noitsnot
Since: May, 2010
12/09/2012 00:00:00
Fun Fact: the shot when they leap in the air to attack Shredder is a homage the 2-page spread of the first issue of the original comic.
Also, this is my favorite episode so far.
Awesomekid42
Since: Jul, 2012
12/12/2012 00:00:00
Well we all have different opinions. This episode would have been higher to me, but the characters seemed stale in this version.
noitsnot
Since: May, 2010
12/15/2012 00:00:00
I think the show does better when they don't focus so much on one character. I've noticed that both our least favorites have been ones that focused on one turtle(Monkey Brains, Metalhead, Turtle Temper).
Awesomekid42
Since: Jul, 2012
12/16/2012 00:00:00
I know. I want it to be focused equally around the turtles, but I don't want them to seem one-dimensional. I probably would have liked it as much as Never say Xever if it weren't for that.
Leave a Comment:
The Gauntlet
I kind of liked this episode. The jokes were good, and the fight scenes were awesome. There's some stuff that bugs me though. This was Mikey at his worst. The Running Gag of him wasting smoke bombs got old really fast, and virtually every moment of his I either simply didn't find funny, or actively groaned at. There's a difference between writing a character who annoys other characters, and a character who annoys the viewer. And for me, Mikey was in the latter territory this episode. Leo is incredibly bland in this episode, showing no signs of being a good leader nor any conflict. Raph and Donny mostly stay the same in my opinion though. And as for April, they don't focus on her well enough. This was about her finding out about her dad, but she does nothing to affect the plot. Also, what happend to the training Splinter said she was going to take? Nothing was touched on it in either this episode or the previous one.
And of course the Splinter lesson. It's pretty much not to get cocky. This thing has been done to death. Honestly, I don't even care about the Splinter morals anymore. It's incredibly predictable, and not touched on well. While Shredder easily beat the Turtles, they didn't even act that cocky when fighting him. Their first instinct was to escape. So the lesson doesn't really work here. But the entrance of Shredder was interesting along with Splinter's final words of the episode having great tension.
This is also the episode where Chris and Xever turn into a dog and a fish. Problem is, that's not what they should have turned into. Their last contact was with the turtles, not the dog and fish. Chris was headbutted and kicked in the face, Xever punched a turtle in the face, and picked one up. They should have also turned into turtles. Do the writers even read their own scripts?
I feel like this episode was rushed. Shredder meeting the turtles was awesome, but that's at the last 5 minutes. The rest was only average. Still, the episode was decent. It had good tension, nice jokes and action, and I find April's father a generally likeable character. However, I feel like the writers wanted to get to Shredder so badly that the rest of the episode was completley rushed, something that REALLY brings it down to me. Like Monkey Brains, there isn't anything special about this episode, besides Shredders introduction, but not anything glaringly bad about it either.
Character: C-
Plot: B
Writing: B-
Delivery: C+
Overall: B-