Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja is an American-British-Irish animated television series created and executive produced by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas, with character designs provided by Invader Zim creator Jhonen Vasquez. It is produced by Titmouse, Inc. and Boulder Media, Limited. The series premiered on Disney XD on September 17, 2012 and ended on July 27, 2015.
Plot[]
A town called Norrisville has been protected by a ninja for 800 years. But what the citizens of Norrisville don't know is that a new ninja is selected every four years. Every ninja starts out as a freshman and when the ninja graduates, they pass down the ninja suit. 9th grade teenager, Randy Cunningham, is the next ninja. Randy is bummed, however, that he can't tell anyone. So instead of telling his best friend, Howard, that he's the ninja, he comes to the school for a "meet and greet," not knowing that an evil sorcerer is planning to destroy the ninja.
Characters[]
Main Characters[]
- Randy Cunningham (voiced by Ben Schwartz) - A 9th grade kid and the main protagonist of the series who is chosen to be the next ninja. He and his friend Howard love video games as seen in the series preview. Randy sometimes thinks of himself as a ladies' man. Randy tries to find out new things about the ninja suit by reading a book that came with it called "The NinjaNomicon". Randy is also in a band with his best friend Howard Weinerman called "30 Seconds to Math" a parody of the band "30 seconds to Mars", in which he plays the keytar. Randy is lazy, doesn't always demonstrate good judgment, and he tends to ignore the good advice of the NinjaNomicon, leading him to frequently misuse his powers and weapons. However, he also has an ability to solve riddles, an affinity for science and a willingness to fix his mistakes.
- Howard Wienerman (voiced by Andrew Caldwell) - Randy's best friend, who always calls him by his last name. He is a big fan of the ninja in the first episode, until he finds out that Randy is the ninja. Howard is secretly insecure about his "dainty" hands. Howard can be very selfish, but treasures his friendship with Randy. The NinjaNomicon has told Randy that friendship is a burden the ninja must not have, but Randy is determined to continue being both the ninja and Howard's best friend. Also, in the episode "Stanks Like Teen Spirit", it is shown that Howard is extremely good at chess, even beating a so-called "Unbeatable Robot".
Villains[]
- The Sorcerer (voiced by Tim Curry in Season One, Ben Cross in Season Two) - The primary antagonist of the series, who wants to destroy the ninja. This one-time master of the dark arts was sealed beneath the Earth 800 years ago by the last survivor of Norisu Nine (a family of ninjas that fought the Sorcerer). But in the present-day, Norrisvile High School was built over his burial ground and he has reawakened. In order to escape, the Sorcerer needs to create chaos to build his power within the Chaos Pearls that he wears on him. He does this by creating and releasing a gas that can turn the most vulnerable people in school into rampaging monsters (referred to as "Stankifying"). The only way to reverse this transformation is by doing something massively distracting to the victim, such as destroying something the victim greatly cherishes or reuniting them with someone they love or care about. If he creates enough chaos, he could break free from his prison, destroy the Ninja, and rip the world to shreds. Hannibal McFist has allied with the Sorcerer to cause chaos in exchange that the Sorcerer gives Hannibal McFist the ability of his choosing. During his time in his prison, the Sorcerer started socializing with a rat. In "Raiders of the Lost Nomicon", Randy finally meets the Sorcerer in McFist's tower. It is shown that he has limited influence in the outside world by using a kind of red stank to attack Randy. The influence appear to be limited to McFist's corporate office.
- Hannibal McFist (voiced by John DiMaggio) - The secondary antagonist of the series. Hannibal McFist is the owner and CEO of McFist Industries which makes or owns just about everything like McFist Tunes, McFist Limousine, McFillings, McCedes, McShorties, McSterminator, McSquiddies, McTighties, McTops, McHoodies, McFistios, McKicks, McFizzles, and McSkinnies, but the world is not enough for McFist. The one thing he wants more than anything is a superpower. So he made a deal: if McFist helps the Sorcerer break out of his hole of a prison, the Sorcerer will reward McFist with the super-human ability of his choosing. Hannibal McFist has a robotic right arm which has its own brain. In "Last Stall on the Left", it is shown McFist doesn't always have complete control over his mechanical arm. Before discovering his true nature, McFist was actually Randy's hero due to loving all the stuff his industries make.
- Willem Viceroy III (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) - Often just called Viceroy, he is a mad scientist but rather refined madman responsible for all the bizarre robots attacking Randy. As McFist's chief scientist, Viceroy doesn't really care about money or power, he just wants everyone to appreciate his genius. In "Monster Dump", it is revealed that Viceroy now keeps a pet amoeba named Nicholas. He was also a classmate to Jerry Driscoll and ratted him out to the police about his device causing his arrest.
- Robo-Apes (voiced by John DiMaggio) - Robotic gorillas created by Willem Viceroy that are often unleashed by Hannibal McFist to attack the Ninja.
- Jerry Driscoll (voiced by Andy Dick) - Mrs. Driscoll's deceased husband whose skeleton she carries around with her at all times. In "Dawn of the Driscoll", Randy accidentally brought his skeleton back to life. It's revealed that he is a mad scientist and arguably the most dangerous villain in the show as he spent his time building doomsday devices that could destroy the world and the universe. He hates Viceroy who got him imprisoned and stole the spot of Valedictorian at Mad Scientist University. The only thing he loves more than destruction is his wife.
- Mac Antfee (voiced by David Koechner) - He was the ninja of the 1980s, but was "condemned for conduct unbecoming of a ninja" and stripped of the ninja suit. He first appeared in a flashback in the Nomicon in "Stank'd to the Future" which revealed that he opted to lock a stankified student named Dickie in the cafeteria freezer, so he wouldn't miss a dance. Whether this was the act that got him stripped of his ninja mask was unknown. Since losing the suit, he opened up a ninja camp that teaches kids to win via cheating and dirty tricks. He also believes himself to be the one worthy of being the ninja and has dedicated his life to reclaiming the mask. He is shown to have some fighting skills, though nowhere near the level of the ninja, and has trained numerous red suited students to serve as grunts, with one heavyset student also serving as his personal gong (much to the student's discomfort). After being defeated by Randy, he escaped on a speedboat with the student he uses as a gong, vowing revenge. Instead, Mac reevaluated his life and attempted to move on as a motivational life couch. But Randy's prodding reawakened his desire for the mask and made him realize Randy was the current ninja. The two had a showdown in the Ninja-Nomicon and Randy tricked Mac into getting his mind wiped. Without memories of the power he had as the ninja, Mac returned to being a really nice guy, to the bewilderment of his gong sidekick.
- Man-Gong - Mac Antfee's right-hand man.
- Catfish Booray (voiced by Jim Cummings) - A Cajun swamp man stereotype, Booray lives in the swamp behind the school. With knowledge of both science and sorcery upon gaining special powder from the "Spirit of the Swamp", he can control animals and turn himself into a giant amalgamation of swamp animals called the Pythanthigator (a python/black panther/alligator hybrid). He views himself as the best animal trapper of the swamp and believes anything in it is his property, including students who sneak in. Due to Randy trying to hide his identity when they first met, Booray knows him as "Ranginald Bagel".
- The Sorceress (voiced by Jennifer Tilly) - The Sorcerer's girlfriend. She's a being of similar powers and appearance. They met eight hundred years ago while each causing chaos and misery and it was love at first fight. Together they were nearly invincible, but the original ninja managed to use their own powers to banish her to the Land of Shadows before imprisoning the Sorcerer. Knowing she might eventually return, the ninja used the Eye of Eternity as the lock for his prison, believing her inability to see true beauty would make her unable to locate it. In Randy's time, she returned but had somehow lost the bulk of her power. Nevertheless, she disguised herself as a beautiful high school student named Amanda Levey, and put a love spell on all the boys in her class. Then she had them go hunt for the most beautiful thing in the school, which led to Randy showing her the eye's location. She then attempted to free the Sorcerer but was once again defeated by having her powers used against her. She escaped and vowed she would return once she regained her full power. Her primary stank colors are pink and light blue. Although she can take a form that humans find beautiful, her stank based powers cause her to be unable to hide her awful smell.
- Evil Julian (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) - Evil Julian is an evil version of Julian who was created when Julian came in contact with one of the Sorcerer's Power Balls. He possesses an arcade of abilities even with out a power ball and becomes the most formidable opponent Randy faces as an antagonist that he had to team up with the Sorcerer in order to beat him. After regular Julian comes back to the real world, Evil Julian is re-merged back into Julian.
Other characters[]
- Bashford "Bash" Johnson (voiced by Dave Wittenberg) - A school bully and McFist's stepson, the Norrisville High Crushin' Carp quarterback, and a Grade-A jerk who thinks he's the king of the school. What Bash lacks in intelligence, he makes up for in fists.
- Bucky Hensletter (voiced by Scott Menville) - A student who always get bullied by Bash and plays the triangle. He is shown to be vulnerable enough to be turned into a monster by the Sorcerer constantly. He has a crush on Flute Girl and even wrote a song for her. Bucky is a sort of recurring character as he's always shown in nearly every episode. He seems to love his triangle so much that he breaks out into a one man band and does a "triangle solo".
- Principal Slimovitz (voiced by Jim Rash) - The principal of Norrisville High School. A recurring theme that happens in episodes that he appears in is that his car is always destroyed by Randy as "The Ninja" when he fights monsters and robots at school. After school, he acts like a baby cowboy, wearing nothing but a ten gallon hat, training pants, and a holster. When this news was revealed by Howard on Heidi's show and the students laughed at Principal Slimovitz, he said, "After school is ME time!"
- Heidi Weinerman (voiced by Cassie Scerbo) - Howard's older sister, and the host of "Norrisville High's #1 Me-Cast: Heidi@School!" She's tall, beautiful, popular and on the cutting edge of pretty much everything. In "30 Seconds to Math" she is shown to be a fairly talented singer. She often gets Randy's name wrong, constantly calling him every other name that rhymes with Randy except Randy itself.
- Theresa Fowler (voiced by Sarah Hyland) - A Norrisville High student who has an interest in baton twirling. She has shown an indication that she might have a crush on Randy. When she is Stankified by the Sorcerer, she is transformed into a green plant-like monster.
- Marci McFist (voiced by April Stewart) - The wife of Hannibal McFist and mother of Bashford Johnson. Though she is aware that her husband does supervillain-based activities, she is blissfully unaware that her son is the biggest bully in school even when she and Hannibal are often called in by Principal Slimovitz.
- Mr. Bannister (voiced by Neil Flynn) - Randy and Howard's loud English teacher.
- Flute Girl (voiced by Grey DeLisle) - The nerdy girl who plays the flute in the school's marching band. She is shown not to share the same feelings as Bucky does for her, though she does seem to be his friend.
- Stevens - The trombone player in the school's marching band, he always wears sunglasses and hardly talks except when he plays the sour tone on his trombone which he has on him even when out of band uniform. In "The Tale of the Golden Doctor's Note", he always gets out of gym, because he has a doctor's note.
- Juggo (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) - A student at Norrisville High School who dresses like a clown every day. His known talent is juggling while on a unicycle.
- Dave (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) - An accordion player at Norrisville High School.
- Julian (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) - A Gothic student who is seen wearing a purple top hat, a purple suit and sports vampire-like features such as teeth. He sometimes speaks in Old English or in third person, even monologues of gothic rituals. He seems to admire death and torture, even his hat, but when he was in danger, he revealed that he was lying. Like a stereotypical goth, he can be seen popping out in any site mostly in dark areas to spook the people. He also does a flamboyant creepy giggle at times when excited. Howard thinks of him as a freak. Whenever he is Stankified by the Sorcerer, he is transformed into a spider-like monster.
- Morgan (voiced by Kari Wahlgren) - The leader of "Dancing Fish", Morgan is a dancer with a sassy attitude and a smug voice.
- Mick (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - A football player on Norrisville High School's football team, who is Bash Johnson's friend.
- Marlene Driscoll (voiced by Megan Mullally) - Randy and Howard's 9th grade science teacher who is smart, but out there and is often seen talking with her husband Jerry Driscoll's skeleton with bad ventriloquism.
- Gene Levine (voiced by John DiMaggio) - An exterminator that helps Viceroy dispose of a few unwanted monster blob creations.
- Sundown (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) - Sundown is the janitor at Norrisville High School.
- Coach Green (voiced by John Oliver) - Randy and Howard's eccentric and insane gym teacher.
- Senora Jorge (voiced by Judy Reyes) - Randy's and Howard's Spanish teacher.
- Debbie Kang (voiced by Piper Curda) - A Straight A student who has an obsession for Mexican death bears thinking them as "very cute" and can get over-excited when hearing about them. She can also speak fluent Spanish thanks to a hypnotizing CD.
- Rachel (voiced by Laura Marano) - The clarinet player in Norrisville high's marching band. She seems to have a passion for all things cute.
- Dickie (voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait) - In 1985, Dickie was Stankified by the Sorcerer, after mistakenly believing that his girlfriend had stood him up. Unfortunately for him, the ninja at the time was Mac Antfee, who locked Dickie in the freezer instead of fighting and freeing him so that he wouldn't miss prom. Inadvertently released by Randy, Dickie was De-Stankified only to discover he had been frozen for over 25 years. Believing he had lost his beloved "Tawny" forever, he became depressed and was quickly Re-Stankified by the Sorcerer, but Randy managed to reunite him with Miss Zingwald. This magically freed him from the stank and aged him to how old he should have been by that point, allowing him to live happily with his love.
- Miss Mary Elizabeth Zingwald (voiced by Annie Potts) - The poetry teacher at Norrisville High School with long ankle-length hair. In "Stank'd to the Future", she once went out with a student named Dickie (who was Stankified by the Sorcerer and left in the freezer by Mac Antfee). When Dickie is Stankified a second time, Randy had her presence Un-Stankify Dickie (which also got him caught up to his adult age) and the two of them were reunited.
- Greg - (voiced by Keith Ferguson) - Greg is a worker at the video arcade called "Greg's Game Hole".
- Buttermaker (voiced by Sterling Knight) - A jock at Norrisville High School who is the captain of the "Wave Slayers" water ski team.
- S. Ward Smith (voiced by John Witherspoon in Season One, Gary Anthony Williams in Season Two) - The blind metal shop teacher at Norrisville High School. He is actually the swordsmith for the ninja, making the ninja's weapons.
- Brent (voiced by Jason Earles) - A student at Norrisville High School who is the protégé of S. Ward Smith. When Brent believed that S. Ward Smith was going to replace him with Howard, the Sorcerer Stankified him into a goblin-like creature.
- Pradeep (voiced by Parvesh Cheena) - A student who plays the French horn in the marching band. Pradeep has a fear of spiders. When he is stankified by the Sorcerer, he is transformed into a green monster.
- Jacques (voiced by Rob Paulsen) - A foreign exchange student from France. He becomes a monkey-like monster after the Ninja humiliates him in front of the school enough for the Sorcerer to Stankify him.
- Punk-Bots (voiced by Billy Idol) - There are three of them, each with their own color scheme (red, green and yellow). They can combine into one robot whose armor is made of McSatchle, making them almost invincible. Due to McFist cutting the production cost of the McSatchle though, the zipper is not made of the same material, thus making it the weakness of the combined Punk-Bot.
- Pitch Kickham (voiced by Simon Pegg) - Pitch Kickham is a superstar soccer player who appeared in "The McHugger Games".
- Terry McFist (voiced by Steve Zahn) - Hannibal McFist's hippie big brother and the true heir to McFist Industries. Because he doesn't feel like being a businessman and his father used to tell him he wasn't a businessman, Terry signed a document every year allowing Hannibal to run business on his behalf. In "Fart-Topia", Randy learned of this fact and (as the Ninja) convinced Terry to take over. Unfortunately, Terry's idea of wind power was using farts. When it turned out cows couldn't produce enough wind, Terry had his robots abduct people to use theirs. After being defeated by the ninja, Terry decided to, once again, allow Hannibal to run business as his proxy.
- Ranginald Bagel (voiced by Gilbert Gottfried) - Ranginald served as a background character for most of the show and was mentioned in "Swampy Seconds", but his character never developed until "Bring Me the Head of Ranginald Bagel". He considers himself to be a stand-up comedian, constantly telling jokes that the other characters do not laugh at. Like a real comedian, he signs off by saying "Good night everybody!" even if it's the middle of the day. In "Swampy Seconds", Randy used Bagel's name to avoid being exposed as the Ninja but didn't know it was a real person's name.
- First Ninja (voiced by Joel McHale) - The First Ninja was the last ninja from the Norisu Nine who became the first Norrisville Ninja and trapped the Sorcerer underground. His voice is often heard in the Ninja-Nomicon when it came to specific ninja lessons and/or historic events. In "Randy Cunningham: 13th Century Ninja", it is revealed that he has a squire named Plop Plop. In the same episode, Randy ended up in his time where they worked to keep the Sorcerer from taking over the world.
- Plop Plop (voiced by Adam Pally) - The First Ninja's squire and friend.
Voice Cast[]
Crew[]
- Jed Elinoff - Writer
- Ginny McSwain - Voice Director
- Scott Thomas - Writer
- Jhonen Vasquez - Character Designer
- Jean-Jacques Villard - Designer: Nomicron Doodles
Broadcast[]
A sneak preview of Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja aired on Disney XD in the United States on August 13, 2012. The official US premiere was on September 17, 2012. Disney XD Canada premiered the series on September 29, 2012. The series premiered on October 4, 2012, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and on Disney Channel Australia & New Zealand on December 10, 2012.
Trivia[]
- Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas, the creators of the show, appear as background characters in certain episodes.
- Character designer Jhonen Vasquez was the creator of Nickelodeon animated series 2001-2002 Invader Zim. Thus, the majority of the characters have design elements that call back to those of Invader Zim, such as characters having square ears and Theresa Fowler having the "upside-down nose" seen on characters like Gaz.
- Ben Cross took over as the voice of The Sorcerer in Season 2 after Tim Curry suffered a stroke.
- The person who designed the Nomicron Doodles was Jean-Jacques Villard, who was the creator of the Cartoon Network Adult Swim animated series King Star King.
Video[]
Randy Cunningham pilot
Gallery[]
Japanese Heading
Jed and Scott's cameo
Randy's Concept Art
Howard's Concept Art
Heidi's Concept Art
The Sorcerer's Concept Art
McFist's Concept Art
Viceroy's Concept Art
External links[]
- Official website
- Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja Wiki
Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja on Wikipedia
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