Donkey Kong Country (1996) – SMCB 231

When I was a kid I had a Sega Genesis instead of a Super Nintendo, so I never played the Donkey Kong Country games until much later (the first one is now one of my favorite games). So aside from playing the original game and Donkey Kong Jr. this was the Donkey Kong I grew up with. Even when playing Donkey Kong Country 64 I imagined they were the same Donkey, Diddy, Cranky, K. Rool, Funky, and Candy from this show (It helped that the crystal coconut was in that game, though very different than this show as they were items that powered special abilities). So I must admit I actually have a bit of a soft spot for this show, though I will fully admit that it’s not a good show. Still I’d rather watch it over The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic Underground, or any of the Mario cartoons.

I played Donkey Kong Country 64 again a few years ago and although I never got around to finishing it I remember having fun with it. That said, I know a lot of people aren’t too fond of it because they think it’s too big of a game and that there’s too much to collect. Tropical Freeze is a lot of fun, you should definitely play that and Donkey Kong Country Returns if you haven’t.

Also I thought Super Mario Odyssey already proved that Mario was Jumpman in the original Donkey Kong, due to Pauline (the girl Donkey Kong kidnapped in the original game) being in that game.

I need to point out something I always found messed up about Kong For a Day. By the end of the episode Donkey Kong never actually proves his innocence, they only take him back because he saved them from King K. Rool. As far as they know, Donkey Kong still did all that stuff that they were mad at him for, but they’re willing to put up with a jerk for a leader so long as he protects them.

Maybe that goes in had with this interesting bit of a trivia I found. Apparently, the reason Nelvana was brought on to this show was because Medialab fired all their writers for coming up with scripts that were racist, sexist, and other inappropriate content for a children’s show. However, since 10 episode had already been storyboarded, Nelvana had to write around those issues.

Challenge of the Superfriends was my introduction to a lot of DC heroes and villains and it’s a series I still genuinely enjoy, especially since it gave us The Legion of Doom. I’m also surprised to see it was voted to the bottom of the list, but I guess I can’t complain since it got you guys to do an episode on it.

Been listening for a year now and I dig the pod. But I’ve often been confused about the “inner child” segment. At first I thought it was, what did you think of this show when you were a child, which makes sense because shows like this I total ate up back then, but I recognize as garbage now. But, then it seemed more like, what what you think of the show if you were 6ish yr Olds in 2020 and was exposed to this. In which case, for sure it doesn’t compete with modern cartoons and I imagine a child today wouldn’t love this program. Tho, who knows with the success of stuff like veggie tales even now… But finally, especially with this episode it seems more like just a surmation of your thoughts from the episode, said in the “voice” of a child. Which almost renders doing it (kid voice) pointless?