Review: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “Many Unhappy Returns”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kicks off its second season premiere with a clarification on our Shredder situation. Turns out this animalistic multi-dimensional beast isn’t actually the same Shredder that Splinter has warned us about, but he’s still dangerous and the Turtles gotta stop him. They split up, with Leo and Splinter headed to Big Mama’s for a potential assist and the other guys doing their best (with April) in keeping Shred-Monster contained until Leo can return with backup. After taking part in Big Mama’s sick gladiatorial events, Big Mama gives Leo and Splinter a collar that when put on Shredder sends him back to a different dimension that isn’t Earth. The turtles do just that, but we learn that Big Mama has a habit of changing the terms of her agreements at the last second…

Our Take

Yes, I know…a few episodes of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ second season had already aired which is really quite unbelievable, but here we are talking about the show’s second season premiere more than a month later.

In any event, the season premiere really was fantastic. The fight action scenes continue to show their Dragon Ball influences especially with Shredder heading for the ship and during the arena fights. Everything looks great, the premise was well done, and I’m enjoying the kick-off of Big Mama’s sinister plan. And the promise of a legit Shredder has me hoping this rise is coming sooner rather than later. It does somewhat irk me when the show throws in the more comedic elements like tickling the Shredder monster, but I’m really digging the Turtles’ superpowers to complement their weapons, which might be the biggest surprise of all.