Simon the Ape-Man

Captain N episode
"Simon the Ape-Man"
Season	1
Episode	10
Airdate	November 11, 1989 March 30, 1991
Writer(s)	Jeffrey Scott
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"Simon the Ape-Man" is the tenth episode of the first season of Captain N: The Game Master.

Plot sypnosis

At a cemetery in the land of Castlevania, a grave robber is chased off by a bat. The bat reveals its true form of The Count, who drops a vial of blood on some graves. An army of zombies rise from the graves, which The Count plans to use as his army to finally conquer Castlevania.

In the Palace of Power, Kevin is showing skateboard tricks to the rest of the N-Gang. An unimpressed Simon Belmont tries to wow Princess Lana by grabbing an ironing board and doing skateboarding tricks of his own. With Kevin in tow, Simon tries to show off by doing ironing while skateboarding but instead hits a door face-first. As a result of the blow, Simon contracts amnesia.

The N-Gang receives a report from one of the residents of Castlevania about The Count's zombie army. Being that Simon is Castlevania's champion, the N-Gang tries a variety of exercises to restore Simon's sense of self but neither Kevin's taxonomy class, Mega Man's whip lesson, or Lana's dancing course succeed at jogging Simon's memory. Eventually, Kevin decides Simon is due for a more in-depth training course at the world of Kongoland.

Simon Belmont finds his true calling.

Simon fumbles his tests, and the course only manages to convince him of his true calling as a tour guide for Kongoland. Mother Brain watches the situation for a monitor and orders her minions King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard to brainwash Simon Belmont into becoming their minion.

Due to Simon's lack of progress, Kevin calls on the N-Team to discuss what to do. While they agree on a plan to leave Simon at the Palace of Power and handle the Castlevania situation themselves, King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard appear and kidnap Simon, taking him through a Warp Zone to another area of Kongoland. The two successfully brainwash Simon into becoming a "N-Gang Hunter."

Finding Simon missing, the N-Gang splits up to find him. Kid Icarus is captured by King Hippo during his search and fails to break through Simon's brainwashing, and Simon uses Kid Icarus's flare arrow to draw the rest of the N-Team to him. The N-Team find a tied-up Kid Icarus and the brainwashed Simon. King Hippo taunts the team by claiming Lana and Kevin will be perfect servants for Mother Brain. Lana fakes being charmed by King Hippo's macho disposition and dances with him, leaving King Hippo on an unstable crevice that breaks and send him plummeting to the void below. Meanwhile, Mega Man defeats Eggplant Wizard by unrolling a stretch of grass he is standing on. Kevin tries to plead with Simon again, but Simon tries to strike at him. Kevin jumps on the log Simon is standing on and propels him headfirst into a Warp Zone. The N-Team assembles to find Simon once again, but Mega Man remarks that it will not be easy.

Somewhere else in Kongoland, Simon laments that he does not know who he truly is. He sits on what he thinks is a rock, but is perplexed at what appears to be an ingrown toenail and rips it out. It turns out that the "rock" is Donkey Kong's toe and an enraged Donkey Kong grabs Simon. Simon converses with Donkey Kong, and latching onto an insult Lana had thrown at him earlier ("Ape-Brain"), he convinces himself that Donkey Kong is his "mommy" and that he actually is Donkey Kong Jr..

Now convinced he is Donkey Kong's son, Simon has fun ridding Donkey Kong of fleas, riding vines, and beating his chest like a gorilla. Later, the N-Gang finds Donkey Kong sleeping on his hammock and Simon. They grab Simon and discover he now believes himself to be an ape. Their ruckus wakes up Donkey Kong, who chases after them. The N-Gang and Simon run into a Warp Zone that leads to Castlevania.

Donkey Kong defeats the zombies.

The N-Gang meets face-to-face with The Count's forces. Kevin discovers his NES Zapper has no effect on the zombies. When a zombie puts Simon into a chokehold, it accidentally messes up his hair. Having awakened his old instincts, Simon uses his ape skills to defeat the zombies. The Count sends more zombies after them, but Simon opens a Warp Zone and convinces Donkey Kong to grab the remaining zombies and put them into a mausoleum. Left without his forces, The Count escapes, but Simon decides to go back with Donkey Kong.

At Kongoland, Simon asks Donkey Kong to give him another coconut. Donkey Kong obliges and the coconut lands on Simon Belmont's head, restoring his old memories back. Wondering what he is doing with Donkey Kong, Simon runs away, screaming, "Where's a Warp Zone when you REALLY need one?"

Gallery

• 

  Title card

Characters

• Kevin Keene
• Duke
• Princess Lana
• Simon Belmont
• Kid Icarus
• Mother Brain
• King Hippo
• Eggplant Wizard
• The Count
• Donkey Kong
• Castlevania resident
• Grave robber
• Zombies
• Bank robbers
• Ninja

Quotes

• -Who do you see in the mirror?
  -Do you mean I'm a Prince Charming?
  -No Simon! I mean you're an arrogant, self-centered, egomaniac!
  -I'm that good, am I? -Princess Lana and Simon Belmont
• -What's a bat?
  -Bats, like Batman and Robin!
  -Make up your mind! Are we studying bats or birds?-Simon and Kevin

Animation and continuity errors

• The episode uses different character models for Donkey Kong and The Count. Donkey Kong has a flatter head and The Count wears a bright yellow suit rather than his usual darker costume.
• When the grave robber runs off after being scared by The Count in his bat form, the sleeves of his blue shirt take on the red of his vest.
• In several shots, Simon is drawn with unusually pale skin.
• When Simon asks where he is, the "N" on Kevin's shirt is missing. This also occurs when Simon walks off as a Kongoland tour guide.
• In several shots, Mother Brain's eyes are colored white instead of green.
• When Eggplant Wizard shows Simon a picture of Mother Brain, the trims on his cape are the same color as the cape.
  • Later, when he shows Simon his other N-Team partners, his cape is miscolored again, with its colors being reversed.
• While brainwashing Simon, when King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard tell him that he wants to destroy the N-Team, the latter's sclerae are colored purple like his body instead of white.

• 

  Kevin's jacket error

• 

  Mother Brain's miscolored eyes

• 

  Eggplant Wizard's miscolored sclerae

Dub edits

• In the Latin American Spanish dub:
  • In the original, Kevin mentions that he saw the concept of retraining someone in a Star Trek episode. In the dub, he instead mentions that he saw it in Star Wars.
  • While Simont is being brainwashed, only Eggplant Wizard says that he wants to destroy the N-Team, as opposed both him and King Hippo saying it in the original.

Naming

The title for this episode is a reference to the action-adventure film Tarzan the Ape Man.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Finnish	Simon apinamies	Simon the ape-man
French	Le singe	The ape
German	Die Gehirnwäsche	The Brainwashing
Spanish	Simon el hombre mono	Simon the ape man

Notes

• This is one of the few Captain N: The Game Master episodes where Mother Brain is not the primary antagonist.
• In the DVD version of the episode, the title is not displayed.