Rock TV
Rock TV is the tenth episode of the Super Mario World animated series.
Plot
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 has 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, 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, Mario and Luigi are suddenly hit by the spell of a Magikoopa 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 by Bowser, only to return, and then as he is introducing the Marios, one of the twins tosses him out. 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 gets tangled up in the ropes and sling-shot into the opposite side of the ring 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 because he thinks that the giant TV is still useful to him somehow, 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.
Animation and Continuity errors
- Unlike "The Wheel Thing", Kooky's snout is not the same color as his skin.
- In the plumbing flashback, after Mario mentions they used to have to work for a living, Mario's sideburns are missing.
- When Luigi tells Mario that one of the Tyrannosaurus Twins wants to shake his hand, Luigi is leaning on a rope. Strangely, the rope is a different color than the rope above it.
- When the Tyrannosaurus Twins throw Mario and Luigi into each other, their clothes change colour, but do not change the letters on their caps.
Trivia
- This episode can be seen as a commentary on addiction to television, an issue that had gained widespread focus by the time it aired. In 1990, the year before this episode aired, the FCC in the United States enacted the Children's Television Act which required networks to strengthen educational values in children's television. After Super Mario World aired its lone season, NBC followed suit in 1992 by eliminating all animated programming from its Saturday morning lineup.
- "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.
- The company name Koopasonic is a pun on the Japanese electronics company Panasonic.
- Mario's line "I want my Rock TV!" is a parody of MTV's slogan at the time, "I Want My MTV."
- The "World Dinosaur Wrestling Federation" can be seen as a parody of the World Wrestling Federation, now called the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
- Another Nintendo-based show Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, uses a similar plot in one episode, entitled "Un-Reality TV". In Rock TV and Un-Reality TV, Dedede and Koopa, respectively, both try to use TV as a way to hypnotize the towns' citizens into getting rid of the heroes (Kirby and the Mario Bros., respectively).
- This is Kooky's last animation appearance. Similar to Kootie Pie in Send in the Clown, Kooky has no lines despite his screen time.
