When it comes to finding your favorite childhood television series on DVD, Shout! Factory has become the go-to publisher for all things nostalgia. More recently, the video game-inspired cartoons of the ‘80s have become increasingly easier to find, and after releasing full season sets of both “The Super Mario Bros. Show” and “The Legend of Zelda,” Shout! has ushered out their second wave of releases with the complete series of two other cartoon favorites: “Captain N: The Game Master” and “Sonic the Hedgehog.” As you can probably imagine, neither series holds up particularly well, but perhaps the most troubling problem with the series isn’t just in their transfer to DVD, but in the shows themselves.
A must-watch for anyone from the Nintendo Generation, “Captain N” followed everyday teenager Kevin Keane on his journey into Videoland to help the N-Team (consisting of Simon Belmont, Kid Icarus and Mega Man) fend off the sinister Mother Brain and her gang of hapless goons. Watching the series more than ten years after the fact exposes some serious inaccuracies in the main characters; ones we probably never noticed as kids. For instance, Simon Belmont looks nothing like this video game counterpart, Mega Man has been transformed into some robotic midget, and Pit has been given the name of his video game (“Kid Icarus”) so as to not cause any confusion. Furthermore, Mother Brain sounds more like the plant from “Little Shop of Horrors” than a legitimate threat. What’s even worse, while the four-disc box set boasts the inclusion of the entire series, only the first two seasons of the show appear, with the incomplete (and lesser quality) third season completely left out.
Based on Sega’s most famous video game character and voiced by Jaleel White (“Family Matters”), the “Sonic the Hedgehog” cartoon series first premiered in 1993 only to be cancelled after two seasons. I was only 13-years-old when the show left the air, but I still remember why the show never succeeded. Two reasons, actually. First off, the animation sucked, and it only got worse as the series progressed. This must have had something to do with its production company (DIC), since many of the studio’s cartoon series progressively got worse around the same time. Secondly, it’s main competition during its Saturday morning time block was “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” and well, back in the day, no show had a chance against that particular fad. Regardless, the show managed to secure a decent cult following, and that’s about the only good thing about its DVD release. Though not confirmed, it looks as if the slim case and DVD cover art has been supplied by the fans themselves. If true (and I’d have to believe so, since the styles are so different across the board), then kudos to Shout! for giving something back to the fans.
All in all, while knowledge of these DVDs may prompt you to rush out and pick up these box sets for the sheer act of reminiscing, you’d be better off pocketing the money and checking them out via Netflix instead. It’s not that either show is particularly bad, but they’re likely to disappoint: both in quality and execution.
