Rise of the Turtles

Plot

After having a training session, Splinter (Hamato Yoshi) and the Turtles celebrate their 15th Anniversary of being mutated, and Splinter tells them the story of how they came to be. After the story, the Turtles convince Splinter to allow them to travel to the surface. After taking a trip out of the sewers for the first time since being mutated, the Turtles witness April O'Neil and her father Kirby getting captured by The Kraang. Donatello develops a crush upon seeing April and concludes that the Turtles must save her and her father. The Turtles have a brief battle with the Kraang, but they still manage to escape with April and Kirby.

Back at the lair, Splinter agrees that the Turtles must save April and Kirby, and picks Leonardo as the leader of the team. While searching for April and Kirby, they meet Snake, a guy who works for the Kraang. Raphael threatens to pour mutagen ooze on him if he doesn't tell the Turtles information about the Kraang. Snake abides, and tells them everything he knows, before Michelangelo accidentally lets him escape. At the lair, Splinter tells Leonardo that failure is a possibility that every leader must face, and tells him the story of how he and the Shredder (Oroku Saki) were once friends, but became enemies. The Turtles eventually find the Kraang, and Snake accidentally gets mutagen ooze poured on him, and becomes a mutated plant. The Turtles enters the Kraang's facility, and begin to battle them, but before they can reach April and Kirby, they come across Snake in his mutant form, to which Michelangelo dubs him as Snakeweed. Snakeweed plots revenge against the Turtles for his mutation, and they go on to fight him. Donatello goes on to save April and Kirby, while Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo continue to fight Snakeweed. Donatello manages to save April, but the Kraang escapes with Kirby. Snakeweed eventually blows up and the Turtles and April escape from the Kraang. However, Snakeweed's assumed burned corpse slowly turns green and his heart starts beating again.

The Turtles made the news, but the Shredder watches the news back at Tokyo, Japan, discovering Splinter's symbol on the ninja star, concluding that he and the Foot Clan must relocate to New York to finish off Splinter.

Reception

Max Nicholson of IGN gave "Rise of The Turtles" a rating of 8.5/10, saying "The action sequences are fluid, fast-paced and exciting, and the dialogue-heavy scenes are usually peppered with entertaining slapstick." Toon Zone reviewer Grant White gave the episode a positive review, saying "Although I enjoyed this premiere, not everything sat well with me. There are some parts of both the writing and animation that felt poor and sometimes overlapped." Noel Kirkpatrick at TV.com called the episode "a tad on the bland side". He cites that while there's plenty for surprises for the show's plot, "in laying the groundwork, this pilot didn't really do anything new". Matt Edwards at Den of Geek opined that the episode is "so polished and ell executed," and praised it for its balance of comedy and action, stating "A very strong start to the series, then, and one I’ve found myself revisiting frequently."

The episode's original run garnered approximately 3.9 million viewers within the United States.