Mystic Mayhem

**"Mystic Mayhem"** is the first episode of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It first aired as a special preview on July 20th, 2018. It later aired as a world premiere on September 17th, 2018.

## Synopsis

The Turtles discover for the first time that they are not the weirdest things in New York.

## Characters

### Major Characters

* Mayhem
* Leonardo (Ben Schwartz)
* Raphael (Omar Benson Miller)
* Donatello (Josh Brener)
* Michelangelo (Brandon Mychal Smith)
* April O'Neil (Kat Graham)
* Baron Draxum (John Cena)
* Guardsmen
	+ Freki (Fred Tatasciore)
	+ Garm (Fred Tatasciore)
* Golem
* Guardsmen's Mounts
* Huginn (Tim Simons)
* Muninn (Sam Richardson)
* Oozesquitoes
* Splinter (Eric Bauza)
* Stewart (Fred Tatasciore)

## Plot

The episode begins with a dog-like creature running along the sidewalks of New York, being pursued by two men with their dogs in baby carriers. When they have the creature cornered in an alleyway, it has a trick up its sleeve and magically teleports away.

Later that night, the Turtles zip-line from Molina Tower over a high-class rooftop party where a shady deal seems to be going down... only to zip past it, going for the rooftop pool on the building next door to perform a cannonball into the pool. Before heading off to Rucker Park, Raphael notices the dog creature in a construction yard. The team instantly befriends it (more April and less Raph), when suddenly the jogger men also show up. The Turtles try to pass off as humans, dawning nerd voices and mannerisms similar to science fiction convention patrons. When that fails, a battle (and a much-needed Jersey joke from Leonardo) ensues, but after the two joggers and their little dogs reveal their true forms.

The streak of failure continues for the Turtles, for they are easily beaten and their weapons (excluding Don's tech-bo) are destroyed. April tries to take the bad guys on herself, but clearly they capture the "dog-thingy" in a magical power-restraining orb. The villains conjure a mystical portal on a wall, and when the headstrong teen goes after the bad guys, she disappeared through the portal with them.

The Turtles are completely puzzled as to how to free their friend or more importantly, where she went. Michelangelo says that he may have an idea, pointing out the symbol used to create the portal is something they all have seen before, referring to a small device in Splinter's "do not touch" cabinet.

Raph asks Splinter if they can have the living room for the night as part of his plan for getting the device without him noticing. Splinter, however, laughs it off and refuses to leave after Don suggests he hook up the projector in his bedroom. Raph then comes up with a more complicated plan involving ten chickens and a gallon of rubber cement, but Leo manages to get the device by sneaking past Splinter, who passed out after his milk and cake.

Back at the construction site, Raph tries to figure out how to open the portal with the device. However, he freezes and starts to crack under pressure as his younger brothers make multiple side comments. Mikey then offers to open the portal and after holding the device over the wall, it starts glowing. Mikey uses the device to create a "M" like symbol on the wall, opening the portal. After his brothers congratulate Mikey on his effort, the four brothers "cannonball" into the portal and fall under to a mysterious location underground.

April then finds the Turtles and explains that they are in a hidden city under New York. She then leads them into a laboratory, where they find the "dog-thingy" and a delivery person who had fallen through a portal into the Hidden City shortly before the former creature's capture. They then see a large mutant-like being enter the room, takes the vial of ooze around the dog-thingy's neck and fills it in a large unit filled with mosquitoes. The mutant then uses the Oozesquito on the delivery man, who then mutates into an imitation crab mutant and runs off. The Turtles and April all watch in disgust and horror, as well as overhearing the mysterious mutant recall a successful mutation that worked years ago.

April then remarks that they have to rescue the dog-thingy, but (besides Donnie), the Turtles don't have any weapons. As Raph attempts to do a pep talk, April finds a lever, taking her and the Turtles to a secret room filled with weapons. Raph then finds some glowing mystical weapons, in which he, Leo and Mikey take. Donnie refuses the mystic staff and takes a purple crystal instead. The four Turtles and April return to the lab, bringing the attention of the mysterious villain.

As the Turtles argue on how they should approach a verbal confrontation of the villain, April suddenly jumps into action and attempts to free the dog-thingy. The villain's two gargoyle-like henchmen grab April and start flying around the lab (the three can be seen in the background during the following fight sequence). The four Turtles then begin to do combat with their mysterious new foe and his strange robot-like creation. Donnie then uses his tech-bo, which flies out of control and destroys the Golem, much to the villain's amazement.

The villain then introduces (or refers in third person) himself as Baron Draxum and tries to talk the Turtles into training under him. After Leo comically points out how Draxum is doing the "third person" gig, Raph, followed by the others, charge back into battle. After April successfully beats up the two gargoyles and is restrained by Draxum, Mikey then throws his Kusari-fundō at the villain, in which the weapon suddenly lights up and sends Mikey flying across the room. With the others amazed, Raph asks how Mikey was able to activate his weapon, which the orange-masked turtle unwillingly does again as he explains. Raph then tries to activate a mystic power within his Tonfa, but it results in him shooting backward towards a wall. Leo, excited to find out what his weapon does, tries to use his sword to attack Draxum, up he ends up creating a portal where the red-eared slider is endlessly falling.

Donnie then starts to fight Draxum with his tech-bo, but Mikey accidentally knocks into him, and the two start bouncing around. Draxum then restrains the four Turtles and tries again in talking them into joining him. Donnie then notices that the lab is about to explode, as Mikey accidentally disrupts the tower's core when he first activates his mystic whip. The tower then explodes and splits around, releasing all the Oozesquitoes and the lab starts crumbling around the group (with a part of the roof falling on top of Draxum just as it starts to collapse). Free from his power-proof cage, the dog-thingy teleports out, over to the Turtles and April, and takes the five out of Draxum's lab. Mikey then uses the device to open a portal back to New York, but it is then smashed and destroyed as the group returns to the construction site. April then names the dog-thingy "Mayhem" for all the trouble the team endured that day. Raph then acknowledges about Draxum's supposed defeat and declares that the group should be called the "Mad Dogs" (in which Leo states that they should have another name instead). They suddenly notice that all the unleashed Oozesquitoes fly out of the open portal behind them and into the city. Leo then suggests that they should all leave.

## Trivia

* + This episode, aside from airing as a special preview, was also posted on Nick.com on July 20th, 2018.
	+ This is the first 22-minute episode of the series.
	+ When Leo states that their name should be "Ninja Mutant Turtle Teens", it is a reference to the 2014 movie when the Turtles first met April.
		- It was stated in August 2020 by *Rise of the TMNT* staff writer Ron Corcillo concerning this potential reference in a Tweet that, "Sorry to disappoint, but it's just coincidental. I don't think any of the writers had seen any of the Bay movies. I know [Russ Carney] and I haven't, and we wrote that part. Of course, it's not surprising that this type of joke would show up more than once in this franchise."
	+ This is the first premiere episode to feature both April and the Turtles without showing how they first meet.
	+ April yelling her own name and charging to save Mayhem is reference to the "Leeroy Jenkins" meme.
	+ This is the first episode to air in 2018.
	+ The kanji on the mystic portal device the Turtles steal from Splinter (北 "kita", 東 "higashi", 南 "minami", 西 "nishi") translates to "north", "east", "south", "west".
	+ The Japanese text on the game show Splinter watches, *Soapy Treadmill*, translates to:
		- 速く走れ, "Run fast".
		- スコーピオントレッドミル, "Scorpion treadmill" (written in katakana).
		- うわ~!, "Aah!"/"Whoa!"/"Gee!"/"Wow!" (written in hiragana).
		- えーーー?! 信じられない!, "Ehhh?! I can't believe it!"
		- やれやれ, "Oh, my"/"Geez"/"Good grief" (written in hiragana).
	+ The type of bow the Turtles do to Splinter is likely standing keirei, a bow at a 30-degree angle. Although it is sometimes considered bad Japanese etiquette to speak while bowing as Raph does, other times it is acceptable.
	+ On Splinter's Do Not Touch Cabinet is a maneki neko figurine, seemingly a string of red prayer beads, seemingly a paper lantern with a beige and red tassel, a folding fan, and a mounted tantō with a dark blue grip and a brown scabbard with a dragon design.
	+ It was revealed in August 2020 by *Rise of the TMNT* staff writer Russ Carney in a Tweet that, "Pilot episodes are hard to write. People at every stage of the corporate and creative process has a list of things they want the pilot to be, and you have a set amount of minutes to mash all that stuff in. (I'll give some examples below) Example wants: Let's see April, let's see Splinter, let's learn what makes the boys different and new. How do the boys interact with April? Let's see some fun. Let's see NYC, let's establish magic, let's establish our Big Bad, let's have action! So when we open on a crazy scene where the boys are ziplining through NYC to cannonball into a pool, which April helped to set up, that's us trying to tell a good, fun tale while checking as many of those boxes as we can."