Stanks Like Teen Spirit

"Stanks Like Teen Spirit"
	Season 1, Episode 27
Prod. Code:	114b
Premiered:	July 6, 2013
	Credits
	Written by:
	Melissa Wong; Jed Elinoff & Scott Thomas
	Storyboard by:
	Kim Arndt & Bob Suarez
	Directed by:
	Mike Milo
	Episodes
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"Stanks Like Teen Spirit" is the twenty-seventh episode of the first season of Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja. It premiered on July 6, 2013.

Synopsis[]

When a robot disguised as a rival school's chess team member crushes Norrisville High's record — and their spirit, a mass stanking breaks out.

Plot[]

The episode starts off with Randy expressing his boredom since he was unable to go Ninja because of the lack of evil activity happening, but is excited for the game that Norrisville High is competing in. Howard adds to this that even though they're excited, they have no clue what game the school is competing in. It is revealed to be a chess tournament, which dismays them by its threat of sheer boredom.

The Sorcerer seems bored as well, since everyone is in a cheery mood and there is no-one to stank, but cheers himself (and the rat) with the reflection that McFist has announced an idea to make the mood worsen. Randy grows more bored by the second, when he notices Viceroy and McFist acting suspiciously, though he soon dismisses it when he sees them cheering for Norrisville High and laments how even his enemies are boring. Howard, on the other hand, seems to interested in the game, even to the point of predicting the next Chess move that Bucky was supposed to do, to Randy's shock and apparent awe. Randy decides to shloomp into the NinjaNomicon (which is disguised as his Math Textbook).

In the Nomicon, Randy expresses joy and excitement when the Nomicon shows him new weapons to play with; he starts throwing new Ninja Elemental Balls at targets which the Nomicon has produced for him. The Nomicon warns Randy that he should not underestimate the enemy, which would only lead to defeat, but Randy quickly dismisses the lesson and starts testing his new weapons again.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Randy is shown knocked out and seemingly unconscious next to Howard. "Dominator" Debbie Kang, a seemingly unbeatable master player in the chess, is nonetheless defeated by a robot made by Viceroy that knows every advanced chess move known to man. One by one, each chess player from Norrisville High is beaten and eventually they lose. Everyone starts to get angry, furious, and upset, leaving the opportunity for the Sorcerer to stank them into monsters.

In the Nomicon, Randy has a vision of the school being taken over by the Sorcerer, and the Sorcerer first trapping, then eating him. Randy wakes up and is told by Howard that his vision was starting to come true and becomes panicky. He calms himself and goes Ninja while Howard complains that Cunningham should have come out of the Nomicon a long time ago. Randy appears and is quickly attacked by Stanked-Bucky and Stanked-Theresa, but manages to evade them; thereafter, he is attacked by the Stanked Dancing Fish and manages to fight them off by using the Ninja Ice Ball, one of the new weapons the Nomcion had given him. He decides that the Trophy that the rival school chess players possess is the object that needs to be destroyed to destank the student body and goes over to break it.

Howard, on the other hand, figures out that the reason Norrisville lost was the Chess Player Bot that Viceroy had created. Randy breaks the trophy, but realizes it wasn't the object stanked. Howard calls Randy and tells him that the McFist has purposely replaced a chess player with a robot in order to dispirit Norrisvile. Randy soon figures out that they needed to beat the Chess Player Bot and he attempt to find someone to play, despite Howard claiming he knew the game. Randy is attacked by Stanked-Bucky and Howard challenges Chess Player Bot to chess. Slowly, the stanked monsters gather around to watch him play, with Randy joining in soon after (even he does not understand how the game works). From outside, McFist and Viceroy are seen spying on Howard. Viceroy exclaims that Howard was playing crazy-chess and that the Chess Player Bot was not programmed to play it. Howard eventually beats the Chess Player Bot, which de-stanks all of the victims, meaning that Norrisville wins again.

Enraged, Chess Player Bot turns into a full-out destroy bot and attempts to kill Howard, but Randy intervenes and saves the day. Howard proclaims his sadness that he only got two seconds of fame while Randy got the rest. Randy comforts him and smoke-bombs off. Meanwhile the Sorcerer expresses his sadness since he was so close to becoming free, mocking his rat in the process. Randy congratulates Howard for saving the day. Howard, though, shares the trophy he had broken earlier with Randy, giving Randy the head and himself the bigger piece. They announce their happiness at having saved the day together.

Characters[]

Main characters[]

Secondary characters[]

(Note: the ones below are non-speaking)

Background characters[]

Trivia[]

The title is an allusion to Nirvana's song "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Debbie Kang's stanked form, a hedgehog-like creature, appears for the first and only time.
- Debbie's stanked form may be a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog.
Two identical students became stanked alligator-like monsters, but it is unknown who they are when destanked.
Howard is revealed to be a skilled chess player, though he isn't a member of the Chess Club.
This is the closest the Sorcerer has come to breaking out so far.
This is the third episode to have multiple people getting stanked. The first was "So U Think U Can Stank" and the second was "Der Monster Klub".
When the camera zooms out to show everyone in the gym, an Elvis impersonator can be seen.
This is the second episode in which Randy sees the Sorcerer in the NinjaNomicon. The first instance was in "So U Think U Can Stank."
When Randy goes into the Nomicon, statues of creatures found in Japanese folk-beliefs appear as targets, a koi, an Asian-style dragon, a Hō-ō or Japanese phoenix, the Akkorokamui (a giant octopus), a Maneki-neko or "beckoning cat," a Hannya (a vengeful female spirit), and a Kappa, a kind of turtle-like water spirit.
Running Gags:
- Howard shouting out chess strategies and not realizing he is good at chess.
- Everybody shushing Randy or McFist during the Chess Tournament.

Goofs[]

When the camera zooms out to show everyone in the gym, Julian and Dave can be seen without their hats, although for the rest of the episode, they wear their respective hats.

When Dave, Theresa, and the Dancing Fish cheer for Howard then destank, Dave is in the complete opposite side of the crowd, Theresa is gone, and the members of the Dancing Fish are in different positions. Bucky, Julian, and Debbie Kang also appear from nowhere.
After the Norrisville Chess Team is destanked, Theresa and Juggo are never seen again for the rest of the episode despite being part of the chess team.
- It can be assumed that they have been destanked off-screen.

Theresa has her hair's highlights reversed in direction when the camera zooms in to show her being defeated by the robot Steve Riley. Her highlights are normally on her bangs' right side, but in that scene they were on her left bangs.
When the camera pans from Theresa to Steve Riley, Heidi is missing from the shot. But when the camera then pans from Julian to Steve Riley, she magically appears, watching on the side.