SMBSS DVD Review

[Nintendo Maximus]

This is my personal review of the Super Mario Bros. Super Show DVD. I’ll be reviewing the episodes in the order of their production, not in the order shown on the DVD.

*Toad Warriors*

Bowser is stealing the spaghetti sauce in Carland! Fortunately, a band of Mushroom Rebels are making sure Bowser doesn’t get the last of it. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad join them. When Bowser attacks the fort with the Thunderbirdo, our heroes fight back with a car chase. Toad uses a Starman to become the Toad Warrior, and they kick the Koopa Pack’s butts.
Despite the episode’s title, only one Toad Warrior is featured, so why title it “Toad Warriors”. I know it’s a Road Warriors reference, but I think this episode should’ve just been titled “The Toad Warrior”.
Also, some goofs in this episode confused me. When Toad insults the Bob-Omb and makes it light itself, he tells Mario and Luigi to hide from it, and they do so. But then, in their next scene, they’re suddenly loafing around in their car without any explanation as to how they got back in it! (My explanation is that Mario KOed the Koopa Troopa and they jumped in while KT was unconcious.)
Also, when Bowser’s pack zooms to the fort, Peach says to the Toads, “We must hold them off until my friends arrive.” Why didn’t she just say “…until Mario and Luigi arrive?” Is she saying that these Toads have never met Mario and Luigi before? I thought that the shows took place after the games! BTW, did you notice that the Thunderbirdo was colored green a few times when it was supposed to be pink?
Possibly what bugged me the most was Toad’s transformation. During an impossible leap in the sky, Toad grabs a Starman, but doesn’t become invincible. Then, when he uses it to transform, he has to say a corny Sailor Moon-like phrase. That seems more like something you’d expect him to do with a Star Kid in Paper Mario, NOT with a Starman in any other Mario game. What annoyed me even more was that they referred to the Starman as “A Shiny Star” in the trivia game.
I’ll say this much. When the Bob-Omb sent Mouser flying, it seemed like he might have said “Looks like Mouser eez blasteeng off againnnnnnn!!!!” and then disappeared with the “ding” sound effect. Incidentally, this is the only episode on the DVD where the subtitles notice Mouser’s French (or German) accent. I’m still shocked that neither Bowser nor Mouser said “Car 54½, where are you?” Expect a game-based fanfic adaptation of this episode by me in the near future.

*Count Koopula*

In the style of the movie that this episode is a parody of, the Mario gang has to hit the hay at the Turtlevanian Castle of Count Koopula. There, they discover that it’s infested with Koopa enemies with horror movie looks. Bowser himself is a Tomato Sauce-Sucking Vampire, and as we find out later, he plans to make Peach a vampire too. Eventually, our heroes defeat Bowser with a Sailor Moon R-esque plan: garlic breath!
I liked this episode a lot. Possibly my only complaint is that the Zombie-Goombas heard Mario’s comment on their tomato sauce. If they’re pretending to be dead people, they shouldn’t have heard Mario, because they were supposed to be dead.
Bowser’s line about “initiating Peach into the Loyal Brotherhood of Tomato Sauce Vampires” gave me something to think about. Now, I believe that the LBoTSV was founded by Dracula (the one from CastleVania) and is made up of Bowser, Ganon, Giovanni, King K. Rool, and King Dedede!

*Kiss ‘N Tell (Zelda)*

Oh no! Ganon is torturing us with the old “Frog Prince” plot! He has a Gibdo turn Link into a frog who can only be returned to normal by being kissed by a princess. That plot is sooooooo overdone.
This episode would be a lot better if Spryte (the annoying Faerie for the Zelda cartoon) wasn’t the one who cured Link of being green. I like the Link/Zelda coupling a lot, and Spryte’s just made to tear it down. I can picture Zelda beating Spryte up Powerpuff Girl-style after they finished filming this. What I did like a lot, though, was Three-Headed Gleeok’s part in the story. All three heads (mostly the middle head) had a lot of great dialogue. “That’s not in the script.” “Grapefruit gives me heartburn. See what I mean?” “Ha! Serves ‘em right!” “Oh no, I got you!” “Oh well, did my part.”

*The Adventures of Sherlock Mario*

This is the bonus episode that you can watch for beating the trivia game. Team Koopa (Bowser, Mouser, Tryclyde, and a dim-witted Koopa Troopa) has captured Herlock Somes, and are plotting to steal the Retro Rooter. The Mario Gang fails on their first attempt to stop him, but are successful in defeating him.
I don’t see much to complain about here, but what I do complain about here applies to other episodes too. Whenever there’s a fight sequence like in this episode, it always Mario VS Bowser, Peach VS Tryclyde, Toad VS Mouser, and Luigi VS Koopa Troopa. Why is it Luigi is always tackling the weakest member of Team Koopa? Does this mean Luigi is the weakest member of Team Mario? If so, I don’t like it. Toad should be battling Koopa Troopa (since neither of them are good jumpers), and Luigi against Mouser.
My other complaint occurs in a lot of episodes too. Every time Bowser realizes he has lost, he pulls out a Sub-Space potion, creates a warp, jumps into it, and it closes before the good guys can follow him. What’s up with that? Why don’t the good guys stop him from getting into the warp? Why do they always say the same type of things whenever it happens? Why are the good guys so dumb?
Oh yeah, here’s my complaint that occurs just for this episode: right after Koopa Troopa says “The Retro Rooter’s ready, boss,” the episode restarts to the beginning of Act 2 and goes all the way through with the rest of the episode the way it originally aired (complete with the preview for “Sing For The Unicorn”) on TV. Where was the first half of the live-action segment?

*Koopenstein*

Bowser is hiding out in the Swiss Cheese Alps, making a “Monster Robot Troopa”. Just like his alter ego’s namesake, he needs a brain to finish making it. He tries ripping off Mario and Luigi’s brains and has no luck. Toad comes to the rescue and Bowser winds up becoming his own monster. He terrorizes the village until Mario takes control of the robot and has it battle its maker.
The Mayor of the village is rather detestable if you ask me. He looks like the Mayor of the village in the last Mario episode, but sounds as if he inhaled a lot of helium. He also has no humor that I like to see in a cartoon mayor. Mario’s insults to Bowser in the second act were nothing laughable, either. I pretty much prefer the Quite Extraordinarily Rude Frenchman’s insults in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. Also, I’m beginning to complain about Mario’s food obsession as much as Peach does in this episode. Why is Mario so food-obsessed in the cartoons? He was never shown eating in the games. At least he cut down on his food habit in the other cartoons. Also, how can Mario take control of the Robotroopa if it still lacks a brain?
Oh, here’s a blooper from this episode in the outtake fanfic I’m writing…

Mayor: Heeeeeeeellllllllllppppp!!!!!!!
Mario: Don't tell me, let me guess. Wario and Waluigi are stealing your village's gold? Evil Mario is polluting the village with his grafitti? Tatanga is blasting at the villagers? Foreman Spike is destroying the houses? King Boo is haunting everyone?
Mayor: NO! My pickle jar is stuck, and I'm starving!
Mario: Mr. Mayor, not every mayor of a city or village is so weak that he has to call on superheroes to open his pickle jar. And you also need to stop inhaling helium so much!
Mayor: But I just gotta have a pickle! Oh yeah, and the Koopenstein Monster is attacking the village.
Mario: Well then, why didn't you just say so?
("Evil Mario" is the current name for the villain in Super Mario Sunshine. Expect this note to be edited out when I find out this guy's real name.)

*Mario Meets Koop-Zilla*

Our heroes come to the Japanese-esque city of Sayonara for Super Sushi, a food that makes Super Mushrooms look useless. Bowser’s beaten them to it, unfortunately. The good guys flounder around a bit before finally injecting him with the antidote.
If the good guys knew that there was Super Sushi, why did they have to ask its inventor (Dr. T. Garden) how Bowser became so big? I mean, they could’ve figured it out just by looking at Bowser. So maybe DiC is showing that they’re just as dumb as Bowser found out in “Koopenstein”?
Two other things involving Garden bugged me. One, his lab’s security camera worked more like a movie camera than a security camera. Two, his building was able to resurrect itself after being mashed. Twice. That couldn’t happen as fast as shown here.
And of course, a big minus for this was Bowser’s warp zone escape routine that’s overdone on this show.

*The Missing Link (Zelda)*

Link is killed by Ganon’s new Death Wand (available at a Villain’s Mart near you for only $49.95), but only his body is taken away from Zelda. Zelda won’t have it that Ganon’s taken her man’s handsome bod, so she and Link’s spirit venture into Death Mountain to get it back. During which, Link finds out that Zelda loves him after all.
Because of that little revealation, this should’ve been the last Zelda episode, not “The Moblins Are Revolting”. That episode sucked, because Link and Zelda had a 99% chance of getting the Triforce of Power back, but they blew it. Now the only way they would’ve made this episode perfect would be if Link and Zelda had actually kissed. ‘Course, that’s covered in a fanfic that plays as an epilogue to this episode. Oh well, at least Link gets his kiss in Captain N’s “Quest For The Potion of Power” episode.

*Raiders of the Lost Mushroom*

Team Mario is trying to find the Lost Mushroom, a statue that grants the wishes of anyone who possesses it. Team Koopa’s after it, too, because Bowser claims it was left to him by his “great great grandkoop”. (On his mother’s side, or his father’s side?) Team Mario gets help from the faceless Indiana Joe, who leads them to the Temple of Koopa (which looks more like the Temple of Koopa-And-Hippopotamus-Crossbreed to me), but won’t go in because he has a fear of Koopas. Team Mario gets the statue first, but Team Koopa swipes it from them. They help Joe get over his fear and defeat Team Koopa.
High points: the special appearances of a few SMB2 enemies, Bowser’s lackeys protesting Bowser’s idea of stealing the statue, the semi-reference to SMA2 (see below), Mario using an insult that Toad normally uses
Low points: Nobody seemed to notice that Joe didn’t have any facial features! How could he talk? Why was “Albatoss” was spelled wrong in the subtitles? Why did Joe give his fear (“Koopaphobia”) such a stupid name? (I can hear Mario now: "Darn it, Joe, that's an even worse Koopa-related name pun than Koop-Zilla.") Why did the Mario Gang surrender to Team Koopa after Bowser took the statue? Why was Luigi fighting Koopa Troopa again? Why couldn’t the good guys just stop Bowser from escaping into the warp zone? He looked helpless! On a plus note, they didn’t say what they usually say when Bowser does that.
Also, at the beginning of this episode, Team Mario is floating in a hot-air balloon with Mario's “M” on it… just like in Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World!

*Robo Koopa*

This is the final episode of the Mario series on the show, and it’s rather good. Bowser has gotten himself a robosuit that makes him invincible. Our heroes rescue Dr. Nerdnik, the guy who made Bowser’s robosuit, with the help of his assistant, Bunsun the Female Robot. But Bowser has Peach and Toad captured and chases after the Marios, Nerdnik, and Bunsun. They get away, and Nerdnik build a robosuit for Mario and Luigi to use against Bowser. It doesn’t work. In the end, however, they defeat Bowser by tricking him into pressing the eject button on his suit.
A lot more high points here than in the other Mario episodes. I’ve always liked a TV series/season finale where the bad guy(s) become(s) unbeatable, and the heroes have to make a new plan to defeat him/her/them. That’s just what this episode is. Same goes for TAOSMB3’s “Super Koopa”!
I suppose my only complaint is that although the Robo Koopa Troopas looked like robots, they didn’t sound any different from the normal ones. Oh yeah, and I plan to write a fanfic that shows the transition from this to TAOSMB3!

That’s my review for the SMBSS DVD. Oh yeah, can somebody please tell me how to access Captain Lou Albano’s commentary?!

Super Mario Bros. are cool like sunglasses!