The popularity of the cartoon or animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles knows no bounds. Given this, it makes sense that numerous of the series’ characters have interesting pasts of their own. Captain Zorax is hardly an exception, either.
He is an anthropomorphic character that resembles a humanoid Triceratops from Earth. He commands an army of Triceratons, a terrifyingly strong species of humanoid triceratops that control enormous swaths of the cosmos.
The Triceratons undoubtedly played a significant role in the plots of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle animated series and the IDW comic continuity even though Captain Zorax may not have featured in every episode. In fact, in addition to introducing Captain Zorax in this video, we will discuss some incredibly awesome storylines that, although not necessarily involving Zorax, do feature fascinating Triceratons-related background.
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Zorax – Origins
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)
The seventh season of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series aired the episode known as ‘Night Of The Dark Turtle’ that brought the Ninja Turtles into conflict with Zorax. Well, not exactly Zorax alone but also his intergalactic conquest team known as the Triceratons.
The episode sets off with Donatello insisting that, unlike the other turtles, he can just rely on his brains. In fact, he goes as far as to say that he can take on Shredder all by himself.
An earthquake-like phenomenon forces the Ninja Turtles to seek out Shredder and they find him in a government research lab. A few minutes ago, Shredder had gotten a powerful Micro-Blaster from a scientist which had the ability to obliterate a building at once.
On seeing Shredder, Donatello attacks him by himself to prove the ability he had boasted about not too long ago. However, he is slammed into an electrified machine and is electrocuted. The Ninja Turtles then take a barely conscious Donatello back to their base.
Strangely, when he comes back to his senses, he is a different turtle altogether. He is hell-bent on defeating Shredder out of sheer vengeance and it’s almost like he is having his villain era. He takes on a new avatar, which is uncannily similar to Batman and heads out to defeat Shredder by being a menacing avenger. But that’s not even the greatest problem of this episode as a much larger threat is on its way and of course, it is Captain Zorax and his henchmen.
Zorax lands in New York City with the other Triceratons, planning to turn Earth into their domain. They are a terrifying race of reptiles modeled after the Triceratops and they rule over vast areas in the Universe. They also follow a certain amount of kinship with other reptiles and are not interested in attacking places ruled by a reptilian race superior to theirs. So hypothetically, they would never attack Earth if it was ruled by T-Rexes instead of humans.
Meanwhile, Donatello goes on his own journey to take down Shredder and there’s nothing the other three Ninja Turtles can do to stop him. Soon, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo are notified by Splinter about the Triceraton attack. The Turtles take on the aliens head-on but their opposition is just too powerful. This is not a fight that can be won by strength alone.
The Triceratons capture several Earthlings and soon open something called the Star Gate. This gate is a rupture in the fabric of the universe and has the power to transport Earth from its original position to a different part of the galaxy in an hour. As the leader of the Triceraton Invasion Squad, Captain Zorax explains how Earth will be relocated to near the Triceratons’ home planet. Earth will then be drained and looted of all its resources while the humans will turn into their slaves.
With no way out, the Ninja Turtles realize that they must bring Donatello back to his senses and away from his quest for vengeance. But Donatello has already found Shredder and overpowered him. As he holds Shredder’s body from above, planning to drop it into the machine where Shredder electrocuted him, the other three turtles arrive to stop Donatello from almost killing him. Shredder is saved but Donatello falls on top of the device and gets electrocuted once again. Fortunately, this electrocution brings him back to his senses and he learns about what’s going on with the Triceratons.
Since this fight against the Triceratons can be won only by brains and not brawns, the Ninja Turtles now have their trump card with Donatello back on their side. He learns about the Triceratons not wanting to attack places with a superior reptile race and that means they must now head to the Natural History Museum, a museum with robot dinosaurs that can be controlled with a remote.
Donatello sends off some strong dinosaurs such as the Stegosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus Rex to fight off the Triceratons. Captain Zorax and his henchmen attack the dinosaurs and being robots, each attack exposes the dinosaur’s circuits. However, Donatello comes in once again with the Micro-Blaster hidden in his ear and claims the dinosaurs to be his minions while he happens to be the ruler of this planet and the strongest reptile of all time. The Triceratons do not take him seriously but soon, Donatello uses the Micro-Blaster to destroy the alien technology, in a way that makes it look like he’s shooting laser beams from his eyes. After a whole day of being Batman, it was supposedly his time to be Superman.
This feat convinces the Triceratons that the reptilian race on Earth is far superior to them and they subsequently retreat. The Star Gate is also closed, thanks to Donatello destroying the device that created it.
TMNT (2003 & 2012)
The 2003 and 2012 adaptations of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are not exempt from making the Triceratons a part of their plotlines. However, Captain Zorax is not present as an individual character or as a leader. For that reason, we will go over the origin of the Triceraton species as a whole.
TMNT 2003
The Triceratons played a much bigger role in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series compared to its 1987 counterparts who did not get much screentime beyond the episode we just spoke about. They were based on the Mirage Comic Books where their leader was the vengeful Zanramon instead of Zorax. Here, they were in conflict with the Federation, a civilization in a distant galaxy that was dominated by aliens who were similar to humans.
Here, the Triceratons had accidentally destroyed their homeworld. So they lived scattered across rocks in the Universe. Things went smoothly for the Triceraton Republic until Zanramon became the Prime Minister. He dissolved the Senate and the honor of the citizens, turning the Republic into a dictatorship.
There was also Fugitoid or Professor Honeycutt who had developed a device known as the Teleportal. It could transport things across the Universe, making it a much sought-after device by the Triceratons and their enemies (that is the Federation) alike. The Fugitoid was captured but since it was affiliated with the Ninja Turtles who were also on the same boat after being accidentally transported into a Triceraton colony, the Turtles and the Triceratons found themselves opposing each other in this series as well.
The Turtle vs Triceraton battle soon grew intense and found itself in New York City. The vengeful leader Zanramon and his terrible incompetence prompted Commander Mozar (who was a Triceraton himself) to turn against the leader. A coup d’etat was followed by Zanramon’s defeat at last and the Federation and the Triceraton Republic tried to agree on peace.
The Triceratons later joined the Pan Galactic Alliance.
TMNT 2012
The 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did not have much of involvement from the Triceratons, barring some cameos and Easter Eggs that can be missed by the average viewer.
However, they did get a more prominent role in the Season 3 episode known as ‘Dinosaur Seen in Sewers!’. This time, their origins were quite different. They were not the same aliens who had a conflict with the Federation. Here, the Triceratons were from Dimension X, the same place Krang hailed from. Naturally, the two fearsome alien races fought one another for supremacy, making the reptiles enemies of The Kraang, a group of Dimension X aliens with the ruthless Kraang Prime as their leader.
With the Kraang having infiltrated Earth, the Triceratons invaded Earth as well. Their objective was simple. They wanted to destroy and eliminate the Kraang from the face of the Universe. However, the invasion led to the reptiles collecting the pieces of the Heart of Darkness. This artifact was a powerful weapon and a black hole generator that could destroy the Earth.
The Heart of Darkness was created by Professor Zayton Honeycutt or the Fugitoid as a power source. Before coming into this robot form, the Professor was an alien scientist. Turns out, that the Triceratons were responsible for the destruction of his body, causing him to transfer his consciousness to his robot assistant known as Sal.
The Heart of Darkness had been sold to the Kraang who had used it to destroy the homeworld of the Triceraton. So, the surviving Triceratons decided to pull a reverse Uno Card on the Kraang by using the same technology.
And the plan turned out to be successful as Earth was destroyed since it hosted the Kraang. But the Ninja Turtles and Fugitoid traveled back in time to undo the doomsday. Ultimately, Fugitoid destroyed the Heart of Darkness and the Triceraton flagship to prevent the apocalypse.
IDW
IDW publishing has their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series. Their issues have explored Krang’s species as an alien race called Utrom in Utrominon. Here, the Triceratons are not a separate race that existed. They were created by the brilliant Utroms who had abducted the triceratops from the prehistoric past and conducted experiments that genetically manipulated the dinosaurs. They were created to serve the Utroms as their soldiers and even workers but they were thoroughly oppressed.
The Triceratons were treated terribly. The first herd of the population served Krang’s father, Emperor Quanin. Most of them were slaughtered as they fought for the Utroms, barring one. Another batch was created via further cloning who were to become soldiers as well. Meanwhile, the sole survivor from the first herd, Zog, was to act as their General. But when the second herd matured, their Commander learned more about General Zog and joined hands to trigger the rebellion against the Utroms.
The rebellion was successful but the Triceratons now needed a homeland. King Zenter from Neutrinos on Dimension X had the Triceratons’ support and proclaimed that they should go back to the planet they came from, that is Earth. But he miscalculated as he assumed that the present-day Earth would be a habitable place for the Triceratons. And that could not be further from the truth.
When they landed on Earth, they tried to establish armed but peaceful contact with the humans. But the humans did not wish for the Triceratons to integrate into their society so they were branded as a threat and subsequently attacked.
The Triceratons later tried to invade New York City but then they were given a habitat in Burnow Island, a fictional island in the IDW Continuity which was located somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
What Makes Him And His Kind Challenging Opponents?
Despite the differences here are there across the separate Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continuity, one thing remains static – the fact that the Triceratons are formidable and super strong.
Zorax and the other Triceratons are genetically dinosaurs, that too the triceratops. That automatically is responsible for making them naturally endowed with super strength and durability. In fact, weapons cannot cause any harm to them.
Even the super-skilled Ninja Turtles were no match for the mighty Zorax and his henchmen. The only reason the Triceratons lost against the Turtles in the 1987 series was because Donatello outsmarted them, which caused Captain Zorax to order his forces to retreat.
They also had sharp weapons implanted on the upper side of their wrists and palms with which Zorax was able to break the Turtles’ swords.
Their technology was pretty advanced as well, having constantly gone against the Federation. They used energy blasters on the regular and their vehicles could defy gravity.
Other Appearances
Apart from appearing in the animated series, Captain Zorax also got his moment in the video game known as Shredder’s Revenge.
The video game’s 11th episode known as ‘Dinosaur Stampede!’, introduces the Triceratons into the game and features Captain Zorax as its final boss. It takes place in the Natural History Museum.
Unlike the primary antagonists, Shredder and Krang who have taken the L against the Ninja Turtles time and again, Captain Zorax or the Triceratops have asserted their position as more competent villains. Simply because the heroes have had to opt for more creative tricks and even time travel for their victory over these menacing dinosaur aliens.
And with that, today’s video comes to an end. What did you think of Captain Zorax and the Triceratons? Did you enjoy this video? If yes, then don’t forget to like and comment on this video. Till then, goodbye. And have a nice one!