Hi everyone it’s 4 Corners and today I’m going to rewatch Ninjago’s infamous Halloween
special: Day of the Departed.
Most fans perceived this as some mediocre or less than average NINJAGO content.
And personally I feel the same way too, but never knew why exactly it fell flat.
In concept ths T.V special is very outstanding with returning villains, new powers, Cole
focus for the first time.
And that’s why I’m rewatching it, to figure out what killed Day of the Departed.
So the opening scene got me hyped, the Yin Yang eclipse is lightly foreshadowed to the
audience and we get this really energetic desert scene as the Ninja try to get to the
museum on time.
One thing I really like is that the background music isn’t the typical NINJAGO soundtrack
but instead rock and roll which got me really hyped up.
The only thing that’s weird is how every ninja has these forced dialogues to introduce
themselves with their name.
I think without the whole formulaic naming bit this whole scene would have been perfect.
Now we get to the whole Day of the Departed part of Day of the Departed.
I really like Wu’s voiceover of the ninja paying respect to those they’ve lost and
also spending quality time with the ones they have.
And my notes that I took as I was watching this just says “Wu raising cup to First
Spinjitzu Master”.
I don’t know why I wrote that down specifically but I remember really liking that scene.
Cole’s story finally starts now and again that non-typical but great music shows up
again as we focus on Cole’s father Lou who’s wondering where the heck Cole is since they’re
supposed to meet right now.
And this whole Cole not meeting his father is done really well so you really feel the
stakes involved or how bad Cole is feeling right now.
The songs Lou and his group sing are really solid and I’ll play the one I liked the
most that’s played over Cole driving.
This could just be me but did anyone else not understand why Cole was forgotten by the
Ninja?
Yang seems to imply that it was all only in Cole’s head, but if it was really a product
of Cole’s insecurities acting up then why did the ninja just walk through him and not
notice him talking?
I feel like there’s some good explanation to all this and I’m just not seeing it right now,
This scene is where things really start to fall apart.
I think it’s a little too convenient that this once in a lifetime eclipse happens at
the same time that statues of the bad guys and their SIDE-KICKS are made plus their vehicles
apparently.
Cole then accidentally releases the spirits of the villains thanks to Yang's masterpiece
of a plan which allows villains to come back only if they beat the ones who killed them
off.
I thought this was a cool idea but when each big bad is introduced it’s sadly played
more for comedy instead of intimidation, which is a big factor why the villains coming back
isn’t as interesting as it should’ve been.
They all talk like kids trying to pick which ninja they want to attack.
The only villain I am happy to see isn’t even a main one, it’s the side-kick Krazi
the skulkin, I feel like he’s such an interesting concept but was never given any of the attention
he needed.
Anyways Yang's backstory saves me for a bit as it’s some actual sad villain stuff.
Then the ninja start getting attacked at their memorial areas at the same time, Lloyd using
super strength as Pythor attacks him is awesome.
A weird thing I noticed is all of the bad guys say revenge a lot, and this was before
it was cool so I'm taking off points since it just feels shallow here.
Then for the most part the one on one fights are pretty boring especially Cole’s with
the student ghost ninja that drags for a little too long.
I think I might be spoiled by how interesting NINJAGO makes its fights look now.
However Lloyds is epic because he gets a jaw dropping emotionally tied fight to his father.
But the reason these generally don’t work is because they’re too formulaic.
Jay gets attacked, then we switch over to Zanes' story where he gets attacked and so
on for most of the other ninja.
Then we come again full circle, Jay wins, Zane wins, and repeats for the rest of the
team again.
It’s just like earlier where all the ninja were introduced one by one in the beginning.
It’s too formulaic to feel natural.
So if Lloyd wins his fight we know almost everyone else is going to win at the same
time since we just keep going round and round in the formula.
The only formulaic bit I liked was the memorial scene because it actually makes sense that
all the ninja would have the same scenario there, plus the soundtrack they used is amazing
for that.
Anyways on the bright side Dareth gets like the best scene right here:
As the ninja, Morro, Wu all meet up and realize they’ve forgotten Cole this is when Day
of the Departed starts living up to it’s real potential with all that formula stuff
out of the way.
Cole gets his RX powers which will change the journey of his character forever.
Like seriously Cole became so much more awesome after they visualized his powers a little
differently.
Yang and Cole almost become friends as he explains the Rift portal is the only way to
escape his haunted house curse.
And it’s kinda sad to see how desperate Yang is when he tries to fight Cole even when
Cole’s helping him, after all that.
But Cole gets the last slot to escape and turns human again, finally!
Then I like how they skipped a year after that and even Yang gets a happy ending as
the ninja move in with him so he doesn’t feel alone.
Cole’s wayyy too nice and likable he just sees the best in everyone
And that wraps up Day of the Departed, and I think we figured out what killed it.
From the very beginning this need to have every ninja get their own name tag, or villain
storyline made it feel so artificial.
Especially since most of them went down the same way in order.
Then on the villains side instead of intimidation I felt more of a lame comedy vibe.
If you want to see a place where the writers did it right, look at the Council of the Crystal
King, I already could feel Lloyd was in trouble when he walked in.
Genuine fear there.
I appreciate you watching till the end, make sure to like and subscribe if you enjoyed
this video and would like to see more, and as usual I’ll see you in the next one bye
bye!