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TCRI
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series) episode
TCRI (episode) title
Season Code: 117
Episode: 17
Original airdate March 1, 2013
Written by Joshua Sternin & J.R. Ventimilia
Supervising Producer Ant Ward
Producers: MacGregor Middleton
Joshua Sternin
J.R. Ventimilia
Peter Hastings
Ciro Nieli
Directed by Michael Chang
Voice Direction Andrea Romano
Supervising Director  Ciro Nieli
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"The Pulverizer" "Cockroach Terminator"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 1
September 29, 2012 - August 8, 2013
List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes

Episodes:

  1. Rise of the Turtles, Part 1
  2. Rise of the Turtles, Part 2
  3. Turtle Temper
  4. New Friend, Old Enemy
  5. I Think His Name is Baxter Stockman
  6. Metalhead
  7. Monkey Brains
  8. Never Say Xever
  9. The Gauntlet
  10. Panic in the Sewers
  11. Mousers Attack!
  12. It Came From The Depths
  13. I, Monster
  14. New Girl in Town
  15. The Alien Agenda
  16. The Pulverizer
  17. TCRI
  18. Cockroach Terminator
  19. Baxter's Gambit
  20. Enemy of My Enemy
  21. Karai's Vendetta
  22. The Pulverizer Returns!
  23. Parasitica
  24. Operation: Break Out
  25. Showdown, Part 1
  26. Showdown, Part 2

Season 1Season 2 - Season 3 - Season 4 - Season 5

"TCRI" is the seventeenth episode of the 2012 TV series. It first aired on March 1st, 2013.

Synopsis[]

While breaking into the hostile environment of TCRI headquarters, the Turtles discover the true intent of the Kraang and resolve to stop the alien invasion once and for all.

Characters[]

Major Characters[]

Minor Characters[]

Plot[]

The episode begins with the Turtles in the Patrol Buggy chasing after two Kraangdroids in a helicopter in an attempt to get back the power cell back from them. Donnie has managed to figure out a way to successfully track the power cell that The Kraang are now carrying with his T-Phone, but the phone ends up breaking during the chase and The Kraang escape with their prized possession. Soon thereafter, The Kraang promptly return to their base with the power cell and prepare to restore it to their dimensional portal...

Leo decides that they should talk to Leatherhead about the Kraang's power cell --- and how they can possibly get it back...Donnie argues that Leatherhead is gonna' try to rip off his head once again, but he is forced to agree when he remembers that the fate of the world might indeed hang in the balance...So, they head over to Leatherhead's new hideout located in the sewers, and Mikey tries to wake him up gently. However, the crocodile freaks out and grabs Donnie by the head...much to the latter's complete dismay. Leatherhead is able to realize once again that the Turtles are some of his only friends and allies, however, and he is able to calm himself down. Donnie quickly steps away from Leatherhead, and then Leo reluctantly tells Leatherhead that they lost the power cell. The one and only clue that Leatherhead can give them about where the Kraang could have taken the power cell is a drawing of a symbol that he saw once. Back in the lair, Donnie has a lot of trouble figuring out what it means, until Splinter comes up to him and advises that he should calm down and take several deep breaths. Donnie does so for a second before he has an epiphany. He brings his brothers topside in a jiffy, and reveals that the symbol used for The Kraang to operate under is the logo of the T.C.R.I. work center/complex in Brooklyn.

Back in the Lair, April shows the Turtles blueprints of the building. She reports that the bottom two thirds of it are seemingly normal offices where humans work, but top third of the building is completely blank. They later send April disguised as a delivery person right into the building with a gigantic box that she narrowly pushes into the nearby elevator. As soon as the doors close, the receptionist there (Mrs. Campbell) grabs her from behind, stating that TCRI is closed right now. Then, suddenly, many Kraang droids surround April, but she then flashes a camera in all of their faces and escapes being locked in. The Kraang then train their blasters on the elevator, presuming the Turtles to be inside the box, but instead, Leatherhead appears out of it and viciously fights off The Kraang-droids, as the Turtles climb the elevator shaft to the upper floors. However, they have to fight a precarious battle against many, many more Kraang-droids along the way, and by the time they end up reaching their final destination, they are knocked out cold by toxic gas......

When they recover, the Turtles find themselves trapped in a tank (luckily supplying them with Oxygen) within a very large room with the portal standing not that far in front of them. Kraang aliens are everywhere - and the air outside is full of the toxic chemical...Donnie concludes that the gas is what the air must be like within Dimension X. While his brothers wonder why The Kraang would invade a planet that they can't live on very well because of the air, Mikey surprises them with the answer: the Kraang want to mutate the Earth so that that they can live there, killing everything other life form here in the process.

Luckily, they are able to break out of their imprisonment by using Mikey's shell, and they are all then forced to hold their breath and fight the Kraang at the very same time. They then break yet another window in the building, releasing all of the gas inside and they then indirectly use Leatherhead (whom enters) as a successful distraction. The Turtles plan to retrieve the power cell without The Kraang even knowing, but when they either try to hack or break the glass globe protecting the cell, the flying brain squids that shoot energy blasts (and wear armor) prove that they pose a crucial threat. The portal is now fully operational, and, unexpectedly, a giant evil rock monster, Traag, steps out, having journeyed from The Kraang's home dimension. The Turtles definitely are not strong enough to beat him, but roaring out of nowhere, Leatherhead steps in and grabs Traag by one of his feet, throwing him towards the portal, in an apparent attempt to destroy both the portal and Traag. However, the demon has still not been defeated, and the portal has not broken the least bit either...Then, something else begins coming through, but Leatherhead believes that he can stop it and he then walks into the portal (along with Traag) and the two both disappear back to Dimension X. Before the Turtles can shut the portal down, however, more Kraang surround them and they are forced to escape with the usage of grappling hooks...

Returning to their lair, Leo officially reports that they have failed and abandoned their mission and that Leatherhead is gone, much to Mikey's disquietude. However, Donnie then says that he can find vital information once he decodes a Kraang data storage device that Mikey happened to pick up somewhere in TCRI. Later, Master Splinter and April are seen discussing why The Kraang truly need April's father so badly, as he is nothing but a scientist that 'studies rats running through mazes'. To everyone's complete shock, however, Donnie finds out from the data drive that The Kraang do not particularly need April's father. It's April herself that they are really after...

Gallery[]

Transcript[]

Notes[]

Continuity[]

  • Leatherhead returns in this episode and in the end goes through the portal to Dimension X.
  • This is the first episode where The Kraang's home dimension is called "Dimension X".
  • First appearance of Traag.
  • First appearance of the Kraang's headquarters of TCRI.
  • When the Turtles see Leatherhead again for the first time in this episode, Mikey reacts with affection as his eyes briefly turn into cartoon hearts. This references the love they forged together in It Came From The Depths, which will be referenced again in Into Dimension X!.

Trivia[]

  • A running gag in this episode is when someone (usually Mikey) brings up the Olympics.
  • In this episode, the turtles all take a deep breath and hold it as Mikey retreats into his shell to be used as a battering ram. Interestingly, real-life turtles have to exhale all the air from their lungs to be able to retreat into their shells.
  • Leo says the quote “We‘re not in Kansas anymore“ from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

Errors[]

  • When Mikey gets inside his shell his belt disappears.

Quotes[]

Donatello: "Yes, you did it again! Why do you keep grabbing my face? What is wrong with my face?!"
Raphael: "Would you like the list alphabetically or in descending order of grossness?"


----

Michelangelo: "What are they gonna do? Mutate the whole planet so they can live here and we can't?" (Leo, Donnie and Raph are shocked)
Donatello: "I don't know what's scarier, what you just said or you said it!"
Michelangelo: "Wait, what did I say?"


----

Leonardo: "We're not in Kansas anymore."
Michelangelo: "I thought we were in New York!" (Raph punches in the back of his head)



----

Michelangelo: The Olympics!
Donatello: No!
Michelangelo: I got it, The Olympics!
Donatello: Stop guessing! Obviously it's a Kraang symbol!
Leonardo: But from where?
Michelangelo: (raises his hand) The Olympics!
Donatello: QUIT IT! There's something here and I can figure it out. If you all just go away and LET ME THINK!
(The other three leave Donnie to his research, Shortly after, Splinter arrives)
Splinter: Oh, The Olympics?
Donatello: For the hundred ti-! (realize it's Splinter) Agh!


----

Raphael: TCRI? They're behind the Kraang Plot?
Leonardo: The Invasion?
Michelangelo: (while jogging in place) The Olympics? (Raph slaps him) What was that?
Raphael: A new Olympic event.


----

Michelangelo: (hums the Olympics theme while climbing elevator wires)
Donatello: "Are you humming the Olympics theme?"
Michelangelo: "It seemed appropriate."


----

(Raph climbs to the top. He opens elevator door and sees Kraang-droids putting on human disguise)
Raphael: "ARRGH!"(closes doors) "I gotta wash my eyes."


----

(Kraang open door and come on elevator and the turtles defeat them)
Leonardo: "All right guys. Lets get in where it's safe." (opens hatch and sees lots of Kraang-droids start shooting) "I've gotta stop saying things like that!"


----

(Raph accidentally hits a button, making an alarm go off)
Michelangelo: "Alright!"
Leonardo: "What?"
Michelangelo: "Finally someone set off an alarm and it wasn't me!"


----

Leonardo: "Imagine if they knew who they were working for. (Kraang voice) The ones who are working for this place must punch the card that is known as the 'timecard' in the clock that is known as the clock of time!" (April and Splinter look at him)

Leonardo: (chuckles nervously) "Sorry, where were we?"
Master Splinters: "Was your mission successful?"
Leonardo: "Afraid not Sensei. Leatherhead is gone."
Michelangelo: "Yeah, but he saved us and I found this."
Raphael: "Oh good so now your picking up alien trash."
Donatello: Do you realize what this is?"
Michelangelo: "Shiny."
Donatello: "Its a Kraang data storage device, if I can decode it maybe it can help us find a way to stop them."


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