| “The Old Switcheroo” | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 Cartoon) episode | |||||||
 Splinter finds out he's in Shredder's body. | |||||||
| Season Code: | 3 | ||||||
| Episode: | 6 | ||||||
| Original airdate | October 11, 1989 | ||||||
| Written by | Michael Reaves | ||||||
| Producers: | – | ||||||
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Plot
The episode opens up with a sobbing Irma, who reveals to April that she had been setup by a man who insisted on going on a "Double-Date" with Irma and another woman, which has upset Irma. As April tries comforting her, Burne calls for April and informs her that someone was reported to be snooping around Cybertech Laboratory and thus orders her to do a report on it.
Meanwhile in the Turtles' Lair, Donatello shows off his latest invention to the other Turtles and Splinter: An Automatic Pizza Maker. After demonstrating the machine in action as it successfully makes a pizza in a few seconds, Michelangelo eagerly requests putting the machine at Maximum Power. As hundreds of pizzas are quickly created to the Turtles' delight, the machine however quickly becomes overworked, malfunctions and finally explodes, much to the Turtles' disappointment. During the machine's breakdown however, Leonardo gets injured when a piece of the machine hits his arm, to Splinter's acknowledgement. At the same time, April calls the Turtles from Cybertech Lab and informs them that the Shredder, along with Bebop and Rocksteady have been spotted working on a machine as well. Out of concern for Leonardo's injury, Splinter accompanies the Turtles as well. It is not long after the Turtles leave that Shredder notices April spying on him and the mutants (abit after Bebop drops a heavy crate onto his foot) and orders his henchmen to seize her. Fortunately the Turtles quickly arrive to save April from Bebop and Rocksteady while Shredder and Splinter engage in battle.
During the scuffle, Bebop and Rocksteady try to finish off the Turtles quickly by firing at them. During their shoot-out however, Splinter and Shredder find themselves directly underneath the machines that Shredder and the mutants were working on. When Rocksteady fires at the machine's control panel, Shredder and Splinter are both hit by a ray emanating from the machine and it knocks them both out. Fearing for their own master's safety, the Turtles scramble to rescue Splinter while Bebop and Rocksteady retreat with Shredder in a Catering Truck. The effects of the ray quickly become noticed when Shredder wakes up, but does not show any aggression in his voice, while Splinter awakes too but sounds very angry. The machine had swapped Shredder's and Splinter's minds with their bodies, with Shredder being inside Splinter's body while Splinter is inside Shredder's body. To worsen the situation, both the Turtles and the Mutants are completely oblivious to the ray's effects.
While trapped in Shredder's body, Splinter initially has difficulty not giving away his identity to Bebop or Rocksteady due to his kind demeanor. Things only become more complicated for him when confronted by Krang, who (under the impression that he is still Shredder) angrily berates the trio for failing their mission again. When Splinter generously offers to make up for his failure, Krang becomes suspicious of "Shredder's" new personality change, and after Bebop and Rocksteady mention the accident that switched their minds, Krang has Splinter restrained and has his Brain Waves scanned to make sure that "Shredder" is feeling right. Fortunately, Splinter manages to fool Krang's brain scan by thinking that he is Shredder and manages to avoid detection. Before he can probe Krang for any way to have his mind switch back, Krang however quickly dismisses him and sends him with Bebop and Rocksteady back to the surface to retry their mission from before.
Meanwhile at the Turtles's lair, Shredder does not bother hiding his sadistic pleasure in bullying the Turtles in Splinter's body. Immediately after being questioned by the Turtles why he's acting strange (ex. - eating pizza despite that Splinter usually hates Pizza,) Shredder forcing them to do multiple exercises, and humiliated chores around the lair as punishment for being invasive. The Turtles begin to get more suspicious when "Splinter" manages to subdue the Turtles in a training exercise with ease, and in a style that does not at all resemble Splinter's fighting style. Finally, when April comes over to visit, Shredder rudely dismisses her, which manages to get over to the Turtles that something is wrong with "Splinter" and thus they (and April) return to the surface for some answers.
When reaching the surface, the Turtles are confronted by Bebop, Rocksteady, and Splinter. Shortly after disposing of Bebop and Rocksteady in combat, the Turtles surround "Shredder", ready to attack. However, Splinter manages to convince the Turtles that he is in fact Splinter, having been trapped in Shredder's body, and thus the Turtles are relieved now that they know the truth. Now realizing what needs to be done, the Turtles and Splinter plan on luring Shredder back into Cybertech Lab in order to reswap minds with Splinter and to fix everything. Once the Turtles return to their lair, they convince "Splinter" into returning back to Cybertech Lab and fighting "Shredder" (unknown to Shredder that the Turtles are springing a trap). Meanwhile back at Cybertech Lab, Bebop and Rocksteady appear as well, having recovered from their fight with the Turtles and following Splinter there as well.
The Turtles and Shredder appear as well and are left to face off against Bebop and Rocksteady yet again, while Shredder and Splinter are left to fight each other yet again. Much like their first fight, Bebop and Rocksteady try to finish off the Turtles by firing at them while Splinter and Shredder position themselves back underneath the machines. Once again, while trying to shoot Donatello, Rocksteady fires at the machine's control panel and Shredder and Splinter are both hit by the machine's ray knocking them both out again. However, the second blast causes the machine to malfunction and Cybertech Labs catches on fire, forcing the Turtles and the Mutants to fetch their respective masters.
Fortunately, the plan worked and both Shredder and Splinter are reunited with their previous bodies, to both parties' delight.
Character
- Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
- Donatello (Barry Gordon)
- Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
- Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
- Splinter (Peter Renaday)
- April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
- Irma Langinstein (Jennifer Darling)
- Shredder (James Avery)
- Bebop (Barry Gordon)
- Rocksteady (Cam Clarke)
- Krang (Pat Fraley)
- Burne Thompson (Pat Fraley)
Locations
- Turtle Lair
- Channel 6 building
- Technodrome
- Cybertech Labs
Vehicles
- Catering Truck
- Turtle Van
- Transport Module
Home media releases
VHS
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Attack of the Big MACC
DVD
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 3
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 3
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection
Notes
Errors
- Michelangelo and Donatello were seen with opposite colors when they were helping Shredder (in the body of Splinter) into the Turtle Van.
- Donatello was seen with his bo weapon sleeve from Seasons 1 and 2 when he used the pizza oven, the same would happen with Leonardo's katanas when he was lifting up Shredder (in Splinter's body) after the first brain swap incident.
- At one point, the bottom half of Krang's android was colored a solid yellow and did not have it's legs drawn in.
- The 6 logo on April's camera was mirror flipped just before she headed off back to Channel 6 to file her story.
- When April informs the Turtles that Shredder and the mutants are hiding in Cybertech Lab, it is nighttime outside. However, when the Turtles arrive to rescue April from them and after retrieving "Shredder" and "Splinter", it is daytime.
Trivia
- The Turtles act surprised to see one of the Transport Modules, meaning that this episode possibly occurred right after the events in "Beneath These Streets".
- The shot of Michelangelo disarming Bebop and Rocksteady with his nunchucks was edited out of UK broadcastings of this episode.
- Donatello's pizza maker invention looks unsurprisingly like Playmates "Pizza Thrower" vehicle. The toy debuted in 1989 the same year this episode originally aired.
- This is the first Season 3 episode where Shredder is seen without his mask.
- This episode obviously takes place before "Turtles on Trial" as the Turtles act surprised to see the Transport Module when it surfaces in the alleyway.