Rock TV

Rock TV is the tenth episode of the Super Mario World animated series.

Plot Synopsis

While pacing back and forth in his castle, King Bowser Koopa muses about how he hasn't done anything exceptionally evil in a while. Trying to think-up a plan of some-kind, Bowser remembers one of his trips to Earth; more specifically, how television can put people in a near vegetative state. Suddenly, Bowser comes up with the idea of using TV to rot the minds of the cave-people in Dome City.

Later, Oogtar the Caveboy rushes to the Dome Castle of Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Princess Toadstool, telling them to come quickly and see something. Following Oogtar, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Princess Toadstool are surprised to see what appears to be a giant, screenless television set.

As the cave-people stare in awe at the giant television set, Bowser appears behind it with Cheatsy and Kooky Von Koopa, who are helping him put on a rather crude human costume. Going into the giant television's empty screen, Bowser, in costume, introduces himself as "Robby Rockwell". "Robby" proceeds to tell all the onlookers that he's here to introduce "Rock TV". Oogtar proceeds to ask what Rock TV is, and Bowser explains that it is hundreds of different shows such as Mr. Koopa's Neighborhood (which Yoshi finds fun) and The World Dinosaur Wrestling Federation (which is really nothing more than dinosaur puppets bumping into one another). After being booed for this poor performance, Bowser shows the cave-people "Rock, Rock TV" with such stars as "Vanilla Ice-Age"; after saying this, Bowser proceeds to dress-up and dance around. Leaving the stage, Bowser returns in his Robby disguise and proceeds to tell everyone that they can buy their own "Koopasonic Rock TV" for ten coins and a coin a minute.

Later, Mario and Luigi are in line to buy a Rock TV. Despite Mario saying that ten coins is a great deal, Luigi says that one coin a minute can really add-up and reminds Mario of the "Speak to Santa Hotline" incident in Brooklyn, which added up to a $1,295.31 phone bill. Hearing this, Mario simply tells Luigi that paying for their TV will be easy, all they need to do is bash blocks to get them. Approaching Bowser, Mario proceeds to buy a TV, despite Luigi's suspicion of "Robby Rockwell" ("how come his lips aren't moving when he talks?" Mario just thinks "Rockwell's" watched too many cartoons).

Once the TV is at home, Princess Toadstool proceeds to tell Mario and Luigi that she won't have any part in watching the TV (ironic), saying that she and Yoshi are going for a nature walk, and proceeds to walk-out with a protesting Yoshi. Putting a coin the TV, the Mario and Luigi are suddenly hit by the spell of a Koopa Wizard hidden in the TV. Appearing to go into a trance, Mario and Luigi crouch-down on their couch and begin watching "everybody's favorite Kooparobics show, Koopa Sez!". As Bowser, wearing sports equipment, begins giving demands on TV, Mario and Luigi and all the cave-people begin to follow him in a daze.

After a while, Bowser says he's got "a game he wants everybody to play", at which point Mario and Luigi's TV breaks down, snapping them out of the trance. Unfortunately, Bowser orders all the cave-people to go to the Dome Castle and capture its inhabitants. Like robots, the cave-people obey Bowser and, grabbing anything nearby to use as weapons, rush-off to the Dome Castle. At the Dome Castle, Mario, frustrated with his broken TV, throws it out a nearby window and into the moat surrounding the Dome Castle. As Mario does this, he notices the cave-people storming the castle. Before Mario or Luigi can do anything, they are captured by the zombified cave-people.

Brought to Bowser's giant TV, Mario and Luigi are forced to participate in "All-Star Prehistoric Tag-Team Wrestling", which has Hip and Hop Koopa as the judges and Big Mouth Koopa as the announcer. After going on an extremely long-winded speech, and introducing the Tyrannosaurus Twins, Big Mouth is finally shut-up, first by one of the dinosaurs, only to return, and then by Bowser, who replaces him. Bowser proceeds to introduce Mario and Luigi into the ring.

Attempting to be friends with the Tyrannosaurus Twins, Mario ends-up being swirled around by the bigger of the two, while Luigi is hurled against a wall by the smaller one. With the Mario Bros. taking a beating, Princess Toadstool and Yoshi appear and, after seeing that Mario and Luigi are in trouble, with Yoshi's help, hitting a ! Block at the top of the giant TV, release a swarm of miniature Marios (prefiguring the Pal Pills from Super Paper Mario). With Big Mouth, Hip, Kooky and Bully Koopa chasing the miniature Marios and the Tyrannosaurus Twins distracted, Princess Toadstool manages to hit a ? Block, which releases a feather.

Attempting to grab this feather, Bowser is knocked aside by Mario, who uses the feather to transform into Cape Mario. With his newfound powers, Mario easily defeats the Tyrannosaurus Twins. In the next scene, Yoshi begins eating all the nearby Rock TVs, spitting the apparently disgusting-tasting Koopa Wizards out of them.

As Mario and Luigi thank Princess Toadstool for helping them, Yoshi begins eating the nearby, giant TV. A panicking Bowser tries to stop Yoshi, only to be crushed by dozens of falling blocks. A cheerful Yoshi, wanting to help the trapped Bowser, begins to eat all the blocks around him at an extremely slow pace.

Trivia

• "Rock TV" can be seen as a social commentary, in this case, on television and its powers.

• The show seen in Bowser's flashback is Wheel of Fortune (or a spoof thereof).

• When Mario and Luigi are slammed into one another by the Tyrannosaurus Twins, the color of their clothes switch. In several scenes of the episode, the "L" on Luigi's hat turns white against a black background. Also, Mario's cape briefly turns red in the episode while his overalls turn blue.

• "Vanilla Ice-Age" and "Mr. Koopa's Neighborhood" are parodies of the 1990's rapper Vanilla Ice and the children's show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, respectively. Also, Mario mentions PBS, the network on which Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was broadcast.

• In the scene where Mario grabs the Cape Feather and throws one of the Tyrannosaurus Twins off him, it should be noted that Luigi somehow turns into bigger version of Mario.

• The company name Koopasonic is an obvious pun on television manufacturing company Panasonic.

• A plot very similar to this episode was done on a later Nintendo animated series, Kirby: Right Back at Ya! In the episode "Un-Reality TV", King Dedede used his own television station to brainwash the Cappies into turning against Kirby.

• Although the Magikoopas are seen escaping from the TVs that Yoshi eats, it is never shown what happens to the Magikoopa who was in Mario's TV when he throws it out.

• The family that appears in Bowser's flashback bear a huge resemblance to Norman, his wife and Bud from The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode "Mush-Rumors". However while Norman had a full head of red hair, the husband seen in the flashback is bald with gray hair. Likewise, Bud's hair is brown, while in the flashback, the boy is shown to have blonde hair.

• The "World Dinosaur Wrestling Federation" can be seen as a parody of the WWE, since it was still called the World Wrestling Federation back when this episode aired.