Headscratchers / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

• Shredder, in a moment of desperation, decides to drink the ooze and mutate. How did his armor mutate?
  • Maybe the mutation simply "fused" him with his armor.
    • Alternately, it's not his armor, but his skin.

• The plot of the film is essentially kicked off by Splinter learning what TGRI was from a news report, after many years of him and the turtles all no doubt obsessing over the details of their own origins. How is it exactly that Splinter could go 15 years and never hear of the company? He may not have shared the details of the ooze canister with the turtles until after the report, but he had to have been looking into it already.
  • He's been constantly teaching the Turtles to focus on the present. The TGRI canister was interesting, but its meaning was "veiled by a shadow too deep to penetrate." However, TGRI appearing on the news made the canister was important in the present. "The past returns." Even then, it took Splinter many hours of meditation to come to the decision to reveal it.
  • Another theory is that Splinter has known all along about their origins, but like all parents, didn't want to upset his sons, in this case, by revealing their origin was a simple accident, only revealing it because it pertains to the plot and arms them with knowledge to use to fight Shredder and his mutants.
• Exactly why did the Foot hang around the TGRI building after they got the last of the Ooze? They had no way of knowing the turtles were coming and nearly risked losing the canister several times during the fight. Sure the plot couldn't continue if they failed but wouldn't it have been pragmatic to just leave without alerting the Turtles they were back?
  • The Turtles arrived right after they got their hands on the ooze and could retreat. It was a perfect chance to take revenge on their enemies for their previous defeat. Notice they cut and run as soon as they get the canister back because the Foot are no match for the Turtles as far as combat goes.
• As convenient as it is for the Turtles, how is power still running down in the abandoned subway area they found. Most explanation is that the power from the mainline is still connected and allows them to light up the area. But no one who's monitoring the subways are noting a unused or unfamiliar area sapping power from them?
  • They appear to be on the same lines as the rest of the subway system. The Turtle's usage would be a small increase, but not enough to worry about given the crazy amount of electricity required for the rest of the subway
• So, enough time has passed from the first film for April to rent a new apartment and the boys to move in and trash the place. But somehow, in the same amount of time, Shredder has gone undetected, immobile, and buried in garbage without dying of exposure, hunger or dehydration (much less his severe wounds)?
  • Who's to say that what we say happening with Shredder in particular has to completely match up with the events of the rest of the film? Maybe he actually got out of the garbage some months before but it took him a while longer to build up enough strength to be sure that he could at least walk and talk without showing his injuries.
  • The Foot stragglers gathering the junkyard implies that it happened not long after the ending of the first movie.
• If regular Shredder managed to survive being crushed in a garbage compactor, does the movie really expect us to believe Super Shredder was killed by a dock collapsing on him?
  • Probably his mutation was unstable and his mutated body was burning up too much energy to survive long. Having so much debris falling on top of him likely didn't help.
  • Notice how Shredder who defeated the turtles easily in the last movie does no fighting here. The man's body is totally broken and getting by on his street cred. The mutagen most likely did not heal those injuries and may have made it far worse. So while he looks strong, he's probably a Glass Cannon burning out.
• Did the NYPD seriously not investigate the alleged corpse of the ringleader they've been after and just let the dump truck carry it off?
  • Do we even have any evidence that the cops saw Shredder fall into the garbage truck? Surely Casey and the turtles got out of there fast after everything was done. If not to keep their secrets, than to escape any possible retribution from the Foot Clan. Likely the driver of the truck came back once all was said and done and continued his route.

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