Title- The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N (October 26, 1991)
Game- Final Fantasy
This is it, the finale, and whilst for Final Fantasy fans it’s a bit of a disappointment, it’s still a pretty cool episode. I still believe the series ended with Germ wars, and series 3 was just a few episodes showing us what the N team’s doing now, but this episode is still a good, if not fitting, last episode.
Based on Final Fantasy, it only follows part of the game’s storyline from what I’ve seen, I’m not too up on Final Fantasy, especially the newer ones, but I think Astos is only a small part of the game. Anyway, we get to meet the witch with the broom which sadly doesn’t talk backwards. I think I met the Prince during my Final Fantasy crusade but here he reminded me of Simon, but much more successful, strangely, Simon, Duke and Gameboy weren’t even in the last episode.
Kevin’s taken over by Astos and shows us that he has secret greed within, which for the pretty flat characterization in series three, is pretty good. Astos was pretty boring actually, and his transformation was less threatening than his gaurds. Plus he’s not even beaten by the N team, they run from him.
Overall a pretty good episode which could have been so much better. Well that’s it. The series over.
To be honest, up to series three, there were no real bad episodes, sure there were a couple of mediocre ones, but mostly they were good. Series three I’ll repeat seemed like it was trying to continue the show unnecessarily, it seemed a few stunts such as the two sports stars were tried and failed to be honest. There were the few good ones but the bad ones dragged the season down.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Captain N episode 32
Title- Battle of the Baseball Know-It-Alls (October 19, 1991)
Game- RBI Baseball
Urgh. The second and even worse sports episode, despite the fact it’s Mother Brain’s only season 3 appearance (and what an appearance, she looks horrible, not in a frightening way either.) Bo Jackson is annoying, arrogant and I don’t think he’s supposed to. When you consider that this is Mother Brain’s last episode and is the one between the finale and the last three good to great episodes, it’s horrific. There’s one funny scene, but nothing else is good, the fact that they are stuck in a place with evil baseball equipment, and that’s it the basis of the episode, is terrible.
Overall, who seriously wrote this drivel, I’m glad I never have to watch it again.
Game- RBI Baseball
Urgh. The second and even worse sports episode, despite the fact it’s Mother Brain’s only season 3 appearance (and what an appearance, she looks horrible, not in a frightening way either.) Bo Jackson is annoying, arrogant and I don’t think he’s supposed to. When you consider that this is Mother Brain’s last episode and is the one between the finale and the last three good to great episodes, it’s horrific. There’s one funny scene, but nothing else is good, the fact that they are stuck in a place with evil baseball equipment, and that’s it the basis of the episode, is terrible.
Overall, who seriously wrote this drivel, I’m glad I never have to watch it again.
Captain N episode 31
Title- A Tale of Two Dogs (October 12, 1991)
Game- Megaman 3
Another great episode that uses it’s game well. We’re introduced to Rush who’s pretty cool except the voice. Also we get to see Doc Wily actually left to his own devices for once. Wily really is quite ruthless, I mean alone he’s achieved more than Mother Brain’s team ever really did, defeating Kevin and Megaman for a while. Still he got beaten in the end as usual. Doc Robot was cool, I think he’s based on that Gutsman lookalike out of the game, but it was cooler him being built in Wily’s image.
Overall there were a few bad designs and Megaman sounded deeper, but other than that it was a great episode, on par with Castlevania’s season 3 episode.
Game- Megaman 3
Another great episode that uses it’s game well. We’re introduced to Rush who’s pretty cool except the voice. Also we get to see Doc Wily actually left to his own devices for once. Wily really is quite ruthless, I mean alone he’s achieved more than Mother Brain’s team ever really did, defeating Kevin and Megaman for a while. Still he got beaten in the end as usual. Doc Robot was cool, I think he’s based on that Gutsman lookalike out of the game, but it was cooler him being built in Wily’s image.
Overall there were a few bad designs and Megaman sounded deeper, but other than that it was a great episode, on par with Castlevania’s season 3 episode.
Captain N episode 30
Title-Totally Tetrisized (October 5, 1991)
Game- Tetris
Hmm… tough one. Whilst slightly boring and featuring a pretty boring Riddler rip off, this episode takes place on a cool land and features cool parts. I liked the fact that Kevin actually beat the puzzle masters challenge rather than losing and managing to beat him anyway, fitted his name. Also I loved the bleakness of Tetris, whilst this was the only way we saw Tetris, it was a completely different place to the Tetris we left in series two. Returning inhabitants of Tetris were cool and you couldn’t help but feel the place was sinister and twisted, especially when you consider people from the series two episode had been turned into weapons that are flung at the N team.
Overall a pretty good episode for season 3, but not great by any means.
Game- Tetris
Hmm… tough one. Whilst slightly boring and featuring a pretty boring Riddler rip off, this episode takes place on a cool land and features cool parts. I liked the fact that Kevin actually beat the puzzle masters challenge rather than losing and managing to beat him anyway, fitted his name. Also I loved the bleakness of Tetris, whilst this was the only way we saw Tetris, it was a completely different place to the Tetris we left in series two. Returning inhabitants of Tetris were cool and you couldn’t help but feel the place was sinister and twisted, especially when you consider people from the series two episode had been turned into weapons that are flung at the N team.
Overall a pretty good episode for season 3, but not great by any means.
Captain N episode 29
Title- Return to Castlevania (September 28, 1991)
Game- Castlevania 3
The final visit to Castlevania is one of this series finest episodes and is on par with the episodes from other seasons. I loved the way they used the history of Castlevania 3 in this episode. Simon’s at his best and in his own award ceremony. Plus he gets booed out. The Count’s appearance changed and apart from the disappointing bat transformation, looked as good as his previous appearance. Alucard was the main thing that most disliked about this episode, but I’m in the camp which believes that in the context of the show, he fits, whilst partly annoying he did also show himself as a traitor to his father and the N team.
Overall one of the finest of series 3 due to it’s use of the source material.
Game- Castlevania 3
The final visit to Castlevania is one of this series finest episodes and is on par with the episodes from other seasons. I loved the way they used the history of Castlevania 3 in this episode. Simon’s at his best and in his own award ceremony. Plus he gets booed out. The Count’s appearance changed and apart from the disappointing bat transformation, looked as good as his previous appearance. Alucard was the main thing that most disliked about this episode, but I’m in the camp which believes that in the context of the show, he fits, whilst partly annoying he did also show himself as a traitor to his father and the N team.
Overall one of the finest of series 3 due to it’s use of the source material.
Captain N episode 28
Title- Pursuit of the Magic Hoop (September 21, 1991)
Game- One of the various basketball games, I don’t really care what.
Guest Voice
Clockface-Long John Baldry
The first sport based episode, when you see this, it makes you glad of how they never shoved in real life sports stars in the first season. I didn’t find this Larry Bird guy too bad, he showed them that they had to work as a team and also sacrificed himself. My main problem other than the reliance on basketballs to get through the challenges was Hoopless.
This is a textbook example of how you make an annoying character, the first and second series avoided this through the limited time they gave characters who could become annoying, keeping them likeable slightly. Here this Hoopless guy gets a lot of screen time, is the main reason that there’s danger and defeats the chance of us getting to ever see King Charles again, which when you consider his voice actor was in the episode, is very weak.
Overall another disappointing episode for a disappointing series.
Captain N episode 27
Title- Misadventures in Robin Hood Woods (September 14, 1991)
Game- Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Guest Voice
Little John-Long John Baldry
Season 3 had one or two good episodes, but the rest of them were really a mess. It’s obvious that the production houses or something changed. The animation was simplified but unlike Mario world which managed to use the simplified animation to it’s advantage and in most cases, it looked aweful.
I originally didn't like this episode, but really it's not a bad episode. We get another hero other than Captain N, and Kid Icarus gets more of a starring role. He also keeps his character from before, so that's pretty good. This is actually the 3rd best episode of this season, but it's still not as good as the majority of Season 1 + 2. The Robin Hood characters are quite good, and Long John Baldry returns to voice Little John. I think he's got a great voice, and while I admit he always plays the same sort of characters and sounds pretty similar, I don't care because his voice fits all the ones he plays. Especially Robotnik.
Of the villains, the Sherrif of Nottingham was pretty average, but I must admit Prince John was funny in a campy way. Robin was ok, and so was Marion. One thing I don't get is why Robin goes up to recieve the Golden Arrow, as all we saw was Kid Icarus winning the archery contest.
Overall a pretty average start to a very poor season.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Captain N episode 26
Title- Germ Wars (December 29, 1990)
Game- I honestly don’t know
I get the feeling that this episode was intended as a finale, as is shown by the real season 2 finale being a clipshow. I don’t think that a season 3 was planned, as it seems to be an entirely different show. The main reason I think that this episode is a finale though, is simply role reversal. After Kevin repeatedly saving videoland, Kevin is saved by the N team.
I loved the use of the virus to be defeating Kevin, it was a great way to show, regardless of Kevin’s knowledge, he didn’t belong here, he was out of place and in danger because of it.
I loved the way Simon’s personality had changed, whereas he originally loathed Kevin, he now really feels sorry for him, it shows how used he’s got to Kevin and how he’s mellowed. My favourite music came on again when they shrink. I’ve always found that body episodes of shows are usually the best, and here’s no different, we’re shown how even people are like video games in videoland.
Another great point, despite his voice actor change, Melvis and Faxanadu return. Duke going around there was great, especially as we got to see various dungeons, shops and armour. Duke was pretty cool regardless of speech.
Finally the villain was great, he looked disgusting and was threatening. Virus like enemies are always great as they’re simply trying to survive, they aren’t evil, they just need the body, this was shown well at the end with Cell (a lackey) simply saying to Keving ‘you’re not one to hold a grudge?’
Overall a fitting ending to the series and the last true episode in my eyes. Season 3 just seems like another show.
Captain N episode 25
Title- The Invasion Of The Paper Pedalers (December 22, 1990)
Game- Paperboy, Donkey Kong(cameo)
This episode’s pretty good, as a one off, it works. The Paperboy himself appears and the world is quite well used. I found it quite creepy the way the people became, trying to murder them by running them down in a car and Paperboy’s mum was especially frightening, Kevins face when the light smashes the table is hilarious.
This is also one of Wily’s few appearances, and as usual he comes across well. I like Wily and feel he’s one of the only members of Mother Brain’s team who’s worse than her, as the comics reveal even Mother Brain has a good side.
Overall a pretty cool one off, but not one of the best.
Game- Paperboy, Donkey Kong(cameo)
This episode’s pretty good, as a one off, it works. The Paperboy himself appears and the world is quite well used. I found it quite creepy the way the people became, trying to murder them by running them down in a car and Paperboy’s mum was especially frightening, Kevins face when the light smashes the table is hilarious.
This is also one of Wily’s few appearances, and as usual he comes across well. I like Wily and feel he’s one of the only members of Mother Brain’s team who’s worse than her, as the comics reveal even Mother Brain has a good side.
Overall a pretty cool one off, but not one of the best.
Captain N episode 24
Title- I Wish I Was a Wombatman (December 15, 1990)
Game- Errr… Batman?
Well, I’ve read that this episode is controversial with the fans due to it’s nature, not being based on a game. But I find as an episode it’s a great little one off. Whilst not strictly based on a game as is said, it makes great use of the tv show it’s obviously based on, with Wobatman’s personality funny as a tired overweight action show star. This is the same Wombatman seen on the tv in episode 3 by the way.
Mother Brain used the hero in her plan to take over by kidnapping his girlfriend and blackmailing him. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Mario bros 3 episode with Dadziller when the robot attacked at first. Kid Icarus also gets his rare character building moments in this episode, and the idea of Simon appearing in a show is hilariously in character, but honestly there’s not a lot else I can really say about this episode.
Overall a good episode with nice characterisation.
Captain N episode 23
Title- The Trojan Dragon (December 8, 1990)
Game- Dragon Warrior, Legend of Zelda (cameo)
Out of the two episodes set on Dragon’s den, this one is probably more superior. There’s a good mystery as to what’s actually in the egg and the animation’s great throughout. There’s very few episode’s where the animations not too good and this is one of the best. The characters especially the old shopkeeper look anime quality.
We got a few character developments such as Simon’s claustrophobia and Game Boy’s preoccupied. YES!! Anyway, the disguise was cool, especially the fact that Dragon Lord felt that the fake was actually a battle scarred veteran was cool. Speaking of Dragon Lord, he seemed to make more of an impact here, he was actually supported and seemed to pose an actual threat.
Kevin actually got a sword and shield. It was a nice change even if he lost them pretty quick. Finally we get to see Zelda and Link once more. I must say, next to Dr Wright, they were my favourite recurring characters. Finally I must say I love the whole size of the Dragons, considering the normal dragons are DK sized and the secret weapon dwarfs them, it makes the threat more clear.
Overall a great episode, which elevated Dragon Quest from the previous good episode.
Captain N episode 22
Title- Having a Ball (December 1, 1990)
Game- Legend of Zelda
The title of this could be interpreted as a sports episode. I saw series 3 first so I thought that this show would have a ridiculous amount of sport based guest star episodes. As it is, I found one of the best episodes of the show.
This episode is based around Zelda, has a ton of cameos and features Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo betraying Mother Brain once more. Yes it rocks.
The episode starts off by showing s how the triforce was reformed, a link to their own series in which they were trying to retrieve it from Gannon. I loved that music when King Hippo and Eggplant first see the triforce. The ball part wasn’t annoying as it may have been and gave us a load of cameos, Dr Wright, Prince Plenty, Bayou Billy, Link, Zelda. I found it funny the way the announcer presented Link.
One thing this episode did was showed us was how the war was taking a toll on Lana, rather than wanting Kevin around for once, she was talking more to Simon since the two of them were around before the war and knew of peace. Kevin was shown as a bit of a loser, which is always good, not because I hate Kevin or anything, but because it makes him more human, showing us he’s great at games, but not so good with the ladies.
Link’s always cool to see interact with Kevin and here was no different, especially the way they greet each other at the ball. Plus we actually get a romantic relationship between Link and Zelda this time, another nice addition that goes with the other series. Another nice touch was seeing Zelda’s link to the triforce, another nice touch.
It was also funny seeing how two morons use the tirforce, King Hippo just eating and Eggplant Wizard getting dancing Tomato Women. Speaking of them, Eggplant Wizard was shown as much more devious this time, managing to beat Mother Brain and capture the triforce. Also if you don’t find King Hippo in drag dancing with Simon funny you must be dead.
I could go on all day about this episode, but you have to see it, one of the series best. Only a Pero cameo could of made it any better.
Game- Legend of Zelda
The title of this could be interpreted as a sports episode. I saw series 3 first so I thought that this show would have a ridiculous amount of sport based guest star episodes. As it is, I found one of the best episodes of the show.
This episode is based around Zelda, has a ton of cameos and features Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo betraying Mother Brain once more. Yes it rocks.
The episode starts off by showing s how the triforce was reformed, a link to their own series in which they were trying to retrieve it from Gannon. I loved that music when King Hippo and Eggplant first see the triforce. The ball part wasn’t annoying as it may have been and gave us a load of cameos, Dr Wright, Prince Plenty, Bayou Billy, Link, Zelda. I found it funny the way the announcer presented Link.
One thing this episode did was showed us was how the war was taking a toll on Lana, rather than wanting Kevin around for once, she was talking more to Simon since the two of them were around before the war and knew of peace. Kevin was shown as a bit of a loser, which is always good, not because I hate Kevin or anything, but because it makes him more human, showing us he’s great at games, but not so good with the ladies.
Link’s always cool to see interact with Kevin and here was no different, especially the way they greet each other at the ball. Plus we actually get a romantic relationship between Link and Zelda this time, another nice addition that goes with the other series. Another nice touch was seeing Zelda’s link to the triforce, another nice touch.
It was also funny seeing how two morons use the tirforce, King Hippo just eating and Eggplant Wizard getting dancing Tomato Women. Speaking of them, Eggplant Wizard was shown as much more devious this time, managing to beat Mother Brain and capture the triforce. Also if you don’t find King Hippo in drag dancing with Simon funny you must be dead.
I could go on all day about this episode, but you have to see it, one of the series best. Only a Pero cameo could of made it any better.
Captain N episode 21
Title- The Feud of Faxanadu (November 24, 1990)
Game- Faxanadu
Well this was an interesting one and one I was looking forward to. It turned out to be a great episode. It was mainly about competition and how working together should be as important as it, but Lana did seem slightly over the top about it, I mean Kevin was right, competition’s just a bit of fun, and about trying to win, otherwise there is no fun in it. Although there were examples of how it got out of hand.
Anyway, I liked Faxanadu, most of the natives were cool, but those two elves were annoying and was glad to see though that they got beat up a bit. The king Melvis rocked (excuse the pun). But I found him likable and humorously over the top. The queen Dwarvina wasn’t as good but was still all right and took an interest in Simon, which is always funny seeing someone actually like him.
I loved the mist town, I thought it looked really great, especially the bar place where all the scum and villainy hang out, cool seeing how disrespected Melvis was here. The Evil one was kinda weird, but cool in the way he actually didn’t get caught or killed, made him seem more threatening.
The stupidest part though was Dwarvina’s reaction to one of the elves betrayal, ‘well don’t do it again.’ That’s it, no imprisonment, no community service, it could have been done the same way, but with a better phrase ‘I believe you, but you must serve me and all other dwarves well, if your loyalty is proven, you will be forgiven.’ No point crying over spilt milk.
Overall a great episode, despite one or two silly parts.
Game- Faxanadu
Well this was an interesting one and one I was looking forward to. It turned out to be a great episode. It was mainly about competition and how working together should be as important as it, but Lana did seem slightly over the top about it, I mean Kevin was right, competition’s just a bit of fun, and about trying to win, otherwise there is no fun in it. Although there were examples of how it got out of hand.
Anyway, I liked Faxanadu, most of the natives were cool, but those two elves were annoying and was glad to see though that they got beat up a bit. The king Melvis rocked (excuse the pun). But I found him likable and humorously over the top. The queen Dwarvina wasn’t as good but was still all right and took an interest in Simon, which is always funny seeing someone actually like him.
I loved the mist town, I thought it looked really great, especially the bar place where all the scum and villainy hang out, cool seeing how disrespected Melvis was here. The Evil one was kinda weird, but cool in the way he actually didn’t get caught or killed, made him seem more threatening.
The stupidest part though was Dwarvina’s reaction to one of the elves betrayal, ‘well don’t do it again.’ That’s it, no imprisonment, no community service, it could have been done the same way, but with a better phrase ‘I believe you, but you must serve me and all other dwarves well, if your loyalty is proven, you will be forgiven.’ No point crying over spilt milk.
Overall a great episode, despite one or two silly parts.
Captain N episode 20
Title-Once Upon a Time Machine (November 17, 1990)
Game- Zelda(cameo), Puss 'n' Boots.
When I first heard of what this episode was based on, I was worried. I thought ‘well here’s an episode of the show I’ll probably never watch more than once’ Instead this episode has to be my favourite.
The first point that I must mention about this episode is that Link is with Kevin, throughout. Kevin, Duke and Link. This is awesomeness already. The episode also makes a point of how much Kevin relies on his power pad as he loses it through his showing off. It gets stolen by an anthropic pig. Another thing about this is it seems Link gets revenge and is constantly saving Kevin this time, which is cool when you compare it to thier first encounter.
The characters of this episode are so good, they just rock. I don’t know what it is about them but we have an evil pig who you actually hate, rather than find funny or just thuggish. His two henchmen are actually quite good in the way they set off events throughout the episode. The fox guys not great but he’s ok, just your average mad fox scientist. The highlight of this episode though has to be Pero the cat. HE ROCKS. PERIOD. He’s smart mouthed and annoying but you still get the feel, this is his world, he knows the ropes, the tactics and the moves. Also another great thing about him is that he uses Kevin, he seems to be the only anti-hero in the show, he’s just out to save himself, but he does have a heart and will help those in need.
Speaking of heroes, why was there such a lack of them in all the episodes? I mean we had the N team, Link, Bayou Billy, Pero… erm… that’s it I think, oh and Paperboy and Robin Hood much later. There really aren’t any others I can think of (those two sportsmen in series 3 aren’t heroes) Ah well just would have been cool to see Kevin team up with the Final Fantasy group.
The final points I like about the episodes are how it uses time travel. It’s very cool. I especially liked the London part, being British, I feel that all we’re known for is London (and maybe Wimbledon) so it was great to see the coastline of Britain used for once. Also I can’t help but think this episode will be ever shown on tv unedited, since there’s a part where they crash a small bi-plane through the Empire State building.
Overall one of the finest episodes I’ve seen due to the fresh feel to it, and my personal favourite.
Captain N episode 19
Title-The Lost City of Kongoland (November 10, 1990)
Game- Donkey Kong.
I love this shows version of Donkey Kong. He manages to be funny and cool rather than just some King Kong rip-off.
I like this episode due to the Donkey Kong parts. I always found it cool how the tribesmen interacted with DK. They had a peace deal of food in exchange for peace, and the tribes people had plenty of food to share so no one lost. I also really liked the chief, Prince Plenty, who had some pretty humorous parts such as not really caring about the lost city of Kongoland rising until he realised it was rising in Donkey Kong’s cabin.
It was cool seeing a serious villain once in a while, there’s very few of them in the series but when they appear they’re usually good. The idea of Lana being taken over was cool and she managed to sound evil and as said was threatening. She single-handedly defeated Donkey Kong and the N team. Now that is threatening.
I liked the way Donkey Kong was shown in this episode due to the parts like him leaving home with a bowler hat and a suitcase, funny, plus him fighting the giant plant dinosaur was cool. Somehow the DK parts reminded me of DK Jungle beat.
Overall a pretty cool episode, great for DK fans.
Captain N episode 18
Title-The Big Game (October 20, 1990)
Game- Mega Man 2, California Games.
This episodes quite good. Whilst not exactly thrilling with the typical cliché of enemies playing American football against each other, it does have a fair few character building elements for Kevin. We learn more of Kevin’s life before he was brought to the gaming universe. We learn that he’s starting to miss his home and from the people at his school who get brought to the gaming universe by Wily, we learn how he was outside.
Speaking of the people from his school, they were brought in to fill numbers for the match I think. There’s four of them, one a Simon clone who doesn’t exactly get on well with Simon, I think he’s called Romeo but that may just be a passing nickname, then a giant idiot to put it nicely, then Rick Walker who’s the team captain type although he seems alright compared to most, Finally there’s a cheerleader called Stacy. The second two were the more interesting ones to see interact with the N team and really seemed like the more intended guests, rather than the other two fillers. Rick was smart enough to see that Kevin knew what he was doing and didn’t try to push him like the other two were. Stacy’s interactions with Lana were pretty good and helped build up Lana’s character.
The main highlight of the episode was the Megaman 2 robots. Many people complain about the designs on this show, but I found them great, they managed to appear far more threatening than being Megaman’s size and design. The football match cliché is partly avoided due to the fact that they’re facing the Robot Masters and they even use Megaman weapons and vehicles later. Now that’s how to do American Football!
Overall a pretty good episode but not one of the best.
Game- Mega Man 2, California Games.
This episodes quite good. Whilst not exactly thrilling with the typical cliché of enemies playing American football against each other, it does have a fair few character building elements for Kevin. We learn more of Kevin’s life before he was brought to the gaming universe. We learn that he’s starting to miss his home and from the people at his school who get brought to the gaming universe by Wily, we learn how he was outside.
Speaking of the people from his school, they were brought in to fill numbers for the match I think. There’s four of them, one a Simon clone who doesn’t exactly get on well with Simon, I think he’s called Romeo but that may just be a passing nickname, then a giant idiot to put it nicely, then Rick Walker who’s the team captain type although he seems alright compared to most, Finally there’s a cheerleader called Stacy. The second two were the more interesting ones to see interact with the N team and really seemed like the more intended guests, rather than the other two fillers. Rick was smart enough to see that Kevin knew what he was doing and didn’t try to push him like the other two were. Stacy’s interactions with Lana were pretty good and helped build up Lana’s character.
The main highlight of the episode was the Megaman 2 robots. Many people complain about the designs on this show, but I found them great, they managed to appear far more threatening than being Megaman’s size and design. The football match cliché is partly avoided due to the fact that they’re facing the Robot Masters and they even use Megaman weapons and vehicles later. Now that’s how to do American Football!
Overall a pretty good episode but not one of the best.
Captain N episode 17
Title-The Trouble with Tetris (October 13, 1990)
Game- Tetris.
I was afraid when I first read this episodes title, but it’s an enjoyable episode. I really love Tetris’ design. It’s great when the power source makes the whole world fall apart and become like the game.
Lyle is quite good actually, I was afraid he’d become annoying but he managed not to. It was good him staying on Tetris, a world that doesn’t even know of Mother Brain. The Tetrisians are cool. It was nice Lyle took an interest in his father, rather than being a flat character who didn’t think about anything other than the episode.
Overall a pretty good episode with some nice parts.
Captain N episode 16
Title-Quest for the Potion of Power (September 29, 1990)
Game- Zelda II.
New voices
Link-Jonathan Potts
Zelda-Cynthia Preston
Gannon-Len Carlson
Captain N teaming up with Link and Zelda. Let that sink in. Good. This episode is based around the storyline of Zelda II. This is also a direct cross over of the Zelda cartoon with Captain N, which could be seen as a continuation of it. The great thing about this episode is the rivalry between Link and Kevin. It’s a good job that only Kevin and urgh, Gameboy, go as it gives us more of a personality clash. This was resolved later but through the episode Link gets fed up of being saved by Kevin.
One thing that also added to this was the fact Link was already built up in his series, so it was great to have that unknown history in there. If only they did a Mario cross over. Ah well I can dream I spose.
I loved them patting themselves on the back and showing off, helped show how similar they are. Gannon has been defeated and his armies are running around mindlessly. When I saw Mother Brain I was worried that Gannon would be lowered down, but greatly, he uses her. The final confrontation rocks, as does the animation once more. Gannon also had a better design and great voice in Len Carlson from the original show.
The Moblins also rocked, especially their Mexican accents. It was cool to see Link actually fighting with his sword and the dungeon puzzles like from the game. The bosses were also here such as Horsehead and Iron Knuckle. Both had strategies from the game to beat them.
Overall a must see episode that luckily wasn’t the last appearance of Link, Zelda and Hyrule.
Captain N episode 15
Title- Queen of the Apes (September 22, 1990)
Game- Donkey Kong.
When Donkey Kong’s the main storyline, I used to not get too excited, but now I see most of his episode’s are pretty awesome. I loved the tribes people, even if they were a bit of a rip off of King Kong, they still were cool guys. An interesting concept, Donkey Kong’s body with Mother Brains brain. Imagine how that will fare.
Mother Brain often can seem to be not too threatening but here she definitely is. Simon’s fan club rocks, it’s great the way it always seems only animals etc actually like Simon the way he thinks everyone else should. There’s a massive error on the DVD where a big part of the episode is missing.
Overall a great episode which makes Mother Brain actually threatening.
Game- Donkey Kong.
When Donkey Kong’s the main storyline, I used to not get too excited, but now I see most of his episode’s are pretty awesome. I loved the tribes people, even if they were a bit of a rip off of King Kong, they still were cool guys. An interesting concept, Donkey Kong’s body with Mother Brains brain. Imagine how that will fare.
Mother Brain often can seem to be not too threatening but here she definitely is. Simon’s fan club rocks, it’s great the way it always seems only animals etc actually like Simon the way he thinks everyone else should. There’s a massive error on the DVD where a big part of the episode is missing.
Overall a great episode which makes Mother Brain actually threatening.
Captain N episode 14
Title- Gameboy (September 8, 1990)
Game- Metroid, Gameboy, Burgertime.
A new season, a new character. Sadly though, it seems they on purpose made the new character annoying. Gameboy has been seen as annoying by most fans of the show and I must say I agree. When you consider the list of characters they could of tried to add, Samus for example, like in the comics, she would make an interesting love triangle and also could’ve of not been revealed to be a woman till much later. Instead we end up with a computer with an attitude who states the obvious during every episode he’s in (Moblins attack ‘danger danger, Moblins are attacking’ rope bridge snaps ‘danger danger, bridge falling’.) Urgh.
Rant over, let’s talk about the actual episode. This is a very good episode and features Mother Brain as the main villain in Metroid. Metroid is very cool and well designed and it’s always good fun watching it animated.
The episode also features Burger Time, an arcade type game where you made enemies into burgers. Strangely the N team play the part of the baddies, and get their asses handed to them by Gameboy.
You see that’s the annoying thing about Gameboy. He had potential, he had cool powers, being able to generate creatures from him, scanning etc, but anything cool’s lost by his purposefully annoying dialog.
Overall a great episode that had potential to give us a cool new character, but it failed with Gameboy.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Captain N The Games Master
Captain N and all characters within are trademarked to thier respective owners.
Season 1
Season 2
Series 3
Since Captain N was a cross-over series, there are some films and cartoons that contain the original characters and settings that Captain N adapted into it. The only ones I will cover in this section are ones which aren't really big enough series to warrant their own sections, also I will only cover the ones that are directly linked to the Captain N episode (so for the Puss in Boots anime series, the game and therefore the Captain N episode were only based on one of their three movies so I won't cover any of the others.) and had a game that the Captain N episode was based off. (so not Batman cartoons as Batman's definately not a small franchise and the Captain N parody (Wombatman) was definately not based on any games.)
Captain N episode 13
Title- Happy Birthday, Megaman (December 2, 1989)
Game- Megaman I guess. The Wizard of Oz (if there was a game on it)
This episode’s a strange one to end the series with but enjoyable. Whilst it’s not based on any game and takes place in a load of different little hmm… well not even moons I guess, it still has a fair few guest characters. Dr Wright and for the only time Megagirl appear in this episode. There’s a strange variety of places that appear. Probably the strangest one is fun land. The clown guy’s actually quite unsettling and there’s a few strange but funny parts.
Simon is hilarious in this part where they get to have their favourite thing, which is supposed to make them never want to leave the place. Simon of course gets a mirror image of himself saying he’ll show him round the place. Also Megaman is simply inserted with a happiness chip, almost like drugs for robots.
This episode is based around Megaman’s quest to gain humanity and has a quite surprising ending.
Overall a great episode that changed Megaman permanently, which is a nice way to leave off a season. Strange Mother Brain’s absent though.
Game- Megaman I guess. The Wizard of Oz (if there was a game on it)
This episode’s a strange one to end the series with but enjoyable. Whilst it’s not based on any game and takes place in a load of different little hmm… well not even moons I guess, it still has a fair few guest characters. Dr Wright and for the only time Megagirl appear in this episode. There’s a strange variety of places that appear. Probably the strangest one is fun land. The clown guy’s actually quite unsettling and there’s a few strange but funny parts.
Simon is hilarious in this part where they get to have their favourite thing, which is supposed to make them never want to leave the place. Simon of course gets a mirror image of himself saying he’ll show him round the place. Also Megaman is simply inserted with a happiness chip, almost like drugs for robots.
This episode is based around Megaman’s quest to gain humanity and has a quite surprising ending.
Overall a great episode that changed Megaman permanently, which is a nice way to leave off a season. Strange Mother Brain’s absent though.
Captain N episode 12
Title- Metroid Sweet Metroid (November 25, 1989)
Game- Metroid, Megaland(cameo), Kid Icarus(cameo), Castlevania(cameo)
Mother Brain’s at her best when she wins, and this episode she tricks Kevin into believing she’s finally defeated. Then once the N team disperses she strikes. I liked the touch of Kevin asking why the real world was still a cartoon rather than normal (the live action scene from the real world). Also we didn’t find out Mother Brain had survived until it was too late.
It was cool watching Kevin fight through Metroid without a power pad or zapper. He used many upgrades from the game which rocked. I also liked seeing how everyone dealt with the end of the war, Simon actually showed a backbone and admitted Kevin was the real saviour, and seeing each of their homeworlds invaded was great.
The best part was the end though, seeing Mother Brain preparing her enemies execution made it again hit home how the universe would be if Mother Brain ruled.
Overall a great episode which elevates Mother Brains threat level.
Game- Metroid, Megaland(cameo), Kid Icarus(cameo), Castlevania(cameo)
Mother Brain’s at her best when she wins, and this episode she tricks Kevin into believing she’s finally defeated. Then once the N team disperses she strikes. I liked the touch of Kevin asking why the real world was still a cartoon rather than normal (the live action scene from the real world). Also we didn’t find out Mother Brain had survived until it was too late.
It was cool watching Kevin fight through Metroid without a power pad or zapper. He used many upgrades from the game which rocked. I also liked seeing how everyone dealt with the end of the war, Simon actually showed a backbone and admitted Kevin was the real saviour, and seeing each of their homeworlds invaded was great.
The best part was the end though, seeing Mother Brain preparing her enemies execution made it again hit home how the universe would be if Mother Brain ruled.
Overall a great episode which elevates Mother Brains threat level.
Captain N episode 11
Title-In Search of the King (November 18, 1989)
Game- Wizards and Warriors
Guest Voice
King Charles-Long John Baldry
This episode rocks. We finally get to see the king of Videoland and find out what happened to him. The mirror world is cool, and we get to see more of Wizards and Warriors which is the only time we will get to. The King is great and voiced by Long John Baldry, that guy who voiced Dr Robotnik in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. The episode had a genuine mystery going, we knew that King Charles was strangely actually going around normally but it kept you guessing why he was trying to hide till the reached the mirror.
The Mirror N team were great and some of the few villains that actually seemed threatening. I felt actual sadness about what happened to King Charles at the end. King Charles was a good ruler, and you wished he would come back so you could see his full greatness.
Another bonus, while the 4 of them are good, this episode was the first to not feature Mother Brain, which greatly helped gain the actual villains bonus points. Like I said before a villain needs to be independent to be at their best, and so far Mother Brain was behind everything, the only other good villains are the ones who use Mother Brain for thier own plot.
Overall an excellent episode that shows us why Lana is always searching for her father.
Game- Wizards and Warriors
Guest Voice
King Charles-Long John Baldry
This episode rocks. We finally get to see the king of Videoland and find out what happened to him. The mirror world is cool, and we get to see more of Wizards and Warriors which is the only time we will get to. The King is great and voiced by Long John Baldry, that guy who voiced Dr Robotnik in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. The episode had a genuine mystery going, we knew that King Charles was strangely actually going around normally but it kept you guessing why he was trying to hide till the reached the mirror.
The Mirror N team were great and some of the few villains that actually seemed threatening. I felt actual sadness about what happened to King Charles at the end. King Charles was a good ruler, and you wished he would come back so you could see his full greatness.
Another bonus, while the 4 of them are good, this episode was the first to not feature Mother Brain, which greatly helped gain the actual villains bonus points. Like I said before a villain needs to be independent to be at their best, and so far Mother Brain was behind everything, the only other good villains are the ones who use Mother Brain for thier own plot.
Overall an excellent episode that shows us why Lana is always searching for her father.
Captain N episode 10
Title-Simon the Ape-Man (November 11, 1989)
Game- Donkey Kong, Castlevania, Donkey Kong Junior (cameo), Kung Fu (I think, Cameo)
Another episode with Castlevania, it was mainly in the first season a lot and in fact didn’t seem to be in many of season two episodes at all. Simon gets amnesia after a collision and tries to remember who he is, first the N team try to help him, then Mother Brain tries to steal him, then Donkey Kong finds him and makes him DK JR. Would have been cool to see DK JR but alas twas not to be.
The Count returned and was for once his own man, the other episodes he was just a threat on the world, now he’s actually trying to take the whole place over single handed. I liked the fact that they followed the games in the respect only a vampire hunter could beat the undead, even one with amnesia. Donkey Kong’s cool as we get to see his life in this episode, rather than a small cameo, I liked DK here, sure he was a King Kong rip off but still he didn’t copy any of the movies ideas and later episodes, he rocks completely.
Overall a cool episode that DK and Castlevania fans will love.
Captain N episode 9
Title-Nightmare On Mother Brain's Street (November 4, 1989)
Game- Wizards and Warriors
This episode has a great premise and manages to live up to it. Lana’s tricked into eating a poisoned apple ala Snow White and it’s up to Kevin and Simon to try to wake her. Kevin on a team with just Simon at this point trying to save Lana’s bound to not go well. Simon’s funny and is actually a good hero despite being the butt of many jokes, but here he’s ruthless, he’s constantly trying to get one over Kevin and actually (maybe unintentionally) almost kills Kevin.
The dreams were cool as they showed us what the N teams nightmares were, Kid Icarus gets shot by his own bow, Mega Man gets frozen by Ice Man and Simon hilariously is in a Mr Videoverse contest until his hair all falls out, and his teeth and his belly becomes fat.
Malkil seemed cool, and was the mastermind behind the plot. I don’t know really why Mother Brain needed to be here but it did seem slightly like he was using her, which always gains a villain points in my book.
Overall a good episode that really shows us how badly Simon treated others at the start of the shows run.
Game- Wizards and Warriors
This episode has a great premise and manages to live up to it. Lana’s tricked into eating a poisoned apple ala Snow White and it’s up to Kevin and Simon to try to wake her. Kevin on a team with just Simon at this point trying to save Lana’s bound to not go well. Simon’s funny and is actually a good hero despite being the butt of many jokes, but here he’s ruthless, he’s constantly trying to get one over Kevin and actually (maybe unintentionally) almost kills Kevin.
The dreams were cool as they showed us what the N teams nightmares were, Kid Icarus gets shot by his own bow, Mega Man gets frozen by Ice Man and Simon hilariously is in a Mr Videoverse contest until his hair all falls out, and his teeth and his belly becomes fat.
Malkil seemed cool, and was the mastermind behind the plot. I don’t know really why Mother Brain needed to be here but it did seem slightly like he was using her, which always gains a villain points in my book.
Overall a good episode that really shows us how badly Simon treated others at the start of the shows run.
Captain N episode 8
Title- Mr. & Mrs. Mother Brain (October 28, 1989)
Games- Castlevania, Kid Icarus
Another episode where they seem a bit rash, but Lana’s going to have a talk with Mother Brain to try to establish peace. Well at least it’s in her palace rather than Mother Brain’s I guess. Kid Icarus is the only one it seems practicing in case it’s a trap, well let’s say prejudices sometimes pay off. However after a blunder by Simon, Mother Brain’s plan doesn’t go down well, Simon falls in love with Mother Brain due to a love at first sight arrow.
Before they can try to bring Simon to his senses thy learn that Castlevania’s been invaded. They decide to go there first. This is where the Count makes his best appearance, I love that part where Kevin goes "Your powers don't scare us!" The Count simply replies "I'm so happy to hear that. You know, fear makes the blood taste terrible." The Count’s bat transformation looks disgusting, basically, apart from the orange suit, The Count rocks here. Also we get to see more of Mount Icarus, it rocks too, and the fact that they have to go through all those dangers to simply get to an arrow maker makes it feel more like a game humorously. Simon shows his typical arrogance and self loving here, especially at the end.
Overall a fun episode that features two cool worlds and the Count’s finest appearance.
Games- Castlevania, Kid Icarus
Another episode where they seem a bit rash, but Lana’s going to have a talk with Mother Brain to try to establish peace. Well at least it’s in her palace rather than Mother Brain’s I guess. Kid Icarus is the only one it seems practicing in case it’s a trap, well let’s say prejudices sometimes pay off. However after a blunder by Simon, Mother Brain’s plan doesn’t go down well, Simon falls in love with Mother Brain due to a love at first sight arrow.
Before they can try to bring Simon to his senses thy learn that Castlevania’s been invaded. They decide to go there first. This is where the Count makes his best appearance, I love that part where Kevin goes "Your powers don't scare us!" The Count simply replies "I'm so happy to hear that. You know, fear makes the blood taste terrible." The Count’s bat transformation looks disgusting, basically, apart from the orange suit, The Count rocks here. Also we get to see more of Mount Icarus, it rocks too, and the fact that they have to go through all those dangers to simply get to an arrow maker makes it feel more like a game humorously. Simon shows his typical arrogance and self loving here, especially at the end.
Overall a fun episode that features two cool worlds and the Count’s finest appearance.
Captain N episode 7
Title- Three Men and a Dragon (October 21, 1989)
Games-Dragon Warrior.
A fun episode, this revolves around Dragon Warrior. It introduces Dragon Lord as the main baddie but also needlessly includes Mother Brain as his elaborate pay checker. She’s really not needed here and doesn’t appear throughout the rest of the episode, Dragon Lord suffers though as it seems he needs assistance to actually be powerful, making him more a thug than intelligent. Anyway, there were many fun aspects of this episode, I especially liked the weapons shop, actually seemed like an rpg shop which was cool.
The dragon baby wasn’t really given the chance to be annoying, which is better than focusing on her. Dragon Lord really was a wimp though, worrying about one dragon, he’s got a freaking army of them, surely he can beat one dragon, fully grown or not.
Overall a fun episode which works well on it’s own, and is enjoyable to watch.
Games-Dragon Warrior.
A fun episode, this revolves around Dragon Warrior. It introduces Dragon Lord as the main baddie but also needlessly includes Mother Brain as his elaborate pay checker. She’s really not needed here and doesn’t appear throughout the rest of the episode, Dragon Lord suffers though as it seems he needs assistance to actually be powerful, making him more a thug than intelligent. Anyway, there were many fun aspects of this episode, I especially liked the weapons shop, actually seemed like an rpg shop which was cool.
The dragon baby wasn’t really given the chance to be annoying, which is better than focusing on her. Dragon Lord really was a wimp though, worrying about one dragon, he’s got a freaking army of them, surely he can beat one dragon, fully grown or not.
Overall a fun episode which works well on it’s own, and is enjoyable to watch.
Captain N episode 6
Title- Wishful Thinking (October 14, 1989)
Games-Metroid.
This episode is pretty average. It has some nice moments but is more of a character building episode than anything threatening. We get to see that as mentioned before, Kid Icarus feels useless, and wishes he was bigger (didn’t he grow tall in one of the endings of the game? Anyway…) He makes a wish to become bigger and is pretty reckless about it, resulting in him becoming way too large.
Also Eggplant Wizard shows us that he can be devious and he with King Hippo takes control of the Metroid. I liked that they could actually be quite devious, differed from the usual idiot henchmen cliché.
Overall an average episode which compliments the series but isn’t great as a one off episode.
Games-Metroid.
This episode is pretty average. It has some nice moments but is more of a character building episode than anything threatening. We get to see that as mentioned before, Kid Icarus feels useless, and wishes he was bigger (didn’t he grow tall in one of the endings of the game? Anyway…) He makes a wish to become bigger and is pretty reckless about it, resulting in him becoming way too large.
Also Eggplant Wizard shows us that he can be devious and he with King Hippo takes control of the Metroid. I liked that they could actually be quite devious, differed from the usual idiot henchmen cliché.
Overall an average episode which compliments the series but isn’t great as a one off episode.
Captain N episode 5
Title- Mega Trouble for Megaland (October 7, 1989)
Games-Mega Man, Kid Icarus
Excellent. This episode is up there with the best of them, it’s not often Villains win in cartoons, but this allowed Mother Brain to rule, not think she was ruling, but actually rule. It’s this episode that lets us see why Mother Brain can’t be in power, the fact that she forces all the peoples to become slaves. The episode after establishing the regime then takes us to two home worlds of the heroes, Megaland and Mount Icarus. Simon and Kid Icarus must defeat Medusa and reclaim a weapon that will be powerful enough to defeat Mother Brain. The others meanwhile fight their way through MegaLand more specifically Cut Man’s (incorrectly named Cuts Man) stage, and boy is it good, it has those annoying blue guys, and there’s a whole swarm of them, then some other guys I can’t remember and finally Big Eye.
What’s more is they actually get their ass kicked, and die, yes they die, sure they have another life like in games, but they don’t avoid the issue like some shows, heck although they’re vaporised, the enemies in this show are actually killed, none come back, infact, towards the end of the episode Wily brings a Robot Master back to life, that means without his help they’re dead. This may seem insignificant, but after years of watching Spiderman from the 90’s sending people to other dimensions and the extremist censors, it’s cool to see a cartoon show where the villains actually die.
Anyway, back to the cartoon. Basically, we get some cool uses of the games storylines, Dr Wily’s regimes destruction and even Medusa’s death. One character made their first appearance here, Dr Wright, Mega Man’s creator. He was one of the shows most recurring guests, and made a convenient doctor and general genius. His Character was here really quite incompetent, he builds a robot who basically just wrecks his lab, I dread to think how many times he had to build robots before he actually managed to build a sane one.
A great episode that is a must see for Mega Man and Kid Icarus fans.
Games-Mega Man, Kid Icarus
Excellent. This episode is up there with the best of them, it’s not often Villains win in cartoons, but this allowed Mother Brain to rule, not think she was ruling, but actually rule. It’s this episode that lets us see why Mother Brain can’t be in power, the fact that she forces all the peoples to become slaves. The episode after establishing the regime then takes us to two home worlds of the heroes, Megaland and Mount Icarus. Simon and Kid Icarus must defeat Medusa and reclaim a weapon that will be powerful enough to defeat Mother Brain. The others meanwhile fight their way through MegaLand more specifically Cut Man’s (incorrectly named Cuts Man) stage, and boy is it good, it has those annoying blue guys, and there’s a whole swarm of them, then some other guys I can’t remember and finally Big Eye.
What’s more is they actually get their ass kicked, and die, yes they die, sure they have another life like in games, but they don’t avoid the issue like some shows, heck although they’re vaporised, the enemies in this show are actually killed, none come back, infact, towards the end of the episode Wily brings a Robot Master back to life, that means without his help they’re dead. This may seem insignificant, but after years of watching Spiderman from the 90’s sending people to other dimensions and the extremist censors, it’s cool to see a cartoon show where the villains actually die.
Anyway, back to the cartoon. Basically, we get some cool uses of the games storylines, Dr Wily’s regimes destruction and even Medusa’s death. One character made their first appearance here, Dr Wright, Mega Man’s creator. He was one of the shows most recurring guests, and made a convenient doctor and general genius. His Character was here really quite incompetent, he builds a robot who basically just wrecks his lab, I dread to think how many times he had to build robots before he actually managed to build a sane one.
A great episode that is a must see for Mega Man and Kid Icarus fans.
Captain N episode 4
Title-Videolympics (September 30, 1989)
Games- Donkey Kong(cameo) Punch Out (cameo) Mega Man (cameo), Kid Icarus
A very good episode, this is part of the only two parter in the show. This episode centres around a Videolympics that will supposedly finally end the conflict in video land. Yeah, right, I suppose though it may seem stupid, it shows that they’re desperate to end the war. I loved the cameos and getting to see Punch Out.
The wrestling match was funny. The teams characters weren’t quite as well developed in this episode, other than Kevin who’s revealed to enjoy sport, still I guess if you build the characters up it gives you freedom to just use them, there are of course still some character developing moments, one is the cereal box argument, Kid Icarus has an important point here, since his reason for being on the box is simply that it’s on his world, it kinda shows how insignificant he feels he is, since the others say they should be on there due to their strength or handsomeness (guess who said that…) which shows he feels he has no real qualities.
There was also a few other cameos that were fun such as a koopa trooper in the crowd and the mega man 1 style obstacle course. The best one though is the life size Donkey Kong acade replica, it rocks.
This episode overall has some great parts but the conclusion outweighs it.
Games- Donkey Kong(cameo) Punch Out (cameo) Mega Man (cameo), Kid Icarus
A very good episode, this is part of the only two parter in the show. This episode centres around a Videolympics that will supposedly finally end the conflict in video land. Yeah, right, I suppose though it may seem stupid, it shows that they’re desperate to end the war. I loved the cameos and getting to see Punch Out.
The wrestling match was funny. The teams characters weren’t quite as well developed in this episode, other than Kevin who’s revealed to enjoy sport, still I guess if you build the characters up it gives you freedom to just use them, there are of course still some character developing moments, one is the cereal box argument, Kid Icarus has an important point here, since his reason for being on the box is simply that it’s on his world, it kinda shows how insignificant he feels he is, since the others say they should be on there due to their strength or handsomeness (guess who said that…) which shows he feels he has no real qualities.
There was also a few other cameos that were fun such as a koopa trooper in the crowd and the mega man 1 style obstacle course. The best one though is the life size Donkey Kong acade replica, it rocks.
This episode overall has some great parts but the conclusion outweighs it.
Captain N episode 3
Title- The Most Dangerous Game Master (September 23, 1989)
Game- Castlevania
This is a brilliant episode. Kevin meets his match, we get to see what personally affects him. On top of that the main place we get to see is Castlevania, and it looks amazing. The art department is full out and whilst it’s not as fantastic as the pilot’s art it still is brilliant. Much of the art in the first season is. This episodes celebrity is the Count himself, it was cool seeing he’s Simon’s greatest fear, his arch enemy, the Count’s very cool and his bat version’s disgusting to look at. Kevin’s life outside the gaming universe is shown in this episode, not literally but through the fact he’s bullied, it’s amazing that he can fight the likes of Mother Brain and the Count but is afraid of the bully. It was only fitting that the two have a race through Castlevania, this game separates the men from the boys almost as well as Megaman does.
It was quite surprising to see Mother Brain’s final act, normally in these type of shows you don’t feel sorry for characters, but the ending was quite sad and proved what Mother Brain was capable of.
A great episode, the only flaws a little continuity error with Dr Wily’s creation existing before he even found out from Kevin’s memories what to build. Ah well, the rest of the episode more than makes up for it.
Game- Castlevania
This is a brilliant episode. Kevin meets his match, we get to see what personally affects him. On top of that the main place we get to see is Castlevania, and it looks amazing. The art department is full out and whilst it’s not as fantastic as the pilot’s art it still is brilliant. Much of the art in the first season is. This episodes celebrity is the Count himself, it was cool seeing he’s Simon’s greatest fear, his arch enemy, the Count’s very cool and his bat version’s disgusting to look at. Kevin’s life outside the gaming universe is shown in this episode, not literally but through the fact he’s bullied, it’s amazing that he can fight the likes of Mother Brain and the Count but is afraid of the bully. It was only fitting that the two have a race through Castlevania, this game separates the men from the boys almost as well as Megaman does.
It was quite surprising to see Mother Brain’s final act, normally in these type of shows you don’t feel sorry for characters, but the ending was quite sad and proved what Mother Brain was capable of.
A great episode, the only flaws a little continuity error with Dr Wily’s creation existing before he even found out from Kevin’s memories what to build. Ah well, the rest of the episode more than makes up for it.
Captain N episode 2
Title- How's Bayou (September 16, 1989)
New/Guest Voices
Dr Wily-Ian James Corlett
Game- Adventures of Bayou Billy
A strange place to start off the second episode of a new show, but a fun episode. The game is one I’d never heard of called the adventures of Bayou Billy, but it was quite good.
Billy was a great ally, he was a good mentor and one of those father figure types who when you saw him you knew that the situation was safer. It was also good to see Kevin stumped, you knew he was the games master but this game had even him stumped, a genius stroke by Mother Brain and while her look into the real world was questionable (how?) it was good to see her take decisive action this early, she saw he was a powerful threat and tried to turn his faults against him.
This episode introduced my favourite Mother Brain henchman to us, dr Wily who was probably the closest character to the game version in the series. Wily was good as you always felt that he had ambitions beyond being a mere henchman, the other two had their rebellions but he was biding his time. In this episode however he was simply a creator, who made this weird thing that wasn’t actually a robot I think.
Overall a good episode that helps to show us a few of Kevin’s weaknesses.
New/Guest Voices
Dr Wily-Ian James Corlett
Game- Adventures of Bayou Billy
A strange place to start off the second episode of a new show, but a fun episode. The game is one I’d never heard of called the adventures of Bayou Billy, but it was quite good.
Billy was a great ally, he was a good mentor and one of those father figure types who when you saw him you knew that the situation was safer. It was also good to see Kevin stumped, you knew he was the games master but this game had even him stumped, a genius stroke by Mother Brain and while her look into the real world was questionable (how?) it was good to see her take decisive action this early, she saw he was a powerful threat and tried to turn his faults against him.
This episode introduced my favourite Mother Brain henchman to us, dr Wily who was probably the closest character to the game version in the series. Wily was good as you always felt that he had ambitions beyond being a mere henchman, the other two had their rebellions but he was biding his time. In this episode however he was simply a creator, who made this weird thing that wasn’t actually a robot I think.
Overall a good episode that helps to show us a few of Kevin’s weaknesses.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Captain N episode 1
Title- Kevin in Videoland (September 9, 1989)
New/Guest Voices
King Hippo/DK- Gary Chalk
Dr Wily-Ian James Corlett
Eggplant Wizard-Mike Donovan
Narrator/Kevin Keene-Matt Hill
Kid Icarus-Alessandro Juliani
Simon Belmont-Andrew Kavadas
Mega Man-Doug Parker
Mother Brain-Levi Stubbs
Princess Lana-Venus Terzo
Duke-Tomm Wright
Games- Metroid, Donkey Kong
This series is fondly remembered by many kids of the 80’s and can still be enjoyed today. Based on various Nintendo entertainment system games, the plots of the episodes would take place in various gaming worlds, becoming some games only ventures outside of the games themselves.
This episode is absolutely excellent as an introduction and easily is one of the show’s finest. It takes place on a variety of worlds and introduces us to the main characters. Many people have complained about the designs on this show, I admit they do vary from the games artwork, but I think that you can see how they got there from the bare sprites ingame, that and also their interpretation of how they felt the characters would look outside of 8 bit, a bit like an interpretation of a book. The art in this episode is very impressive, easily it shines, being a pilot episode you can tell they wanted to make an impression.
The characters are well shown, Lana is displayed as a leader who’s trying all last resorts to save her kingdom, she feels she needs to live up to her father and is shown to be upset about Kevin’s initial denial to save the kingdom. Kevin is shown well too, he appears out of place and doesn’t take the simple ‘yeah sure lets save everyone’ approach, instead he’s only really initially helping to achieve his own aim. Simon is brilliant, a few people don’t like his change but I feel he’s much better for it, if he were just a typical warrior there wouldn’t be any diversity in the heroes, as it is he’s a complete asshole, he basically just wants to achieve everything himself, he’s a narcissistic, self serving guy, and he does create most of the genuinely funny situations through his arrogance. Mother Brain is cool and seems quite threatening in this episode, she’s been going at this war for years now, she has an army, most bad guys just send in two comic relief henchmen and hope for the best, she does have the comic relief henchmen though and this is probably their starring roles. King Hippo’s the guy who’s old job was being punched in the stomach and face a lot, yeah he was a boxer, dunno what turned him to the evil side, probably paid better, then again I doubt it would be worse than being punched repeatedly. Eggplant Wizard rocks, end of, he’s just a minor enemy from Kid Icarus, he makes the more smart part of the the duo, while not exactly of average intelligence he still can surprise you. Finally Kid Icarus and Megaman have their characters fleshed out in later episodes.
Back to the actual episode, as said the art is amazing throughout, whilst the occasional bit of screwed up animation appears (Mother Brains holograms first line is spoken without lip movement) it’s only if you’re watching closely you notice anything like that, it appears for about a second literally. Anyway, the episode makes nice use of showing us warp zones, the Donkey Kong part’s cool, but my favorite part of the episode, has to be the chase through the Metroid lower levels. It’s great and features many cameos from enemies from Metroid.
Overall an outstanding episode, one of the show’s best and a great start.
New/Guest Voices
King Hippo/DK- Gary Chalk
Dr Wily-Ian James Corlett
Eggplant Wizard-Mike Donovan
Narrator/Kevin Keene-Matt Hill
Kid Icarus-Alessandro Juliani
Simon Belmont-Andrew Kavadas
Mega Man-Doug Parker
Mother Brain-Levi Stubbs
Princess Lana-Venus Terzo
Duke-Tomm Wright
Games- Metroid, Donkey Kong
This series is fondly remembered by many kids of the 80’s and can still be enjoyed today. Based on various Nintendo entertainment system games, the plots of the episodes would take place in various gaming worlds, becoming some games only ventures outside of the games themselves.
This episode is absolutely excellent as an introduction and easily is one of the show’s finest. It takes place on a variety of worlds and introduces us to the main characters. Many people have complained about the designs on this show, I admit they do vary from the games artwork, but I think that you can see how they got there from the bare sprites ingame, that and also their interpretation of how they felt the characters would look outside of 8 bit, a bit like an interpretation of a book. The art in this episode is very impressive, easily it shines, being a pilot episode you can tell they wanted to make an impression.
The characters are well shown, Lana is displayed as a leader who’s trying all last resorts to save her kingdom, she feels she needs to live up to her father and is shown to be upset about Kevin’s initial denial to save the kingdom. Kevin is shown well too, he appears out of place and doesn’t take the simple ‘yeah sure lets save everyone’ approach, instead he’s only really initially helping to achieve his own aim. Simon is brilliant, a few people don’t like his change but I feel he’s much better for it, if he were just a typical warrior there wouldn’t be any diversity in the heroes, as it is he’s a complete asshole, he basically just wants to achieve everything himself, he’s a narcissistic, self serving guy, and he does create most of the genuinely funny situations through his arrogance. Mother Brain is cool and seems quite threatening in this episode, she’s been going at this war for years now, she has an army, most bad guys just send in two comic relief henchmen and hope for the best, she does have the comic relief henchmen though and this is probably their starring roles. King Hippo’s the guy who’s old job was being punched in the stomach and face a lot, yeah he was a boxer, dunno what turned him to the evil side, probably paid better, then again I doubt it would be worse than being punched repeatedly. Eggplant Wizard rocks, end of, he’s just a minor enemy from Kid Icarus, he makes the more smart part of the the duo, while not exactly of average intelligence he still can surprise you. Finally Kid Icarus and Megaman have their characters fleshed out in later episodes.
Back to the actual episode, as said the art is amazing throughout, whilst the occasional bit of screwed up animation appears (Mother Brains holograms first line is spoken without lip movement) it’s only if you’re watching closely you notice anything like that, it appears for about a second literally. Anyway, the episode makes nice use of showing us warp zones, the Donkey Kong part’s cool, but my favorite part of the episode, has to be the chase through the Metroid lower levels. It’s great and features many cameos from enemies from Metroid.
Overall an outstanding episode, one of the show’s best and a great start.
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