Tokka and Rahzar

Tokka and Rahzar are two fictional mutant villains in the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" universe. They first appeared in the 1991 film "". Rahzar was played by Mark Ginther and Tokka was played by Kurt Bryant. They were both voice-acted by Frank Welker.

The design of Tokka in the movie was inspired by the drawings of comic book artist and writer Stephen R. Bissette. Bissette's noted works include "Aliens: Tribes", "Tyrant", "Taboo", and his award winning run in "Saga of the Swamp Thing", among numerous articles and books on comics and horror films.

Film

When The Shredder found out that the substance that mutated the Turtles had been created by TGRI (Techno-Global Research Industries), he sent his Foot Soldiers to steal the last canister of ooze and kidnap head TGRI scientist, Professor Jordan Perry. Shredder instructs Perry to use the ooze to mutate an Alligator Snapping Turtle and a Gray Wolf, kidnapped from the Bronx Zoo creating Tokka and Rahzar. Shredder's intent was to wreak havoc on the city and to create a trap for the Turtles. However, Jordan had secretly altered the mutagen, and as a result, these two mutants had the intelligence of human infants. After Saki ordered the monsters to face him and attack them in order to show his dominance over them, the mutants immediately adopted Shredder as their surrogate mother. Instead of calling him "master"... they yelled out, "Mama!". They rushed and surprise-hugged him. Confused and angered, Shredder ordered them to be destroyed. Perry had sympathy for the mutants and showed Saki their total obedience to him and that they followed his every direction since he was their "Mother". The two creatures began "playing" in the junkyard, throwing around massive piles of scrap metal as if they were toys. Now convinced of their power, Shredder agreed to keep the creatures and proceeded to twist them for his evil purposes.

Despite their low intelligence, the two mutants' incredible physical strength made them more than a match for the Turtles. On their first encounter at Shredder and Tatsu's junkyard base, the Turtles were ill-prepared and barely managed to escape when trying to save their brother Raphael from capture. They did manage to rescue Dr. Perry. Donatello discovered him all tied up and gagged after the monsters threw and smashed him into the Doctor's prison. During the escape they trapped Tokka in manhole from the waist down. Michelangelo teased Tokka and tickled the bottom of the snapper's clawed feet. April was confronted by the Foot with a message for the Turtles: If they didn't meet the Foot at a construction site near the docks, Shredder would set Tokka and Rahzar out again into Central Park. A lot of people would get hurt and the Turtles would risk exposing themselves to the general public. The Turtles and Splinter agreed that there was no other choice but to face Shredder. But the professor had a plan. With the help of Donatello and Keno, Dr. Perry then prepared an anti-mutagen to de-mutate Tokka and Rahzar, which had to be ingested.

During their second encounter at the construction site, amidst a distraction, Leonardo and Michelangelo trick Tokka and Rahzar into eating the antidote (they froze the concoction into ice cubes and then hid them in a box of donuts, which they then offered to the two mutants as the "ritual of the traditional pre-fight donut"). Rahzar and Tokka devoured the donuts with continued coaxing from the Turtles. Rahzar accidentally crushed one of the donuts in his claw and discovered the anti-mutagen cube. Enraged, Tokka and Rahzar smashed Michelangelo through a wall and into the Dockshore Club interrupting a crowded dance concert by Vanilla Ice. The creatures kept getting sour looks from time to time during their rampage and let out monstrous belches due to the effects of the anti-mutagen.

As the final showdown commenced at the club; Leo and Raph were fending off Rahzar and Tokka's snapping attacks. Donatello told Dr. Perry about the mutants' belching. Perry informed them that the burping was slowing the anti-mutagen. Carbon dioxide was needed to speed up the demutation. Some fire extinguishers Don and Dr. Perry discovered to their side provided them with an idea. On cue Leo, Raph and Mike rushed and bashed into the two beasts, knocking them flat on their backs. Then they shoved fire extinguishers Don had retrieved into the creatures' mouths to keep them from burping the carbon dioxide. This was the crucial part of the antidote to demutate the monsters. Finally, the antidote took effect and the two mutants returned to their relatively harmless animal forms. What happened to them after this is unknown.

1987 cartoon series

Tokka and Rahzar only appeared once in the seventh season of 1987 cartoon series. In 1993, they were featured in the season 7 episode "". They were out-of-control mutants that the Turtles were trying to stop, and who were captured by Dirk Savage. The animated versions were more intelligent and more eloquent, particularly Rahzar. Rahzar states to Tokka, "...You are my only friend."

Tokka has a very uncontrolled appetite which leads him into Dirk Savage's trap which consists of a buffet. The Snapper gets captured by the Mutant Hunter after he devours the smorgasbord. Even though Rahzar made a big deal of his friend being captured, and he was shown attacking Dirk later on, it was never shown if he ever got reunited with Tokka, even after the bad guys were defeated.

Their look in the cartoon was very much like that of their action figures, made two years prior to their toon appearance.

In this episode, their names were spelled "Toka" and "Razar".

Toka was voiced by Jim Cummings, while Razar was voiced by Townsend Coleman.

Games

Although the old TMNT videogames are based on the 1987 cartoon version of the franchise, and the last game came out in 1991, two years before Tokka and Rahzar appeared on that show, the two mutants are nonetheless part of three of the games.

They are in both versions of "". In the original arcade version, they are the bosses of the pirate ship level, while in the Super NES version, they have been moved to the Technodrome level.

They are paired together as a double-boss. They can team up in their attacks; for example, one of their moves involves Tokka withdrawing into his shell and Rahzar hopping on top and riding around the screen chaotically like a skateboard. Their low intelligence from the movie is also included in the game: they will often accidentally hit each other instead of the player, and will take damage for it. Just like in the movie, when the player defeats them in the game, they de-mutate to normal animals. It is possible to attack Rahzar after he has de-mutated. He makes a 'Yelp' sound. Also, in the game, their names have the spelling of the movie, not the later spelling of the TV show.

They also made an appearance in the NES game "". Here you must fight them as separate bosses. Rahzar appears in the Technodrome level immediately before Shredder, and uses an ice breath attack. Tokka appears as the boss of the rooftop level and carries a shield for blocking jump kicks. Plus there was an electric billboard in the background and Tokka would be able to uppercut you into it, making you take double damage. Also, in this game Rahzar's name is spelled "Rahzer".

External links

* [http://www.ninjaturtles.com/cartoon/guide/cart167.htm Dirk Savage: Mutant Hunter] at the Official Ninja Turtles website.