Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_(1987_TV_series,_season_1)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 TV series) season 1
Season of television series
The first season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the first season of the series aired in syndication. At this point in the series, the Technodrome is located underneath New York City.[1] Chronologically, this is the 5-part pilot episode, "Heroes in a Half Shell".
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2015) |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
| No. of episodes | 5 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Syndication |
| Original release | December 28, 1987 (1987-12-28) – January 1, 1988 (1988-01-01) |
| Season chronology | |
| List of episodes | |
- All five first-season episodes were written by David Wise and Patti Howeth. The chief director was Yoshikatsu Kasai, who was not credited in the credits of the English version.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Animation directed by | Original air date | TV broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Turtle Tracks" | Fred Wolf & Vincent Davis | December 28, 1987 (1987-12-28)[2][3] | S01E01 |
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New York City is experiencing a crime wave. Reporter April O'Neil discovers the thieves are ninja. As a street gang attacks April, she escapes into the sewers, where four big talking turtles defeat the thugs, and take April to their lair. There April meets their mentor, a rat Splinter, who tells her his backstory as the Japanese ninja Hamato Yoshi. As the Turtles and April investigate the streets for the thieves' origins, they discover a group of robot ninjas whose uniform Splinter recognizes as belonging to the Foot Clan. Before April can expose them, she's kidnapped by the Shredder. The Turtles race to free her.
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| 2 | 2 | "Enter The Shredder" | Fred Wolf & Vincent Davis | December 29, 1987 (1987-12-29) | S01E02 |
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Foot Clan leader Oroku Saki, the Shredder decides, along with his partner Krang from Dimension X to turn two thugs into mutant henchmen using the mutagen that created Splinter and the TMNT. Thus two members of the street gang, Bebop and Rocksteady are respectively mutated into a warthog and a rhino. The Foot Soldiers kidnap Splinter, and the Turtles go rescue him at the Technodrome. Notes: First Appearances of Krang and the Technodrome. The image used during the end credits for seasons one through three is taken from this episode; specifically at 03m 19.8s, when April sees the Technodrome drilling through the ground. | |||||
| 3 | 3 | "A Thing About Rats" | Fred Wolf & Vincent Davis | December 30, 1987 (1987-12-30) | S01E03 |
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The Shredder hires the scientist Baxter Stockman, because his invention, rat-seeking robots named Mousers, can help him find Splinter. After an initial Mouser attack, the Turtles and Splinter hide in April's apartment.
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| 4 | 4 | "Hot Rodding Teenagers from Dimension X" | Fred Wolf & Vincent Davis | December 31, 1987 (1987-12-31) | S01E04 |
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Shredder opens the portal to Dimension X for the first time. Three teenage kids known as Neutrinos and two of Krang's stone warriors emerge. The turtles befriend the teens, but before long the two stone warriors set up a special weather making device that causes trouble.
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| 5 | 5 | "Shredder & Splintered" | Bill Wolf | January 1, 1988 (1988-01-01)[4] | S01E05 |
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Shredder transmits a message to the turtles showing off a retromutagen gun that could turn Splinter back into a human. When Splinter goes after the gun Shredder then has completed Krang's new body and puts him in it. Then after the Turtles come to help Splinter they have to deal with Krang and his new body. Then after the turtles defeat Krang and Splinter destroys that retromutagen gun to save the turtles Shredder and Krang try to open the portal again. Donatello reverses the polarity causing the entire Technodrome to be pulled into Dimension X. Notes: First Appearances of Krang's android body and the Turtle Blimp. Final episode where Vernon Fenwick is voiced by Pat Fraley. | |||||
In late 1989 the first five episodes from series 1 were adapted in a 50-minute video special called The Epic Begins (also known as How It All Began) released by Family Home Entertainment in the US and Tempo Video/Abbey Home Entertainment in the UK (with the British title called Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles). The footage from this season was taken from a third-season clip show called Blast From The Past, and this was amalgamated with various series 2 episodes.
The five episodes were later adapted into the first three issue miniseries of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures by Archie Comics under the name Heroes in a Half-Shell. This adaptation would be collected into one book and published under the name Heroes in a Half-Shell: The Complete Adventure by Random House Publishing in 1989, coupled with a cassette featuring an audio play performed by an uncredited voice cast.
These five episodes, along with the opening, were animated by Toei Animation Studios.
- Mark Pellegrini (August 28, 2012). "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) Season 1 Review". Adventures in Poor Taste. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
- TMNT Cartoon Episode 1 Archived 2011-08-26 at the Wayback Machine
- TV Com Archived July 29, 2017, at the Wayback Machine