Darkness on the Edge of Town

**"Darkness on the Edge of Town"** is the sixth episode of the animated series *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* (2003), which originally aired on March 15, 2003.

## Information

### Major Characters

* Donatello (Sam Regal)
* Leonardo (Michael Sinterniklaas)
* Michelangelo (Wayne Grayson)
* Raphael (Frank Frankson)
* Splinter (Darren Dunstan)
* Oroku Saki (Scottie Ray)
* Hun (Greg Carey)

### Main Locations, Vehicles and Accessories

* New Lair
* Sewer tunnels
* City streets and rooftops
* East River Pier

## Episode

### *Voice-over introduction*

***Donatello:*** "My name is Donatello, and right now I'm learning just how long I can hold my breath. That vibrocannon is seriously messing up the East River, if this keeps up, the whole South Street Seaport could go crumbling into the water. I'd be fascinated by the technology, if I wasn't otherwise occupied."

### *Plot summary*

The Turtles are in their lair, enjoying some extreme sports when the lights go out. Splinter suggests they go topside to investigate the problem. The Turtles notice that their whole side of town is out of power. Taking this opportunity, the boys take their extreme sports to the surface under the cover of darkness. While passing the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they noticed some Foot Ninja breaking in. The Turtles followed them into the museum.

Once inside, they discover the Foot are trying to steal a sword. The turtles try to get it back, but the Foot manage to escape with it after blasting them with the bizarre sword. Shortly after, the police arrive, forcing the turtles to flee. They manag to grab an insignia from one of the Foot's uniforms. When they show it to Splinter, he immediately recognizes what it is. However, he chooses not to tell them and forbids them to look into further, before he goes into his room to meditate on the matter.

At Oroku Saki's palace, Saki is training with some Foot Ninja, whom he defeats with ease. Hun then enters and presents the sword to his master. The sword gives off a strange vibration that requires all, but Saki, to wear a glove when carrying it. After examining it, Saki tells Hun to bring it to the Foot Tech Division.

Meanwhile, the Turtles are hanging out in the lair when another power outage occurs. Donatello is able to track it to South Street Seaport. Reasoning that they were never told to not investigate the power outage, the turtles go to see what is going on.

Once there, Donatello introduces his brothers to his latest inventions: Night vision goggles and a mechanical flying wind-glider. Donnie tests it out and notices a cannon-like device using the sword as a power source as he flies over the East River. Once activated, the device vibrates and emits a beam that pushes water away, exposing the river's bottom. The Turtles decide to shut down the device. Unfortunately, Don gets too close to the beam and crashes into the river. He swims to the surface and lets his brothers know he's okay. Meanwhile, Leo, Raph, and Mikey run into Foot Ninja on the docks, as does Donnie when he finally gets out of the water.

As the Turtles battle, the Foot technicians sweep the river bottom with the beam. When they found what they were looking for, they hauled it away in a helicopter. The technicians attempt to shut down the cannon, but the Turtles interrupt. A blocked laser causes the cannon to go out of control. The laser strays away from the water and the vibration causes nearby buildings to shudder violently. Don is able grab the sword using the metal Foot Ninja glove, but the laser begins to overload. The Turtles manage to escape from harms way as the platform the laser was on breaks and falls into the river where it explodes. Just then the police arrives on the scene, but not quickly enough for the boys The Turtles bring the sword back to the Lair where Splinter concludes that it is best for it to stay out of the wrong hands.

Saki is angry with his two technician when they return. The mechanical body they brought back is proof that his long-time enemy is in the city, but at the cost of the Sword of Tengu. The technicians explain that they were attacked by four strange creatures. Saki holds up the thermal image of the turtles from the mouser, and the troops agree that they were the ones who took the sword. As the technicians are taken away by Hun as punishment, Saki vows to get rid of these "freakish thorns in his side" permanently.

## Quotes

*[As a blackout occurs, Splinter lights a candle]*
**Leonardo:** Uh, keep that flame away from Mikey! He scarfed down a whole chili pizza for dinner.

*[Raph stops a foot ninja's attempt to take the Sword of Tengu from its display case]*
**Raphael:** Now before you try to make off with the goods, ya might wanna consider a few things. One, you're outnumbered. Two, don't let the pretty faces fool ya, we're tougher than we look.
*[More foot ninja arrive for back up and surround the Turtles]*
**Michelangelo:** And three, we're about to get our butts seriously hammered!

* *[The Turtles show Master Splinter the symbol of the Foot Clan]*

**Leonardo:** What does the symbol mean, Master Splinter?
**Splinter:** Trouble.
**Raphael:** You know something about these ninjas? Where do they come from? Who do they work for?
**Michelangelo:** And what do they want with a magic sword?
**Donatello:** Nope, not magic. Probably more like a self-perpetuating oscillation frequency generator.
**Michelangelo:** Uh...in English, Einstein?
**Donatello:** It packs a shockwave that will knock you flat on your shell.

**Raphael:** We gotta go after these creeps!
**Splinter:** No. A wise ninja does not seek out an enemy he does not fully understand.
**Leonardo:** But sensei, Bushido demands that we fight for honor and justice and-
**Splinter:** Bushido also demands that that you honor your master's wishes. I will meditate upon this matter further. Goodnight.

**Michelangelo:** Aww, under-grounded again!

*[Raph is training with a punching dummy as his brothers discuss Master Splinter]*
**Raphael:** Enough of this waiting around! I say we head top-side, kick ninja butt, take ninja names, and find out the whole ninja story for ourselves!
*[Raph kicks off the head of the dummy in anger and it lands in Mikey's bag of chips]*
**Michelangelo:** Woah, remind never to get on your bad side, dude.
**Raphael:** Too late.

**Leonardo:** *[exasperated by his brothers]* It's tough being a leader.

**Leonardo:** *[over shell-cell]* Don! Can you hear me? Say something, bud.
**Donatello:** \**breaks through the surface of the water*\* Man, that water stinks! And this is from a turtle who lives in a sewer.
[*Raph, Leo, and Mikey are happy that their brother is alright*]
**Raph, Leo, and Mikey:** Yes!

**Leo, Raph, and Mikey:** Let's Turtleize them!

**Raphael:** *[to Foot Ninja]* Nice try, dipstick.

**Oroku Saki:** These freakish thorns in my side must be removed...permanently!

## Trivia

* First appearance of the Sword of Tengu.
* This is also the first time we see the Turtles using human-powered vehicles; Mikey on a skateboard, Raph on inline skates, Don on a foldaway bike, and Leo on a foldaway kick scooter.
* This would also appear to be the first time that Leo's attempted any kind of joke except for occasional dry humor. "Keep that flame away from Mikey. He scarfed down a whole chili pizza for dinner."
* Technically Don should not be able to wield the glove required to remove the Sword of Tengu from the cannon due to his hand having only three digits whereas the glove has five.
* When Splinter jumps over the table, his smaller table wooden object disappears. In the next shot, it appears again.

## Transcript

* Darkness on the Edge of Town (transcript)

## Episode

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Season 1 Episode 6 Darkness on the Edge of Town