Never Trust a Snake

 Another episode, and one of the most iconic ones from the first season!

Zane has a vision of the green ninja, leading him and the other ninja to be unfocused during stretches. Because of this, Wu orders them to train until they come up with the answer to his riddle of "What is the best way to defeat your enemy?".

In the meantime, the Fangpyre form an alliance with the Hypnobrai, leaving Lloyd without allies again. Spurned on by an idle comment, he searches for the Anacondrai, and frees their last remaining member, Pythor P. Chumsworth. Together, they engage in some petty crime, while Pythor is trying to steal the map to the Serpentine tombs. When the two of them have taken Lloyd's forming boarding school hostage, they get the ninja's attention, but manage to lead all but Jay into a series of traps.

When Lloyd and Pythor are cornered on the rooftop, however, Pythor steals the map and turns invisible, leaving Lloyd to be caught by the ninja.

That evening, Wu reads a story to Lloyd, and tells the ninja that the best way to defeat an enemy is to make them into a friend.

Various Observations:

-The Shurikens of Ice appear in Zane's hands during his vision, even though he wasn't holding them before. Nice foreshadowing of it being a dream. The same goes for when the green ninja is suddenly holding the Nunchucks of Lightning.

-Huh, Dream!Lloyd actually straight up kills Lord Garmadon. I feel like actual Lloyd wouldn't be so quick to drop him off a flying ship.

-Why does Zane get visions? It's something that stays a consistent part of his character, but why is he more sensitive to this stuff than the other ninja or, seemingly, even Wu?

-I like how Zane's vision gives clues that can point towards any of the ninja becoming the green ninja. It's Zane's dream, but the green ninja is as strong as Cole, uses Jay's Golden Weapon, and wields Kai's elemental power. It leads you to think that one of them is the green ninja, instead of Lloyd.

-I've noticed it in the last episode, but it's odd how Jay's hair changes colours between the set-accurate light brown, and a shade that's quite a bit darker. I wonder why that happens.

-Interesting that the ninja immediately trust Zane's vision. I suppose after "Home" they have more faith intuition.

-What is that weird bird searching for food in the frozen wasteland? It looks like a winged banana!

 

-Interesting that Fangtom and Skales are friends. I don't think we see them interact much after this, but I'd like to know more about their relationship.

-Wait, hold on, the Serpentine are now confirmed to be cold-blooded. Then why on earth are the Hypnobrai still hanging around in a frigid wasteland?

-"Heaven-forbid, the anacondrai"? I don't think the concept of heaven exists in Ninjago. The dead just go to the Departed Realm, as far as I know.

-Why does Jay immediately throw Cole under the bus when discussing which of them could be the green ninja? I'll have to see if their fight in season 3 was actually built on their interactions in the first two seasons.

-Continuing the trend of the Serpentine's tombs having atrocious security, you literally just have to push open a door to free the Anacondrai. I guess it's at least better than the other two we've seen, since nobody can accidentally push a door open, but still.

-Pythor ate all the other Anacondrai. I already knew that, but it's still surprisingly dark for a kid's show, right? This guy is canonically a cannibal!

-Speaking of Pythor, it looks like he's wearing jewelry compatible with Chi Crystals. We know that Chima, or rather the Wyldness, is another of the sixteen realms, so this has some intriguing implications.

-So ... why did Misako put Lloyd into school designed to make children into "one of tomorrow's masterminds", as Lloyd quotes? What was the thought process there? If you think about it, you can blame the Serpentine being unleashed on her! Would be fun if Harumi figured it out. We never had a villain with a personal grudge against Misako, only against Wu and each of the ninja.

-Ah, the first reappearance of Kruncha and Nuckal. I wonder who hired them to teach, they're ... not the most competent, is all I'm saying.

-Wait, Cole performs maintenance on the Tread Assault? He literally creates it from scratch whenever he summons it with the Scythe of Quakes, what's the point of maintenance?

-Speaking of Cole, he apparently becomes unable to fight as soon as he breathes in a bit of dust. Sheesh, at least Kai and Zane were properly immobilized.

-Sheesh, Jay really hates this school, doesn't he? First, he had to be convinced by Cole to save them, and then he crashed the bounty's anchor through the building. That could have killed someone!

-Alright, is it just me, or is this episode's moral weirdly contradictory? The best way to defeat your enemy, is to make them your friend. That's fine, I have no problem with that. It worked with Lloyd, Garmadon, Pixal, Skylor, briefly Pythor, Ronin, Morro, Yang, Flintlocke, Dogshank, Unagami and Harumi. But then why the, weirdly pro-racism, lesson of "Never trust a snake?". I get why Wu wouldn't trust one, given everything that happened with Aspheera, but Skales' and Fangtom's friendship alone shows us, that the Serpentine can be just as loyal as humans. Frak, the elemental master of quakes, is also a Serpentine, and he doesn't really seem all that treacherous. I don't know, I just get some bad vibes from this lesson.

Snakebit

 The third episode of this season, and it's focused on Jay. I like that the writers are using the first couple of episodes to properly introduce the other ninja, since the pilots were a bit lacking in that regard.

Also, this is one of the two episodes I never rewatched as a kid, due to being scared of the scene at night, where the Fangpyres atatck.

But let's go about this in chronological order, shall we? The episode opens with the ninja cleaning up their new base, when Jay's parents arrive. They mention that they live on a junkyard, First Doctor-style, and generally follow the stereotype of the embarassing parents. 

When they return to the junkyard, it is night already, and they are attacked by the Fangpyre, another tribe of Serpentine that Lloyd freed at the beginning of the episode. These snakes turn random pieces of junk into snake-junk with their venomous bite, and even bite Ed and Edna.

The next day, the ninja head for the junkyard, but without their dragons, as they have flown off to the Spirit Coves to shed their scales and mature.

Having arrived at the junkyard, the ninja fight the Serpentine, but when Fangtom and Lloyd escape on a snake helicopter, they have no way to pursue them and get the antivenom in the staff. To help them, Wu explains that the Golden Weapons can be turned into vehicles, allowing Jay to summon a jet, which he uses to steal the staff.

Pursued by the Fangpyre, the ninja make it to the Destiny's Bounty, where Nya gives the antivenom to Ed and Edna, and Jay activates the Bounty's flight mode, allowing it to take off and escape the pursuing snakes. The sudden take-off does, however, caus eNya to lose the staff, which falls down and lands with the Serpentine.

Various Observations:

-How have I never noticed how Kai sleeps?  That looks really funny, props to whoever had the idea to put that in the background.

-More talk about the ninja having to reach their full potential. By this point I'm half convinced that this actually was foreshadowing for their True Potential, but the writers decided to change the term later this season.

-Now for some more Spinjitzu weirdness: Apparently regular Spinjitzu can also absorb objects, like the Tornado of Creation. It just can't create something new from them.

-Also, who's going to a garage sale in the middle of the desert? How would people even find it?

-Apparently the Bounty had a generator and electric lighting. I was under the impression that such things didn't exist in Captain Soto's time.

-I also have to wonder where Wu went while the ninja were repairing the Bounty. With Nya, I'd imagine she was working on building her Samurai X gear, plus we know she has a base in the desert later on, so maybe she was looking for a good place to build it. Wu, however? Where'd he go?

-The big screen is also shown in this episode, and now I have to wonder if it was also a relic of Captain Soto's days. 

-The bounty has a periskope. Huh. That ... literally never comes up again, right? Why does it have a periskope? It's a ship! If it's underwater, you've already messed up!

-We also learn that Jay was the one who modified the Destiny's Bounty so it could fly. I always remember Nya working on it as well, but I guess I must have been mixing it up with the Bounty's repair in season 4.

-Jay's theme of trying to be someone he's not is introduced here, with him being ashamed of, as far as he knows, being born on a junkyard, and not wanting his friends to know.

-Why does Wu pick on Jay? Last episode he started a food fight, true, but it felt like he was, in some way, defending Zane. Maybe that comment would have been better if Kai said it. I could see him making a joke about that.

-The tomb of the Fangpyre has great ambience, I love it ... But why was it built under a graveyard? The other tombs are in desolate, out-of-the-way sorts of places. Why not this one?

-Also, it apparently opens if you press a stone into floor. So stepping on what looks like a random stone is enough to unleash the Fangpyre. Really not impressed with the security of these tombs. Eh, at least Lloyd is absolutely adorable.

-Interesting that the Fangpyre hate the Hypnobrai. Serpentine racism is a concept I never thought about, but it would make sense, particularly since the tribes have been locked away with only their own kind as company.

-I love the detail of the tire marks on the ground of the junkyard showing Ed's lacking driving skills (and the wonky brakes). It's a nice touch.

-So ... Ed was building a mech for Jay. That's honestly sweet. And makes it kind of hilarious that Nya, Lloyd, Kai and Cole all got a mech before him.

-Wait, Ed was walking towards the trailer, and yet he missed the bright red snake-man standing atop it? Wow, he really needs glasses. I get that it was dark, but still.

-By the way, I love the look (looks?) Fangtom gives Lloyd when he does his evil laugh. This episode generally has a lot of fun background details.

-Fangtom refers to his tribes as "boys". Are all Fangpyre male? Granted, they may be using the term in a gender-neutral way. If so how does gender even work, if one Fangpyre can have two brains? Could they both have different genders? If Fangpyre are male-only, however, then what does that mean for those turned into Serpentine by their bite? Does their bite give you free gender reassignement surgery?

-Inanimate objects are turned into Serpentine almost immediately, whereas humans take much longer. Is it because they have a much more complex body? There's some interesting stuff you could explore.

-Cole mentions his mother, but both the last episode, and the one with his True Potential firmly establish that only his father is around anymore. Not neccesarily an oversight, he wasn't actually taking to her, but still interesting.

-There are some ruins near the Bounty. Odd, once you consider that the desert has to have been an ocean once upon a time, given the presence of the Bounty. Maybe there was a Merlopian settlement here?

-Why did Edna's coat change color? It looks like it was stained green. Is it turning into a Serpentine too?

-Once again, Nya is shown to be just as capable as the ninja. I love it!

-Oh my god, Lloyd has a snake radio! I want one! Why couldn't this be the ninja's pet starting from season 11, rather than a random chicken?

-And by now all of Ed and Edna's clothes are green ... including the stains on Ed's clothes. Looks like they're turning into ... snake oil! Now that I think about it, I suppose it would be pretty awkward if your underwear suddenly came to life, no? That aside, why does everything turned into a snake by the Fangpyre become green? Those are Venomari colors, why not red and white? Common ancestry, maybe? But if anything, the Fangpyre should be more closely related to the Constrictai, as their powers both have physical effects, while the Venomari and Hypnobrai work in a mental way. I hope this is the sort of stuff people in Ninjago study.

-Once again, Jay is the first to learn a new technique; in this case the ability to create a vehicle with a Golden Weapon. The way things are phrased, it sounds like the vehicle depends on the wielder, not the weapon, so I'd be pretty interested to see, say, Jay use the Scythe of Quakes instead to create an earth-powered jet. Also, is it just me, or does it briefly look like Jay is about to achieve Airjitzu?

-Alright, Wu wishing his flute could turn into a vehicle made me laugh. That's really funny.

-With their new vehicles, Kai, Cole and Zane are now established as knowing how to drive. Jay still struggles with his jet, which makes sense, because not many people know how to steer one.

-So, the Rattlercopter apparently doesn't need a pilot, since it's sentient. In which case, why do Fangtom and Lloyd have to ride this precarious platform without guard rails, instead of being safely seated in the cockpit?

-Apparently, the elemental vehicles disappear as soon as one loses focus, in which case, aren't they basically just the same as the Elemental Dragons later on? I suppose it would make sense that there is some relation, with the vehicles simply being easier to summon, as the Golden Weapons help with creating something.

-Continuing the trend of Nya being the most competent team mate, she is the one to save Jay after he falls down, even if the fall logically would still have killed him. Also, she canonically knows how to drive as well.

-So the antivenom immediately makes Ed and Edna return back to normal. Would it also have worked if someone was fully transformed?

-The button that makes the bounty fly has the Fangpyre symbol on it. Was that intentional? It doesn't feel correct.

-I've always felt that the way the ninja lose the Fangpyre staff was really anticlimactic. Nya just loses her grip on it? Then again, I suppose that this is a consequence of Jay trying to act cool, and not explaining what the button does, leading to Nya not bracing herself for take-off. Yeah, actually, this works pretty well if you read it as being the result of Jay's main character flaw. No clue if it's intentional, though.

-For your regular check-up on the mystery of the green ninja, there is another, rather subtle, hint in this episode, as the snake's mech is, of course, colored green. Once you take into account that it represents Jay, it seems like it would be a hidden piece of foreshadowing. I like that there are clues pointing towards all the ninja, it keeps things interesting, and distracts from the obvious clue pointing at Lloyd.

Home

 Time for the second episode ... and it's focused on Zane! My favorite ninja! 

I think I'll shorten the general summaries from here on out. The episodes are only twenty minutes long, anyways. If you need a quick refresher on what happens, you can just go ahead and watch it.

Basically, we get some scenes of Zane not really getting how people normally interact with each other, before he befriends a falcon that leads him to a fortress the Hypnobrai are building for Lloyd. The ninja try to destroy it, but Skales uses Cole to try and stop them. Luckily, Wu has a flute that can counter the effects of the Serpentines' powers.

Unluckily, however, the Hypnobrai have burned down the monastary and retaken their staff while the ninja were away. They briefly lash out at Zane in anger, but Wu chastises them. When Zane returns after having followed the falcon again, he leads them to a shipwreck in a desert, which they can use as a new home.

At their tomb, Skales challenges Slithraa to a battle over the right to lead the Hypnobrai and wins, banishing Lloyd. Said boy did, however, manage to steal a map leading to the tombs the other tribes are imprisoned in.

 Various Observations:

-Whoa! Zane's Spinjitzu freezes everything around him? I guess maybe it's because of the Shurikens of Ice, because this seems wildly inconsistent with the way Spinjitzu normally works.

 

-Not going to lie, Lloyd's treehouse looks awesome, and I want it as a Lego set. Just look at it!

 

-The postman appears for the first time! Neat.

-Kai gets a fan letter. I guess it would make sense for the ninja to be somewhat well known after saving Jamanakai village, but why would Kai be the one to get fanmail? Nya did all the important stuff last episode!

-Oh, also, Cole's father and Jay's parents also sent letters. Neat foreshadowing there.

-Nya thinks that Zane looks cute in a pink apron. She really feels like the cool older sister of the team so far. I like it. Given that this was from a children's cartoon in 2011 that was marketed towards boys, she feels surprisingly equal to the ninja, maybe even a bit more effective, as seen in the last episode.

-Kai wants to destroy Lloyd's treehouse "before it becomes operational". What does that even mean? It's a treehouse! What sort of function does Kai expect it to have?

-Latin writing? In Ninjago? That ... doesn't seem right.

 

-Spinjitzu can apparently cut through ropes, which is odd. It's a tornado of elemental energy, you wouldn't expect it to be sharp. What is it with this episode, and Spinjitzu behaving oddly? Also, Zane and Cole have bladed weapons, they could just use those to cut the ropes.

-Did ... they just use a Wilhelm scream when that Hypnobrai fell down? Wow. That's honestly hilarious.

-Why does Cole suddenly gain an accent upon being hypnotized? What's up with that? As the fight progresses, he just switches to grunting, instead of actually speaking. This all feels rather odd, and unintentionally funny.

-Did the Scythe of Quakes get nerfed? When a hypnotized Cole uses it, he shows no signs of restraint, and yet it unleashes no great disaster like in the pilot, or like the Sword of Fire did in the last episode.

-Wait, hold on. How did the entire Hypnobrai tribe, who were on foot, mind you, reach the monastary, find their staff, set fire to the place and leave all before Wu and Nya returned with the ninja on Kai's dragon?  

-So the leader of the Hypnobrai is decided through combat.I would have expected something to do with who has a stronger will, given the hypnosis. This seems like it would be better suited to the Constrictai.

-Why does a random frozen skeleton in the Hypnobrai tomb hold the map to the other tombs? Who put it there? The same genius that came up with the closing mechanism for the tomb's gate?

 

-It's interesting that Skales' transformation is accompanied by the particle effects usually associated with the Golden Weapons. Maybe the staffs of the Serpentine generals were also forged from the gold of the Golden Peaks? That would be some interesting lore.

 

-Skales just commands Lloyd to leave and never return? That's ... surprisingly lenient. Slithraa tried to hypnotize Lloyd on their first encounter, and he didn't have a personal vendetta against the boy.

-Hoo boy, the first glimpse of the Bounty ... Pure goosebumps.

 

-It's so cheesy, but when Zane calls the ninja his family at the end of the episode, I still get emotional. 

-Further green ninja foreshadowing. Zane asks if he will be the green ninja after Wu says that there's more about him than meets the eye. Wu says that it's too early to tell true, but that's not a no.

Rise of the Snakes

 Let's start off the show itself with ... an episode with the same name as the season? Yeah, that's not confusing at all.

So, a timeskip has obviously ocurred, as the ninja, now living at the monastary, have grown complacent since the pilot, believing that they have already mastered their abilities, and are now playing videogames and eating pizza. Wu interrupts them, and tells them that they are still far from reaching their full potential, and not to put off for tomorrow what can be done today. Just then, Nya burst in to inform them that Lord Garmadon has apparently been sighted in Jamanakai Village, causing the ninja to rush off.

 At the village, it turns out that the person causing trouble was actually Lloyd Garmadon, Lord Garmadon's son. He is trying to get candy and generally be intimidating, but utterly fails to get taken seriously by anyone, including the ninja. As an empty threat, he mentions the Serpentine, a race of snake people consisting of five warring tribes which, according to legends, used to rule Ninjago before being sealed away.

On their way back, the ninja find that Kai had accidentally taken Sensei Wu's bag, and that it contained an ancient scroll speaking of a prophecy that one ninja would rise above the others and become the green ninja. Each ninja believes that they're destined to be the legendary green ninja, sparking a conflict between them.

To settle the matter, they decide to battle it out at the monastary, but during his battle against Cole, Kai accidentally sets the courtyard on fire, leading Wu to find out that they learned about the prophecy, despite his attempt to keep it from them.

In the meanwhile, Lloyd is wandering through some snowy wilderness, when he inadvertadly opens the icy tomb the Hypnobrai tribe of Serpentine had been locked away in. Their general, Slithraa, attempts to hypnotizes him, but accidentally gazes into his own reflection in a piece of ice and gets hypnotized himself, allowing Lloyd to command the Serpentine.

A bit later, the ninja learn that Jamanakai Village is under attack. When they arrive, they find that the villagers have been hypnotized, but Nya tells them that the staf carried by Slithraa contains an antidote. After some battling, Cole and Nya claim the staff and cure the village, but not before Cole was briefly hypnotized by a Hypnobrai named Skales.

As the episode closes out, we see that Cole still hasn't quite snapped out of his hypnosis.

Various Ovservations:

 -The Weekend Whip! I love this intro, as well as all the other music the guys at The Fold have made for Ninjago.

-Did you know that the videogame the ninja play at the start of the episode actually exists? It was released for the Nintendo DS, so I never had it, but that's a neat tie-in.

 

-It strikes me as a touch odd that Wu states the ninja have yet to reach their full potential. Wouldn't this have been the ideal point to foreshadow their True Potential? You would just need to change a single word!

-Jamanakai Village looks really pretty. It's a shame it wasn't revisited after the movie.

 

-Hold up a second ... Kai believes the Serpentine are just a legend? And everyone else also treats as though there's a real chance they might not exist? There was a big war against them literally just one generation earlier! Nobody remembers that? Even if we assume that elemental masters live longer, and that it can thus have been a longer time, that doesn't work out, as Chen and Clouse were already around back then, and are still alive later on in season 4!

-The mistery of who could be the green ninja was something that I still remember being something everyone watching the series was trying to figure out. I always believed that it was Kai, as he was the protagonist, and even has his whole "Could I be the green ninja?", scene here, plus some stuff later in the season. The thing is, in hindsight I think the show was actually pretty obvious about that being a red herring. Instead, it seems as though Zane is the one being set up to be revealed as the green ninja. When we first see the scroll of the prophecy, he is the only one not seen, until the camera pans down far enough, which would seem like some nice foreshadowing, and there will be some more hints towards this later on.

-The funny thing is, the actual foreshadowing is so blatant that you actually miss it. You see, Lloyd has a green five on his shirt, and he will later be the fifth ninja.

-While we're on the topic of Lloyd, why is he just walking through a frozen wasteland? How on earth did he even get there?

-The ninja already seem quite adept at controlling the Golden Weapons in this episode, being able to use them with the same precision as Wu did in the pilots ... untile Kai loses control of the Sword of Fire, that is.

-Wu can receive visions thanks to some "Spirit Smoke". This would sure have been useful later on, wouldn't it? It would certainly make it easier not to get blindsided by, say, your nephew being possessed, or by the reappearance of the Overlord in digital form.

-Why do the generals of the Serpentine tribes carry their antivenom with them? Can't they take it out of their staffs? It all seems rather careless, no? Maybe it was a tradition from when they lived in peace with humans, so that they could treat humans if an accident happened?

-Also, all that was required to free the Hypnobrai was to pull a random lever that wasn't marked in any way? Who in the world designed this? Maybe they were also under the influence of "Spirit Smoke".

-Isn't it kind of cruel to imprison snakes in an icy cavern? They're cold-blooded creatures, and therefore need warmth more urgently than us warm-blooded folks. It's a miracle any Hypnobrai are still alive!

-When Nya laments that she doesn't have a dragon, Wu just says that her time will come. So ... does he know that she inherited the elemental power of water yet? If so, why did he never tell her? There could be a fifth ninja around right now, if he could be bothered to train her!

Masters of Spinjitzu

Retrospective:

The two (or four, depending on how you count them) pilot episodes were initially intended to promote the sets and start the theme off with a bang, but soon bloomed into the beginning of what was intended to be a two season TV show. When it comes to making the sets look cool, it certainly did it's job, even if it's a touch odd that the skeletons are never seen using Spinjitzu, when the Spinner sets regularly depicted them doing so. Lore wise, it makes sense that they wouldn't be capable of Spinjitzu, as Garmadon would have no reason to train random footsoldiers like Krazi or Chopov, but it seems a bit strange from a marketing standpoint.

When it comes to setting up a show, the pilot leaves a bit to be desired, however. Sure, you have the ninja come together, and Garmadon's escape creates a conflict to be resolved in the first season, but Zane and Cole are seriously lacking in characterization. Jay, at least, has quite a bit of focus in the second half of the pilot. Still, that leaves two ninja whose characterization boils down to "otherworldly" and "responsible, but afraid of dragons". Luckily, season 1 largely fixes this.

Another problem, however, is that the skeletons just don't seem menacing at all. Even when the ninja are outnumbered ten to one, it's only the spiders that make them worry. Sure, Samukai is intimidating, but he's the big bad boss. His army is just a bunch of comically inept buffoons.

Something I do like, however, is that the setting of Ninjago itself is established pretty well, without someone having to turn to the camera and hold us by the hand. We are shown that the rice farmers are open and welcoming, not even suspecting the literal army of skeletons of being up to no-good, and that their culture seems to be similar to Edo Japan, as ninja and samurai exist, but are nowhere near as common as in the time of the previous generation. Despite this, the attire of the side characters, and the city seen in Jay's flashback, suggest that the level of technology and some bits of Ninjago's culture, are up to modern standards.

The plot of the pilot follows a pretty barebones "collect the macguffins before the evil lord does so" story, just with ninja instead of knights, but the friendly dragons, as well as the bad guy winning are pretty neat twists on the formula.

As a final rating, it would give the pilots a 7/10. There are some issues with the characters, but by and large it is perfectly serviceable, and is still really pretty. Go and give it a watch, or maybe rewatch it, if you've already watched it at some point.

Suits:

For the majority of the special, the ninja wear their training robes.

As you can see, these suits are a simple gi in each ninja's color, with a golden emblem of their element attached via a set of ropes. There's nothing special about these suits, as they are just ninja robes in bright colors ... and I love it! These suits are the basic outfit they got after finishing their training, there shouldn't be anything special about them. Unlike most other suits, these ones could actually be used to blend into backgrounds of the same color. An easy 10/10 from me.

 

After coming to an understanding with the dragons guarding the Golden Weapons, the ninja switch to their DX (Dragon eXtreme) robes.

These weapons are dyed in each ninja's primary color, and feature a golden depiction of the respective dragon using their elemental power. On each ninja's back, the insignia from their training suit as well as their name can be found. They work great as an upgrade to the training robes, but I do miss the detailing that shows these are robes and not just Lego bricks with arms attacked. Aside from the belt, the DX robes are sadly just a solid color. Furthermore, it was never explained why the ninja switched robes before heading to the underworld. As such, I can't give this more than a 7/10, like the season. Great concept, but lacking execution.

All in all, the Pilots get a pretty good overall score of 8/10. That's nothing to be ashamed of, if you ask me.

King of Shadows

 The second half of the pilot begins!

The episode opens with the ninja and Wu sailing along a river in an icy wasteland, looking for the next Golden Weapon. During this boat ride, Wu tells the ninja that the greatest spinjitzu technique, the Tornado of Creation, can only be achieved by combining the four elements.

Soon enough, the ninja reach the Shurikens of Ice, and after escaping the dragon guarding them, they move onto the Nunchucks of Lightning, hidden atop a floating island. When their draconic guardian appears, the ninja flee using a set of gliders Jay built.

On their way to the last Golden Weapon, the Sword of Fire in the Temple of Fire, the ninja rest in a forest, but Kai is lured away by an illusion of Nya. At the temple, Garmadon reveals himself to have been behind the illusion, and forces Kai to retrieve the Sword of Fire to save Nya. By making Kai's shadow come alive, Garmadon tries to claim the Sword of Fire, but Wu appears and fends him off. Just then, the dragon that had been guarding the sword appears, causing the entrance to the temple to collapse. In order to keep the sword safe, Wu lets the drifting lava in the temple carry him and the Sword of Fire into the Underworld.

At the same time, the other three ninja are ambushed by Samukai and his army, who take the three Golden Weapons they had recovered. Before the ninja can get them back, the skeletons escape into the Underworld using their vehicles. Heading to the Temple of Fire, Jay, Cole and Zane try to look for Kai and Wu, and find that Kai has befriended the dragon guarding the Sword of Fire.

 Kai informs the other ninja that the dragons can travel between realms, as they're not from Ninjago in the first place. Alongside the dragons that had been guarding the other three weapons, the ninja venture into the Underworld, where they are soon surrounded by skeletons and gigantic spiders. Luckily, Jay remembers the Tornado of Creation, and together the ninja manage to achieve this technique by combining their spinjitzu, defeating their enemies.

Soon, they came upon Wu, who was fighting Samukai deep in Garmadon's fortress. Even Sensei Wu, however, cannot defeat someone wielding three of the Golden Weapons, and has the Sword of Fire taken by Samukai, who attempts to betray Garmadon and take the weapons for himself. As soon as he picks up the Sword of Fire, however, Samukai begins to disappear, as no being can handle the might of all four Golden Weapons.

With the weapons brought together, a portal opens, leading out of the Underworld, just as Garmadon had intended. Through this gateway, he escapes his banishment, proclaiming that he will destroy the balance of good and evil, but Wu states that the ninja are enough to restore the balance again.

Various Observations:

-Cole plays bongo! This is never brought up again, and I love how random it is. Given that in season 1 we learn that his father is in a band and expected Cole to follow in his footsteps, maybe that's where Cole learned to play bongo?.

 -Once again, we see just how powerful the Golden Weapons are. Their sheer proximity freezes the sails of the ninja's ship, and touching them causes Zane, the master of ice, to freeze.

-Speaking of the ship, it seems somewhat reminiscent of the Destiny's Bounty. It even features the dragon head! Maybe the set was originally intended to represent this ship, but then they wrote an entirely new ship into season 1?

-It's interesting that Ninjago and the Underworld were specifically described as realms, not worlds like in the last episode. Come season 5, that term will mean a whole lot more to us than it does right now. It's kind of surprising how early they settled on that terminology.

-Speaking of realms, we learn of two ways to enter the Underworld without the all-purpose keys that are dragons or, later on, the Realm Crystal. The Temple of Fire holds an entrance to the Underworld at the end of a stream of lava, and vehicles that can drive fast enough automatically create a gateway.

-The Realm of Madness also gets a known entrance, as the combined power of the Golden Weapons apparently creates a portal, but only once, as the next time they are briefly combined at the end of the episode, no portal is opened. Perhaps Garmadon was able to influence them to open the portal, as he is still the son of the First Spinjitzu Master.

-Also, I really dislike Garmadon's voice. Maybe it's because I'm more used to the German dub, or maybe Mark Oliver wasn't bringing his A game here, but there were times where the mysterious and intimidating Lord Garmadon sounded like just some random dude. We'll have to see if this gets better in the following seasons.

-Garmadon also displays several powers he never uses again, namely the ability to create illusions, and to summon shadow warriors that can only be fought with one's own shadow. It's been so long since I watched the pilot, I forgot he even had these powers in the first place!

-Wu mentions that the Tornado of Creation could have horrible consequences if used incorrectly. We're never shown these consequences, so we can only guess what the consequences would be. My best guess is that the users would be overwhelmed by the power and die, like Samukai did when he held all four Golden Weapons.

-Like in the last episode, Zane is once again built up to be a more mystical character, as he senses that Wu and Kai were at the Temple of Fire, but also senses Wu's loss.

-This episode establishes that even Samukai, who is not an elemental master, can use elemental powers through the Golden Weapons. This is incredibly cool, and kind of makes me wish we had another example of this. Imagine Skales wielding the Scythe of Quakes after hypnotizing Cole, or Samurai X grabbing the Sword of Fire to help the ninja fend off their enemies. 

-Interestingly, Samukai and Wu are actually able to use the Golden Weapons without the disastrous consequences that have been established with the scythe and shurikens. With Wu, it can be explained by his expertise, but what about Samukai? Maybe as someone who is not an elemental master, the weapons are just weaker in his hands, and that's why the fortress didn't collapse when he used the scythe, and he wasn't frozen by the shurikens?

-For some odd reason, Kai did not want anyone to interfere in Wu's fight against Samukai, stating that it was Wu's battle. Why? I get that the writers wanted to show that Kai doesn't just blindly rush in anymore, but this just makes it look like he doesn't care what happens to Wu and the Golden Weapons, now that he has saved Nya.

-While Kai may be the main character of the pilots, Jay did a lot in this episode. He invented the gliders that helped them escape from the lighting dragon, freed himself, Zane and Cole when the skeletons had bound them, and he was the one to come up with the idea of using the Tornado of Creation. Also, his eventual relationship with Nya is set up here.

-I know it's not relevant, but Zane patting Jay on the back is adorable, and I want you to see it.

-It's strange to think about, but Garmadon actually won in the pilot, didn't he? He escaped the Underworld like he wanted. Sure, the ninja have been established as a team, but he didn't care about preventing that at this point.

That's it for the pilots ... or is it? You see, there is still something left to do. So join me next time, when   I shall give my thoughts on the pilots as a whole, as well as take a look at the suits the ninja used.

Way of the Ninja

 Alright, the first pilot episode!

And, wow, is it pretty! Like, this is 3d animation from 2011, for what was intended to be a one-off, it has no right to look that good!

Regarding the episode itself, the plot starts off pretty much immediately! We get a brief scene of an old man being disappointed by the impatience of Kai, a blacksmith, and after the man leaves, an army of skeletons shows up hunting for an ancient map. When they attack, Kai and his sister Nya fight them, and actually have some level of success. Then, Samukai, a four-armed skeleton and king of the underworld shows up, leading to the old man from before, now revealed to be Sensei Wu, to show up and save Kai with a technique known as spinjitzu, which involves the user turning into a whirlwind of energy.

Samukai's underlings, Kruncha and Nuckal, wind up finding the map, however, and Samukai kidnaps Nya, apparently under the orders from Lord Garmadon.

Unlike Wu, Kai does not recognize the man, and so demands to know what's going on, and who just kidnapped his sister.

This leads Wu to explain that, long ago, the First Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago using the four Golden Weapons; the Scythe of Quakes, Shuriken of Ice, Nunchucks of Lightning and Sword of Fire. After he departed, his eldest son, Garmadon, grew evil and attempted to claim the weapons, but the younger brother banished him, before hiding the weapons away, and giving the map to a close friend.

Kai realizes that Wu is the younger brother, and asks to be trained in spinjitzu so that he can save his sister. Said training takes place in a monastary on a high peak, and seems to be designed to teach Kai patience.

After this training, Kai is ambushed by three ninja while brushing his teeth, but manages to fend them off before Wu interrupts their battle, revealing the three to be his students as well. With his spinjitzu, Wu turns the clothing of all four into brightly colored gis, with the exception of one, who still wears black.

After some brief introductions where the viewer learns that Kai, the red ninja, represents fire, Jay, the blue ninja, lightning, Cole, the black ninja, earth, and lastly Zane, the white ninja, ice. Heading to the Caves of Despair, the ninja then have to attempt to retrieve the Scythe of Quakes before the skeletons do so. Despite Kai rushing off on his own, the mission goes well, with Zane even managing to reclaim the map, until they are found by Samukai and his skeletal army.

During the battle, the ninja discover their ability to use spinjitzu and cause Samukai to flee, but then a dragon that had been guarding the scythe appears. Despite Sensei Wu's earlier warning, Kai tries to use the Scythe of Quakes to defeat the dragon, but accidentally makes the cave collapse.

Luckily, they still escape, but Sensei Wu is disappointed in Kai for not acting as part of the team.

Various Observations:

- Zane was pretty clearly written as a magic user here. Wu states he has the sixth sense, he seems somewhat otherworldy (and was very relatable to a young me), a lot of puns around the word sense are made around him, he was pictured meditating underwater, he even makes his weapons vanish into thin air!

-Master Wu is in no hurry at all! Garmadon has an army, a map to the four Golden Weapons, and has kidnapped someone, and yet whenever there's the slightest hint of urgency, he chastizes Kai! It really looks like he isn't taking this seriously.

-Jay mentioned he builds models and writes poetry. Bad poetry, I presume, but I think he'd be pretty good at building models given that he's generally really good at building stuff.

-Speaking of Jay, he is also the first ninja to learn Spinjitzu!

-For some reason, Zane, Cole and Jay were trained together, but Kai was trained alone. Why? As Cole points out, this makes it more difficult to integrate him into the team.

-Speaking of Cole, the running gag of him being afraid of something, and the subject of his fear showing up soon after was introduced here, with him only being afraid of dragons, and the episode ending with a fight against a dragon.

 -Man, the Golden Weapons were really powerful. I remember them just being shiny weapons, but a single swing from the Scythe of Quakes causes the entire cave to collapse! Also, Kai is able to use it. This is actually pretty important, as it implies that, if one were to use the corresponding Golden Weapon, they could wield an element they were not the master of. Could they create a fusion dragon as seen in Skybound and Hands of Time by themselves? Could an elemental master with the three other weapons master creation without having to expose themselves to all four Golden Weapons? 

 

Well, next up, we'll be heading into the Underworld in "King of Shadows".

What am I doing here?

 

Ah, Ninjago. A Lego series created in 2011, and originally intended to only run for two years, while having just four 11 minute shorts as far as animation goes.

The series proved to be far more popular than expected, however, causing much more content to be created than for any other Lego theme, including Bionicle. Now, in 2025, Ninjago is still going strong, and has even somewhat grown up with it's watchers.

As for me, personally, this show has been an integral part of my childhood ever since I first saw the pilot episodes, and I have never stopped loving it, even during it's low points. Where others had Ben 10, Duck Tales, Gravity Falls or Avatar, I had Ninjago.

In this blog, I seek to take a look at all the past episodes of the show, and share my passion with all of you.

For an optimal experience, you may wish to watch the episodes in question before reading my writing on them, but I will try to write these retrospectives so that those who have never seen the show before can still enjoy them.

With that said … Let us begin!