Golden Hour

Synopsis[]

Ever wonder what happened to Wu when he fought the Hands of Time in the Time Vortex battle? This short film will give you a glimpse into what took place before Master Wu showed up as a baby in the 'Sons of Garmadon' season.^[2]

Plot[]

After throwing the Reversal Time Blade to Kai and Nya and off the Iron Doom, Wu prepares to face Krux and Acronix but is struck with reversal energy from the inside of the vehicle. Striking Wu's staff, the Time Twins are transported with Wu to the Fire Temple, where they see past versions of Kai and Lloyd. Krux attempts to change the past, but Wu stops him and unintentionally transports himself and the twins back to the Iron Doom, becoming younger in the process.

Krux and Acronix deduce that Wu is being affected by the energy of the Reversal Blade, which is allowing the Iron Doom to continue moving through the temporal vortex. They attack Wu again and are transported to the Temple of Light. Wu stops the Time Twins from interacting with the past ninja and the three are warped back to the Iron Doom once again.

Next, Wu and the Time Twins are transported outside the Monastery of Spinjitzu while child Wu and Garmadon spar with katanas on the other side of the wall. As the young Great Devourer lurks nearby, Wu's katana flies over the wall. Wu stops Acronix from picking up the sword and laments that while he wishes he could change this moment, as doing so would prevent Garmadon's transformation to evil, he knows he cannot.

Wu and the twins continue to warp across several time periods, eventually ending up back on the Iron Doom, where Wu has de-aged into a child. Krux mocks Wu's new form, and Wu throws his staff at Krux and runs toward the time apparatus. When Acronix protests against this, Wu responds that the Hands of Time are no more than "second-hand thugs" before touching the apparatus with the Reversal Blade's energy inside him to halt the Iron Doom entirely.

With the Iron Doom broken and completely still, an infant Wu floats through the temporal vortex.

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Cast[]

• Acronix - Ian Hanlin
• Kai - Vincent Tong (archival audio)
• Krux - Michael Daingerfield
• Lloyd Garmadon - Jillian Michaels (archival audio)
• Nya - Kelly Metzger (archival audio)
• Wu - Paul Dobson

Non-speaking[]

• Garmadon
• Misako
• Jay
• Cole
• Zane
• Morro (dream)
• Giant Stone Warrior
• Maaray Guards

Creatures[]

• Great Devourer

Events[]

• The Devourer's bite
• Battle for All Time (flashback)
• Attack of the Great Devourer
• Nindroid crisis

Items[]

• Time Blades
• Bo staff
• Gis
  • Fusion (Cole and Jay; flashback; Kai, Nya)
  • ZX
  • Golden Techno (Zane)
• Sacred Flute (pictured)
• BorgWatch
• Katanas
• Dagger
• Sword of Fire
• Nunchucks of Lightning
• Tridents

Vehicles[]

• Iron Doom
• Destiny's Bounty (painting)

Locations[]

• Ninjago (realm)
  • Endless Sea
    • Merlopia
      • Merlopian Palace
        • Hangar bay
  • Dark Island
    • Temple of Light
  • Ninjago
    • Fire Temple
    • Mountains of Impossible Height
      • Monastery of Spinjitzu
    • Ninjago City
      • Ninjago Museum of History
      • Ninjago Park
    • Vermillion Swamps (dream)
  • Temple of Airjitzu (flashback)
• Temporal vortex
• Digiverse

Species[]

• Humans
• Manta rays
• Merlopians
• Nindroids
• Oni/Dragon hybrids
• Oni/Dragon/Human hybrids
• Serpents
• Stone Warriors

Transcript[]

For the transcript of the episode, click here.

Trivia[]

• The day before this short's release on YouTube, Tommy Andreasen tweeted a video of the title card and the phrase, "... tomorrow ...(I hope no-one has gone back in time and leaked this.),"^[3] by which he pointed to the early release of the short on Roku TV.
• This short is based on an idea of the fan, Uday Kataria, as part of beta testing for LEGO World Builder.^{[2][4][5][6][7]}
  • Kataria's original idea involved the ninja splitting up and going to different points in the past to correct alternate realities that resulted from various changes to events from previous seasons.^[8]
• Along with the short, a short video showing the creation of the short was published on the official LEGO YouTube channel.^[8]
• The short was designed in such a way that the viewer can decide whether or not it's canon.^[9] However, according to Chris "Doc" Wyatt, it is canon.^[10]
• Tommy Andreasen posted a drawing of Wu and the Time Twins on his X on May 8, 2021, which he never finished, describing that "next week would probably be a good time to do so," indicating that the penultimate short would focus on Wu's fight with the Time Twins.^[11] However, it turned out that it was the final one instead.
• In photography, the golden hour is the period of daytime shortly after sunrise or before sunset, during which daylight is redder and softer than when the sun is higher in the sky.
• This is Jillian Michaels' first reappearance as Lloyd since "Greatest Battles," albeit through archival recording.
• As a child, Wu is still voiced by Paul Dobson despite how in previous seasons, he is voiced by Madyx Whiteway.
  • This is probably due to the fact that Wu as a child has only a few lines in this short.
• During Wu's transformation into a child, his clothes shrink with him. It is unknown how this is possible, as his clothes do not become visibly baggy on him the way Lloyd's Green Ninja gi was too large before he was aged into a teenager.
  • However, as a baby, he has no belt.
• This is the second instance where sequences animated by WILFilm ApS and WildBrain appear within the same episode. The first was "The Kaiju Protocol."
  • Previously, WildBrain episodes such as "Dyer Island," "Ninjago Confidential," and "The Turn of the Tide" featured images from WILFilm seasons, but this is the first time that full animation sequences from both studios are used at once.
    • CC Pixels animated sequences that also appear here, which means that three slightly different animation styles appear in this short.
• The animation is very similar to the original WILFilm ApS animation in Season 7, which is most visible in the background without much detail, on the trees and on Wu's three-dimensional mouth.
  • This is the second Reimaginated short that is animated in very similar style to the show. The first is "Sweatin' to the Goldies."

• This short is intended to still leave the fate of the Time Twins unknown.^[12]
• The crack created by Wu's head when he hits the monastery wall resembles the Royal Family of Ninjago's lotus symbol. This is a reference to the fact that the Royal Family seemingly appeared out of nowhere in Season 8, and it suggests that their existence was caused by this change to the timeline.^[13]
• When Wu de-ages for the first time in the Fire Temple, his beard slightly resembles piece 6132.

Continuity[]

• Several moments from past episodes are revisited. Some are reanimated, while others reuse footage from the original episodes.
  • The beginning is from the end of "Lost in Time," as this short takes place directly after the episode.
  • The montage of clips played at the beginning over Wu's description about time reuses footage of Wu and Garmadon with the Time Blades in "The Hatching"; Misako at Wu's bedside in "Scavengers"; Wu with the ninja in "The Attack"; Wu's dream in "Pause and Effect"; and Wu, Nya, and Kai with the Reversal Time Blade in "Lost in Time."
• Wu, Acronix and Krux visit the events of many previous episodes of the series' run:
  • The scene where Kai abandons the Fangblade to protect Lloyd in "The Green Ninja."
  • The scene where Lloyd rings the bell from the Temple of Light in "Island of Darkness."
  • The moments before Garmadon was bitten by the Great Devourer in a flashback in "Tick Tock."
  • The fight between the ninja and the Giant Stone Warrior in the Ninjago Museum of History in "The Stone Army."
  • The scene with the four original golden ninja in the Digiverse in "Enter the Digiverse."
  • The ninja fighting the Great Devourer in "Day of the Great Devourer."
  • The Maaray Guards trying to stop the ninja from escaping Merlopia in "Escape from Merlopia."
    • The first part of Lloyd and Kai in the Fire Temple, the Temple of Light from the outside, and the meeting with the Devourer in front of the monastery are the only scenes that are reanimated.
    • The scene with the Maaray Guards is most likely to be a teaser for Seabound, which was not yet officially promoted by LEGO at the time the short was released.

• When Wu de-ages for the first time and his eyebrows turn black, his appearance resembles an animation error from "Home" where his eyebrows were black in one shot.
• Wu's young look is a combination of his white kimono's second variant and Teen Wu's design from Hunted. This look is very similar to his look in Spinjitzu Brothers.
  • The look is also similar to Wu's minifigure from the Visual Dictionary New Edition.
• Wu's hair after his transformation into a teenager is the same as his hair in Season 9 as a teenager, but without a headband and probably also a bun. This means that it is one of the few hair pieces that do not exist as a physical LEGO piece.

Errors[]

• At the Temple of Light, the ninja are missing their eyebrows, and Jay's head slightly jolts to the left when Lloyd says "You guys ready for this?"
• When Krux laughs in the Temple of Light, his mouth does not move.
• While Wu was shown looking upward with the temporal vortex behind him in the final shot of "Lost in Time," there is no such moment in this short, as Wu is an infant by the time he is outside the Iron Doom.
• Krux's face is stuck smiling when Wu hits him with his staff.
• Wu and the Time Twins time travel into the Digiverse when this should not be possible.
  • They also appear much larger than they should be, as Zane would be atop the Digital Overlord.

Video[]

Gallery[]

Concept art[]

References[]