Nostalgia

In this article, Rylie Revercomb talks about an ancient Disney XD show that forever lives in the hearts of its fans.

Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja

By Rylie Revercomb

Well, to put it simply… If you haven’t watched Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, you’re a total shoob. Why is that, and what in the world does "shoob" mean? The answer to that question, my friends, lies within one of Disney’s pushed-aside shows, an old Disney XD cartoon that only a few 2000s kids can remember. Randy Cunningham combined a lot of things that kids really liked-- ninjas, magic, stupidity, and dumb humor. This show had a good plot, good characters, (for the most part), and a new take on animation. So, why has it been lost to the years? Honestly, it’s a wonder that Disney+ even added it to their catalog of TV shows before some of the company’s more popular movies and shows. WELL, BUCKLE UP, because not only is this article so bruce, but it is also going to answer that very question. To the archives!

Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, is exactly what it sounds like. The show follows the life of a ninth-grade boy named-- you guessed it-- Randy Cunningham. He lives in the seemingly regular town of Norrisville. Except, there’s one thing that makes Norrisville a bit more popular, and that’s the fact that its main high school has been protected by a ninja for over three hundred years. That’s right-- A magic ninja. Essentially, every four years, the Ninja Nomicon, (The name of the fancy ninja book in the show), chooses a new ninja to protect the students of Norrisville High-- Randy being one of them. Throughout the show, he protects random students, and his best friend, Howard Weinerman, from “stankified” peers. Stankified meaning cursed. There’s an evil Sorcerer trapped in the underworld, and he uses his power (stank) to turn humans into monsters. All to commit even deeds, of course. And then there’s Randy’s/The Ninja’s other enemy-- Hannibal McFist. A corrupt billionaire with a robotic arm and a strong hatred for the ninja. Overall, the show’s plot is pretty good. There is a balanced chunk of goof-off episodes, in which Randy and Howard get involved in some more stupid problems, and there is also a good chunk of more serious, plot-building episodes. This is why it was popular with a wide age range when the show was released in Aug. 2012.

Image by: YouTube TV

But why was it so popular? Many haters of the show criticize that it is just so… predictable. Many critics, (AKA adults who have nothing better to do with their lives), think that the whole... teenage crime fighter shtick.... has been overused by Disney. I’m looking at you, Kim Possible. However, the shows are too vastly different to really be compared to each other. While, at the surface level, ninja and crimefighter are very similar, both shows have unique plot lines and follow different methods. While Kim Possible takes itself very seriously, RC9GN almost makes fun of itself. It’s not too serious, and the laid-back and witty approach to a teen superhero show is what makes it so loveable. A review on IMDb from a movie critic says that “The humor is strange in that it can be viewed as trying to be funny and failing, or trying to mock teenage humor and succeeding. Personally, I view it as the latter.” This approach helped ease fans into the show, giving them something goofy as a hook, and then absolutely smothering the viewer in character development and storybuilding. Genuinely, it’s a masterpiece from beginning to end.

Image by: 9th Grade Ninja Wiki

Image by: IMDb

Alas, even Da Vinci had haters. Unfortunately, this was the case for RC9GN. While many viewers like the original art style and the poking-fun aspect of the show, some older viewers had more negative feedback. What ended up being the major downfall was the art. The thing that makes the show so original and unique is sadly also the cause of its downfall. A review on CommonSenseMedia, in fact, mostly blames the “Very fast-clipped animation” for their one-star review. Their only other complaint was that the show was “Just noise, There is nothing to take away from it whatsoever.” So, despite the fact that many people loved the new animation and the quippy humor of the show, a few bad reviews were all Disney needed to direct their spotlight elsewhere. The show began to premiere its new episodes late at night, when their target audience was already tucked in bed with their stuffed animals. On top of that, Disney stopped doing reruns episodes, cut off promotion for the show, and canceled the third season that had been in the works. With just a few bad reviews from soulless parents, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, was done for.

Now, while it may seem like this story ends somewhat sadly, with RC9GN locked away in the Disney abyss forever… that’s not the case. Once Disney+ became a thing, diehard fans of the show started to beg for it to be added to the convenient streaming platform. After all, it had been off of Disney XD for years. Disney agreed, mostly because fans were angry that the show had been canceled at such a pivotal moment in the story’s plot development. With Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja now on Disney+, fans finally have an outlet to access a fan favorite and nostalgic show. It’s a window to a time when Disney experimented with new and fun storylines, and animators got to have more creative freedom with character design and animation. This is why the show is so well-loved. It is, without a doubt, the cheese.

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