Captain N: The Game Master Overview: When Mother Brain Rules

Among the many great video game-inspired cartoons from the 1980s and 1990s was Captain N: The Game Master, which aired on NBC from 1989 to 1992 and ran a total of 34 episodes. A while back, I wrote an article regarding this series and how enjoyable it was. Recently, I rediscovered a particular episode of the series that was not only the most unusual of them all, but is perhaps the strangest clip show ever made. It is called When Mother Brain Rules, which first aired in 1991 as the second season finale. By this point, 26 other episodes had aired, and this special episode was designed to showcase some of the highlights of the series up to that point. However, the clip show is quite odd in a number of ways, so much so that two versions are known to exist. Let me tell you more about this unusual episode.

Initially, the clip show tells how the evil Mother Brain came into power to rule all of Videoland, and how its citizens were subsequently threatened by her rule. Luckily, a hero from the real world, known to them as Captain N, came along and would help the N Team defeat the forces of evil on many occasions. Like many clip shows, this one contains scenes from a number of episodes. Among the sequences are Captain N trying to prevented Princess Lana from being abducted by Mother Brain's minions, he and the rest of the team confronting Donkey Kong, and the entire team fighting against Dr. Wily's robots. The sequences seem random, though the show itself was quite episodic with little in the way of continuing story lines. These facts apply to both versions of the episodes, but as I am about to explain, each version had their own features that would make the episode itself seem odd.

Let us start with the NBC version, first aired in early 1991. It includes an off screen narrator who begins to tell the story of how Mother Brain came to rule the land and how Captain N came along to stop her plans. The narrator, however, only speaks a handful of sentences in the first couple of minutes or so and then disappears for the rest of the episode. In fact, there is little voice acting in the episode at all, since for some strange reason, the original voice acting is missing. Characters move their mouths, but no dialog is heard. Granted, the visuals still get the job done in that they give the viewers a basic understanding of what is going on, but the conspicuous absence of voices apart from the narration is jarring. Kids who watched this back in the day, and older viewers as well, may have been confused as to what happened with the voices.

Later in the episode, when there is voice acting, it comes courtesy of Simon Belmont, the inept and vain, but loyal, vampire slayer of the N Team. His narration states that the team does not really need Captain N; rather, Simon's heroism would be a better fit. The many sequences in which Simon gets into trouble, however, prove that he is more cowardly than courageous, and Captain N usually has to save him. Unfortunately, Simon's narration is also quite limited to the extent that scenes simply start without any introduction, making the transitions between them confusing and jarring.

In fact, the entire episode seems to have been rushed out to give viewers a taste of what had gone before in the previous two seasons. It is as if NBC wanted one more episode to round out the season and commissioned this one to bring viewers up to speed. It should be noted that DIC (now part of Cookie Jar Entertainment), the company behind the series, actually has no record of the episode's existence nor any master tapes with the episode, though YouTube videos (which I will link you to at the end of the article) clearly show otherwise. They feel that NBC must have made the clip show themselves, which may also explain why it has not been released on DVD. All I know is that anyone looking for a clip show that does a decent job in introducing old and new viewers to the series will not find it here...at least, not with the first version. Yes, there was a second version made later on.

When Mother Brain Rules Version 2 aired in syndication in the early 1990s, when Captain N and other Nintendo cartoons aired as part of Captain N and the Video Game Masters. It contains a number of differences that make the clip show a bit easier to swallow. All of the voices that were muted in the first version have been restored, making it easier to understand what is going on. More narration from the narrator has been added, though he still vanishes after the first few minutes and is never heard again. Simon also has more narration, and this time, he actually introduces some sequences featuring him as a major character. Thus, the transition between scenes seem more logical and less random. Lastly, the music score has been changed. All of these changes make this version of the episode a vast improvement over the original version, as if DIC decided to take the time to craft a more coherent clip show. It still is odd given the fact that the scenes are still random, but it is a better way to introduce new fans to the classic series.

As you have seen, When Mother Brain Rules, when it first aired, was quite convoluted, with limited narration, muted voices, and odd transitions to various scenes. Its second version added the voices back in, featured more narration, and made the transitions easier to manage. I prefer the latter version for those reasons, though the original version is interesting to watch to see how strange and confusing it really was. As mentioned, neither version is out on DVD. However, high quality videos of both versions are on YouTube, and as promised, here are the links:

For the original version as aired on NBC, go to these links:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM6HM49RuPY

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSkKjEF4laU&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTr1-MFHGUc&feature=related

For the second version that aired in syndication, go to these links:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoUvpQ20Vh0&feature=related

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf5D_pMfwag&feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGqoEmYqz4k&feature=related

See for yourself why this clip show was odd, and decide for yourself which version is better.