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I've been a longtime fan of "Captain N: The Game Master" (since Season 1 aired on NBC, although I didn't start watching from the very beginning). When the first DVD set was released on February 27, 2007 (coincidentally, the 10th anniversary of my Captain N website), I got it as soon as I could find it and then watched it, making notes of the ways in which The Shout! Factory screwed up the episodes.
I'll post the individual episode-by-episode notes later. For now, I'll mention the following overall changes:
1) They removed the episode teasers. The teasers were short clips of the upcoming episode in question. They aired before the opening theme song. They included original narration by one of the characters. Basically, they were short previews of the episodes that we were about to watch. The "reason" for their removal? According to Brian Ward (the producer of the set and also the producer of the Transformers G1 sets), the teasers were created by NBC, not DiC, and they weren't part of the initial deal for the set, so they couldn't be included. There are two problems with this. Why would NBC hire the DiC voice actors to provide original narration for episodes that were just about to air? I've never heard of such a thing. Also, while it's true that the teasers weren't included in syndication airings on The Family Channel or as part of the later "Captain N & The Video Game Masters" package (mix of Captain N, shortened Zelda, SMB3, and SMW cartoons), they were included in Canada's YTV airings. Brian Ward claimed to have "foguth hard" to have the teaser for the first episode included as a bonus feature "and won", but I smell BS.
2) The songs in the Season 1 episodes were removed. The reason for this is that Season 1 episodes included cover versions of popular songs (whereas Season 2 episodes contained parody songs). Despite Brian Ward's promise that the songs would be replaced with "similar-sounding music", they were replaced with a singular piece of generic rock music (for those of you that are familiar with the CN&VGM package, they used the same piece of music as those syndicators used, an instrumental version of the "Mega Move" song from "The Feud of Faxanadu").
3) The Season 2 episodes are sourced from the Family Channel broadcast masters. Starting around 1991, the series was syndicated on The Family Channel. I didn't know it at the time, but the episodes were sped up slightly to make room for more commercials. I don't know why Season 1 episodes are represented by Family Channel broadcast masters(all of these tapes supposedly came from DiC). If I had to guess, it was because Season 2 was paired with "The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3" in a one-hour block, and they were too lazy to split the episodes apart themselves. Brian Ward claimed that standalone Season 2 theme songs were created back then "in the event of a break-out". True or not, they're still using the Family Channel masters. Another side effect of this is as extra commercial break that wasn't in the NBC airings, which often interrupts a scene and pretty much always interrupts a piece of music score.
4) Season 3 episodes were released on a separate DVD set. Season 3 originally aired in a half-hour block with "The New Super Mario World" (yes, Season 3 episodes were 15 minutes long). Brian Ward claimed, because Season 3 aired in a half-hour block with SMW (versus Season 2 airing in a ONE-hour block with SMB3), this technicality of block length made Season 3 "legally" a separate series from Seasons 1 and 2. I smell more BS. Yes, Season 2 aired in a one-hour block with SMB3, but it aired sandwiched BETWEEN two 15-minute SMB3 episodes. Thus, Season 2 of Captain N aired across two half-hour blocks. I don't see how this wouldn't be considered one legal series. Also, Captain N, SMB3, SMW, and even Zelda episodes were all tossed into the CN&VGM syndication package, airing with a unique theme song that highlighted all of the series (though episodes of different series were never paired together in this package; it was always a full-length Captain N episode or two Season 2 episodes or two (butchered) Zelda episodes or two SMB3 episodes or two SMW episodes). Heck, I know of an instance when CN&VGM inexplicably aired a Season 2 episode with the Season 3 theme song! Also, back on NBC, Season 3 had only only 7 unique episodes, so the remaining 6 weeks aired filler episodes in the Captain N portion (split or shortened episodes from Seasons 1 and 2, rescored with different music).
So, anyway, yeah, I'd like to see the NBC airings of these episodes preserved: teasers, original songs, proper running time, etc.
I'll post the individual episode-by-episode notes later. For now, I'll mention the following overall changes:
1) They removed the episode teasers. The teasers were short clips of the upcoming episode in question. They aired before the opening theme song. They included original narration by one of the characters. Basically, they were short previews of the episodes that we were about to watch. The "reason" for their removal? According to Brian Ward (the producer of the set and also the producer of the Transformers G1 sets), the teasers were created by NBC, not DiC, and they weren't part of the initial deal for the set, so they couldn't be included. There are two problems with this. Why would NBC hire the DiC voice actors to provide original narration for episodes that were just about to air? I've never heard of such a thing. Also, while it's true that the teasers weren't included in syndication airings on The Family Channel or as part of the later "Captain N & The Video Game Masters" package (mix of Captain N, shortened Zelda, SMB3, and SMW cartoons), they were included in Canada's YTV airings. Brian Ward claimed to have "foguth hard" to have the teaser for the first episode included as a bonus feature "and won", but I smell BS.
2) The songs in the Season 1 episodes were removed. The reason for this is that Season 1 episodes included cover versions of popular songs (whereas Season 2 episodes contained parody songs). Despite Brian Ward's promise that the songs would be replaced with "similar-sounding music", they were replaced with a singular piece of generic rock music (for those of you that are familiar with the CN&VGM package, they used the same piece of music as those syndicators used, an instrumental version of the "Mega Move" song from "The Feud of Faxanadu").
3) The Season 2 episodes are sourced from the Family Channel broadcast masters. Starting around 1991, the series was syndicated on The Family Channel. I didn't know it at the time, but the episodes were sped up slightly to make room for more commercials. I don't know why Season 1 episodes are represented by Family Channel broadcast masters(all of these tapes supposedly came from DiC). If I had to guess, it was because Season 2 was paired with "The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3" in a one-hour block, and they were too lazy to split the episodes apart themselves. Brian Ward claimed that standalone Season 2 theme songs were created back then "in the event of a break-out". True or not, they're still using the Family Channel masters. Another side effect of this is as extra commercial break that wasn't in the NBC airings, which often interrupts a scene and pretty much always interrupts a piece of music score.
4) Season 3 episodes were released on a separate DVD set. Season 3 originally aired in a half-hour block with "The New Super Mario World" (yes, Season 3 episodes were 15 minutes long). Brian Ward claimed, because Season 3 aired in a half-hour block with SMW (versus Season 2 airing in a ONE-hour block with SMB3), this technicality of block length made Season 3 "legally" a separate series from Seasons 1 and 2. I smell more BS. Yes, Season 2 aired in a one-hour block with SMB3, but it aired sandwiched BETWEEN two 15-minute SMB3 episodes. Thus, Season 2 of Captain N aired across two half-hour blocks. I don't see how this wouldn't be considered one legal series. Also, Captain N, SMB3, SMW, and even Zelda episodes were all tossed into the CN&VGM syndication package, airing with a unique theme song that highlighted all of the series (though episodes of different series were never paired together in this package; it was always a full-length Captain N episode or two Season 2 episodes or two (butchered) Zelda episodes or two SMB3 episodes or two SMW episodes). Heck, I know of an instance when CN&VGM inexplicably aired a Season 2 episode with the Season 3 theme song! Also, back on NBC, Season 3 had only only 7 unique episodes, so the remaining 6 weeks aired filler episodes in the Captain N portion (split or shortened episodes from Seasons 1 and 2, rescored with different music).
So, anyway, yeah, I'd like to see the NBC airings of these episodes preserved: teasers, original songs, proper running time, etc.
