BRIEF STORYLINE: Donatello has a serious warning for the turtles. According to his calculations, the Earth has changed orbit and is heading towards the sun. The other 3 turtles think he is imagining things, and think he has been working too hard. They sit Donatello down to a movie. To their surprise the movie is called "The Day the Earth Collided with the Sun". This gets Donatello even more worked up, and needs to find a way to save this planet.
Guess What? Vernon has a genius of a nephew called Foster. He's arrived for the junior High School's Science Fair. Vernon shows off to the boy, gving a tour of Channel Six News, however, Foster isn't impressed by his ego.
At the turtles lair, despite the temperature increasing, not a single turtle believes Donatello on his "sky is falling" warning.
Vernon wants to impress Foster, so he begs April to get the turtles to show up at the Science Fair. The turtles agree and get to see Foster's weapon; the Solar Magnet.
Foster's invention brings the Earth closer to the sun. Donatello was right after all! Foster is going to leave it running until he wins first prize.
Donatello can't take it anymore, and destroys Foster's invention. However, being the genius he is, he assembles it all together in record timing.
Unluckily for everyone, evil scientist Professor Philo Sofo has heard of Foster's invention, and steals it before it can be unveiled. It's all part of his evil plan...
Now Donatello is framed for stealing the invention. However, he wishes it was him, as he suggests the Solar Magnet could be in the wrong hands, which could mean the end of the world!
Suddenly, Professor Philo Sofo pops up on everyone's TV screens, and tells of his evil plan. He says the world will become toast,while he is safe and sound in an underground bunker. As there will be no one else left, he can call himself the undisputed ruler of Earth.
Can the turtles and Foster get to Sofo University in time? And can Foster outwit, outsmart and stop the Solar Magnet running, avoiding potential dangers that could lie? Or will Sofo be too hot to handle?
TMNT REVIEW HQ COMMENTS: It's not that bad a episode, but it's no HEATED debate that this is no classic. I starts off well, with a funny beginning. Michaelangelo comes in with lots of food for himself, and Raphael says in a softly spoken voice "I shall eat whatever falls to the ground", making Michaelangelo look like he is some kind of royalty. The worrying of Donatello, leads to Michaelangelo saying his headband(or eye mask) must be on too tight. Its also funny the movie they make Donatello watch is exactly what he is worrying about.
The main absence in this episode is the action, which does not happen until the end, so there is alot of talk going on. Vernon entertains when he is trying to boast he is a really important person at Channel Six to his nephew Foster, but he fails miserably. Burne really embarresses him by telling him to get a "prune Danish" (like a cake) and also washing his car quite funnily.
In one of the few action scenes, they show Donatello defeating the other 3 during training. Perhaps a wrong move to put this in the episode, when Leonardo is seen as the best fighter in the cartoon, well, in earlier seasons anyway.
More humour, this time from Foster, who claims he knows all the turtles names, weapons and "humming that stupid theme tune!". Not long after this, there's a nicely edited action scene involving Donatello hurriedly dismantling the Solar Magnet. Then we have a futher of this clever humour where the turtles pass comment of the other episode evil scientist Philo Sofo appeared in where Donatello got a degree, which he recalls as "brilliant!".
Vernon would make a great detective. In one one scene nearing the end, he sees a footprint on the ground inside Sofo University, and declares whoever is behind this, is definetely "someone with feet"!. One nice additional feature they use, is how the heat is affecting places like Holland and the Swiss Alps, which is completely deprived of snow.
The final action stopping Sofo and his 2 goons is one of the better moments, with some original use of props like a fire extinguisher. However, the episode has a lot of jerky editing by the end, with a uninspiring ending of the turtles in a pizza restaurant with Foster.
"TOO HOT TO HANDLE" GETS A: 2/5 RATING.
