TMNT – “Turtles in Time” Review

“My name’s Renet, and I’m a time master.” – Renet

The turtles are still on the hunt for Karai, but there’s been no trace of their sister for weeks.  However, as the search continues, a doorway opens in the sky.  From it appears a woman named Renet – a time apprentice in training.  She was followed by an evil wizard, Savanti Romero, and needs the help of the legendary turtle warriors to stop him.  The boys try to attack the time master, but he easily stops them.  Renet manages to send Savanti to the past, and explains to the turtles why she’s come back to find them.

The boys agree to help Renet to save her from punishment, heading back in time to stop Savanti from changing history.  They land in England circa 980, and run into some knights.  Defeating the opposing warriors, the turtles are confronted by Savanti.  The time master acquires the time scepter from Renet, and with its power Savanti banishes the heroes to an eternal time loop.  However, Renet helps them escape, and they head after Savanti yet again.

Approaching the villain’s castle, the turtles are intercepted in a graveyard.  Savanti raises the dead to battle the heroes, however even breaking the skeletons apart will not stop the enemies from rising back up and fighting.  But the dead cannot leave the graveyard, and as the turtles ride away, the skeletons are left falling to pieces.

Arriving at Savanti’s castle, the heroes launch their attack, but the villain is prepared.  Renet manages to free them once again, and Michelangelo separates Savanti from the scepter.  As everyone battles for control of the device, Savanti easily gains the upper hand.  But Raphael breaks his time gauntlet, and with Donatello in control of the scepter, Savanti is banished into time.  With Savanti lost, Renet is summoned back to her own time and takes the turtles home.  As they enter the time stream, interference causes the boys to be separated from their guide, and all four fall through time, landing in Japan.

New episodes have finally returned, and they’ve started off with a bang.  The ideas presented in this offering open up a wide range of possibilities, which will hopefully be tapped into as the series progresses.  With time travel now a possibility, and the turtles branded as legendary heroes, there are many new opportunities to showcase adventures outside the confines of NYC.  Even better is that unlike with the adventures had when the turtles were in exile at the beginning of the season, new time hopping adventures may have some impact on a larger story.  While there’s still plenty to do back home, a little time away (possibly to learn some new tricks and develop enhanced skills) will undoubtedly do the boys some good.  Of course, there’s no guarantee that these adventures will last beyond these couple of episodes, but the chance is there, and that makes it even more intriguing to watch.

The new characters introduced were, however, a bit disappointing.  Renet seemed a little too good at what she was doing, especially for only being an apprentice, while Savanti Romero appeared to be too easily defeated by the turtles.  He was supposed to be a very powerful, evil time master, and he was eliminated as a threat (sort of) with very minimal effort.  While that does provide even more hope that he will return and be more of a threat, it would have been nice to not save that for the future, and instead explore it while the opportunity existed.

Overall, the turtles’ return after hiatus was a good one.  With just enough episodes to get into the fall TV season (and hopefully the start of season four), this new batch of episodes will hopefully provide the action expected and the answers needed for some of the most important elements from this current season.  Hopefully when the turtles get into space in season four they will have some company, or at least be able to deposit their sister back at home before heading on their new adventure.