| The Invasion of the Paper Pedalers | |
|---|---|
| Season 2, Episode 12 | |
| |
| Air date | December 22, 1990 |
| Written by | Michael Maurer |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous I Wish I Was a Wombatman |
Next Germ Wars |
"The Invasion of the Paper Pedalers" is a Season 2 episode of Captain N: The Game Master. It is the twelfth episode of the season and the twenty-fifth episode of the series.
The episode was written by Michael Maurer.
Plot summary[]
Mother Brain uses hypnotic ink in newspapers to hypnotize the citizens of News World, and make them do her bidding. The N Team teams up with the local paperboy Julio to find an antidote for the hypnotic ink - but it isn't long before Mother Brain starts using it to hypnotize members of the N Team!
Character appearances[]
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| N Team | Forces of Chaos | Others |
|---|---|---|
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Trivia[]
- This episode is based on the Paperboy video game.
- The edited version of this episode from the third season originally was shown with the Super Mario World cartoon "Party Line."
- The citizens of News World appear to be of Hispanic origin. It is entirely possible that, given the way News World looks, and its population, that the episode was originally planned to take place on Earth (rather than Videoland).
- Is that Pac-Man in the playground when the N Team first arrives on News World?
- This is one of the few episodes where Donkey Kong is neither antagonistic towards the N Team or Mother Brain and her lackeys, as he spent the majority of the episode just minding his own business and peacefully tending his crops in his jungle garden.
- This is also the second time Donkey Kong wears full clothing, as he wears a farming outfit in this episode. In the Season 1 episode "The Most Dangerous Game Master," he wore a safari outfit in the Indiana Jones parody.
- Julio's design was based on a character from an animated series called Buddy Boy, which was pitched to DiC Entertainment. This series was an early prototype for the premise behind Captain N of a Saturday morning cartoon where characters from various Nintendo games would appear, but was canceled at the last minute.
- Concept art for the pilot episode of Buddy Boy (which can still be found on DeviantArt) shows that it was meant to be a TV adaptation of Paperboy, though it was scrapped in favor of a more original concept.
- The main difference between Buddy Boy and Julio is that Buddy Boy is a real-world paperboy who occasionally enters the Game World with Mega Man and Kid Icarus and has to avoid the Grim Reaper, who tries to Game Over him. Julio, on the other hand, lives on News World in Videoland, and also appears to be Hispanic rather than Caucasian.
- Though Dr. Wily appears one more time in "A Tale of Two Dogs", this is his last appearance as a member of Mother Brain's crew.
Errors[]
Animation[]
Continuity[]
Logic[]
- Julio tells the N Team that he can't read because he's been working as a paperboy to earn money for his family since he mentioned that his father lost his previous job. if thats the case,than this brings up some rather interesting serious questions. Has he been expelled from school, or has his school ever contacted his parents to ask them why he isn't coming to class?
- Does Julio's mother know that her son is illiterate? If so, why hasn't she tried to homeschool him?
- It could be possible that since Julio was the only person in his Family with a Job at the moment prior to the Start of this episode,it's quite possible that Julio has been too caught up making ends meat supporting his entire family with his job as a paperboy,that he may not have had time to make room in his schedule for any sort of education such as home schooling for example,which could explain why Julio never mentioned his poor illiterate skills to his mother.
- Eggplant Wizard tells King Hippo that Gameboy can't be hypnotize because he's a computer, but earlier Mother Brain told them she can use the hypnotic ink to control machines.
Variants and alterations[]
The episode was edited to air as a fifteen-minute version in Season 3. Some music was changed around, and scenes cut out include the following:
- The opening scene on Kongoland, with Dr. Wily draining sap from the trees.
- The Ink Monster scene.
- Simon first becoming a zombie. (This creates a plot hole in the fifteen-minute version, as no explanation is offered as to how he becomes a zombie.)
- The "destructive kitchen equipment" scene.
- Some of the "cookie baking" scene.
- Some footage from the paper delivery at the end.