Reign Storm
Our episode begins with Toad looking out of his yard. He has a very small yard. A short distance away, the Mario brothers are walking alongside the Princess and her doctor. They quickly establish that she's going to “The Real World” for vacation, because she's overworked. I should note that Toadstool isn't wearing her crown here. She's also very uncertain about leaving her kingdom in the hands of the Mario brothers. As she finally hops onto a warp pipe, Toad comes running in with a bunch of beach equipment, suggesting that she go to Hawaii. The two depart while Mario declares, “How hard can it be to run a kingdom?” Yeah, way to go Mario. Everything that goes wrong from here on out? Your fault. Koopa and Kooky are watching all this from behind some bushes, and Kooky immediately comes up with a plan. He wants to build a robot double of the princess. His dad then takes credit for the idea.
Meanwhile in Hawaii, Toadstool is still worried about stuff back home, but she soon relents and joins Toad in some surfing. They wipe out right away and Toad lands in a pile of seaweed. The pile is on the beach so there's no chance of him drowning. Drat. Toadstool quickly meets a surfer dude named Cutter, who volunteers to teach her to surf. He asks if Toadstool is babysitting “the weird looking kid in the funny sun hat,” while pointing at Toad. When she replies that she isn't, the two soon rush off back to the sea.
Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Luigi are dedicating a dam. Underwater, Koopa plants a bob-omb at the base of the dam while wearing scuba gear. He also talks without moving his mouth. The bob-omb blows and the dam breaks, causing everyone to run away before they get swept up in the water. We then cut to the Marios' house as a ton of complaints are dumped off via a wheelbarrow. Also there's an angry mob. One of the complaints mentions stairs to Sky Land falling down and dropping the people trying walk on them into a garbage dump. There's also a shopping mall infested by boos. Luigi wants to call the princess back, but Mario is against it. Another look outside at the angry mob and Mario relents. He drops off a letter into a warp pipe, but doesn't notice a nipper inside that swallows the letter. When Mario leaves, the nipper runs off to report to Koopa. The king then calls Kooky on a wand, and after threatening him to hurry up, hears that the robot double of the princess is ready to go.
We then get to see a montage of Toadstool and Cutter having fun together set to “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” Well that's what's on my VHS tape anyway. The DVD version replaced the song with an instrumental version of “Megamove.” You can watch a version with the original lyrics here though.
Back home, it's time for the robot to do its stuff. The Marios buy it hook line and sinker. Even though the rivets on the robot are clearly visible. At least the skin part is the right colour and not steel grey. The robot says Toad stayed behind, and I just noticed she's wearing bolts for earrings. Speaking of terrible disguises, Kooky is going to Hawaii to make sure Toadstool doesn't come back home. His disguise is a lei. That's it. No way is he going to arouse suspicion like that, no-siree.
Now we get to see the chaos caused by Robo-Toadstool's new laws. She ordered a new road built out of quicksand, and has sent the fire department to “extinguish” all the fire flowers. All these shenanigans cause the brothers to have a talk with Robo-Toadstool. When they get to her place, or a mushroom house anyway, they see her hugging Koopa and having tea. Mario addresses Koopa by his full name, bringing the count up to four. Robo-Toadstool then announces that she's turning over her kingdom to Koopa. Then she fires the Mario brothers and Koopa physically throws them out. Not sure what she fired them from, since I don't think the Mario brothers are formally employed by her. Well, unless you count “royal plumbers.”
In Hawaii, Toadstool decides to stay a few more weeks, while a little kid asks her dad why Toad has an umbrella on his head. For the record, those things are just hats in this show, because Toad takes it off a few times. Then the kid points to Kooky and asks why he's sneaking through the bushes. Her dad thinks he's a rock star hiding from his fans. Well, I guess the disguise did work after all. Kind of. Toad points out Kooky to Toadstool, and the pair realize that this is a sign of bad news. Cutter is confused by the talk of Princesses and the Mushroom Kingdom. Toadstool says her goodbyes and runs off with Toad.
Back at Toadstool's castle, Robo-Toadstool is in the process of crowning Koopa the new King of the Mushroom Kingdom. We get a shot of the Koopa Kids celebrating. An animation error shows Kooky back here with his siblings. Mario finally realizes that something is wrong. Specifically, that Toadstool doesn't have a sun tan. Yeah, that's definitely the thing most out of place about her. Before Robo-Toadstool can crown Koopa king, Toad and Toadstool arrive back in town. How does she decide to get to the castle as quickly as possible? Toad opens a water main and Toadstool surfs through a stone wall into the castle and uses a harpoon gun to grab her crown, all while “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” plays again. It's going to be a while before we are able to top that moment. Once that's done, Kooky comes flying out of a warp pipe at high velocity and smashes into his robot. He's here to warn his dad that the real Toadstool is coming back. Koopa then grabs his kids and runs out the window while the brothers welcome Toadstool home.
Quest for the Potion of Power
This marks the first of four episodes of the show that feature Link and Zelda from the Super Mario Bros. Super Show. We begin with a shot of Hyrule,
◊ which appears to be a globe that's at the top of a large rock structure that blossoms like a flower. The whole thing reminds me of the Goron's Ruby
◊ from Ocarina of Time. The narrator says that Ganon has been dead for several years and peace now reigns. Then a bunch of moblins show up and scare some people. Yay for peace. Apparently there is a rumour that Ganon is going to rise again. How is he going to rise again? Maybe the episode title will give us a clue.
At the Palace of Power, Duke is chasing Game Boy in and out of a warp zone. I hope it doesn't lead anywhere dangerous. Wait, what am I saying? Yes I do! Simon is reading a magazine, (the cover of which has a picture of him kissing his reflection,) when Zelda appears on a screen asking for a hero. Simon then begins extolling his imaginary virtues and showing off, until Duke and Game Boy come in, bowling him over. Zelda's no fool though, she wants Captain N. He's the only one who's not an idiot or suffering from a speech impediment. Kevin leaves for Hyrule and Game Boy asks to come with. Kevin agrees, though oddly he tells Duke to stay home.
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◊ shows it to be made of metal and sort of futuristic looking. It's also shaped a little like a boat. I should point out that it looks absolutely nothing like the castle.png){kind=small}
◊ did in the Zelda cartoon this is based off of. Kevin meets Link and they shake hands. The two stroke each other's egos until Zelda comes along and insists they get to work. There's a rumour that someone is looking for a potion to bring back Ganon, and Zelda is concerned that Ganon's minions want revenge on Link. Mother Brain is of course watching all this on her magic TV. She's hoping Link and the others will find the Potion of Power so she doesn't have to rely on King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard finding it, and let's be honest, they couldn't find water in a rainstorm. Speaking of the duo, they're stuck in a swamp, lost. Big surprise there. Mother Brain shows up via some sort of projection to yell at them.
Meanwhile in Hyrule Castle Town, Kevin and company walk down the streets. The very empty streets. There's only one person around, and when they ask her about the Potion of Power she says, “I know nothing,” and runs off. Okay, two things. First, why would a random person on the street know where the Potion of Power is? Second, that was a direct quote from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. How can the staff manage an in-joke like that and still screw up something as simple as Mega Man's colour? The lady turns down an alley and screams. Kevin and company rush down the alley and see her being accosted by some moblins. Apparently they want to know about the Potion of Power too. Why everyone thinks this random lady knows anything is beyond me. Kevin and the others start to fight the moblins. Zelda uses a magic bow that shoots light or energy or something, while Link fights with his sword. He swings the sword right-handed in case you were wondering. I've always liked the fact that Link was a lefty, because there are so few characters in fiction who are regularly shown to be left-handed. Nowadays Nintendo is even flip-flopping on whether Link's a lefty or not. Kevin tries to do a back-flip and ends up falling on his butt. Game Boy has to save him. In the commotion the lady's kid runs into the middle of the fray and gets grabbed by a moblin. The good guys all drop their weapons, but Kevin tosses a sheet over the moblin's head and Link fires a laser out of his sword, ending the moblin. The lady is grateful for the rescue and rewards them with a map to the ancient Desert Palace. Apparently the palace has a golden key that will allow them to get the Potion of Power. So wait, she actually did know how to find the potion? Hyrule, where the first person you randomly bump into knows all about whatever quest you're on. King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard are watching all this disguised as, peasants I guess? Hippo's wearing a beard and I think Eggplant Wizard is supposed to be a woman.
Later, the Kevin, Link, Zelda and Game Boy are walking down a ravine with large rocks flying down it as though they were caught in a big gust of wind. They're ambushed by a giant bug creature. Kevin saves the day with his zapper after everyone else gets knocked to the ground. King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard follow behind, but they are about to get smashed by a giant rock. Eggplant Wizard turns it into a tomato and they both get splattered by it.
Inside the palace, we watch Kevin and the others fight their way through a bunch of enemies as we listen to the song “Can You Feel the Heat.” Not sure if this is a sound-alike of any song in particular. Possibly “The Heat Is On”? During the montage Zelda kisses Kevin on the cheek. If you've watched even one episode of the old Zelda cartoon you'd know Link is always trying to get Zelda to kiss him, so you can see how this would tick him off.
Finally, they enter the room with the golden key inside a glass sphere. Also, there's a map next to the key. Link smashes the glass and nabs the loot. As soon as he does, a horse monster named Horsehead bursts out of the ground. Horsehead was one of the bosses in Zelda II, though back then he only had two legs instead of having the lower body of a whole horse like a centaur. Link insists on fighting alone. Kevin wants to help, but Zelda assures him Link knows what he's doing. Link then gets the tar beat out of him. Horsehead is about to land a killing blow when Kevin rushes in, pushes Link out of the way, then shoots the ceiling, which causes a bunch of rocks to fall on Horsehead, killing him. It's at this point it's made clear that Link is a little annoyed by Kevin, specifically the way he steals the spotlight. The fact that Zelda keeps praising him doesn't help matters. The map points them to the location of the Potion of Power, on the Island Palace.
Some time later, we watch our intrepid heroes skulking around a graveyard, when they hear a moa. Link freaks out and starts shooting at everything. One shot almost fries King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard, who are watching from the bushes. Just as Zelda finishes chastising Link, a ton of moa appear. Moa, for the record, are floating eyeballs. The group takes a few down and run, looking for a secret passage, which Link falls right into. King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard try to follow the group, but they run off as soon as they bump into the moas. We then cut to them paddling a tiny raft as they try to get to the island. Their squabbling causes them to fall off the raft, so they have to swim.
Inside the palace, there are a lot of palaces in this episode aren't there? As Kevin tries to remember what's on the other side of a particular door, Game Boy opens it, and a robotic looking knight attacks, shattering a statue in the process. Link fires a laser from his sword to close the door and re-trap the knight. Link takes out his frustration on Game Boy, and Kevin and Link finally start to argue. Game Boy notices a bottle of magic in the rubble of the statue and Kevin picks it up.
Finally, the group makes it to a golden door and Link uses the golden key to open it. The room is filled with statues, and as the group walks forward they fail to notice one of them move. In the center of the chamber they find a red flask, the titular Potion of Power. Before they can grab it, they're attacked by Iron Knuckle, a heavily armoured knight on a horse. Kevin and Link keep arguing as they attack, with none of their shots doing any damage. During the fight King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard grab the Potion of Power and run off. Nobody stop them or anything guys. Iron Knuckle grabs Zelda and Link decides to follow a suggestion Kevin made earlier, namely, the pair shoot his horse. They do, destroying the horse and freeing Zelda. Then the three of them finish off Iron Knuckle by shooting him all at the same time.
Outside the palace, our group finally chases after King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard, but as they do, the pair of villains runs across a bridge that crumbles after they cross it. Link admits he was being a bit of a douche because Kevin was acting like a wiz kid. Before doing anything else though, Kevin decides to call for backup. Game Boy then pushes one of his buttons and a warp appears over his head. What do you want to bet we never see this power used ever again?
Off in some underground place, we see Mother Brain and her cronies with a very small and pudgy Ganon. How he ended up like this anyone's guess. He looks like a baby pig/human hybrid. Eggplant Wizard hands over the Potion of Power and Ganon starts chugging it. Zelda, Link and the N Team arrive just in time to see Ganon return to normal. The ground starts shaking and Link and Kevin decide to make use of the magic bottle Game Boy found. Kevin then pours it all over Link's shield. Um, guys? I think you're supposed to drink it. Trust me on this one, I've played the games. Ganon then declares that Videoland is his now. Mother Brain doesn't like this and demands Ganon work for her. In response, Ganon blasts her with magic and knocks her over. Great plan guys. Did anyone actually bother to think what would happen after Ganon got his powers back? Ganon then grows to giant size and tries the same trick on Link. However the magic reflects off Link's shield, right back into Ganon. Yeah, sure. Just because I've played the games why should I know what a bottle of magic does? As Ganon enters his death throws, a twister gets summoned that carries off Mother Brain and her minions. In celebration, Zelda kisses both Link and Kevin on the cheek. Well Link should be happy, he's waited an entire series for this. Although I think he meant a kiss on the lips. Oh well, there's always next time.
Toddler Terrors of Time Travel
Our episode starts off with Koopa suffering from a Mario Brothers induced headache and sticking a cold bag underneath his crown. Kooky is present, and concludes that the best way to deal with the problem would be to go back in time and prevent the Marios from ever coming to the Mushroom Kingdom in the first place. All they need is a time machine. Of course, this being a kids show, time travel is apparently easy to accomplish. Toad is watching all this, disguised as a bunch of potted flowers, one of which is a disguised pericope.
We're soon shown the sight of a bunch of hammer brothers hauling cargo aboard the Doomship. Mario, Luigi and Toad hide away inside one crate and are carried aboard. For whatever reason this particular crate ends up tossed in a corner of what appears to be the Doomship's bridge. Koopa hears a grunt from the box and investigates, but the box speaks up and assures him that it was just his imagination. Kooky has finished the final touches on his time-travel gizmo, and the Doomship takes off. Koopa grabs the wheel from Kooky, stating that he's going too slow. Apparently the time-travel doohickey is tied into the ship's power, because Kooky warns against going any faster. Naturally, Koopa ignores him, and within seconds the ship is rocking back and forth, enough to cause the Marios' crate to smash against a wall and break open. Kooky however, is more concerned about the time-travel whatchamajigger. One light show later and everyone is sitting on the floor transformed into babies. Everyone is also wearing baby clothes, specifically diapers and bonnets. And nothing else. Oh, and the Mario Brothers both have mustaches. So, were they born with those things? I'm still not entirely sure how this happened, because the machine was apparently working fine, it just got too much gas. They also arrived on the date they were aiming for, so that part worked out okay. Whatever.
With no-one steering it, the Doomship soon crashes into the ground. From the wreckage it just appears to be a pile of random logs. It doesn't even look like a ship anymore. The Marios crawl out of the wreckage with Toad, and after looking up at a clock they realize they have precious little time before they're due to arrive at the house where they got sucked into the Mushroom Kingdom during a routine declogging. They conclude that they have to get there and repeat history despite their, um, “condition.” You'd think their past selves would take care of that, but no, everyone seems to think their past selves don't factor into the plot. So I guess they plan to go through the warp pipe and stop Koopa just like they did when they originally went to the Mushroom Kingdom. Although, if their past selves aren't a factor, I don't see why Koopa's past self would be threatening Toadstool. The more logic you apply to this situation the less sense it makes. And this isn't even the typical sort of problem encountered during time travel stories. No, this show has to come up with whole new ways for time travel to not make sense.
The two Koopas chase after the other group to the tune of a song called “Baby Chase.” Oddly, this is one of the songs that was replaced with an instrumental version of “Megamove” later on, which is strange, because “Baby Chase” isn't actually a real song. It's a sound-alike of “Babyface” with the lyrics changed around. Why is it okay for Captain N to do a sound-alike, but not this show? Here's what it originally sounded like. The chase starts out on foot, but soon moves to strollers and baby carriages. Just as the Koopas are about to close in on the good guys, an old granny comes by to fondle the Koopas. Then she sees their faces and runs away screaming. With that done, Koopa decides to return to the Doomship, which is in perfect working order now, and lets Kooky fix the time device and turn them back to normal. Odd that this would work out that way when Koopa is obviously much older than Kooky.
Mario and company finally make it to their destination and knock on the door. However, the lady living there doesn't believe them when they say they're plumbers, so she puts them down for a nap. Soon enough Koopa and Kooky pull up in a van, disguised as plumbers. Where did they get the van? Who knows? Oh, and they're also supposed to be “costumed” plumbers, because everyone wants their plumbers to wear lizard people outfits while they unclog your drain. The babies see the Koopas enter, from outside, on the fire escape, which they are suddenly on. They decide to move into the basement and fight plumbing with plumbing. They have some trouble with the pipes at first, but with the three of them working together they eventually manage to use a wrench to tighten, or possibly loosen, one of the pipes. Upstairs, Koopa and Kooky are shoving everything they can find down the bathtub drain in order to make the clog even worse. While Kooky runs out to get more crap the lady asks Koopa how he's doing. Koopa tells her to shut her trap. And he wonders why Toadstool doesn't like him. Kooky returns with a floor lamp and an end-table destined for the drain.
Downstairs, the babies have reversed the pressure and are causing water to flow back up every drain in the house. And also out of a ceiling light, somehow. The owner of the house tries to call for help and gets sprayed by a geyser of water coming out of the phone. Mario Brothers plumbing, so good we can defy physics! This doesn't last long however, as the Koopas soon cut the water and come downstairs. The babies crawl into an open pipe, one big enough for them to crawl into, that just happens to be in a woman's basement. Ugh. Koopa rips the first section of pipe out and plugs both ends with, giant corks? Sure. Makes as much sense as anything else. The two Koopas leave feeling victorious, but unbeknownst to them Toad managed to crawl farther up the pipe and escape their clutches. This, despite the fact that Mario was the first one into the pipe, and he still got caught. Toad manages to make his way out of a garden hose, because that makes perfect sense, and follows the Koopas back to the Doomship. It takes off and Toad jumps into the sky to catch it. He then sneaks into the control room and snatches the time I'm-past-the-point-of-caring. He brings it up to a window and “focuses it on the basement window.” He appears full grown in this shot, thought I'm not sure if that's an animation error or not. The ray works, and the brothers return to normal, shattering the pipe in the process. Mario then announces that they only have 30 seconds to unclog the drain. Um, why? No, seriously, why do you need to go through in 30 seconds? Does the warp pipe only work sometimes? The brothers easily unclog the bathtub and jump into the warp to the Mushroom Kingdom. I just realized, if the Mario's past selves were to show up, there would be nothing to unclog and they would never go to the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Luigi would have done the very thing Koopa was trying to accomplish!
Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, Koopa and Kooky are accosting Toadstool and Toad. Koopa holds out a piece of paper and insists Toadstool sign over her kingdom. Uh, you tried that once already, and it didn't work in your favour. I'm not entirely sure when we are exactly, until Kooky says the Mario Brothers are stuck in the past. Just then, Mario and Luigi arrive via warp pipe. So how exactly did they arrive in the present if they weren't aboard the Doomship when it went forward in time? Nevermind, we're almost done. Mario takes the hairball that was originally clogging the woman's drain and hurls it at Koopa. Apparently that's enough to make Koopa call it quits, as he and Kooky escape via warp pipe.
“Quest for the Potion of Power” is quite possibly the most well-known episode of Captain N and it's also one of the best put together. It actually manages to make it feel like the good guys are on a genuine quest, exploring strange lands and such. The fact that the group is so small probably helps, as everyone gets their fair share of screen time. Well, except maybe Game Boy, but I'm not complaining. Conversely “Toddler Terrors of Time Travel” is a mess. Applying even a small amount of logic causes plot-holes you could drive the Doomship through. By comparison to the other two “Reign Storm” is perfectly average.
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