Get N or Get Out!

[vovat]

First of all, here's a survey, which I took from annamatic:

1. Post the most interesting exclamation you can think of. "May thy ears become cabbages and thy tongue a sausage!"
2. If you were going to be a super villain, describe your minion. I think I might just stick with robots. They tend to be more reliable.
3. Give a short pep talk to a fish with self esteem problems. "Hey, your life is going along swimmingly!"
4. What is the most disconcerting thing you have ever stepped in/on in your bare feet? Dog piss, I think.
5. Tell us who should be rubbed out, and how should it be done. I don't know that I'd rub anyone out, but if I did I'd use the Rub spell from the first Final Fantasy game.
6. What was the most confusing stage production you have ever sat through? The version of Faust that I saw in college, which had Nazis in it.
7. What would the best drug of all time do for you? Cure every ailment, and let me fly besides. That's probably a little greedy, though, isn't it?
8. What would be the thing that you could mix with chocolate to make it lose its allure? Coffee. But I know a lot of people would disagree.
9. Who never surprises you? I think everyone surprises me at some point. I occasionally even surprise myself.
10. In the movie of your life who would play your mother? Eh, I'm never good at this sort of question. I don't really know of any actresses who remind me of my mom. Now, if it were my dad, that would be easier.


And I have a few more Captain N reviews:

Mr. & Mrs. Mother Brain - This one starts with the N Team having invited Mother Brain to the Palace of Power to sign a peace treaty. Everyone seems overly optimistic about this, with Mega Man even asking Kid Icarus why he's bothering with archery practice when "we're at peace." Um, even if Mother Brain weren't the type who would break a treaty as soon as look at it, it hasn't even been signed yet! Not to mention that there are villains in Videoland who aren't affiliated with Mother Brain. Anyway, Simon steals Kid Icarus' Love at First Sight Arrow to shoot at Lana. Now, Simon is supposed to be a pompous jerk, but he really goes above and beyond in this episode. I mean, he's planning on doing what's essentially the cartoon equivalent of slipping the Princess a roofie during a potentially vital summit meeting. Of course, being Simon, he screws up and ends up falling in love with Mother Brain. Yeah, it's a pretty typical cartoon plot, but more bizarre than usual since the object of Simon's affection is a gigantic brain in a jar. Later on, he fantasizes about the two of them raising a family of baby brains in a house in the country, making for a scene that's pretty weird even by this show's standards.

Okay, so, Simon goes off with Mother Brain, and proves his love to her by helping her attack Castlevania. Some guy with glasses calls up the palace to report this attack, and Kevin, Duke, and Lana warp to Castlevania to stop it. When they reach the Count's castle, Simon throws Lana into a warp that Kevin somehow knows will take her to the Forest of Forgetfulness. After Kevin and Duke defeat a skeleton named Mr. Bones, Simon throws them into the warp as well.

Meanwhile, Kid Icarus and Mega Man are climbing Mount Icarus to obtain an antidote arrow from the arrow-maker at the top. Along the way, we learn that Kid Icarus can carry Mega Man for a short distance, which surprises me, considering that he's made of metal and all. The arrow-maker is a bald guy with a gag arrow on his head, who is working on a pepperoni pizza arrow when the two heroes arrive. Now that's my kind of trick arrow! He also has Super Grass Grow and Cow Arrows, the latter of which producing a somewhat more realistic-looking cow than the one in "Three Men and a Dragon." It's the Angry Arrows that are the antidote to the Love Arrow, though, so the arrow-maker gives three to Kid Icarus.

Eventually, the entire team reaches the Count's castle in time for Simon and Mother Brain's wedding, which is being attended by a slew of monsters, including a squid and a one-eyed horned pig. After two misfires that result in both Dr. Wily and Simon beating up on Eggplant Wizard, Kid Icarus manages to break the spell, and all is well in Videoland again! Well, as well as it ever is there, anyway.

Nightmare on Mother Brain's Street - Loosely based on Snow White, this one starts with Mother Brain being told by her all-knowing computer mind mirror that Lana is more attractive than she is, and planning to knock out the competition with an apple laced with sleeping potion. Eggplant Wizard, in a disguise that's better than usual, arrives at the palace with the apple just in time, because Duke has just taken the pizza that Kevin was making for lunch. Since it has nuts, nectarines, and nachos on it, I think Duke was doing everyone else a favor. The weird thing is that Lana apparently hasn't heard of pizza, even though the arrow-maker on Mount Icarus has. Maybe it's a regional thing. Anyway, Lana buys an apple from Eggy for twenty-five cents (which I guess means they use the same currency as the United States, at least in some parts of Videoland), and then tells Kevin that she just bought her lunch. Her lunch is a single apple? Well, I guess that's how she maintains her slim physique. She doesn't even get to finish it, though, because the first bite not only knocks her out, but warps her to Castle Ironspire. Mother Brain shows up in a hologram to relay this information to Kevin, saying it's just like the fairy tale. When Kevin asks if it's also the fairy tale where the prince destroys the evil witch, Eggy says, "That's the one!" Except I don't know that the prince DOES destroy the witch in Snow White, unless he's the one who gives her the red-hot iron shoes. Regardless, Kevin goes with Duke and Simon to Excalibur, the world of Wizards & Warriors. Not sure why it's called that (I think the game itself says it takes place in the Kingdom of Elrond), but hey. During the journey, we find out that Simon apparently knows how a werewolf kisses, and we get to see him try to use a golf club and a bazooka against a frog. When Duke sniffs the frog, though, it turns into a key, which Simon takes, hoping to reach Lana first. It turns out to be a trap, though, because "there are no green keys on Excalibur." Actually, I think it looked yellow, but DiC was never known for an excellent job in coloring. Kevin has to save Simon from the Seven Warp Dwarfs, and the two of them end up reaching Ironspire together. Kevin, Simon, and Duke all try kissing Lana, but she doesn't wake up. Mother Brain reveals that she lied about that (what a shock), and she and Malkil tell Kevin and his companions that they have to go to the Nightmare Zone to find them. As it turns out, Mega Man and Kid Icarus (I should just start calling them by their proper names, Rock and Pit, as those are much shorter to type) have also ended up there, having been given apples by King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard.

As you might expect from the name, the Nightmare Zone is a place where bad dreams come true. There are no warps out, but Kevin suggests that they might be able to escape by falling asleep again. Kind of a gamble, I'd say, but it must work, because we next see the N Team surprising Mother Brain and her minions (including Malkil) at the palace. They give the villains a taste of their own medicine with some more of the sleeping apples (not sure where they got them, although maybe they grabbed some of the ones left over at Castle Ironspire). Kevin subdues Mother Brain by breaking apples on her jar and making apple juice, although how it gets in is a mystery, since you'd think any cracks that would let juice in would also let her own preserving fluid out. It works, though, and that pretty much wraps up the episode.


I was considering reviewing a third episode in this post, but I think it's too long already, so "Simon the Ape-Man" will have to wait. I don't think that one will be anywhere near as long as these two, though.

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

6. What was the most confusing stage production you have ever sat through? The version of Faust that I saw in college, which had Nazis in it.

Dude, after I read the question and before I even read your answer the first thing I thought was "What was that one at IUP that was a weird reworking of one of our core readings but with Nazis in it?"