Popcorn & Coffee: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Beyond The Known Universe

Not Rated; 267 minutes; $19.99; Amazon

As I'm writing this, it looks the Michael Bay produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows will have a decent opening weekend at the box-office. The sequel is coming out while the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles computer-animated series is on hiatus. In the meantime, TMNT fans can enjoy watching the recent Nickelodeon DVD release - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Beyond The Known The Universe, featuring the first 12 episodes of the fourth season. The 2-disc set has one special feature, TMNT: Kicking Shell and Taking Names.

At the end of the third season, an alien race called the Triceratons activated the a black hole device that destroyed Earth. Seconds before the destruction of the planet, Fugitoid, an android, arrives in his spaceship in the nick of time to save Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, April O'Neil and Casey Jones. The android needs their help to travel back in time six months earlier to stop the Triceratons from creating the black hole generator.

Season four picks up exactly where it left off, with the turtles and their human friends traveling across the universe to retrieve the parts to the black hole generator, so they can change history. Sadly, upon their first visit to another planet, the turtles accidentally run across a new enemy, Lord Dregg. Later, they also encounter a cyborg bounty hunter shark, Utroms, Salamanders and other aliens on their journey.

The episodes on the 2-disc set are:

Disc1 Beyond the Known Universe The Moons of Thalos 3 The Weird World of Wyrm The Outlaw Armaggon Riddle of the Ancient Aeons Journey to the Center of Mickey's Mind The Arena of Carnage

Disc 2 The War for Dimension X The Cosmic Ocean Trans-Dimensional Turtles Revenge of the Triceratons The Evil of Dregg

Final Thoughts: This isn't the first time the TMNT have went into space as it also happened in the comics and the 2003 series. While the"black hole generator" plot is dragged on for the 13 episodes (yeah, the final "space episode" will be on the next DVD release), seeing the Turtles in space is entertaining, especially with David Tennant (Doctor Who) as the voice of Fugitoid.

My favorite episode from the season is "Trans-Dimensional Turtles," where the Turtles get zapped to a parallel universe and meet their counterparts from the original 80s cartoon series, voiced by Cam Clarke, Rob Paulsen, Townsend Coleman and Barry Gordon, and must battle the 80s Krang (voiced by Pat Fraley).

Another one my favorites is the episode "The Weird World of Wyrm," where the Turtles, April and Casey find a strange cube device on a abandoned spaceship, which resembles the puzzle box from the Hellraiser films.

Normally, Nickelodeon releases the seasons in three volumes; the first two have six or seven episodes on them and the latter has twelve or thirteen episodes. It's nice to see that the first volume of the fourth season has twelve episodes on it.

Overall, I enjoyed watching all the episodes on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Beyond The Known Universe DVD and I highly recommend it to other fans.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my unbiased review. All opinions are my own.