The Kaiju Protocol is the twenty-sixth episode of the eleventh season of Ninjago and the 124th episode overall. It aired in Australia on October 14, 2019 and in Canada on November 1, 2019. It aired in the US on January 18, 2020, paired up "Corruption." However, in most other countries, this episode was paired up with "My Enemy, My Friend."

Synopsis[]

Back in Ninjago City, Wu and Pixal attempt to locate the Never-Realm and accidentally unleash a dreaded creature from the Departed Realm.^[1]

Extended: Wu and Pixal attempt to open a portal to the Never-Realm but accidentally open a portal to the Departed Realm. Consequently, they unleash the Preeminent on Ninjago City! Devastated by what they have done, Pixal enacts the ""Kaiju protocol"" and leaps into her Samurai X mech. She races after the Preeminent and catches up to the terrifying creature as it is attacking a news-copter carrying Gayle Gossip and her news crew. Pixal saves the news crew and forces the Preeminent into combat. The Samurai X mech is damaged and one of the mech's arms is torn off but Pixal repowers the mech by grabbing hold of an near electrical tower and super-charging herself. She defeats the Preeminent and brings it back to the Monastery where they return it to the Departed Realm.^[2]

Plot[]

At the Monastery of Spinjitzu, Master Wu and P.I.X.A.L are trying to use Mystake's Traveler's Tea to open a portal to the Never-Realm. They end up opening the Realm of the Wyldness and get overwhelmed by Beavers. P.I.X.A.L. manages to lure them back in with a broken broom to fix and Wu closes the portal. They discuss reasons for the failure of the tea and conclude that they need to add more leaves. P.I.X.A.L. comments that they are running out of leaves, which reminds Wu that he should've been the one to go after Zane. This angers Wu because he knew they did not take enough tea to return them back. They proceed to add more leaves and unsuccessfully open up unwanted realms.

After their failures, P.I.X.A.L. suggested that the Never-Realm could not be reached because it is impossible with Traveler's Tea. Wu tells her that the ninja would be doomed if so and proceeds to try again. He opens a portal to a realm, unaware it is the Departed Realm. Wu hears a sound and believes it is the Land Bounty. He then sees that it is the Preeminent and tries to close the portal, but the Preeminent breaks its way through and heads for Ninjago City. P.I.X.A.L. races off to the hangar bay and jumps into her mech, nicknaming her mission "Protocol Kaiju", and heads towards the Ninjago City.

The citizens of Ninjago City scatter as the Preeminent storms through the city. Meanwhile, Gayle Gossip and Vinny are trying to broadcast the scene when, suddenly, the Preeminent appears behind them and blows their helicopter away. P.I.X.A.L. manages to catch them and Gayle Gossip thanks her. P.I.X.A.L. replies that thanks are unnecessary but is interrupted when the Preeminent grabs her and they clash.

P.I.X.A.L. tries many different ways to defeat the Preeminent, with missiles and her sword; in the end, always asking for the Preeminent to surrender. The Preeminent eventually rips out one of mech's arms, causing her to rapidly lose power. Wu senses this and warns P.I.X.A.L. that it is too dangerous, but P.I.X.A.L. refuses, telling Wu that she is the only one who can defeat the Preeminent. The Preeminent then sends her flying through the city. P.I.X.A.L. sees that she landed near an electrical tower and believes that she can power herself up to defeat the Preeminent. Wu asks P.I.X.A.L. what she is doing and she calmly replies that she is trying to restore energy. Wu realizes the risk is a power overload, destroying P.I.X.A.L., and tries to stop her. P.I.X.A.L. ignores him, asking Wu to tell Zane that she loves him, and proceeds to replenish the mech. The mech powers up and P.I.X.A.L. grabs the Preeminent, forcing all of the energy into her and subsequently, defeating her.

Devastated, Wu calls out to P.I.X.A.L. and is relieved when he hears her, commenting that she was amazing. Gayle Gossip ends her broadcast with a thank you to Samurai X. Back at the Monastery, they return the defeated Preeminent to the Departed Realm. Unfortunately, they used all their tea leaves and cannot search for the Never-Realm. Wu says the ninja are doomed, but P.I.X.A.L. says to trust himself and the ninja will somehow find their own way home.

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Cast[]

• Beaver #1 - Kelly Sheridan
• Beaver #2 - Tabitha St. Germain
• Beaver #3 - Paul Dobson
• Gayle Gossip - Kelly Sheridan
• P.I.X.A.L. - Jennifer Hayward
• Vinny - Gavin Langelo
• Wu - Paul Dobson

Non-speaking[]

• Police Commissioner
• Sammy

Miscellaneous[]

• Maya (painting)
• Ray (painting)
• Zane (pictured)

Mentioned[]

• Mystake
• Ninja

Creatures[]

• The Preeminent
• Wu's chicken

Items[]

• Gis
  • Armor (Zane; pictured)
• Tea
  • Traveler's Tea
• Throwing stars

Vehicles[]

• Land Bounty (mentioned)
• NGTV helicopter
• Samurai X Mech
• Skull Truck
• Skull Motorbikes
• Turbo Shredders

Locations[]

• Ninjago (realm)
  • Ninjago
    • Mountains of Impossible Height
      • Monastery of Spinjitzu
        • Relaxation room
      • Hangar bay
    • Ninjago City
      • Borg Tower (mentioned)
    • Ignacia (painting)
      • Four Weapons Blacksmith
• Departed Realm
• Wyldness (portal)
  • Chima
• Cloud Kingdom (portal)
• Realm of Oni and Dragons (portal)
• Underworld (portal)
• Never-Realm (mentioned)

Species[]

• Beavers
• Chickens
• Dragons
• Living incarnation of the Cursed Realm
• Humans
• Nindroids
• Oni/Dragon hybrids
• Skulkin

Trivia[]

• Narrator: P.I.X.A.L.
• Tommy Andreasen takes full responsibility for this episode.^[3]
• Kaiju are monsters featured prominently in giant monster films, as well as in Tokusatsu media, the most famous of which are Godzilla from Toho, and King Kong from RKO. The noir visuals during the battle itself are reminiscent of those as well.
  • In this case, the Kaiju refers to The Preeminent.
• The scenes in Ninjago City are black and white (with Samurai X and the citizens in color), and the scenes of the realms and the Monastery of Spinjitzu are in color.
• This is the first instance where sequences animated by WILFilm ApS and WildBrain appear within the same episode.

Continuity[]

• The beavers seen at the beginning of the episode are from Chima.
  • Before this episode was released, Tommy Andreasen had hinted on X that there would be another crossover between Ninjago and Legends of Chima.^[4][5]
  • This is the first time a new sequence of Chima characters was animated in Ninjago, as the footage in "Curseworld, Part II" was reused from a previous Legends of Chima episode.
  • It is unknown whether this scene takes place during the Legends of Chima timeline or after the end of the show's events.
• This marks the first appearance of Chima and the Preeminent since "Curseworld, Part II."

• The Wyldness, the Cloud Kingdom, the Underworld, the Realm of Oni and Dragons, and the Departed Realm are all briefly seen through portals.
  • The realms seen through the portals were directly taken from previous episodes, except the Departed Realm and Wyldness.
    • For the Underworld, it is taken from "Weapons of Destiny," for the Cloud Kingdom, it is taken from "Kingdom Come" and for the Realm of Oni and Dragons, it is taken from "Big Trouble, Little Ninjago."
  • This is the first appearance of the Departed Realm.
• Mystake is mentioned for the first time in this season, and since "Green Destiny."
• This is the second episode of the Ice Chapter to focus on Ninjago for its entirety, first being "The Absolute Worst."
  • This is also the second episode of the Ice Chapter to use the Fire Chapter opening after it, as the episode does not take place at the Never-Realm.
• This marks the first time the Preeminent appeared in Ninjago City, as it only appeared in Stiix when it came to Ninjago in the fifth season.
• When Wu stated that P.I.X.A.L. would suffer a power overload, perhaps he feared that P.I.X.A.L. would go through the same experience Zane went through to defeat the Overlord in "The Titanium Ninja."
• Leading up to the scene where P.I.X.A.L. defeats The Preeminent, the music is the same as the one leading up to Zane's death in "The Titanium Ninja."
• This marks the first time that P.I.X.A.L. voices her love for Zane.
• This marks Wu's first appearance in this season since "The Message."
• The Cursed Realm is mentioned for the first time since Skybound.
• This is the third episode to not physically feature any of the ninja, after "The News Never Sleeps!" and "The Absolute Worst."
• As shown in this episode, Wu didn't know what the Never-Realm looks like because he was wrong with the Departed Realm.
• This is the first episode to primarily focus on P.I.X.A.L.
• This episode is similar to "Ninjago Confidential," a later episode that also takes place mostly in black and white, takes place in Ninjago when the majority of the ninja are somewhere else, has P.I.X.A.L. as a lead character, and has a brief Chima beaver appearance.

Errors[]

• When the episode was uploaded to Cartoon Network Asia's YouTube channel, it was incorrectly titled "My Enemy, My Friend," the title of the previous episode.

Video[]

LEGO Ninjago My Enemy, My Friend

Note the incorrect title

Translations[]

References[]