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Meanwhile, Link uses his sword to to cut away the weasel masks from the two hench-cats, and a (somewhat) swashbuckling swordfight ensues. Well...except that all Kevin has to work with is a mop. The skinny cat easily chops it up (was Kevin not expecting that to happen?) In the next scene, there is a slip-up on the animators' part - Kevin is wearing his power belt for a brief moment, even though he's not supposed to have it. So anyway, Kevin now decides to do a "power move". This power move involves jumping backwards and getting his feet tangled up in a rope. Why does merely not having his power belt anymore make Kevin about 10 times more clumsy? But Link, once again, saves the day as he rushes in to fend off the skinny cat with his sword. Kevin gets a cannon ball from Duke and rolls it toward a stack of barrels. And, in a moment that defies the laws of physics, the barrels roll forward and knock the two hench-cats overboard.
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Of course, Count Gruemon, who's been hiding underwater in the Time Machine, gets pissed and fires torpedos at the ship. It explodes, but Kevin and company conveniently land on a lifeboat and ride their way to Skull Island. (Have you begun to notice how many conveniently placed objects there are in this episode??) Gruemon gets pissed again, and orders Dr. Gari-Gari to fire another torpedo, but then the most inexplicable thing happens - a giant, pink, robotic frog appears in the water behind their Time Machine and scares the crap out of them.
I had no idea what the hell that was supposed to be when I first saw this episode years ago. After having played the Puss n Boots game, I realized that this must be the Level 2 boss - the robot frog. The scene still makes no sense, though.
Arriving on Skull Island, our heroes find the next Time Warp, and end up inside a huge clock - Big Ben, to be precise. (This is also based on a level in the Puss n Boots game.) This is where Pero goes through his first official change of clothes, as he mysteriously comes through the warp wearing a Sherlock Holmes hat. Everybody makes a mad dash through the gears until they finally leave Big Ben.
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Pero informs Kevin and Link that they need to fly to the White Cliffs of Dover to make it to the next Time Warp. He asks a couple of Guards, who look like big birds of some kind, where the nearest airport is. One of them merely points off in a vague direction, yet Pero now somehow knows exactly where to go, and thanks them. After Pero leaves, the guards take off their silly bird masks and we find out it's really those two hench-cats again. In another mistake on the animator's part (or maybe the voice actor's part?), the fat cat talks in the skinny cat's voice over a CB-radio thing to Count Gruemon, informing him of Pero's location.
Apparently, Pero had no trouble finding the "airport" (which is actually just an old-style biplane inside a barn), because in the next scene, our heroes are already taking off. But of course, the Time Machine appears in the sky to antagonize everyone. Kevin commands Pero to fly close enough so that he can grab ahold of the Time Machine and attempt to get his power belt back. Then, in the Scooby-Doo tradition of having a song in the middle of a cartoon for no real reason, a female voice starts singing, "It's a dangerous plane!" over and over again as Kevin dangles like a monkey from the Time Machine.
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This scene also gave the writers two oppurtunities of comic relief involving the hench-cats. In one, they toss a bomb out the Time Machine's hatch...but it somehow gets tossed back up and it explodes on them. In the second, they fall out the hatch, themselves, and land in a pair of dresses hanging on a clothesline (yet another conveniently-placed object.)
Kevin falls off the Time Machine, but lands back in the biplane. Gruemon gets pissed and has Dr. Gari-Gari fire heat-seeking missiles. In a very incoherent chase scene, Pero tries to outrun the missile, but it catches up, eventually...but doesn't quite make the biplane explode. This missile, apparently, was the Wile E. Coyote version, since it makes the plane stop in mid-air for a moment, then fall straight down with a funny noise. But Pero regains control (somewhat), and steers into the Time Warp.
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When the plane comes out of the Time Warp, they end up in 1920's New York City. Pero flies the ship to the Statue of Liberty (which looks like a cat in this video world), and crashes it into the crown. Not only is the next Time Warp here, but also Count Gruemon and his Time Machine. Having thought they defeated Pero with the heat-seeking missile, Gruemon and his followers are preparing a toast. But the party is cut short when the biplane comes through the window, and our heroes rush up the stairs to the top of the statute. Incidentally, Pero is now wearing a 1920's business suit, complete with tie and fedora.
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Dr. Gari-Gari summons a huge, pink, ugly sea serpent (wearing a king's crown) to attack our heroes up on the roof. Pero attempts to make his way to the final Time Warp, but Count Gruemon orders Dr. Gari-Gari to seal it. Realizing that the Time Machine is his only way home, now, Pero rushes past everyone and hijacks it, leaving Kevin and Link to fend off the sea serpent on their own. Kevin is angry that Pero doublecrossed them, but Pero sends his apologies, "Sorry, Captain N, but I have a date with destiny", and he takes off in the Time Machine as Count Gruemon and his cronies grab onto one of its legs in pursuit.
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The stupid-looking sea serpent continues its attack, and Kevin somehow decides that the best way of dealing with it is to leap on its back. Pero has a change of heart, and gives Kevin back his power belt. Then he tells Kevin that he has to shoot a yellow diamond on the sea serpent's back, because that's the only place where its vulnerable. This almost sounds like something that could be a game-playing tip, but it's not. There is a snake boss in the Puss n Boots game, but there is no such yellow diamond on its back, and it can be shot anywhere to damage it.
Kevin shoots the yellow diamond, and the sea serpent explodes. Even though Kevin was clearly over water, he manages to land back on top of the Statue of Liberty. Link wonders how they are going to find their way home, but Pero drops them a piece of the map that shows them the proper Time Warps.
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The Time Machine warps into a desert world and crashes. Pero gets out and rattles off a list of Time Warps he needs to find to make his way home, all to the tune of Tetris music in the background (seriously). Count Gruemon angrily jumps up and down as he watches Pero run off into the distance, promising, "I'll get you yet, Pero the Cat!"
Meanwhile, back on Hyrule, the Princess and Zelda have called on the rest of the N-Team members because they're worried that Kevin and Link have been gone for too long. Simon Belmont follows some footprints into the woods. Yes, Captain N's version of Simon Belmont: On the one hand, a total mockery of the serious and noble character we know and love from the Castlevania games. But on the other hand...he made the show pretty damn funny! Just as the giant talking Game Boy warns, the footprints lead to a Moblin (those bulldog-things from the Zelda games) and Simon freaks out in yet another Looney Tunes-inspired moment. Umm...would the real Simon Belmont be scared of a Moblin? I don't think so. Heck, even the stupid Captain N version of Simon Belmont wasn't usually that scared of monsters. This scene, like so many others, is only there to provide some awkward comic relief and doesn't make much sense, otherwise.
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But none other than Captain N shows up, running towards the Moblin at full speed while bouncing a ball. The Moblin charges, and Kevin bounces the ball off of the Moblin's head. This, unbelievably, knocks the Moblin unconscious. Simon asks Kevin why he didn't just use his zapper. Kevin explains that from now on, he's keeping his options open. WTF?? Didn't this whole mess start because Kevin didn't want to use his Zapper??
So, Kevin gives a thumbs-up to Link, and thus ends the Puss n Boots episode of Captain N. Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this. I had a lot of fun putting this together, and I get the feeling it took me more time to do than it did for the writers to actually write this episode. I hope that someday, I may do more synopses of other Captain N episodes, but probably not anytime soon.
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