Editing Count Koopula

{{about|''[[The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!]]'' episode named "Count Koopula"|the alter ego that [[Bowser|King Koopa]] uses in this episode|[[King Koopa's alter egos#Count Koopula|King Koopa's alter egos § Count Koopula]]|the VHS of the same name|[[Count Koopula (VHS)]]}}

{{SMBSS episode infobox

|alter_ego=[[King Koopa's alter egos#Count Koopula|Count Koopula]]

}}

"'''Count Koopula'''" is the fifteenth episode of ''[[The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!]]'' This episode is a parody of the story ''{{wp|Dracula}}'', with [[Bowser|Count Koopula]] playing the part of the story's titular character and main antagonist, {{wp|Count Dracula}}. Additionally, [[Mouser|Mousigor]] is a reference to {{wp|Igor (character)|Igor}}/Fritz from the ''{{wp|Frankenstein}}'' series of films. Additionally, [[Turtlevania]] is based on the country of {{wp|Transylvania}}. Finally, [[Wereturtle]]s are a parody of {{wp|werewolf|werewolves}}. Its corresponding live-action segment is "[[Magician]]." This episode is also notable for being the last episode in ''[[The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!]]'' to use {{wp|traditional animation|cel animation}}, as it would transition to {{wp|traditional animation|digital ink and paint}} halfway through the episode, also making it the first episode not only in the show's production order, but also of any [[DIC Entertainment]] television series, to use digital ink and paint.

==Plot synopsis==

Under a large tree near some rocks, Luigi is in the midst of trying to get Mario to share some of his leftover [[spaghetti]], which Mario refuses to do; (for he had 3 orders of spaghetti as opposed to Luigi, who only had 1). It is only after some convincing by Luigi and Princess Toadstool that Mario decides to share some of his spaghetti, which he hands to Luigi. Unfortunately, just as Mario gives Luigi his spaghetti, the Tweeter Bat from earlier suddenly dives downward and grabs the box of spaghetti. As the Tweeter Bat begins trying to fly away, Mario leaps through the air and grabs hold of the Tweeter's legs.

Seconds after the castle doorbell is rung, the castle door is opened by a robed Mousigor, who Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool do not recognize; asking Mousigor for shelter in the castle, Princess Toadstool gets the response from Mousigor that they are welcomed to stay in the castle. After stating this, Mousigor instructs Mario, Toad, Princess Toadstool and an increasingly nervous Luigi to follow him.

Further down the hall, Mousigor stops at three doors, each one labeled with a number, going from one to two to three. Opening the door marked with a one, Mousigor instructs Princess Toadstool to enter the room and goes on to open the door marked with a two and informs the two "guys with hair lips" to enter it. After Mario and Luigi enter the room, Mousigor opens the door marked with a three, which he reveals to be Toad's room; as Toad stands at the doorway and inspects his room, Mousigor, flustered, makes the mistake of calling Toad by his name, prompting Toad to become suspicious and attack Mousigor, tearing away the part of the robe covering his face. Shoved away by Mousigor, Toad recognizes Mousigor as King Koopa's stooge and prepares to attack him again, only to see Mousigor leave the room, locking the door and trapping Toad inside of it.

In his room, Toad is walking about, contemplating, when he stops and begins talking to a nearby gargoyle head sticking out of the wall, wishing it could talk. As Toad makes this wish, he is vaguely surprised when the gargoyle head ''does'' talk to him, telling him to go away; Toad, insulted by the gargoyle's remarks, lunges at it and knocks away the vase it was holding, which causes a portion of the wall to move, revealing a secret passage.

Following Toad into the secret passage, Mario and Luigi, as well as Toad, stumble into a confused Princess Toadstool's room, telling her they all need to escape immediately. Before anyone can react though, the door of the room is suddenly inexplicably forced open, revealing Count Koopula; as Count Koopula announces that his dinner is served, Mousigor appears from inside the secret passage and begins to taunt Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool. Panicking, Toad slams the door of the secret passage closed on Mousigor's face and, after removing the lid of a clothes chute and jumping down it, instructs Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool to follow.

With the spiders gone, Princess Toadstool puts the Piranha Plant in the pot down and pats it on the head (it even curls up and blushes from the affection of Toadstool) as Mario inspects a bottle on a nearby, wooden rack; as Mario discerns that the bottle contains tomato sauce, Princess Toadstool alerts him, Luigi and Toad that something is happening outside, which prompts Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool to all look through a window. Outside, on a hill overshadowed by the [[moon]], Count Koopula has four [[Koopa Troopa]]s stand at attendance and tells them to gaze at the full moon; as the Koopa Troopas stare at the full moon, they suddenly mutate into monstrous creatures Luigi exclaims are [[Wereturtle]]s.

With the Wereturtles incapacitated, Toad finds a trapdoor in the cellar floor, with a staircase in it; as Luigi voices his concerns about going down these ominous looking stairs, a Wereturtle gets to its feet and prepares to attack Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool. Before the Wereturtle can do anything though, Toad taunts it and throws a tomato sauce bottle at it, which lands in the Wereturtles throat, causing it to choke. With the Wereturtle distracted, Toad, Luigi, Mario and Princess Toadstool flee through the trapdoor.

Attempting to run from the zombified Goombas, who are throwing tomatoes at them, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool find the exit to the room blocked by Count Koopula and his Wereturtles. As Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool stand horrified in place, Count Koopula orders his abominable minions to take Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool to "Count Koopula's Torture Chamber, Wax Museum, and Dungeon of Horrors".

After some traveling, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool reach the limits of Turtlevania, which Princess Toadstool is glad to be out of. As Princess Toadstool says this, Mario, realizing it is lunch time, pulls a white box filled with cantellini out of his overalls and begins to stuff his face, much to Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool's amusement with Luigi declaring that Mario is the pasta vampire.

==Characters==

*[[Mario]]

*[[Luigi]]

*The Tweeter Bat only sucks the tomato sauce out of Mario's spare ravioli, but the ravioli is missing as well.

*When [[Mouser|Mousigor]] shows Mario and his friends to their rooms, the back of his ears has the same design as the front.

*When the [[Princess Peach|Princess]] pets the [[Piranha Plant]], it turns red when Mario says, "''We gotta find a way outta here.''"

*When [[Toad]] says that all Mario thinks about is food, Mario's fingernails appear on his gloves.

*The [[Koopa Troopa]]s that transform into [[Wereturtle]]s have their necks colored green instead of yellow.

==Profiles==

*'''[[Mario's Monster Madness]]''' VHS and '''[[Mario's Greatest Movie Moments]]''' DVD: ''[[Bowser|Spaghetti-sauce-sucking fang-face]] terrorizes [[Turtlevania]].''

*'''[[Robokoopa]]''' DVD: ''Mario and Co have entered Turtlevania, and seek refuge in [[Chateau Koopula|Koopa's castle]]. There, they learn of Koopa's evil plot to capture Princess and turn her into a vampire. On top of this the place is swarming with monsters!''

*'''[[Count Koopula (VHS)|Count Koopula]]''' VHS: ''Our heroes are lured into a spooky castle in the Land of Turtlevania where Count Koopula plans to turn the Princess into a spaghetti-sauce-sucking vampire.''

==Names in other languages==

{{foreign names

|Fre=Monsieur le Comte

|FreM=Sir Count

|Ger=Graf Koopula

|GerM=Count Koopula

|Ita=Il Conte Drattila

|Por=Conde Koopa

|PorM=Count Koopa

|Rus=Вампир Купула

|RusR=Vampir Kupula

|RusM=Vampire Koopula

|Spa=El Conde Drakoopa

|SpaM=Count Drakoopa

}}

*The numbered rooms are a reference to the {{wp|Monty Hall problem}}, a {{wp|brain teaser}} based from the American television game show ''{{wp|Let's Make a Deal}}''. [[Toad]] later asks, "''What's behind door number three?''", supporting this analogy.

*The bottle of tomato sauce [[Mario]] inspects in [[King Koopa's alter egos|Count Koopula]]'s cellar is dated as having been made in 1989, the same year ''[[The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!]]'' was made.