Pizza Pit

**"Pizza Pit"** is the twentieth episode (Episode 11B) of *Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*. It first aired on February 2nd, 2019.

## Characters

* DIGG
	+ Groundhog (Betsy Sodaro)
	+ Honey Badger (E.G. Daily)
	+ Prairie Dog (E.G. Daily)
* Donatello (Josh Brener)
* Leonardo (Ben Schwartz)
* Michelangelo (Brandon Mychal Smith)
* Raphael (Omar Benson Miller)

## Plot

A women's rock band mutated by Oozesquitoes to dummies - DIGG - is beginning to devise a devastating plan that literally sinks a number of pizza restaurants in New York into the earth. But the plan begins to slip apart as the Turtles conduct a culinary tour that night to quench their cravings for the New York Pizza Week, witnessing two pizzerias (Donatello's and Michelangelo's haunts) suddenly come to an end disappear into a huge pit of earth.

Donatello and Michelangelo are personally hit by the disappearance of their favorite food places, but Leonardo and Raphael leave things cold at first. That changes when the Turtles want to switch to Leonardo's favorite restaurant instead, but there they meet the three members of DIGG, who immediately dig their way to escape through the ground. The fierce Turtles follow Ground Hog and Honey Badger and try to challenge them, but fail because of their underground abilities. Then they come across Prairie Dog, who has just moved a support column with a battery of loudspeakers, to bring them to collapse with a clenched sound attack. They come too late to stop Prairie Dog from putting the loudspeakers into operation, and so another beloved pizzeria sinks into the ground.

Since Donatello has worked out a conspiracy theory out of these events, that the unknown attackers have a dislike for them and pizzas, they rush to the last remaining pizzeria (Raphael's favorite restaurant) and evacuate first the visitors and staff. Afterwards, they catch DIGG as they prepare their last sabotage, and the battle ensues. But during the fight, Donatello learns from Prairie Dog that the collapse of the pizzeria is just a coincidental collateral damage to their original plan to dump a concert hall into the ground. The underground support pillars of the hall that DIGG blew up were just standing directly where the pizzerias were located. DIGG has started sinking the hall.

With their explanation, DIGG first encounters extremely little understanding in Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo; but Raphael manages to save the situation for everyone involved with a (for him) brilliant idea. Thus, the pizzeria chefs concerned - who all "coincidentally" also belong to the same family - open a new, jointly operated restaurant in which DIGG can fulfill its dream as a regular entertainer. And so the Turtles now enjoy their much-anticipated pizza - until one of Donatello's conspiracy theories about a pizzasaurus is unexpectedly realized.

## Trivia

* This episode, along with "The Purple Jacket", was leaked early on iTunes on December 7th, 2018, and was posted on Nick.com one day later.
* Pictures of the 2012 Ninja Turtles, the Mirage Ninja Turtles and the 1987 Ninja Turtles can be seen on Donnie's conspiracy board with writing claiming them to be alternate dimensional counterparts.
* In this episode there are some pop culture references:
	+ Honey Badger's introduction is an allusion to Iron Maiden.
	+ Groundhog's introduction is an allusion to Nirvana, and the cover of their album *Nevermind*.
	+ Prairie Dog's introduction might be an allusion to *Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow*, though the font does not match.
	+ The chase between Raphael, Michelangelo and Groundhog is a reference to two extremely similar arcade games from 1982: *Dig Dug* and *Mr. Do!*
	+ A brief scene of conflicts between Michelangelo and Groundhog is a reference to Whac-A-Mole.

## Videos

"Pizza Pit" Animatic 🍕🐢 - Rise of the TMNT - Nick Animation