EPISODE SIXTY EIGHT
“The Entity Below”
Written by Greg Johnson
Original Air Date: February 12, 2005
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 (Frank Frankson)
SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
The High Mage (The Entity)
Lava Monsters
Versallia
MAIN LOCATIONS, VEHICLES AND ACCESSORIES:
Turtle Lair
Turtle Tunneler
Underground City
Synopsis:
Intro: The Entity narrates as we view the planets in our solar system aligning into a row. The alignment causes giant clusters of crystals on Pluto to glow and create a flare of energy that hits various planets, including Earth. As the energy blast strikes Earth, it beams into another group of crystal clusters in the Underground City far beneath the Turtles’ lair.
Act 1: The Turtles are gathered in their lair as Don tries to explain the current grand planetary alignment by using donuts as a model of our solar system – unfortunately Mikey disrupts the lecture by eating the Earth model. Raph smacks Mikey and a tremor shakes the lair. Leonardo switches on the news and the guys watch a story about how there are massive shifts of tectonic plates beneath the sea that are creating a new land mass – possibly the size of a continent! The new-forming land mass is displacing incredible amounts of ocean water, raising sea levels and creating deadly super-storms that are heading for the east coast of the USA. More tremors shake the lair and then power is lost. Donatello looks over at his work table and sees that a once burnt-out crystal is now glowing brighter than ever. The Turtles realize that whatever is causing the problems, it may have something to do with the Underground City (as that’s where the crystals are from). The guys pile into the Turtle Tunneler to investigate, with Mikey behind the wheel (grinding gears as they go).
After a nail-biting ride (thanks to Mikey’s less than perfect piloting skills), our heroes arrive safely at the Underground City. The guys evacuate their vehicle and immediately notice that the city that they had last left dormant and abandoned is now alive and bustling with Y’Lyntians (beings just like the Entity)!
Now that the city is filled with life, the Y’Lyntian High Council is performing a ceremony, using the crystals’ power to shoot beams of energy onto a model of the Earth, focusing the rays on the area of the ocean where the land mass is rising from the bottom of the sea. As the Council continues their deadly ritual, the Entity disengages from the group and notices that the Turtles are present. With this knowledge in hand, he tosses four red crystal into the lava, creating monsters to eliminate the TMNT.
Act 2: Our heroes try to speak with nearby Y’Lyntians, but their efforts are ignored. Suddenly, four lava monsters emerge from the city walls and attack! The TMNT evade the attacks and quickly deduce that they are in no position to fight monsters made of molten rock – thus the Turtles decide to run for it. The Gang Green beats feet into the city, where they are met by a wall of Y’Lyntians. Before the guys can find another route, the ground beneath them opens up and they fall into a pit.
The TMNT land in a prison cell. The Entity arrives and explains that with the crystals being re-powered, the Y’Lyntians plan to rise to power, reshape the Earth as they see fit and enslave what remains of mankind. The Turtles have the honor of being the first slaves of this new Y’Lyntian empire.
Act 3: As the Turtles look for various ways to escape, one of the cell walls explodes. After the smoke and debris clears, the Turtles see a female Y’Lyntian (Versallia) who states “If you want to live, follow me.” The guys decide that they want to live and head out.
Versallia leads the TMNT to the Chamber of Chronicles to educate them on the history of her people. We learn the Y’Lyntians were the most powerful race on Earth thousands of years ago. They gained their status after a meteor shower of crystals bombarded their island. The Y’Lyntians learned how to harness the seemingly limitless power of these crystals and their society quickly advanced far beyond any other of the time. Feeling superior, the Y’Lyntians enslaved and mutated humans to do their bidding – creating fish mutants, beast-of-burden mutants and flying mutants to patrol the skies and stop resistance movements (Versallia reveals that she was part of a resistance movement, as not all Y’Lyntians supported the policies of their corrupt leadership).
Eventually the human tribes banded together and lead an assault on the Y’Lyntian’s island – the battle did not go well at first (the Y’Lyntians used the power of the Sun Crystal, the largest power source, to create a laser beam that destroyed the human’s fleets), but thanks to a slave rebellion, the Sun Crystal was destroyed. With the main power supply gone, the city began to implode and the landmass the Y’Lyntians called home sank into the sea.
Some Y’Lyntians escaped and built an Underground City, salvaging a chunk of the Sun Crystal (now dubbed the Moon Crystal) for power. The Moon Crystal didn’t have enough juice to sustain the city for long, and without slaves to do their menial tasks, the Y’Lyntians decided to go into suspended animation until the next solar alignment re-powered their crystals. Only the High Mage (a.k.a. the Entity) stayed awake to guard the City.
With the current planetary alignment in full swing, the Y’Lyntians are now trying to use the crystals’ power to raise their homeland from the bottom of the sea, an event that will kill most of the planet’s human inhabitants and end life as we know it.
Act 4: The Turtles decide that the only way to beat the Y’Lyntians now is to use the same strategy that the slaves used thousands of years ago – destroy the main source of the Y’Lyntians’ power, the Moon Crystal. To help her ninja allies, Versallia leads them to an armory filled with Jade armor and crystal spears that are effective against the lava monsters. Versallia tells the Turtles that the lava monsters can be destroyed by removing their red crystal hearts.
The TMNT split up – Leo takes a crystal prism to use to destroy the Moon Crystal while Don, Mike and Raph make their way into the Star Chamber. Leonardo encounters a lava monster on his way, but manages to dispatch it with his new gear. Mike, Don and Raph are beset by the three other lava monsters, but they also successfully defeat their foes with the help of the Jade armor and crystal spears.
Raph, Don and Mike make it to the entrance of the Star Chamber, where they’re met by the Entity. As the Entity focuses his attention on capturing the Turtles directly in front of him, Leonardo leaps onto the Moon Crystal and smashes his prism into its top – cracking it open. The Entity looks on in horror as the Moon Crystal sends beams of energy through the walls of the Underground City. Versallia and the Turtles escape on a hoverpod – which runs out of power high above the lava moat. Fortunately our heroes leap to safety and watch as the entire city sinks into the lava. Versallia watches her home destroy itself and begins to cry as Leo does his best to comfort her.
Later, the TMNT and Versallia stand safely in the underground catacombs. With her city destroyed and Atlantis sinking back into the Earth, Versallia decides to search for other underground cities that may contain good-hearted Y’Lyntians. The TMNT bid their new ally farewell and head back to the surface, hopefully to never visit this place again.