EPISODE EIGHTY EIGHT
“Dragons Rising”
Written by Michael Ryan
Original Air Date: November 19, 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 (John Campbell)
Casey Jones
SECONDARY CHARACTERS:
Hun
Purple Dragons
MAIN LOCATIONS, VEHICLES AND ACCESSORIES:
Purple Dragons HQ
Purple Dragons helicopters
Purple Dragons truck convoy
Synopsis:
Intro: Casey Jones narrates as we open with a truck zooming down a road. Raph and Casey are battling Hun on top of the truck. After Hun knocks Raph back towards Casey, we cut to a flashback of Casey and Hun as boys in front of a burning building. It’s Casey’s father’s store, and Hun and the Purple Dragons have set fire to it. Back in the present, we see Casey launch himself towards Hun for a showdown on the top of the truck.
Act 1: Open with Raph and Casey playing poker with MAster Splinter, who handily defeats his opponents. Mikey is bagging his comic books with Klunk while Leonardo works out. Don gets a video call from April who tells him to turn on the news to check out a story about the theft of valuable equipment from Don’s favorite company, Neo-Tech. With that Casey and the Turtles decide they’ll check things out.
Cut to the Purple Dragon’s HQ. Hun speaks to Ruffington via a giant vid-screen. The corrupt politician informs the Purple Dragons’ leader that Neo-Tech will be delivering a new shipment of goods that night. With his hot tip, Hun decides that the Purple Dragons will be making another heist.
Casey corners a hoodlum in an alley and demands to know what the Dragons are up to. The thug refuses to talk until Leonardo grabs him by the collar and hoists him up to the top of the building and dangles him dangerously from a gargoyle. The street punk tells Leonardo where the Purple Dragons are headquartered.
The Turtles and Casey find the Dragons’ HQ and stake it out. A fleet of semi-trucks pulls out of the facility. Leo tells Don to take Mike and follow them in the Battle Shell while Casey, Raph and he go inside. Once inside, the guys spot several helicopters taking off. The ninjas and Casey hi-jack a chopper and follow the Purple Dragons.
Act 2: In the sky we see a cargo plane with the Neo-Tech logo. The Purple Dragon choppers surround it, jamming the other craft’s radar. Hun and his men use some skysleds to surf through the air onto the plane. Hun opens the cargo door and the gangsters enter the plane.
Leo and Raph decide to follow and strap in to some skysleds. Casey is reluctant but follows – his flying skills much less adept than the Turtles’.
Act 3: Hun and his men tranquilize the pilots and then begin attaching parachutes to various crates and pushing them out. On the ground, the truck driving Dragons wait for the boxes to land and begin loading them into their vehicles.
Leo, Raph and Casey make it safely aboard the Neo-Tech cargo plane and swiftly attack the gangsters. Hun’s men are quickly ousted from the craft, leaving the giant to face our heroes alone. Casey attacks and Hun tosses him easily over his shoulder towards the open bay door. Raph acts quickly and tosses a sai, which punctures Casey’s shirt and pins him to the ship’s ceiling – saving his life.
Hun tosses a grenade into the cockpit which explodes, creating a deadly blaze. The plane begins to spin out of control.
Jones has a flashback, remembering the time that the Purple Dragons burnt down his father’s store. Casey’s dad has a bat and is going to report the crime to the police, despite the wishes of his wife and son. Casey pleads with his dad not to do it because it will endanger his life, but the elder Jones explains that sometimes you have to stand up and do what’s right – even if you have to do it all alone.
Casey finds renewed energy and frees himself from Raph’s sai and launches onto Hun. The two grapple and fall from the deck. Hun manages to catch the edge of the ramp, but Jones continues the struggle. Raph and Leo look on helplessly. Casey yells “Golf bag!” and then Hun loses his grasp and the two men plummet towards the ground.
Leo and Raph are now alone in the plane grasping for safe holds as the airship spirals towards the ground below.
Act 4: Raph and Leo can’t find any parachutes. Leonardo wonders what Casey meant and Raph doubts that Jones would have been prepared for this kind of trouble – but they decide to check the golf bag just in case Casey was actually thinking ahead. Leonardo snags the bag and Raph searches it – much to their surprise, Casey had stored a parachute in the container! The Turtles grab it and jump out of the crashing plane – hoping that the ‘chute can support both of their weight.
Meanwhile, Hun has opened his parachute and Jones is clinging to his leg. Hun kicks at Casey but he cannot dislodge his foe from his lower extremities. Soon they land on the trailer of one of the Purple Dragon trucks. Casey is left clinging to the back edge. Hun approaches and prepares to kick Jones off of the vehicle.
Before the criminal behemoth can stomp Casey, Leo and Raph zoom in on their ‘chute and kick Hun, knocking him backwards. Our three heroes prepare to battle Hun on the trailer. Hun knocks Leo off the top, leaving him hanging onto the back door.
Don and Mike come zooming up in the Battle Shell. One of the Dragon’s trucks rams them from behind – Donny does not take kindly to the assault and fires a missile into the cab, which explodes and sends the vehicle into a deadly spin. Leonardo jumps to safety aboard the Battle Shell.
Casey sprints right at Hun and the two clash. Jones gets the upper hand and Hun falls off the front of the trailer. The villain lands on the trailer hitch and lies helpless. Casey jumps down and grits his teeth, preparing to finish off his old foe. Hun begs for help and after a moment of doubt, Casey remembers his father’s message to “do the right thing no matter what.” Thus Jones helps his enemy stand up. Hun does not return the kindness and sneak attacks, knocking Casey cold for a moment.
Hun climbs onto the cab and pulls the driver out of the truck and takes his place. The villain cranks the the wheel so that the truck begins to jackknife before leaping onto another one of the Dragons’ trucks.
Raph and Casey bail off the jackknifing truck’s roof and land on the Battle Shell. Hun and his goons have time enough time to escape. Leo gets really angry over their failure to stop Hun and storms off alone.
With the battle over, Casey asks the Turtles to take him to visit his father’s grave. Although they didn’t stop the Purple Dragons, Casey knows that he fought for what was right; but he didn’t have to do it alone, he had good friends to help him.