Available at Amazon.com
Studio: Shout Factory
Release Date: November 13, 2007
Number of Discs: 2
Number of Episodes: 10
Running Time: 240 Minutes
MSRP: $29.99
Creators:
Andy Heyward &
Robby London
Cast:
Walker Boone……….Mario
Andrew Sabiston……….Yoshi
Tracey Moore……….Princess Toadstool
Tony Rosato……….Luigi
Harvey Atkin……….King Koopa
Matt Hill……….Kevin Keene/Captain N, Narrator
Alessandro Juliani……….Kid Icarus
Andrew Kavadas……….Simon Belmont
Doug Parker……….Megaman
Levi Stubbs……….Mother Brain
Venus Terzo……….Princess Lana
Frank Welker……….Game Boy
The show:
In the eighties, cartoons were more 30 minute advertisements that actual entertainment. Towards the end of the decade, Nintendo picked up on this fad and made cartoons advertisements for their video games. Captain N and The New Super Mario World was the last season of Nintendo advertisement programming.
Each episode of this show consists of two 12-minute cartoons. The first half is The New Super Mario World, which puts the Italian plumber duo and Princess Toadstool in caveman times where they meet Yoshi. Of course King Koopa and his kids have tagged along to cause trouble for the mustached heroes. How or why they have gone back to caveman times in never really explained. This Mario cartoon was advertising the newest Mario game of the same name. Every episode is very formulaic: The brothers have a new idea, Koopa twists that to his own ends and the gang have to save the day. Also, each episode contains a really bad annoying song in which a chase scene ensues.
The second have the show is Captain N, the Game Master. For its first two season it was a stand-alone show, but for this third and last season it was mashed up with the Marios. Captain N was any young ’80s videogames wet dream. A kid who’s really good at video games is sucked into Videogame land where he helps his favorite game heroes, Kid Icarus, Simon Belmont, Megaman, and Gameboy, a gameboy system come to life. The big bad villain of Videogame land is Mother Brain from Metroid with King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard helping her out; however their appearances in this last season are few and far between. It must also be noted that the last three episodes of the show are only Mario stories so there are only seven Captain N stories in this set.
When this show came out in 1991, it was a great show for kids. However, almost 20 years have passed since then and these cartoons have not aged well at all! The animation is just about the worst I’ve seen; the production value is so low. Most of the voices are very annoying, mostly Yoshi, Kid Icarus and Megaman. Watching his show now is a very surreal experience. All the moves, sound effects and music are taken right out of the old videogames. Like if Mario needs a feather, he just finds a block and breaks it. In one particular episode a battle between King Koopa and Mario is an exact reenactment of the final battle with him in Super Mario Bros..
To watch one episode is a pleasant trip down memory lane for any one who watched the show when they were a kid. After a couple episodes, though, the inanity of the stories really begins to drain on you. I can’t even imagine what some seeing these for the first time might think. It must be quite a baffling experience. I imagine there might be some out there who really love this show, but I’ll be damned it I know any.
Captain N and team captured by the strange monsters of Tetrisland.
Episodes:
Disc One:
Fire Sale/Misadventures In Robin Hood Woods
The Wheel Thing/Pursuit Of The Magic Hoop
Send In The Clown/Return To Castlevania
Ghosts R Us/Totally Tetrisized
King Scoopa Koopa/Battle of The Baseball Know-It-Alls
Disc Two:
The Night Before Cave Christmas/A Tale Of Two Dogs
Born To Ride/The Fractured Fantasy Of Captain N
Party Line/Gopher Bash
Rock TV/The Yoshi Shuffle
A Little Learning/Mama Luigi
The Extras:
Storyboard To Screen: Opening Title Sequence: (1 min.) This is a storyboard sequence for the opening title sequence. Not very interesting.
Original Concept Art: Yoshi: (50 sec.) A montage of original drawings of Yoshi. Yawn.
