Years ago, Ninjago began leaving a sour taste in my mouth.
There's several reasons for that. The long hiatus drove all of them, more or less. Had I not been kept waiting so long, I'd probably still be watching it today, despite dialogue and writing decisions that left quite a bit to be desired.
Rebooted disappointed me. A lot. So I left, and when I did, I still followed the theme for a while, but my interest waned.
A couple years later, Ninjago was on Netflix for a day or so, and I decided to revisit the theme for nostalgia's sake. Why not, right?
It didn't hold up.
There were things I liked. Things I still like. But the things I didn't made it nigh unwatchable for me. I knew even then I didn't want to spend the rest of my life complaining about it.
So instead, I started this project.
What you're about to read was made (mostly) with love. I bear no ill will to those who enjoy the show. More power to you. Really.
But I'm willing to bet I'm not alone in thinking Ninjago's writing team stopped taking themselves seriously long before time had a name.
If I'm right, if there are those out there who watched and were left unsatisfied... this is for you. Even if you loved the show with every fiber of your being and are here for curiosity's sake, feel free to look around.
And if you happen to be ninjagofanmam or fantasy1111... as snakebuster001, welcome back.
Two and a half millennia before the start of Season 1, Yan Ryou, a ninja, Sarok Kami, a ronin, and Dateraux Jago, a wealthy explorer, discovered an archipelago in the middle of the Eastern Ocean. On the largest island, they encountered the Serpentine, who were hostile at first, but eventually warmed up to the humans. The three of them and their companions arrived in boats, which inspired Renaissance snake Arcturus to build a boat of his own so his people could, for the first time in their history, leave their island in pursuit of these strange mammalians.
Yan, Sarok, and the Company of Dateraux Jago explored the archipelago, building temples on various islands and marking locations on their map. One of the places they discovered was the Golden Peaks, a pair of volcanoes so-named because the Serpentine claimed they were brimming with liquid gold and divine power.
The Serpentine allowed Sarok to build his home on their home island. In the Temple of Light, Yan lived, trained, and forged. Dateraux and his Company studied, looking for gateways into other realms and powers unknown.
After two years of exploring, Yan went to the Golden Peaks and retrieved some gold, which he took to the Temple of Light to experiment with. He discovered it was ludicrously powerful. Ever the weapon connoisseur, Yan forged four Golden Weapons out of the gold, weapons that could wield and amplify energy from other realms. Weapons so powerful, no single person could use all four at once.
Eager to impress the Serpentine, Yan used these Golden Weapons to create new land, land which would unite the many islands as mountains and give the Serpentine a new, vast haven. Dateraux Jago, commemorating the ninja’s achievement, named this new land Ninjago.
It was this great creation that attracted the attention of the Dragons.
It was through the Dragons that the Company of Dateraux Jago discovered the twenty-two realms. Eighteen of these realms each represented one of the Quintessential elements. One, the Underworld, represented death as the Overworld represented life. Between the two lied Hecram, the Halfway, a place of judgement. (Also called the Cursed Realm by those who feared it.) The final two realms represented Yin, the cold, wet darkness, and Yang, the hot, dry light.
Most Dragons lived in the space between realms, able to travel between them at their leisure. Each realm, except the Overworld, the Underworld, and the Halfway, had a powerful Dragon that ruled and protected it. Including the realms of Yin and Yang.
From the Yang came Titan, the Great Golden Dragon of Primordial Light. From the Yin came Overlord, the Great Black Dragon of Primordial Dark. Omega, the Great Crimson Dragon of Chaos, wandered among the realms with no rhyme or reason. These were the three most powerful Dragons, and maintained the balance of power in the Realms. Titan and Overlord were locked in an eternal war, a conflict without end and without advantage. It was the Overlord that first sought an edge.
Yan’s invention of Spinjitzu had made him quite popular among the eager Serpentine, and Sarok, who’d captured their attention for years, was bitter at his audience being stolen. He probably could've come back from that were it not for the Overlord, who stoked his jealousy. In his hatred, Sarok joined the Overlord, and those attracted to the promise of power joined him as well. Dateraux was among them. The trinity had been broken. The Company was no more. It was Dateraux who convinced the Great Crimson Dragon to take a side. Now, Overlord and Omega were united against Titan.
Titan went to Yan for help. The humans’ ingenuity further fueled the conflict. The Stone Army and the Golden Mech were among the tools the humans conceptualized to use against their enemy. Ultimately, Yan was the victor, using the Golden Weapons to split Ninjago in two and banish the Overlord.
Separated from the Overlord, Sarok retreated to his now meager, empty island. Dateraux disappeared, his fate unknown, and Omega returned to his old ways. Yan and Titan parted, and the Great Golden Dragon came to rest in the Temple of Light, while Yan built a new monastery to live in peace. Sarok had been left weak by the Overlord, but still lived for a thousand more years. He built an empire in secret, fueled by the drive to rule. When Sarok’s mortality finally caught up with him, his son, Chen, inherited his island, his empire, and his ambition. Yan lived at the monastery, sometimes wandering among the land he’d created, helping the Serpentine make it a home. He had two children: Garmadon, the elder, and Wu, the younger. Behind the scenes, the Overlord plotted his return. His agent was a snake; a small, innocent creature touched by darkness and given a purpose other than survival. The snake arrived at a simple monastery atop a mountain and waited, for an opportunity. Like clockwork, it came. Garmadon vaulted over the wall to retrieve a lost sword, and the snake struck, infecting him with pain. Jealousy. Desire. Above all, rage. Garmadon abandoned his father and brother to seek a path that would bring him satisfaction. He found it on a remote island outside Ninjago, where a man named Chen greeted him and agreed to train him. It was on this island he learned Kage Mal, the power to control shadows. Garmadon stayed there and trained under Chen for 300 years before a boat ran aground. There were two people in it; two redheaded women. Sisters. Claiming that the late, great trader Montgomery was their father. Koko, the elder, and Misako, the younger. Both of them earned their place on Chen’s island by way of the Tournament, designed to weed out the weak. Koko won it, and with it the title of Iron Dragon. In that time, Misako won a very different battle: taming the fierce, tempestuous Garmadon. Garmadon and Misako had one son, whereupon they left Chen’s island to raise him. At Chen’s behest, Koko stayed behind. Garmadon returned to his father’s monastery and reconciled with Wu and Yan. Elsewhere, Chen seized an opportunity and started a war.
Wherever Dateraux had disappeared to, he’d told humanity about Ninjago. Curious explorers and ambitious profiteers came from all over the world to see this new land, and the native Serpentine treated them with respect. For a time. From his island, Chen wanted war. His empire was growing, and he needed something to distract the world while he prepared to take it for himself. A Human-Serpent War… would do nicely. So, his soldiers attacked the Serpentine, who attacked the human settlers in a horrifying retaliation. And just like that, the war began. Yan, in his old age, was too weak to stop it. So he recruited people who could. Wu and Garmadon handpicked fighters from among the colonists, and Yan gifted them the powers of the elemental realms. These Elemental Masters were a turning point in the war, but they were not enough to win it; the Serpentine still emerged victorious and claimed the human fighters as slaves. However, disputes quickly broke out between the five tribes (mostly between the Anacondrai and the other four), and the Elemental Masters took the opportunity to turn the tide. Using special flutes, they drove the Serpentine underground forever. After the war, Yan’s immortality finally gave out. He was 2,000 years old. On his deathbed, his sons promised they would protect the Golden Weapons and Ninjago. Wu settled down. Garmadon, who still had a wife and child, attempted to. The venom in his system had other ideas. With the Great Serpentine War over, Garmadon had nowhere to focus the impulses the venom gave him. Garmadon attempted to steal the Golden Weapons, and Wu tried to stop him, banishing him (not entirely intentionally) from Ninjago. For centuries, Garmadon plotted his return from the Underworld, co-opting the Skeleton Army to help him.
Wow, I like this... I agree with your sentiments on what the Ninjago brand turned into, although I did like Rebooted a bit but after that season I didn't like or see much else of the series to this day. Keep up your great work!
After Garmadon’s banishment, Wu enlisted the eighteen Elemental Dragons to hide the Golden Weapons in various locations across Ninjago, and keep watch over them in case someone tried to steal them. Wu made a map to their locations, in case he found himself unable to retrieve them. He hid that map with Raj, Master of Fire, a trusted friend (and Kai’s ancestor).
Our real story begins here, on June 9, 2420 ANC*. That day, nearly 500 years after Garmadon’s banishment, Sensei Wu received a vision of horrible things to come, and realized he couldn’t afford to fight it all alone.
Cole Lou Hence, born May 8, 2401, is 19. Jay Walker, born April 15, 2403, is 17. Zane doesn’t know his last name, or his birthday, but he assumes he’s around 20. (He’s actually about 50.)
Kai Lee, born August 5, 2401, is 18. Nya Lee, born July 14, 2403, is 16. Sensei Wu is roughly 1,000.
Wow, I like this... I agree with your sentiments on what the Ninjago brand turned into, although I did like Rebooted a bit but after that season I didn't like or see much else of the series to this day. Keep up your great work!
Rebooted (and a couple of the other later seasons) had some interesting elements that I tried to preserve without perforating everything with subpar writing and continuity issues that I'm fairly certain number in the hundreds at this point.
Those who watched some of the original will no doubt notice more than a few similarities, just wrapped in a somewhat different package.
Alright, now that we've covered the backdrop, let's get into the real content: the (prospective) episodes!
Season 1: Masters of Spinjitzu
I: Way of the Ninja (After learning the Underworld’s forces are preparing for war on the living world, Sensei Wu approaches four young men to become ninja)
II: Master of Spinjitzu (Wu travels to Ignacia to meet with Kai, his final student. Cole, Jay and Zane train with each other at the monastery, and learn more about each other)
II: Incidents (Believing Sensei Wu has been abducted, Cole, Jay and Zane search the nearby forests for signs of him. Kai makes some progress in his training with Wu)
III: The Golden Weapon (The ninja attempt to recover the Scythe from the Caves of Despair, while Nya makes a daring escape attempt from the Underworld)
IV: A Link to the Past (Kai and Zane visit a village Zane used to live in, to try and find clues about his past) (Based on the LEGO novel, Kai: Ninja of Fire)
V: Ninja of Lightning (When a sleazy shopkeeper is grievously injured, Jay and Kai have 24 hours to clear their names of his assault) (Based on the LEGO novel, Jay: Ninja of Lightning)
VI: Frostbite (The ninja rush to obtain the Shuriken. Rykh, rightful leader of the Skeleton Army, tells her story while Nya listens)
VII: Ninja of Ice (Garmadon attempts to strike a deadly blow to the ninja by offering Zane information about his past) (Based on the LEGO novel, Zane: Ninja of Ice)
VIII: The Floating Mountain (The ninja must climb up an endless chain to reach the Nunchaku)
IX: Ninja of Earth (After the ninja begin to question Cole's leadership, he leaves camp to think, and gets abducted) (Based on the LEGO novel, Cole: Ninja of Earth)
X: Ninja of Fire (Kai vows to pull out all the stops to rescue his sister, but must first obtain his Golden Weapon)
XI: How to Train Your Dragon (While Sensei Wu hides from Samukai in the Underworld, the ninja must tame the Golden Weapons’ dragon guardians to reach him)
XII: The Living and the Undead (The ninja must fight their way to Garmadon’s fortress to save Sensei Wu and reclaim the Golden Weapons)
• I made a couple of retcons right off the bat, and I’ll explain them here.
• Firstly, as you can see, I’ve extended this season to (almost) full season length. In an effort to not have any filler, I integrated some of the books Greg Farshtey wrote, set during that first season, that did a lot to characterize the four ninja.
• Secondly (and this is very important), the Golden Weapons no longer correspond to a specific element. When held by an Elemental Master, they amplify the Master’s elemental power. For example, if Kai were to pick up the Scythe (which he does at one point), it would react to him instead of Cole and spew fire everywhere (which it does). Why did the Earth Dragon show up to defend the Scythe, then? Because Cole, Master of Earth, touched it first. Garmadon is more or less a god when he gets his four hands on all of them (though that doesn’t happen until the end of the next season). Not a lift-a-finger-and-destroy-everything god (narrative tension who?) but still incredibly powerful.
I made the change because now we have eighteen elements: Earth, Lightning, Ice, Fire, Wind, Water, Metal, Speed, Light, Shadow, Smoke, Flora, Mind, Poison, Form, Sound, Gravity, and Amber. And I cannot for the life of me find any reason for the first four to be the special ones, much less each having a Golden Weapon to themselves while the rest of the elements (half of which are arguably vastly superior) get nothing of the sort.
• Thirdly, Nya gets an escape attempt! She doesn’t seem the type not to try, and she’s clever enough where I doubt Samukai would be able to stop her (at least the first time).
• Finally, chronology. This season takes place over the course of about five months, most of which is gotten out of the way in the first three episodes, when the ninja are training to be ninja. As we progress through the seasons, I’ll keep track of how long it’s been since “Way of the Ninja.”
Rykh (mentioned in "Frostbite") is a character entirely of my own making, a more neutral and less aggressive ruler of the Underworld. She’s more like Hades, running her Underworld without the impulse to interfere in the affairs of the living. Samukai, on the other hand, is more in line with how modern pop culture sees Hades. (I blame Disney, mostly. It’s abundantly clear they did very little research for Hercules.) Samukai took over from Rykh, believing her to be toothless, and locked her up.
I: Rise of the Serpentine (Five months after Lord Garmadon's defeat, his son, Lloyd, thirsts for retribution and unleashes the Serpentine)
II: Trials of the Mind (The ninja discover, and attempt to destroy, Lloyd's base of ops, a gigantic tree fort in the middle of the Forest of Tranquility)
III: Tomb of the Fangpyre (Betrayed and left alone, Lloyd unleashes the Fangpyre, who increase their numbers by attacking a junkyard belonging to Jay's parents)
IV: Fear (Cast out once again, Lloyd attempts to release the Anacondrai, the greatest of the tribes, to find that only one remains)
V: Unity (As the ninja struggle to unmask a new mystery hero, Pythor unleashes the Constrictai and the Venomari, and attempts to unite the tribes at an underground gathering)
VI: The Snake King (While the ninja race amongst themselves to unmask Samurai X, Pythor uncovers the ancient Serpentine capital Ouroboros)
VII: The Falcon (The Falcon returns, and Zane is compelled to follow it. Pythor searches for the map to the four Silver Fang Blades)
VIII: Love and Amusement (Jay finds the courage to ask Nya out, but the Serpentine’s infiltration of the iconic MegaMonster Amusement Park interrupts his dinner plans)
IX: The Royal Blacksmiths (The ninja must convince Cole's father to give up one of his most prized trophies to get the Constrictai Fang Blade before Pythor does)
X: Brotherhood (Wu returns to the Bounty with Garmadon in tow. Tensions run high, and Kai’s desperation to master his Golden Weapon and fulfill his “destiny” boils over)
XI: The Green Ninja (The ninja attempt to stop Pythor from obtaining the final blade, and meet an ally none of them expected: the Green Ninja)
XII: Rise of the Great Devourer (Pythor begins the ritual to unleash the Great Devourer. The ninja discover the Green Ninja's identity)
XIII: Day of the Great Devourer (The Great Devourer begins devouring Ninjago, and Lord Garmadon is the only one able to stop it)
This is really interesting!
Goodbye LMBs...
This is really interesting!
