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Recap / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 S 7 E 1 Tempus Fugit
aka: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 SE 1 Tempus Fugit

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Cody has finally managed to rebuild the Time Window to send the Turtles and Splinter back to their own time. Unfortunately, just as they enter the Time Window Viral returns as code trapped inside Serling. Taking control of Serling's systems, she forces him into the Time Window and starts to attack the Turtles by sending them to different times.

First appearance of Khan and the Cyber Shredder


This episode provides examples of

  • Always Need What You Gave Up: Just before entering the Time Window, Donnie tells the Turtles they have to leave behind their futuristic weapons. Unfortunately, this means the Turtles are defenseless when Viral takes control of the Time Window and begins sending them to dangerous time periods, with Raphael telling Donnie what a bad move it was.
  • Art Shift: From this episode onwards, the Turtles, Master Splinter, April, Casey and Karai are all redesigned to resemble their 2007 movie counterparts.
  • Bait-and-Switch Credits: This is the first episode of the Back to the Sewer season, but it starts with Fast Forward's opening instead.
  • Batman Gambit: The Turtles and Splinter need to swipe technology from the Utrom Shredder's exo-skeleton in order to repair Serling, but it's tough going without their weapons. Splinter goads the other two Shredders into focusing on a shared enemy, leading to the Utrom one taking a nasty blast in the chest.
    • Earlier, when they are stuck in the Dark Ages, Don and Raph realize that they do not have access to high tech gadgets to get Serling's weapons back up, Mike goes up to Viral and actually manages to convince Viral to send them to their time, but he had to make it sound very, very bad. Viral send the Turtles, Splinter and Serling to yet another time: When the three Shredders are fighting each other.
  • Big "NO!":
    • Raphael after Splinter is reduced to bits.
    • Viral, as she's overtaken by the data vault conduit.
  • Bittersweet Ending: the Turtles finally get to return to the 21st century, but thanks to Viral’s interference, Splinter is presumed dead.
    Donatello: We're home, but Master Splinter... father... he's—and it's all my fault!
  • Call-Back: Mike s omething similar to what Master Splinter said back in The Shredder Strikes, Part 1:
    Mike: It's like I always say. In the hands of a ninja, anything can become a weapon!
  • Can't Take Anything with You: Donnie makes them all leave their future-built weapons and technology behind.
  • Continuity Nod: Viral refers back to "The Day of Awakening" when Cody seemingly destroyed her with a decompiler program, which Serling still has loaded into his system.
  • Dead Guy Junior: When Viral sends the Turtles back to the time of the dinosaurs, Mikey calls a horned dinosaur ‘Zog the 2nd.’
  • Death of Personality: The episode ends with Viral searching the internet for a power source capable of healing her wounds. After much searching, Viral comes across a red and black data vault, containing a power source more than capable of healing her wounds. She attempts to access the data vault but is unable to for unknown reasons. In the center of the data vault lurks something very odd: the Foot symbol! A virus emerges from the Foot symbol and immediately infects Viral, effectively erasing her and her "body" morphs into that of a new cybernetic form of the Shredder seen previously in the episode.
  • Enemy Mine: Master Splinter invokes this by making the Cyber Shredder and the Tengu Shredder attack him, instead of each other, then he gets out of the way, making them hit the Utrom Shredder. This backfires as the three Shredders eventually stop fighting one another and gang up on the heroes.
  • Evil vs. Evil: When The Turtles are traveling through time they come across a Mêlée à Trois between The Utrom Shredder, The Cyber Shredder, and The Tengu Shredder.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Viral and Serling get trapped in the 21st century.
  • From Bad to Worse: The Turtles and Serling find themselves in the middle of a massive battle involving the Foot. Mikey says he was trying to get Viral to send them back to their time.
    Raph: So, you got us sent to some twisted time with two Shredders?!
    Mikey: Look, I was only tryin' to help, okay?
    Raph: Make that three! LOOK OUT!
  • Hero Killer:
    • In the Bad Future, Khan says he personally killed the Turtles.
    • Splinter is presumably killed by Viral, though later episodes indicate he survived.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Master Splinter realizes that Viral is going to attack his sons in cyber-space, and dives in the way just as she fires Serling's beam cannon.
  • Incoming Ham: "I LIVE!"
  • It's All My Fault: Don blames himself when Viral attacks his brothers and Master Splinter dives in the way to save them, scattering his data throughout the Internet.
  • Killed Off for Real: Viral is taken over by the Cyber Shredder's data conduit—freeing him in the process.
  • Mythology Gag: The Turtles being banished to a time warp was also the plot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.
  • Next Sunday A.D.: Invoked. Viral refers to the time period with the three Shredders as "the not-so-distant future."
  • No-Gear Level: The Turtles spend the entire episode without weapons, and with Serling as their only technology.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: All three Shredders want the honor of killing the Turtles and are willing to fight each other just for that.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: The Tengu Shredder interrupts Khan's attack on Mikey in order to have a shot at the Turtle later.
  • Rearing Horse: When Viral sends the Turtles to the Dark Ages they are attacked by a knight on horseback, who's steed does this. Later, when Mikey replaces the knight as the horse's rider and confronts Viral, the horse does this twice more.
  • Spoiler Opening: Averted. The episode uses the Fast Forward opening, leaving material like the Cyber Shredder and Khan unspoiled. The Back to the Sewer intro is saved for the end of the episode, acting as something of a preview for what's to come.
  • Taking the Bullet: As Viral charges up Serling's decompiler, Splinter notices Donatello's warning and throws himself in-between the blast and the other Turtles.
  • Tempting Fate: Mikey expresses relief that, for once, he's not at the bottom of a group pile. Immediately afterwards, Serling falls on him.
  • There Can Be Only One: The reason why the Utrom Shredder, Tengu Shredder, and Cyber Shredder are in a three-way war, with each of them claiming to be the Shredder.
  • This Cannot Be!: Leonardo after Splinter vanishes.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Viral dismisses the Cyber Shredder's data vault as a "rudimentary piece of tech", despite it being clearly strong enough to keep her out. This directly leads to her death.
  • Unexplained Recovery: Despite having been sent into exile and being destroyed respectfully, the Utrom Shredder and Tengu Shredder somehow make a return.note .
  • Wham Shot: As Viral keeps trying to access the data vault, we see the symbol of the Foot Clan.
  • You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Leonardo and Donatello are so shocked by Splinter vanishing, they refer to him as "father" instead of "Master Splinter" as they normally do.

Alternative Title(s): Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 SE 1 Tempus Fugit

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