Most of the changes I made to this season have to do with Lloyd.
• I aged Lloyd up from the start; he’s roughly a young adult (at least in appearance), and this version of Lloyd has significantly loftier aspirations than his source material (though he still has an incurable sweet tooth). In this reworking, Lloyd was born on April 1, 1892 ANC, about a year and a half before the Serpentine War started. If you look at the dates in THE LORE, this makes Lloyd over 500 years old. He spent most of his life at a cult boarding school run by Malcrul Darkley (which I swear is not his real name). Because Lloyd aged so slowly, he had plenty of time to learn all manner of combat and magic from Darkley and his faculty. He was also sent on a lot of field trips across the world, but never for very long. He’s been a lot of places, but he’s never stayed anywhere long enough to put down roots, except for the boarding school. He went through friends like cookies; most students stayed for 10 years (after which they were sent to some remote island to make noodles forever), so Lloyd went through dozens of separate classes before he left.
Why was he kicked out?
Officially, Lloyd lacked the ambition to become one of tomorrow’s masterminds, but in truth, he’d gotten too inquisitive; one night, Garmadon spoke to him in shadow form, and Lloyd learned that, one, his father was alive, and two, Darkley knew the whole time. When Lloyd went to confront Darkley, the headmaster wouldn’t even see him. And the next Day, Lloyd was expelled. Lloyd spent his time after the expulsion wandering the world, looking for his father, and discovering wonderful things like graphic novels and chocolate.
Eventually, in June 2420, Garmadon reached out to him again, telling him he needed his help to escape the Underworld and return to Ninjago.
Not knowing the terrible things his father had done, Lloyd agreed, leading us to “Rise of the Serpentine.”
• “Rise of the Serpentine” takes place five months after “The Living and the Undead,” and Season 1 takes place over the course of about 5 months, so it’s been 10 months since “Way of the Ninja.”
• Another thing I ought to address is the Serpentine’s names, in that I’ve come up with an explanation for why they sound like the sorts of names a six-year-old Jay would give his hypothetical pet snake.
In this alternate world I’ve created, words like anaconda, python, slither, and venom are derived from Serpentine words and names. Except Bytar and Chokun. That’s pure coincidence.
• Some of the Serpentine know Spinjitzu. Yan taught it to them way back when. I wanted to give them something somewhat more creative than Fang-Kwon-Do.
• Zane discovers his birthday!
When he finds his memory switch in “The Falcon,” Zane remembers everything, back to the day his father, Dr. Alistair Julien, first switched him on:
January 25, 2369. Which makes him 52 years old.
• I also sort of altered how Lloyd becomes the Green Ninja; the Golden Weapons do identify him, but only Wu is present when they do, at the end of “Brotherhood.” Garmadon finds out at the end of the next episode, and everyone else finds out halfway through “Rise of the Great Devourer.” ‘“You know, when you were young, I thought you would grow up to succeed me. Instead, you’ve failed me. How very ironic.”’
- Garmadon to Lloyd, “The Green Ninja.”
• I’ve gotten rid of the Ultra Dragon. Not because I didn’t like the concept, but because it wasn’t all that compatible with my version of Ninjago; the Elemental Dragons have realms to watch over. They have responsibilities (which is also why they left in “Tomb of the Fangpyre”), and they can’t just go around fusing their bodies together. In “Day of the Great Devourer,” the Dragons come back to Ninjago and help fight the Devourer before Garmadon destroys it.
• Finally, I’ve made one substantial change to the Anacondrai: they’re blind. That’s right. Pythor is blind. Not that it matters; his hearing and smell more than compensate. I made this change because the Anacondrai Tribe’s ability to turn invisible would mean no light would reach them anyway, so functional eyes would be useless to them.
I: The Calm (Three weeks after the Great Devourer's attack, the ninja and Nya are tasked with honing Lloyd's skills. Garmadon, armed with all four golden weapons, finds the wreckage of the Destiny's Bounty, and the Serpentine float aimlessly in the ocean)
II: Retribution (As Lloyd struggles to learn Spinjitzu, Garmadon assumes control of the Serpentine tribes, and a vengeful Skales plots his downfall)
III: Double Trouble (Seeking to fight fire with fire, Garmadon uses his Scepter to form identical copies of the ninja. The ninja visit Lloyd's old school, and Lloyd faces his past)
IV: Weapon of Mass Creation (The ninja plot to use Lloyd's energy to destroy Garmadon's Scepter, but Garmadon reanimates an ancient predator to hunt them down)
V: The Warrior (At the Jagan Museum of Ancient History, the ninja stumble upon something old and dangerous, and a friend from Wu's past surfaces)
VI: Stone Cold (The Serpentine cause devastating earthquakes under Ninjago City, and the ninja have to protect the populace. Things get complicated when more stone warriors breach the surface)
VII: The Tower of Tears (The ninja are bitter from defeat. Sensei Wu teaches them a lesson in survival and teamwork by telling them the story of the Tower of Tears) (Based on the LEGO comic book “Stone Cold”)
VIII: Endless Sea (The ninja sail to the Dark Island, but are forced to find land after an attack by Starteeth)
IX: The Temple of Light (Having finally reached the Dark Island, the ninja search for the Temple of Light)
X: Final Countdown (The ninja must stop the Overlord's completion of Garmadon’s deadly secret weapon)
XI: Return of the Overlord (Garmadon’s new weapon shifts the balance between light and dark, which frees the Overlord)
XII: The Ultimate Battle (The ninja race to Ninjago City to take on the Overlord before he completes his conquest)
XIII: Rise of the Spinjitzu Master (Lloyd becomes the full embodiment of Titan, the Great Golden Dragon of Light, and challenges the Overlord)
• “The Calm” takes place about eleven months after “Way of the Ninja.”
• I did a lot of trimming of the Megaweapon arc. Namely, I got rid of the unnecessary and ridiculous “Ninjaball Run” (WHY WOULD THEY LET GARMADON RACE?!), the aforementioned and ridiculous "Child’s Play," and the confusing and ridiculous “Wrong Place, Wrong Time.” All three of those are condensed into “Weapon of Mass Creation,” in which the ninja conspire to retake the Bounty and destroy the Megaweapon, which is now just called the Scepter because “Megaweapon” is horrendously on-the-nose.
• I also stretched out the first episode into two and got rid of the pirate episode, since the Scepter being able to bring people back to life in that particular way opens up way too many doors.
That, and in this rewrite, the ninja identified the Destiny’s Bounty as a pirate ship the day they found it:
‘Jay swiped his hand across one of the planks, and the dust gave way to two ancient Jagan characters. “Uhhh… Cole?” Jay called. “There’s some more chicken scratch over here.” Cole rolled his eyes. “When are you going to stop calling it chicken scratch? I can’t imagine that’s respectful. At all.” “When it stops looking like chicken scratch.” Cole looked over the two symbols. “Should I get Zane?” Jay asked. “No, I recognize these characters. Destiny and Bounty. Destiny’s Bounty.” “Destiny’s Bounty? Heh. Sounds like a pirate ship.” Cole pointed to the bow of the ship. “It is a pirate ship. You can tell by the… obnoxious dragon figurehead.”’
- Excerpt from “Tomb of the Fangpyre.”
• As I’m sure many of you can guess, in “The Warrior,” the friend from Wu’s past is Misako. Misako’s backstory is different: now, instead of her entirely un-motherly decision to leave Lloyd at Darkley’s while she pursued a way to stop Garmadon, Lloyd was stolen from her. She’s been spending all these years looking for Lloyd, even long after Wu gave up.
Good gosh, how long did it take for you to come up with these ideas and put them all together seamlessly? This is amazing! Despite my love for the present series I really, really like this AU and think it works much better than the original. It's much more intriguing and has much better world-building.
Brilliant!! I still like that you made episodes based on the books. Plus the lore build up is really good! ( I don't remember if it's the same as what you had for your original topic on the messages boards since it's been a few years. But either way, it's awesome! ) Can't wait to see more.
Good gosh, how long did it take for you to come up with these ideas and put them all together seamlessly? This is amazing! Despite my love for the present series I really, really like this AU and think it works much better than the original. It's much more intriguing and has much better world-building.
Well, I've been working on this rewrite since Rebooted aired. It was almost entirely out of spite back then, used to only involve Rebooted, and all I really did at the time was get rid of the Cole-Nya-Jay love triangle (which is still very much gone) and add a new pivotal character. (Who is still very much there. I'll get to that very soon.
I added more seasons with more ideas as the new seasons aired, and then I went back and watched the old seasons, found I had massively over-romanticized my memory of them, and rewrote those, too.
The story is pretty much the same now as it was then, but the lore has undergone several significant revisions (I was mostly trying to figure out how old Wu, Garmadon, and Lloyd should be). I should also note it goes incredibly off-canon after Possession, on the sole basis that I could not stand the genie pirates.
I'm very glad you enjoy it! Stick around for more; it's not as lengthy as the original, but I've planned out a good nine seasons (and a possible next-gen story).
Brilliant!! I still like that you made episodes based on the books. Plus the lore build up is really good! ( I don't remember if it's the same as what you had for your original topic on the messages boards since it's been a few years. But either way, it's awesome! ) Can't wait to see more.
So glad to see you back here.
There's one more episode, that I can recall off the top of my head, anyway, that's based off one of the comic books: "The Phantom Ninja," which I've never actually read, but I threw Seliel in the mix anyway because the fact that (to my knowledge) she never popped up in the actual show really bothered me.
The lore is different, but I don't think I ever really talked about it back on the official LMBs, so I don't think you'd remember it.
More's coming very soon, after a bit more trivia about Season 3.
• In “Endless Sea,” we meet Zane’s father, Dr. Alistair Julien. Some of you may recall him dying, but some of you may also recall that Samukai brought back to life so he could build the Skeleton Army’s war machines. He’s been locked up in the lighthouse prison in the middle of the ocean for three years.
Julien is 102 years old; he died at 99 and was brought back hours later, and he won’t die of old age; the Elixir of Life that Samukai gave him prevents it. His mortality has essentially been stolen from him.
• As for that Elixir of Life, don’t expect it to pop up again. Now that Samukai’s gone and Rykh’s back in charge, she’s making sure those vials are never used again.
• And if you’re wondering why Samukai, Lord of the Dead (at the time) would try to prevent Dr. Julien from dying, well...
Julien would not have gone to the Underworld when his time was up.
He was a special case, who would go straight to the Cursed Realm. Why would someone as kooky and innocent as Julien be sent somewhere so vile? What could he possibly have done to warrant such a punishment?
We’ll find out next season.
• The Final Battle in the original show was too short and not nearly tense enough for a final battle. To fix this, I drew out the duel between Lloyd and the Overlord over two episodes. Lloyd challenges the Overlord about halfway through “The Ultimate Battle,” but doesn’t defeat him until near the end of “Rise of the Spinjitzu Master.”
Good gosh, how long did it take for you to come up with these ideas and put them all together seamlessly? This is amazing! Despite my love for the present series I really, really like this AU and think it works much better than the original. It's much more intriguing and has much better world-building.
Well, I've been working on this rewrite since Rebooted aired. It was almost entirely out of spite back then, used to only involve Rebooted, and all I really did at the time was get rid of the Cole-Nya-Jay love triangle (which is still very much gone) and add a new pivotal character. (Who is still very much there. I'll get to that very soon.
I added more seasons with more ideas as the new seasons aired, and then I went back and watched the old seasons, found I had massively over-romanticized my memory of them, and rewrote those, too.
The story is pretty much the same now as it was then, but the lore has undergone several significant revisions (I was mostly trying to figure out how old Wu, Garmadon, and Lloyd should be). I should also note it goes incredibly off-canon after Possession, on the sole basis that I could not stand the genie pirates.
I'm very glad you enjoy it! Stick around for more; it's not as lengthy as the original, but I've planned out a good nine seasons (and a possible next-gen story).
Brick, that's definitely a long time. o_o' Well, kudos to you, man. I've tried to sum about the canon lore before in my head and I agree that it can be much too confusing and convoluted, sad to say. I'll definitely be keeping up with this AU. ^.^
I: The Surge (Months after the Final Battle, the ninja try to adjust to their new professions, but everything changes when they are invited to Borg Industries) II: Siege on Borg Tower (As the ninja split up to search for Cyrus, Zane meets a horrifying figure from his past) III: Art of the Silent Fist (The ninja hide out with Sensei Garmadon and make a plan to destroy Cyrus Borg's power source, which the nindroid army cannot function without. Cyrus Borg and General Cryptor meet a new partner) IV: After the Blackout (At the Walkers' junkyard, Julien repairs Zane, Garmadon and Lloyd make preparations to leave, and a mysterious new player accompanies Tech Wu to assault them all) V: The Underground (Equipped with new elemental power and guidance from Pixal, the ninja sneak under New Ninjago City, searching for Cyrus Borg’s new power source. Instead, they find Skales and the Serpentine) VI: The Phantom Ninja (The ninja visit the town of Nom to find the Overlord's hard drive, and discover another mysterious Phantom Ninja; Garmadon and Lloyd traverse Hiroshi’s Labyrinth) VII: Project Arcturus (Pythor reveals himself as the nindroids' new partner and completes a rocket that will allow the retrieval of the Golden Weapons; Garmadon and Misako plan to spring Lloyd from Borg's custody) VIII: The Void (Stowing away on a ship bound for the Golden Weapons, the ninja find stopping the ship more difficult than they expected. Especially with Tech Wu and Pythor on board) IX: Memories (Julien recalls his first time meeting Cyrus's parents and building Cryptor (formerly Z.A.N.E.), while the ninja plot a course back to Earth) X: Games and Players (The ninja plot to wipe the Overlord’s hard drive clean, but the dark dragon traps them inside the drive in a last-ditch effort to survive) XI: Rise of the Golden Master (The ninja enlist Seliel and Skales to help them stop the Overlord from returning) XII: Rebooted (The Overlord enters a final engagement against Cole, Jay, Kai and Lloyd; Julien and Zane face Cryptor atop Borg Tower)
• The episode “The Phantom Ninja” is based off the graphic novel of the same name. It introduces Seliel, who I’m immensely disappointed we never got to meet in the show.
• If any of you are wondering what Zane’s power source is (since they went to insane lengths to avoid explaining it), I have an explanation: The core of Zane’s battery is a glob of Golden Peaks gold, tainted with the original Master of Ice’s power.
The first Master of Ice was a scientist, and after the Serpentine War ended, she used her powers to aid in her experiments.
She made five of these globs. Two of them were destroyed, and Julien, a descendant of the original Master of Ice, inherited the other three. One is in Cryptor, one is in Zane, and Julien keeps the third around his neck in case Zane’s current heart fails. (Or, say, Zane takes it out and gives it to a dying Pixal.)
• That post was 2,048 characters, which I find hilariously fitting.
• “The Surge” takes place a year and a half after “Way of the Ninja.”
• Cryptor is very different here than how he is in the show. The guy is based off the central concept of Zane Version Zero, a somewhat popular fan theory predicting what Rebooted would be about. It’s kinda dark, but so incredibly well thought out that you’d swear the creators were building toward it the entire time. Basically, the idea is this: Zane was not Dr. Julien’s first sapient android. Julien built his first android in a more secure, standard engineering environment, but some computer virus got involved and made Z.A.N.E. Version Zero (Zv0 for short), go berserk at his presentation. Julien shut him down and stopped the rampage, but was nonetheless disgraced and forced to live the rest of his life in solitude. It explains so much, like why someone as brilliant as Julien would be hiding in a tree in the middle of nowhere in the first place. Not to mention, his line in “The Last Voyage” about how he’s a “monster” makes so much more sense if he blames himself for that little tragedy. The biggest rebuttal for this theory is that it would never fly in a kids’ show, which I somewhat get, but I also refer you to Avatar: the Last Airbender, a kids’ show which deals with the hunting down of an entire culture three episodes in. If that doesn’t prove it could be made to work… I dunno what does. I superimposed this backstory over Cryptor’s presence in the show, and my vision of Zv0 meshed surprisingly well with Cryptor’s established character; unlike the rest of the Nindroids, who don’t speak unless spoken to, Cryptor talks all the time, and is quick to assert his superiority over Zane. Excluding color schemes (Zane’s blue and Cryptor’s red), the designs of the two “brothers” are essentially identical, except for two key differences: Cryptor’s synthesized emotions, particularly his anger, are dialed up to full intensity as opposed to Zane’s more tempered emotions, and, perhaps even scarier, Cryptor can’t feel pain, while Zane can.
-last edited on Jun 5, 2020 0:50:23 GMT by F.I.R.E.
Post by F.I.R.E. on Jun 5, 2020 0:50:03 GMT
Shadow of Ronin (A month after Zane's sacrifice, the four remaining ninja discover a surprisingly small robbery, and decide to investigate. They suddenly find themselves lost in an endless jungle labyrinth, with no memory of how they got there. Or of the last fifteen months. A mercenary named Ronin, using a relic called the Obsidian Glaive, has robbed them of their memories; they remember nothing past defeating Samukai. That means they can't access their powers, and Lloyd doesn't remember joining the team... or becoming a friend to the others at all. With Wu missing, it's up to Garmadon and Nya to restore their memories and skills so they can take down Ronin and stop him from pulling off his greatest heist yet!)
• One of the things the ninja forget is what happened to Zane. To ensure they’d be at the top of their game fighting Ronin, Garmadon elected not to tell them about it.
(Totally not a recipe for disaster.)
Wouldn’t you know it, the instant they get their memories back, the ninja, Kai especially, are furious. This is what motivates them to go their separate ways. Lloyd is the only one who sticks around.
Cole gets involved with law enforcement.
Jay fumbles his way into a role as a contestant (and later the host) on a popular game show.
Kai, well…
‘Kai had taken his anger over what happened to Zane out on punching bags. He'd gone through enough of them to build a life-size replica of Borg Tower. He'd needed something to do. Major threats were in short supply, so he'd gone after the smaller things. He'd taken out some thugs who'd busted an ATM open, and the occasional burglar or bank robber.
But, because Cole worked in law enforcement now, the two ran into each other every now and then, and that was unacceptable.
Despite what Lloyd insisted, they weren't a team. Not anymore.
And unless, by some miracle, Zane crawled out of his grave, they would never be one again.
So now, he took his anger out on the lowlifes who signed up for these ring fights. Sure, it wasn't technically legal, but they'd been running for almost a century now without incident, and these guys were easy pickings. Their “skill” couldn't even compare to Kai's. It was the most fun he'd had in his life.
They called him the Red Shogun. They said that no one could hit him, and he didn't even have to hit anyone; they just fell right down. In some cases, it was absolutely true.’
This is amazing! Despite my love for the present series I really, really like this AU and think it works much better than the original. It's much more intriguing and has much better world-building. 
This is amazing! Despite my love for the present series I really, really like this AU and think it works much better than the original. It's much more intriguing and has much better world-building. 