Episode 19
The Lost City of Kongoland
Based on the Videogame: Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3

Donkey Kong is asleep in a really friggin’ huge bed in his really friggin’ huge hut, wearing a cute little night cap. Suddenly something jolts him right out of bed and into the rafters. It seems a rather sharp vine penetrated his bed and poked him in the rear. Outside of his house strange vines seem to be growing wild.

Scene shift into the Prince of Kongoland’s bedroom. One of his servants wakes him up with a panicked expression. Apparently the Lost City of Kongoland is rising after a 1,000 years, just like their prophecy said. This doesn’t bother the prince too much until he’s told where the city is rising, right in Donkey Kong’s front yard. To drive home the fact that DK doesn’t care for this, we hear him growling and the entire room shakes.

Meanwhile at the Palace of Power, Princess Lana is seeing to the problems of many of her subjects. The line of subjects to see her is extremely long. Megaman comes up carrying two huge mail sacks of letters from additional people who haven’t showed up but request to. Lana is obviously not used to solving problems like this and getting tired and frustrated. Kevin suggests that she take a break (a very sensible suggestion), but first she insists she has to solve the problem of the current two people in line with a cow. They’re having a feud over who owns it. Lana tries a trick that she said always worked for her father. She tells them that one of them must give up the cow, or she’ll have the royal cooks cut it in half for them. The two people think that’s a great idea and agree to it, surprising everybody, especially the cow. The cow makes a break for it and runs through the nearest warp zone, knocking over Simon.

Lana is seriously having doubts about how good a ruler she is and whether or not she’s being forceful enough. The rest of the team support her and tell her that she just needs a break for a while. No time for that, though. The prince of Kongoland rushes into the room though a warp and gives us our back story.

1,000 years ago Kongoland was ruled by an ancient city. The city was brought to life by the witch doctor Konga. He had control over all plants. An earthquake sunk the city, but Konga vowed he would rise again and whoever found his treasures would gain his powers. Hearing that, Lana says that the N-Team will find the treasure and destroy it. After all, you just can’t have ancient prophecies and tremendous power waiting there for anyone who wants it, can you?

Back in Kongoland, Donkey Kong is trying his hardest to destroy the rapidly growing huge vines and frankly, he’s not doing a very good job. Somehow Mother Brain had heard about this (Knowing her, she’s probably got spies and computers monitoring pretty much everything). She shows up on Kongoland with King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard. Her plan is to let the N-Team get the treasure and deal with Donkey Kong. THEN she’ll come in and take it. Classic villain. Let the hero do all the work. Good for her.

The N-Team arrives in Kongoland and travels down the river in a boat. Simon has dressed for the occasion in a Crocodile Dundee style hat. Megaman says how great an idea it was for Lana to get a crate load of “mega-neat gadgets” from Dr. Light before they left. He just didn’t show them how they worked first. Wow. They MUST have been in a hurry. Usually Light will ramble on and on about his toys. Gameboy suggests they test the equipment but Lana isn’t too sure about it. She’s still afraid she’ll make the wrong choice. Kevin tells her to stop beating herself up over it and just make a decision. She decides to test the stuff. Personally, I would too. After all, it’s the gamer thing to do. You always test out your new power-ups and abilities. Simon takes a strange horn/whistle thingy and blows into it.

The whistle turns out to be some sort of animal call. It calls a large group of nitpickers (those bird creatures from Donkey Kong Jr.) who show up and start to dive-bomb them. Kevin gets his Zapper ready to fight. Lana pulls out a bazooka like weapon from the crate. It shoots corks into all their beaks and sends them flying off.

Naturally, Simon is quick to pass the buck to Captain N, saying that he encouraged her to try out the equipment. Simon then steps forward saying that maybe the N-Team needs a new leader, somebody who’s good with a whip for instance. He whips a coconut off a nearby tree to demonstrate his skill.

In case you’re new to the series, scenes of Simon showing off never end well. This one holds true to form. The coconut he whipped goes flying though the air and hits Donkey Kong right between the eyes. How they failed to notice a fifty-foot tall ape before, I don’t know, but now they see him and he’s mad. Simon cries out "abandon ship! Women and Simons first!" A hang glider comes out of his backpack. Lana tells him that they can’t abandon their duty and asks if Kevin can keep Donkey Kong occupied while they sneak inside the Lost City.

Kevin, Megaman, Kid Icarus and Duke all grab some spring shoes from the crate and leap off the ship onto a floating platform island mere moments before their boat goes over a waterfall. This is another instance where Kid Icarus seems to have forgotten he can fly. Same deal with Gameboy, who is being carried by Kevin. They jump from island to island, just in time each time to avoid Donkey Kong’s smashing fists. It actually looks like something that actually would appear in a videogame. Maybe like something along the lines of Donkey Kong Jr.

Simon and Lana crash the glider a short distance from the entrance to the Lost City. Lana uses a map the prince gave her to help locate the treasure. Meanwhile, Mother Brain and her minions get closer to the treasure themselves. Simon and the princess are trying to find the secret entrance when a vine reaches out and taps him. Simon, famous fearless vampire hunter that he is, panics and goes wild with his whip, ripping it apart and wearing himself out in the process. He leans up against a totem pole and it flips to the side releasing an Indiana Jones style round boulder. Simon freezes up and Lana pushes him out of the way, saving him. The boulder rolls past and falls into a huge round indentation, which causes a banner marked with an X to come down. X marks the spot after all.

A weird chest like thing with weird writing on it rises up. Simon pulls out his trusty jungle dictionary, which he always has on him. Simon reads a bit and is freaked by what he reads. He tries to make the excuse that he needs to get back and watch General Morgue (If you ever needed proof positive that Videoland TV kicks our TV’s butt, here it is.). Lana asks Simon what the thing says. Simon gives her the rough translation: “Do not open or you're going to be sorry, sucker.” Lana doubts again if they’re doing the right thing, but decides to go ahead with their job. The chest opens, revealing the headdress that Konga was wearing in the video-flashbacks they saw.

Then Mother Brain makes her presence known. While Mother Brain distracts Lana, Hippo grabs the headdress from her. Simon shows some skill and grabs the headdress back using his whip. It’s immediately stolen again by Eggplant Wizard, who takes off running with it. Simon tackles Eggy and the headdress is sent flying, where it lands perfectly on Lana’s head. A strange glow comes over her body that takes everyone by surprise. Kevin and the rest of the team run yelling that they need to get out of here, because DK is right on their tail. Kevin then asks if Lana is all right.

She says of course she’s all right; she’s just awakened from a thousand year nap. Oh-oh. Then she laughs maniacally (Frankly, her maniacal laugh needs a bit of work).

This part I like, so I’m going to give you the dialog:

Mother Brain: … Let’s have the hat.
Lana: Foolish mortal!
King Hippo: Uhh, what’s a mortal?
Eggplant Wizard: It means you don’t live forever.
Lana: Exactly and you’re not going to live to see tomorrow!

Then Lana attacks the villainous trio with vines. They turn tail and run. Kevin gets a good laugh out of it, commenting on how she’s acting so forceful. Lana turns and yells at him for daring to laugh at the mighty Konga. Once again, everybody is taken aback and even Duke starts whimpering. Lana’s voice then shifts back to her normal tone for a brief moment, but when Simon approaches her, she goes back to Konga mode and wraps him up in some vines. This is when it (finally) sinks though Kevin’s head that something is wrong. He’s just wrong on what the problem is. He thinks it’s just the power going to her head.

Donkey Kong shows up and starts waving his arms around like a huge threatening ape is apt to do. Kevin says that they can take a hint and grabs Lana’s arm to get her to leave. She tosses him aside with obvious super strength and then turns to face Donkey Kong. With an impressively powerful light show, she creates more snake-like vines (complete with fanged Venus flytrap mouths!) and sends them after Donkey Kong. He fights them off for a brief moment but then turns and runs.

Kevin confronts Lana and she reveals that while the princess is still aware of what’s going on, Konga is the one in control. She sends an energy blast into the lake and calls forth a group of creatures that look like long-stemmed mushrooms made of slime. She also calls forth some flying Venus flytrap creatures. Gameboy suggests they run, so they do, leaving the Konga-controlled Lana and the trapped Simon behind. Simon tries hopping after them, but only gets a few jumps in before he falls on his face.

The plant creatures chase Kevin and the gang though the jungle. Finally they’re able to blast away at their pursuers, after which they pause to catch their breath and work out a plan. Kevin sends Gameboy back to insure Lana and Simon are okay and the rest of the team continues on.

Lana/Konga does the typical villain ranting to herself. Soon all Kongoland will know her power. The animals have ruled too long, soon it will be time for the Plants to take control. Mother Brain is still in earshot of this (Yeah, I know she doesn’t have ears. You know what I mean). She turns to Eggplant Wizard, saying that since he’s a plant, he should go to her and try to get the headpiece. Eggplant Wizard insists that he’s not a plant. He’s a veggie. Mother Brain doesn’t care and sends him anyway. Eggplant Wizard goes up to her and tries to suck-up as best as he can. She’s not interested but he begs her to let him join. Finally she decides that a test is in order.

Next we see Donkey Kong. He’s wearing a hat and tie with a banana on it and has packed up to move. Eggplant Wizard shows up and creates a really huge banana for him. DK goes wild for it and Eggy makes another banana. This one leads him into a trap where Konga/Lana entangles him with vines.

Kevin and the prince talk about how to deal with Konga. Although it might hurt, they decide to destroy the headdress and end everything for good, even if Lana gets hurt in the process. Major Domo runs up with a panicked message about the Lost City. Before he can spit it out, a huge vine shoots out from where they are standing and lifts both the prince and Domo into the air. Domo then says his message; the Lost City has reached the palace. Huge vines begin to grow out of the ground around them. Kevin is then determined to go stop her. It’s not going to be that easy though. She’s created a small army of plant monsters, including what looks like a huge T-rex with a flower-like mane. She’s riding on top of its head.

Kevin and the team run across Donkey Kong. He’s still tied up in all the vines and has started crying. Kevin takes pity on him and starts to zap him free. After he zaps a few of the restraints another vine shoots out and knocks the Zapper far from his hands. Lana appears atop her plant dinosaur and says that he will pay the ultimate price for his defiance. Kid Icarus flies up to DK’s face and fires a scissor arrow that cuts the big ape loose.

Megaman tries fighting off one of the slime mushroom things from before but only gets his hands stuck in it. Donkey Kong is having a typical giant monster fight with the plant T-rex. He pushes it off the edge of a cliff, but it grows a vine and wraps him up as it’s falling. They both tumble off the cliff. Snapdragon-looking creatures catch both Kid Icarus and Duke. Kevin races the vines to get to his Zapper. Right as he does; they catch him and toss him into the muddy river.

Kevin cries out that only Lana can decide what kind of ruler she wants to be. There’s a brief inner struggle and she finally tosses the headdress off, where it’s caught by Eggplant Wizard. Eggy is right about to hand over the headdress to Mother Brain (how would she wear it anyway?) when Donkey Kong shows back up. DK takes the headdress and crushes it. All the plants that Konga had created disappear in the typical pixilated poof.

DK picks up Mother Brain and her minions and tosses them into the horizon. Lana is standing there a bit confused and wondering what it is she missed, when DK gives them all the sign to leave. They take off running. Simon, still wrapped in vines, takes off after them. Donkey Kong stops him and grabs one of the vines, spinning Simon like a top.

Back at the Palace of Power, Lana says that she feels fine now, like she’s had a good nap. She doesn’t remember any of it but Kevin tells her she doesn’t need to worry about being forceful. She was forceful enough for a lifetime.

The two people from the beginning of the episode show back up. They took her advice and have decided to share the cow. They’ve also come to congratulate her on the FIRST anniversary of her rule. A crowd of people gather to praise her shouting “all hail Princess Lana!” Kevin says “Sounds to me like Videoland thinks you’re the greatest,” as he gets down on one knee. “And so do I,” he continues right before taking her hand and kissing it. Lana blushes in the cutest way and the episode fades to black.

All in al, this was a rather nice episode for Donkey Kong fans. He got to wear a few funny hats and outfits and played a large role. The series also featured one of the rare occasions of having a serious villain. The thing I don’t much care for was the tone. It seemed a bit too serious. Overall a really good episode, just not one of my favorites. I thought it was rather interesting to hear that Lana hadn’t even been ruling for a year yet when Kevin showed up.

Featuring:
Kevin Keene/Captain N
Princess Lana
Simon Belmont
Megaman
Kid Icarus
Gameboy
Prince of Kongoland
Major Domo
Donkey Kong
Konga
Mother Brain
King Hippo
Eggplant Wizard