This was originally going to be a two-part episode, but, due to lack of enough interesting material to put in, it was only one part.
I wrote most of this episode on my sister's computer in Chicago while visiting her for Christmas. The only thing I wrote at home was most of the first scene.
My 14-year-old niece, Jennifer, came up with Romeo's Remote Control.
FEAR OF ACTION
David Hartline e-mailed me the idea for this episode a few hours before I put up the notice on my page that I had stopped accepting new episodes, so I let this episode in.
GREAT ORBS OF FIRE
This was originally going to be a two-part episode, but, due to Part 2 going nine minutes over, I had Alison Hynes expand the episode into a trilogy.
Alison Hynes was originally credited as Shara Hynes. It wasn't until after Season 4 had ended that I learned her first name was Alison. She gave me her permission to use her real name, saying she was going to ask me to change it to Alison earlier, but didn't want to bother me with updating the episodes.
THRILLER NIGHT
This episode came about when Mandi Ohlin was writing "The N-Files". She was messing with the dates and realized that Halloween fell on a Saturday in 1992. She e-mailed me on Saturday, February 27, and asked if I had anything special planned. I got to work on it on the 29th, and I finished it on March 9. Thank you, Mandi!
PRINCESS FOR A DAY
This was originally considered as an idea for a Captain N "book", back when I was writing what is now known as the "CHANGES" miniseries.
I wrote this episode entirely in Chicago, directly after finishing typing the last scene of "THE WEAPON OF CHOICE".
Lana's last name, Deschain, is a reference to Roland Deschain, The Last Gunslinger, from Stephen King's Dark Tower series.
I was considering both the last names Deschain and Harkinian for Lana. (I thought Lana could be, like, Zelda's distant cousin.) While walking outside by a supermarket in Chicago, I asked my 14-year-old niece, Jennifer, to pick which name she liked best. She picked Deschain, so that's the one I used.
The episode originally had a kiss between Lana and Kristen in the final scene, which I had put in as a time-filler. Later, when I timed it at home, I found out the episode had actually run over, so I took out the kiss.
Most of the people that had filled out the survey I had up were in favor of having the kiss in the episode, but I had to take it out for time.
The episode is still over twenty minutes.
THE WORLD WARRIOR
Steve wrote this episode after dropping his original episode idea - "CAPTAIN N THE MUSICAL MAN".
This was originally going to be a two-part episode, but, due to Steve Cronen having so many ideas, I let him expand it into a three-parter.
The episode was originally supposed to have Stacey kiss Ryu on the cheek before he goes into the arena for the first battle, but I took it out due to the fact that I didn't want Stacey kissing anyone other than Kevin.
MAN'S BEST FRIEND
No one else's episode was ready to put up, so I quickly wrote this episode in five hours and fifty-nine minutes, finishing the first draft at 11:59 PM the night before I put the episode up.
METAL THREAT
This was originally going to be a two-part episode, but, due to Charley Smart having so many great ideas, I let him expand it into a three-parter.
Charley didn't write a concert scene for the end of Part 3, so I did, based on an idea he had for it. That's why I get writing credit for Part 3.
KEVIN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
This was originally going to be a two-part episode, but, due to the fact that I had so many funny ideas to put in, I expanded it into a three-parter.
The scene in Rick's house on the alternate Earth was inspired by a similar scene in "Back to the Future, Part II".
Kevin whistling and saying "Cool it, guys!" comes from "GAMEBOY".
Mandi Paugh wanted say over how she behaves in the story (with good reason), so she wrote most of her own dialogue and got writing credit for Parts 2 & 3.
Matt playing with the magnets is something I actually saw him doing.
The "Ohmanohmanohmanohman..." comes from a story called "Captain Nintendo" that appeared in an issue of Nintendo Power.
Originally, Eric Vartanian was in this story, but, due to me no longer liking him, I replaced him with Andres on the day "ROGUE SQUADRON" PART 3 went up.
Matt and I really did the sliding thing in the elevator.
Matt and Mike's belief that the N Teamsters are actors I hired comes from a scene in "Back to the Future, Part IV: Disco Inferno", me and Mike's movie.
Lana's comment about not getting fooled again is a reference to "THE BIG GAME".
Matt actually said that line about Mountain Dew being close enough because it's from the makers of Pepsi.
Matt actually commented "Guilty, guilty, guilty" when I mentioned "O.J." to him.
Mike taught me the line "¿Te gusta jugar con queso?" when I met him in the hallway in high school on the way to Spanish class.
JOHN 20:25
The Biblical quote is: "So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord!' But he said to them, 'Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.'" This is from the New International Version.
I was originally gonna have Lana citing awful passages from the Bible and making fun of them, but I took some advice from Mandi Paugh and gave up on that, for fear of misinterpretting them. Plus, I thought it best to not expose Lana to that book.
The episode originally wasn't going to have the Mike / Santa plot. I added it in because the episode wasn't long enough, and for some comedy that people wouldn't yell at me for.
THE FIRST VIDEOLAND WAR
Working title: "RECORD OF VIDEOLAND WAR"
EPISODES THAT DIDN'T MAKE IT IN
A Kid Icarus episode by daezemon. He hadn't even started working on it when the end of the season was approaching. So, I moved the episode to Season 6, since Season 5 already had a lot of episodes lined up.
Aly Handman's two-part Rick episode. She didn't have it done when the end of the season was approaching, so I moved it to Season 5.
Torin Miller's Mike Vincent F-Zero episode. He didn't have it done when the end of the season was approaching, so I moved it to Season 5.
Nicholas Pinto's Romeo episode. He had written and rewritten it several times on paper, and it wasn't turning out good, so he canceled it. This is the summary I had up for it: Romeo's younger sister, Kelly, is brought to Videoland, and the two try to get along.
"DARK MIRROR" by Mark Moore. The summary I had up: "The N Team encounters their Mirror Image Opposites again." I never even started writing this episode, because I couldn't think of any way for this to happen now that the Mirror Warp is gone, so I canceled the episode.
"VALIANT HEROES" by Mark Moore. The TV series N Team was supposed to meet the comic book N-Team by crossing over to the comic book universe. I never listed this episode, because I decided not to write it, due to not knowing enough about the comic book Videoland and fear of making mistakes.
A Bionic Commando episode by Charley Smart. This episode was only listed as a possibility. He decided not to write it.
A Contra episode by Eric Vartanian. This episode was only listed as a possibility. He never had the time to start writing it.
"DUKE'S DAY" by Michelle Sinnock. This was originally going to be my episode, but I gave it to Michelle because she just loves Duke! It wasn't done in time for Season 4, so I moved it to Season 5 for her. It was the last episode to be moved, only 3 days before "APOCALYPSE: A CAPTAIN N MOVIE" went up.
"CAPTAIN N THE MUSICAL MAN" by Stebe Cronen. The band was going to try playing real songs, but all Steve put in were songs by the Beatles and the Monkeys. He felt it wasn't going anywhere, so he dropped it and asked if he could write "THE WORLD WARRIOR" instead. I, of course, accepted.