A Thing About Rats
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 Season |
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Episodes:
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A Thing About Rats is episode number 3 of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series. It is the third episode of season 1 (1987). This episode of the show is part of the Heroes in a Half Shell series. It was produced by Kara Vallow. It was written by David Wise and Patti Howeth, and directed by Yoshikatsu Kasai. It originally aired on December 12, 1987, in syndication. It is available on DVD on the box set released on April 20, 2004.
In the New York City sewers, Splinter rests/recovers from his confrontation with The Shredder inside the Technodrome (which happened in the last episode). The turtles search the underground to find the Technodrome and to force the Shredder to transform Splinter back into human.
Deep under New York City, the Shredder takes a transport module (not the kind of transport modules shown during later seasons) from the Technodrome to the surface. When arriving in a deserted mansion, he sends away remote controled flying bug cameras in search for scientific research.
In another part of the city, scientist Dr. Baxter Stockman tries to convince the Ajax Pest Control company to invest in Baxter Stockman's new invention, the mousers. The mousers are robots made to catch rats. Baxter Stockman shows by putting a rat into through a small labyrinth in search of cheese, and the rat is found by the "mouser".
The President of the Ajax Pest Control company sends out Baxter Stockman from the building, saying that the mousers would cause unemployment among the pest control companies. But the Shredders bug cameras taped the incident, and later the Shredder arrives and asks Baxter Stockman if they can work together.
While the turtles continue their search for the Technodrome, the Shredder and Baxter Stockman return to the deserted mansion. The Shredder orders Baxter Stockman to create a master control device to control all the mousers that he plans to build in the dawn.
The Shredder returns down to the Technodrome and begins to mass produce mousers. But Krang is angry because he wants the Shredder to provide him with a "body". The Shredder says that the turtles are a bigger problem just no, but Krang says that if he had a body, it should not be a problem. The Shredder walks away, but Krang says that he wants to see the Shredder fail again and again until he gives Krang a "body".
The Shredder sends out twelve mousers to seek out and destroy Splinter.
When Splinter is recovered, April O'Neil returns home to her own apartment. While Splinter meditates in the sewers, he is attacked by mousers. He has a feeling that it is the Shredder who is sending the machines. With his martial arts skills, Splinter is able to destroy one by one, but he is outnumbered against many of them. When it seems hopless for Splinter, the turtles had sensed that he is in a danger decided to go back to the sewers, return and see that Splinter is in trouble. The turtles help Splinter to destroy the mousers, and on every mouser, they found the text "Baxter Stockman, Inventor" . They also believe that Shredder is behind this and decide to search for him. The turtles and Splinter go to April's apartment to get more information about Baxter Stockman. April uses her computer to get Baxter Stockmans name with a photograph and an address. Splinter stays at April while the turtles begin their search for Baxter Stockman.
When Baxter Stockman has built the master control device and walks home, the Shredder sends some Foot robots to follow Baxter Stockman home, because Shredder fears that Baxter Stockman "knows too much". Just a later, the Shredder sends away 1,200 Mousers to seek out and destroy Splinter, the turtles and April.
When Baxter Stockman comes home, the Shredders Foot robots arrive. But suddenly, the turtles arrive and destroy the Foot robots. The turtles tie Baxter Stockman to a nearby street light lamp post and Raphael convince Baxer Stockman to say where the Shredder is. Baxter tells them his story. Realizing that the "deserted mansion" is on the other side of town, and with no time to lose, the Turtles "borrow" Stockman's van and drive to the deserted mansion.
Suddenly, the turtles realize how easy the mousers cand find Splinter, and head back to April's apartment. When the turtles arrive, they find April and Splinter using kitchen utensils to fight for their lives against the arriving mousers. The TMNT, April and Splinter all escape the apartment just as the building collapses as a result of the mousers destruction.
Later, the turtles, Splinter and April arrive at the deserted mansion. Donatello tries to use the remote control in Baxter Stockman's to try to control the Mousers, but the master control device that the Shredder controls is stronger. Instead, Michaelangelo sneaks inside the mansion to turn off the master control device. But the Shredder captures Michaelangelo and ties the turtle to a chair. The Shredder recalls all the mousers to attack the other turtles, Splinter and April, who all are waiting outside.
But inside the deserted mansion Krang rescues Michaelangelo and tells him to go to the room above and save his friends, who are in danger, by destroying the master control device. Michaelangelo runs up, and encounters the Shredder and fools the Shredder to fire his rifle against Michaelangelo. Michaelangelo jumps away, and the shots fired by the Shredder destroy the master control device.
This makes it possible for Donatello to re-program the mousers with Baxter Stockman's hand control device to destroy the deserted mansion. But the gas pipe at the building is hit, and the building begins to explode. The Shredder and Krang escape in the transport module. The turtles find Michaelangelos toe behind a part of what ones was the building, and they think that Michaelangelos is dead until he says that he loves playing the game hide and seek.
The turtles discover a hole, and watch down finding the Technodrome gone. Michaelangelo tells about Krang and how Krang looked, but the others don't believe him.
