"The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!" (1989) TV series

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Directors:

John Grusd
Dan Riba

Writers:

Jeremiah Bosgang (writer)
Rick Cunningham (writer)

Seasons:

1 | unknown

Genre:

Animation | Family | Fantasy | Action | Adventure

Plot:

From the popular video game, Super Mario Bros. The Super Mario Bros. Super Show features Mario, his brother Luigi...

Plot Keywords:

Mario | Super Mario | Princess | Luigi | Zelda

Cast

Lou Albano	...	Mario "Jumpman" Mario / ... (17 episodes, 1989-1991)
Harvey Atkin	...	King Bowser Koopa / ... (16 episodes, 1989-1991)
Jeannie Elias	...	Princess Peach Toadstool / ... (16 episodes, 1989-1991)
John Stocker	...	Koopa Troopa / ... (16 episodes, 1989-1991)
Danny Wells	...	Luigi Mario / ... (16 episodes, 1989-1991)
Robert Bockstael	...	Mouser #2 (13 episodes, 1989-1991)
Greg Morton		(13 episodes, 1989)
Dorian Joe Clark		(13 episodes, 1989)
Joyce Gordon		(13 episodes, 1989)
Rob Cowan		(13 episodes, 1989)
Greg Swanson	...	Additional Voices (13 episodes, 1989)
Denise Pidgeon	...	Additional Voices (13 episodes, 1989)
Diane Fabian	...	Additional Voices (13 episodes, 1989)
Marilyn Lightstone	...	Additional Voices (13 episodes, 1989)
Paulina Gillis	...	Additional Voices / ... (13 episodes, 1989)
Marla Lukofsky	...	Additional Voices (13 episodes, 1989)

Also Known As:

Club Mario (USA) (new title)

Runtime:

30 min (130 episodes) | USA:30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:TV-Y7

Company:

DiC Enterprises

Trivia:

According to the interview on Shout! Factory's first DVD box set, Lou Albano had stated that he was not interested in portraying Mario and voicing him at first, but was talked into it by his wife.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In early episodes, Toad's hat is the wrong color (red with white dots, as opposed to the proper white with red dots.)

Quotes:

[upshot of the Brooklyn Bridge, two Albatrosses circle overhead]
King Bowser Koopa: [off camera] Okay, Troopas. Here is the new Koopa plan.
[scene cuts to King Koopa and a gathering of Koopatroopas and Bob-Ombs on the bridge]
King Bowser Koopa: [turns to group of Bob-Ombs] First, you Bob-Ombs are gonna blow up this Brooklyn Bridge!
[troops applaud loudly]
King Bowser Koopa: The Princess and the Mario brothers will be trapped, and we can take... step two...
Koopa Troopa: ...turn every citizen of Brooklyn into bricks!
[troops applaud once more]
King Bowser Koopa: Hold your applause. I know it's a genius idea, but I have them all the time.
Koopa Troopa: And then what happens, your royal repulsiveness?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Spin off from Super Mario Bros. (1985) (VG)

It is like cheese, it gets maturer and better the more you watch it.

While I haven't seen every episode (compared to the other Mario cartoons) and also the Legend of Zelda segments, I still think that the show is good. The show was split into two, a live action part with guest stars from the era (the 80s) and the cartoon. I didn't mind and even liked some of the live action parts with goofy Lou Albano and Danny Wells as Mario & Luigi but I enjoyed the cartoon better. There are parodies of film, books and legends in the show, but I only seen some of the parody episodes but I liked them but not as much as the earlier produced episodes which give a vintage charm due to better plotting.

I don't know why, but I find this series better animated than the next 2 Mario cartoons due to less colouring goofs and better voice acting, especially from Princess Toadstool (compared with SMB3 and Super Mario World) and the Mario Brothers sound more courageous (even Luigi, believe or not) which also introduced their Brooklyn accent. Even Mouser in the show has a good Pseudo German accent and character as well as King Koopa, my favourite character due to his lines and actions however he looks different compared to the games. During an episode, there would be a music track in the background that are covers from real bands and singers like Michael Jackson's Bad or Proud Mary. It is a shame that the US DVD releases have these omitted, while it doesn't make much difference in Super Mario Bros. 3 (except the Milli Vanilli episode) this is like a huge difference in mood and setting. I even compared King Mario of Cramelot US when it was aired on Yahooligans with the UK DVD which has the original music and I found the UK one more enjoyable with the Mario and King Koopa scenes, the US one was far less exciting, however it still had the remixed soundtrack of the Mario games as well in all episodes. One thing that's legendary is Do The Mario which still shows the test of time and is quite fun to dance to for the kids.

This is probably the best Mario cartoon since it started it all and is such a timeless classic that you should buy it or if it is aired somewhere, watch it.