City at War, Part 1

**Episodes:**
1. Turtles in Space, Part 1: The Fugitoid
2. Turtles in Space, Part 2: The Trouble with Triceratons
3. Turtles in Space, Part 3: The Big House
4. Turtles in Space, Part 4: The Arena
5. Turtles in Space, Part 5: Triceraton Wars
6. Secret Origins, Part 1
7. Secret Origins, Part 2
8. Secret Origins, Part 3
9. Reflections
10. The Ultimate Ninja
11. The Return of Nano
12. What a Croc
13. Return to the Underground
14. **City at War, Part 1**
15. City at War, Part 2
16. City at War, Part 3
17. Junklantis
18. The Golden Puck
19. Rogue in the House, Part 1
20. Rogue in the House, Part 2
21. April's Artifact
22. Return of the Justice Force
23. The Big Brawl, Part 1
24. The Big Brawl, Part 2
25. The Big Brawl, Part 3
26. The Big Brawl, Part 4

Season 1 – ***Season 2*** – Season 3 – Season 4 – Ninja Tribunal – Fast Forward - Back to the Sewer

**"City at War", Part 1** is the first part of the three-part episode (fortieth) of the animated series *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* (2003), which originally aired on March 13, 2004. It is a loose adaption of the 13 issue "City at War" epic that ended the original volume of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book.

## Information

### Major Characters

* Donatello (Sam Regal)
* Leonardo (Michael Sinterniklaas)
* Michelangelo (Wayne Grayson)
* Raphael (Frank Frankson)
* Splinter (Darren Dunstan)

### Secondary Characters

* Karai
	+ Tall Karai aide
	+ Short Karai aide
* Mobsters
	+ Mob Boss (David Brimmer)
	+ Weasel (Michael Sinterniklaas)
	+ Baxter Stockman (Scott Williams)
	+ Baxter's latest attack robot
* Foot Clan
	+ Foot Ninja
	+ Foot Elite (Sean Schemmel)
* Victoria
* Ivan

## Episode

**Spoiler warning: *Plot or ending details {{[[Template:|]]}} follow.***
### *Voice-Over Introduction*

***Leonardo:*** You ever notice how there never seems to be enough time? Like when you get to play video games, or you're hanging with friends. Or when you're running like crazy to get away from a huge bomb that's about to explode! How the heck did I ever get myself into this? And... how the heck am I ever going to get out of it... alive?

### *Plot Synopsis*

Open with city at night. Leo and Raph are racing along the rooftops. Leonardo reaches the destination first and dives with his blades drawn, stabbing the weapons into a bulls eye painted on a billboard. Unfortunately, Leo missed the center. Raph arrives soon and throws one of his sais, which hits the bull's-eye perfectly....Raphael retrieves his weapon and tells his brother that all his fancy techniques won't necessarily help him get the job completely done. Raph then takes the lead and Leo follows him.

As the duo transverse the precarious rooftops, they hear noises and stop. The two ninjas witness a group of mobsters meeting with some mysterious figures, doing a deal of some kind. The shadowy figure turns out to be an Elite Guard from the Foot Clan - he counts the money being given to him in the briefcase, which turns out to only be one half of the amount they had apparently agreed on. The gangster retorts that the Foot will get the rest once they deliver the goods, but the Elite Guard becomes angry and orders his minions to attack. The mobsters open fire with their weapons and a battle royale breaks out. Some stray shots nearly hit the observing Turtles, and Leo draws his blades and prepares to jump into the battle, but Raphael holds him back and tells him this isn't their fight. Leonardo is unsure what to do, but the police arrive and run all of the villains off.
Cut to a darkened room in Japan where we see a woman training in the Martial Arts with a practice dummy. A phone call interrupts her workout and informs the ninja, whose name is Karai, that the gangs of New York City are at war in the wake of the Shredder’s death. Karai informs her underlings to prepare her private jet…She is going to the Big Apple to clean up the mess.

Back at the Turtles' lair, Leonardo is watching the news reports of increasing gang violence. Leo feels frustrated and angry by what he's watching. The Turtle turns off the TV and stands up, spotting a target by the wall - he leaps into the air and stabs his blades into the target - once again missing its center. Splinter arrives and asks Leonardo what's troubling him. Leo explains that he's unhappy because their action against the Shredder didn't actually help the city, but apparently made things worse! Leonardo feels responsible for the innocent people who are getting hurt in the crossfire between the gang attacks. The other Turtles arrive as Leo explains why defeating Shredder may have been a bad thing. Raph disagrees, but Mikey sees Leonardo's point. Splinter cautions the upset Turtle not to get involved in the city's war and to stay in the lair… but Leo states that he can't sit by and do nothing about the mess that he's created, and he walks off.

Outside, Leonardo is standing on a rooftop water tower, confused over Master Splinter's desire not to fix things and feeling guilty about the innocent people being hurt in the gang conflicts. Leo wonders what he can do to make things right. He spots a gang of Foot ninja and secretly follows them. The Foot lead the Turtle to a warehouse, where all of the Clan members are greeted by an Elite guard. The ninjas enter the building. Leonardo decides to investigate and crashes through a skylight. The Turtle finds a gang of unconscious mobsters and a time bomb! Leonardo carries the thugs to safety and then tries to defuse the explosive. After ripping out a wire, it looks like Leo is successful, as the bomb stops ticking, but as soon as the ninja breathes a sigh of relief, the device starts right back up! Leonardo only has seconds to escape and he runs for the windows as the bomb explodes! The warehouse is completely demolished and the Turtle is tossed into the nearby river…

The Elite Guard sees the explosion and is pleased that their mission has been accomplished. As the fire burns and sirens sound, the Foot Clan retreat. Leo emerges from the river and follows the ninjas.

Back at the TMNT lair, Michelangelo is using an old map, some toys and dice to playfully figure out who's going to win the war between the gangs. Don arrives and asks Mikey what he's up to, and the Turtle reiterates to his brainy brother that the mob, Purple Dragons and Foot Clan are all wanting to gain control of New York's criminal network now that the Shredder has been defeated. Mikey states that the mobsters are currently in last place, and he wonders what they plan to do about it...

Cut to the inner sanctum of some gangsters. Several bosses are trying to figure out what to do when their leader shows up and tells them that he has just found some one who, apparently, could help them take over the entire city.

At the Foot Clan's HQ (a building barely even holding itself together), we see Leonardo spying on the Foot -- **a lot** of Foot. The Turtle draws his Katanas and thinks that he'll have to take them on by himself, but before he can move, he's grabbed from behind by his brothers, who have arrived to keep him from getting in over his head. Raph again states that this isn't their fight - but the Turtles are spotted and quickly surrounded by the Foot ninjas - Mikey points out that it is their fight now!

A big battle ensues on the rooftop and eventually moves down into warehouse. The Turtles fare well, but they are greatly outnumbered and the odds don't seem good for a victory.
Cut outside to see a few mobsters arrive in a truck. We discover that the gangsters' new ally is Baxter Stockman, his head now attached to the shoulders of a robotic exo-suit. Stockman releases an assault robot which joins the fray going on inside the building. The mechanoid begins firing shots at everyone it can spot. Leo notices how the robot is using a primary laser sensor to target, and he rushes the machine, leaping into the air with swords drawn. This time, Leo hits the bull's-eye and the mech's sensors are destroyed. However, the machine then begins firing wildly in all directions.

Stockman and the mob boss are watching these events safely inside their truck. Baxter resorts to “Plan B” and remotely blows up the warehouse with several (previously planted) bombs! As the building begins to crumble, Raph grabs Leonardo by the arm and tells him that he hopes he's satisfied with himself for bringing this mess upon his family's back. The building then crumbles onto the Turtles!

## Quotes

**Raphael**: Just your friendly, neighborhood Turtle-Man!
**Leonardo**: You look more like Raph-zan: Lord of the Jungle to me.
**Raphael**: Well, what's that make you? Jane? or Cheetah?

**Master Splinter** *(to Leo)*: ...if one shoulders the weight of the world, all one will accomplish is to be crushed under the world's weight."

**Michelangelo** (after Leo left the lair): Dude.
**Raphael**: What a bonehead!
**Donatello**:One big happy family.

**Michelangelo** *(after stopping Leo from charging headlong into a fight with the Foot by himself)*: Jeeze! Anybody think he weren't happy to see us?

**Raphael** *(to Leo, as building caves in)*: I hope you're happy, Leo. I hope doing the right thing was really worth it!

## Trivia

* The song at the beginning at this episode is called "Midnight Run."
* Raph's quote "Just your friendly, neighborhood.." is a reference to Spiderman's catchphrase.
* Leo's reply is obviously a reference to tarzan.
* Weasel, the mobster in the first scene, was also in the episode "Lone Raph and Cub".
* This is Karai's first appearance in the series.
* There are a few action pose shots that were recycled from previous episodes. In one with Mikey fighting three Foot, the bandage from the episode "The Shredder Strikes, Part 2" is visible on his ankle.
* Dontatello makes a reference to the second Matrix film when he says, "A bow staff and a crowd of guys who all look the same? Time to try out one of my favorite movie stunts!"

## External links

* "City at War, Part 1" at The Official TMNT Web Site