BRIEF STORYLINE: Splinter is away from the turtles on his meditative satori, and Donatello is thinking big, looking for a solution to world hunger. The answer to this massive problem is his newest invention, the "Food Revivafiver", a device which can reverse the aging process of food.
By accident, Michaelangelo zaps the the 3 other turtles with the gadget and Donatello is weary and concerned over the damaging effects it could have on them.
Meanwhile the devious villains of Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady break into a government weather station and choose to steal some absurd things, like balloons and helium gas. Shredder makes his way back to his domain the Technodrome while Bebop and Rocksteady load their Transport Module with the stolen items.
Big trouble back at the turtles lair, as Donatello, Raphael and Leonardo are reversing in age dramatically, down to baby age!
April contacts the turtles urgently about the burglary at the Government Weather Station. The 3 baby turtles see their oppurtunity to punch Shredder right in the nose. The one adult turtle Michaelangelo goes on his skateboard with the 3 baby turtles to reach Shredder. Michaelangelo doesn't feel of course, the 3 baby turtles make for reliable back-up. They only bump into Bebop and Rocksteady however, and for once Bebop and Rocksteady are a superior fighting force compared to the turtles! In the meantime, April is busy continuing her news report and Michaelangelo retires back to the sewers, and skims through Donatello's notes to search for possibly an antidote. Irma babysits the mini Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael.
At the Technodrome, Krang finally reveals his scheme. In a very ambitious project, he plans to use helium-filled weather balloons to float a very realistic man-made desert island. Krang plans to advertise to all the city's finest crime gangs using a treasure map which is bogus. As soon as they are all firmly on the island, Krang will cut the connection of the island to the Technodrome, and the whole island will float off in to space forever, making Krang's life easier to rule the city and then the world.
Can Michaelangelo find the antidote to get the the other turtles to "grow up"? Will Krang manage to pull off the criminal scam of the century? Are the criminals gullible enough? Will Michaelangelo bump heads with Shredder with a really bad handicap of himself the only one who can put up a fight?
TMNT REVIEW HQ COMMENTS: Good episode despite the obvious goofiness of the baby turtles. It gets off to a decent start, when Donatello shows off his latest invention which he sees the device as great importance, that will solve world hunger.
There's sharp editing in the first scene following Shredder's latest shenanigan's, which profiles Bebop and Rocksteady's hapless clumsiness with items they should treat with care, which are helium cylinders. Its entertaing and funny, and Rocksteady thinks the balloons and helium are for a party!
When Michaelangelo accidentally zaps the turtles with the new Food Revivafiver, the swiftness of the moment isn't captured well because of the editing. Next, Shredder and Krang are in funny form but shame about the quality. Krang goes unusually purple in another argument with Shredder. Shredder capitalizes on this change to poke fun at him, "i love the lavender in your eyes when your angry!".
Now 3 of the turtles have turned into little toddler turtles. Wait a minute hasn't this situation been done before. Yes, in the 1990 Season(4th season). It's the same type of voices, where the voice actors use a kiddy voice. However, their first examples of immaturity and cuteness works well for most of the episode. They call April and Irma, "Auntie April" and "Auntie Irma" which is amusing.
The action between the turtles and Bebop and Rocksteady at the Government Weather Station is satisfying and fresh. Only Michaelangelo can give them a run for their money, while the 2 mutants laugh in the face of the baby turtles minescule offense. Michaelangelo is made to dance, to avoid the laser blast and he has no other choice but to retreat. 2 unusual things happen here, Bebop and Rocksteady have the upper hand on the turtles this time, and April in her TV van saves the turtles, while it's mostly her needing the saving.
Krang brewing up his big budget, highly ambitious, highly wacky scheme of building a fake desert island to lure all the bothersome crooks of the city is not the best of scenes. Shredder's quite funny though, snapping at Bebop and Rocksteady for asking stupid questions, but then, he asks that same stupid question, wanting to know what Krang's plan is.
When the baby turtles spring into action they shout "tiny turtle power" in their cute voice's amusingly. The drama and cliffhanger of the tiny turtles getting stuck in the middle of the road, about to collide with a truck is well done. Later on, Krang humourously calls Earth a "dumpy planet" after Bebop and Rocksteady are stupidly messing about with the balloons on the island, peeving him off. There's more humour from the baby turtles such as, when Michalangelo asks tiny Donatello what the antidote is for the reversing age process. Little Donatello thiks he means "auntie dote". The baby turtles are portrayed as tons more immature than their Adult versions, as well as making silly decisions and being little rascals, always following Michaelangelo wherever he goes. The final fight scenes are OK. In the first fight between the sole adult turtle and the Foot soldiers, Bebop and Rocksteady, only a puff of smoke appears(to censor violence), which is a little disappointing. However, when the turtles become adults(or teenagers if i was to be more accurate)thanks to the surrounding water at the island, the action is quite good, like Leonardo throwing his blade to cut loose the imprisoned April and Michaelangelo.
Lastly, the island action is thin, but decent. The turtles tranforming into teens isn't edited well unfortunately. Another thing is, yes, the crooks on the island do get arrested by the cops, but wouldn't it have been better if they just cut loose the island and let it flow into space with the crooks on it. Then there wouldn't be any possibility of them causing trouble ever again, leaving only Shredder and Krang to deal with. Krang's clever plot could've actually helped the turtles in the end as they were doing a good thing...for a change. The ending has blurry, loose editing but good ideal dialogue as Donatello tells the returning Splinter that they have changed, and are now "grown up".
"ADVENTURES IN TURTLE SITTING" GETS A: 3/5 RATING.
