The turtles and crossovers are two things that go hand in hand with each other as the TMNT have done quite a few crossovers in the past. However none of those crossovers are as weird as the one that i'm going to be talking today as this crossover straight up confirms that the Next Mutation turtles exist in the same world as both Power Rangers and oddly enough Masked Rider as well and so then join me as I review that sees the turtles head into outer space with the episode in question being called simply just "Shell Shocked" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when the rangers recent arch nemesis Astronema kidnaps the turtles and puts them under a spell so that she is in control of them it's up to the rangers to stop there new friends and restore there spaceship before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as the plot of the episode did allow for some fun interactions between the rangers and the turtles but at the same time tho it was weird seeing the turtles mostly act as the antagonists for the episode when the shows target audience would have been more used to seeing them as heroes and while the episode does provide an in-story explanation as to why there acting this way it still weird to see them acting as villains in this episode with this episodes feeling a little bit on the weak side with this being because of the fact that even tho the turtles themselves were set up at the end of previous episode nothing plot wise was set up then with this episodes plot feeling like it would have been done better if it was a two part plot as then the plot of the episode would have alot more time to breathe and we the audience would have alot more time to take in the fact that we're seeing the Power Rangers crossover with the Ninja Turtles with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Christopher Khayman Lee as Andros , Roger Velasco as Carlos Vallerte and Selwyn Ward as T.J. Johnson. Also starring in this episode is Tracy Lynn Cruz as Ashley Hammond , Patricia Ja Lee as Cassie Chan , Wendee Lee as the voice of Alpha 6 , Julie Maddalena as the voice of D.E.C.A. , Christopher Cho as the voice of Dark Specter , Melody Perkins as Astronema , Derek Stephen Prince as the voice of Elgar and as the voice of Raphael , Blake Torney as the voice of Electrotramp , Michael Reisz as the voice of Leonardo , Ezra Weisz as the voice of Donatello , Tony Oliver as the voice of Michelangelo and Tifanie Christun as the voice of Venus De Milo.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. As by Power Rangers standards this episodes acting wasn't half bad but at the same time this is still Powers Rangers a show that really isn't all that well known for it's good acting and while that isn't something that shines through all that much in this episode it is noticeable when it comes to certain characters tho as the actors for Leo and Michelangelo for example just aren't that great with them sounding like there trying to an impressions of how they think that that turtle sounds with the actors for the rest of the turtles being passable at best with the best actor in this episode being Melody Perkins as Astronema as it comes across as her being the only one that knows that she's in a bad and goofy episode of the show and is therefor just having alot of fun just hamming it up and eating all of the scenery and while the actors playing the rangers are good that is something that's to be expected as four of the five of them have been playing their roles for at least a year now and it would therefor make sense for there acting to be as good as it is as they would have had the chance to really get to know there characters and know what kind of performance that there character would give in any given situation with the acting that's in this episode not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it doesn't give any of this episodes actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does hurt the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
What alot of people might not know or even realise for that matter is the fact that this episode is technically the second episode of a two part episode. As the previous episode called "Save Our Ship" does end with Astronema forcing the turtles out of there sewer lair and that's really it there's really nothing plot wise that connects the two episodes which makes it odd that the makers of this show would have the turtles appear at the end of the previous episode as their scene in that episode basically amounts to a cameo appearance and nothing more then that with them of course taking on a much more bigger role in this episode which even then given the fact that this episodes plot is wafer thin at best it would have made more sense if this plot was the plot to a two part episode however instead of having the plot be contained to the one show why not take full advantage of the crossover aspect of it all and have it take place over both Power Rangers In Space and Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation with part one happening on Power Rangers In Space and part two taking place on The Next Mutation this is something that would have made alot of sense to do as Power Rangers was the bigger show at the time and having this episode be the lead in episode to Next Mutation would then be a great way to boost the ratings of that show and plus it would mean that we would get to see the Rangers interact with someone like Splinter for example something that we don't get to see in this episode and while it is understandable why the makers of this show didn't take that approach as the two shows are filmed in different countries despite having the exact same producer.
To be fair to this episode the turtles in this episode are written pretty true to how they are in Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. Which is also the problem as next to nobody likes how the turtles are written in that show as there written to all be the dumb one of the group which is how they are written here also we do get to splashes of Donny being the brains out of the group which was something that was nice to see as it's something that there own show very rarely did with all of the turtles basically being like Mikey in that they would tell bad jokes and make pizza references to the point where it comes across as the makers of that show had forgotten just what the personalities of the turtles are even meant to be in the first place where as here you can tell that there was some effort to write them how we the audience know them to be but because of the fact that there beholden to how they portrayed in there own show the makers of this episode can't fix any of the problems with the turtles as it would then cause a huge disconnect between both shows and while it is great seeing the turtles team up with the Power Rangers there should have been more of an effort on the part of the Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation writers to at least get some of the way when it comes to writing the turtles as then that would mean that the makers of this episode won't have to do alot of the leg work which would all be for nothing as all of that would be forgotten about by the very next episode of the turtles own show as it makes the writing n The Next Mutation seem even more worse when you take into account just how well alot of the turtles are written in this episode and while alot of the turtles don't have that much to do as both Raphael and Venus don't really do all that much in the episode that's more due to the fact that crossover was just one singular episode and is not a knock n the writing of the turtles themselves.
This is also an issue with the Power Rangers side of things as well as the character of Carlos has next to nothing to do in the actual episode. Outside of taking part in a few action scenes and a scene at the start of the episode and that's really it which again makes you wonder why the makers of the episode didn't bother to make this an actual two part crossover even episode as then alot of the characters could have alot of things to say and do in the episode and not just basically be there as background characters with the only reason that Carlos as a character was included in this episode was more then likely just due to the fact that his Ranger was more then likely included in the Sentai footage from this episode and that's really it as you could have removed his character from the episode entirely and you'd miss nothing important to the episodes plot and while the episode could have cut his character out of the episode it does also speak a larger issue with the episode and that's the fact that two many characters that are important to both shows have nothing to do in the episode as while you can't really cut Raph out of the episode as she and along with Mikey , Leo and Donny do make the team that alot of people are familiar with you very easily could have cut out Venus as not only did alot of people hate her character back then and they still do to this very day but also alot of the shows kid audience wouldn't be all that familiar with her character due to the fact that she was only in this one Ninja Turtles show that alot of people just didn't bother to watch in the first place and so the episode could have done with cutting her out and keeping just the core four turtles and heck you could even have had a subplot with Raph and Carlos going on as that would at least then give both of those characters something to do in the actual episode itself.
Astronema in this episode really wasn't the best villain as she no clue with what to do with the turtles once there under her control. With the idea of them stealing the Megaship and having it brought to her being something that's discussed off screen which is something that does make it seem like the makers of this episode were struggling to find a justifiable reason to have the turtles and the rangers fighting each other as Astronema herself could have done itself by distracting the rangers with one of her monsters and it's not even said why the Megaship is this big victory prize for her as while yes it houses the Rangers Zords that's really it and even then the Rangers have allies on earth that they very easily could call upon and use there Zords if need be but for whatever reason the episode has the Megaship be the ultimate prize for her and while she does do the smart thing and have four of the five rangers that they capture be tied up so they can't fight back she still does next to nothing to make sure that Andros is captured altho given what we find out later about her character in this season that might be because of the fact that she's subconsciously knows that how she's acting right now isn't good and to her credit she does order Leonardo and the turtles to go and look for him which for some odd reason they don't do which makes the turtles look like really bad villains and again to her credit Astronema is more then willing to get her hands dirty as she does take part in the early part of the episodes final fight which does make her look a villain that really has taken a huge leap of the deep end and she does come across as being a villain that knows exactly what she wants and how to get as she did think ahead at the start of the episode by using mind controlling other good guys and then have them help the rangers out to gain there trust which was a really smart move on her behalf.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty one minuets and twenty seconds. Which to be fair to this episode is more in line with the running times for the rest of this show and in saying that this episode really does have the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time but at the same time tho this episode really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as it's plot isn't that well developed with it being quite hard to tell just what it is that the main plot of the episode is even meant to be alot of the time as for a large portion of the episode it does seem like the characters are just doing these completely random things for no rhyme or reason which is something that does make it hard to buy into this episode with this being something that could hve been fixed if this was a two part episode as then the plot of the episode could become alot more stronger then what it already is as now the plot would have those extra twenty two minuets that it really does need to fully flesh out with the lack of development even effecting the episodes characters as while the series regular characters do come of fairly better in this regard that's more due to the fact that this show has had more time to develop them as characters and even the characters that get introduced in this season do come as being a little better as well rather it's the turtles themselves that don't get alot of development as they remain in the exact place as characters at the end of the episode then they do at the start of the episode when something as big as them going into outer space really should have given the characters some much needed character development that could then possibly be carried over into their own show as well but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now the as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With this episode having some really fun action scenes with the rangers both fighting against and then fighting with the turtles which does lead to some fun team ups with various rangers teaming up with various turtles which does lead to a pretty fun third act act with that third act fight scene being the best action scene in the whole episode as it will always be fun seeing all of the rangers teaming up with all five of the turtles with the fact that we get see some really fun team ups which is something that does make that action all the more fun then what it already is with it being clear as day the makers of this episode had alot of fun in coming up with the action in the third act as they weren't beholden to what was created in Japan due to the fact that they had four other hero characters to fit in and because of that we did get a really fun action scene out of it and while yes granted the editing to that action scene does let it down a bit as it does quite hard to tell which turtle is who and what is actually going on at the end of it it still does change the fact that it will always be fun seeing the turtle and the rangers teaming up with each other in one big action packed fight scene with even the unmorphed fight with the turtles taking on the rangers being just as good as the third act fight was in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this season of Power Rangers might be considered one of the more better seasons of the show this episode is quite clearly one of the more average episodes of the show but to be fair that does make it one of the more better episodes of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation tho in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in his very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fandom wiki page , the official Power Rangers fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Power Rangers fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Power Rangers fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.
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