Turtle Tracks

Donatello's Role
Overall Involvement - Major

April is chased into the sewers by a gang of thugs, where she is saved by the turtles. Donatello is the first to protect her by stopping an unmutated Rocksteady with his staff. Rocksteady later grabs Don's staff and tries to push him away, but instead Donatello throws him to the ground.

When an unmutated Bebop prepares to attack with a chain, Donatello catches the weapon on his staff and disarms him. The thugs are taken care of, and the turtles approach April from the shadows. Donatello appears behind Michelangelo and Raphael respectively.

The turtles take April back to their lair. Splinter brings her tea, and she passes out again, to which an irritated Donatello wakes her up. April screams at him, and she is later given sushi by Splinter. Mikey arrives carrying a pizza box, and Donatello eagerly sits down with his brothers for a slice. At their odd choice of toppings, April expresses her disgust at the pizza, so Donatello reveals his dislike for the raw fish she's eating.

Splinter then tells April their backstory. In a flash back, Donatello and his brothers can be seen as baby turtles in a glass bowl that are dropped down the sewer. They are taken care of by the unmutated Hamato Yoshi, and later covered in a spill of ooze. According to Splinter, the ooze transforms living beings into the animal they last came into contact with, which for the turtles was the human Splinter. The turtles become humanoid, and Splinter mutates into a rat. They were then named after Splinter's favourite renaissance artists.

While Splinter introduces April to the turtles, Donatello and his brothers display their skills in combat. Donatello is the first turtle to be introduced, and he is described as: "Donatello, who's simple wooden bo can disarm any adversary." The turtles sit back down, and Donatello continues to eat Mikey's pizza. After discovering who they are, April accuses the turtles of committing the recent string of robberies and runs off. Donatello jumps in front of April, stopping her with his staff and reminding her they saved her life, to which April says the robberies were committed by ninja thieves.

Donatello calmly tells April that they can't let her go, because if the turtles are put on TV they will be pursued by scientists. Because of this, he tells April that she has to stay with them until everything's sorted out. Strangely, in this episode, Donatello takes more of a leadership role and calls most of the shots. While in the sewers with them, Donatello leans back in a chair with his staff behind his head. The turtles come to a decision with April that she will help them find a cure for Splinter, and they will get her a news story. They go out into the sewers, and Donatello suggests they go to where they found April and search for clues. Raphael is cynical of this and calls him crazy but they go along with it. Donatello finds a coupon for "Ninja Pizzeria".

April prepares to go to the pizzeria alone, but Donatello stops her and says it's too dangerous. Instead, the turtles go with April. Above ground, the turtles are spotted by an old woman who points a gun at them, so Donatello, his brothers and April slowly back away. Because of their uncanny appearance, April brings them hats and trench coats to disguise themselves. At seeing a man carrying a stereo Donatello asks April why humans want to make themselves deaf, and April accidentally calls him Leonardo.

The turtles and April arrive at the pizzeria. Raphael orders a sashimi pizza whereas Donatello and the rest of his brothers have a whipped cream pizza. April is kidnapped by the Foot clan while the turtles receive their bill for the pizzas in the form of a letter through a knife. Donatello asks Raphael if it's a threatening note. The turtles spot April's purse on the side of a building and climb up, where they are confronted by the Foot. They take out their weapons, and Donatello observes that there's something "weird about this".

Michelangelo discovers that the Foot soldiers are robots, so the turtles remove their hats and trench coats and go all out. Raphael tells Donatello to show them some moves, so he takes out two of the Foot, and later two more. The turtles join together and stand behind a brick wall, that they use their shells to push over. April and the turtles go inside a building, where Donatello points out a high tech piece of technology. Foot soldiers pass by, and Donatello says they must be heading for the technodrome. The building is flooded. For a moment Donatello worries they'll drown, before remembering that they're turtles. They take April and make it outside.

Escaping via helicopter, April and the turtles return to Splinter. Donatello shows their master what the Foot robots wore. When Mikey starts joking around, April asks if they take anything seriously, to which Donatello and the turtles hold up pizza. She reluctantly joins them.

Quotes

 * "Chill out, home boy."
 * "Yup. So we are."
 * "Come on, lady, wake up!"
 * "Yeah, I-I want some of the jellybeans and mushrooms."
 * "How can you eat raw fish? Yuck!"
 * "Ah-ah-ah-ah! Wait a minute, did I miss something here? Ain't you up on current events, lady? We just saved your life!"
 * "No way! You put us on TV, and every scientist in town will be after us."
 * "Which means you're staying here until we work this out."
 * "We'll get your story, just make sure you leave us out of it."
 * "Alright, let's check out the spot where we fought those punks. Maybe they left a clue behind!"
 * "The crucial piece of evidence we were looking for?"
 * "No! No, April, it's too dangerous. You wouldn't last five minutes in a ninja pizza parlour--I love saying lines like that."
 * "Relax, we know all about humans!"
 * "Uh, April?"
 * "Why do human beings wanna make themselves deaf?"
 * "Ninja dentist? Ow!"
 * "Listen, uh ...what happened to April?"
 * "What is it, Raphael? A threatening note?"
 * "April's press pass!"
 * "Well, either that, or she's got a big hole in her purse."
 * "April's purse! Come on!"
 * "Oh, there is something weird about this!"
 * "Dudes, nots, they're robots!"
 * "Hey, look! An Acme Technology's digital video transceiver! This is big league gear."
 * "They must be heading for the technodrome!"
 * "Gotta get to safety! We'll drown!--Hey, what're we worrying about, we're turtles!"
 * "This is what the ninja robots wore."