True Colors

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode
"True Colors"
Production number	123
Airdate	November 24, 1990 (English) November 22, 1991 (French)[?]
Writer(s)	Steven Fischer
Opening curtain	Grass Land
Featured song	"Town Painting"
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"True Colors" is the twenty-third episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3; it aired alongside another episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 entitled "Recycled Koopa". This episode depicts a social commentary concerning racism, highlighted when Luigi asks Mario if people in the real world would ever learn to not judge someone by color.

Plot synopsis

The Doomship comes hovering over the Mushroom Kingdom at midnight. However, King Koopa cannot stay awake for the sneak attack, so Kooky and Cheatsy have to pull it off themselves. They send out swarms of Para-Goombas and Para-Beetles to attack and terrorize the Mushroom People, but Mario and Luigi show up in Raccoon form and chase the enemies away.

Kooky reminding Koopa that he is getting tired.

Back at his castle, Koopa complains about his sneak attack having failed, claiming that the Mushroom People are too united to be beaten. Cheatsy says he has a plan of his own: to divide and conquer the Mushrooms. Koopa, however, is too tired from trying to pull off the midnight attack to listen and falls asleep.

Two of the Mushroom People after being sprayed by some of the Koopa Color Goopa.

The next morning, Cheatsy and Kooky fly the Doomship over the Mushroom Kingdom, spraying red and blue paints called Koopa Color Goopa all over the residents, including the Mario Bros. (During this, Koopa has to monitor the progress as he is too tired to navigate.) At first, the Mushrooms pay no mind to their new colors, but Cheatsy and Kooky walk around disguised as red and blue Mushroom folk themselves (respectively) and cause problems for folks of the other color (and even each other) so that the red and blue Mushrooms turn against each other. Princess Toadstool (who was not hit by the paint) and the Mario Bros. try to break up the fight, but soon even Mario (who was painted blue) and Luigi (who is now red) are tricked by the Koopalings into bickering with each other. The Koopalings then convince the Mushrooms into having a "rumble" tomorrow morning.

Cheatsy and Kooky talking about their plan as Mario and Luigi overhear them.

That night, on orders from the Princess, Mario and Luigi sneak into Kastle Koopa to find out what King Koopa is up to. Reaching a three-way fork, the brothers cannot agree on a passage to take, so Mario goes through the left tunnel and Luigi goes right. Both routes turn out to be bad choices (the left one has a Chain Chomp and the right one a Fire Chomp). A swarm of Para-Goombas then fly at them, and the brothers both run down the center passage. Leaping through a Warp Pipe (unseen until they exit), they are faced by three more pipes, though while they are arguing over which path to take, they hear Kooky and Cheatsy's voices coming from one of the pipes. Looking down the pipe, they overhear the Koopalings saying that once the Mushroom folks have worn each other out, King Koopa will march in with his army and take over. Realizing that they have been tricked into bickering over their color, Mario and Luigi apologize to each other, and then Mario says he has an idea to "unrumble that rumble!"

The Mushroom People after realizing they have been tricked.

The next morning, a still-tired Koopa, accompanied by an army of Sledge Brothers, is observing the Mushroom People's civil war just as it is starting. Before the fight can start, though, Mario and Luigi come between them, saying that the Princess is trapped in a warp drain. The people immediately follow the Marios to a pipe where Toad is waiting. The Princess then comes out from behind the pipe, saying that she is glad the Mushroom folks have left the battlefield. Mario then gives a speech to the Mushrooms, letting them know that they are all Mushroom People no matter what color they are. The Mushroom People then make up.

Mario explaining to Princess Toadstool as the effects of the Koopa Color Goopa wear off.

Cheatsy and Kooky jump in at that point, trying to continue the war, but when the two Koopa Kids start fighting each other, Mario and Luigi pull their masks off, exposing them. Cheatsy tries to call King Koopa for help, but he has fallen asleep again, so he and Kooky run off. At that point, the Koopa Color Goopa wears off, but as Mario points out, it does not really matter since everyone has learned that it is what is inside that counts.

Cast

• Walker Boone — Mario
• Tony Rosato — Luigi
• Tracey Moore — Princess Toadstool
• John Stocker — Toad, Para-Goomba
• Harvey Atkin — King Bowser Koopa, red mushroom
• James Rankin — Cheatsy Koopa
• Dan Hennessey — singer #2
• Michael Stark — Kooky von Koopa
• Gordon Masten — singer #1
• Paulina Gillis — female singer

Animation and continuity errors

• In spite of the opening taking place at midnight, it still appears to be daylight.
• The first group of Mushroom People to be terrorized by the Para-Goombas and Para-Beetles are mistakenly colored as though they have already been hit by the colored goop.
• When the Mario Bros. reach the point where they have to choose which of the three pipes to go down, Mario says, "Pipe number one is the way to go," to which Luigi responds that he will take the second pipe. When he says this, he holds up three fingers instead of two, and his lips appear to be saying "three"--despite that he is clearly saying "two".
• When the Mario Bros. get to the first choosing point, Mario's hair is brown, when it should be black.
• When Kooky says that coloring the Mushroom People was a brilliant scheme, his face is orange when it should be green. Also, when Kooky puts his Mushroomer mask back on his mouth is moving but does not appear to be saying anything.
• When King Koopa says, "I hope we can get this conquering over with," his mouth is not moving. Later, when Cheatsy speaks through the wand to warn Koopa that there is not much time left to attack, his mouth is not moving either.
• When Cheatsy is telling Koopa his plan, his nostrils disappear multiple times.
• When Mario and Luigi are discussing entering Kastle Koopa, one of the former's legs is missing.
• When the paint hits the first two mushrooms, they both get squirted in one shot; in the next shot with them they each have the opposite colors.
• When Cheatsy says, "Oh yeah?" for the second time, Kooky is the one shown mouthing it.
• When Cheatsy claims that King Dad will be top banana with the kingdom split, his disguise pants has his usual feet showing.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
French	L'attaque surprise[?]	The surprise attack
German	Alles bunt[?]	All Colorful
Italian	La guerra dei colori[?]	The War of Colors
Portuguese	Verdadeiras Cores (Herbert Richers dub) As Verdadeiras Cores (BKS dub)[?]	True Colors
Romanian	Culori adevărate	True colors
Spanish (NOA)	Colores verdaderos[?]	True colors
Spanish (NOE)	Colores reales[?]	Real colors

Trivia

• The airships used by Cheatsy and Kooky are similar to the airships used by Rocky Wrenches in World 8-Airship.