Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja
| Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja | |
|---|---|
 The series' title card. | |
| Genre |
Animation Action Comedy |
| Created by |
Jed Elinoff Scott Thomas |
| Directed by |
Mike Milo Shaun Cashman Joshua Taback Chuckles Austen |
| Voices of |
Ben Schwartz Andrew Caldwell Tim Curry Ben Cross John DiMaggio Kevin Michael Richardson |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 100 (54 aired) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Jed Elinoff Scott Thomas |
| Running time | 11 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
Titmouse, Inc. Boulder Media Limited Rough Draft Studios Korea Co., Ltd. (Season 2-present) Disney Television Animation (Season 2-present) |
| Distributor | Disney–ABC Domestic Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Disney XD |
| Original run | August 13, 2012 – present |
| External links | |
| Official Website | |
| Production website | |
Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja is an animated television series created by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas for Disney XD.[1] It is produced by Titmouse, Inc. and Boulder Media Limited for Disney's London-based content hub.[2] Many of the character designs were supplied by Jhonen Vasquez, the creator of Invader Zim.[3] The first episode premiered on August 13, 2012.[1][4][5] Voice direction for the series was done by Ginny McSwain. Shaun Cashman was the supervising director.
Plot
A town called Norrisville has been protected by a ninja for 800 years, but what the citizens of Norrisville do not know is that a new ninja is selected every four years. Randy Cunningham, ninth grade teenager, is the next ninja. Now, Randy must protect Norrisville from the evil plans of the Sorcerer, his ally Hannibal McFist, and Hannibal's assistant Willem Viceroy.[1][4]
Characters
Main characters
- Randall "Randy" Cunningham (voiced by Ben Schwartz[1][4]) - Randy is a ninth grader who is chosen to be a 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 Ninja-Nomicon". Randy is also in a band with his best friend Howard Weinerman called "30 Seconds to Math" (a parody of Thirty 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 Ninja-Nomicon, 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 Weinerman (voiced by Andrew Caldwell[1][4]) - 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 Ninja-Nomicon 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" that was created by Willem Viceroy III.
Villains
- The Sorcerer (voiced by Tim Curry[1][4] in Season One, Ben Cross in Season Two) - This one-time master of the dark arts is determined to destroy the ninja. The Sorcerer 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 will become powerful enough to 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. In "Randy Cunningham and the Sorcerer's key", it is revealed that after the Sorcerer was imprisoned, a key that can unlock his prison was created. At the end of this episode, Randy found the key and sealed it away in the Nomicon. It was stated that the key is needed in the final battle. In "Randy Cunningham: 13th Century Ninja", Randy and Howard go back in time where Randy accidentally prevents the Sorcerer from being imprisoned, causing a time paradox that made the Sorcerer's dream of escaping finally come true. But when Randy, Howard, and the original Ninja rewrite history, the Sorcerer is once again imprisoned in his hole. Though one of the Sorcerer's Chaos Pearls is found by Catfish Booray. In "Julian's Birthday Surprise," the Nomicon has shown that the Sorcerer used to be a normal peddler until he found the Chaos Pearl.
- Hannibal McFist (voiced by John DiMaggio[1][4]) - 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, McHoodles, McFistios, McKicks, McFizzles, and McSkinnies. But the world is not enough for McFist. The one thing he wants more than anything is a super power. 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 mechanic arm. Before discovering his true nature, McFist was actually Randy's hero due to loving all the stuff his industries make. In "Fart-Topia," it is revealed that Hannibal has a hippie older brother named Terry, who is the true heir to McFist Industries, and Hannibal only runs business as Terry's proxy. When stankified by the Sorcerer, he becomes a large blue crab-like monster with long hair and his brain becomes a sentient red claw.
- Willem Viceroy III (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson[1][4]) - Often just called Viceroy, he is a mad scientist but rather refined madman responsible for all of 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.
- Chainsaw Werewolves - A group of robotic werewolves with a chainsaw for a lower left arm created by Willem Viceroy that are occasionally used by Hannibal McFist.
- Robo-Apes (voiced by John DiMaggio) - Robotic gorillas created by Willem Viceroy that that are often unleashed by Hannibal McFist to attack the Ninja.
- Robo-Mantis - A group of mantis robots created by Willem Viceroy that are occasionally used by Hannibal McFist.
- Jerry Driscoll (voiced by Andy Dick) - Mrs. Driscoll's deceased husband whose skeleton she carries around with her at all times. In "Dawn of Driscoll," Randy accidentally brought his skeleton back to life. It is 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 or not 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, stating that when he does, he will "kick every butt in Norrisvile". He is shown to have some fighting skills, though no where 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.
- The Disciplinarian (voiced by Andy Richter) - The tour guide for Detention Island. He really hates cheating so much that he'll go out of his way to try to kill anyone who commits this action if they are on his island.
- 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 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." In "Bring Me the Head of Ranginald Bagel," Catfish Booray told Hannibal McFist and Willem Viceroy about the identity of the Ninja unaware that the real Ranginald Bagel exists. In the post-credits of "Randy Cunningham: 13th Century Ninja," Catfish Booray finds a Chaos Pearl that fell to the swamp 800 years ago. The pearl shoots green stank into Catfish's eyes and shows the Sorcerer laughing and Catfish laughs too. In "Welcome Back Catfish," Catfish Booray arrives at Norrisville High where he poses as a substitute teacher so that the Sorcerer can control him into breaking the seal. This plot was thwarted by Randy when he got Catfish away from the school.
- The Sorceress (voiced by Jennifer Tilly) - The Sorcerer's girlfriend. She's a being of similar powers and appearance where the monsters she created from anyone she Stankifies are much different from the Sorcerer's monsters. 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. She returned by luring all the students of Norrisville High into what was supposedly a club, until she revealed her self and made everyone she lured her prisoners. Howard led the prisoners to an escape route while Randy battled the Sorceress. She planned to send him to the Land of Shadows only for Randy to push her into the portal and send her back to the Land of Shadows.
Norrisville High teachers
- Irving Slimovitz (voiced by Jim Rash[1][4]) - 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!" He was the first adult to be stankified in the series. When stankified by the Sorcerer, he turns into a tiger-like creature.
- Mr. Bannister (voiced by Neil Flynn[1][4]) - Randy and Howard's loud English teacher.
- Marlene Driscoll (voiced by Megan Mullally[1][4]) - Randy and Howard's 9th grade science teacher who's smart, but out there. She is often seen talking with her husband Jerry Driscoll's skeleton with bad ventriloquism.
- Ms. Wickwhacker (voiced by Grey DeLisle) - The strict and militant band instructor of the Norrisville High Marching Band at Norrisville High.
- Coach Green (voiced by John Oliver[1][4]) - Randy and Howard's eccentric and insane gym teacher, as well as the manager for the Norrisville Wave Slayers water-ski team.
- Señora Jorge (voiced by Judy Reyes) - Randy's and Howard's Spanish teacher.
- Ms. Mary Elizabeth "Tawny" Zingwald (voiced by Annie Potts) - The poetry teacher at Norrisville High School with long ankle-length hair. In "Stank 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.
- S. Ward Smith (voiced by John Witherspoon) - The blind metal shop teacher at Norrisville High School. He is actually the swordsmith for the ninja, making the ninja's weapons.
- Hippie Librarian - The unnamed long-haired school librarian at Norrisville High School.
- Cafeteria Lady - The unnamed lunch lady at Norrisville High School that makes her lunches from various things like roadkill and vomit.
- Sundown (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) - Sundown is the janitor at Norrisville High School.
Norrisville High students
- Bucky Hensletter (voiced by Scott Menville[1][4]) - A student who always get bullied by Bash and plays the triangle. He is shown to be vulnerable enough to be turned into a purple fish-like monster with long eyes 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".
- Bashford "Bash" Johnson (voiced by Dave Wittenberg[1][4]) - A school bully who is also McFist's stepson, the Norrisville High Crushin' Carp quarterback, and a Grade-A jerk who thinks that he is the king of the school. What Bash lacks in intelligence, he makes up for in fists. When Stankified by the Sorcerer, he is transformed into a yellow monster with large arms.
- Heidi Weinerman (voiced by Cassie Scerbo[1][4]) - Howard's older sister, and the host of "Norrisville High's #1 Me-Cast: Heidi@School!" She's 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 (e.g. Andy, Sandy, Mandy) except Randy itself. When Stankified by the Sorceress, she is transformed into a blue dog-like creature.
- Theresa Fowler (voiced by Sarah Hyland) - A Norrisville High student who has an interest in baton twirling. It is indicated several times that she has a crush on Randy. When she is Stankified by the Sorcerer, she is transformed into a green plant-like monster.
- Flute Girl (voiced by Grey DeLisle[1][4]) - Nerdy girl who plays the flute in the Norrisville High Marching Band. She is shown not to share the same feelings as Bucky does for her, though she does seem to be his friend. She has been stankified into three different forms: the first one was a two-headed one=legged monster (when combined with Stevens), the second was a Tyrannosaurus-like creature, and the third was when she was turned into a purple dog-like creature by the Sorceress.
- Rachel (voiced by Laura Marano) - The clarinet player in the Norrisville High Marching Band.
- 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. When he was Stankified by the Sorcerer, he combined with Flute Girl to form a two-headed one-legged monster.
- 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. When he is Stankified by the Sorcerer, he is transformed into a giant four-armed clown monster with long eyes and sharp teeth.
- Dave (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) - An accordion player at Norrisville High School. When he is Stankified by the Sorcerer, he is transformed into a thin blue monster with accordion-like arms.
- Julian (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) - A Gothic Student who is seen wearing a purple top hat, a purple suit and sports vampiric features such as false fangs. He speaks sometimes in Old English or in third person, even monologues of gothic rituals. He seems to admire death and torture. He often enters a scene by popping out of dark areas to spook people nearby. 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 an upperclassman dancer with a sassy attitude and a smug voice. When her entire group (except herself) is stankified by the Sorcerer, they turn into multicolored shark-like creatures. When Stankified by the Sorceress, she is transformed into a green dog-like creature.
- Mick (voiced by John DiMaggio) - A football player on Norrisville High School's football team who is Bash Johnson's friend.
- Gene Levine (voiced by John DiMaggio) - An exterminator that helps Viceroy dispose of a few unwanted monster blob creations.
- Debbie Kang (voiced by Piper Curda) - A straight-A student who has an obsession for Mexican death bears. She considers them "very cute" and can get over-excited when hearing about them. She learned how to speak fluent Spanish after listening to a hypnotism CD. When Debbie is Stankified by the Sorcerer, she is transformed into a porcupine-like monster.
- Brent (voiced by Jason Earles) - A student at Norrisville High School who is the protege of S. Ward Smith. When Brent believed that S. Ward Smith was going to replaced him with Howard, the Sorcerer Stankified him into a goblin-like monster in samurai armor.
- Pradeep (voiced by Parvesh Cheena) - A student who plays the French horn in the Norrisville High Marching Band. Beeb 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.
- Buttermaker (voiced by Sterling Knight) - A jock at Norrisville High School who is the captain of the "Wave Slayers" water ski team. When he is stankified by the Sorcerer, he becomes an aquatic monster.
- Ranginald Bagel (voiced by Gilbert Gottfried) - Ranginald is a student who 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.
Other characters
- Marci McFist (voiced by April Stewart) - The wife of Hannibal McFist, sister-in-law of Terry 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.
- Mort Weinerman (voiced by Richard Kind) - The father of Howard Weinerman and Heidi Weinerman. In "Silent Punch, Deadly Punch," it is revealed that he owned a company that was bought out by Hannibal McFist. In "On the Poolfront," Mort was temporarily promoted to being Hannibal McFist's robot maker after Willem Viceroy's polar bear robot overheats during a heat wave.
- Greg - (voiced by Keith Ferguson) - Greg is a worker at the video arcade called "Greg's Game Hole."
- Dickie (voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait) - In 1985, Dickie was Stankified by the Sorcerer after mistakingly 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 twenty five 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Episodes
Main article: List of Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired (U.S. dates) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 26 | August 13, 2012 | February 8, 2014 | |
| 2 | 24 | July 19, 2014 | TBA | |
Broadcast
A preview of Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja aired on Disney XD August 13, 2012. The official premiere was on September 17, 2012. Disney XD (Canada) premiered the series on September 29, 2012. The series premiered on October 4, 2012 on Disney XD (UK & Ireland). It premiered in Australia on December 10, 2012 on Disney Channel and on April 10, 2014 on Disney XD.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja at DisneyXDMedianet.com
- ↑ kidscreen.com/2013/09/13/david-levine-randy-cunningham-series-both-receive-disney-promotions/
- ↑ Jhonen Vasquez, cartoonist
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja at Cartoon Brew
- ↑ Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja at TVGuide.com
External links
- Official website
- Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja at the Internet Movie Database
- Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja at the Big Cartoon DataBase
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