BRIEF STORYLINE: The evil Krang sends Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady to the Earth's surface to steal a substance called Compound X-7. Its an anti-mutagen that Krang hopes can reverse the effects of the normal mutagen that came into contact with the turtles all them years ago. The turtles would then become helpless baby turtles.
Bebop and Rocksteady fail so far to get the Compound X-7, and change tactics and smash the place up. They manage to throw a barrel of unknown substance through a window, and lands on two uninvolved garbage men outside the lab.
April contacts the turtles alerts them of this break-in at Tropotron labs. They beat Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady, but they escape via a smoke bomb. A Channel Six News team arrive, but miss the action, only filming th turtles coughing from the smoke bomb.
Back where the 2 garbage men stood, they have now mutated with horrible results.One becomes a Muckman, a large bulky mutant made of, you guessed it, muck, and rubbish too. The other become a small alien looking mutant, the size of a cat, with 2 eyeballs on his antlers. He calls himself Joe Eyeball. They believe this is the turtles fault after seeing the Channel Six news report on that very same break-in.
April and Irma search for the now missing 2 garbage men. They locate their garbage truck, and about to contact the turtles, they are confronted by Muckman and Joe Eyeball. The turtles go out to look for April and Irma, only to find themselves deteriorated and weakenend by the effects of Muckman and Joe Eyeball's mutation in an alley near Tropotron Labs. They are helpless!
Krang likes the look of Muckman and Joe Eyeball, and could make good allies, so Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady are sent back to Earth.
The turtles are safe and sound back at their lair. Donatello discovers figures out why they were weakened, and concocts an antidote, but he needs a sample of the form of mutagen that created Muckman and Joe Eyeball. They must also save Irma and April, who are captured by the 2 mutants.
Are 2 former human garbage men the answer to Krang's prayers of getting rid of the turtles for good? Can the turtles avoid the sheer power of the new form of mutagen that renders them helpless, thanks to Muckman and Joe Eyeball? And, is Muckman bound to mess up just like this episode title says?
TMNT REVIEW HQ COMMENTS: It's not only Muckman who messes up, this WHOLE episode messes up. Clumsy, chunky, lazy editing. A very unimpressive episode.
It did start off well, with the break-in of the Tropotron Labs by Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady done well. The moment the two garbage men are mutated by the new form of mutagen lacks impact and excitement.
Bebop and Rocksteady add some gold to this quite dull adventure, making light relief as usual. When Shredder is mad at them when they are searching for the compound Bebop gives a reason why they are having trouble finding it, "It would help if i could read!". Also in the Technodrome, we hear Shredder predictably vowing the turtles will be destroyed this time, and Bebop and Rocksteady complain about how so many times this has been said throughout the cartoon. So may times they have lost count, as announced by Rocksteady with "what number of episode is this?".
The other mutant duo try to be as entertaining. Joe Eyeball in particular, has a voice that tries to be funny with this kind of lazy New York or Chicago drawl of a voice. It's not enough to be funny. Eyeball comes out with something really unfunny. In the scene where Muckman and himself start to glow, which affects the turtles, he comes out with a pun sentance, "you may as well glow with the glow!". However, he has his moment in his affections for Irma, such as when he gives her a ball of slime as a gift to remember him by, but when Irma questions "what is it?", Eyeball adds light to the identidy of the gift with a "I don't know".
The action really does not gel well, even though Splinter and Shredder confront each other, which usually brings out something good. The viewpoints used when Splinter is escaping from the giant tub of mutagen below him, are bad choices. Unspectacular describes it.
The ending well, kind of makes sense, with a suitable ending of Muckman and Joe Eyeball, now good guys, wanting to stay as mutants as they feel like superhero's who can save the day, and maybe they have dreamed about becoming one. Muckman does has his strength, but Joe Eyeball we do not get told if he has any new skills. There doesn't seem to be any sense in wanting to stay as a freaky looking midget who has no chance with the ladies.
"MUCKMAN MESSES UP" GETS A: 2/5 RATING.
