Episode Review

The Trouble With Tetris

Friday, September 22, 2006, 4:51 PM - Wednesday, September 27, 2006,
3:43 PM

Summary (Friday, September 22, 2006, 4:51 PM - 4:53 PM)

Since Seasons 1 and 2 of the series will be coming out on DVD on
February 13, 2007, I will not be including summaries in these reviews
for the rest of Season 2. If you're reading this review before you get
the DVD set, you can read a short summary of the episode at
http://ldloveszh.tripod.com/cnepis.html#tetris1

Misc. Tidbits (Friday, September 22, 2006, 4:53 PM - 4:55 PM)

The episode was written by Michael Maurer.

The episode originally aired on Saturday, October 13, 1990, as the
sixth episode of Season 2 and the nineteenth episode of the series.

I first saw this episode on NBC, then on The Family Channel, and
finally "Captain N & The Video Game Masters".

Interesting Notes (Friday, September 22, 2006, 4:55 PM - 5:52 PM;
Sunday, September 24, 2006, 4:01 PM - 5:00 PM; Wednesday, September
27, 2006, 3:13 PM - 3:33 PM)

The title is white with quotes.

The episode's title comes from the "Star Trek" episode, "The Trouble
With Tribbles".

Lana's father used to tell her stories about Tetris when she was a
little girl.

Tetris is so far from the Palace of Power that it never joined the
fight against Mother Brain.

Kevin's Zapper beams are blue in this episode.

Lana has an older brother named Lyle. She hasn't seen him in 2 years.
He's a Keeper of the Sacred Square on Tetris. He left before King
Charles was kidnapped by Mother Brain.

Kevin's weapons don't lose power in this episode.

The Palace of Power does not appear in this episode.

Great Lines (Wednesday, September 27, 2006, 12:24 PM - 2:48 PM)

Mother Brain: "I'd like to stay and chat, but eeevil calls."

Dumb Lines (Wednesday, September 27, 2006, 2:48 PM)

None.

Rant (Friday, September 22, 2006, 4:57 PM - 5:52 PM; Sunday, September
24, 2006, 9:30 AM - 9:59 AM, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM; Wednesday, September
27, 2006, 12:00 PM - 3:43 PM)

This episode was written by Michael Maurer, Jeffrey Scott's brother.
It looks like Michael, like his brother, is a classic "Star Trek" fan,
judging by this episode's title.

The other episode written by Michael Maurer that I've reviewed so far
is "The Invasion of the Paper Pedalers". He chose a rather odd game to
based an episode on. How well does he do this time?

This episode is...something else. I don't know how to describe it, so
let's just start at the beginning.

The episode begins with King Hippo, Eggplant Wizard, and Mother Brain
watching the N Team flying around in space in the Warp Wagon. How can
Hippo pound Eggy's head into his body without killing him?

It turns out that the N Team is flying through a meteor field for fun.
Why would anyone do this as a game?

Why would the steering wheel go out of control like that because of a
pull?

The N Team crash-lands on the world of Tetris. Let me repeat that: the
world of Tetris. The writer of this episode turned Tetris into a
world. Tetris is a puzzle game with falling blocks. Other than the
scenery in victory screens, that's all that there is to it. Turning
Tetris into a world with a block-shaped humanoid population is the
dumbest thing that's been done in this series yet. Whose idea was it?
Jeffrey Scott told me that he believes the games were selected by DiC
and/or Nintendo. Did the producers of the show make up the world of
Tetris and tell Michael Maurer to write a script around it, or was
Michael Maurer simply told "Write a Tetris episode", and he took it
from there? Either way, it's retarded.

That said, it's clear that most of this episode has nothing to do with
the actual game. If I come across any actual Tetris gameplay, I'll let
you know.

The background music that plays after the N Team crashes is the title
screen music from the Game Boy version of "Tetris". I wonder if it was
a deliberate choice to use music from the Game Boy version or not.
Maybe they did that, because Gameboy plays a prominent role in this
episode?

What does Simon mean by having his cheeks "re-rosied"?

There are a lot of block-related jokes in this episode - from the
names to vocabulary. It's slightly annoying.

Is Mayor Squaresly the mayor of all of Tetris or just that particular
city. If the former, then the title of "Mayor" is odd. If the latter,
then...does Tetris even have "cities", or is it just one large world
government?

When the Keeper of the Calendar points at the days, yesterday and
tomorrow (both holidays) as well as today (not a holiday) have writing
on them. He should have pointed at an empty square for today.

Lana has a holiday named after her,...sort of. Yay.

It's nice to hear Lana give some background info on herself, but it
doesn't make any sense that a world that the N Team flies near to play
games in space would be so far from the Palace of Power that it never
joined the fight against Mother Brain.

How can Tetris' economy function with so many holidays?

It's illogical for Tetris to have cars with square wheels and sharply-
angled streets just to fit in.

The Sacred Square? Okay, so a mystical square object supposedly built
the world of Tetris. Yeah.

How could Hippo and Eggy survive being distorted into square shapes?

Why would the Chamber of Tetris require a key to get out of it?

Lyle's face turns square-shaped when he walks into the door. Ha, ha.
Furthermore, he's able to get it back to normal by pressing his nose.
Sheesh.

We now hear music that I can find only in Nintendo Famicom version of
"Tetris", which is a very odd source for this series. It's the title
screen music. The music comes from an old Russian melody called
"Korobeiniki".

In Cubies, we hear the "Get a Little Bit Crazy" song, which we hear in
whole in "Having a Ball".

Why is Simon upset about his brick burger? Is it actually made out of
a brick?

The Blockheads are introduced. Apparently, they're a popular rock band
on Tetris. They also perform at Lana's ball in "Having a Ball". Which
episode aired first will remain a mystery until the DVD set is
released.

Anyway, I like their song, which I call "Block Party". It's this
episode's featured song. It sounds like a parody of "Rock Around the
Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets, but another fan swears it's
really a parody of another, similar song that was released in the same
year. Can anybody tell me for sure?

Kevin and Lana dancing together is teh cute. =) Apparently, Kevin has
successfully taught Lana how to dance. (See "How's Bayou".) I
especially like how they stop moving their feet and just move their
upper bodies.

Incidentally, I specifically recall seeing them dance on a small,
black-and-white television set in my bedroom on NBC. I don't recall if
it's the first time that I saw this episode, but it's a specific scene
that I remember seeing in the NBC run.

In yet another similarity to "Having a Ball", King Hippo and Eggplant
Wizard dance together in disguise. In this episode, though, Eggy is
the woman. Perhaps Hippo's "But I'm leadin'" line is a reference to
their discomfort at dancing together in "Having a Ball"?

Why are Kevin and Lana still dancing after the song ends - especially
during a loud commotion?

How can Kevin's Zapper fire on its own in mid-air?

During one shot in Cubies, when Simon, Mega Man, Kid Icarus, and Duke
abandon their table, the picture is blurry. I'm reviewing this episode
from a VGM copy. I don't recall if the shot was like this on NBC and
The Family Channel or not.

Okay, so Lana has an older brother named Lyle that we haven't heard of
until now. It's unclear whether the rest of the N Team has heard of
him / met him or not. Simon's surprise might simply be regarding
Lyle's clumsiness.

Lana hasn't seen Lyle in 2 years, and he didn't know that their father
is missing, which means that the King was kidnapped less than 2 years
earlier. This fits with the information in "Having a Ball" that Lana's
father gave her a birthday bash last year.

It's cute how Kid Icarus sets down a chair right behind Lyle right
when Lyle goes to sit without looking. :P

Okay, we get another featured song, which I call "Now You're a Man".
It's a parody of "Walk Like a Man" by The Four Seasons. Wow, we have 3
songs in one episode. That's never happened before. Come to think of
it, we've never had 2 songs in one episode.

When Lyle is launched towards Simon, he sounds like Link. Does that
mean that Jonathan Potts voiced Lyle?

Simon's eyes pop out of his head. Sheesh. More lame cartoon physics.

Why was Lana waiting outside of the store? Was she embarassed at
seeing Lyle in his boxer shorts? She was tapping her left foot while
waiting outside, so she might as well have gone in.

When Lyle kisses Lana's right hand, Lana's eyebrows are missing. I
guess that sort of matches Lyle, who is without eyebrows throughout
the episode.

How can Eggy eat a bomb that explodes inside himself and not die? He
said the tomato bomb would turn the safe into chopped cabbage.

Kevin asking Lana, "Isn't that what you wanted?", is interesting. Does
Lana not want to be the ruler of Videoland?

Three of the four shots in the scene in Lyle's bedroom (Lyle and
Gameboy) are blurry. The only non-blurry shot is Gameboy by himself.

The entire world of Tetris will fall apart, just because the Sacred
Square is removed? No wonder that the thing is locked up!

The shot in the next scene of Lana, Mega Man, Simon, Kid Icarus, Duke,
and Kevin arriving is blurry as well.

In the shot of Lana and Kevin running after Mother Brain, Lana's
pupils are missing. Freaky.

How does Kevin know that Tetris is doomed without the Sacred Square?
If Lyle mentioned it in his apartment, then why didn't Gameboy know?

The shot of Mother Brain moving from behind is blurry as well.

When Kevin yells "Head's up, everybody!", his voice momentarily jumps
to chipmunk pitch during "everybody". Is this in the actual episode or
just on my copy?

Those green circles that come out of Mega Man's blaster look cool, but
I don't recall seeing them in any other episode.

What's this "power dive" that Kevin mentions? He just speeds up and
then jumps out of the hole in the wall. Heck, he didn't need to power
dive at all. Duke ran at normal speed and made it through as well!

Of course, Kevin has enough power to pull the jump off. His power
meter is at least almost (if not completely) full. :P

I wonder why Kevin presses the B button instead of the A button,
though. In most games, you jump by pressing A. Not in "Tetris",
though. Then again, you don't jump in "Tetris"...

When Kevin presses the B button, his Power Pad looks weird. It's way
too big, and it's missing the Select and Start buttons (and maybe the
cross-key, but that might just be my monitor).

Mayor Squaresly is overly enthusiastic in wanting to declare holidays.
He forgot that today is All Squares Day. :P

Lana's offer for her and Lyle to rule Videoland together is nice but
odd. How can two people rule something together? Who would outrank the
other?

Also, since Lyle's "rightful place" is as ruler of Videoland, why did
he earlier say "Glad you approve, sis", and why does Lana now offer
Lyle joint rule of Videoland with her to get him to come back to the
Palace of Power with her? Do both of them not know what "rightful
place" means?

Lesson: You must believe in yourself before anyone else will (although
that's not true).

If it wasn't for the game that this episode is based on, then this
would be a pretty good episode. As it is, it's average. This is
Michael Maurer's second "weird game choice" episode.

Suddenly learning that Lana has an older brother that took off 2 years
ago without telling her is interesting, but Lana's reaction at
suddenly seeing him again after so long is rather subdued, and we've
had no indication in previous episodes that Lana's worried about her
missing brother. Then again, we've had almost no indication that
Lana's worried about her missing father either.

As for what to cut out, I can't think of any filler in this episode.

Overall, "The Trouble With Tetris" is an okay episode.

Usefulness ratings:

Kevin: 10 (zapping 3 ceiling blocks, zapping 2 falling blocks, zapping
3 falling blocks, zapping 1 falling block in the tunnel, knocking the
Sacred Square away from Mother Brain)
Lana: 0
Simon: 0
Mega Man: 2 (zapping 2 falling blocks)
Kid Icarus: 2 (shooting 1 falling block, providing the tightrope)
Duke: 1 (getting Kevin's Zapper)
Gameboy: 2 (saving Lyle, flying Lyle to Mother Brain)

Kevin's high score deserves some explanation. Even though his zapping
of the blocks is of questionable value (did it make any difference?),
I added the points to be fair.

The running total usefulness ratings for this season so far are:

Kevin: 58 (7 episodes)
Lana: 11 (7 episodes)
Simon: 10 (7 episodes)
Mega Man: 16 (7 episodes)
Kid Icarus: 15 (7 episodes)
Duke: 7 (7 episodes)
Gameboy: 13 (7 episodes)

Lana is still ahead of Simon in this season's competition for the
moment, but she's now been overtaken by Gameboy.

The running total usefulness ratings for the series so far are:

Kevin: 105 (20 episodes)
Lana: 20 (20 episodes)
Simon: 31 (20 episodes)
Mega Man: 33 (20 episodes)
Kid Icarus: 38 (20 episodes)
Duke: 21 (20 episodes)
Gameboy: 13 (7 episodes)

Kevin has passed the 100 points mark. Everyone else is nowhere close.

That's the end of my review of "The Trouble With Tetris". I have "The
Big Game" listed for Saturday, October 20, 1990 (though a lot of my
air dates might change when the DVD set comes out), so I'll review
that next. See you all in my next review!

Mark Moore