Episode Review


The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N


Wednesday, December 6, 2006, 2:30 PM - 5:04 PM


Summary (2:31 PM)

Kevin, Lana, Mega Man, and Kid Icarus visit the medieval world of Final Fantasy to have lunch with Lana's friend, the Prince - something Kevin is not looking forward to! They hear a cry for help, and a man tells them his magic shop was just robbed. He knows Astost, a man they don't wanna know, is behind this. A warp opens, and a witch flies out on her broom. She flies into Kid Icarus, and they both crash to the ground. When Kevin asks if he can help her, she reads off her shopping list. Lana says they better hurry to the Prince's castle, but Kevin would rather be fighting crooks. A man is hiding behind a tree and hears that Captain N is visiting the Prince. Kevin is tired of hearing about the Prince's battles, and goes into another room to get something to drink. The man is there, and he says that Kevin could be better than the Prince. The man casts a spell on Kevin, and tells him to put a sleeping potion in the Prince's drink. Kevin does it, and the Prince falls asleep - right in his soup! Mega Man finds out Kevin's under a magic spell, but doesn't know how. A warp opens, and the man is standing there. Kevin joins him, and the warp closes. Lana and the others warp to where the witch lives, and land in quicksand. Lana takes in a mouthful and has to spit it out! Kid Icarus uses his rope arrow to get them out, but then the witch finds them and tells them not to move. Lana introduces herself, and the witch turns her into a statue. Then the witch recognizes Mega Man and Kid Icarus, and she turns Lana back to normal. After learning about the spell placed on Kevin, the witch says that the light crystal would break it. Anyone that looked through it would see people for who they really are. But Astost stole the crystal from her years ago. Lana says they have to sneak into his castle. At Astost's castle, Kevin is training the warriors. Mega Man and Kid Icarus hide in a suit of armor and pretend to be a warrior looking to join the army. They keep Astost busy while Lana sneaks into the castle. Astost takes the new warrior into the room with the light crystal to guard it. Mega Man and Kid Icarus fall over, however, and are discovered. Kid Icarus grabs the crystal, and they start throwing it. A guard catches it - and the guard turns out to be Lana. Lana activates the crystal, and the spell on Kevin is broken. Astost is revealed to be a horrible monster. Kevin's wondering what's going on, and they get out of the castle. At the Prince's castle, the witch gives the Prince a potion to wake him up, and the Prince is unaware that anything happened, asking what's for dessert. Kevin says he's learned his lesson, and Lana kisses him on the cheek.


Misc. Tidbits (2:32 PM)

The episode was written by Paul Dell & Steven Weiss.

The episode originally aired on Saturday, October 26, 1991, as the seventh episode of Season 3 and the thirty-fourth and final episode of the series.

I first saw this episode on NBC and then possibly on "Captain N & The Video Game Masters".


Interesting Notes (2:33 PM - 4:30 PM)

The title is yellow with no quotes.

The Prince on Final Fantasy is a good friend of Lana.

Kevin's Zapper beams are green and blue in this episode.

Kevin's weapons don't lose power in this episode.


Great Lines (3:01 PM - 4:30 PM)

Kevin: "Can I help you, ma'am?"
Witch: "Yeah. Get me a half-a-pound of salami and a quarter-pound of eye of newt."
Mega Man: "What do we look like, a mega magic shop?!"
Broom: "No. You look like a tin can with arms and legs."

Kid Icarus: "I hear you're looking for wa-wariors to join your army."
Astos: "Do you have any experience overthrowing kingdoms?"
Kid Icarus: "Uh,...I used to work for Mother Brain, but I got laid off."

Astos: "Hey, you're an imposter! Get him! I mean...them!"

Mega Man: "What a time to get stuck in a tin suit!"

Astos: "Captain N has trained you well."
Lana: "He certainly has."

Kevin: "What's happening?"
Mega Man: "Could we talk about this later?!"

Lana: "You're not stull jealous of the Prince; are you, Kevin?"
Kevin: "No way. I leanred my lesson, and I'm happy just being Captain N."
Lana: "You're also a real prince."


Dumb Lines (3:14 PM - 4:30 PM)

Lana: "Are we that boring?"
Sure, Lana, the Prince just suddenly fell unconscious, because he was bored with you.

Lana: "Kevin, this is not funny. Did you do something to the Prince?"
Whatever gave you that idea, Lana?


Rant (2:44 PM - 5:03 PM)

Even though this is a just another episode, it is the final aired episode of "Captain N: The Game Master", according to the original air dates that I have (assuming they're accurate).

This episode was written by Paul Dell & Steven Weiss, two writers that had never written a Captain N episode before. Let's see how well that they do.

This episode is based on "Final Fantasy" for the NES.

The music that plays over the Captain N logo in this episode is the same music that plays during the episode title. It's basically danger-type music.

The narrator says "reveals a side of Captain N you have ever seen". It should be "you have never seen", unless he's trying to convince us that Kevin always behaves this way.

Kevin is such a jerk, calling Lana's friend (and his lunch host) "drippy" right in front of her. Dick.

Mega Man's voice seems unusually high-pitched when he first speaks in this episode.

Hehe, the broom's insult to Mega Man is awesome. Mega Man can't even think of a comeback.

Now, Kevin is calling the Prince, Lana's good friend, "boring". Shut the hell up, Kevin.

Why is Kevin being bitchy and feeling insecure today? He's awesome without a castle and a royal army. Does he feel threatened by the Prince's good looks and feel that Lana might fall in love with him?

Why do hypnotized people on this series talk in stilted voices (see "The Invasion of the Paper Pedalers")?

Why do Kevin's eyes turn yellow when he's under a spell?

Won't anyone notice that his eyes have changed color?

Lana drops her unconscious "good friend" back into his lunch. Way to show concern, Lana. Do you treat all of your friends this way?

Why would Astos program Kevin to repeat his objectives to the heroes? Kind of counter-productive.

Why do Lana, Mega Man, and Kid Icarus struggle in the quicksand? Don't they know they're supposed to stay still?

How could the witch not remember Lana, Mega Man, and Kid Icarus from earlier in the day?

So the witch doesn't remember them when Lana asks, but she does when Kid Icarus asks a few seconds later? WTF?

Listen carefully when Lana is trying to remember the bad guy's name: "Where have I heard that before? Wheat Toast. Sweet Toast. ~gasp!~ Wait a minute! She means Ass Toast! Astos has the Light Crystal!" That's cute. :P

Wow, Lana sure is excited about their upcoming mission, going so far as to kneel on the ground, pick up Mega Man, swing him around in the air, and hug him. I guess it's good to have a leader with that much enthusiasm.

It's also teh cute. :X

Kevin's Power Pad is drawn even more incorrectly now. It's got a yellow border and no Select or Start buttons. The A and B buttons are still vertical, and the bottom one is wider.

Also, Kevin presses all of the buttons at the same time to jump. No, no, no!

Kevin's Zapper beams are green today?! I don't think they've ever been that color.

The is the first time since they left the castle that we've seen this magic key that they found on the Prince. It wasn't hanging from Lana's neck until now. Where was Lana keeping the key earlier?

Where did Lana, Mega Man, and Kid Icarus get the armor? Did they steal them or defeat some soldiers?

Why is Mega Man worried about the heat inside the suit of armor and his circuits possibly overloading? What about the times that he spent in the Fire Man and Heat Man stages?

Kid Icarus' conversation with Astos is cute. :P

Depending on whether this episode occurs before "Battle of the Baseball Know-It-Alls" or after, Kid Icarus' line about being laid off might be a reference to Mother Brain's defeat.

Why did Kid Icarus stop flying and drop Mega Man? They could have gone over Kevin and the guards.

Wow, Mega Man and Kid Icarus are lucky that Lana caught the Light Crystal.

So the armor on the soldiers wasn't real, but the armor that Lana wears is real? That makes no sense.

This episode's featured song is something that I call "Together". It's the only song in Season 3, unless you count "I've Gotta Cheer For the Home Team" and "For She's the Evil Bad Queen" in "Battle of the Baseball Know-It-Alls". I don't know what it's a parody of, if anything. Does anyone know?

Now, Kevin's Zapper beams are blue.

Again, Kevin presses all of the buttons on his Power Pad to jump.

Also, the Jump function apparently has a delay, allowing him to take hold of Lana after pressing it but before ascending.

Despite Kevin's claim, I doubt he was kidding about wanting the Prince to sleep longer. Dick.

The final shot is Lana kissing Kevin on his left cheek, the same thing that she did near the end of "Kevin In Videoland". That's a nice parallel, whether it was intentional or not.

And that's how Captain N ended. Regardless of which episode aired last, "Battle of the Baseball Know-It-Alls" could be considered the end of the war, and "The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N" could be considered the end of Kevin's journey in becoming a hero.

Lesson: Don't be jealous.

This episode is slightly above average. Kevin talks like an asshole in this episode and is insecure about himself, both for no reason. However, it's nice to see his fellow teammates come to his rescue, and it's nice that Lana leads the mission. The fact that they're out to save Kevin (see "Germ Wars") makes this a nice complimentary series finale for "Captain N: The Game Master".

In this episode, Kevin, Lana, Mega Man, and Kid Icarus appear. Simon, Duke, and Gameboy must be back at the Palace of Power, apparently having found excuses for not coming to lunch. Or maybe they just weren't invited.

Oh, yeah, the Palace of Power doesn't appear in this episode. Neither do Mother Brain or her lackeys.

As for what to cut out, I can't think of any filler in this episode. Paul Dell & Steven Weiss made good use of the short running time that they were given to work with. This is a lean episode.

Overall, "The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N" is a good episode.

Usefulness ratings:

Kevin: 2 (blocking the door, getting Lana across the moat)
Lana: 2 (catching the Light Crystal, breaking the spell on Kevin)
Mega Man: 4 (distracting Astos, destroying Astos' sword, tripping the soldier, making the soldier release Kid Icarus)
Kid Icarus: 6 (getting everyone out of the quicksand, reminding the witch of who they are, distracting Astos, getting the Light Crystal, catching the Light Crystal, getting Mega Man across the moat)

While this is, on the surface, a Kevin episode, Kevin is sidelines for most of the episode. Still, he managed to tie Lana's score near the end. The most useful N Team member is Kid Icarus with 6 points, followed by Mega Man in second place with 4 points, followed by Kevin and Lana in a two-way tie for third place with 2 points each.

The running total usefulness ratings for this season are:

Kevin: 41 (7 episodes)
Lana: 8 (4 episodes)
Simon: 4 (3 episodes)
Mega Man: 8 (3 episodes)
Kid Icarus: 10 (3 episodes)
Duke: 7 (4 episodes)
Gameboy: 0 (1 episode)

Kevin ends this season's competition in first place (of course), followed by Kid Icarus in second (a major comeback), Lana and Mega Man in a two-way tie for third, Duke in fifth, Simon in sixth, and Gameboy in seventh and last.

The running total usefulness ratings for the series so far are:

Kevin: 178 (33 episodes)
Lana: 50 (30 episodes)
Simon: 54 (29 episodes)
Mega Man: 51 (29 episodes)
Kid Icarus: 58 (29 episodes)
Duke: 31 (30 episodes)
Gameboy: 18 (14 episodes)

Kevin ends this series' competition in first place (of course), followed by Kid Icarus in second, Simon in third, Mega Man in fourth, Lana in fifth, Duke in sixth, and Gameboy in seventh and last.


That's the end of my review of "The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N".

Well, I've reviewed all 7 Season 3 episodes and the Season 3 theme song, but we're not through with Season 3 yet! Next, we'll revisit every episode when I review Season 3 as a whole! See ya then!


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