Wrong Place, Wrong Time

 Hoo boy, the time travel episode. Those always tend to break the plot. Let's see how much the continuity will be broken here, shall we?

Well, the ninja head to the city of Ouroboros to fight Garmadon, who heads back in time to try and stop the ninja from ever becoming a team, by making it so that the skeletons never capture Nya. Looking to fix the past, the ninja capture Nya and deliver her to the skeletons, but then the present version of Garmadon teams up with his past version to try and kill past!Kai, leading the ninja to steal the Golden Weapons and unite their power to destroy the Mega Weapon, throwing them all back into the present, with the past remaining unchanged.

Various Observations:

-The intro has been updated with adult Lloyd!

-May I just say that it's a spectacularly bad idea to train by fighting with lethal weapons in closed quarters? Who came up with this? Chokun?

-Oh dear, Zane almost killed Nya with his shuriken. At least they both actually react with shock.

-I like the sound effect when the Bounty turns around. It doesn't really make sense, since it doesn't have wheels, but that's the fun part of the gag.

-It looks like the snake vehicles still need maintenance with regular tools, but aren't they alive? I feel like they'd need some special care.

-Hold up, what? Where did Wu come from? He's just suddenly right in front of Garmadon? What did he learn the art of teleportation?

-Why is Nya not in her Samurai X armor? And where's the mech? I feel like both of those would be a significant advantage.

-Good on Lloyd for freezing the Mega Weapon before Garmadon could do something with it. Although I do have to wonder when he learned to use the element of ice.

-Alright, I guess wishing for powers, in this case to power to go back in time, really does work.

-Wait, how did Zane deduce what Garmadon did? The city sinking into the sands does not equal Garmadon having found a way to travel through time.

-And now how did Kai figure out what day they arrived at. Are the writers just telling the ninja what they need to know?

-So Garmadon wants to prevent Kai from becoming a ninja, so that he wouldn't risk the mission to get the third Fangblade, leading to volcano to remain stable, and the ninja to save Lloyd without figuring out that he's the green ninja. Yeah, fair enough, I can see that working. 

-Although, if Kai and Nya don't join the team, Cole, Jay and Zane are going to die in that acidic swamp in "Can of Worms", which would in turn jeopardize the mission to save Lloyd ... I think. Maybe Wu and Garmadon can solo the Serpentine, who knows. Still, this plan seems extraordinarily risky.

-Wait, why can we hear the end of Kai and Wu's conversation before Wu even reached Kai? What's going on there?

-At first I was going to comment that Wu is surprisingly quick to believe the ninja when they clame to have time-travelled, but then I remembered that he would know about the Time Twins and Time Blades eventually returning, so maybe he just figured that that was what caused them to go back.

-I love that Jay can just solo the skeletons by now. They weren't that impressive in the pilots, and the ninja are definitely stronger now than they were back then. 

-Wow, Zane is surprisingly invested in Jay and Nya's relationship. He treats it being retconned out of existence by time travel with the same gravitas as the world they know never existing.

-Hm, in the altered timeline, Kai wants to stay a blacksmith, but Nya wants to be a ninja. It would be kind of neat if the timeline had split off here, giving us an alternate timeline where Nya's a ninja from the start.

-How do none of the skeletons recognize Gamradon's voice? Then again, Mark Oliver didn't bring his best performance to the pilots, so I guess they would sound different.

-Wait, what's going on here? The wheel just has it's part data printed on. That ... seems like an error that really should have been caught at some point.

-I love Cole saying that Kai would be relieved to hear of his sister's kidnapping, just because it sounds so bad out of context. 

-Why didn't we get a mirror match for Cole? Jay and Zane got one, and it'd definitely be better than pilot!Kai's performance after brushing his teeth.

-The echo on pilot!Garmadon's voice makes him sound much better than the actual Garmadon from the pilots.

-"Great Scott"? Did ... Wu make a Back to the Future reference?

-I like that the Sword of Fire and the Mega Weapon are different shades of gold, since the shade was changed between the pilots and the show.

-Wait, what? How can Cole grab onto the Mega Weapon, when that was enough to kill the pirate? Nobody aside from Garmadona and Lloyd can survive the power of Creation!

-Wait, what is Zane saying now? Destroying the Mega Weapon makes it so they never time travelled? Why would that be the case? And why does it work? The Mega Weapon is never destroyed, just shot into space.

-I like that the ninja combine their elemental powers to use Creation. They usually only do this during the Tornado of Creation.

-Wait, why does Llyod act like the Mega Weapon never existed? It has to have existed, else he would still be a kid, Captain Soto and his crew would still be dead, and the Mega Weapon plus the Golden Weapons would not be in space!

-Yeah, the ending of this episode is just completely continuity-wrecking. Just give us an epic battle against Garmadon and the Serpentine at Ouroboros, ending with the Mega Weapon being shot into the space, not this!

Child's Play

 Are you ready, everyone? This'll be the last time we'll get to see young Lloyd, so let's hope he'll get some good focus here.

So, Garmadon breaks into a museum to revive a dinosaur called the Grundle with the Mega Weapon, but the ninja try and fail interrupt him, getting turned into kids in the process. 

Alongside Lloyd, they head towards a comic book store to learn more about how to fight the Grundle, while Wu and Nya pick up a magical tea that can age the Grundle back into a fossil.

The Illuma-Swords the shop's owner gave the ninja fail to deter the Grundle, as they're still just toys, so the only option is to use the tea, bringing the ninja back to their preoper age and killing the Grundle.

Lloyd, however, is also turned into an adult by it, forever losing his childhood.

 

Various Observations:

-Ooh, we get some Gene lore ... I think. Looks like he lives in Jamanakai Village.

-So, is there a reason why the children are clearly talking like they're playing catch, when they're actually playing football? "Catch me!", "You're it!", etc. Were there some communications issues between the writers and the animators? 

-Oh, hey, Gene's clone has also returned! Do they seriously have this little models?

-Suddenly Lloyd could solo the original four ninja if he's not distracted? His training sure progressed fast.

-Why does Jay not know about the new Starfarer comic? I'm pretty sure he's later established as a fan, no? 

-I would quite like to know what an "Imperial Sludge" is supposed to be.

-Alright, Lloyd not getting to be a kid and enjoy his childhood because he has to train to fight his father is a reasonable conflict for the episode to focus on.  Lloyd is just a child, so he shouldn't have to shoulder the responsibility of saving the world from darkness, but at the same time there is no other option, because no one else has his powers.

-Skales has finally regained his actual personality, and tries to get the other Serpentine to follow him, rather than Garmadon. Good to know he has firmly left sidekick territory now.

-And then he loses all dignity. Wow. And here I thought he'd actually get to try and boss Garmadon around, with how the last episode ended.

-Why, exactly, does Garmadon need to wish for the Mega Weapon to create the power to revive the Grundle? Couldn't he just wish for a living one? That way he wouldn't need to break into the museum.

-Also, it's now possible to wish for power? Then why not wish for somehting like "The power I need to destroy the ninja"? After all, that way it's not the Mega Weapon doing the destroying.

-And he makes the Grundle "hungry for ninja"? Erm, Garmadon? Are you forgetting that your son, who you're established to want to try and protect, is also a ninja?

-Oh my, Zane's freaking out at being made younger. I think this is the first time we've seen him this vulnerable since "Tick Tock".

-Jay and Zane have a good point. Why did Zane turn younger? He was never a kid.

-Cole seems really disturbed at the concept of bedtime. Also, he mentions that kids can't drive. I take it this means that the ninja are, under normal circumstances, old enough to legally drive. I have no clue why a later season, I think it was season 8, tries to claim the ninja weren't adults at this point.

-Holy crap, is the police trying to kill them?

-Alright, I already don't neccessarily respect the police, but seriously? They think four kids were able to break into a museum and carry a sarcophagus that took four grown Serpentine to lift? And didn't Nya mention that Garmadon was on the security footage, so shouldn't the police know about it too? 

-And now that cop has seen Kai use Spinjitzu, creating a tornado of flames, and still thinks these are just some random kids?

-Soooo ... why do the police even think the ninja stole the sarcophagus? Aside fromt he fact that I doubt it would be physically possible, there's still the matter of the ninja never even having touched the thing! If that announcer guy that keeps popping up had happened to walk past the sarcophagus, would he have been arrested as well?

-The Fritz Donnegan comic doesn't have speech bubbles? That's ... odd.

-I like that Zane is confused by having to apologize for something he never did. His honesty is a pretty consistent trait.

-So there are more models for kid characters! Then why not use them, instead of giving Gene some weird clone?

-Oh, speaking of Gene, he's apparently checking out the museum as well.

-Alright, the Grundle is really scary.

-Nobody thought to question the kid walking into a pizza place/arcade with a bunch of deadly weapons?

 -Right, Lloyd makes a good point. Why can't the ninja properly use Spinjitzu? He can, and yet he's still a kid.

-Is that Hatsune Miku? Is our holy virtual diva a thing in Ninjago, too? Does "A Female Ninja But I Want To Love" exist?

 -If you look to the background, you will see a "Blue Lightning" comic. Is that a mix between Black Lightning and Blue Marvel? Wait, did Blue Marvel even exist yet?

-Wait, Mother Doomsday of all people recognizes that the ninja saved the city? That's odd, but also heartwarming. Even if I do have to wonder just when the ninja signed merchandise. If they have income from that, what's the point of their jobs in "Darkness Shall Rise?".

-When Nya asks her for Tomorrow's Tea, Mystake actually helps out. I'm starting to think maybe she just doesn't like Wu, given that she's fine with selling magic tea to literally everyone else who asked her.

-Is it just me, or is it kind of unfair to make the final question of a comic book quiz about an issue that came out that very day, and only was only sold in very limited supply. That's basically a pay-to-win question, isn't it?

-Reversing the polarity of some technobabble stuff? Is Fritz Donnegan the Doctor?

-Wait, how did Wu and Nya get in? The door is blocked from the outside by rubble, but now the rubble's gone?

 

-Man, Lloyd accepting that he'll never get to have a proper childhood is really sad to me.

Ninjaball Run

 One of the most despised episodes in all of Ninjago ... and one I quite enjoy. What is it about this episode that makes people dislike it so much? Perhaps we shall find out today.

Garmadon has apparently went into the real estate buisness, and purchased the property Dareth is renting. As Dareth can't pay the rent, the ninja need to participate in a race to win the money, else the dojo will be destroyed.

After a really fun race, and believe me when I say that, it's awesome, the ninja win, with Lloyd and the Ultra Dragon even reclaiming the Bounty from Garmadon, who now has to flee with the Serpentine generals, including the recently freed Skales.

Various Observations:

-What kind of demolition crew takes down a building without first checking if someone's inside? And on the wrong date, to boot!

-Why has Dareth not started moving his stuff out of the building if it's already his last day? And why didn't he tell the ninja?

-Also, what's the currency? He needs 50.000 of ... something. If it's studs, that'd be fifty blues or five purples, which shouldn't be too difficult to get. Assuming that it's more similar to euros, however,  the plot makes more sense. But that would raise the question why Ninjago's currency wouldn't be of similar value to yen, given that it's clearly based on Japan.

-I love how Zane's expression when Nya tells them about the titular Ninjaball Run. 

 -So the four classic ninja use the Ultra Sonic Raider, and Lloyd the Ultra Dragon. What about Nya and Wu? Couldn't they participate with the Samurai X mech? 

-And while I'm on the topic, how is a dragon permitted to take part in what is explicitly called a street race, if it doesn't drive? It's not called a cloud race, you know!

-Wait, the guy from that talent show back in "The Royal Blacksmiths" is back! That's some neat continuity.

-Wait a second ... Look at the roofs behind Lloyd! That's the dragon keep from the expensive apartment a couple of episodes ago, isn't it? That's a really nice background detail!

 -I love how the skeletons show up out of the blue, just because Jay jinxed it. But how aren't the pirates still imprisoned?

-Wait, the badlands are literally just called Badlands? Seriously? I ... guess that sign from "The Rise of the Great Devourer" makes sense now, but why would the badlands specifically not have a name when the desert, the canyon, the forest and the tundra all get one?

-Also, we've seen all the places the track runs through last season, that's also some nice continuity.

-Wait, why are Gene and some other kid sabotaging the Ultra Sonic Raider? I thought they changed their ways after the last episode!

-Now Jay's parents are trying to push the other racers off the road? Sheesh, they've been on a real downwards trend ever since that ralley in "Day of the Great Devourer".

-The snake bus from "The Snake King" also returns, that's neat. 

-Hey, the generals drive past the Autobody Bodyshop where Nya works! Man, this episode is just full of references to other episodes.

-I like that No-Eyed Pete gets to drive. Again, a nice callback to when he steered the Bounty.

-Wait, what did the announcer just say? "Hochi Mama"? Spamton, is that you? 

-Why do the ninja and Lloyd have to agree mid-race to work together? I kind of thought that was their plan from the start.

-I love how the guy in green just shamelessly promotes the in-universe TV broadcast. 

-Wait, Dareth's kids? I thought those were just his pupils! Man, either this is some seriously unfortunate phrasing, or we now have evidence that Dareth is a dad!

-Alright, the reveal that the police weren't trying to capture Skales, but rather to win the race was really funny. 

-And now the police wrecked some poor guy's home. Accurate.

-I guess Jay's parents do have some decency left in them, as they help refuel the Ultra Sonic Raider with their own car's fuel. 

-The excess weight gag is predictable but funny. I like it.

-Skales has also become obsessed with winning the race. Man, this episode has some great humor.

-I like that Jay got something to do this episode. Makes him stand out a bit more, compared to the other episodes this season.

-Also, Zane turning his head by 180 degrees is a neat way to counter a Hypnobrai's power.

-Two things: First, I don't think ripping open a great chasm falls under the "creating stuff only" rule of the Mega Weapon. Second, Garmadon explicitly wished for something the ninja could never cross, so why didn't the Mega Weapon create something like that?

-Oh, also, what happened to the matter that was there before? The Mega Weapon can't destroy, so it had to be displaced somewhere. The question is, where? 

-So the ninja can now perform Airjitzu three seasons early? I thought we left the wonky Spinjitzu mechanics in the first half of season 1.

-Hold on, I just noticed it, but there are ads for the "Jamanakai Village Inn"? That's also a really cool easter egg. Too bad I can't grab a decent pic of it.

-Ah, and here we have Gene, or at least his lookalike from "Pirates vs. Ninja" .

-Wow, that was a really fun episode! I can't believe there are people who don't like it. It even furthers the plot, unlike last episode, as Lloyd reclaims the Bounty!