All episodes Season 5 S05E18 1991-11-23 25 min 1980s Syndication

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Zach and the Alien Invaders

TV Flash files “Zach and the Alien Invaders” as hour 122 of 191 in the TV Flash guide — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987–1996) on Syndication, season 5, episode 18, aired 1991-11-23, 25 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S05E18: listed hour 122 of 191 in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles guide, hour 18 of 20 in season 5. It aired 1991-11-23 (25 min). The listed hour before it is “Leonardo, Renaissance Turtle” (S05E17). Next is “Welcome Back, Polarisoids” (S05E19).

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — Zach and the Alien Invaders (S05E18)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

Zach, the Turtles' young friend, is put into military camp by his parents after making numerous false reports of aliens, only to find two real aliens--Wingnut and Screwloose--brainwashing the cadets to be their army and must call in the Turtles to defeat them.

Viewer FAQ

Where does Zach and the Alien Invaders sit in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles guide?

S05E18 is listed hour 122 of 191 — hour 18 of 20 in season 5, season 5 episode 18.

When did Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles S05E18 air?

Zach and the Alien Invaders aired 1991-11-23 and is listed at 25 minutes.

Comics first or the 1987 cartoon?

The cartoon sanded Eastman/Laird into kid-friendly slapstick and became the voice most later versions copy. 1987 is the theme, the pizza, and merchandising as plot — franchise religion, not the grim comic.

In the series

Why this series still plays

Cowabunga as a business plan: four pizza-eating sewer mutants, a rat sensei, and a toy glut that owned late-decade Christmas lists. The cartoon sanded the Eastman/Laird comics into kid-friendly martial-arts slapstick and accidentally minted a franchise religion. The 1987 series is the voice, the theme, and merchandising as plot.

Cowabunga used to be a business plan, not a meme kit. Syndication, 1987 through 1996: four mutant turtles trained by Splinter battle Shredder and the Foot Clan — pizza, a rat sensei, and a toy glut that owned late-decade Christmas lists. The 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, from David Wise and Fred Wolf, sanded Eastman/Laird comics into kid-friendly martial-arts slapstick: Cam Clarke's Leonardo, Townsend Coleman's Michelangelo, Barry Gordon's Donatello, Rob Paulsen's Raphael. One hundred ninety-three…

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