He’s Captain S. And he is one hell of a guy. He’s Captain S. Be glad that he is on our side. At your request, he’ll be there to save the day. He’s Captain S. He’s bold and tough and strong and brave . The bad guys do not stand a chance. They see him and they wet their pants. He’ll kick their butt from here to France. He’s Captain S! He’s Caaaaaaaaaaaptain S! It’s
Captain S
The review
The review
From January of 2007 to May of the same year, PBC productions released their ten episode web series. Swiftly it proved to be a fantastic series that garnered many fans, that even to this day mourn the loss of the second season.
Chad Williams started it all in 2005 when he came up with the idea for the character of Captain S, thinking that it was a great spoof of a character known as Captain N, main character of the TV series with the same name. At that point they created a five minute pilot for the show. After the Machinima festival of 2006, he and Devon Riley were inspired to resurrect the characters from that short.
In November of 2006, the soon to be members of the soon to be created PBC Productions came to together to do audio commentary for another project, where Captain S was brought up again. Brett Vanderbrook overheard Chad Williams and Devon Riley and became really exited about the idea. So when he was asked to play the part of Captain S, he happily accepted. History was made.
We begin our great adventure with a young man named Chad Belmont, high school student and avid admirer of all things Sega. On a crucial cross section in his life, where he needed to chose between responsibility and games, Chad chose games and thus ended up buying a mystery Sega cart. Upon sticking it in the Sega Genesis, it becomes quite clear that something is wrong, as our hero gets sucked in to the game itself. Inside the game he meets the Giant Blue Head, his guide and mentor in this video land. The Head explains to Chad that he has now become the defender of all Videoland, and that he must pick up the weapon and mantle of Captain S. A hero was made.
In his everlasting adventure to defend video land, Chad is joined by his best friends Lunk and Becky. Lunk is a jock with a heart of gold and a giant apetite, whilst Becky is the smart one with a caring personality. That’s not all, Chad is also on a quest of his own as he tries to win the heart of the woman he loves, the stereotypical rich girl, Stacey Newfeld.
Soon it becomes quite clear that Chad has a job to do, as Videoland is threatened by the evil being known as The Game Genie, who is attacking video land by means of NES, a rival of our hero.
Captain S is an homage to a lot of things. The intro, for example, is an obvious homage to the ever so known sitcom: Full House. Whilst Captain S himself is a Bizaro Captain N, if you will. There are plenty more influences that you can spot like Saved by the Bell and Power Rangers. For many of the fans, that is exactly why this show kicks so much ass. It combines everything that is awesome in the world. Retro games, classic TV shows and classic cartoons shows go hand in hand in this creation that provides us with a lot of entertainment. I think the correct term is: delightfully cheesy. Very well written delightfully cheesy.
The earlier episodes all follow the same format as any typical cartoon or TV show where Chad is presented with a problem and through doing his job in video land, he is given an answer to said problem. It’s a very good format that once again goes hand in hand with the entire concept. As the show goes, you quickly start to see that it’s heading towards a great finale. The stories start to connect to each other and the tension keeps on building.
Which brings me to the characters. There are many characters in this tale of awesomeness that all are pretty fleshed out by the end of the show.
Chad Belmont is a great character. At first he’s a lazy guy who happily neglects his friends in order to continue playing games. Throughout the story these personality traits are slowly chipped away at, although the rest of his bad traits only become worse. It’s great to see this character evolve, especially when it comes to NES.
Speaking of, NES is my favorite character in the series. Starting out as a rival through and through, NES evolves in to so much more as his character is more and more fleshed out.
NES is a lacky of the great villain of the show, The Game Genie, a powerful entity bent on taking over Videoland. An interesting villain to say the least, with a lot of great quirks to him, but in the end he is pretty one-dimensional and rather forgettable.
Opposing the Genie is The Head, sort of like Zordon without the floating in a giant tube part. Again, this character has great moments, but he’s the same character from beginning to end.
Supporting the Captain are three characters. First up is Lunk, the muscle of the group. This man starts off as a rather disposable character, only good as serving as a friend to Chad, but soon becomes a great friend, a coach and a valuable partner for when everything needs to get the kick.
Next up is Becky. A pretty smart lass that’s not only a love interest, but also the brains. And she makes great cookies.
Lastly there’s Stacey, a stereotypical rich kid at first who everyone dislikes but then turns in to a friend and a fellow sister in arms.
As far as main cast goes, there’s one more character: the principal. If you have ever seen Power Rangers of Saved by the Bell, just take that principal and paste him in to this show. That’ll do it, alright.
All of the actors did a fantastic job. When you’re watching this series, it’s fairly easy to see this actually being on TV during the time that Captain N was on. Or hell, instead of Captain N. They really manage to bring that Saved by the Bell vibe on to your screen, cheesy acting and all. Some of the actors, like the principal, actually deserve to win some awards for their performance. There’s not one performance that I could say something bad about.
The effects used in the series look exactly like you’d expect them to look for a web series. Like someone made this at home on a budget. That doesn’t mean that they suck, oh no, they actually look very good and don’t distract at all. Unlike certain movies or TV shows where the effects stick out like a sore thumb, they actually add to the experience.
The game portions of the show are very enjoyable to watch, displaying a lot of talent in the green screen compartment. You will find a lot of familiar games in this series that Captain S traverses like he was actually a part of the game itself. And it certainly looks like that as well.
Then there’s the music. Oh dear lord the music. From beginning to end, the music was just fantastic. Remixes of this, remixes of that, original music inspired by this or original music inspired by that. Glenn Case, creator of the original music, did a very, absolutely fantastic, terrific, splendid and bodacious job on this one. I still get Goosebumps when I hear that oh so familiar theme song.
Throughout the show you’ll hear some sound effects that are totally contextual but that will sound very familiar and you will have a blast trying to identify them.
Overall, Captain S is a series that every person in the world who is a fan of retro games, old TV shows or old cartoons just has to watch. Gamer or not, this series is enjoyable by all and should be supported in every single way imaginable.
10/10
As of May of 2009, PBC stated that there will no longer be a second season of Captain S due to various issues. The internet cried out in pain as they saw that the end was finally there. Captain S, you will never be forgotten.
This was PJ with a review of Captain S.
Chad Williams started it all in 2005 when he came up with the idea for the character of Captain S, thinking that it was a great spoof of a character known as Captain N, main character of the TV series with the same name. At that point they created a five minute pilot for the show. After the Machinima festival of 2006, he and Devon Riley were inspired to resurrect the characters from that short.
In November of 2006, the soon to be members of the soon to be created PBC Productions came to together to do audio commentary for another project, where Captain S was brought up again. Brett Vanderbrook overheard Chad Williams and Devon Riley and became really exited about the idea. So when he was asked to play the part of Captain S, he happily accepted. History was made.
We begin our great adventure with a young man named Chad Belmont, high school student and avid admirer of all things Sega. On a crucial cross section in his life, where he needed to chose between responsibility and games, Chad chose games and thus ended up buying a mystery Sega cart. Upon sticking it in the Sega Genesis, it becomes quite clear that something is wrong, as our hero gets sucked in to the game itself. Inside the game he meets the Giant Blue Head, his guide and mentor in this video land. The Head explains to Chad that he has now become the defender of all Videoland, and that he must pick up the weapon and mantle of Captain S. A hero was made.
In his everlasting adventure to defend video land, Chad is joined by his best friends Lunk and Becky. Lunk is a jock with a heart of gold and a giant apetite, whilst Becky is the smart one with a caring personality. That’s not all, Chad is also on a quest of his own as he tries to win the heart of the woman he loves, the stereotypical rich girl, Stacey Newfeld.
Soon it becomes quite clear that Chad has a job to do, as Videoland is threatened by the evil being known as The Game Genie, who is attacking video land by means of NES, a rival of our hero.
Captain S is an homage to a lot of things. The intro, for example, is an obvious homage to the ever so known sitcom: Full House. Whilst Captain S himself is a Bizaro Captain N, if you will. There are plenty more influences that you can spot like Saved by the Bell and Power Rangers. For many of the fans, that is exactly why this show kicks so much ass. It combines everything that is awesome in the world. Retro games, classic TV shows and classic cartoons shows go hand in hand in this creation that provides us with a lot of entertainment. I think the correct term is: delightfully cheesy. Very well written delightfully cheesy.
The earlier episodes all follow the same format as any typical cartoon or TV show where Chad is presented with a problem and through doing his job in video land, he is given an answer to said problem. It’s a very good format that once again goes hand in hand with the entire concept. As the show goes, you quickly start to see that it’s heading towards a great finale. The stories start to connect to each other and the tension keeps on building.
Which brings me to the characters. There are many characters in this tale of awesomeness that all are pretty fleshed out by the end of the show.
Chad Belmont is a great character. At first he’s a lazy guy who happily neglects his friends in order to continue playing games. Throughout the story these personality traits are slowly chipped away at, although the rest of his bad traits only become worse. It’s great to see this character evolve, especially when it comes to NES.
Speaking of, NES is my favorite character in the series. Starting out as a rival through and through, NES evolves in to so much more as his character is more and more fleshed out.
NES is a lacky of the great villain of the show, The Game Genie, a powerful entity bent on taking over Videoland. An interesting villain to say the least, with a lot of great quirks to him, but in the end he is pretty one-dimensional and rather forgettable.
Opposing the Genie is The Head, sort of like Zordon without the floating in a giant tube part. Again, this character has great moments, but he’s the same character from beginning to end.
Supporting the Captain are three characters. First up is Lunk, the muscle of the group. This man starts off as a rather disposable character, only good as serving as a friend to Chad, but soon becomes a great friend, a coach and a valuable partner for when everything needs to get the kick.
Next up is Becky. A pretty smart lass that’s not only a love interest, but also the brains. And she makes great cookies.
Lastly there’s Stacey, a stereotypical rich kid at first who everyone dislikes but then turns in to a friend and a fellow sister in arms.
As far as main cast goes, there’s one more character: the principal. If you have ever seen Power Rangers of Saved by the Bell, just take that principal and paste him in to this show. That’ll do it, alright.
All of the actors did a fantastic job. When you’re watching this series, it’s fairly easy to see this actually being on TV during the time that Captain N was on. Or hell, instead of Captain N. They really manage to bring that Saved by the Bell vibe on to your screen, cheesy acting and all. Some of the actors, like the principal, actually deserve to win some awards for their performance. There’s not one performance that I could say something bad about.
The effects used in the series look exactly like you’d expect them to look for a web series. Like someone made this at home on a budget. That doesn’t mean that they suck, oh no, they actually look very good and don’t distract at all. Unlike certain movies or TV shows where the effects stick out like a sore thumb, they actually add to the experience.
The game portions of the show are very enjoyable to watch, displaying a lot of talent in the green screen compartment. You will find a lot of familiar games in this series that Captain S traverses like he was actually a part of the game itself. And it certainly looks like that as well.
Then there’s the music. Oh dear lord the music. From beginning to end, the music was just fantastic. Remixes of this, remixes of that, original music inspired by this or original music inspired by that. Glenn Case, creator of the original music, did a very, absolutely fantastic, terrific, splendid and bodacious job on this one. I still get Goosebumps when I hear that oh so familiar theme song.
Throughout the show you’ll hear some sound effects that are totally contextual but that will sound very familiar and you will have a blast trying to identify them.
Overall, Captain S is a series that every person in the world who is a fan of retro games, old TV shows or old cartoons just has to watch. Gamer or not, this series is enjoyable by all and should be supported in every single way imaginable.
10/10
As of May of 2009, PBC stated that there will no longer be a second season of Captain S due to various issues. The internet cried out in pain as they saw that the end was finally there. Captain S, you will never be forgotten.
This was PJ with a review of Captain S.
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