TMNT: Back to the Sewer Talkback: Episode 3.06: "The Incredible Shrinking Serling"

I hate to say it, but this show has lost it.

That was a poor episode, and Serling has got to be one of the worst characters in the history of the Ninja Turtles franchise. I didn't even finish watching the episode. Half-way through after that old man from "80 years ago" picked him up, I just changed the channel and went back to sleep. How nauseating this show has become. Definitely not worth the time anymore.

Man, to think it has come to this. All those quality episodes and story arcs like "Return to New York", "The Shredder Strikes", "Hun is on the Run", "Same As It Never Was", "Bishop's Gambit", "Good Genes", and such. It brimmed on epic, and even entered the zone a few times.

What I am seeing out there is ricidulous. I don't want to use the word disgrace, but it's certainly looks like this once mighty show has fallen and fallen hard.

It has fallen and unless something DRASTICALLY changes, it won't get up.

After this episode aired, I got up an hour later and watched a rerun of "A Better Mousetrap". Satisfying, no doubt. It felt like there was actually something to this show.

What I'm saying is that this show has lost it's quality, not just animation-wise (which although I'm now a little more used to than before, is still a pain) but story-wise. I don't care to have stories around characters like Serling as he is a horrible character to begin with. He plays a large role in ruining this show. The Fugitoid was enough (not to mention a much better character), and there are so many stories a loose ends that are left untied while the writers continue to drag this guy back in.

Just have some computer glitch happen that sends him back to the future and end this nonsense.
 
No. Even if we're just talking about the 2k3 series, I can think of plenty of characters worse than Serling. The female Monster Hunter? Triple Threat? Savanti Romero?



This was mostly a filler episode, why would you compare it to the big arcs of other seasons?

If you want to be fair, compare this episode to Season 1's "The Monster Hunter," Season 2's, "Junklantis," Season 3's "Across the Universe" (planet racer ep), or Season 4's early episodes, or even Season 5's Turtle tot episode, and you'll find this one more enjoyable.

There have been fillers in previous seasons that were lame or boring, how was this episode any worse than that second Garbageman episode or that awful Planet Racer ep?




Every episode this season has been good so far, this one just being a throw-away filler. So you're saying you did not enjoy the first 5 eps of this season?

You're basing this entire season (and the rest of the eps, I'm guessing) on one filler?

Yep, you're overreacting.
 
I said one of the worst, not the worst. That, and those were all characters that appeared in only 1 or 2 episodes/mini-arcs. Serling is a main-stay for what seems to be the entire season. No comparison at all.



I didn't compare just that one episode (as your quotes of my post so conveniently makes it seem) but rather the season as a whole so far from after Season 5. From how good this show could be, and how far away these episodes seem to be from that



Where did I single it out there. I may have mentioned it as one of the worst episodes I've seen, but it was qrouped together with the whole season, which I've seen as poor for the most part and have made no secret of that before.



Because by then the show had already established itself as a quality program. I don't mind if a few out of 100 aren't as good as the other episodes. I don't like it, but it's bound to happen.

Why waste time with Serling, and why is he even part of the TMNT BTTS?



I clearly disagree. Although I do find that there have been bits and pieces here and there that make this show watchable to myself (the fight-scene with Leo and Casey vs. Hun), for the most part the spark jus tisn't there.

Overreacting? Maybe... maybe not. However, this is only a 13 episode season by the way. Let's remember they don't have much to blow away.

They better have one SHELL of a finish with only 7 episode remaining.
 
This episode and the first ep of the season were the only two eps where Serling had a prominent role in the episode. In the last two we didn't see him at all, and the other two he only had one or two lines. You make it out like we're always going to see him in every adventure, when if you don't count the first ep where they come from the future, this was the only one.



I don't see what's wrong or different about any of the other episodes this season. They're the same as the older ones sans the changes in animation. The reason why I brought up those previous fillers is because that's what this was, comparing fillers to important arcs like you did doesn't make sense.

What was wrong with last weeks with Baxter for example? Or the one before that with April and the ring? Or the one with Khan? I think these storylines are great.



According to PL, they wanted to bring back one element of FF to the current show, aside from Viral.



Season 5 was only 13 episodes and they spent several eps on training, a Turtle titan episode, and a Turtle tot episode like this one did. If anything, Season 5 spent a lot of its 13 episodes simply as padding without much being spent on the main plot.

This season only has this one (so far) as a filler.
 
Yeah, considering how Viral is pretty much Ch'rell in a new body now, Serling makes it so it doesn't look like they're ENTIRELY ignoring FF.

Plus, Serling is so oddly hilarious that I'm glad they kept him around.

As for the episode itself, this was definitely an 87' episode with BTTS animation, right down to how the human toy store owner was acting. Definitely a great filler episode, IMO.
 
I don't think that Serling should be hanging around in the present for more than 1 season (after all, Cody needs someone watching his back now that the Turtles and Splinter are gone), but I have no complaints about him being there in BttS. The rest of the series is kind of grim, so it's good to have some comic relief once in a while, and Serling makes an excellent foil for the Turtles, as he did in Fast Forward. Most likely, the writers will send him back to the year 2105 at the end of the season, when Splinter is finally reunited with the Turtles.
 
Sounds like I didn't miss much, but I went away for the weekend and came back to a recording of a church bible show that aired at 10:00 instead of TMNT. I even checked my guide and it said Spectacular Spider-Man at 9:00 and 9:30 and TMNT at 10:00. But is that what aired? No.

I'll just have to record the whole 2 hour block come this Saturday to see what my affiliate is up to.
 
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