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turtlethon · 2 years

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"Son of Return of the Fly II"

Season 4, Episode 14 First US Airdate: September 8, 1990

Baxter Stockman and an alien supercomputer team up to get revenge upon both Shredder and the Turtles.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arrives on CBS as part of their Saturday morning line-up with "Son of Return of the Fly II". David Wise is the writer for this outing, which aired back-to-back with "Raphael Knocks 'em Dead".

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In the Turtlethon entry for “Back to the Egg” I mentioned that the original title sequence appeared for the last time there. Replacing it as we enter the CBS era is this new opening. I think you could make a case that this is a little more polished than the 1987 opening, even if it’s nowhere near as iconic. If nothing else, it definitely feels a lot more fitting tonally for the Turtles of 1990 than the intro of four years prior.

For the first time, the episode’s title now appears over the opening scene, rather than with a dedicated card. We open with a scientist running through the streets of New York, clutching something that resembles a graphics card and being pursued by two fairly nondescript men. The Turtles intervene to save the scientist and everyone involved begins jostling for possession of the component before it falls through a grate into the sewers.

After the bad guys retreat, the scientist introduces himself to the Turtles as Herman J. Mellish. He pleads with our heroes to find the component, as “if it fell into the wrong hands, it could be a catastrophe”. The team begin scouring the sewers, which leads to some discussion of their various enemies such as Rat King and Leatherhead. Michaelangelo brings up Baxter Stockman, wondering whatever happened to him, but Raphael dismisses him as “the whacko fly” and not worth talking about.

When we last encountered Baxter – back in December 1989’s “Bye Bye, Fly” - the alien spacecraft he had taken ownership of had crumbled between dimensions, leaving him trapped in a giant spider web. The mutant fly has since managed to free himself and is now floating through dimensional limbo. Accompanying him is the spaceship’s computer, which I’m told goes by the name of “Z” although it’s never explicitly referred to as such in this episode. Z now takes the form of a computer with a built-in monitor that Baxter carries around, an animated face ever-present on its screen.

Baxter – whose mind appears to be even more muddled and forgetful than in his previous appearances – laments his current predicament, vowing to get revenge on Shredder if he could only find a way back to Earth. Unlike most TMNT villains, Z is oddly calm and supportive. He points out a nearby dimensional wormhole, suggesting it might be a possible route back, and the pair pass through it.

In the Technodrome, Shredder attempts in vain to get a report on the base’s power supplies from its failing computer. Krang arrives and explains that due to the eruption of the asteroid’s volcano, their computer’s circuits were damaged. Bebop and Rocksteady chip in, complaining that they can’t play video games without a working computer. Krang begins scouring Earth via view-screen in search of a potential replacement.

Baxter and Z arrive in New York’s sewers and happen to stumble upon Mellish’s circuit board. Stockman is actually about to eat it before Z intervenes, recognising it as a “solid energy generator”. Once the device is placed into his circuit slot, the computer is able to generate a glowing blue body for himself and walk around independently. The two friends head up to the surface, ready to settle their grudge with Shredder and take over the world.

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Arriving on the scene immediately after the departure of the two villains are the Turtles – or at least three of them. Michaelangelo, Raphael and Donatello survey the area and find they’ve lost track of Mellish’s invention. What they do discover are a set of unusual footprints, and they decide to investigate further. Missing in all of this is Leonardo, who it seems was forgotten about by the animators, and so all of Cam Clarke’s lines as Leo are spoken here by Raphael in addition to Rob Paulsen’s existing dialogue. Mixed up Turtles speaking the wrong character’s lines is nothing new, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sustained error like this throughout an entire scene before.

I guess Baxter and Z went down into another part of the sewers before heading back up a second time, as the next scene opens with Baxter emerging from beneath a manhole, furious and looking for a fight with Shredder until he’s distracted by a shop with a bowl of sugar in the window. Z suggests this is what they should do to get Shredder’s attention – lure him with the one thing he cares about, namely the Turtles.

At Channel 6, Burne discusses his purchase of new computer systems with a company representative. April, Irma and Vernon listen in from nearby with concern as the rep attempts to sell Burne on the idea of ordering further computers that could replace his news staff. Not completely convinced, Channel 6’s boss suggests he’ll give it some consideration. Afterwards, Vernon gloats that he couldn’t be replaced. April counters that he’s right, as they couldn’t possibly build a computer with an ego as big as his. Not her greatest comeback, it must be said.

In the Lair, the Turtles examine a plaster cast that Donatello made of one of the mystery footprints. Everyone takes turns speculating about who it could belong to before Splinter determines this is the foot of a giant fly. It immediately clicks with the Turtles that this must be a sign Baxter has returned. As act two begins, the team head into action, determined to get Mellish’s device out of Stockman’s hands.

Baxter and Z head up to the roof of Channel 6 and break in. Once inside, Z instructs his friend to capture April in order to carry out the next phase of their plan. Meanwhile the alien computer takes over the station’s systems, appearing on all the TVs and monitors on the premises. Burne’s new systems allow the alien computer to take complete control, locking everyone inside. Baxter eventually returns with his captured prey – except it’s actually Vernon, as Stockman’s increasingly muddled brain can’t tell the difference. Z provides his pal with a visual reference, and after being reminded what she looks like, Baxter heads off yet again in search of April.

In his office, Burne attempts in vain to get the computer firm’s sales rep to explain what’s happening, only to be told by the voice on the other end - namely, Z - that “Baxter Stockman controls the phones now”. Seconds later Baxter knocks down the door, demanding to know where “September O’Neil” is. When the station’s boss refuses to divulge the whereabouts of his star reporter, the giant fly jumps on his desk in an act of intimidation, leading to a very cool visual of Burne’s horrified face seen from multiple angles on Baxter’s eye. Burne quickly caves, pointing out that April is “straight down that hall”, and Stockman marches off momentarily before bursting through a nearby wall. Clueless as ever, a baffled Burne tries to figure out when he put a giant fly on the payroll. Just a phenomenal sequence all round.

April and Irma are joined by a panicking Vernon as they try to contact the Turtles. Moments after alerting Leonardo to their predicament Baxter storms in, demanding to speak with April O’Neil. When April says she’s busy, Baxter apologises, and opts to take Vernon captive for a second time instead, charging through another wall as he leaves.

Carrying Vernon through the building, Baxter walks straight past two of the holes in the wall he’s already made and creates a third, dumping his captive prey on the ground in front of Z. Somehow the alien computer is still supportive throughout all of this, figuring that Baxter’s actions will nevertheless mean the Turtles are now surely on their way. Z uses Mellish’s energy generator to create a ray gun that will help Baxter in capturing the team.

Back in the Technodrome, Krang detects unusual computer activity coming from Channel 6 and figures this must surely be the replacement system that they need. Shredder is understandably sceptical as to why a TV station would be in possession of “the most powerful computer on Earth”. Krang remains insistent that it doesn’t matter why they have it, and begins work on getting their portal technology working again so that Shreds and The Boys can pay them a visit.

The Turtles arrive at Channel 6 to find the doors locked. Raphael is ready to break in using his sai until Donatello intervenes, pointing out it’s not his property to damage. Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Baxter, who quickly goes on the offensive, wrapping the team in energy beams using the gun provided to him by Z. Act two ends with Stockman dragging the Turtles through the night skies of New York, ready to enact the next stage of his plan.

When we return, Baxter has tied each of the Turtles up at various points on a clock tower, about to face their own individual peril. Meanwhile, Z sends signals out that interrupt television broadcasts across the city. He goads Shredder into coming out of hiding, promising that Baxter has captured the Turtles and he will need to show himself within the next five minutes if he wants the glory of defeating them himself.

Baxter continues to yell about Shredder to no-one in particular. It dawns on the Turtles that they’re nothing more than bait in a feud between Stockman and a guy who’s marooned in Dimension X, unaware that any of this is even taking place.

Back in the Technodrome, Krang gets the portal up and running. Shredder and his mutants land on the streets of New York and happen to see one of the show’s old stand-bys, an electronics store where TVs in the window can be heard from outside. They listen in as Z demands Shredder show up at the clock tower within the next two minutes. A seething Shreds takes the bait, insisting that “by ninja law it is [his] right to destroy the Turtles”. For some reason Bebop and Rocksteady are suddenly very insistent that this is a bad idea, restraining Shreds and pointing out that they need to follow Krang’s orders.

The Channel 6 regulars – April, Irma, Vernon and Burne – wander around the building as a group looking for a way out. Burne attempts to use a card key to gain entry to the generator room only to be told off by Z for trying to cut off the power supply. Locking the crew behind a sliding metal wall, the alien computer electrifies the floor to punish the team for their disobedience.

In the clock tower, the Turtles attempt to convince Baxter there’s zero possibility of Shredder showing up, right before he does just that. Stockman declares it’s his turn for revenge, using his ray gun to restrain Rocksteady and Bebop. Meanwhile Leonardo uses a mini dagger to cut through his restraints, freeing himself from the moving hands of the clock face. The other Turtles complain among themselves, with Donatello suggesting that “only the most highly skilled ninja master could get out of these ropes” before Leo goes on an absolute tear, rescuing the rest of the team moments before they would have faced certain death.

Baxter continues to scuffle with Shredder and The Boys until a ray gun flies into the clock's mechanisms, jamming them. An explosion follows, with a stray cog knocking the giant spring the Turtles are standing on, sending them flying and jettisoning them through the roof of the clock tower. By any given metric they should all be dead, or at least badly injured, but instead all four of the Turtles land on their feet and storm off to Channel 6 like nothing happened. Once again, these guys are hardcore.

Shredder and his mutants take a bit longer to find their bearings, emerging from the wreckage of the clock tower (and briefly giving us a rare glimpse of Bebop without his shades). With the Turtles long gone, they head off to complete their original mission of capturing Channel 6’s supercomputer.

The Turtles again wind up at the locked entrance of Channel 6, with Donatello once more pointing out to Raphael that “the destruction of other people’s property, for whatever reason, is wrong.” Raph is exasperated by this, demanding to know when the team became “the Teenage Mutant Ninja Boy Ninnies”, but nevertheless they wind up using the sewer route to gain entry instead.

As Baxter wakes up in the ruins of the clock tower, Shredder and his men also find themselves standing outside Channel 6’s doors. Rocksteady delivers the same speech about the destruction of other people’s property being wrong. “I know!” responds a gleeful Bebop, before opening fire.

The Turtles make their way inside and rescue the Channel 6 crew from the electrified floor. Raphael is about to hurl a sai at the computer system before Donatello yet again begins his “other people’s property” bit, only to this time be cut off with a defiant “SHUT UP!” Raph goes on to deploy his sai after all, shutting down the electrified floor and allowing everyone to drop back down to the ground.

Shredder confronts Z, who goes out of his way to not get into a fight. As Krang opens a portal, Baxter arrives, demanding Shreds “put [his] friend down”. The Turtles watch as the assembled villains scuffle, figuring there’s no need to intervene as they can settle this amongst themselves.

Also joining this very crowded scene is the returning Herman J. Mellish, who upon seeing the battle unfold decides to use an auto destruct remote control to destroy his energy generator. The Turtles are livid upon discovering Mellish had the power to destroy the generator and end this the entire time, and only become angrier when he says he didn’t do so as “that thing’s worth plenty big bucks to the right customer, but if it fell into the wrong hands, I wouldn’t get nuthin’!” Leonardo snatches the controller out of Mellish’s hands and detonates the device, destroying Z’s body as Shredder and his men flee back into the portal.

Baxter vows revenge upon Shredder once more, stopping to scoop up all that remains of Z - a blinking circuit board that pleads with his friend not to forget him – before heading through the portal himself. Back in the Technodrome, Shredder arrives and frantically orders Krang to shut down the portal, trapping Baxter once again in dimensional limbo. Z consoles Baxter by pointing out that “at least you still have me... what’s left of me, anyway”.

Back at Channel 6, the Turtles wrap things up with April and Irma, happy that “everything’s back to normal” before they hear a nearby buzzing. The team grab their weapons, opening a nearby door to confront Baxter, but instead they find... a shirtless and weirdly jacked Vernon shaving. And that’s a wrap.

David Wise has been credited as an Executive Story Editor throughout this season (alongside Jack Mendelsohn), but this is the first episode directly attributed to him since season four’s syndicated premiere, “Plan Six from Outer Space”. I didn’t realise how much I missed his contributions to the show during that time as a storyteller until now, with this feeling a lot more like the classic era of TMNT, a true return to form. In fact, I think comedically this is the strongest the show has ever been: by this point everyone working on the series, especially Wise, has a handle on what makes it work, and the success of the Turtles – coupled with the doors being opened by The Simpsons in prime time – is leading to sharper, wittier writing even on Saturday morning cartoons like this one.

I’ve touched on this before, but Baxter’s character arc throughout the series has always been a somewhat tragic one, the story of a down-on-his-luck inventor who just happened to have the misfortune to cross paths with The Shredder, and a man who – for the most part – wasn't usually depicted as being genuinely evil in his own right. After a fumbled execution by Krang led to Stockman getting turned into a half-man, half-fly, we’ve watched his mental state continue to crumble through his occasional appearances over the last three seasons, to the point where he can barely even remember who it is he’s looking to get revenge upon anymore. This one twists the knife even further by pairing him with Z only to all but destroy that character at the end, leaving Baxter in a slightly worse situation than he was in previously.

Z is interesting in that even more than Baxter, he never truly seems to be motivated by evil intentions but instead acts out of genuine concern for his friend. Unlike pretty much every other villain we’ve seen in the show thus far, he’s never scornful when Baxter screws up and seems to see the positive side of every situation. As a result, his near-death thanks to Mellish – or arguably, thanks to Leonardo – feels needlessly cruel. Both will appear again though, with Baxter returning next season in “Landlord of the Flies”, before reuniting with Z for “Revenge of the Fly” in season seven.

NEXT TIME: TMNT’s Saturday morning double-bill debut continues with “Raphael Knocks ‘em Dead”!

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #Ninja Turtles #1990 #Son of Return of the Fly II #Baxter Stockman #Turtlethon #David Wise

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whats-in-a-sentence · 3 months

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The Herald was baying for blood.

THE POOR BLACKS – letters have been received from the Northern parts of the Colony, which state, that the Blacks are murdering the shepherds and stockmen with impunity. These letters also inform us, that the same tribe of Blacks are destroying the cattle by hundreds.

"Killing for Country: A Family History" - David Marr

#book quotes #killing for country #david marr #nonfiction #the sydney herald #baying for blood #letters #journalism #newspaper #indigenous australians #aboriginal australian #murder #shepherd #stockman #impunity #destruction #cattle

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graphicpolicy · 1 year

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Love is in the air this Valentine's Day in Spider-Verse Unlimited #37

Love is in the air this Valentine's Day in Spider-Verse Unlimited #37 #spiderman #spiderverse #digitalcomics #comicbooks #comics

SPIDER-VERSE UNLIMITED #37 Writer: David PeposeArtist: Nathan StockmanColorist: Fer Sifuentes-SujoEditor: Ellie PyleOne-shot launches on Tuesday, February 14 Love is in the air this Valentine’s Day as Spider-Man races across town for a very important date. Will the Vulture Gang somehow save his night or ruin his relationship with Black Cat?

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#david pepose #digital comics #ellie pyle #fer sifuentes-sujo #marvel #marvel unlimited #nathan stockman #spider-man #spider-verse unlimited

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selfdiscoverymedia · 1 year

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C23-01. David A. Stockman, Inflation Protection

Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest David A. Stockman, on air from January 3rd 2023 Americans are facing sticker shock at every turn: from the gas pump to the grocery store and every kind of consumer service. But the eye-popping price increases are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the threat to the country’s economic recovery. Inflation showers windfalls on the rich while…

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#CHOOSE POSITIVE LIVING SARA TROY #David A. Stockman #Great Money Bubble:#Inflation Protection #Orchard of Wisdom #Protect Yourself from the Coming Inflation Storm #Sara Troy #Self Discovery Media Network

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why-i-love-comics · 1 year

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Spider-Verse Unlimited: Infinity Comic #37 (2023)

written by David Pepose art by Nathan Stockman & Fer Sifuentes-Sujo

#spiderman #peter parker #black cat #felicia hardy #marvel #wednesday spoilers #spoilers #comic spoilers

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etapereine · 3 months

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Out Walking + Wout van Aert & Mathieu van der Poel

Out Walking ©Jennifer Horne | 2021 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships ©SWPix | 2015 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships ©Bettini | 2017 Cyclocross Otegem ©Belga | 2023 Paris-Roubaix ©Profimedia | 2021 Tour de France ©Photo News | 2023 UCI Cyclo-cross WOrld Championships ©David Stockman/Getty Images | 2024 UCI World Cup Benidorm ©Gaëtan Flamme/SportPic Agency

#mathieu van der poel #wout van aert #cycling poetry #it takes two to tango

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daily-dutch · 11 months

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Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck & Fabio Jakobsen of The Netherlands and Soudal Quick-Step prior to the 92nd Baloise Belgium Tour 2023, Stage 4 a 172.6km stage from Durbuy to Durbuy on June 17, 2023 in Durbuy, Belgium. (Photos by Mark Van Hecke & David Stockman/Getty Images)

#mathieu van der poel #fabio jakobsen #alpecin deceuninck #soudal quick step #wielrennen #cycling #baloise belgium tour #baloise belgium tour 2023

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marcelskittels · 1 year

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Wout van Aert🥈 & Mathieu van der Poel🥇 UCI CX World Championships Hoogerheide ‘23 📸 by Bas Czerwinski & David Stockman

#wout van aert #mathieu van der poel #cyclocross #hoogerheide 2023

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liberty1776 · 6 months

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International Man: In a broad sense, how would you describe the foreign policy of the US? David Stockman: Well, in two words: Empire First. I contrast that with what Donald Trump thought he wanted to seek as a candidate, America First. Now these are obviously simplifications and slogans, but there is an underlying substance that’s really important. I think the basic idea behind “America First” is reaching way back to Robert Taft in the 1950s. He said that we cannot have a permanent warfare state in America, because our foreign policy doesn’t require it and our fiscal capacities can’t afford … Continue reading →

#US Empire #David Stockman

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yamilethxz · 8 months

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whats-in-a-sentence · 3 months

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He told the jury that Six Toed Jackey was not in lawful custody and had a right to escape.

There was an erroneous impression entertained by overseers and stockmen, in general, that the Native Blacks were not protected by Law, and that therefore, they might be shot at pleasure; but His Honour will tell you . . . that, however low they may rank in the scale of intellect or intelligence, the British Law watched over and protected their lives with the same solicitude, it would show to the most eminent or exalted white men.

"Killing for Country: A Family History" - David Marr

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turtlethon · 1 year

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“Revenge of the Fly”

Season 7, Episode 22 First US Airdate: November 27, 1993

Baxter Stockman plots to turn the city’s residents into mutant insects.

The seventh season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles heads into its final stretch with “Revenge of the Fly”. This episode aired back-to-back with "Escape from the Planet of the Turtleoids" and is credited to series regular David Wise.

We open with the Turtles watching a report by Vernon, who interviews an un-named scientist at a research lab. The professor reveals that he has been able to distil the genetic characteristics of various insects down to their essences, which are kept in a series of test tubes; with these liquids it should theoretically be possible to create a variety of new bugs for specific purposes. Vernon quizzes the professor as to what would happen if the formulas were to fall into the wrong hands, and manages to give away the specific location of the lab – right down to the room number – while the broadcast is going out on live TV. Knowing how this kind of thing always plays out, the Turtles decide to monitor the facility, anticipating that Shredder and Krang will eventually show up.

***

FLY PAPERS: A BAXTER STOCKMAN INTERLUDE

With the exception of “Night of the Rogues”, I don’t know if there’s ever been an episode of TMNT that ties back to as many prior adventures as this one, so it might be a good idea for us to do a quick recap of relevant past events that will play into this story. Waaaaay back in season one, “A Thing About Rats” introduced Baxter Stockman as a down-on-his-luck scientist who had the misfortune to cross paths with Shredder, aiding in the creation of an army of his own “Mouser” pest extermination robots which were turned against the Turtles, Splinter and April. After this plan was foiled, Baxter wound up being captured by the authorities and – presumably because of his insistence that his undoing was due to the existence of the then-unknown Ninja Turtles – he was confined to an insane asylum. In the aftermath of these events, Shredder would go on to attempt to revert the Turtles back to their original pet forms using a retromutagen ray gun, only for Splinter to intervene and destroy it.

Season two’s opener, “Return of the Shredder”, saw Shreds break Baxter out of the asylum, and for the first half of the season Stockman would serve as the masked villain’s right-hand man. After a series of embarrassing defeats at the hands of the Turtles, “Enter: The Fly” had Shredder request that Bebop and Rocksteady, then residing in the Technodrome in Dimension X, be sent to Earth. To maintain the dimensional balance Shredder would hurl Baxter through the portal. Krang had no use for Baxter and ordered that he be placed in a vaporising chamber, but the presence of a fly during the procedure led to the scientist instead being transformed into a half-man, half-fly, who would return to Earth and swear revenge on both Shredder and the Turtles. At the conclusion of this episode, Baxter found himself suspended in a temporal limbo, permanently out-of-step with the rest of the world and only able to watch events unfold around him as a ghost-like figure.

Season three’s “Return of the Fly” brought Baxter back fully into our dimension, leading to him being manipulated again by Shredder. Later that year, “Bye Bye, Fly” would see the mutant discover an underground temple that was ultimately revealed to be an alien spaceship. Further encounters with the Turtles and Shredder followed in this adventure, during which Baxter would arm himself with a mutating ray stored aboard the ship that could turn his enemies into a variety of different animals. Later, Baxter would escape in the ship only for it to fall apart, leaving him trapped between dimensions, about to be eaten by a giant spider.

Baxter would survive – somehow! - and in season four’s “Son of Return of the Fly II” used a dimensional rift to return to Earth. Now accompanied by his friend, the alien computer’s spaceship (known as “Z”), the increasingly addle-brained fly created chaos at Channel 6 and was briefly able to capture the Turtles. A scuffle at the station headquarters between Shredder and Baxter would culminate in the destruction of Z’s computer form, leaving him a mere circuit board that wound up trapped with Baxter between Earth and Dimension X.

Things would take an unexpected and disappointing turn in season five’s “Landlord of the Flies”. Somehow Baxter was back on Earth, with no explanation given; “Z” was also nowhere to be found. Following an adventure in which Stockman controlled an army of flies that brought to city to its knees, he was sent by Donatello back into dimensional limbo, the last time he had been seen up to this point. It’s arguably easier to consider “Landord” non-canon, given that it doesn’t line up with any of the prior Baxter appearances or what will happen in today’s adventure. (It was also a cruddy episode all-round, and thus easily discarded in the great scheme of things.)

Now that we’re up to speed, let’s return to today’s adventure, already in progress: several of the events detailed above will play into those that are about to unfold, albeit often in ways that raise more questions than answers.

***

For whatever reason, Shredder has decided that now is the time to repair the retromutagen ray from season one. To that end, he has Bebop and Rocksteady recover a Nutronium crystal, the final component he needs to make it operational again. All of this would be fine, but... the ray as it appears here looks nothing like it did when we last saw it. Instead, it’s drawn to look identical to Baxter’s mutating ray from “Bye Bye, Fly”, the one that didn’t undo existing mutations but rather shifted the target from one form to another; it even still has the dial with pictures of different animals on it. An egregious goof, to be sure. Let’s press on.

At “Genetic Research” - that’s what the sign says – a night watchman stands guard as the Turtles look on from nearby. Baxter is namechecked by the team during their conversation, leading to Raph mentioning that “thanks to Krang he’s stuck in some kinda... dimensional limbo”. Wait, what? The last time we saw Baxter it was Donatello that sent him to another dimension; I guess we can take this as confirmation that “Landlord of the Flies” has been scratched from the record, as the only thing this seems to match up with is the portal to the Technodrome being shut down while Baxter was in the middle of passing between dimensions in “Son of Return of the Fly II”.

As Shredder makes the final adjustments to his ray gun, Krang is attempting to restore contact with Dimension X. With his equipment faltering, the portal instead focuses on a different realm, the one where Baxter was trapped. The fly passes back through the portal, arriving in the Technodrome clutching the circuit board that is the last remnant of his buddy, “Z”.

Baxter evades a group of Foot Soldiers then hurls himself at Krang, picking the alien brain and his bubble walker up before flying to the roof and dropping him back down to the floor. Shredder intervenes, only to be tossed into a wall. Following Z’s instructions, Baxter connects the alien computer’s circuit board to the Technodrome’s systems. Now in control of the undersea fortress, Z has the Foot Soldiers round up Shredder, Krang and The Boys, locking them in a storage facility. Having picked up on Vernon’s earlier broadcast, Z informs Baxter of the experiments taking place at the research facility and begins plotting to use these developments to achieve world domination. A handheld computer allows Z to continue aiding Baxter remotely.

I neglected to mention this in prior Turtlethon entries but over the course of the last few episodes, as the focus of the series has returned to the Technodrome, the traditional transport modules have been phased out in favour of a new amphibious version. One of these vehicles appears briefly here, emerging from the water and rolling into the city. Meanwhile the Turtles abandon monitoring the research facility when April requests help, having found herself on a rooftop while covering news of a fire. The blaze has since spread, putting her in danger, and so the team rush to her aid. Moments after their departure the module rolls up; from it emerges Baxter, whose appearance causes the guard to faint. The fly smashes through the windows of the lab, barging in and stealing the test tubes containing the genetic materials.

At EMF (it’s unbelievable!), April finds herself cornered by the worsening fire until Michaelangelo, descending from the Turtle Blimp, swoops in to save her at the last second. Later, a fireman shows the Turtles and April the “Super Slosher 2000”, an advanced water cannon used to quickly put out blazes. April is informed of a break-in at the lab by Burne, and leaves with the Turtles in her van; Baxter is already long gone from the facility, and steals the Super Slosher to use as a delivery mechanism for the stolen genetic materials. Testing it out, he takes aim at the firemen, who become giant mutant termites as the first act concludes.

Returning from commercials, Baxter watches as the termite men begin devouring the wooden exterior of an old building. Meanwhile, the Turtles and April talk to the professor at the lab regarding the break-in, and note the tell-tale signs that this is Baxter’s doing. While the team find it hard to believe that Stockman would be capable of doing much with the formulas given his diminished mental state, his supercomputer friend Z is another story altogether, and so our heroes rush off to intervene.

At a fairground, Baxter opens fire with the Super Slosher, turning everyone in attendance into mutant insects. He laments that despite all of this going as planned, he feels something is still missing; Z then suggests that the Turtles should be the next target in his quest for revenge, and that attacking their allies at Channel 6 would be an effective way to lure the green teens out of hiding. The mutant fly leaves, forgetting to take Z’s handheld computer form with him.

In the Technodrome, Krang posits that his fortress was built “too well”, providing no means of escape. Shredder suggests that mixing the chemicals present in the storage facility could allow them to create an explosion and blow down the door. Meanwhile the Turtles arrive at the fairground and restrain the mutant insects. Donatello finds the handheld computer, but Z refuses to reveal what’s going on, shutting down his system instead. As a means of pressuring him into revealing what’s going on, Donnie threatens to dump “fifty megs of random data” into his logic circuits. (This might not sound like a lot now, but keep in mind that in 1993 it might have been the size of your home PC’s entire hard drive.) Z reluctantly explains that Baxter was able to acquire some of Krang’s mutagen and is using it into conjunction with the stolen lab materials to turn everyone into mutant bugs.

The Turtles and April learn that Baxter is now at Channel 6, and hurry over to the station offices to confront him. Inside they find a giant honeycomb, an indicator of things to come. Burne soon emerges, having been turned into a half-man, half-bee. Before the Turtles can react, Irma – now a moth lady – joins her boss in attacking, the pair working together to drag Leonardo and Michaelangelo away. Meanwhile Krang’s makeshift chemical bomb proves entirely ineffective in blowing down the door, and so the Technodrome Crew find themselves having to go back to the drawing board.

Baxter has taken over broadcasts at Channel 6. He goes on the air, promising his viewers that if they aren’t already mutants, they will be soon, and espouses the benefits of living as an insect. Elsewhere in the building, Donnie and Raph look to rescue Leo and Mikey, but instead find themselves trapped in the web of a mutant spider Vernon as act two reaches its conclusion.

Act three opens with April cutting her friends free from the web. Donnie and Raph point out to Vernon that spiders eat flies, not turtles, and encourage him to spin an enormous web outside of the building so that Baxter can be captured. Back in the Technodrome, Krang suggests using his bubble walker to force the door open, and so the bad guys get to work on their next escape plan.

Baxter confronts a captive Leonardo and Michaelangelo in the station offices, promising to get even with the Turtles, despite conceding that he can’t remember exactly why he wants revenge to begin with. Donnie and Raph intervene, freeing their friends, but further threats emerge as Baxter turns April into a wasp. (Compared to her genuinely creepy transformation in “The Cat Woman from Channel 6”, this is handled in a haphazard and shoddy fashion; in one shot she has wings and antennae, in the next her entire body has changed, and I can’t help but wonder if this was a result of laziness or someone considering showing the full metamorphosis to be too frightening.) Insistent on not fighting her friends, wasp April instead joins the Turtles in chasing Baxter out of the building. There, the mutant fly finds himself trapped in the web created by Vernon, the Super Slosher destroyed in the process.

Much to Vernon’s frustration, Baxter is saved from being devoured, with Raphael noting “that is not how we get rid of villains on this show.” Meanwhile April continues trying to resist attacking the Turtles. Donatello suggests to the team that the only way of restoring everyone to normal is to get Shredder’s retromutagen ray, and so our heroes have Baxter take them to the transport module.

Bebop and Rocksteady attempt to use the hydraulic limbs of the bubble walker to pry the door open, but without success. Meanwhile the Turtles arrive in the Technodrome, but are tricked by Z into entering a room full of Foot Soldiers, still under his control. The robots free Baxter, only to be quickly defeated by our heroes.

As the Turtles rush to shut down the Technodrome’s main computer, Baxter seeks the retromutagen ray, intent on returning himself to his human form. Z attempts to deter the Turtles with a group of wheeled machines, but his systems are ultimately taken offline thanks to a well-placed strike from Donatello’s bo. With Z no longer in control, the doors of the storage facility unexpectedly open, making Shredder suspicious. He grabs the retromutagen ray as the Turtles arrive to confront him and begins opening fire. Briefly, it seems that the Turtles are set to be reverted to their original forms, but Baxter swoops in, grabbing the ray out of Shredder’s hand. He leaps through the portal, followed by the Turtles, who recognise retrieving the gun is the only way April and everyone else can be made human once more.

Seeing an opportunity to be rid of the Turtles forever, Shredder shuts down the portal. Caught between dimensions, the Turtles realise that only a few seconds remain before their route back to the Technodrome vanishes from existence. The team leap back in, restraining Shredder in another of the complex’s storage facilities.

Evidently some time must have passed before the concluding scene takes place, with Raphael noting that “everyone in the city is back to normal” as the Channel 6 regulars are restored to their regular forms. Leonardo uses his sword to destroy the retromutagen ray, ending once and for all the threat that it could be used to revert the Turtles nto regular pets. None of the station employees remember their time as insects, but Vernon still has a latent appetite for flies and chases one through the building, echoing his lingering desire for cheese following his time as a rodent in “Were-Rats from Channel 6”.

All things considered, this is a lacklustre way for Baxter to go out. The final moments of the story tease the idea that he could be returned to his normal form, and doing so would have granted both him and us a nice bit of closure, particularly if we assume there was no intention to use him again moving forward. Perhaps David Wise wanted to keep his options open for stories in future seasons, but to have Baxter’s arc end in this fashion – never even acknowledged once the Turtles re-emerge from the portal, becoming an afterthought in his own episode – strikes me as an unsatisfying conclusion to one of the show’s few ongoing storylines. I suppose in theory it’s possible that he was able to restore himself to his human form during his largely unseen scuffle with the Turtles, but even if that were the case, his prospects while trapped between dimensions – particularly now that he no longer has (the presumably destroyed) Z as an ally – seem bleak.

Within the wider workings of season seven, “Revenge of the Fly” feels representative of how things are going. From “Night of the Dark Turtle” through to "White Belt, Black Heart" we had a stretch of some of the strongest episodes in the show’s history, as the more juvenile tone that had become synonymous with this incarnation of the Turtles gave way to an ever-so-slightly more mature, focused series, if only out of necessity. Things began to falter with “Night of the Rogues” - a huge story that required more broadcast time to work that it received – and each of the subsequent episodes has suffered from similar problems. I’m beginning to get the impression that saving Turtles this far into its run is a monumental task, one hampered by broadcast regulations, dwindling budgets and executive meddling, and it’ll take more than a few strong scripts to do it. (If that reads as a bleak analysis, keep in mind that we’re only five episodes away from a dramatic tonal shift that will alter the direction of the series for the remainder of its run.)

NEXT TIME: I know we already had an Atlantis-themed Turtles episode, and it wasn’t even that long ago, but we’re going back to the well again! See you next time for "Atlantis Awakes".

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1987 #Revenge of the Fly #Baxter Stockman #TMNT Baxter Stockman #TMNT Baxter #1993 #Turtlethon #Ninja Turtles

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mmoxie · 11 months

Text

Part 5- Liability

Everything fell away. No old man with his maglite, no predictable cabal of local manipulators. It could be taken for granted that the world was trying to kill her- how would that be different from any other day in the past twenty years?

She didn't know that they could see the fire. If she had, she might've pretended she knew how to wield it. Vomited an arc of blinding orange into the night air to show she meant business. Instead, she grit her teeth, unaware of the trails of smoke sifting between them, and bore down on the stranger in the overstuffed suit.

His Minnesotan accent bothered her. She didn't feel like taking excuses from a guy who sounded like an extra in Fargo. He reached for his radio and she swatted it out of his hand.

"Who," she repeated, her eyes shining with naked hatred, "put you up to this, huh?"

He pivoted at the hips and threw out a meaty hand- only to retract it, rather than grab her wrist, when he saw the crackling fire climbing up her arm.

"What the hell are you? You sick? This, uh- spon- spontaneous combustion?!"

She didn't answer. He didn't like that.

"If you're dyin', just go ahead and die. Don't wait for me to finish you off!" He scoffed exaggeratedly and swung himself out of her reach.

She lunged at him, a moment too late. The oldster's maglite connected with the back of her head in midair, driving an eruption of pressurized fire out of her lungs. She saw both figures blown away at different angles, into the darkness, as she suddenly soared up, screaming and flailing limbs.

A huge gouge of burnt grass and smoking earth marked where she'd taken the blow and lost control- and if she didn't think of something fast, it would serve has her reentry target, too. No point in all the blazing and blasting if she was going to land right back in the middle of it with broken legs.

Let's see...

In the comfortable, going-to-die dilation of time, she flipped through the mental rolodex for action plans.

Bruce Willis? No, don't need to crash a Honda.

Rudy Ray Moore? God no, but I need to watch Dolemite again.

Mark Hamill? Not a lightsaber or pair of Chanel boots in sight.

Wait.

Roddy Piper. Keith David. '88. It was a long, ugly fight, six minutes at least of slamming into pavement and shattering windows. That's how two evenly-matched jocks take care of business.

And that's just it- that's how they're going to fight me. Low, dirty, direct. They might have guns, they definitely have flashlights. Distance is death maybe, up close is death absolutely.

Her mouth was full of ash. All her teeth seemed to be there, but whatever bits stuck to them from her last break were carbon dust, enough to make her cough. The coughing snapped her out of her momentary trance, and made her realize she had finished falling up, and was now on the return trip.

Fuck. Solved the wrong problem.

With no plan for her landing, she could do little but scan the scorched lawn for her opposition. They were split into two groups- one getting the story from her former coworker, and the other crowded around the Minnesotan, checking on his burns.

Damn, damn, damn. Ralph Hinkley. Christopher Reeve. Baxter Stockman. Wilbur and Orville fucking Wright, someone tell me how to fly!

Sorry, Seebs.

--That was odd. She thought hitting the ground would be the worst thing she ever felt- but this sharp ache through her core, seconds before the splat... it was as if a vice had tightened around her whole body and cranked down until she burst in all directions from the pressure. A dark little voice mocked her as she resigned herself to die.

"Typical. Give up again. At least they'll call you consistent."

Oh, you wanna see giving up?

It incensed her with the kind of outrageous hatred for a person that one typically only finds in a bathroom mirror. She threw out her arms in a last-ditch attempt to spread out her impact, maybe save a bone or two for the police to find. But there wasn't any crunch, and no blood or bone or viscera or identifiable scraps of a meatball sub from three hours prior.

Dani had spent her whole life folding to the greater will. Whoever signed the checks that paid the bills, whoever put the roof over her head, whoever shoved a pack of cigarettes in her hand in 1983 because she "would look hot" smoking one. Sure, what the hell. What the hell to all of 'em. It's no skin off her nose. Just a few seconds of time, and you got plenty of those here on good ol' Earth.

Except, when the chips were down and there were only a few seconds left, she found that they were HERS.

These creeps weren't going to give her answers. They were a frat, a country club- a big club, some Carlinite spirit murmured in a far-off corner of her brain- and you ain't in it.

"Same one they use to hit you over the head."

The ground had been the greater will, rushing up to flatten her. And for the first time in her entire life, Dani refused to fold. She erupted with open flame, the air shimmering around her, the grass curling into embers, and made herself a meteor. Her back and shoulders dug through the dirt, carving a long trench that sizzled and smoked- but ate every bit of her impact. Loose rocks tore at her skin, but she fared no worse than a gash up the arm. When she stood, intact, she heard hoarse gasps and the cocking of several guns.

Holy shit, I almost abandoned Seebs.

She looked out at the crowd under their spotlight, her eyes smoldering in a wreath of flame that covered her from the waist to the shoulders.

They almost made me give up on my boy!

"You fuckers almost had me! You were this close!" She held up a pair of pinched fingers and let out a loud, miserable laugh. "Suicide by politician. I look like Budd Dwyer to you?"

She strode into the spotlight and pointed at the old man. He took a step back, but bumped into someone behind him- older still, and in a gray suit, who grunted and shook his head.

"Give him his money. What he expected, not whatever crap you tried to pull." And count yourself all kinds of lucky I can forgive a bump on the head, you old bastard.

"And you," she squinted at him. "Pack it up elsewhere. There ain't gonna be a job to come back to."

"She's threatening us," the man in the gray suit groaned, looking expectantly at some of his larger colleagues. His voice was nasal and needy- the audacity of a motherfucker who had everything, sounding like that.

"Let me cut it down to just one." She wheeled around, a trail of flame following her accusing hand. "The rest of you want out in one piece? Give me the man who wanted to play Caesar tonight."

There were yelps, scuffling, swearing, and the shape of a former fellow goon darting off into the darkness, before the enormous Minnesotan stepped forward, holding a smaller man by the scruff of his neck- or at least the scruff of his crisp white button-up.

"Smart businessmen know when to cut and run." She looked past the scrawny man in the giant's grip, and to the rest of the murmuring crowd. "You've cut!" Her left index finger jutted at the captive. Fire poured from her mouth in a liquid arc that rolled through the air, an orange wave of anguish surging toward the crowd.

"Now run!"

They scattered. All but the little one, suddenly her sole audience, dumped on the ground by a giant in a poorly-tailored suit, currently booking for the horizon with perfect ear-to-pocket running form.

"They sold you out. Tell me something- are you surprised?"

She crouched, and saw the sweat beading on his forehead. Even in the harsh spotlight, her incandescent glow was blinding.

He refused to answer. Dani grabbed him by the collar- and then the knot of his tie, when she realized how quickly his shirt was turning to cinders.

"Are you surprised, Gaius Iulius Caesar?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" He was shrill and creaking with every other word. Maybe the threat of being cremated has him going through puberty all over again.

"I bet you got a big laugh out of the room when you proposed, what, betting on some goon fights to liven up the evening?"

He swallowed. Dani's expression flattened, and she exhaled a gray cloud through grit teeth.

"What was your first job, ah-" She raised her eyebrows. "-Didn't catch your name."

"My firs- what? Listen, I'm- I can give you whatever you want. I- we've got money. You know that. My name? I'm Sean. You know, Mayor Sean?"

"Answer the question, Sean. First job."

"Why?"

"If you don't, me and you will do a little experiment. See if a single Sean is as good as firewood on these cold desert nights. Who knows? You could be the economical choice."

His eyes widened. She went on.

"Or, because I want to get to know you. You like that better?"

Oh, how she relished this. She had never had the power to fuck with someone before. She could tell him whatever the hell she wanted. It was enough to make her dizzy.

"I- I cut lawns for my folks," he said. He was blinking a lot. Smoke must be stinging his eyes.

"Real job. Someone else cutting the check."

"I pushed carts at Gwep's for a couple months, but... that was like, punishment, for crashing the car I got for my birthday."

"Haha, yeah. Working retail, that's punishment alright." She relaxed her grip on his ashen remnant of a tie and instead grabbed his shoulder. He screamed, but she stared at him and made him listen to the sizzle beneath her palm.

"I did that for twelve years, Sean. Thought I'd be done in a couple months too, right back to college. Woulda been jockeying the camera for the Channel Nine News by now, but... you know what they say at Wilson Titlee, Sean?"

Anguished and terrified, he shook his head.

"It's right under the logo. You deserve it. I see those three words when I close my eyes to sleep, Sean."

She lifted her hand, and his face was a rictus of horror at his own ruin of a shoulder.

"Do you think I deserved it, Sean? The dreams I had before people like you took hold of my life- I gave them up over and over and over again. Just to keep a roof over my head while I 'waited' to go back to college."

"Nobody-- nobody deserves anything!" Ooh, maybe he's made of more than tissue paper after all. "You earn it in this life! That's what I've always been told."

Nah.

"You got the money on you, Sean?"

"I got my money." He shivered with pain and honest-to-Christendom pouted. Dani wasn't having it.

"Who's your favorite Marx brother, Sean?

"What? I'm not- what the fuck? You think I'm a Marxist?"

Holy shit. Come on.

"Sean." She ran a hand through his hair. The gel caught fire before the strands, but after a few seconds, she had torched him into a flaky, blistery tonsure.

"You need to appreciate that making conversation with me is the only thing keeping you secured to this mortal coil. So I need you to dig deep, and strike those burnt-out neurons together until you get a roaring fire full of shit I want to hear. Favorite Marx brother."

"I don't know who the fuck you're talking about!"

"Mine's Groucho. You probably know him. Cigar, big eyebrows and mustache- ooh, the Genie turned into him in Aladdin.

--You know, 'No substitutions, exchanges, or refunds.'"

"Well, I guess- I guess he's my favorite too. I, yeah, I do remember that from Aladdin! Haha, see? I- I know stuff."

"Mm. Anyone ever called you a coward, Sean?"

He balked at that, and actually wrenched himself away, scrambling to his feet. "I'm not afraid of you," he hissed, half from pain and half a jab at bravado.

"That doesn't make you not a coward. It just makes you a liar, and we already knew that."

She advanced on him. "How about what your friends call you?"

He seemed so small, like a child looking up at the glow of a shop window in the middle of winter. For a moment, his contempt was consumed by the strange magic of it all. A fire elemental advanced on him. If that could be real... anything could be. Even heaven. Even hell.

"I'm going to end your life tonight, Sean."

The slack look on his face bordered on numb awe. He wasn't a deer in the headlights- he was a cow caught in the tractor beam of a UFO.

"They abandoned you for the same reason they abandoned me, and everyone else at the bottom. You might have cost them something."

She set both her hands on his neck and stared into his eyes.

"You and me? We're the same."

She tightened her grip and filled his chest and throat with living fire. Ribs cracked as the hollow parts of him filled with exploding oxygen. Every strained breath he sucked in stoked the embers she'd pressed into his skin. He cooked in her hands for a long time, until the fire had gone out of her and he was nothing but ash. Tears streamed down her face, cutting lines through the thick layer of soot, zigzagging over her cheeks and down her neck. Her arms swung down at her sides, and she let out a short, quaking laugh.

"A liability."

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#IPYIHGU #dani from my bullshit

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