But the concept actually was hatched by a grown-up and presumably sober television producer who made it into a hit for Spike, the cable channel aimed squarely at young men.
Deadliest Warrior pits fighters from different eras and cultures against each other to see who's the best at war and weaponry.
Part reality TV and part 300, part history lesson and part testosterone-fuelled science project, Deadliest Warrior uses experts on both sides, weapon demonstrations, re-enactments, and a computer program that tabulates 1000 possible fight outcomes to declare a winner every week.
Of course, the whole ninjas v pirates thing has been hotly debated on the internet for ages - through such sites as ninasandpirates.net - but series creator/producer Gary Tarpinian wanted to take it to the next level.
"I've always loved history and I would make these shows for The History Channel or Discovery to tell the story of Gettysburg or whatever.
I love that stuff but it's not really connecting to today's younger viewers," he says.
"I knew I had to tell stories in a different style and, at the same time, I love games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.
"So, my vision is two warriors who could not be more different, from across time and space, who never would have met, what would happen if they fought?
"So Deadliest Warrior would move beyond ninjas and pirates to include gladiators, Apaches, samurai, Maori warriors and Shaolin monks as well as some eyebrow-raising choices from the semi-automatic era: the Mafia, the Yakuza, the IRA and the Taliban.
Mr Tarpinian approached the networks he had worked with before and found himself about as welcome as a Viking off the English coast.
"Not only did they all say no to me, I went back a second time and every network rejected me twice," he says.
"Then I pitched Spike and they were wanting to get into non-fiction in a cool way ... So we don't have an old-fashioned history show that appeals to guys who are 50.
"We're going to cover the same ground but you're going to have this horse race of who's ahead and culminates in the end with the computer saying who wins."
As might be expected, there has been some online blowback for the choice of warriors, especially those that have existed or still exist in modern times. For example, the second season features Viet Cong v Nazi SS and Somali pirates v the Medellin cartel.
"This is a show in which we're not celebrating what these people do or condoning it," says Mr Tarpinian.
"It's a fact that there are Somalis hijacking ships and these are the weapons they have and this is the climate in that country that produced them.
"If we did a straightforward doc, people would say we could show it on CNN. But we're showing the same information through this slightly wacky prism of fighting each other."
Others point out that the series is going to run out of warrior cultures or have to turn to fictional encounters, Alien vs Predator-style.
But Mr Tarpinian's not having it. For some episodes, he's focusing on wars of personality - Vlad the Impaler v Sun Tzu, William Wallace v Shaka Zulu - and with others he's spotlighting lesser-known cultures.
"If you tell a good story, people are going to watch it," Mr Tarpinian says. "With Shaolin monks vs. Maori warriors, Spike was ambivalent about it.
"They said, 'Our audience hasn't heard of these people'. As it turned out, it was first or second highest rated show of the season ...
"That proved it didn't have to be a Roman or a Spartan."
Deadliest Warrior premieres Friday at 7.30pm on Box.
