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“A great evil has been released. I fear troubling times will come. This is only the beginning.”
Wu to the ninja

Rise of the Snakes is the first episode of the first season of Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. Along with "Home," it debuted in the United States on Cartoon Network on December 2, 2011.

Synopsis[]

The four Ninja are snapped out of their post-hero complacency when Lord Garmadon’s young son Lloyd shows up and tries to pick up where his father left off. The Ninja dismiss him as a threat, but regret that choice after Lloyd wakes up the evil snake tribe. A prophecy is revealed that states a green ninja will ultimately defeat Lord Garmadon.[1]

Introduction[]

Long before time had a name, the First Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago using four elemental weapons. But when he passed, a dark presence sought out to collect them all: Lord Garmadon. So I, Sensei Wu, his brother, sought out to find four ninja to collect them first...

Plot[]

Rots012

The ninja playing video games.

In the Monastery of Spinjitzu, Sensei Wu is interrupted from his meditation by the sound of the ninja fighting. As the cries of battle continue, he enters the training yard only to find it deserted. Wu follows the shouting into the living room only to find them all playing video games and eating pizza. Just as they are about to perform a special attack, Wu unplugs the TV and implores the ninja to start training again to prepare for his brother's return to Ninjago, as ever since Lord Garmadon has escaped, they have done nothing but waste time. Jay complains that peace is boring as they have no one to fight but Sensei Wu lectures the four on "not putting off until tomorrow what can be done today," saying that the four have not yet reached their full potential. Cole then uses the Scythe of Quakes to plug the TV in and the ninja resume their game as Zane assures their master that they will be ready when Lord Garmadon returns.

Screenshot 20200427-171012

Garmadon is back!

Their meeting is interrupted by Nya, proclaiming that Lord Garmadon was spotted in Jamanakai Village, sending the ninja into a state of panic. They rush down to the pen where their dragons are kept though have great difficulty mounting due to how out of shape they are. As they eventually take off, Nya question whether they will ever unlock their true potential, but Wu assures her they will in time.

As the ninja fly towards Jamanakai Village, they reflect on what their master has just told them and decide to race to the village. They arrive on their dragons to stop Lord Garmadon, only to find the sighting to be his son, Lloyd Garmadon, who has escaped Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys again.

MoS1LloydArrives

"I demand all the candy in town...or else!"

Lloyd tries to terrorize the village and rob them of their candy, threatening to release the Serpentine on the villagers, but is instead pelted with fruit and vegetables. The ninja hang him on a sign, amusing the villagers before teasingly eating their paid candy in front of him. Before returning to the Monastery, Kai discovers he has accidentally taken Master Wu's bag in the rush, and finds a scroll that tells of the prophecy of the Green Ninja.

None of the ninja are able to contain their excitement, boasting to the others that himself will become the Green Ninja. All consumed by selfishness, they try to hold a tournament to find who is the best of them all and thus become the Green Ninja. Unfortunately, the idea backfires when Kai's sword starts an elemental fire that cannot be put out. Zane attempts to freeze the fire, Jay catches fire, and Cole hits the flames with his Scythe. Sensei Wu arrives and uses the Shurikens of Ice to stop the fire, before explaining the ninja must agree to continue their path to unlocking their potential before any of them will become the Green Ninja.

MoS1VillagersHpno

The hypnotized villagers.

Meanwhile, Lloyd wanders the frozen wastelands of Ninjago, upset his plans have gone awry. Mistakenly, he uncovers an ancient tomb containing a tribe of the real Serpentine known as Hypnobrai. Slithraa attempts to hypnotize Lloyd, but he ducks out of the way and the General is met by his own reflection in an ice stalagmite, accidentally hypnotizing himself in the process. The tribe is now under Lloyd's control, who sends them to steal all the candy in Jamanakai. The Hypnobrai use their power to hypnotize the villagers, bringing more power to Lloyd.

Sensei Wu senses the presence of the Serpentine with his spirit smoke and quickly alerts the ninja, who rush to the village and are able to defeat the Hypnobrai, forcing them to retreat. However, Skales, the second-in-command of the tribe, hypnotizes Cole before leaving town, forming a scheme to destroy the ninja for revenge. After stealing the Hypnobrai Staff, Nya uses the anti-venom inside it to cure the villagers, but Cole remains under Skales's influence, unbeknownst to the ninja or to himself.

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Cast[]

Mentioned[]

Creatures[]

Events[]

Items[]

Locations[]

Species[]

Transcript[]

For the transcript of the episode, click here.

Trivia[]

  • At the end of the episode, Wu is in Jamanakai Village. It can be assumed he traveled there on foot, but it's unknown how he was able to get there so quickly.
Rots015

US version

  • The game played by the ninja is actually a scene from "The Golden Weapon" in the US version. However, in the version aired in Germany, United Kingdom, Finland, Portugal, and Japan, they are playing LEGO Battles: Ninjago. This is also in the Netflix version.
  • This episode shares the same name as its season, a trend later followed by the Season 7 premiere.
  • This and "Home" are the last episodes to air in 2011 and the only Season 1 episodes to do so.
  • Jay states the Serpentine once ruled Ninjago, but this does not line up with the rest of the lore laid out in subsequent episodes. Tommy Andreasen stated, "Don’t trust a young boy from a scrapyard for history lessons. Besides, you haven’t seen all of Ninjago’s history yet, so they might have at some point."[2]
  • Even though Cole was the first to be touched by the Hypnobrai Staff's anti-venom mist, his hypnosis was not undone, as shown a few moments later. It's possible the mist only affected those who were in a state of hypnosis at that moment, seeing as Cole's hypnosis was dormant when he placed the staff in the fountain.
  • Tommy Andreasen stated, "Originally the pilot RotS had a cliff hanger but we didn't feel it was fair if it turned out we couldn't conclude".[3] It's unknown what this means, as there was a cliffhanger in the final moments of this episode, with Skales having hypnotized Cole.
  • The line "Could I be the Green Ninja?" became a widespread Internet meme.[5]
    • Jay's line "What I said was, lean" also became a widespread Internet meme, because of the fact lean was the name of a purple colored drug.
  • Regarding the line, "Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today," which would go on to be repeated several times throughout the series, Tommy Andreasen said, "In hindsight I have always wished that we had phrased it 'Never put off for tomorrow what MUST be done today'. I think that is a bit sharper ... but even Wu has his less eloquent moments I guess."[6]
  • The scene when Wu searches for the ninja in the courtyard but finds them up in the relaxation room as they play video games is similar to the scene from Kung Fu Panda when Shifu searches for Po in the temple, but he is in the pantry.
  • The ninja slacking off, playing video games, and eating pizza, with Sensei displeased with them, is a reference to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who sport similar behaviors.

Garmadon's laugh in this episode and "Tick Tock"

  • Mark Oliver makes an uncredited voice cameo when the sound of Garmadon's laughter first accompanies Lloyd's shadow in Jamanakai Village.

Continuity[]

  • This episode marks the first appearance of Lloyd.
  • The episode name refers to Lloyd unleashing the Hypnobrai, marking the Serpentine's first return to Ninjago since their last defeat. More broadly, it can refer to Lloyd's actions beginning a chain of events that will unleash all of the Serpentine and the the Great Devourer upon Ninjago.
  • Nya asks Wu when she would get her own dragon, and Wu told her to be patient.
    • Broadly, this foreshadows her becoming Samurai X and having an action role in team missions.
    • She first has her own dragon in "Infamous", six seasons later.
  • This is the first episode where The Overlord is mentioned, although the ninja think the mentioned Dark Lord is Lord Garmadon.

Errors[]

  • When Kai says "Oh, my gosh, is that the greatest move you've ever seen?" one of the other ninjas (unknown which) appear to grunt in his voices.
    • This also occurs when Cole says "Stop trying to do it yourself we need to attack as a team."
  • When Jay says "Why would you do that? Why?" Zane's mouth moves despite him not saying anything.
    • This also happens to Kai when Wu says "In order to unlock your full potential you must train."
  • When Nya says Garmadon's at Jamanakai Village all the ninjas voices are swapped with each other as they stumble.
  • When ninja defeat Lloyd for the first time a female villager's eyes are a bit larger than they should, and her face looks like it's frozen.
  • Cole has Kai's voice in various scenes:
    • When he says "We can train tomorrow"
    • When he jumps onto Rocky.
    • When he says "I need to work on some new moves."
    • When Jay and Kai start to fight.
    • When he uses his Scythe on Kai.
  • Kai has Cole's voice when he says "It's a scroll windbag." and "It means it tells the future."
  • Sensei Wu kicks Cole's pizza out of the doorway; however, it disappears soon afterward.
  • During the match between Cole and Zane, Zane uses one of his shurikens to freeze Cole in the legs. However, when Cole is deflecting Zane's attacks, Zane could be seen holding both of his shurikens even though the Ice on Cole's legs continued to grow.
  • When Wu leaves the monastery, he passes through the fire with no apparent consequences.
  • When Jay tells Nya she can be the team's honorary member, each ninja's eyebrows are further apart from each other than normal.

Video[]

Gallery[]

For the gallery of the episode, click here.

Translations[]

Language Name
Chinese (Traditional) 蛇族崛起
Czech Vzpoura hadů
Dutch Opkomst van de Slangen
Finnish Käärmeiden nousu
German Der Aufstieg der Schlangen
Italian Il risveglio dei serpenti
Portuguese A Ascensão das Cobras
Polish Atak węży
Russian Возвращение змей
Spanish El Ascenso de Las Serpientes
Ukrainian Повстання змій

References[]

Ninjago episodes
Pilot episodes 1. Way of the Ninja · 2. The Golden Weapon · 3. King of Shadows · 4. Weapons of Destiny
Mini-movies 1. Secrets of the Blacksmith · 2. Flight of the Dragon Ninja · 3. The New Masters of Spinjitzu · 4. An Underworldly Takeover · 5. Return to the Fire Temple · 6. Battle Between Brothers
Season 1: Rise of the Snakes 1. Rise of the Snakes · 2. Home · 3. Snakebit · 4. Never Trust a Snake · 5. Can of Worms · 6. The Snake King · 7. Tick Tock · 8. Once Bitten, Twice Shy · 9. The Royal Blacksmiths · 10. The Green Ninja · 11. All of Nothing · 12. The Rise of the Great Devourer · 13. Day of the Great Devourer
Season 2: Legacy of the Green Ninja 14. Darkness Shall Rise · 15. Pirates vs. Ninja · 16. Double Trouble · 17. Ninjaball Run · 18. Child's Play · 19. Wrong Place, Wrong Time · 20. The Stone Army · 21. The Day Ninjago Stood Still · 22. The Last Voyage · 23. Island of Darkness · 24. The Last Hope · 25. Return of the Overlord · 26. Rise of the Spinjitzu Master
Season 3: Rebooted 27. The Surge · 28. The Art of the Silent Fist · 29. Blackout · 30. The Curse of the Golden Master · 31. Enter the Digiverse · 32. Codename: Arcturus · 33. The Void · 34. The Titanium Ninja
Season 4: Tournament of Elements 35. The Invitation · 36. Only One Can Remain · 37. Versus · 38. Ninja Roll · 39. Spy for a Spy · 40. Spellbound · 41. The Forgotten Element · 42. The Day of the Dragon · 43. The Greatest Fear of All · 44. The Corridor of Elders
Season 5: Possession 45. Winds of Change · 46. Ghost Story · 47. Stiix and Stones· 48. The Temple on Haunted Hill · 49. Peak-a-Boo · 50. Kingdom Come · 51. The Crooked Path · 52. Grave Danger · 53. Curseworld, Part I · 54. Curseworld, Part II
Chen mini-movies (non-canon) 1. Chen's New Chair · 2. Chair Play Chen · 3. Chair Up Chen · 4. Chairful What You Wish For · 5. Bad Chair Day
Season 6: Skybound 55. Infamous · 56. Public Enemy Number One · 57. Enkrypted · 58. Misfortune Rising · 59. On a Wish and a Prayer · 60. My Dinner With Nadakhan · 61. Wishmasters · 62. The Last Resort · 63. Operation Land Ho! · 64. The Way Back
Tall Tales (non-canon) 1. The Tall Tale of Flintlocke · 2. The Tall Tale of Clancee · 3. The Tall Tale of Doubloon · 4. The Tall Tale of Dogshank · 5. The Tall Tale of Monkey Wretch · 6. The Tall Tale of Sqiffy and Bucko
Special Day of the Departed
Operation Heavy Metal 1. Operation Heavy Metal: Machia · 2. Operation Heavy Metal: Buffmillion · 3. Operation Heavy Metal: Blunck · 4. Operation Heavy Metal: Raggmunk
Season 7: The Hands of Time 65. The Hands of Time · 66. The Hatching · 67. A Time of Traitors · 68. Scavengers · 69. A Line in the Sand · 70. The Attack · 71. Secrets Discovered · 72. Pause and Effect · 73. Out of the Fire and Into the Boiling Sea · 74. Lost in Time
Wu's Teas mini-movies (non-canon) Wu's Teas
Ninjago: Decoded 1. Legacy · 2. Vehicles and Mechs · 3. Legendary Places · 4. Ninjago's Most Wanted · 5. The Digiverse and Beyond · 6. The Elemental Masters · 7. Beasts and Dragons · 8. Rise of Garmadon · 9. Prophecy of the Green Ninja · 10. Greatest Battles
Season 8: Sons of Garmadon 75. The Mask of Deception · 76. The Jade Princess · 77. The Oni and the Dragon · 78. Snake Jaguar · 79. Dead Man's Squall · 80. The Quiet One · 81. Game of Masks · 82. Dread on Arrival · 83. True Potential · 84. Big Trouble, Little Ninjago
Season 9: Hunted 85. Firstbourne · 86. Iron & Stone · 87. Radio Free Ninjago · 88. How to Build a Dragon · 89. The Gilded Path · 90. Two Lies, One Truth · 91. The Weakest Link · 92. Saving Faith · 93. Lessons for a Master · 94. Green Destiny
Tales from the Monastery of Spinjitzu 1. Master Class · 2. Green and Gold · 3. The Weekend Drill · 4. Elemental Rider · 5. Blue Lightning · 6. Samurai X-Treme
Season 10: March of the Oni 95. The Darkness Comes · 96. Into the Breach · 97. The Fall · 98. Endings
Season 11: Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu 99. Wasted True Potential · 100. Questing for Quests · 101. A Rocky Start · 102. The Belly of the Beast · 103. Boobytraps and How to Survive Them · 104. The News Never Sleeps! · 105. Ninja vs Lava · 106. Snaketastrophy · 107. Powerless · 108. Ancient History · 109. Never Trust a Human · 110. Under Siege · 111. The Explorers Club · 112. Vengeance is Mine! · 113. A Cold Goodbye · 114. The Never-Realm · 115. Fire Maker · 116. An Unlikely Ally · 117. The Absolute Worst · 118. The Message · 119. The Traveler's Tree · 120. Krag's Lament · 121. Secret of the Wolf · 122. The Last of the Formlings · 123. My Enemy, My Friend · 124. The Kaiju Protocol · 125. Corruption · 126. A Fragile Hope · 127. Once and for All · 128. Awakenings
Prime Empire Original Shorts 1. Let's Dance · 2. Upgrade · 3. The Meaning of Victory · 4. The Stowaway · 5. Manhunt · 6. Gayle Gossip: A Closer Look
Season 12: Prime Empire 129. Would You Like to Enter Prime Empire? · 130. Dyer Island · 131. Level Thirteen · 132. Superstar Rockin' Jay · 133. I am Okino · 134. The Glitch · 135. The Cliffs of Hysteria · 136. The Maze of the Red Dragon · 137. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back · 138. Racer Seven · 139. The Speedway Five-Billion · 140. Stop, Drop and Side Scroll · 141. Ninjago Confidential · 142. The Prodigal Father · 143. The Temple of Madness · 144. Game Over
Season 13: Master of the Mountain 145. Shintaro · 146. Into the Dark · 147. The Worst Rescue Ever · 148. The Two Blades · 149. Queen of the Munce · 150. Trial By Mino · 151. The Skull Sorcerer · 152. The Real Fall · 153. Dungeon Party! · 154. Dungeon Crawl! · 155. Grief-Bringer · 156. Masters Never Quit · 157. The Darkest Hour · 158. The Ascent · 159. The Upply Strike Back! · 160. The Son of Lilly
The Island 161. Uncharted · 162. The Keepers of the Amulet · 163. The Gift of Jay · 164. The Tooth of Wojira
Season 14: Seabound 165. A Big Splash · 166. The Call of the Deep · 167. Unsinkable · 168. Five Thousand Fathoms Down · 169. The Wrath of Kalmaar · 170. Long Live the King · 171. Escape from Merlopia · 172. The Tale of Benthomaar · 173. The Storm Amulet · 174. Riddle of the Sphinx · 175. Papergirl · 176. Master of the Sea · 177. The Calm Before the Storm · 178. Assault on Ninjago City · 179. Nyad · 180. The Turn of the Tide
Ninjago: Reimagined 1. Golden Legend · 2. Gold Rush · 3. A Day in the Life of a Golden Ninja · 4. Sweatin' to the Goldies · 5. Golden Hour
The Virtues of Spinjitzu 1. Curiosity · 2. Balance · 3. Wisdom · 4. Honesty · 5. Generosity · 6. Courage
Season 15: Crystalized 181. Farewell the Sea · 182. The Call of Home · 183. The Shape of Nya · 184. A Mayor Problem · 185. Public Enemies 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5! · 186. A Painful Promise · 187. Ninjago City vs. Ninja · 188. Kryptarium Prison Blues · 189. Hounddog McBrag · 190. The Benefit of Grief · 191. The Fifth Villain · 192. The Council of the Crystal King · 193. A Sinister Shadow · 194. The Spider's Design · 195. The Fall of the Monastery · 196. Darkness Within · 197. The Coming of the King · 198. Return to Primeval's Eye · 199. Crystastrophe · 200. Christofern · 201. A Lesson in Anger · 202. Brave But Foolish · 203. Quittin' Time! · 204. Return of the Ice Emperor · 205. Safe Haven · 206. Compatible · 207. Distress Calls · 208. An Issue of Trust · 209. Dragon Form · 210. Roots
Ninjago NXT 1. Noodles · 2. Oldies · 3. Shadows · 4. Volcano · 5. The Party
Will you enter the Dream World? 1. I Just Had the Weirdest Dream · 2. I Just Had the Most Wonderful Dream · 3. I Just Had the Most Peculiar Dream · 4. I Just Had the Most Outrageous Dream
Ninjago - Dream Team (non-canon) Ninjago - Dream Team
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