The (hopefully intended) viewing order of...
So recently, in preparation for the upcoming movie, and because it’s on Netflix, I decided to watch Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
However, as I watched it, I noticed that one aspect of the viewing experience still hasn’t been fixed: It’s out of order.
This might not be a deal breaker for a lot of people, but it irks me since I feel like there’s a lot of careful effort to make sure much of the timeline and rules of the setting make sense in the show.
At first I checked Wikipedia, which seemed to indicate it was in proper airing order, but then decided to check TMNTpedia, which had entirely different production codes.
While Wikipedia does cite a source for it, I’m not totally certain I trust it (due to it being a fairly obscure TV schedule site), and I think the order on TMNTpedia itself makes more sense, though it still has some issues I think.
So I’m gonna give my own proposed watch order for at least Season 1 (Season 2 aired mostly in order, likely because Nickelodeon already decided to cancel it). It’ll largely be the same as TMNTpedia’s Production Order, though some will be moved around.
Mystic Mayhem
Origami Tsunami
Newsworthy
War and Pizza
Donnie’s Gifts
Minotaur Maze
Down with the Sickness
Repo Mantis
Hypno!: Part Deux
The Fast and the Furriest
Mascot Melee
Bug Busters
Shell in a Cell
The Longest Fight
The Gumbus
Ms. Cuddles
Al Be Back
Stuck on You
The Purple Jacket
Pizza Pit
Smart Lair
Hot Soup: The Game
The Evil League of Mutants
Late Fee
Bullhop
Nothing But Truffle
Turtle-Dega Nights: The Ballad of Rat Man
Shadow of Evil
Mind Meld
Portal Jacked
Warren & Hypno, Sitting in a Tree
Sparring Partner
Mystic Library
Operation: Normal
How To Make Enemies and Bend People To Your Will
You Got Served
The Purple Game
Man Vs. Sewer
The Ancient Art of Ninja Hide and Seek
The Mutant Menace
One Man’s Junk
Snow Day
Cloak and Swaggart
Jupiter Jim Ahoy
Insane in the Mama Train
End Game
As I mentioned, I mainly adhered to the production order shown on TMNTpedia (I don’t expect I did it perfectly), but changed the order of some episodes since some of their placements made no sense to me:
Origami Tsunami has been placed as episode 2 due to that episode introducing Lou Jitsu and the Foot Clan, and also establishes the Turtles deciding to be heroes. (Thanks, @magicalspacedragon!)
Repo Mantis and Hypno!: Part Deux actually take place concurrently, hence why the two are close together here.
The Fast and the Furriest is before Mascot Melee due to the former introducing the Turtle Tank; in airing and supposedly production order, this resulted in an episode featuring the Turtle Tank before its formal introduction.
On the note of The Fast and the Furriest, for some reason Nickelodeon chose to air this episode before Minotaur Maze, the episode that introduces Senor Hueso and the pizzeria he works in, Run of the Mill Pizza.
I put The Gumbus before Al Be Back, since Baxter has an extended cameo in the latter episode. It isn’t very noticeable anyway, but for consistency and character introduction’s sake, I put it before.
Episodes not mentioned on this list (which again only covers Season 1) are Flushed But Not Forgotten and Sewer Games, which had the dubious honor of being aired before Season 1 finished; both episodes are from Season 2 (as evidenced by changes to the opening, most prominently Shredder replacing Draxum), but were aired as a Halloween Special in the show's second year. Netflix will likely correctly mark this as a Season 2 episode if it ever gets Season 2, as it was not included in Season 1's release on the platform.
I haven’t tried this order out for myself (I kinda gave up on the idea of watching it in any sort of chronological order around the time me and my sister reached Shadow of Evil on Netflix, and it would take a lot of time). I hope that the order shown here works, but it might need further nudging.
Here’s hoping the upcoming movie is good!
