"Hold still, Dave! I gotta chuck ya!"
The creative team behind Nick's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has made it perfectly clear they love the horror genre. There's been so many episodes that are essentially one big love letter to a classic movie. We've seen inspiration drawn from Alien, John Carpenter's The Thing, zombie movies, and so many others. They've successfully added horror elements to a show that's geared towards entertaining fans of any age and that's quite an accomplishment. Well, they really went all out with the horror in this week's episode, "In Dreams." Yup, as you can tell by the title, it's basically one big nod to A Nightmare on Elm Street. And you know what's especially cool? Robert Englund, the guy who played Freddy Krueger, voiced two of the "Dream Beavers" in this week's episode. They also managed to get John Kassir, the voice of the Crypt Keeper, to join in on all of the ridiculous fun. Pretty cool, right? Yes, the nightmarish creatures are called "Dream Beavers." Thankfully, this is joked about a handful of times in the episode. Even though they do an awesome job with the horror scenes, it's nice to see they're poking fun at just how absurd the characters are, too.
The dream sequences are incredibly imaginative. Not only does it turn this episode into an astonishing visual ride -- I'll get to that in a moment -- but it also gives an insight into the characters. Each Ninja Turtles' dream is drastically different and says a lot about who they are. It won't give you an epiphany about these iconic mutants, but it was a new and very refreshing way of addressing each of their personalities. There was so much creativity to appreciate in each of these scenes (especially how April is added to them). From Leonardo's "superhero" fight to Raph's heavy metal setting (loved the Mortal Kombat nod) to Mikey's strange, candy-filled nightmare, the variety of locations all looked great and effectively said a ton about each character.
While Season 3 brought the show to a whole new environment, this episode really took advantage of creating different stages. It was a little nice to be back in the city -- even if it was a short trip -- and I really enjoyed all of the details added to make each environment unique. Even when we weren't in a dream, it was neat seeing them step outside the woods and enter a nearby store (which had comics that were totally nods but I couldn't spot all of them). Visually, it's a phenomenal episode, but there's two bits that really stand out: The night sky with Leonardo and the comic book sequence. Leonardo's flying battle had a stunning background and the comic book sequence had my jaw dropped. I know I tend to use "jaw-dropping" as an adjective for something I really love, but it literally happened in this case. The way they transition out of that scene was terrific, too.
Even the less unique scenes back in reality were able to entertain because of some sharp writing. Right before we're going to get a dose of exposition, I love how Casey Jones said something like, "No one asked!" Thanks to the dialogue, the bit with the chainsaw was a whole lot of fun as well.
Before the heroes in a half shell enter the crazy dream world, we get a training sequence that manages to feel slightly different from all of the other ones. I really dug how this scene was directed; they focused on extended shots instead of quicker cuts. It really pulled me into the fight and gave me the illusion that I was in there and watching it for myself. Seeing as the rest of the episode is so hectic, it was a nice change of pace to have a more focused training sequence. The other part that helped this feel a little different is the fact Raph loses (does anyone else think he was holding back?) and, instead of seeing steam shoot out of his ears, he compliments his brother. Yes, siblings tend to give each other a hard time and they love to rip on one another, but it's always good to get a little reminder that these are best friends and brothers.
The only criticism I have is this may be too frightening for the really young viewers. I'm guessing some of the scenes with Donnie and Raph could really mess up a child's night. I loved virtually every second of it, but I couldn't help but think about how much this episode would freak me out if I watched it back when I was 5 years-old. Obviously, you're not going to be the biggest fan of this one if you don't like the episodes that go heavy on the horror or really over-the-top with the craziness.
Season 2 ended in a seriously epic and compelling way. Because of that, it's understandable people are a little bummed out that Season 3 is taking place entirely in Northampton and we're not getting any updates about what's going on back in the city. Instead, we're getting "mutant-of-the-week" episodes and yes, this is yet another one of those. It's technically filler because it doesn't move the story forward at all (aside from Leo's health), but you know what? That's okay because this episode was amazing and impressively clever. It's one of the most creative episodes yet and kept me smiling. It embraces the horror genre and has an absurd amount of fun with it. Honestly, I spent a good amount of time wondering about what rating this episode should receive. Even though it doesn't have a big impact on the story, it's still ridiculously entertaining and full of brilliant scenes. This may be a little too heavy on the twisted horror for some and it might be too scary for very young viewers, but I absolutely loved it.