85 

Ninjago: Rise of the Snakes is a really solid start to one of my favourite shows ever made. Usually with Ninjago, the season is dedicated to one of the six main ninja but this one felt like more of a group season to me. All of the characters were developed very well, with Lloyd becoming a member of the team, Nya becoming Samurai X and Kai learning to accept he isn’t the green ninja or whatever. And Tick Tock remains one of the greatest episodes of Ninjago to date, with Zane having an ultimate revelation, despite the episode having a common name with the worst social networking app ever made.

The plot of the season focuses around the ninja trying to stop an ancient snake race, the Serpentine, from terrorising Ninjago after Lloyd releases them. As the season goes on, the threat of the Serpentine becomes more and more dire as the Ninja must fight to stop the tribes uniting and unleashing The Great Devourer. I have always enjoyed how the season evolved the Serpentine to become a much larger threat as it progressed from subplot to subplot. It all makes for a very satisfying conclusion when they all come together. And the humour in this season is some of the best in the show!

The Serpentine work very well as the main antagonists for the season. Pythor remains one of my favourite villains of the series, with an excellent design and a very clever mind. His plan almost actually worked, but of course he was killed in the process. At least until season 3 when its revealed that he lived. Garmadon works well as a secondary villain/protagonist for the season as well. We have some much needed development for the character, and it’s satisfying for so many reasons when he does reach his ultimate goal of collecting all four golden weapons.

The Ninja are all great in this season and all have their moment to shine. I have no other notes on this part, it’s just very well written.

I have a few issues with this season however. Some of the snakes can feel a little too goofy at points. I know this is a kids show and everything but they are made out to be an ancient and all powerful warrior race, then they turn out to be comic relief. I also think the monastery was destroyed a little too quick, I quite liked it as the ninjas’ main base. The dragons also feel a little underused and the bond between dragon and ninja that is often implied isn’t really shown as much as it should be.

Favourite Scenes:

Zane’s Past
Zane Discovers he is a Nindroid
Garmadon Destroys the Devourer
Jay Unlocks his True Potential 
Garmadon and Sensei Wu escape the realm

Favourite Characters:

Zane
Garmadon
Wu
Jay
Kai
Pythor

Least Favourite Characters:

Lloyd (before joining the team)



The Ninja are all very 

Rise of the Snakes

Legacy of the Green Ninja

Rebooted

Tournament of Elements

Possession

Skybound

Hands of Time

Sons of Garmadon

Hunted

March of the Oni

Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu

Prime Empire

Master of the Mountain

The Island

Seabound

Crystalized

Specials