centered, thinking only of his own emotions and not the fact that 1) No one is blaming him and 2) His "issues" will no doubt at some point end up hurting the team. I could understand him feeling a sense of responsibility but there was NOTHING he could do and he needs to realize that. I find the fact that we know his angst is going to last at least a few more episodes frustrating.
I don't know, maybe I don't know enough about Leonardo but I just don't see him being this way for this long. I tend to think he would have the good sense to realize that he's being ridiculous about this. If nothing else I would assume that April would have tried to console him by now and that Raphael would have told him to get over it. I just can't be behind Leo on this. Seeing this side of him was interesting at first but now I just think it's tired and bordering on OOC.
I did like the episode though. *L* I loved Donatello's polite little encounter and the furthering (sort of) of Casey and April's relationship. I really don't watch these JUST for the Leonardo moments it's just that they're what stick in my mind most to mention. I guess it's because he's my favorite character.
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Yes my name is OnnaRaphael... yes Leonardo is my favorite... yes I know it's confusing. Wicked Awesome Ninja Gang GO... or something. |
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Mindy
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« Reply #12 on: October 09, 2005, 12:12:44 AM » |
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I haven't read the comic that this episode was based on and we don't have cable at the house so I caught this at work and I was working a remote at the radio station and I had the volume turned down and no CLOSE CAPTION.. *takes breath*...
I'm such a sap >>; I wanted to cry when the merwoman died and the TMNT didn't get to really know her either. It was cool seeing how April could see the merwoman's thoughts too.
Leo just needs to get a poodle or a milkshake, breathe deep, and relax. Geez.
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AristaNiara
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« Reply #13 on: October 17, 2005, 07:14:08 PM » |
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This episode actually made me feel like perhaps I'm not a "good" Leo fan. My first reaction upon hearing his explanation for his angst was that I really wanted to hit him. OnnaRaphael, I have to agree with you. Personally, I want to smack Leo for other episodes since his little mood change! So don't feel like a bad Leo fan. I think all Leo fans are guilty of wanting to hit him at least once in a while. What's worse, my roommate agrees. |
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Brinatello
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« Reply #14 on: January 01, 2006, 04:03:46 PM » |
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Okay, I got to watch "Sons of the Silent Age" for the first time yesterday. Did anyone feel it was like the Ron Howard version of the comic? Meaning, it gave more of a background to the story. Ron Howard tends to do that with his movies based on original books. The Grinch, for example, or "The Polar Express." He took those stories and added more explanations to them. That's how I felt they did it with this episode. So much could have been explained in the comic, but it was chosen not to, it was chosen to be left for us to wonder for ourselves. Whereas, the episode left us knowing what's bound to happen. I don't know. They could have kept it the same way as the comic and it still would have been good.
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 Posing in our costumes for the San Diego Comic Con Masquerade, July 22, 2006.  |
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