The Turtles, Master Splinter, Casey, and April are back in a new hour long episode entitled “Wormquake”. How does it compare to recent Turtle affairs?

The gang’s all here.

This week’s TMNT had a lot to work with, alternate dimensions, the Casey/Donnie/April triangle, the Kraang, Karai, a new assassin in Shredder’s coup, and giant worms that cause earthquakes!. Some things worked pretty well, while admittedly others didn’t or at the very least felt a bit on the short side. There was even times when I felt that they may have pulled the trigger on some future main arcs too soon.  Still, this week’s TMNT provided some great action, per usual and some interesting story bits.

Meet The Shredder’s new second in command Tiger Claw (left).

THE GOOD: The opening scene of “Wormquake!” was probably one of, if not the best openings in the series’ history as far as action goes. Razhar, Karai, Cypher, and Stockmon decide to stalk the Turtles and crew for once, looking to capture Master Splinter. Big mouth Leo tries to convince and turn Karai to the other side of the battlefield (much to Splinter’s original dismay), though this initially fails. The Turtles are introduced to the Kraang worms a little early (at least in my opinion).

Raphael and an Kraang portal.

The drama between Casey, Donnie, and April has begun, I felt it may have come off too early, however I’m currently unaware of how many episodes remain as of this writing, so maybe it was the right time. It just felt too close given how soon he and the Turtles got acquainted and the amount of screen time he’s shared with them together. I liked the relationship (and relationship issues) the three are going through. It’s pretty much known to April that both have feelings for her at this point, so it’ll be interesting to see how the writers handle this situation from the rest of season 2, season 3, and beyond.

Poor Donnie, he’s likely to get hurt in this love triangle.

This episode had a few references in it, I’m quite certain I even saw a few Tremors references. Tremors is the 90s cult film starring Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward about an group of underground alien worms. Master Splinter again showing Shredder that no matter where he gets them, or how skilled they are, he’s still a complete and total bad ass in comparison to his henchmen, giving new second in command Tiger Claw a run for his money. Now that Karai has heard the Turtles, Casey & April, and Splinter conversing about her true identity and origin it’ll be interesting to see what they (the writers) do about it moving forward.

Karai and Leo crossing blades.

Speaking of references “Wormquake” had one of the greatest references in the 2012 series’ history. The famous and well-beloved 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon! That’s right, Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mickey, and even Casey & April from the original 1980s series makes not only one, but two appearances in “Wormquake” acting as an alternate dimension to the 2012 series, which was a really clever way of going about it.

The original incarnation of the gang as they appear in”Wormquake!”!

THE BAD: This episode felt a bit more about how Casey, Donatello, and April would consider handling one another going forward, than Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Splinter dealing with Karai, the henchmen, and Shredder. Not that this was a ad thing in particular, however the later was treated as more of the A story at the start, then relegated into the B story in a bit of an unintentional way, unless of course it was completely intentional and I just didn’t pick up on it upon my initial viewing of the episode.

Turtle Power dude!

As I said earlier I felt some storylines began a little too early. Like Karai finding out the truth bout herself and Splinter via eavesdropping, though given how long Karai has been introduced and her previous relationship to the Turtles this can be forgiven I suppose. The Donnie, April, and Casey thing definitely came about a bit early Casey & Donnie’s rivalry should have been expanded upon a bit further, and while it was in “Wormquake!” I think the two became friends a bit too soon.

To the cheese phone!

OVERALL THOUGHTS: A nice opening action segment and story bits pulls “Wormquake!” together as a well put hour long event. admittedly some storylines felt like the trigger was pulled to soon, and the B story feeling like more of the A story, than the actual A story was rather weird. However the introduction to Tiger Claw, Master Splinter showing off his bad assery, and some great storytelling despite the previously mentioned point gave “Wormquake!” a nice edge over previous hour episodes. And let’s not forget the 1980s Turtles, Tremors references (?),  and the cheese phone! Otaku Dome gives “Wormquake!” an 88 out of 100.