EPISODE FIVE

"NANO" Written by Eric Luke Original Air Date: March 8, 2003

Supervising Producer: Lloyd Goldfine
Producers: Gary Richardson, Frederick U. Fierst, Al Kahn, Norman Grossfeld, Thomas Kenney
Supervising Director: Chuck Patton
Story Editor: Lloyd Goldfine

MAJOR CHARACTERS:
Donatello (Sam Regal)
Leonardo (Michael Sinterniklaas)
Michelangelo (Wayne Grayson)
Raphael (Frank Frankson)
Splinter (Darren Dunstan)
April O’Neil (Veronica Taylor)
Casey Jones (Marc Thompson)
Harry the Pick-Pocket
Nano-Monster

SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
Dr. Richards

MAIN LOCATIONS, VEHICLES AND ACCESSORIES:
New Lair
Sewer Tunnels
Second Time Around Shop
April’s Apartment
City streets and rooftops
Junkyard
Battle Shell
Shell Cycle

Synopsis:

Intro: Don is driving the Battle Shell in a junkyard, caught in a battle with the huge Nano-Monster... and things aren’t going well. (This basic scene repeats itself later in the main action).

We open at an ultra-tech lab, with Dr. Marion Richards conducting some more experiments on the U.S. Government research project named “Nanotech”. She watches a containment vessel through a powerful microscope as millions of microscopic robots, nanobots, disassemble a toaster and an alarm clock and then reassemble the pieces into something entirely different, a tiny, strangely human-looking contraption. This tendency of the nanobots to try to emulate humans is considered to be a big problem, and, therefore, Dr. Richards is disgusted when it happens once again. She zaps the nanobots with a charge of electricity, causing them to return to their dust-like state, and then leaves the room in disgust. After she leaves the room, the nanobots take the opportunity to break out of the containment vessel and flow out of the lab through the air ducts.

Once out in the city, the nanobots flow along the sidewalks and streets like a puddle of mercury. At one point in their journey they come across a father and son holding hands watching a street vendor demonstrate his toy wares. The street vendor is Harry the Pickpocket, a petty thief with a bad outlook on life. After ripping off the father’s wallet, Harry hurries down an alley, unaware that the nanobots are following him.

Harry slips on the bots, spilling the contents of his toy display case. As the toys smash into pieces on the pavement they are engulfed by the nanobots and re-assembled into a weird looking mechanical child, complete with a crude boombox voice. The strange creature walks towards Harry saying "Daddy", over and over. At first Harry is petrified but then he sees a demonstration of the nanobots abilities and becomes intrigued with the criminal possibilities.

Harry adopts the little creature and uses it to break into all sorts of shops, including several that are in and around April’s "2nd Time Around" antique store. All these mysterious and unexplained break-ins are causing April to be concerned for the safety of her shop, so she asks the TMNT to spend a few nights at her place. The Turtles gladly agree, both because April is their friend and because they are into the idea of a sleep over.

During the night, Harry and his nanobot accomplice do indeed break into April's store. When the TMNT go down to investigate the noise, they run head on into Harry and the Nanobot. A fight erupts between the Turtles and the Nanobot as it tries to help Harry escape. During the fight, Don manages to cut off a piece of the Nanobot with an old welding torch. After Harry and the Nanobot escape, Donatello studies the piece and discovers the true microscopic identity of the strange robotic monster. The rainy turtle also discovers that the little nanobots are destroyed by extreme heat.

Deciding that they have to catch this nano-monster before it gets bigger and more powerful, Don develops a tracking device that allows our heroes to track the nano-monster and Harry to a junkyard. The TMNT arrive in the Battle Shell and a full-scale war ensues between the 'bot and the Turtles. As the Nanobot fights, it continually grabs pieces from the junk around it and absorbs the pieces into itself, growing larger and larger. The Turtles need to do something fast, before the nano-monster gets too big to defeat! Through teamwork, the TMNT manage to snag the nano-monster with one of those giant junkyard electro-magnets. Harry spots this predicament and runs over to the crane, cutting its power in hopes of freeing his ally - but without power, the magnet drops Nano into a blast-furnace below, ending its twisted life outside the lab. Harry sees the end of his “child” and realizes he made a big mistake in the way he “raised” and used the innocent little nanobot.