Kevin in Videoland: The very first episode.

This is where it all starts, ladies and gentlemen…and…other … people. We get right down to business as the narrator first speaks.

"It was a dark day in Videoland. For seven years, Mother Brain's minions have laid siege on the Palace of Power." As we hear this, we see an army of warriors clad in red and black armor along with quite a few flying creatures approaching the Palace.

We cut away to see the invasion being watched by King Hippo, Eggplant Wizard and Mother Brain. King Hippo exclaims that “We’re too strong for them.” Mother Brain corrects his mistake by picking him up and dangling him upside down until he says that what he meant was Mother Brain is too strong for them. Eggplant Wizard laughs and for that, Mother Brain drops King Hippo on top of him. She laughs and declares that soon Videoland will belong to her.

We see the Planet Metroid fly by the Palace of Power. The Palace dwarfs it in comparison. Now that is one big palace. Imagine living inside a building that was the size of a planet. I’ll bet Lana has never even been in half the rooms.

In the throne room of the Palace, Megaman, Kid Icarus, and Simon Belmont surround Princess Lana. She’s sad and depressed because she knows the Palace can’t hold out much longer under the attacks. She thanks each of them for their services.

Suddenly the lights go out and there’s a mysterious deep and slightly mechanical voice saying, "Do not give up hope yet, Princess." Startled, Simon latches onto Lana. After a brief moment, she pushes him away. Simon has cheesy smile on his face, obviously either from realizing that he’s been hugging the princess or he realized he just made a fool out of himself. It‘s hard to tell with that guy. He looks quite disappointed when she pushes him away and walks towards the sound of the voice.

They walk to the source of the voice. It’s a Powerglove that’s glowing with bright light. The voice continues, "there are powers beyond those which you are familiar with. The Legend of Videoland foretells of a young warrior - from another land - and shall warp into our world and lead you to victory. He is Captain N: The Game Master. Behold - the Ultimate Warp Zone!"

The room turns blue and the glove grows brighter. The N-Team steps back away from it. A huge warp zone opens before them. In the real world, we see a teenager (Kevin) wearing a varsity letter jacket and playing Punch-Out. His dog, Duke walks up to him. It’s worth noting that he’s fighting King Hippo and not doing the best job at it, but he seems to be having fun.

Suddenly, his screen changes and he sees the N-Team standing around the Powerglove. Electrical energy surges from the TV, pulling Kevin screaming into the set. A polygonal green figure seems to reach out moments after Kevin leaves and Duke jumps in after him. The green figure is never explained at any point during the series. Feel free to make your own theories.

Kevin and Duke fall though a huge tunnel of wires and electronics and crash into the throne room. The Powerglove is no longer on its pedestal. Kevin picks himself up off the ground and looks at the people surrounding him. He recognizes Simon, Megaman, and Kid Icarus but has no clue how he got here. Simon laughs at him and says that he must be Captain N. Kevin doesn’t think these people are real at first. He reaches out and touches Simon’s nose, and Simon snaps at him. Kevin pulls back, amazed that they are, in fact, real. Simon exclaims that the “Ultimate Warp” has brought them the “Ultimate Wimp.”

Kevin looks over at Lana as she introduces herself. We get a pan up her body, and Kevin says, "I'm in love. Um, I mean I'm Kevin." It’s obvious that Kevin doesn’t have much experience with the ladies.

He asks where he is, and Lana tells him he’s in Videoland. The Ultimate Warp Zone brought him here. Kevin asks, "You mean like warp zone 4 in Super Mario Brothers?"

Lana replies, "Something like that." Does this mean Lana knows the Mario Bros.? Interesting. Sadly, they’ll never appear on the show.

Lana explains what’s going on and why he’s here. She even points out that the warp zone gave him a “Super Power Pad and Zapper." This is when Kevin first notices the new belt and holster he’s wearing. He says that he can’t be expected to save Videoland. He doesn’t even have his driver's license yet.

Kevin, still thinking the Zapper is a toy, pulls it out and plays with it. He sends a blast towards Simon, just barely missing his head. The blast hit’s a huge ornamental ceiling light and the light crashes down, nearly falling on Kid Icarus. Simon gets right in Kevin’s face growling at him with clenched teeth. Kid Icarus then gets tough with him.

Lana tells Kevin that all Videoland is depending on him and without him they’re doomed. Kevin says, "Hey, you've got the wrong guy. I'm going home." Kevin tries to walk back into the Ultimate warp Zone, but it closes and he walks into a wall instead. Simon gets a good laugh at him and then tries to comfort Lana by saying that he’ll save Videoland.

Lana starts crying and runs off. Simon goes running after her. Kid Icarus gets right into Kevin’s face and Megaman insults him as well. In Lana’s room, she’s talking to a picture of her father. She’s upset that the Legend has failed them. Also we find out that her father (who we later learn is called King Charles) is missing and Lana doesn’t think of herself as a good leader.

Back in Metroid, Mother Brain sees how the warp zone has left the Palace’s defenses drained. She’s going to “strike a fatal blow at the heart of Videoland." Eggplant Wizard tries sucking up to her, but she’s sending King Hippo on the mission instead. Eggplant Wizard throws a tantrum and falls to the floor kicking and punching. He says that King Hippo got to perform the last evil deed. She sends King Hippo to “punch-out” the Palace’s defenses and capture Princess Lana. As almost an after thought, she sends Eggplant Wizard to go with him. Mother Brain says to herself, that without the princess to lead them, all of Videoland will soon fall and then she’ll be the new beautiful queen of Videoland. Queen, maybe, but that beautiful part just isn’t happening.

Megaman, Kid Icarus, and Simon are talking to each other about the princess and how upset she seems. Simon decides that he’s just the person to cheer her up. He takes a look in the mirror and then takes a lift to go see her. As a little side note, Simon’s whip is seen moving by itself in this scene. Cool. Magic/living whip. That might help explain why he can kick as much butt as he’s occasionally shown to do. While this is going on, Kevin is sitting in the throne and wondering how he’ll be able to get back home and out of "this crazy world." He decides that "that princess" got him into this mess, she can get him out.

Elsewhere in the Palace, King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard are searching for the princess themselves. Being as subtle as a kick to the groin, Hippo has apparently decided that randomly bashing though walls is the best way to do this. They happen to run across Simon and follow him to the princess’s room. King Hippo tosses a bag over him and then throws him down the nearest warp zone. The warp zone burps as Simon is thrown into it. King Hippo hits Eggplant Wizard over the head and says to him, “Excuse yourself, you pig!"

The baddies go back to Lana’s door and just as she opens it, they rush in. King Hippo puts his gloved hand over her mouth so she can’t talk. Kevin then walks up to the door and knocks on it. King Hippo tries to disguise his voice to sound like Lana’s but Kevin isn’t fooled. He pulls out his Zapper and shoots open the door.

Inside, King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard have Lana rolled up in a carpet and are taking her out of there. Kevin yells out to put her down. They throw Lana on top of Kevin. Well, he asked for it. Duke runs over and tugs at King Hippo’s shoelaces. He loses balance and falls on top of Eggplant Wizard.

Eggplant Wizard throws a tomato at Kevin. Kevin reaches down and hits the left direction on his Power Pad and zooms out of the way. He takes a second to say how cool that was. Then he faces off against Eggplant Wizard and loses at the quick draw showdown. Eggplant Wizard’s shot traps Kevin inside a giant banana peel. When Duke helps him out, the baddies and Lana are gone.

Kevin and Duke run to find Megaman and Kid Icarus. The two of them are stacking furniture against the door, which just goes to show you how desperate they’re getting. Kevin says that they have to so save the princess. Kid Icarus says that she’s with Simon. Just then, Simon (still in the bag) falls out of a warp zone above them. Kevin then tells them that the princess has been kidnapped. Kid Icarus says they’ll start searching immediately. Then Simon, who’s freed himself from the bag, speaks up. "Not so fast. As the highest-ranking officer of Her Highness' Court, not to mention her dearest friend, I shall give the orders. Megaman, shine my boots. Kid Icarus, I could use a little trim. Not too much off the top, however." You see, this is why Simon isn’t in charge more often. Megaman shines Simon’s boots so fast that they glow red-hot. Simon jumps up and down in pain and Kid Icarus shoots an arrow that causes it to rain on him to cool him off. Simon storms back over and the three of them begin arguing.

Kevin hits pause. He comments to Duke "No wonder Videoland is losing the war. These guys are just fighting themselves." Then he says they’ve got to rescue the princess. When he pauses the team, they stop fighting. Kevin says he’s going to need a map of Videoland. Simon refuses to take orders from anyone so he comes up with his own idea. First he’s going to need a map of Videoland…

Simon points to a spot on the map, saying that it’s the best warp to Metroid. Kevin disagrees pointing to another spot. He says he’s played this game a hundred times before. I’m personally wondering what game he’s talking about and where I can get a copy. Simon agrees to flip a coin to decide. He pulls a coin out calling heads; they’ll go Simon’s way. Tails, they’ll go Kevin’s way. Simon flips the coin and it lands heads up. The heads side of the coin is a picture of Simon that says “my hero.” I’m assuming this was some sort of commemorative edition. The rest of the N-Team walks off, following Simon. Kevin bends down to pick up the coin, and finds out that it’s a two-headed coin.

The team sneaks past a monster and heads though a warp zone. Duke is hesitant, but Kevin tells him they have no choice. The warp zone leads them out the other end of a huge shower where they fall on a something polka dotted. They look around and a neon flashing sign tells them that they’re in Kongoland. It turns out they landed on top of Donkey Kong’s shower cap. The barely avoid his back brush and tumble down to a bar of soap that’s soon washed out of he bathtub. Donkey Kong isn’t too pleased at having his bath interrupted. He gets out, wraps a towel around his waist and gives chase.

Donkey Kong ends up slipping on his own soap. Kid Icarus says he’ll take care of him and fires an arrow that knocks several huge coconuts down on his head. Donkey Kong pins Kid Icarus. Simon swings to the rescue, but the branch he’s on snaps and he goes tumbling. A huge breath from Donkey Kong sends Simon flattened up against a tree. Kevin pushes his power pad to get away from Donkey Kong’s stomping. This is a trick we’ll never see again in the series. Kevin morphs into a small ball of energy and zips away, when he reaches the others, he reverts to normal Kevin. I’m thinking this may be an example of Kevin using the ball roll from Metroid, but there’s no way to tell for sure.

Donkey Kong climbs a tree, still holding onto Kid Icarus. Kevin yells “JUMP!” and pushes a button on his power pad. Thankfully, he stopped yelling out all his actions as the series went on. Kevin leaps up to Donkey Kong’s hand, frees Kid Icarus, and they both get back down to the ground. Kid Icarus then thanks him and says he’s a “pretty good Game Master after all.” Kevin tells him they’ve got to warp out of there before Donkey Kong gives him the big game over. Donkey Kong jumps down from the tree and chases after them again.

Kevin runs to a stump and tells everyone to get in. Duke comes up but a piranha plant like creature comes out and snaps at him. Kevin says that it’s too late, that warp has already closed up. He points to a volcano and says that’s the way out.

Back in Metroid, King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard are holding Princess Lana down while she talks to Mother Brain. Well, perhaps ‘talk” is too kind a word. She tells Mother Brain that “You’ll never get away with this. My warriors will rescue me.” Mother Brain basically tells her that they’ll rescue her all right, just like they rescued her father. She opens a chute that sucks Lana up and tosses her out inside the top of a huge tower. A guard that looks sort of like Kraid is standing in front of her.

In Kongoland, the team is climbing a volcano with Donkey Kong in hot pursuit. Simon yells out that this is crazy. They’ll be dead if they jump into the volcano and dead if they don’t. Kevin assures him that he knows what he’s doing and Simon says he’d rather trust a vampire to give him a shave. The volcano shoots several boulders into the air. Kevin tells them that they’ll have to get closer to the edge of the volcano. At this point, not even Duke trusts Kevin.

Kevin hits pause as just a few boulders rise above the lava. The team climbs on them. Simon is too afraid. The pause wears off and the team goes flying. Simon then notices that Donkey Kong has caught up to him, so he whips a boulder, latching onto it. The boulders fly into a warp zone in the air.

They arrive in Metroid. Kevin hits pause again and the boulders stop, then fall to the ground. Megaman and Kid Icarus praise Kevin’s smooth moves, or something like that. Simon reminds them that they still haven’t rescued the princess yet. Then Megaman spots the tower she’s being held in. Simon says that it’s just like a fairy tale. A beautiful princess trapped in a tower etc etc. Simon basically says to himself that he’s got to beat Kevin to her, so he jumps into a warp zone that he says will take him straight into her arms. Apparently he miscalculates though, because you can hear him yelling as he goes down the warp and he lands with a splash.

At the tower, Megaman throws Kevin into the air. He comes down on top of Kraid and blips him into non-existence. Kevin and Lana have a nice little reunion, where he apologizes for not believing her and trusting her earlier. Duke, Megaman, and Kid Icarus come running into the room just before the door seals closed. A hologram of Mother Brain appears to taunt them and opens a trap door under Kevin, Duke, and Lana. You can actually see a bit of fear on Kevin’s face the first time he sees Mother Brain.

The song Breakdown starts up as Kevin and Lana make their way though the corridors of Metroid. The fight some enemies, run across some moving platforms, and are chased around by two huge purple things that eventually fall into lava. The heroes dodge a fireball that’s flying back and forth and eventually reach the end. Kevin says calmly that they made it though. He blasts open the door and King Hippo, Eggplant Wizard, and Mother Brain are all there waiting for him. Lana is scared but Kevin doesn’t think it’s a problem.

He tries to shoot his zapper, but it’s out of energy. Kevin looks down at the energy meter on his power pad and sees that it’s out of juice. Mother Brian laughs at them saying that no one person can defeat her. Simon swings into the scene and says that maybe not alone, but as a team they can beat her. Megaman punches though a wall and Kid Icarus flies in as well.

Simon tries whipping King Hippo, but Hippo grabs the whip. He asks "Whatcha gonna do now, dude?" Simon replies, "I'm not going to do anything, but my whip is going to whoop you." Simon let’s go of the whip and it wraps itself around King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard, who then fall over. That living whip really would have come in handy in the games.

Kid Icarus shoots an arrow at a lever near Mother Brain, causing her to go into a fast spin. Electric bolts starts flying everywhere. Kevin tells the team to quickly go into the warp zone, because it’s too dangerous to finish her off now.

Later, at the Palace of Power, Simon tries to take credit for saving Lana. She clamps her hand over his mouth to get him to stop bragging and thanks him. She adds, "We're indebted to you, and to the rest of you as well." Duke barks and she adds, "You, too, Duke.

Lana thanks Kevin saying that he helped her win the battle, but the war is far from over. She asks him to stay and help save Videoland. Kevin says that he has to get back to his world. A warp zone opens and Kevin and Duke walk towards it.

Simon tells him, “Yes, well, it was very nice of you to drop by. Do come back and visit us soon in, say, twenty years?”

As Kevin walks towards the warp he hears his mother calling him saying that he better not be playing that stupid game, he has homework to do. Kevin’s expression changes to something along the lines of disappointment and sorrow. He says that on second thought, maybe he can stay a little longer. Lana kisses Kevin on the cheek, much to Simon’s horror. Kevin says, "Let's face it, I'm hooked" and fires his Zapper at the screen.

This is one of the best episodes. Naturally they put a lot of effort into the first episode and certain characterizations seemed quite stronger. Kevin was played up as being out of place but with a vast amount of knowledge, Simon was actually mean and less of a goof. Mother Brain was seen as frightening and her two goons show some basic competency. Donkey Kong could have used a bit of work, and the rest of the N-Team fell into the background a bit, but otherwise great show.

Featuring:
Kevin Keene/Captain N
Princess Lana
Simon Belmont
Megaman
Kid Icarus
Duke
Mother Brain
King Hippo
Eggplant Wizard
Kraid
Donkey Kong