Queen of the Apes

Captain N episode
"Queen of the Apes"
Season	2
Episode	2
Airdate	September 22, 1990 May 25, 1991
Writer(s)	Sean Roche David Ehrman
Episode chronology ← Previous — Next → — List of episodes

"Queen of the Apes" is the second episode of the second season of Captain N: The Game Master.

Plot sypnosis

Donkey Kong at the village's gate

In the world of Kongoland, a race of blue-skinned humanoids is rolling the red carpet for Princess Lana. A jealous Mother Brain watches the event from her headquarters and asks her magic mirror who is the baddest brain of them all. The mirror responds that, no matter how bad she is, nobody will care as long as she does not have a body to go with her brain. Hearing Mother Brain's frustrated cries for a body, Dr. Wiley comes in and presents his new invention, the Brain Swapper. Satisfied when Wiley demos it by exchanging King Hippo's and Eggplant Wizard's brains, Mother Brain selects Princess Lana as her new body and heads off to Kongoland.

At the village, the N-Gang hears Donkey Kong's footsteps and gets ready to fight. The blue humanoid's leader Prince Plenty explains that his civilization lives in harmony with nature, including Donkey Kong. He then shows that his people have engineered a conveyor belt system to pacify Donkey Kong by feeding him with fruits beyond the village's walls. However, when a monkey grabs a banana from one of the carts and accidentally pulls the lever controlling the system, the conveyor belt goes into overdrive and throws fruits in Donkey Kong's face. Furious, Donkey Kong rampages and the N-Gang uses their powers to protect the villagers. Donkey Kong grabs Gameboy and heads off into the jungle, forcing the N-Gang to go after him.

While riding a raft on the river of Kongoland, Mother Brain (wearing the Brain Swapper on her dome) is grabbed by Donkey Kong. The commotion activates the tendrils of the Brain Swapper, which attach to Donkey Kong and Gameboy. King Hippo tries to ward off Donkey Kong by throwing a coconut at him, but the coconut instead lands on the Brain Swapper and activates it, exchanging everyone's brains. Mother Brain's mind goes in Donkey Kong's body; Donkey Kong's goes in Gameboy's, and Gameboy's goes in Mother Brain's. In her new body, Mother Brain grabs her two henchmen and finds she actually likes being Donkey Kong, finding his body as the perfect tool to conquer Videoland.

Riding plant-based jet-skis, the N-Gang agrees on a plan where Princess Lana goes to stall Mother Brain; Kevin and Simon Belmont go after Gameboy's body, and Kid Icarus and Mega Man go after Gameboy in Mother Brain's body.

Lana heads back to the village and finds Prince Plenty, who mention that Donkey Kong has been clamoring to be paid tributes. Lana explains they are not dealing with Donkey Kong, but "Mother Kong". She goes to Mother Kong and feigns to beg for mercy, pretending to surrender.

While riding the overhead currents of Kongoland, Simon Belmont tries to fish for Gameboy's body, but instead gets attacked by a school of Snapjaws. The attack drives them underwater and Kevin activates a button on his controller belt to summon an underwater current and escape the Snapjaws. The current brings them somewhere in the jungle, and Kevin expresses his hope that Kid Icarus and Mega Man are more successful.

Kid Icarus and Mega Man find Gameboy in Mother Brain's body dangling from a cliff, and with some difficulties, manage to rescue him.

Simon Belmont unwittingly becomes leader of the apes

Kevin and Simon find Donkey Kong in Gameboy's body surrounded by a tribe of gorillas. Simon tries to intimidate the gorilla tribe by insulting them and beating his chest, but is easily overpowered by the top gorilla. Simon then revises his tactics by using his whip to defeat the gorilla and grabbing Gameboy, but this display of strength makes the other gorillas choose him as their new leader. Uneager to become king of the apes, Simon runs away screaming and Kevin freezes the pursuing gorillas with the freeze ray of his NES Zapper - but he notes that, in this heat, it will not last long.

At Mother Kong's base, Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo are disturbed by Mother Kong's tacky new outfit. Mother Kong notices the N-Gang ferrying her former body on the mine cart tracks and realizes the trickery. She orders her minions to throw barrels at the invaders, but they easily destroy and dodge them with their powers. Mother Kong then unrolls the mine cart track, throwing the Mother Brain body up and into Mother Kong's hand. While the N-Gang tries to deal with her, Donkey Kong distracts Mother Brain by climbing up to her body and activates the tendrils of the Brain Swapper. Lana uses the distraction to escape from Mother Kong's clutches and Donkey Kong activates the Brain Swapper, returning everyone to their original bodies.

Mother Brain, now back to her normal self, falls onto the mine cart tracks and gets flung off in the distance, with her minions chasing after her. Relieved, Simon admires himself in the mirrors, but soon sees the gorilla tribe has caught up to him and they grab him. Princess Lana asks Kevin if the gorillas are going to hurt Simon, to which he responds that the worst they can do is "drive him bananas".

Gallery

• 

  Title card

Characters

• Kevin Keene
• Duke
• Princess Lana
• Simon Belmont
• Kid Icarus
• Mega Man
• Game Boy
• Mother Brain
• King Hippo
• Eggplant Wizard
• Dr. Wiley
• Donkey Kong
• Prince Plenty
• Kongoland child
• Juggling monkey
• Snapjaws
• Monkey tribe

Quotes

• Why do I find suddenly myself craving for a banana split? - Mother Brain

Animation and continuity errors

• In this episode, Kevin uses his NES Zapper underwater. However, in "How's Bayou" and "A Tale of Two Dogs", it shorts out when it becomes wet.
• In one shot of Kevin, Simon, Duke, and Donkey Kong (in Gameboy's body) running up to Mother Kong, Gameboy's screen has its usual facial features as opposed to being blank while Donkey Kong is in his body.

Naming

The title for this episode is a reference to "King of the Apes", a title referring to King Kong, whom Donkey Kong is based on in Captain N: The Game Master.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
French	La reine des singes	Queen of the apes
German	Äffchen wechsel dich	Monkey swap

Notes

• Mother Brain asking her mirror who is the baddest of them all references a similar line said by the Evil Queen in the German fairy tale "Snow White".
• Mother Brain and her minion using barrels to fend off the N-Gang appears to be a reference to the original Donkey Kong.
• Coincidentally, the episodes features several concepts that would later be introduced to the Donkey Kong series with Donkey Kong Country.
  • The end of the episode shows characters riding Mine Carts in Kongoland.
  • The Snapjaws in the episode resemble the future Donkey Kong Country 2 enemy more than they do the Donkey Kong Jr. one, being hungry piranhas with a large overbite.
  • Kongoland is shown to have a tribe of clothed gorillas, before Donkey Kong Country introduced Kong characters beside Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr..
• In the original NBC airings, Kevin narrates the teaser promo by saying, "Thanks to Dr. Wiley's new Brain Swapper, Gameboy goes ape! But things really get hairy when Mother Brain gets Donkey Kong!"