Things Change

**"Things Change"** is the first episode of the 2003 TV series. It first aired on February 8th, 2003. It had 1.39 million views as of 2007 on the 4kids website.

## Synopsis

When mysterious robots attack the Turtles' lair in the sewer, they lose contact with their master, Splinter, and decide to go topside to meet up with him. However, the quartet run afoul of a group of street thugs known as the Purple Dragons and a swarm of ninjas.

## Plot

This season opens with the TMNT enduring another one of Splinter’s training sessions in their lair. All is going as per usual until the lair starts to shake and crumble. Suddenly, a horde of small robots burst through a wall. A large battle ensues between the mechanical menaces and our heroes. Just after the Turtles and Splinter have defeated their robotic foes, the wall that the Mousers entered through collapses, which separates the the Turtles from their Master Splinter.

The Turtles communicate with Splinter via Shell-Cell, and they agree to rendezvous in another part of the sewer system. On the way to the rendezvous point, the TMNT are forced to go above ground, and in doing so, they stumble upon a robbery taking place by The Purple Dragons. During the course of this side adventure, Raph is unintentionally locked inside the Dragon’s armored truck. The rest of the guys can only watch and follow as Raphael gets hauled off, along with the stolen loot.

By taking rooftop shortcuts, the other three Turtles are able to see where the truck stops to unload. Mikey drops down, dispatches Two Ton, and Don frees Raph. But, just as they are about to make their exit, the TMNT are cornered by a large number of Purple Dragons. The Turtles defeat them quickly and easily, but soon after their victory over the street thugs, numerous ninjas show up, surround our heroes, and face them in combat. The Turtles fare well against these mysterious ninjas at first, but they begin to get outmatched after awhile, mainly due to the sheer number of ninjas that keep coming. Therefore, the mutants decide to "borrow" the Purple Dragons' armored truck and get the shell out of there...

After ditching the truck in an abandoned sewer tunnel, the TMNT finally rendezvous with Splinter, who has a discovery to share with them. The Sensei has stumbled across an old abandoned chamber in the sewer system, and has decided that this will be their new home and HQ. After inspecting the cavernous space, the Turtles couldn’t agree more, and we leave them as they are beginning to make things tidy for living.

Meanwhile, in The Foot Headquarters, John, the leader of the Purple Dragons, informs his mysterious "boss" about the failure, enraging him. John apologizes and swears to him that he won't fail again. His boss acknowledges this and says that John won't fail him again... ever. The boss stands up, before approaching John and mercilessly killing him (off-screen). Outside the dojo, we hear John's scream, implying the worst with the thug's death as the boss laughs maniacally. As camera pans, we can see that the dojo is on top of the water tower, and the foot sign in there. What's this all about? We'll find it in the next time.

## Characters

* Leonardo (TMNT 2003)
* Donatello (TMNT 2003)
* Raphael (TMNT 2003)
* Michelangelo (TMNT 2003)
* Splinter (TMNT 2003)
* Purple Dragons
* John/Lead Thug
* Spike
* Sunny
* Two Ton
* Foot Ninja
* Oroku Saki
* Police
* Cop #1
* Cop #2

## Main Locations, Vehicles and Accessories

* Y'Lyntian outpost lair
* Sewer tunnels
* City streets and rooftops
* Purple Dragon warehouse
* Saki’s rooftop palace
* First lair
* Armored truck (Battle Shell pre-mods)
* Mousers
* Shell Cell

## *Voice-Over Introduction*

***Leonardo:*** My name is Leonardo. And right now, my brothers and I are in a mess of trouble. Our backs are up against the wall in some trash strewn alley, cornered by the toughest street gang on the East Side.

***Purple Dragon Member #1:*** "Look at the freaks."

***Two Ton:*** "What's with the dweeby costumes?"

***Purple Dragon Member #3:*** "This ain't Halloween."

***John:*** "You're going down, freaks. Nobody messes with the Purple Dragons, especially wearing stupid turtle costumes."

***Leonardo:*** "He's wrong. We're not wearing costumes."

## Quotes

**Raph:** Teacher's pet.
**Leo:** Ninja dropout.
**Mikey and Donny:** Oooooo!

**Splinter:** Hmm, which button do you press to answer this thing? *(presses buttons)* Hello?
**Leo:** Master Splinter, are you alright?
**Splinter:** *(continues to press buttons)* *Hello*?
**Leo:** Master Splinter –
**Splinter:** *(presses more buttons)* Stupid device.
**Leo:** You don't have to press every button. It's already on.

**Raph:** Great, just great. The old Turtle luck true to form. Errrg! *(kicks van in anger)*
**Leo:** Way to be stealthy, Raph.
**Mikey:** Yeah, I don't think they heard you over in *Joisy*!

**Leo:** Nice work, Mikey.
**Mikey:** Heh, it's a Ninja thing. *(grins)*

**Donny:** Ask me again when we're winning, Mikey.
**Mikey:** Yeah, that's what I thought...

**Leo:** Take care of this money, will ya guys?
**1st Officer:** Did you see that?! Some little green men in an armored car just threw a bunch of money at us!
**2nd Officer:** Tch, rookie.

**Splinter:** Look with your heart Michelangelo, and not your eyes.
**Mikey:** Um... okay. *(scratches head)*
**Splinter:** And walk this way...
*(Mikey imitates Master Splinter by hunching over and walking slowly with an invisible cane, only to be hit on the head by Donatello's bo staff)*
**Mikey:** Ow!

## Trivia

* This episode can be featured in the Game Boy Advance Video.
* This is the first appearance of the Turtles on television since the Saban Entertainment 1997-1998 series, *Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation*.
* The introduction to the episode begins with a voice-over by Leonardo where the Turtles are cornered in an alley by the Purple Dragons. This sequence is identical to the opening of the first issue of the Mirage comic book, *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* #1.
	+ The first episode of the 1987 TMNT series also had the Turtles fighting a street gang who took orders from the Shredder.
* The Turtles' original lair also looks similar to the lair in the first issue of the Mirage comic book.
* This episode marks the first appearance of Mouser robots in the 2003 series.
* This episode marks the first appearance of the Purple Dragons and Foot Ninjas in the 2003 series.
* This episode marks the first appearance of Ch'rell, though his true identity is not yet made clear.
* The two cops in this episode are modeled after series creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.
* This is the first episode where Mikey attempts to say his 1987 counterpart's famous catchphrase "Cowabunga!", but is stopped by Raph before he can finish.
* Despite accurately describing the Turtles by their species (albeit thinking that they were costumes), the Purple Dragon leader in this episode calls them "frogs" when pleading for mercy before his "boss".
* This episode is ranked #2 on the TMNT Top Ten.
* A rather interesting note about the title of this episode, is that it was also a name for the final episode of another superhero series called Teen Titans. This show was also about teenagers fighting crime in their city, it also lasted more than three seasons. Donatello and Beast Boy were undergoing new mutating problems during a previous fight. both of the leaders Leo and Robin had a serious goal to prevent the major villains Ch'rell and Slade from ruling the city, and both of these shows came out in 2003. Also unlike Teen Titans that couldn't effort or have the Justice League in their show (possibly due to the JL tv show around this time), this show had a Justice League like group called the Justice Force that helped the TMNT in later seasons.