Techno Turtle

General

Script

Gallery

"Ultrajerk 2000"

Premiere Order
"Techno Turtle"

"Surprise!"

"Ice Cream Scream"

Production Order
"Techno Turtle"

"Surprise!"

Episode name reference to/pun on: None
Techno Turtle
Season 2, Episode 16a

Air date	October 29, 1997
Production number	216a
Written by	Mr. Lawrence
Storyboard by	Rob Renzetti
Directed by	Rob Renzetti Craig McCracken (Art Director)

Techno Turtle is the first segment of the eighteenth episode in season 2 of Dexter's Laboratory. It first aired on October 29, 1997.

In this episode, a young turtle is sent away from its family after it is attacked by a hawk. Dee Dee takes it upon herself to make sure the turtle "hatches" from its shell. When the turtle gets into an accident after Dexter and Dee Dee bump into each other, Dexter revives the turtle and gives it bionic powers in the process.

Plot[]

During an afternoon, a bale of turtles are minding their own business when they are caught off-guard by a hawk's screech. To protect her babies, the mother turtle pushes one of them off then hides in her shell. Instead of going for her, the hawk instead goes for the turtle munching on a leaf and carries it off, much to the mother turtle's dismay. The hawk loses its grip on the shell and drops the turtle, then chases after it. The turtle itself hides inside its shell and safely slides down from a tree branch into a hammock, then a pile of leaves. When the hawk spots the turtle, it dives after the turtle while it slowly goes to hide in a bush.

With little time left, the turtle hides inside its shell while the hawk nears it, only for it to get scared off by Dee Dee as she pops out of the bushes while holding a pair of binoculars. Dee Dee then looks at the turtle shell and mistakes it for the hawk's egg. To ensure the turtle's safety, Dee Dee encourages the turtle to come out of its shell, which does so. Thinking the turtle hasn't "hatched" all the way, Dee Dee wraps it inside her hair and goes inside the house.

Meanwhile, Dexter comes out his lab through the grandfather clock while looking at his clipboard. He and Dee Dee bump into each other, making the turtle come out of Dee Dee's hair and fly towards the grandfather clock, which then breaks. Inside an operating room, Dexter and his robot assistants perform an operation on the turtle and give it bionic body parts, a positronic turtleneck, and a robotic arm. Later after the operation, Dee Dee is excited to see the turtle, which she nicknamed "Birdy", again. Following the reunion, Dexter then takes the turtle to his lab and puts it through a series of tests. Dee Dee later returns to the lab to take "Birdy" away from Dexter and to her room where she shows Lee Lee and Mee Mee her "pet", then sends the turtle to the kitchen to get the girls some lunch. Instead, the turtle carries the refrigerator upstairs.

As the girls feed the turtle, Dexter enters Dee Dee's room wanting to take the turtle back. While she and Dexter fight over the turtle, it hears the hawk's caw and scans through the wall. Outside, the hawk sees the mother turtle and her babies and prepares to pursuit them once more. Not standing for this, the turtle breaks out of Dexter and Dee Dee's grasp and goes after the hawk.

As the hawk gets ready to attack the turtles, the bionic turtle lunges at it, assaults the hawk, then sends it hurtling downward toward Dee Dee, with a nearby basket landing on it after impact. Dee Dee then mistakes the hawk for a baby turtle while it lies on the ground in humiliation.

Characters[]

Trivia[]

Notes[]

Running gag: Dee Dee calls the turtle "birdy", with Dexter correcting her.

Errors[]

Before the turtle crashes into Mom's grandfather clock, it is shown to have thirteen numbers on the clock face. It was then reverted back to twelve numbers following the crash.

Cultural References[]

The plot is a reference to the 1976 science fiction TV show Bionic Woman, where the protagonist Jaime Sommers received bionic powers after a critical injury from skydiving.
When Dee Dee, Lee Lee and Mee Mee walk into Dee Dee’s room, a stuffed animal resembling Winnie the Pooh can be seen sitting on the floor.