EPISODE ONE HUNDRED FORTY

"DNA Is Thicker Than Water" Written by Ronald Gonzalez Original Air Date: October 6, 2007

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

MAJOR CHARACTERS:
Donatello (Sam Regal)
Leonardo (Michael Sinterniklaas)
Michelangelo (Wayne Grayson)
Raphael (John Campbell)

SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
Master Splinter
Cody Jones
Serling
Darius Dun
The Dark Turtles

MAIN LOCATIONS, VEHICLES AND ACCESSORIES:
Cody's Penthouse
The Dark Turtles' Lair
Terrorpin (Dark Turtles' flying vehicle)

Intro: Open in the Dark Turtles’ Lair where the evil dopplegangers are fighting over one lone chicken leg. Darius Dun enters and uses his battle suit to physically reprimand his minions for their defeat at the hands of the TMNT. The Dark Turtles cannot fight back due to hypnotic suggestion that Dun planted in them long ago. Darius once again orders the Dark Turtles to destroy the real Turtles... or else! With Dun’s orders looming, Dark Leo comes up with a plan to destroy his opponents from within!

Act 1: Open in the penthouse where the Turtles train with Cody and Splinter. Suddenly, the rooftop alarms go off - the Dark Turtles are attacking! As the Turtles and Splinter battle their foes on the roof, Cody is left defenseless standing near the edge. Flying the Terrorpin, Dark Don sets his sights on Cody and fires a laser beam at the boy!

Act 2: Dark Leo dives in front of Jones and takes the blast in the chest! The evil leader then drops unconscious to the ground. The other three Dark Turtles take off in the Terrorpin, leaving their wounded brother behind. With Dark Leo having just saved Cody’s life, our heroes decide to take him into the penthouse and help him - much to Raphael's chagrin. Raph believes that the clone has a trick up his sleeve.

Cut to a medical unit inside Cody's penthouse where Dark Leo has been taken to recover from his wounds. Weeks go by and the Turtles (save for Raphael) slowly begin to think that the “evil” clone may not be so bad. The Dark Turtle smirks and we realize that this was all part of his plan...

Act 3: Cody tests Dark Leo's strength in the Turtle Dojo and we learn that the villainous terrapin has almost completely recovered from his injury. Leo decides to have a talk with his evil twin and offers him a choice, leave in the custody of the peacekeepers or stay with the Turtles. With that, Leo expresses his belief that Dark Leo could chnage his evil ways if he really tries and then leaves to let his counterpart think it over.

Later that night, Leonardo tells Dark Leo the story about the scorpion and the frog. The scorpion asks the amphibian for a ride across the pond. At first the frog is afraid, but he decides to trust the scorpion as long as it promises not to sting him. The scorpion promises not to sting and the frog begins to swim across the pond, carrying the poisonous arachnid on his back. Half way across, the scorpion stings the frog, dooming them both. When the frog asks the scorpion why it stung him, it replied "Because it's my nature." Leo leaves to let his counterpart ponder the moral of the tale - but as he leaves, he drops the force field controller. Dark Leo grabs the remote and turns off the force field that was holding him captive. The evil turtle immediately calls upon his brothers for a surprise attack on the penthouse...

Act 4: Dark Leo finds the security system for the penthouse and struggles with the decision whether or not to turn off security and allow his brothers to sneak into the facility. Leonardo arrives and tells Dark Leo that he can still do the right thing - but the villain states that he is a scorpion and destroys the security system, allowing his cohorts to fly the Terrorpin into the penthouse. As the other Dark Turtles arrive in the hanger, they're met by Cody, Serling, Mike, Don, Raph and Splinter - the good guys knew about their plan! Leo had allowed his clone to escape the force field as a test. As our heroes defeat the evil clones it seems that Dark Leo has failed that test. Facing a fully prepared TMNT team, Dark Leo orders his brothers back into the Terrorpin and they flee.

Later, the Dark Turtles meet Dun in their lair. Darius is angry that they've failed yet again and tosses them a steak to eat, growling that he hopes they choke on it. Dark Leo tears the meat into four pieces and shares it with his surprised brothers. Perhaps the lessons he was given did not fall upon deaf ears after all...