Review: Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu Season Five DVD
Posted by Aanchir,
The LEGO Ninjago “Possession” story arc that premiered in the second half of 2015 has finally been released for home media in North America, and it’s the perfect way to prepare you for this year’s new “Skybound” story arc. The LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu Season Five two-disc DVD set includes five 22-minute episodes per disc, with options for English and Spanish voice tracks and English subtitles. Other than trailers (including trailers for LEGO Dimensions and the latest LEGO Friends movie Girlz 4 Life), there are no special features.
My DVD set came shrink wrapped with a sticker advertising “over 3 hours of cartoon fun!” and reminding me that Ninjago airs “only on Cartoon Network”. The cover art for the DVD is stylish although a bit spoilery, for reasons that will become apparent about halfway through the season. Kai, Zane, Cole, Jay, and Lloyd (possessed by the evil ghost Morro) can all be seen in the moonlit city of Stiix, along with Morro’s ghostly allies Bansha, Wrayth, and Ghoultar. The other high-ranking ghost, Soul Archer, is mostly covered up by the “Possession: Season Five” text, but appears more prominently on the back cover of the DVD. Conspicuously absent, though, is Kai’s sister Nya. This is a bit of a disappointment since she’s one of this season’s most important characters.
The overall story for the season is fairly dark compared to previous seasons of LEGO Ninjago. In the last season, Sensei Garmadon (Mark Oliver) opened a portal to the Cursed Realm to defeat Master Chen’s enchanted army of Anacondrai warriors. However, not only did the spell result in him becoming trapped in the Cursed Realm, it also allowed the vengeful ghost Morro (Andrew Francis) to escape. Morro possesses Green Ninja Lloyd (Jillian Michaels), and with his ghostly allies concocts a scheme that puts the entire world in danger. Kai (Vincent Tong), Zane (Brent Miller), Cole (Kirby Morrow), and Jay (Michael Adamthwaite) must race Morro in a quest to obtain three ancient artifacts that in the wrong hands could mean spell doom for the world of Ninjago.
Meanwhile, as the ninja race Morro across Ninjago and beyond, Kai’s sister Nya (Kelly Metzger), who previously fought by the ninja’s side as the mysterious Samurai X, undertakes a mission of her own. Sensei Wu (Paul Dobson) sees in her the potential to become a ninja, as well as the team’s most potent weapon against the ghosts of the Cursed Realm. But to do so, she must confront a part of herself that she’s long tried to deny: her fear of failure. Along the way, she and the opportunistic thief and swindler Ronin (Brian Dobson) butt heads over their very different principles, but also learn a thing or two from one another.
Nya’s training to become a ninja and the other ninja’s quest to stop Morro’s sinister plot come together in the emotionally-charged two-part finale, “Curse World”, in which Lloyd and Morro do battle for the title of Green Ninja while Nya and the other ninja do battle with Morro’s monstrous master, the Preeminent, and her army of ghosts. While it’s not as heart-wrenching as the season three finale “The Titanium Ninja”, it is still powerfully written, and tests how much the ninja are willing to sacrifice to save Ninjago from a ghostly doom.
Just as with every new season since season three (“Rebooted”), the new opening credits sequence is accompanied with a new remix of the theme song “The Weekend Whip” by The Fold. You can listen to this season’s rendition, “The Ghost Whip”, on The Fold’s official YouTube channel. The cinematic, Asian-inspired score by Jay Vincent and Michael Kramer continues to impress and add another level of emotional resonance to the season’s most powerful scenes — Nya’s new “Water Ninja” leitmotif deserves special recognition. The animation this season is also better than ever, with lots of evocative lighting and very impressive wind and water effects.
LEGO fans might appreciate that this season features elements of pretty much all the LEGO sets from the second half of 2015, including the beloved 70751 Temple of Airjitzu. The locations and vehicles are stylized, but they are still plainly recognizable. However, some of the smaller supplemental parts of the sets, like Kai and Jay’s hoverboards from 70736 and Nya’s speedboat from 70732, do not make an appearance. It’s possible that these elements of the sets were added to the sets too late in the development process to be worked into the storyline, or just that the writers Dan and Kevin Hageman preferred not to derail the overall flow of the story to make room for things that only existed to balance out the individual sets.
Surprisingly, the collectible Aeroblades displayed prominently throughout the sets get little fanfare. Instead of being mystical items of any sort or being unique to the ninja, they are merely interchangeable weapons that the ninja acquire along their journey. They are still significant as some of the ninja’s only weapons that are effective against the ghosts, but the ninja don’t have to go to any great effort to acquire them. The Ninja’s special Airjitzu forms don’t make an appearance in this season either. Although the Ninja do learn Airjitzu this season, it doesn’t cause them to transform into elemental energy forms like when they unlocked their true potential back in Season One.
This story does provide some valuable context to features of not just the 2015 sets but also the 2016 sets. Wondering what’s up with the Cole minifigure in 70604 Tiger Widow Island? After watching this you won’t be. You’ll also meet the ghost of Sensei Yang, who appears as a minifigure for the first time in 70595 Ultra Stealth Raider, coming out this summer. If you haven’t previously been following the Ninjago storyline there are some parts of the “Possession” story arc that might leave you feeling a bit lost, but I think after watching this season even a newcomer to the Ninjago storyline will have a pretty firm understanding of the main characters and feel much more prepared for what’s to come in the “Skybound” story arc.
LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu Season Five is available now on DVD and Digital HD. Thanks to Warner Bros. for supplying the DVD set for this review!
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8 comments on this article
I bet they wanted to have the LEGO Ghostbusters to help them out here sooner!
It's finally available? Cool! I will pass this on to my Ninjago DVD-collecting friend Peace Keeper. (on Youtube)
As someone who is sensitive to sound quality in these DVDs (The "Final Battle" DVDs I got a while back had a deeper sounding tone than as they sounded when the episodes premiered) how does this DVD fare?
@Lego_Fox: I believe some of the ninja make comments to that effect in LEGO Dimensions!
@Penkid11: I did not notice any audio issues.
Great review Aanchir, this season was really good. Still looking forward to more seasons, especially season 7.
Also Join the Wu Cru!
Are you sure it's not "Girlz 4 Lyf", just to properly ram home the story arc's illiteracy theme? *rolls eyes*
I missed most of this season so will try to get it.
Have this. Great season, great DVD!
Please add this to the digital media section of Brickset. You have Season 1, season 2, season 3 part 2... but you don't have season 3 part 1, season 4, or season 5. :(