Ninjago: Dragons Rising
Ninjago: Dragons Rising | |
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Genre | |
Based on | Lego Ninjago |
Written by |
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Directed by |
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Voices of |
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Theme music composer | Jody Tompkins & Theofania Pavli |
Opening theme | "We Rise" by Theofania Pavli |
Composers |
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Country of origin |
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Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 30 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Running time | 22 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | Netflix |
Release | June 1, 2023 present | –
Related | |
Ninjago: Dragons Rising is an animated television series produced by WildBrain Studios and The Lego Group. It is based on the Lego Ninjago brand of construction toys and a sequel to Ninjago (2011–2022). Part 1 of the first season of the show premiered on Netflix on June 1, 2023. Part 2 was released on October 12, 2023. A second season released in 2024, with Part 1 releasing on April 4, and Part 2 is set for release in July 1 in Finland,[1] albeit the US release date is currently unknown.
Synopsis[edit]
Season 1[edit]
Part 1[edit]
After Crystalized, a phenomenon known as "The Merge" combines Ninjago with the rest of the sixteen realms of creation, introducing new threats, and causing chaotic aftershocks called Mergequakes. Years later, Lloyd befriends two civilians: Arin and Sora, the former, a fan of the Ninja, and the latter, a technopath from the totalitarian kingdom of Imperium. The three are tasked with finding the rest of the scattered ninja and combating the Claws of Imperium, who covet dragons in order to drain their life force as a resource.
Part 2[edit]
The ninja, having successfully rescued the dragons trapped in Imperium, set out on a quest to find the three Dragon Cores, that can stop the Mergequakes. They split off into three teams: Lloyd and Arin, Nya and Sora & Kai and Wyldfyre. Together, they search the Merged realms looking for the cores, coming across new elemental masters, Cole, and even new creatures. But Empress Beatrix manages to steal the Dragon Cores in order to power her weapon, so she can destroy the realms for good.
Season 2[edit]
Part 1[edit]
After saving the merged realms from the Mergequakes, the ninja are resting at the monastery. Until Lloyd starts having visions of a blood moon, which leads him and the ninja to Egalt and Rontu, two dragon masters who can help teach the ninja a special technique called "rising dragon technique", which can help defeat Shatterspin, an ancient technique now used by the new elemental master of smoke, Cinder. Meanwhile, Ras and Jordana have successfully acquired all the pieces needed to free the Forbidden Five from their captivity, they just need Bonzle, an ancient spell turned into a skeleton living in the Land of Lost Things with Cole.
Voice cast[edit]
- Deven Mack as Arin, a civilian who idolized the Ninja in his youth. He lost his parents after The Merge and somehow managed to teach himself Spinjitzu, an ability thought impossible. He also inadvertently invented Object Spinjitzu.
- Sabrina Pitre as Sora, known in her past as Ana, a technological engineer originally from Imperium who gained recognition for creating a hard light hologram projection device called Photac. She defected from Imperium when she found out how cruelly they treated dragons, leading to her parents and classmates shunning her. After The Merge, she befriended Arin and lived in the Crossroads, becoming a mech racer. She discovers that she has technokinetic powers that were boosted in the presence of Riyu, until she unlocked her True Potential.
- Sam Vincent as Lloyd Garmadon, the legendary Green Ninja and chosen guardian of Ninjago, and the son of Misako and the former supervillain Garmadon. He wields elemental energy and remains in Ninjago City to prevent Mergequakes and train Arin and Sora.
- Brian Drummond as:
- Riyu, a dragon said to have great power, and like his kin he's capable of boosting an individual's powers in close proximity.
- Ras, a black and purple colored tiger warrior who served on Imperium's military, aiding the Claws in capturing dragons until he was stripped of his position and escaped to recruit Jordana for his master. He's physically strong and wields a hammer.
- Nicole Oliver as Beatrix, the former power-hungry empress of Imperium who orders the capture of as the seven Source Dragons in an effort to colonize the Merged Realms.
- Vincent Tong as Kai, Nya's brother and the hot-headed Master of Fire whom Lloyd tasked with surveying the Merged Realms to look for the rest of their teammates until he caught up with him and Nya in the Realm of Madness. During their hunt for the Dragon Cores, Kai decided to take Wyldfyre under his wing.
- Kelly Metzger as Nya, Kai's sister and the Master of Water who lived with the Craglings of the Realm of Madness following the Merge, helping them prevent Dragons from stealing the Cragling's species' life energy. She later rejoined Lloyd, Kai, Zane, and Cole.
- Brent Miller as Zane, the Ice Ninja who was kept in suspension for years after The Merge. He later rejoined Lloyd, Kai, Nya, and Cole.
- Kazumi Evans as Wyldfyre, a feral pyrokinetic human who was raised with a dragon Heatwave as well as a caregiver robot. After Heatwave was captured by the Claws she sought to rescue him. She joins the Ninja in their search for the Dragon Cores, eventually becoming Kai's protégé.
- Giles Panton as Rapton, the field leader of the Claws of Imperium who traps many dragons.
- Diana Kaarina as Jordana, a scientist who claims to be Sora's rival. She managed to extract raw Source Dragon energy for Beatrix and Ras' master.
- Paul Dobson as Master Wu, the Ninja's mentor who has lived for thousands of years. He goes missing following the Merge but his teachings live on in Lloyd.
- Andrew Francis as Cole, the Earth Ninja, who ended up in the Land of Lost Things helping those who ran away from home. Cole later rejoined Lloyd, Kai, Nya, and Zane.
- Michael Adamthwaite as Jay, the Lightning Ninja, who ended up as one of the managers of the Administration after he lost his memories of who he was and his travels with the other ninja. However, he is shown to still possess his elemental power and that he doesn't want the Administration to know.
Episodes[edit]
Season 1 (2023)[edit]
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |||||||
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Part 1 | ||||||||||||
1 | 1 | "The Merge" | Daniel Ife | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | June 1, 2023 | |||||||
2 | 2 | Shane Poettcker | ||||||||||
3 | 3 | "Crossroads Carnival" | Daniel Ife | Hanah Lee Cook | June 1, 2023 | |||||||
4 | 4 | "Beyond Madness" | Shane Poettcker | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | June 1, 2023 | |||||||
5 | 5 | "Writers of Destiny" | Daniel Ife | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | June 1, 2023 | |||||||
6 | 6 | "Return to Imperium" | Shane Poettcker | Liz Hara | June 1, 2023 | |||||||
7 | 7 | "Mindless Beasts" | Daniel Ife | Eugene Son | June 1, 2023 | |||||||
8 | 8 | "I Will Be the Danger" | Shane Poettcker | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | June 1, 2023 | |||||||
9 | 9 | "The Calm Inside" | Daniel Ife | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | June 1, 2023 | |||||||
10 | 10 | "The Battle of the Second Monastery" | Shane Poettcker | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | June 1, 2023 | |||||||
Part 2 | ||||||||||||
11 | 11 | "The Temple of the Dragon Cores" | Daniel Ife | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | October 12, 2023 | |||||||
12 | 12 | "Gangs of the Sea" | Shane Poettcker | Eugene Son | October 12, 2023 | |||||||
13 | 13 | "Wyldly Inappropriate" | Daniel Ife | Liz Hara | October 12, 2023 | |||||||
14 | 14 | "The Last Djinn" | Shane Poettcker | Hanah Lee Cook | October 12, 2023 | |||||||
15 | 15 | "They Call It Doom" | Daniel Ife | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | October 12, 2023 | |||||||
16 | 16 | "Land of Lost Things" | Shane Poettcker | Glen Lakin | October 12, 2023 | |||||||
17 | 17 | "The Administration" | Daniel Ife | Eugene Son | October 12, 2023 | |||||||
18 | 18 | "Absolute Power" | Shane Poettcker | Hanah Lee Cook | October 12, 2023 | |||||||
19 | 19 | "We Are All Dragons" | Daniel Ife | Liz Hara | October 12, 2023 | |||||||
20 | 20 | "The Power Within" | Shane Poettkcer | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | October 12, 2023 |
Season 2 (2024)[edit]
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |||||||
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Part 1 | ||||||||||||
21 | 1 | "The Blood Moon" | Daniel Ife | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | April 4, 2024 | |||||||
22 | 2 | "Shattered Dreams" | Allan Phan & Shane Poettkcer | Liz Hara | April 4, 2024 | |||||||
23 | 3 | "Beyond the Phantasm Cave" | Daniel Ife | Tanya Yuson | April 4, 2024 | |||||||
24 | 4 | "Force From the East" | Shane Poettcker & Allan Phan | Hanah Lee Cook | April 4, 2024 | |||||||
25 | 5 | "The Spell at the Waterfall" | Daniel Ife | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | April 4, 2024 | |||||||
26 | 6 | "To Mysterium" | Shane Poettcker | Eugene Son | April 4, 2024 | |||||||
27 | 7 | "Fugitives From Madness" | Daniel Ife | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | April 4, 2024 | |||||||
28 | 8 | "Secrets of the Wyldness" | Shane Poettkcer | Liz Hara | April 4, 2024 | |||||||
29 | 9 | "The Forest of Spirits" | Daniel Ife | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | April 4, 2024 | |||||||
30 | 10 | "Rising Ninja" | Shane Poettkcer | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | April 4, 2024 |
Shorts[edit]
Title | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
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First aired | Last aired | |||
The Elemental Mechs | 3 | January 6, 2024 | January 12, 2024 |
The Elemental Mechs (2024)[edit]
A series of canonical shorts were released in 2024, to tie in with the release of the new sets that came out in the same year.
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
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1 | "What the Mech?" | Shawn Gulley | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | January 6, 2024 |
2 | "The Mech Master" | Shawn Gulley | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | January 9, 2024 |
3 | "A Pain in the Mech!" | Joel Salaysay | Kevin Burke & Chris "Doc" Wyatt | January 12, 2024 |
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
The new series was produced following the final season of the Ninjago television series, which had been on air since 2011 and concluded in 2022. For the new series, animation company WildBrain Studios moved to Unreal Engine 5 to improve on the animation quality of its predecessor.[2]
Writing[edit]
The lead writers for the series are Chris "Doc" Wyatt and Kevin Burke. Wyatt confirmed on Twitter that Ninjago: Dragons Rising is a new show, rather than a continuation of the previous Ninjago series, which had been on air for 11 years.[3]
Release[edit]
The series was initially revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2022. It was released on Netflix on 1 June 2023 in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Latin America, and in other territories later in the same month or the next except for the UK, where it was released on ITVX on 5 June 2023.[4][5] It was later aired on Cartoon Network in Southeast Asia and Europe.
Reception[edit]
The Hollywood Reporter gave the first season a positive review, saying that it looked just as good as the previous Ninjago series.[6]
Other media[edit]
Several playable characters and a new level based on the series were launched in Lego Brawls in June 2023.[7]
References[edit]
- ^ Nelonen TV Guide, link unavailable as it can only be viewed on TV
- ^ Bradley, Dan (27 April 2023). "'Ninjago: Dragons Rising' Trailers and June 1st Netflix Release Date in US". TheHDRoom. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
- ^ Wharfe, Chris (18 April 2023). "LEGO NINJAGO writer clarifies Dragons Rising is 'not a season title'". Brick Fanatics. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
- ^ Milligan, Mercedes (27 April 2023). "Netflix Builds on 'LEGO Ninjago' Franchise with New Series". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
- ^ "New Ninjago series coming soon". Lego.com. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
- ^ "Spider-Man, Gremlins and Ninjago: What THR's Kid Critics Are Saying". The Hollywood Reporter. 9 June 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
- ^ "LEGO Brawls - Official Ninjago Dragons Rising Trailer". IGN Africa. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
External links[edit]
- 2020s Canadian animated television series
- 2020s Canadian children's television series
- 2023 animated television series debuts
- 2023 Canadian television series debuts
- Canadian children's animated action television series
- Canadian children's animated adventure television series
- Canadian children's animated science fantasy television series
- Canadian children's animated superhero television series
- Animated television series about dragons
- Canadian computer-animated television series
- Canadian English-language television shows
- Netflix original programming
- Lego Ninjago
- Lego television series
- Martial arts television series