Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "Nightmares Recycled" (lost production materials of unfinished episode of animated series; mid-late 2000s)

Concept art of an older version of the twins..

Status: Lost

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (also known as TMNT 2K3) is a 2003 American animated series that aired on Fox's Fox Box program (later re-named 4Kids TV) from 2003 to 2009 and was the second animated television show based off the Mirage comic book series of the same name. It is known for having several dark episodes including the infamous "Insane in the Membrane". But there is one episode titled "Nightmares Recycled" that was considered so dark that it was never completed.

The basic plot of the episode involves Raphael, Donatello, Casey Jones, and April O'Neil encountering the Garbageman (a minor villain who appeared in only two episodes). They are taken to the Garbageman's Recycle World and later encounter Hun. Hun isn't thrilled to reveal that him and the Garbageman were once conjoined twins. According to the script, Hun and Garbageman were conjoined twins who were separated by a shady back-alley surgeon. The Garbageman was discarded as 'garbage'.

The episode was already beginning to be animated when the plug was pulled. 4Kids claimed the subject of the episode was too violent for a children's program. TMNT co-creator of the franchise, Peter Laird, later criticized the script on his blog (the page is now inaccessible). Later on, the show's fifth season as a whole was left unaired until 2008. The script of the episode in full has never been released.

References

• TMNT Wikia on the cancelled episode.
• 1/3 blogspot post about the episode.
• 2/3 blogspot post about the episode.
• 3/3 blogspot post about the episode.