When the Turtles visit a dinosaur exhibit at a museum they're alarmed to find a message from Savanti Romero, informing them that he intends to wipe out their entire timeline. Suddenly Renet turns up, and tells them that she's finally going to graduate from her apprenticeship, and her final exam is to deal with Savanti. Fearing what would happen to their timeline if Renet goes back alone, the Turtles accompany her - all the way back to the time of the dinosaurs.
This episode provides examples of
- Anachronism Stew: Dinosaurs from all different periods are present in the Cretaceous.
- Animal Stampede: Don's sneeze spooks a herd of hadrosaurs which run straight towards the Turtles and Renet.
- Animated Adaptation: This episode and the next one are both animated adaptations of Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 1) #7, also titled "The Return of Savanti Romero!"
- Anti-Sneeze Finger: Nunchucks rather, to stop Donnie from sneezing again after the stampede incident.
- Ascended Extra: While he was easily defeated and then Hijacked by Ganon in his first outing, Savanti becomes the sole Big Bad of this two-parter.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: At the museum, Don expresses amazement over dinosaurs and wonders what it would be like to see them in-person.
- Big Damn Heroes: Zog arrives to help the Turtles and Renet during the Raptor Attack.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Turtles met Savanti, Renet, and Lord Simultaneous back in "Time Travails".
- Raph mentions the continuing mutant outbreak that began in "Outbreak".
- Dead Guy Junior/ Call-Back: Mikey names a Triceratops "Zog" after the Triceraton soldier they befriended in "Rogue In the House"
- Dissonant Serenity: Leo's replies to Raph as listed in This Is Gonna Suck.
- Evil Laugh: Savanti indulges in this during his message and when confronting the Turtles and Renet in-person.
- Facepalm: This is Leo's reaction when the Turtles find out that the time sceptre is not working and they are now trapped in the past.
- Foreshadowing: Donnie lets out several rather violent sneezes, and Leo notes he's been under the weather lately.
- Huddle Shot: When the Turtles discuss whether or not to go with Renet.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- Renet appears the second Don observes they'd need a time machine to face Savanti. He notes there's no way this could be a coincidence.
- Mikey questions why the all-powerful Lord Simultaneous doesn't just fix this mess himself. Renet says fixing this is her final exam, which is why he won't be stepping in.
- Noodle Incident: Renet previously showed April something, though from April's perspective, this hasn't happened yet.
- Raptor Attack: The Turtles and Renet get attacked by a pack of Deinonychus.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Deinonychus sport glowing eyes when pursuing the Turtles and Renet. When it fades, they leave. The dinosaur that Savanti is riding also has this, demonstrating he's exerting control over them.
- Revenge: Savanti wants payback against the Turtles for how they interfered in his attempt to claim the time scepter and got him banished to prehistoric times.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: A security guard arrives just as Savanti's message is starting up. He remarks he doesn't get paid enough for this and bails.
- Temporal Mutability: Soon after arriving in the past, Don cautions the others that they could create major changes to the timeline if they're not careful. Since they don't know for sure what could happen, they opt for a Temporal Balancing Act by packing up their belongings so as not to accidentally leave any future items they brought behind. Doesn't stop Mikey from feeding the new Zog a potato chip.Donatello: And I hate to point out that you could've just changed all of human history by feeding that dinosaur a potato chip from the future!
- Tempting Fate:
- Don offers a hypothetical scenario of prehistoric life of dinosaurs grazing before being attacked by a T-Rex. The T-Rex skeleton they're in front of suddenly starts reshaping itself to deliver Savanti's message.
- Renet assured the Turtles that this would all be a breeze. Raph reminds her of this when the Raptor Attack occurs.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Discussed at the end.Raph: Hey, why'd they leave? You think we scared them off?Leo: ... Nope.Raph: You think something really horrible is coming now?Leo: Yup.
- Trap Is the Only Option: Leo acknowledges how Savanti's message is obviously bait for a trap. Raph acknowledges how they have to go since it's possible Renet will screw up if on her own.
- You Do Not Want To Know: Splinter asks April to not tell him what's going on, as he claims it's probably better that he doesn't know.
