Source: TMNT – “Earth’s Last Stand”
“Earth’s Last Stand” might not be the season finale, but it sure felt like it, with an absolutely huge episode that brought the space arc of Season 4 to an end. This episode is big on action, big on heart, big on intrigue, and big on questions for the future of the series. It’s everything you wish a season finale could be.
We knew this episode was going to center around the Turtles last chance to save the Earth, but there were certain points to look forward to and question. Would the current Turtles and friends meet their past selves? Would they be able to save Splinter? Did Mozar really know what’s going on with the time traveling Turtles? Would it change the way they approach the Earth invasion? Would there be some crazy time travel consequences for all the changes the Turtles made? What would happen to the current crew when the reason their past selves traveled to the past is changed? The answers to these questions are: Yes, Yes, No, No, Who knows, Nothing yet. Interesting stuff, but let’s break it down!
Source: TMNT – “Earth’s Last Stand”
Our space faring crew made it into the Milky Way at the same time as the Triceratons, but it started to look like the Triceratons weren’t their only problem. Of all people, Fugitoid started to act really strange, not only confessing to building the black hole generator, but kicking the Turtles, Casey, and April off the ship when they started to question his motivations. April, in all her telepathic glory, could tell the professor was lying, but Honeycutt wouldn’t give them the whole truth. All while the Turtles witnessed their past selves get captured on Mozar’s ship. We even got a great space battle where Leo tried to take on the whole Triceraton army!
Source: TMNT “Earth’s Last Stand”
The past Turtles made it back to Earth just before the current team got dumped by Fugitoid. This led to the current team saving their past selves from the Triceraton scout team, followed immediately by them witnessing Splinter block Shredder’s killing blow. What we got next were two simultaneous fight scenes; one between Splinter and Shredder, and another between both groups of Turtles and the Triceraton’s and Mozar. This series continues to have some of the best fight choreography in animation and it was really exciting to see Splinter defeat Shredder, and the Turtles finally overcome Mozar and force him to retreat.
Source: TMNT – “Earth’s Last Stand”
The Triceratons returned to their mothership and we finally get to see why Fugitoid was acting so weird. This whole season we’ve all wondered why the black hole generator had to be put together in order for it to be destroyed. Even Leo asks this question when he is fed up with Fugitoid. It turns out that Honeycutt made it so only a combination of dark matter and fusion. The only way Fugitoid could get both of these things at the same time would be to use his ship’s dark matter engine, and his own robot body’s fusion core. Fugitoid was planning to sacrifice himself to save the Earth, and knew the Turtles would try to stop him if they knew his plan. Honeycutt went through with his plan, taking out the black hole generator and the Triceraton mothership with it!
Source: TMNT – “Earth’s Last Stand”
This show has a real heart to it and this episode really highlighted how well the writers know these characters, and how to put them in situations that really get the audience involved. Seeing the current Turtles reunite with Splinter (at least the past Splinter) was great, but the real star was Fugitoid. The scene with him offering himself up to save Earth was really touching.
Now we get to the status quo moving forward. I really want to question how there isn’t a giant time paradox, now that the past Turtles and crew left with past Honeycutt to go adventure in space. Sure, it’s convenient for the present Turtles to have a timeline to return to and not have to explain why there are two of everyone. But it does play a little loose with the implications of time travel. But we’ll save that for a Random Thoughts column one of these days.
Source: TMNT – “Earth’s Last Stand”
Instead, let’s ask some questions about where the rest of the season will go. Will the remaining Triceratons come to Earth to get revenge for the deaths of Mozar and his crew? How will the Foot move to challenge Splinter and the Turtles? After all, these Turtles have fought the likes of Mozar and Lord Dregg. They have fancy space weapons, and experience against some of the Great Cosmic Monsters. Are Shredder and his minions ready for that? How will NYC be different after two alien invasions? What are the Kraang up to?
Source: TMNT – “Earth’s Last Stand”
These are some exciting questions and they came from an exciting episode; a fitting end to the space arc of the season. There was a lot of ground to cover, but the episode never lost it’s pacing. I’m looking forward to having the Turtles back in the city and dealing with Shredder and the Foot, but it’s interesting to think of the possibilities moving forward. And what will happen to Fugitoid’s head floating all alone up there in space?
Do you have ideas for the questions we posed? What did you think of “Earth’s Last Stand?” How will the series move forward? Will the fact that there are two sets of heroes in this universe now impact future episodes? Let us know what you think in the comments!
Source: TMNT – “Earth’s Last Stand”