Ninjago TV Series Review "Season 1" (i.e. Pilot Season)

[fishers64]

I'm just going to call this one season 1, and the Serpentine one season 2, and so on to avoid confusion. And I'll see how well this works: feedback on my reviewing style is welcome, since I'm dealing with comedy here.

 

Episode 1: Way of the Ninja

 

We open with Kai and Nya. Kai is super-determined to become a good blacksmith. It’s evident that Kai’s father is dead, perhaps a recent passing, but not too recent.  Some other things suggest that Nya might have had more training in actual blacksmithing, and that Kai is trying not to be outdone by his sister in anything. It’s possible that Nya and Kai still have weapons their father made that they’re selling.

 

This especially shows when Sensei Wu shows up. His comment about “the fire that burns inside” obviously refers to Kai’s out-of-control emotions. Wu also wears a hat similar to the agricultural laborers in the scene, which could indicate that he actually did this sort of work for a while to avoid calling attention to himself.  

 

There’s got to be brilliant engineer in the Underworld somewhere to make those cool-looking vehicles. Those boneheads didn’t make them (given their level of intelligence), and somehow I don’t think Garmadon is big on mechanics. Garmadon Engineering Inc.

 

Also, why did Garmadon want Nya? Later we learn that Garmadon was turned evil by snakebite; he doesn’t want to be evil. In some cases, I think he wants the ninja to defeat him so he isn’t quite so evil. But mostly, it has to do with an evil motive of wanting to lure the ninjas (particularly Kai), into a trap, using Kai’s greatest weakness.  If he really wanted to win though, sincerely, I think he would have kidnapped Kai – with the ninja weakened by a third, the Green Ninja would have been less well-trained and Garmadon probably would have won.

 

Anyway…

 

Why try to take the weapons? If they’re well-guarded by the dragons, why go to the trouble of training ninja, if the weapons’ safety is number one? Are the skeletons such a threat that you need ninja with Golden Weapons? I suspect Wu has some “future-seeing” method that would predict a greater threat than the skeletons that would necessitate training ninja.  (We do see the sacred fire later, but the Serpentine seem to take Wu by surprise. I suppose that this is not the case.)

 

Episode 2: The Golden Weapon

 

Dude, that dragon must have some muscular control in the jawbone area.  Either that or its muscles were frozen somehow – it is possible to do that.

 

More evidence for the “Garmadon wants the ninja to win” theory, although it can be, again, interpreted to mean G’s plan to exit the underworld. (Which is probably what the writers wanted us to think. )

 

Episode 3: King of Shadows

 

Okay, this boat appears once in this episode and is never seen again…

 

However, perhaps it turns into the Bounty by the middle of Season 2. It’s also possible that Zane is related to the secret society of engineers in Ninjago that builds stuff like this. Hence the boat’s association with him. (Zane and boats seem to go hand in hand anyway... )

 

It's also possible that the boat was destroyed during the events of "Home" although it isn't shown. Or maybe Sensei just borrowed it from one of Zane's friends. Who knows.)

 

Also, we have the frozen dragon thing going on again. Someone must be freezing these dragon’s muscles. Although, in this case, it could be due to real ice. 

 

* * *

As usual, the challenges to obtain the golden weapons reflect the nature of each ninja, as these things tend to do. Cole’s weapon required strength to obtain, and following orders was a part of it, and since Cole is the strong guy, and the leader, it makes sense.  Zane’s required his inventiveness, more of the split-second type, whereas Jay’s used his invention. Kai’s required an intensely emotional gambit, which his character has already been established as having that problem.

 

* * *

I don’t buy that three ninja going through trees can catch up to high-speed moving vehicles. This is sort of funny on the fact that the chief skeleton can’t get his car to move fast enough to keep up with them, so it’s slightly redeemable, I guess. It’s also possible that all ninja have a super-speed power which is sort of consistent with later stuff, and would save this scene, so I’ll go with that. 

 

And what happened to Gamedon’s cool shadow power, which might have helped him later too? Oh well. I guess the shadow-face intimidation thing only works from the underworld.

 

Episode 4: Weapons of Destiny

 

It’s really unclear where this portal transports Garmadon to, exactly. Considering that Sensei Wu has to really get him out of the underworld  later.

 

Mini Movies:

Secrets of the Blacksmith: If you watch this video in detail, you can notice some of the items that Nya uses to build the Samurai armor/suit thing later. (It’s also sort of implied that Nya is one of the secret engineers that keep contacting Zane.) “Just getting some Samurai helmets and stuff.”

 

Also, rice paddies.  Really?

 

The New Masters of Spinijitzu: Jay loves his nunchucks. And Zane fell asleep mediating. Kai is a light sleeper, or a sleepwalker.

 

And those boneheads did not invent those cycles. Dur.

 

An Under Worldly Take Over: Dark Spinjitzu exists.  Also the skeletons had an ancient beef with Garmedon over something before he got sent to the Underworld, which was never explored. Also Ninjago has a thing with helmets that allow people to control armies.

 

Return to the Fire Temple: This one doesn’t make any sense. If there was an underworld exit in the Fire Temple, why didn’t Garmadon just use it?

 

Battle Between Brothers: This one’s a good episode, nothing much insightful to say about it. I recommend watching it after the reveal that Garmadon was bitten by the Great Devourer for added effect.  

 

Final Thoughts:

These early episodes of Ninjago show some of the story’s seams. Some powers/elements of these early bits seem to have been forgotten in later episodes, like the portal that was supposed to get Garmadon out of the Underworld. Also the boat. While they have some amazing moments, like the training course, there are a few logical underpinnings that are a bit loose.

[Element Lord of Milk]

Isn't it mentioned near the end of Season 3 that Zane's father was the one who designed the Skeleton's vehicles?

[northmarch]

The portal created by the golden weapons DID get Garmadon out of the underworld, into another dimension where he could increase his power. The boat was probably just a rental too.

 

Otherwise this is pretty good.

[randomreviewerbros]

Isn't it mentioned near the end of Season 3 that Zane's father was the one who designed the Skeleton's vehicles?

Yes it was, Samukai revived him to build their machinery after he had seemingly died in the vision we had of Zane's past in the episode 'Tick Tock' and expands on that scene by showing what really happened after Zane thought his 'father' died, where Samukai comes and revives him.

 

But anyway back to this, great analysis, you covered the episodes of season 1 well

[Aanchir]

A few notes:

• The LEGO Ninjago Official Guide confirms that the Skeleton Army does have an engineer, Bonezai, who designs and builds the Skulkin vehicles. It's not like the Underworld's denizens had much else to do before they started invading the world above on Garmadon's orders. Additionally, a later episode confirms that the skeleton army had assistance from an outside source in designing the vehicles.
• Taking the Golden Weapons is basically to ensure that the bad guys don't get to them first. Even with powerful dragon guardians, they are still not 100% secure. Also, you're right about Sensei Wu having had premonitions of greater threats than the Skeleton Army, as confirmed in the end of the seventh graphic novel Stone Cold.
• It's possible that Sensei Wu and the Ninja merely rented the boat, or that they simply never needed it again . It's unrelated to the Destiny's Bounty, as the origin of the Destiny's Bounty is explained in a later episode. Remember, in Home, the Ninja weren't looking for a vehicle, they were looking for a home to replace the destroyed monastery. And the sailing ship in King of Shadows was considerably smaller.
• The dragons are presumably dormant when not defending the Golden Weapons. The dragon had definitely been awake before, though, because there are Skeleton Army troops frozen by its ice breath inside the ice fortress.
• Garmadon's shadow power is indeed tied to his being in the Underworld, but on a certain level he no longer needed it once he escaped — once he could leave the Underworld, he no longer needed to achieve his victories by proxy.
• The place Sensei Wu gets Garmadon out of in Season 2 is not actually the Underworld, but "a place of darkness" that is more like another dimension.
• There are a number of entrances and exits to the Underworld, but Garmadon presumably cannot leave it physically because of the way he was sent there. It's quite possible that if he attempted to do so, he would cease to exist (in fact, the first graphic novel The Challenge of Samukai points out that this will inevitably happen to him even if he STAYS in the Underworld). He is able to survive in the "place of darkness" and build his strength because it is a place as dark as he is. The same cannot be said for the upper world of Ninjago.