Clockwise from left: Becky, NES, Chad, Stacey and Lunk center
The New Adventures of Captain S is a Web Video series debuting in 2007.
Sega Genesis nerd Chad Belmont buys a strange game cartridge and when he plugs it in, finds himself sucked into the realm where games are real. As the Video Defender he's called upon to save the worlds of different games and in the process often learns a lesson that helps him with his problems in the real world. After a few episodes his friends Lunk and Becky learn Chad's secret and support him on their side of the screen.
The first season consisted of ten episodes each running about 10-15 minutes. In 2009 the staff announced that due to unspecified production difficulties, a second season was being called off. Later, it was revealed that ScrewAttack required them to wrap up the airing - not just the shooting - of the episodes by August, so that a DVD could be released in November. At the end of May, shooting had not begun yet, so the team thought that meeting the deadline was completely impossible.
Tropes:
- Affectionate Parody: Including but not limited to Captain N: The Game Master, teen sitcoms, and the Console Wars of the early 90's. The
Bizarro Episode "Radical Sega Games" was an affectionate parody of Awesome Video Games.
- Ambidextrous Sprite: Parodied in the Mortal Kombat-inspired final battle of the show where the S on Chad's jacket and NES's Power Glove change sides whenever they turn around.
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Parodied in When Push Comes to Shove-It where Chad learns not to be afraid of responsibility and hard work. Right after he makes up his mind to go back to his job with heartfelt music playing in the background, his boss calls and tells him he's fired for leaving early.
- Angrish: In All's Fair in Love and Sega, after Chad skipped a study date with Becky (the nerdy chick) to go on one with Stacey (the hot chick), and Becky asks him out on Valentine's Day, Chad tells Becky that he wants to ask Stacey out. Becky's reaction: "You're just disg... too, and then you... I can't... And wh... And you'd j... UWAAAH!!!!"
- Ash Face: In one episode Chad decides to spice up his and Lunk's baking soda volcano for the science fair with some crystals from Videoland. We don't see what happened, just someone else winning first place, then Chad and Lunk covered in soot, implying it exploded all over them.
- Big Bad: The Game Genie, who's the driving force of evil and the biggest threat Captain S fights.
- Big Eater: Lunk. His character artwork even shows him with a giant submarine sandwich about to be devoured.
- "The Breakfast Club" Poster Homage: Seen above, used for the cover of the DVD set.
- Broken Aesop: Episode 7, For the Kid in S All, ends with the aesop that if you understand your mistakes, you commit yourself and strive as much as you can, you can overcome any difficulty. The premise of next episode, Captain S'll Make Ya Clap, Clap is that all efforts Chad made in that direction were worthless, and that to actually achieve anything he needed a supernatural means of health regeneration, activated by people clapping.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: When Chad runs out of energy from fighting through too many enemies in episode 7, all the gamers watching clap their hands and he gets his juice back. The biggest problem viewers tend to have with the show.
- Catchphrase:
- "Everything gets the kick."
- "It'll have to do."
- Becky constantly uses the titles of old video games as euphemisms. "Where the Bonk's Revenge are you, Chad Belmont?"
- The Big Blue Head has "FOR GREAT JUSTICE!!!".
- Christmas Special: Where Game Genie and NES kidnap Santa to hog all the games to themselves. Featuring a Fake Crossover with The Angry Video Game Nerd.
- Drunk on Milk: Parodied when Chad gets wasted on milk shakes after losing a fight to NES.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: AVGN's trademark potty mouth is softened in his guest appearance, and when he does curse he's either cut off or bleeped."What a buttload of crud."
- Gretzky Has the Ball: According to the commentary of one of the actresses, Lunk's advice to Chad during soccer try-outs ("Keep the ball close, don't be afraid to get physical, and don't overpower your shot") is the advice of someone who's never played soccer.
- Heroic BSoD: When Captain S loses a fight to NES in Episode 6 because he used up his powers before the fight, he loses all his confidence. It takes one child who says monsters are in his Game Gear to snap Chad out of it in Episode 7 to begin his training.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: In the final showdown between Captain S and the Game Genie, Captain S seems to have the Genie's number before the Genie proclaimed "We're not *snort* left-handed." and proceeded to transform into his true form.
- Invulnerable Knuckles: Played straight most of the time, as in the video games the show's about. Subverted when Chad punches a real person in the real world, and is shown shaking his hand in pain afterward.
- It Will Never Catch On:AVGN: Okay, but you're going to be end up like Aeris from Final Fantasy VII.Chad: Ha! It's called Final Fantasy! Why would they make a sequel? Dimwit.
- Load-Bearing Boss: Not surprisingly, Game Genie's headquarters starts falling apart for no real reason after he's defeated in the last episode.
- Mundane Utility: After he gets a part time job at a warehouse, Chad finds out his Video Defender powers let him do things at super-speed in real world or teleport around. He gets addicted to doing this for routine stuff, not realizing he's draining his powers' battery, so when he needs to fight NES again, he's too weak and loses.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: After Game Genie "upgrades" NES with the Virtual Boy, he becomes a much more dangerous opponent for Chad.
- Redemption Equals Death: NES helps Chad beat Game Genie in the last episode, but seemingly dies when the building collapses before he can get out. A Post-Credit Scene reveals he survived.
- Rival Turned Evil: NES and Chad were childhood friends who were torn apart by the console wars. Without Chad's friendship, NES eventually discovered and was influenced by the Game Genie.
- Royal "We": Game Genie speak entirely in royal plural, referring to himself as "we" and "us."
- Sequel Hook: The appearance of Super NES at the end.
- Shout-Out: The Big Blue Head is a reference to Zordon, the mentor of the Power Rangers. NES acts exactly like Malcolm does in Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. In "Captain S'll Make Ya Clap Clap", the Game Genie even calls humans "meat-things" like Kilokahn does in Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad.
- Training Montage: After NES kicks his butt, the next episode is about Chad going through one to get back in shape to save Videoland. Complete with Chad having to run in a pink jogging suit.
- Zombie Apocalypse: The penultimate episode, Zombies Ate My Homeroom, where Game Genie and NES turn all the students into pasty-faced zombies. The zombies are even susceptible to water guns, popsicles, and soda cans used as weapons.
