Episode Review


The Lost City of Kongoland


Friday, October 6, 2006, 9:30 AM - 12:36 PM


Summary (9:30 PM - 9:31 AM)

Since Seasons 1 and 2 of the series will be coming out on DVD on February 13, 2007, I will not be including summaries in these reviews for the rest of Season 2. If you're reading this review before you get the DVD set, you can read a short summary of the episode at https://ldloveszh.tripod.com/cnepis.html#lostcity


Misc. Tidbits (9:32 AM - 9:35 AM)

The episode was written by Dennis O'Flaherty.

The episode originally aired on Saturday, November 10, 1990, as the tenth episode of Season 2 and the twenty-third episode of the series.

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


Interesting Notes (9:35 AM - 12:04 PM)

The title is white with no quotes.

Kongoland is a primeval world.

Kongoland has a library. It has a crystal that projects a holographic history.

A thousand years ago, Kongoland was ruled by an ancient city. The city was brought to life by Konga, witch doctor of the ancient Kongas, who held a mysterious power over all plants. An earthquake sank the city, but Konga vowed that it was rise again and that whoever finds his treasure will gain his powers.

Simon watches something called "General Morgue".

Kevin's Zapper beams are blue in this episode.

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


Great Lines (9:40 AM - 12:08 PM)

Major Domo: "The Lost City of Kongoland is rising after a thousand years - just like the ancient prophecy said!"
Prince Plenty: "That's nice."
Major Domo: "Right in the middle of Donkey Kong's front yard."
Prince Plenty: "What?!"

Lana: "How did my father keep up with all this?"
Kevin: "By taking a break once in a while, I'll bet."

Simon: "Abandon ship! Women and Simons first!"
Lana: "Simon, wait! I can abandon the ship but not my duty!"

Konga: "Foolish mortal."
King Hippo: "Uh, what's a mortal?"
Eggplant Wizard: "It means you don't live forever."
Konga: "Exactly, and you're not going to live to see tomorrow."

Konga: "Animals have ruled the jungle long enough. It's time for the plants to take over."

Guys: "Long live Princess Lana! Hooray!"
Kevin: "Sounds to me like Videoland thinks you're the greatest,...and so do I."


Dumb Lines (11:37 AM - 12:10 AM)

Kevin: "If the headdress is the treasure, it must contain the power of Konga."
Um, duh, Kevin. Didn't you already figure that out a few scenes ago?


Rant (9:36 AM - 12:36 PM)

This episode was written by Dennis O'Flaherty. Other episodes by him that I've reviewed are "Having a Ball" and "The Big Game". They're both good episodes. Let's see how well that he does this time.

This is a Kongoland episode, which means it isn't really based on any game; it just uses Donkey Kong. If I come across any actual "Donkey Kong" gameplay, then I'll let you know.

When we get to the Palace of Power, we get one of the stupidest scenes in the entire series. Lana is holding audiences with seemingly everyone that has any kind of mundane grievance. Currently, she's trying to settle a dispute over which of two guys owns a cow. Seriously. The ruler of Videoland is wasting her time, trying to decide who should get a cow. Apparently, Lana has never learned how to delegate authority to local leaders. Then again, judging by her conversation with Kevin, it seems that her father never learned to do so either. Or maybe he did. Maybe he took only the most important cases and delegated everything else. Maybe Lana just hasn't figured it out yet, which would be...sad.

Anyway, what makes this worse is that, judging by Kevin's suggestion, it seems Lana hasn't taken a break from holding audiences since she started (after the previous episode). This is a horrible retcon, because it makes Lana's lack of official activity during the previous 22 episodes of the series make Lana seem very lazy, negligent, and uncaring.

Lana decides to use a trick that her father used, which seems very similar to a trick that King Solomon once used (1 Kings 3:16-28).

Does the Palace of Power really have a royal cook, or is Lana just saying that for the trick to work? The Palace might have had a royal cook when her father was ruling Videoland.

Why does the warp stay open for so long?

Since Prince Plenty came out of the warp after Simon, does that mean that Simon was in Kongoland? Was he visiting the tree trimmer (see "In Search of the King")?

The history of Kongoland is interesting, even if it is entirely made up.

I wonder if Konga ever used the sap of the junga-junga tree to put people under his power (see "The Invasion of the Paper Pedalers").

How does Mother Brain know about the treasure? I guess she was spying on the N Team and Prince Plenty with her mirror.

Sheesh. How can Hippo and Eggy survive after being squashed by Mother Brain?

Did the N Team go to Megaland to get the box of gadgets from Dr. Right, or did he warp the box to the Palace or Kongoland?

Why would Dr. Right include a whistle that attracts poisonous birds?

And how does Kevin know about these "nedpeckers"? Are they in his version of "Donkey Kong"? Or that mysterious game where the N Team has to rescue Princess Lana from Mother Brain (see "Kevin In Videoland")?

I love how Lana beats Kevin to saving the N Team. You go, girl! See how useful that Lana can be with a weapon?

Simon makes a reference to Kevin being from California (see "The Big Game").

By calling Kevin "Captain California" and then suggesting that the team needs a new leader, is Simon stating that Kevin is the leader of the N Team?

Sheesh. Simon, showing off, angers Donkey Kong and puts the team in danger. Why is he on the team again?

Why does Kevin salute Lana and say "Aye, aye, captain"? Is Lana the captain of the N Team or the captain of that junky boat that they're on?

Why does Kevin hold onto Gameboy when jumping out of the boat? Gameboy can fly.

Why does Kid Icarus need springs? He can fly, too!

Lana pulls out the map from somewhere below her waist. One of her boots, of course! I mean...where else could she keep it?

Great. Clumsy Simon set off a trap.

First the hat and now the giant boulder. It seems Dennis O'Flaherty is comparing Simon Belmont to Indiana Jones.

Incidentally, this is the second "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" reference in the series (see "The Most Dangerous Game Master").

Lana runs a lot more than needed to push Simon out of the path of the boulder. She was standing right next to him.

Ah, so it wasn't a trap, after all. It was the way to find the treasure. I'm giving Simon a point for that.

Simon has a "jungle dictionary"? Not an "Ancient Konga dictionary"?

I love how Simon hesitates at reading the rest of the translation to Lana and then, at her insistence, blurts out a rather rude, rough translation. :P

We don't quite see Eggy grabbing the hat from Simon. We seem him reaching for it, and then we see him running away. Weird.

I love the grin on Lana's face when she's possessed by Konga.

Kevin's face looks weird when he's firing at the flying plants for the first time.

I love how Eggy complains and whines with MB over her plan. :P

This episode's featured song is something that I call "She Freaks Me Out". It's hilarious to hear these lyrics while an action scene is going on. I don't know what it's a parody of, if anything. Does anyone know?

Why does Lana not remember what happened, when Konga claimed that Lana could hear them?

How could Simon survive for so long while wrapped up? Was his nose partially uncovered?

So Lana felt like she was sleeping while possessed by Konga? That seems to contradict events earlier in the episode.

How'd the cow guys get into the Palace of Power? Who let them in?

Lana's been ruling Videoland for only one year? Well, according to those guys' calendar, anyway. Who knows which world that they're from?

When they cheer for Lana, the voices sound like a lot more than two people.

The episode ends on an ultra-cute note - with Lana grinning and blushing after being kissed by Kevin, and all that he did was kiss her hand.

Lesson: Have confidence in yourself.

This episode is average. It's not as good as Dennis O'Flaherty's other two episodes, but it's okay. I love seeing Lana in action early on, and I love how "she" is forceful later, even if it's really Konga doing everything.

As for what to cut out, I can't think of any filler in this episode.

Overall, "The Lost City of Kongoland" is an okay episode.

Usefulness ratings:

Kevin: 9 (warning the rest of the N Team that nedpeckers' beaks are poisonous, getting the idea to use the springs, defeating 2 flying plants, defeating 1 walking mushroom, defeating 2 flying plants, helping to set Donkey Kong free, getting through to Lana)
Lana: 8 (driving away 6 nedpeckers, pushing Simon out of the path of the boulder, taking off the hat)
Simon: 3 (providing Lana with a way off of the boat, defeating the vine, setting off the mechanism to find the treasure)
Mega Man: 0
Kid Icarus: 3 (defeating 2 flying plants, helping to set Donkey Kong free)
Duke: 0
Gameboy: 0

Mega Man, Duke, and Gameboy surprisingly don't do anything useful. In the second encounter with the flying plants, I gave Kevin 2 points and Kid Icarus 1 point, because it seems to me that Kevin can fire faster than Kid Icarus, since the latter has to load another arrow into his bow. I gave Kevin and Kid Icarus a point each for setting Donkey Kong free, because it was his actions that led to Konga's defeat.

The running total usefulness ratings for this season so far are:

Kevin: 78 (10 episodes)
Lana: 26 (10 episodes)
Simon: 18 (10 episodes)
Mega Man: 19 (10 episodes)
Kid Icarus: 22 (10 episodes)
Duke: 7 (10 episodes)
Gameboy: 14 (10 episodes)

Lana is still ahead of Simon in this season's competition for the moment. Lana has also surpassed Mega Man and Kid Icarus for the moment and moved into second place. We'll see how long that she stays there.

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

Kevin: 125 (23 episodes)
Lana: 35 (23 episodes)
Simon: 39 (23 episodes)
Mega Man: 36 (23 episodes)
Kid Icarus: 45 (23 episodes)
Duke: 21 (23 episodes)
Gameboy: 14 (10 episodes)

Lana is still in 5th place. We'll see how long that she stays there.


That's the end of my review of "The Lost City of Kongoland". I have "Once Upon a Time Machine" listed for Saturday, November 17, 1990 (though a lot of my air dates might change when the DVD set comes out), so I'll review that next. See you all in my next review!


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