LEGO Ninjago (seasons 7, 10 & 11)
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| ♥ | This article is dedicated to Kirby Morrow, the voice actress of Cole, who died of related to a long history of alcohol abuse at the age of 47 (August 28, 1973 - November 27, 2020). |
| LEGO Ninjago | ||||||||||||||||||
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Ginja-NO!
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LEGO Ninjago (formerly known as LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu) is a Canadian-Danish-American CGI animated TV show created by Michael Hegner and Tommy Andreasen and released on January 14, 2011 as well as created to promote the series of Lego toys of the same name. It includes the voice roles of Vincent Tong, Michael Adamwhite, Andrew Francis (formerly Kirby Morrow in Season 1-14), Brent Miller, Kelly Metzger, Sam Vincent (formerly Jillain Michaels in Seasons 1-7), Paul Dobson and Mark Oliver. The show aired on Cartoon Network in the United States, Teletoon in Canada, Nickelodeon in Denmark, Greece and Holland (Season 11-), and Disney XD in Latin America (pilot episodes-Season 7), SIC K in Poland, and Cartoon Network (Season 11-). While the first six seasons and the eighth, ninth, and twelfth season onwards were good and done right, these seasons, sadly, didn't do as good to the point and the same can't be said for this show where they were put on Terrible TV Shows Wiki instead.
Plot
The show follows the story of four (later six) young ninja warriors on their adventures in the world of Ninjago as they defend their land from various threats:
Season 7: The Hands of Time
Shortly after the Day of the Departed, Master Wu awaits his old enemy Acronix to complete a battle they began 40 years ago. But Wu never should have faced such a powerful foe alone. Acronix hits Wu with the Time Punch, which causes him to start rapidly aging! Acronix escapes and reunites with his twin brother Krux, who has been living the past 40 years in disguise as the lovable Dr. Sander Saunders. During this time, Krux has been breeding a new slithering enemy: the Vermillion Warriors.
Season 10: March of the Oni
The Oni are coming … As demonic darkness descends upon the realm of NINJAGO, the time has come for our heroes to rise again and protect the land that all Masters of Spinjitzu call home. It is a world filled with a rich history and legacy, and it is from here where our ninja heroes must unlock an even greater power to defeat the darkness that is marching towards them. What could these shapeshifting dark forces be, why do they want to destroy NINJAGO, and how can they be defeated?
Season 11: Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu
The Fire Chapter
The Scrolls of Forbidden Spinjitzu have been kept a secret for a thousand years. With good reason. The evil Serpentine sorceress, Aspheera, was banished along with the Scrolls – but now she is back, hungry for revenge, and ready to get her fangs on the Scrolls once more and reclaim her powers. The ninja’s powers, friendships, beliefs and loyalties will be put to the test like never before.
The Ice Chapter
Zane's been captured by the evil Ice Emperor. The Ninja have mounted a desperate rescue mission – but if they want to see their friend again, they’ll have to battle hordes of Blizzard Samurai as they make their way through the Never-Realm, from where no Ninja has ever returned. Join the adventures of Nya, Kai, Jay, Zane, Cole, Lloyd, and Master Wu in 15 exciting new episodes. Bundle up, and let’s go!
Bad Qualities
Overall
- The main problem with these seasons is that they lack the charm and great storytelling and writing of the first six seasons, and the eighth, the ninth, twelfth, and thirteenth onwards season. In fact, this makes the show that went downhill.
- There are plenty of bad or average episodes in this show, which explained in the seasons section for this page.
- At times, most of elements are just really rehash of other seasons, like the villains, episode plots, and even the characters.
- Some main characters are dumbed down and underused or absent in these season, mainly Dareth, who served no purpose to the actual story.
- They have some unresolved plot holes everywhere (see Bad Qualities #6 section for Season 11: Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu).
Season 7: The Hands of Time
- The main problem is that The Hageman Brothers didn't write this season in favour of the theatrical movie of The Lego Movie series, so the transition between David Shayne worsened the writing, resulting in the season overall being pretty rushed.
- While not terrible at best, the computer animation looks rather cheaper and stiff, compared to the first six seasons and the Pilot.
- It focused on the villains Acronix and Krux looking for the four-time blades (though three of them appeared at a certain location from the time vortex). So basically, this copies plots from the Pilot Episodes (the golden weapons), Season 1 (the fangblades), and Season 5 (the keys to Sensei Wu's father's tomb).
- Lloyd was doing his role as team leader very well in the last season, especially in Skybound, but here in The Hands of Time, no one takes him seriously, and for no reason at all. This in itself makes Lloyd seem like he just became gradually less wise in this season.
- "Secrets Discovered" is arguably one of the worst episodes of the show yet for all time. At one point, Samurai X (later revealed to be P.I.X.A.L in Season 8) "reminds" Nya that the reason she hid her identity as Samurai X back in Season 1 was because her friends and love ones would "be at risk". This is absolutely nonsensical. Why would she be putting her friends at risk, when they're the '''PROTECTORS OF THE CITY?'''
- The Vermillion army has many flaws.
- To get the cat out of the bag, this is another rehash of the Serpentine army, since it was already used in Season 1.
- Raggmunk and Blunch are unlikable comic relief characters. Machia is unlikable as well. And they are the only ones who talk as the rest don't.
- Wu and Garmadon's history with Ackronix and Krux kind of seems like it was just forced into the timeline.
- Its just “Wu doesn’t tell the ninja about his past until now but it may be too late to stop them” season, much like season 4 and 5, but with poorly received.
- Weak pacing that feels much longer than that.
- Unnecessarily laughable dialogue, such as "It is time to rule!", or "Well aren't you clever, such a smart, little, NINJA!".
Season 10: March of the Oni
- This season only had four episodes, so it seemed pretty rushed and short, compared to the previous and next seasons.
- Despite fitting to the dark tone, there are few funny moments, which were actually the only ones intended. So overall, this season was pretty bland.
- Cole's "Death", while touching, didn't have enough time to be properly focused on, as he literally came back in the next episode, which made it seem forced and downright pointless.
- Speaking of his "death", when spreading the news, not once did they use "dead, and instead "gone", which gets very annoying. After all, the show is rated "TV-Y7" not "TV-G" or "TV-Y", and the characters should be allowed to directly reference death as they did in previous seasons.
- The scene of Lloyd yelling at Garmadon about how there's more to life than survival, while good, can come off as annoying because the only reason he has all these thoughts is because Harumi brought him back as evil.
- This season kind of ended on a cliffhanger regarding Garmadon's development, as he gradually becomes more sympathetic, but in the last episode he just leaves frowning and so far, never appeared again, like it never resolved in Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu.
- While the Oni are cool and threatening antagonists, they don’t get enough screentime, and when they are about to kill the ninjas, they do the tornado of creation, and just like that the oni are defeated, just wiped out like it’s nothing, which makes them seem kinda weak.
- Lloyd meeting the first spinjitzu master was downright pointless and had no purpose but to tell the Audience “The ninja are more of heroes than the first spinjitzu master” while this is a nice callback to their progress throughout the series, but he doesn’t even show his face and basically asks Lloyd if he wants to go to heaven, and when he says no, the master says that when he wakes up he thinks I’ll be a dream and eventually forget it, making the entire scene have no purpose whatsoever.
Season 11: Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu
- Wil Film ApS no longer animates and produced Ninjago from this season onward. Instead, it is now produced and animated by WildBrain Studios (formerly DHX Media), who also animated and produced other shows like Blaze and the Monster Machines. While it isn't terrible at best, the pacing is mediocre, the hairstyles look blocky, and the character designs look mediocre.
- This season onwards also got rid of the 22-minute format, replacing it with an 11-minute format for no good explained reason. So overall, the episodes were pretty rushed, like the finale in Seasons 11 and 12.
- Because of this, TV guides and video streaming websites, including Netflix, consider Ninjago to be two separate series, and this is considered Season ONE with no subtitle, which absolutely makes no sense, because A, the pilot episodes and the first ten seasons led up to these events, and several things would not happen in this season if it weren't for them, and B, even if they are separate series, serving as a continuation, it would make no sense since this season premiered two months in June after the previous season in April.
- The dialogue was poorly-made and laughable, even more so than Season 7.
- WAY too many filler episodes, just like Season 2a, even if its well received. Not only were they in the Fire Chapter episodes but some were also in the Ice Chapter episodes as well as they are just never mentioned again afterwards.
- Misako didn't appear once, and Jay was so useless to the plot that he could have been removed and it wouldn’t change a thing. Not even Dareth, who barely got any screen time, as he is not important characters.
- Plot holes everywhere. An example is that after Zane got banished to the Never Realm, Aspheera got locked in Cell One in the following next scene. This makes no sense since the ninjas, including Sensei Wu and P.I.X.A.L, didn't actually defeat her.
- By the way, Aspheera, while having well-done voice acting and having a somewhat entertaining dialogue, is one of the, if not, terrible and worst villain of Ninjago villains, who is very unoriginal character by recycling many features from previous Ninjago villains. Her motivation behind wanting to banish Wu is because when they were kids, she asked him to teach her Spinjitzu in exchange for his freedom, and Wu makes her promise not to use it for evil but of course she does is questionable. Later, to stop her from LITERALLY ENSLAVING A WHOLE KINGDOM, Wu and his brother Garmadon use an unknown Spinjitzu called Forbidden Spinjitzu, and she gets put in prison. Then, she decides to play the victim card as if Wu betrayed her or something. That in itself is just an old snake emotionally manipulating Wu and pretending to be the victim.
- The tone was much lighter and less-serious then the series' past three seasons, which is really unnecessary at all.
- What problems is that it gets even worse when one considers that it is basically just a rehash of Seasons 3 and 4. The first villain in the duology is an ancient evilnote Overlord and Aspheera seeking revenge on a descendant of the First Spinjitzu Master (Lloyd and Wu), steal one of the Ninja's powers for their own use (Lloyd and Kai), and their arc ends with Zane supposedly sacrificing himself to save his friends. The second half of the duology deals with a new villain (Chen and Vex) as they use an amnesiac Zane's powers for their own evil plans (Chen steals Zane's powers directly while Vex manipulates Zane into using his powers for evil), and follows the remaining Ninja as they search for Zane in a new, uncharted location (Chen's Island and the Never-Realm) under the guidance of an older character (Garmadon and Sorla). The story also primarily follows the same three Ninja—Kai, Zane, and Lloyd (with Kai being the focus of one half, Zane the focus of the other half, and Lloyd a major character in both). The fact that Seasons 3 and 4 were also fairly well-liked doesn't help Season 11's case, as that makes the similarities even more clear. So overall, this season is very unoriginal.
- The Pyro Vipers are yet another rehash of the Serpentine, again. Really? Snakes were already used in Seasons 1 and 7, but in a better way than this.
- More flanderization, most of the ninja in this season either feel dumbed down or sucked of their charm.
- Kai is now even more unlikable and narcissistic than in Season 8. Back in Season 5, he lost his powers and still coped with it, but in Powerless, he believed he is hopeless without his powers, thus also suffering character derailment. In Under Siege, after Wu told him a story about how he befriended Aspheera and taught her Spinjitzu, he along with Jay, Cole, and P.I.X.A.L scolded him, but Kai being the most.
- Jay is given nothing, but useless, to do here, and feels like he's just... there.
- Cole (Specifically in the Ice Chapter) is very dumbed down as displayed by his babyish dream showing the thought of the rest of the ninja being angry at him for losing the traveler's tea.
- Lloyd just feels mostly stereotypical here compared to nearly any other season.
- Zane, while fine, feels like he's at the ass of the story, as he "dies" again, has another one of his visions (which has been done before, but way better), and turns evil.
- Nya's side plot in the Ice Chapter of learning to control ice is completely unnecessary and redundant.
- First of all, she is NOT THE ICE NINJA. She's the water ninja. Why does she need to learn to control ice, and why did she understand it? Second of all, can't she just make a tsunami and get rid of all the snow. She also doesn't even know exactly how to shoot water since Season 8.
- Wu at times just feels like a stereotypical grandpa type.
- Unnecessary anime-esque scenes, which is very unfitting for a LEGO show. An example is that in "The Absolute Worst" where they used flashbacks by the villains when they escape the prison before getting captured by P.I.X.A.L and in "Secret of the Wolf" where Akita tells about her backstory. Even worse, the animation isn't really like anime at all, since LEGO was really known for computer-animated and flash animated shows.
- Predictable plot twists, like Zane being the Ice Emperor or Wu being the one who Aspheera wants revenge on.
- Its just another “Wu doesn’t tell the ninja about his past until now but it may be too late to stop them” season again.
- While the Ice Chapter was an improvement over the Fire Chapter, people expected Kai to fight the Ice Emperor than Lloyd, as Kai and Zane are often working together and have more of connection like in Season 3.
- False Advertising: The official poster of the season make you think that Kai will be using his fire elemental power threw out the season but in reality, he only uses his firepower in like 7 Episodes.
- The Intros use the wrong footages from the previous episodes.
- Nya and Vex are shown holding a scroll of forbidden spinjitzu but lacks on.
Good Qualities
Overall
- The voice acting stayed decent, thanks to the cast reprising the voice roles.
- Unlike most bad seasons of good shows, these seasons actually have some pretty good episodes under the bad writing.
- Like most of seasons, "The Weekend Whip" remixes (except season 10) are well-done.
- These seasons does add up to the lore that were introduced.
- Out of every season on this page, Season 10 has the best writing.
- Unlike other terrible seasons of good shows, they don't tried to be hip-and-cool for target audiences, so it doesn't screamed "it's made for kids" at the audience's intelligence.
Season 7: The Hands of Time
- This season finally revealed the history of Kai and Nya's parents.
- The chemistry of Kai and Nya in this season is fantastic and one of the highlights of it.
- The season premiere, "The Hands Of Time" and the season finale, "Lost In Time" are pretty good episodes and perhaps ending it on high note.
- The season's main antagonists; Krux and Acronix are decent.
- David Shayne didn't have any prior Ninjago experience, so you can kind of understand.
- The opening is still great, even though it's kind of sad that Ninjago doesn't use this type of openings anymore.
- It is also unique to see Elemental Powers like Time can be past down to twins.
- It was nice seeing the Elemental Alliance from Season 4.
- We finally get to see the spinjitzu powers in slow motion sequences.
- This (along with Ninjago: Decoded) is the last time we saw the original designs of the Ninja before they were revamped in the movie, Season 8, and onwards.
Season 10: March of the Oni
- As mentioned earlier, this season fits on the darker tone.
- Some funny moments, like Garmadon pushing the button that sent them falling into the ground, even if that was one of the only few funny moments.
- Garmadon reconciling with Lloyd is very heartwarming.
- "The Fall" is an amazing episode and one of the best in the Oni Trilogy.
- Very mature themes, plus, out of every season on this page, this one definitely has the strongest writing.
- Its good to see the Golden Weapons again since season 3, and the Tornado of Creation since season 1.
- It was nice to see the last time we seen from Wil Film ApS animates this show, before it was replaced by WildBrain Studios from seasons 11 onwards.
Season 11: Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu
- The Ice Chapter was an improvement over The Fire Chapter.
- The Blizzard Samurai were creative.
- Kai nearly redeemed his character derailment in The Ice Chapter, until his character was ruined again in Season 12.
- The choreography and fight scenes improved to the max in this season, something that carried on to Season 12 and completely took off in Season 13.
- The two new characters that were introduced in the show, Akita and Sorla, are a good and likable character.
- Although it was executed horribly, Wu and Garmadon's backstory with Aspheera had some good concepts, like Wu being the deceiver instead of the obligatory and predictable Garmadon.
- The Ice Chapter did bring back the continuity error of Jay using Wind in season 2, establing there are connections between elements like Water and Ice are but Nya only learned to solidify ice for a brief moment.
- Aspheera is one of the few villains that can use Spinjitzu against the Ninja, which is very rare for Ninjago.
- The idea of the scrolls of paper that contains stronger and dark Spinjitzu power is interesting.
- Luckily, the subplot of Nya trying to control ice might be non-canon, since it wasn’t used since the finale.
- As of this season, it finally stopped using Zane's infamous movie design.
- Despite the flaws, the new animation itself by WildBrain Studios (formerly DHX Media) isn't that terrible at best.
- Lil' Nelson finally returns after "Infamous" (episode 1 of Skybound) in "The News Never Sleeps!" despite the episode not being that good.
Reception
While most of seasons have well-received, these seasons didn't do as good to the point. For example:
Season 7: The Hands of Time has received mixed-to-negative reception, and is often seen as one of the series' weakest seasons. Kai and Nya's dynamic and relationship with their parents was well-received by fans, as were the season's main antagonists; Krux and Acronix, as well as the side-story involving Samurai X. Yet the animation, pacing, dialogue and overall character development of the season were all high points of criticism.
Season 10: March of the Oni has received more mixed reception. The conclusion of the Oni & Dragon storyline introduced in Sons of Garmadon and continued in Hunted was well received by fans, as well as the introduction of the Oni, the re-introduction of the Golden Weapons, the callbacks to previous season and the last scene of the season. Garmadon's character and dynamic with Lloyd is the highest point of praise from fans with the season. More mixed-to-negative reception stems from the lack of characterization and screen time for the Oni themselves, as well as only being a 4-episode season to both conclude the Oni & Dragon arc and to celebrate Ninjago's 100th episode milestone.
Season 11: Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu has received more mixed-to-negative reception. The first 15 episodes, dubbed The Fire Chapter have especially been a high point of criticism, due to their filler-like nature, the lighter and less-serious tone then the series' past three seasons, the downgrade in animation and the lack of character development for the Ninja. The animation of Forbidden Spinjitzu itself was a high point of praise however. The season's last 15 episodes, dubbed The Ice Chapter received a much more positive response, with praise being directed towards the tone and setting of the Never-Realm, the roster of new and likeable side characters, the antagonistic nature of Vex and the overall stronger storyline compared to the previous chapter. The episodes "The Absolute Worst" and "The Kaiju Protocol" were high points of criticism however, due to their filler-status and moving away from the main storyline of the Never-Realm entirely. The introduction of 2D animation and the change in runtime from 22-minutes per episode to 11-minutes per episode were also high points of criticism and concern among fans, resulting in the season being the most divisive one yet for the series.
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