Title- Ape Foo Young
The second episode, and the first episode I saw with Candy Kong. Why is that important? Because honestly, I can’t stand this version of Candy. I guess it's because they changed her so radically, compared to the others who had the odd tweak but still had a similar design. I could stand her having a different personality, but the way they just completely changed her design was kinda pointless. All I mean is, if she wasn't called Candy, she wouldn't even really be her. That said, I guess I agree that Candy was never one of the best characters in the games, in fact they dropped her after the first one and she didn't return until the N64 game.
Anyway, what about the actual episode? Well it was pretty crap to be honest. I mean there were bonuses, such as Cranky actually trying to regain his original glory and Baby Donkey Kong, who actually is in the games now. Baby Kong is also the reason this episode sucks. This is since the majority of the episode is spent on a corny chase for baby DK and that’s about it. Also there’s the typical King Krool running around with Crystal Coconut and it getting tossed around to everyone.
Another thing I have to mention, is that it’s strange how both Cranky getting involved in potion making and the Crystal Coconut(s) originated here, and appeared later in DK64.
Overall, pretty boring episode, with a couple of good points, like Diddy trying to be a hero and failing miserably, and Cranky’s youth, but it spends far too much time with Baby DK.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Donkey Kong Country Episode 1
Title- Bad Hair day
New/Guest voices
Richard Yearwood — Donkey Kong
Andrew Sabiston — Diddy Kong; Junior the Giant Klaptrap
Joy Tanner — Candy Kong; Baby Kong; Robot Candy Clone
Aron Tager — Cranky Kong
Ben Campbell — King K. Rool
Louise Vallace — Dixie Kong
Donald Burda — Bluster Kong
Damon D'Oliveira — Funky Kong
Len Carlson — Klump (season 1); King K. Rool (first episode)
Ron Rubin — Krusha (season 1)
Frank Welker — Krusha (season 2)
Lawrence Bayne — Kritter
Charles Adler — Polly Roger
Rick Jones — Inka Dinka Doo
Adrian Truss — Eddie the Mean Old Yeti
Neil Ross — Kaptain Skurvy; Klump (season 2)
John Stocker — Kutlass
Dan Hennessey — Green Kroc
I remember when I was a kid, I read in my Nintendo Magazine that there was a show based on Donkey Kong Country on Fox Kids. This was back at the time when it seemed to be a rarity to have sky or even cable, so I never got a chance to see it, which really irritated me. I grew up with Donkey Kong Country, and even now I love the games, despite how much they are called average etc by most people. I let my imagination run wild about what could be on this show, with me imagining how all my favorite characters would sound and act. Many years later, when I learnt that you can find out about almost anything on the web, I searched for the show, and saw some pictures of it. It horrified me, I was expecting the series to look like the art, which was kinda stupid of me considering how primitive 3d animation was at the time, and how every single game related cartoon I’d seen was vastly different from their respective games concept art etc.
I honestly never thought I’d bother watching the show, as I’d read a bit about it and it put me off, with me reading about singing and other corny stuff. I decided however to bite the bullet and watch a few episodes, as at this point I’m running low on series that are doable without seeming like a mammoth task (like the Kirby anime, Mario Bros Super Show or Pokemon) so here we are. I’ve watched a couple of episodes so far, and my general opinion is, I would of liked this series as a kid, and I admit I do like parts of it now. The main part that I like is the characters who I liked from the games, such as Funky and Cranky. Quite a few of the characters described personalities from the games are perfectly intact here, with Funky’s laidback surfer attitude, but his keen mechanic mind, and Cranky’s cutting remarks. A couple of characters do surprise, like Diddy being a cowardly Luigi type, but others like DK are completely as I imagined they’d be.
Anyway, on to the actual episode. Well it’s pretty clear it’s the first episode. We get Cranky telling the audience about the Crystal Coconut and how K Rool wants it as whoever has it is king of the Island. It’s funny how the thing still seems to do nothing more than show pictures of people, kinda like a coconut TV. Anyway, we get K Rool actually do like a smart villain and just all out attack the cabin, and as we get to see he gets his ass kicked by DK. It’s pretty cool and does illustrate why he has to try these convoluted plans rather than outright taking the coconut.
Anyway, the basic plot is taken from the story of Sampson. DK is put under a curse by having a robot version of Candy Kong cut his hair, therefore taking all his strength away. It’s a pretty good set up as we’re shown things that he does before with ease now being impossible, such as him hitting the button for his elevator system. What really freaked me out though, is that that quiff DK has, is actually skin under his hair, as in he has two protrusions in his skull on the top of his head. It looks really gross.
One interesting thing, is that Krusha seems much more intelligent here than in later episodes. Of course that’s common in most pilots, but here it’s interesting that he ends the episode with the crap kicked out of him. I wonder if that actually caused his future stupidity, pretty violent fight if so, it’s not actually shown though so who knows.
Overall a pretty good episode. I mainly liked the fact that DK wasn’t shown to learn that he doesn’t need to rely on his strength and that the "power was iside him all along" or that "His mind could help him win regardless of power", instead he just gets it back and kicks ass, plus the ending was funny.
New/Guest voices
Richard Yearwood — Donkey Kong
Andrew Sabiston — Diddy Kong; Junior the Giant Klaptrap
Joy Tanner — Candy Kong; Baby Kong; Robot Candy Clone
Aron Tager — Cranky Kong
Ben Campbell — King K. Rool
Louise Vallace — Dixie Kong
Donald Burda — Bluster Kong
Damon D'Oliveira — Funky Kong
Len Carlson — Klump (season 1); King K. Rool (first episode)
Ron Rubin — Krusha (season 1)
Frank Welker — Krusha (season 2)
Lawrence Bayne — Kritter
Charles Adler — Polly Roger
Rick Jones — Inka Dinka Doo
Adrian Truss — Eddie the Mean Old Yeti
Neil Ross — Kaptain Skurvy; Klump (season 2)
John Stocker — Kutlass
Dan Hennessey — Green Kroc
I remember when I was a kid, I read in my Nintendo Magazine that there was a show based on Donkey Kong Country on Fox Kids. This was back at the time when it seemed to be a rarity to have sky or even cable, so I never got a chance to see it, which really irritated me. I grew up with Donkey Kong Country, and even now I love the games, despite how much they are called average etc by most people. I let my imagination run wild about what could be on this show, with me imagining how all my favorite characters would sound and act. Many years later, when I learnt that you can find out about almost anything on the web, I searched for the show, and saw some pictures of it. It horrified me, I was expecting the series to look like the art, which was kinda stupid of me considering how primitive 3d animation was at the time, and how every single game related cartoon I’d seen was vastly different from their respective games concept art etc.
I honestly never thought I’d bother watching the show, as I’d read a bit about it and it put me off, with me reading about singing and other corny stuff. I decided however to bite the bullet and watch a few episodes, as at this point I’m running low on series that are doable without seeming like a mammoth task (like the Kirby anime, Mario Bros Super Show or Pokemon) so here we are. I’ve watched a couple of episodes so far, and my general opinion is, I would of liked this series as a kid, and I admit I do like parts of it now. The main part that I like is the characters who I liked from the games, such as Funky and Cranky. Quite a few of the characters described personalities from the games are perfectly intact here, with Funky’s laidback surfer attitude, but his keen mechanic mind, and Cranky’s cutting remarks. A couple of characters do surprise, like Diddy being a cowardly Luigi type, but others like DK are completely as I imagined they’d be.
Anyway, on to the actual episode. Well it’s pretty clear it’s the first episode. We get Cranky telling the audience about the Crystal Coconut and how K Rool wants it as whoever has it is king of the Island. It’s funny how the thing still seems to do nothing more than show pictures of people, kinda like a coconut TV. Anyway, we get K Rool actually do like a smart villain and just all out attack the cabin, and as we get to see he gets his ass kicked by DK. It’s pretty cool and does illustrate why he has to try these convoluted plans rather than outright taking the coconut.
Anyway, the basic plot is taken from the story of Sampson. DK is put under a curse by having a robot version of Candy Kong cut his hair, therefore taking all his strength away. It’s a pretty good set up as we’re shown things that he does before with ease now being impossible, such as him hitting the button for his elevator system. What really freaked me out though, is that that quiff DK has, is actually skin under his hair, as in he has two protrusions in his skull on the top of his head. It looks really gross.
One interesting thing, is that Krusha seems much more intelligent here than in later episodes. Of course that’s common in most pilots, but here it’s interesting that he ends the episode with the crap kicked out of him. I wonder if that actually caused his future stupidity, pretty violent fight if so, it’s not actually shown though so who knows.
Overall a pretty good episode. I mainly liked the fact that DK wasn’t shown to learn that he doesn’t need to rely on his strength and that the "power was iside him all along" or that "His mind could help him win regardless of power", instead he just gets it back and kicks ass, plus the ending was funny.
Friday, July 30, 2010
A History In Animation- Pit
Pit.
So Pit’s finally got a true new game after many years. And so I can’t think of a better time to do an article on Pit’s appearances in animation. The very first thing I should comment on, is that Pit was actually called Kid Icarus on the show, I’d imagine simply because the writers presumed that Pit had the game named after him like with Mario or Megaman. The name Pit never comes up in the show, so it’s not a case of him being Kid Icarus Pit like King Bowser Koopa on the Mario cartoon. Anyway, moving on, Pit was actually probably the closest on the N-team to his original portrayal. If you’ll look at the art for the first (and until the recent announcement, only) two games, you’ll notice he’s got a similar haircut (excluding the colour and Cowlick across his eye) and the clothing’s pretty similar. The main differences were that Pit in the show can fly constantly whereas in the game he can’t until he gets the Wings of Pegasus (so I presume in the cartoon he already has them). Also another major difference, is that like Green Arrow, he has many different arrows which do different things, for example, he has a Buzzsaw arrow, a Love at first sight arrow, even a Bon Voyage party arrow (which causes his foe to get a party hat, party blower and some balloons which lift them up into the sky… yeah…) All the people who come from Pit’s homeworld of Mount Icarus add “Icas” to their words, such as “We’re going home-Icas” This is actually said more often than Megaman saying “Mega” before his sentences, so I presume it’s a verbal tick whereas Megaman just says it for some reason (especially as none of the other Robot Masters seem to say it…)
One key aspect of Kid Icarus’s character in the show was that he was small and (at least implied) to be a kid. As such there was an episode, “Wishful Thinking” where he wished himself big, which led to him getting too big etc. Anyway, this could actually be similar to the actual game version since one of the best endings results in Pit growing bigger (as seen above) and the more recent versions of Pit seem more adolescent.
The main aim of the game is for Pit to retrieve the three Sacred Treasures. Each of them is guarded by a boss and once Pit has them all he faces the final boss. They appear in the episodes “Videolympics” and “Mega Trouble for Megaland”. However in the cartoon, they are simply three chests that seem to allow Motherbrain to become extremely powerful and do things like warp the N-team to the Warpzone to oblivion (no not the game…) and revive fallen troops. This greatly differs from the game, in which the three sacred treasures are the Arrow of Light, The Wings of Pegasus and The Mirror Shield. The series actually also has two of these items, in the same episode which are said to be the only force capable of defeating the three Sacred Treasures (which apparently only Pit can wield, mainly due to him being the best archer.) As mentioned previously, I assume Pit constantly had the Wings of Pegasus as he can fly indefinitely in the show.
The Mirror Sheild appears first sitting beside the other three power objects and later when it’s used against Medusa. Later on in the episode, it’s used by Simon to absorb Fire Man’s attack.
Finally we have light arrows, which as you can see appear as arrows which are magically glowing. This is actually pretty close to the original, which was blue but was also a glowing arrow. The only issue as with much of Kid Icarus in Captain N, is that they’re named Fire Arrows instead of Light Arrows. Still it’s pretty close. Also, Pit uses that sacred Bow with it, which is actually slightly similar to the sacred bow from Brawl’s version of Pit as it’s gold.
Finally, voice wise, the cartoon’s Pit is pretty different from the modern English voice. Pit sounds like a teenager with both however, but he sounds more grown up in Brawl which actually supports my idea that the Brawl version is meant to be a grown up version.
So Pit’s finally got a true new game after many years. And so I can’t think of a better time to do an article on Pit’s appearances in animation. The very first thing I should comment on, is that Pit was actually called Kid Icarus on the show, I’d imagine simply because the writers presumed that Pit had the game named after him like with Mario or Megaman. The name Pit never comes up in the show, so it’s not a case of him being Kid Icarus Pit like King Bowser Koopa on the Mario cartoon. Anyway, moving on, Pit was actually probably the closest on the N-team to his original portrayal. If you’ll look at the art for the first (and until the recent announcement, only) two games, you’ll notice he’s got a similar haircut (excluding the colour and Cowlick across his eye) and the clothing’s pretty similar. The main differences were that Pit in the show can fly constantly whereas in the game he can’t until he gets the Wings of Pegasus (so I presume in the cartoon he already has them). Also another major difference, is that like Green Arrow, he has many different arrows which do different things, for example, he has a Buzzsaw arrow, a Love at first sight arrow, even a Bon Voyage party arrow (which causes his foe to get a party hat, party blower and some balloons which lift them up into the sky… yeah…) All the people who come from Pit’s homeworld of Mount Icarus add “Icas” to their words, such as “We’re going home-Icas” This is actually said more often than Megaman saying “Mega” before his sentences, so I presume it’s a verbal tick whereas Megaman just says it for some reason (especially as none of the other Robot Masters seem to say it…)
One key aspect of Kid Icarus’s character in the show was that he was small and (at least implied) to be a kid. As such there was an episode, “Wishful Thinking” where he wished himself big, which led to him getting too big etc. Anyway, this could actually be similar to the actual game version since one of the best endings results in Pit growing bigger (as seen above) and the more recent versions of Pit seem more adolescent.
The main aim of the game is for Pit to retrieve the three Sacred Treasures. Each of them is guarded by a boss and once Pit has them all he faces the final boss. They appear in the episodes “Videolympics” and “Mega Trouble for Megaland”. However in the cartoon, they are simply three chests that seem to allow Motherbrain to become extremely powerful and do things like warp the N-team to the Warpzone to oblivion (no not the game…) and revive fallen troops. This greatly differs from the game, in which the three sacred treasures are the Arrow of Light, The Wings of Pegasus and The Mirror Shield. The series actually also has two of these items, in the same episode which are said to be the only force capable of defeating the three Sacred Treasures (which apparently only Pit can wield, mainly due to him being the best archer.) As mentioned previously, I assume Pit constantly had the Wings of Pegasus as he can fly indefinitely in the show.
The Mirror Sheild appears first sitting beside the other three power objects and later when it’s used against Medusa. Later on in the episode, it’s used by Simon to absorb Fire Man’s attack.
Finally we have light arrows, which as you can see appear as arrows which are magically glowing. This is actually pretty close to the original, which was blue but was also a glowing arrow. The only issue as with much of Kid Icarus in Captain N, is that they’re named Fire Arrows instead of Light Arrows. Still it’s pretty close. Also, Pit uses that sacred Bow with it, which is actually slightly similar to the sacred bow from Brawl’s version of Pit as it’s gold.
Finally, voice wise, the cartoon’s Pit is pretty different from the modern English voice. Pit sounds like a teenager with both however, but he sounds more grown up in Brawl which actually supports my idea that the Brawl version is meant to be a grown up version.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
The Super Mario Bros Super Show Episode 5
Title- Rolling down the River.
Ok, I actually don’t know what this episode was based on (and I doubt many kids who watched it had a clue either) but I found it far more enjoyable than the last episode. The setting was more interesting, the characters were more fun and Koopa was pretty humorous. Mark Twang was a cool character, I was going to say an unusual character to help the Mario Bros, but then again there weren’t really a set character stereotype in this show who would team up with the Mario Bros so I guess really I’d be wrong there. The mouth of the river was kinda cool, and reminded me a lot of the character in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Tia Dalma who was also in a swamp. I dunno really why I thought of her actually…
There were actually some quite funny moments, like the ‘heroes’ being the ones who were cheating at cards. Also there was a cameo from Clawgrip, the only boss of the game SMB2 who never was a second in command to Koopa.
Overall a pretty fun episode, I’d say slightly above average for the series.
Ok, I actually don’t know what this episode was based on (and I doubt many kids who watched it had a clue either) but I found it far more enjoyable than the last episode. The setting was more interesting, the characters were more fun and Koopa was pretty humorous. Mark Twang was a cool character, I was going to say an unusual character to help the Mario Bros, but then again there weren’t really a set character stereotype in this show who would team up with the Mario Bros so I guess really I’d be wrong there. The mouth of the river was kinda cool, and reminded me a lot of the character in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Tia Dalma who was also in a swamp. I dunno really why I thought of her actually…
There were actually some quite funny moments, like the ‘heroes’ being the ones who were cheating at cards. Also there was a cameo from Clawgrip, the only boss of the game SMB2 who never was a second in command to Koopa.
Overall a pretty fun episode, I’d say slightly above average for the series.
The Super Mario Bros Super Show Episode 4
Title- Mario’s Magic Carpet.
Another episode based around a pop culture tale, this time I think it’s Aladdin, but I’m not sure. It’s not really one of the direct adaptations, more just using a similar setting. Basically they’re searching for Aladdin’s lamp (which is pretty illogical if Aladdin already owns it, but whatever.) and they get captured by this Sultan guy who makes the princess become part of his harem. Then Koopa shows up as we can’t have an episode without him, and buys the Princess off him. Meanwhile the Mario bros find the lamp and some genie and a load of stuff happens. I dunno, I just can’t enjoy this episode, there are only a couple of moments that I find memorable about it but other than that it really is one of the shows worst, a real example of pure drudgery that this series could occasionally fall into (not too often though thank god.)
What was interesting? Well I found the idea of using a swirling quicksand pit as a execution type place kinda cool, reminded me of the sarlacc pit out of Star Wars (the giant mouth in the sand Jabba tried to force them into.) Also, the idea that Luigi speaks Pidgit was really out there. Finally, I suppose the idea of the flying carpets practically being cars was kinda funny I suppose.
Overall, a pretty dull episode, maybe hampered by the fact I don’t really enjoy stories set in deserts to begin with.
Another episode based around a pop culture tale, this time I think it’s Aladdin, but I’m not sure. It’s not really one of the direct adaptations, more just using a similar setting. Basically they’re searching for Aladdin’s lamp (which is pretty illogical if Aladdin already owns it, but whatever.) and they get captured by this Sultan guy who makes the princess become part of his harem. Then Koopa shows up as we can’t have an episode without him, and buys the Princess off him. Meanwhile the Mario bros find the lamp and some genie and a load of stuff happens. I dunno, I just can’t enjoy this episode, there are only a couple of moments that I find memorable about it but other than that it really is one of the shows worst, a real example of pure drudgery that this series could occasionally fall into (not too often though thank god.)
What was interesting? Well I found the idea of using a swirling quicksand pit as a execution type place kinda cool, reminded me of the sarlacc pit out of Star Wars (the giant mouth in the sand Jabba tried to force them into.) Also, the idea that Luigi speaks Pidgit was really out there. Finally, I suppose the idea of the flying carpets practically being cars was kinda funny I suppose.
Overall, a pretty dull episode, maybe hampered by the fact I don’t really enjoy stories set in deserts to begin with.
The Super Mario Bros Super Show Episode 3
Title- Butch Mario and the Luigi Kid.
Yet another takeoff, this time of a western movie. This one’s based on I think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but don’t quote me on that. This is also the first episode in which Koopa actually takes on an alter ego, as Kid Koopa (who might be a takeoff of Billy the Kid but I dunno.) We also get some creative uses of enemies from the games. Instead of guns, the characters have pocket sized Cobrats (the snakes who hid in jars and shot bullets at you from them) which they use as guns. Also, Ostros are used as horses and many other enemies appear such as Pokeys, Snifits and Tweeters.
This episode is also notable for being the first appearance of Mouser, who was a boss from the game SMB2 and appears pretty regularly as Koopa’s second in command. Even when Mouser appears in episodes with the other characters that are sometimes Koopa’s second in command, he often seems to be the one above them.
So what about the episode, well it was pretty basic fun, there were some weird moments, like when a group of Mouser’s Snifits fail to make it over a river and drown he actually starts crying over them, it’s kinda surreal really in this cartoon. Other than that, there are some pretty humorous moments, like the way the Mario Bros keep finding their wanted poster going up, but it’s not really one of the best episodes.
Overall, a pretty average episode, it’s got some funny moments.
Yet another takeoff, this time of a western movie. This one’s based on I think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but don’t quote me on that. This is also the first episode in which Koopa actually takes on an alter ego, as Kid Koopa (who might be a takeoff of Billy the Kid but I dunno.) We also get some creative uses of enemies from the games. Instead of guns, the characters have pocket sized Cobrats (the snakes who hid in jars and shot bullets at you from them) which they use as guns. Also, Ostros are used as horses and many other enemies appear such as Pokeys, Snifits and Tweeters.
This episode is also notable for being the first appearance of Mouser, who was a boss from the game SMB2 and appears pretty regularly as Koopa’s second in command. Even when Mouser appears in episodes with the other characters that are sometimes Koopa’s second in command, he often seems to be the one above them.
So what about the episode, well it was pretty basic fun, there were some weird moments, like when a group of Mouser’s Snifits fail to make it over a river and drown he actually starts crying over them, it’s kinda surreal really in this cartoon. Other than that, there are some pretty humorous moments, like the way the Mario Bros keep finding their wanted poster going up, but it’s not really one of the best episodes.
Overall, a pretty average episode, it’s got some funny moments.
The Super Mario Bros Super Show Episode 2
Title- King Mario of Cramalot.
So, onto the episode which started the trend of having a parody of some pop culture story. This one is based on the Legend of King Arthur. Basically, Mario and friends come to the land of Cramalot (I see what you did there). Mario is guided by Melvin the Magician to pull the golden plunger and become king of Cramalot, then Koopa steals the plunger. Koopa had marched in and taken over when the previous king died, so he stole the plunger to stop Mario’s claim to the throne.
There are some pretty funny moments, mainly to do with Luigi. One part I remember that was funny was how after Luigi’s been cowering during the battle, when everything’s over he appears with the rest of the group trying to look heroic. Also cool was that we got to see a few new enemies, the first being Beezos (shy guys with wings) and the second being Koopa Troopers and Koopa Paratroopers.
One thing I find humorous is that there was a takeoff of Merlin in Paper Mario called Merlon, and you know if you’ve read any of my other articles on here I love trying to draw parallels between the games and cartoons.
Overall, a pretty fun episode, typical of the series.
So, onto the episode which started the trend of having a parody of some pop culture story. This one is based on the Legend of King Arthur. Basically, Mario and friends come to the land of Cramalot (I see what you did there). Mario is guided by Melvin the Magician to pull the golden plunger and become king of Cramalot, then Koopa steals the plunger. Koopa had marched in and taken over when the previous king died, so he stole the plunger to stop Mario’s claim to the throne.
There are some pretty funny moments, mainly to do with Luigi. One part I remember that was funny was how after Luigi’s been cowering during the battle, when everything’s over he appears with the rest of the group trying to look heroic. Also cool was that we got to see a few new enemies, the first being Beezos (shy guys with wings) and the second being Koopa Troopers and Koopa Paratroopers.
One thing I find humorous is that there was a takeoff of Merlin in Paper Mario called Merlon, and you know if you’ve read any of my other articles on here I love trying to draw parallels between the games and cartoons.
Overall, a pretty fun episode, typical of the series.
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