How to Make a GREAT TV Pilot

Let's look back on Ninjago's Pilot Episodes twelve years after their initial release to find out: do they stand the test of time, and were they a good start to the LEGO Ninjago TV series?

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[Crusty]

What do you think the Ninjago Pilot episodes?

[legendarycryptid]

Ah yes, back when Kai was just starting out, Jay's voice was deeper, Cole was the team leader, Zane looked more human than robot, Nya was the rescued sister, Garmadon was just evil, and most importantly, Wu had a 3D mouth...

[EternityKingdomsHeadHoncho]

Don't forget the "YOU were always his favorite" line from Garmadon. It laid the groundwork for Garmadon and Wu's fractured relationship (and with the context of "Tick Tock", it shows how his mind has been affected by the Great Devourer's corrupting venom).

[samhbricks]

I like how the pilots don't overwhelm us with information about the world of Ninjago and it's characters. It gives us a simple plot and shows the character's personalties.

[squidge]

"Fatha would not want you to do this brotha"
- Wu 2011
Truly the best line in media ever

[miraculousninja]

Dude, Zane intrigued me so much in the old seasons! I was extremely interested in his six sense ability and his inability to understand humor. This guy is the definition of “Mystery”!

[TheSkides]

Honestly I like how the pilots started off, it wasn't groundbreaking or amazing, but it set up the status quo. For Garmadon, Wu, Nya, and the Ninja.

[gamejitzu]

I never noticed there was a physical representation of the balance shifting, with the dark sky and lightning. That's really cool, it should happen more often. It also makes me wonder how "the balance" would manifest if it shifted too far into the light

[alpha.raptor]

I loved how the world felt so… big in them.

[seematahir]

One thing I never hear talked about the pilots that I absolutely love is how Garmadon was handled, particularly his voice acting. I enjoy his later, more bombastic iterations, but pilot Garmadon is just perfect. A brilliant combination of menacing yet suave. It's a cold and calculating take on his character that had never been replicated since.

[VampireQueen]

What if for April fools, crusty makes an entire video about how he absolutely loves crystallized and how it perfectly portrayed Nya and Lloyd’s characters

[LonerofGaming]

Ah the Ninjago Pilot, as a kid I remember this being my first impression for Lego as a whole and getting obsessed with Ninjago back then. Checking the official website, finding the shorts that followed the pilot, The Weeken Whip by The Fold, Kai being my favorite character. The younger me didn't understand what a pilot was so they considered this Season 1 with the next two seasons as the Season 2 lmoa. Kai's training montage, him pulling out the Sword of Fire, & Shadow Garmadon are things that I remember fondly. It was just a good simple introduction to the whole world.

As a long off topic side note cause I want to talk a bit about my Ninjago as a whole, I stopped watching fully at Season 5 and was satisfied without seeing anything further as a kid, of course there are objectively really good things that came afterwards like Cole's development being the stand out but it's more or less something I just split from my original experience, add the things I liked to my own headcanon & throw out a lot of the Crystallized. Also gotta say, The Ghost Whip is probably my favorite remix of The Weekend Whip and it just feels weirdly right for a finale for me.

[iswiftyfox]

I dont remember if this is true or not but i remember hearing that Wus voice was originally going to be a stereotypical mr miyagi type voice, but they decided against it later on and dubbed him over. So that is why sometimes he sounds like he normally does and sometimes we get "FATHA WOULD NOT WANT YOU TO DO DIS BROTHA!!" Because they forgot to dub over EVERY line.

[EadEditz]

It's a good start to the show, it isnt too overwhelming or boring. The writers just laid a good foundation for the show

[noobsysys]

I actually prefer the pilot episodes over season 3, crystallized and (maybe haven’t rewatched it in a long time) hands of time.
They kinda give you some nostalgia, even if you didn’t start with them.

[AlfonzoFrohicky]

Man I almost forgot the golden weapons were the reason why the whole ninja team was assembled in the first place. I think the pilots were great for setting up the whole show and some components of the show are still built off the pilots even though the producers only planned for ninjago to have 2 seasons. Pilots are a w

[ZeroJump]

The long before time sceane is just so freeking iconic

[pekar]

Just started rewatching last week
I am currently on episode 7 season 1
I really felt nostalgic watching the pilots, they are iconic 😍

[Greek_Irene]

My sister and I rewatched the prolouge's awhile ago and laughed so hard at Garmadon's and Wu's voice acting cause THAT STUFF WAS SO FUNNY!

[wutrump]

One of the best things about roots was that the key was combining the weapons as it subverts our expectations based on rules from the pilots