Ninjago Season 1 Review

[Master Inika]

In episode 5, “Can of Worms”, when one of the ninja asks, “How come you don’t teach us how to tell if a man is lying by the twitch of his nose?” a beautiful opportunity is missed when Sensei Wu does not reply, “Because we don’t have noses.”

The revelation that Zane is a robot comes earlier than I expected it would (episode 7, “Tick Tock”, which does explain the episode’s name). In the same episode, Sensei Wu announces that the ninja’s training is complete and leaves them to go on his own side mission. It is a serious and beautiful scene, both well-earned by the ninja and bittersweet for losing him as a friend and mentor. Like Zane’s robot revelation, the end of their time as students also came earlier than I expected, and I felt a wave of sadness watching it.

Zane’s memory of his father is legitimately sad and moving, too.

So far, I think “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” is my favorite episode in the series. It’s attained a surprising amount of narrative complexity: the ninja vs the Serpentine, Wu and Garmadon and Jay and Nya’s date. Speaking of which: Jay and Nya are adorable, and I love how their relationship went from a joke to his true potential. And despite all the lighthearted and victorious scenes, it is another tactical failure for the ninja: the Serpentine obtain the first Fangblade, succeeding in their goal and incurring no real losses on their end.

Kai is so cringey in “The Green Ninja,” but in a believable way. Were I not aware of future Ninjago, I would have thought Nya was the Green Ninja. There was a time in children’s media when the girl being the Chosen One would have been a subversion indeed.

Kai being the only one to suspect Garmadon in this episode is similar to Lloyd being the only one to suspect him in the movie. Honestly, while Kai does act entitled and insufferable, he is right to be suspicious. Wu telling Garmadon to go get the weapons, alone, is an incomprehensible choice on his part. They all know he is not truly reformed. Best case scenario, it is a temporary truce to get Lloyd back. I would have liked more time being spent showing Garmadon earning the others’ trust.

Further, in the episode when Lloyd is taken by the Serpentine, Kai was the last ninja with him. While it is not mentioned again, I wonder if that is part of why Kai is so obsessed with proving himself.

In the temple, it’s funny how perfectly the rocks fall to block the exit as someone leaves. While the animation is better than in the pilot episodes, there’s still much left to be desired with the environments. Everything looks like plastic, but only the characters look like LEGO plastic, everything else looks like plastic trees or rocks. I never thought I’d say this, but TLR and HF were better animated.

Kai choosing saving Lloyd over the Fangblade isn’t the cutting dilemma it’s made out to be. It’s established many times that the ninja don’t actually desire any of the Fangblades, they just want to stop the Serpentine from getting them. Destroying one would be the same. Now, I’m fairly confident they’ll just have the Fangblade be lavaproof and the Serpentine will get it later, but the implication is clearly that it’s being destroyed. At least one line of dialogue earlier, establishing that the blades can never be destroyed, would have gone a long way to make Kai’s dilemma more understandable.

Witnessing Kai’s true potential is a cathartic and well-done moment. As it Lloyd’s revelation as the Green Ninja.

“Rise of the Great Devourer” is so good at building up a sense of dread. It’s comparable to knowing Order 66 is coming in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. You know Pythor’s aboard, so you want to scream at the TV for the ninja to stop talking and just throw the Fangblades overboard.

The explanation that the Fangblades are made from the Great Devourer’s own teeth and are therefore impervious to almost any heat level is a good one. I just wish it was established earlier.

I have a very weird investment in Skales’ character development. I don’t know, I just felt happy for him when he commandeered the Ninjago tour bus and impressed Pythor. Maybe it’s because Ninjago is so soft and kid-friendly, in terms of its villains, that I don’t hate them the way I hate Makuta or the Shadowed One. Part of me wishes Ninjago took itself more seriously (I cringed when Pythor said “So long, suckers!”) but at the same time Hero Factory takes itself more seriously, and the result was just forgettable. Only BIONICLE could play itself dark and brooding properly. It’s good Ninjago sticks to what it does best.

I like that the Serpentine don’t kick the bus driver off, they keep him and make him drive the bus. It’s just funny. Why?

I’ve been pretty critical of the animation this for. I just don’t think it looks very LEGO. The desert chase battle changed that. The ninja’s and snakes’ vehicles in this whole sequence are both awesome. It was the first time since watching the show I seriously considering going on BrickLink trying to get some.

The Serpentine eventually do make the driver leave! Then Pythor just drives it himself, with his single snake tail. That’s pretty funny.

They actually went for silent credits. Bold movie.

Final Thoughts: Season 1 was definitely an improvement over the pilot, and I am excited to get to Season 2 and see what Garmadon's up to with the weapons. At age 15 when Ninjago was first released, I wasn't exactly in its target demographic, and I was still to sour over BIONICLE's cancelation to be open to a new LEGO theme. (What I ended up getting seriously into circa 2011 was My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, of all things.) Ultimately, the characters are fun, the action scenes at the very end are gripping, and the show is very funny and wholesome, which I would say is Ninjago's greatest strength. Excited for Season 2.

[Valendale]

Yeah, it was a big improvement over the pilot. It's been a long time since I've seen any of these, but I remember "Once Bitten, Quite Shy" being quite heavily criticized, so I'm a bit surprised you chose that as your favorite.

[Master Inika]

On 9/1/2023 at 9:34 PM, Valendale said:

Yeah, it was a big improvement over the pilot. It's been a long time since I've seen any of these, but I remember "Once Bitten, Quite Shy" being quite heavily criticized, so I'm a bit surprised you chose that as your favorite.

Interesting, I found it funny and memorable. The key, at least for me, is to just take Ninjago for what it is. Early on, I was comparing it to BIONICLE, which really was a mistake. Ninjago's strength is humor and heart, not necessarily big epic plotlines.