There’s just a few problems, the ninja don’t have their golden weapons, they don’t have their elemental powers and the city seems to think that Lord Garmadon is the one that did all the saving. Oh, and they no longer have their flying ship that they train on, but they still need to train Lloyd so that he can defeat his father.
A lot happens in the first episode. Not only does Lord Garmadon convince the Serpentine to follow him, but he also takes the four golden weapons to the place they were forged and combine them into a new master weapon that can grant him wishes. Meanwhile, the ninja try to find an apartment. Unfortunately, being heroes doesn’t pay well. They eventually settle on a small apartment and make a deal with a local dojo to train at his place. This dojo introduces a quite amusing character that reminds me a lot of Hercule Satan from Dragon Ball Z.
When Lord Garmadon figures out how his new Mega-Weapon works, he ends up bringing back to life a crew of long-dead pirates who were searching for a fabled Island of Shadows and so a new enemy for the ninja is introduced. Actually, while they are still out and about, they are only the focus of one particular episode.
As the season progresses, the ninja continue to train Lloyd, Garmadon keeps attacking, and the Serpentine keep flip-flopping between being under the control of their own generals and Garmadon, based on whichever has the latest plan. In one episode, Garmadon decides to keep Lloyd from his training by buying up the dojo and destroying it. If the ninja can’t raise 50,000 dollars by the next day, all will be lost. Thankfully, there just happens to be a big race that day for that exact cash prize. Anyone can compete and the only rule is, get to the finish line. Naturally, everyone joins in to compete in Cannon.... errr I mean Ninjaball Run, even the skeletons, pirates and some of the ninja’s own parents.
The season ramps up in the collection’s last three episodes. In the first of these, Lord Garmadon uses his Mega-Weapon to revive an ancient ninja-hunting beast and unintentionally makes the four ninja revert back to kids. While this is a good, seemingly one-off episode, the one lasting effect is that Lloyd, the child, becomes grown up when the true ages of the other ninja are restored, and his powers have seasoned with his new-found age.
When Garmadon discovers that his son is not only fully grown, but also close to realizing his potential, he comes up with a new plan. In order to keep the prophecy that pits him against his son from coming true, Lord Garmadon uses the Mega-Weapon to go back in time and keep Kay from joining the ninja team and making them the force they are. This would also prevent Lloyd from getting the training he needs.
The collection ends with new enemy coming to power and many revelations about Ninjago and Lloyd’s destiny come to light. While there aren’t any special features on this DVD set, it does seem to provide quite a few fun episodes that keep the Ninjago story going. I don’t know if I would recommend LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu: Rise of the Green Ninja to someone already planning on buying the full season when it comes out, but if you can’t wait, then Rise of the Green Ninja is a fun collection for the right fan.
