Love 'Em and Leave 'Em
- Not to be confused with Lava or Leave 'Em.
"Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" is the eighth episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. Its corresponding live-action segment is "Will the Real Elvis Please Shut Up!." This is the only episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! in which King Koopa doesn't make an appearance, though he is mentioned in the episode.
Plot Synopsis
Inside a castle in the kingdom of Rotunda Land, the land's queen, Queen Rotunda is in the middle of a conversation with another woman named Hildy, who is in the middle of brewing a potion. As Hildy continues to mix her potion, Queen Rotunda asks if Hildy's potion will make Prince Pompadour fall in love with her. Hildy replies that her Passion Potion will definitely make Prince Pompadour fall in love with Queen Rotunda, they just have to make sure that she is the first person he sees after they make him drink the potion. After saying this, Hildy proceeds to put some of the Passion Potion into a heart shaped container.
Outside Queen Rotunda's castle, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad are standing on a grassy knoll; suddenly, a beeping and rattling noise cuts through the air, surprising Luigi, who asks what the noise is. Mario calmly responds to Luigi's question by saying the noise is coming from his Red-Hot Pepper Detector and proceeds to take a device resembling a chili pepper out of his overalls. As the Red-Hot Pepper Detector begins to shake in Mario's hands, he, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad run in the direction of Queen Rotunda's castle.
After some running, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad find a large field filled with giant peppers. Luigi, having grabbed several peppers, begins to stumble backwards, only to stop from falling when he leans on to a recently thrown lance. While resting on the lance, Luigi suddenly notices three Beezos, one of which is riding an Ostro, wearing armor and wielding lances nearby.
As Luigi is forced backwards by two Beezos and their lances, he alerts Mario, Toad and Princess Toadstool of their situation. As Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad are surrounded by Beezos, the Beezo riding an Ostro tells Princess Toadstool that they are stealing the red-hot peppers of Queen Rotunda. Princess Toadstool tells the Beezo that they aren't stealing anything, these peppers are growing in the wild. The Beezo tells Princess Toadstool that everything in Rotunda Land belongs to Queen Rotunda and, despite them giving the peppers back, the Beezo says that Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool are to be taken to Queen Rotunda's dungeon.
Not wanting to be captured, Mario, grabbing a nearby pepper, throws it at the Beezo riding the Ostro, knocking it off its Ostro. With the Beezo distracted, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad begin to run, right into a nearby hedge maze. In the hedge maze, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad, who have become split-up, begin to frantically run from several Beezos flying at them with lances.
After some running, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool find there way out of the hedge maze and back together. Suddenly, the Beezos that had been chasing them appear and, using their lances, hoist Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool into the air and tell them that they are to be taken to Queen Rotunda.
In the castle of Queen Rotunda, Queen Rotunda herself is in the midst of thanking Hildy for her Passion Potion when one of her Beezo henchmen enter the room. Approaching Queen Rotunda, the Beezo tells her that she has prisoners in the throne room, who were caught stealing her royal hot peppers. Queen Rotunda, outraged by this begins to leave the room, only to be stopped by Hildy, who gives her some of the Passion Potion; gaining the Passion Potion, Queen Rotunda leaves the room, knocking her Beezo servant aside.
In the throne room, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad are forced to their knees by several Beezos as a nearby chef wheels a cart filled with food into the room, which Luigi perceives as his, Mario, Toad and Princess Toadstool's last meal. Suddenly, Queen Rotunda enters the room and tells Luigi that he doesn't get a last meal before eating some icing off a cake on the cart. Eating the icing, Queen Rotunda suddenly kicks the cart of food away, with the chef, saying that the cake is imperfect for her wedding to Prince Pompadour.
Going to her throne, Queen Rotunda is reminded of Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool's presence by a Beezo; hearing the Beezo, Queen Rotunda simply orders Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad to be executed by being beheaded.
Mario, panicking runs up to Queen Rotunda to tell her that he has the solution to her wedding dessert problem. As Mario is held in place by several Beezos, Queen Rotunda listens to what he has to say; Mario offers to make Queen Rotunda some "hot pepper pistachio ice cream" for her wedding, which Queen Rotunda decides to allow Mario to make for her, before beheading him.
Later, after making his hot pepper pistachio ice cream, Mario, along with Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool, presents it to Queen Rotunda. Seeing that the hot pepper pistachio ice cream at least looks good, Queen Rotunda decides to take a bite of it; unfortunately, the hot pepper pistachio ice cream turns out to be incredibly spicy, causing Queen Rotunda to frantically hop around her throne room yelling for water. As Queen Rotunda continues to yell for water, Mario, wanting to help Queen Rotunda, grabs the nearby bottle of Passion Potion on the armrest of Queen Rotunda's throne and pours it in her mouth, throwing the bottle away.
As Queen Rotunda begins to recover, Mario asks if she's alright and if she liked his hot pepper pistachio ice cream, only to be shocked when Queen Rotunda begins to confess her love for him. Grabbing Mario, Queen Rotunda begins to kiss him as Princess Toadstool finds the bottle the Passion Potion was in and discovers it to be a love potion after reading the label on the bottle. As Mario begins to run from the love crazed Queen Rotunda, Queen Rotunda orders her Beezo guards to put Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool in her dungeon.
Still running from Queen Rotunda, Mario exits her throne room and hides behind the door when Queen Rotunda follows him through. As Queen Rotunda continues to search for him, Mario tries to sneak away from her; unfortunately, Queen Rotunda notices Mario and pulls the hallway carpet from under him and proceeds to wrap Mario in it. Trapped in the carpet and Queen Rotunda's grasp, Mario begins to panic and yell for help as Queen Rotunda says she has to prepare her wedding to him.
Inside her throne room, Queen Rotunda is in the process of sealing the flavored wedding invitations she's purchased for her and Mario's wedding; while licking an envelope, Queen Rotunda proceeds to throw it away, disgusted at its spinach taste. The spinach flavored envelope proceeds to land near Mario, who is being forced to use an exercise machine, who asks if he can lick it. Queen Rotunda suddenly refuses to let Mario lick the envelope, saying he has to stay on his diet for their wedding.
In the dungeons of Queen Rotunda, Luigi begins to bemoan the fate of himself, Toad and Princess Toadstool; as Toad tries to cheer Luigi up though, Princess Toadstool forms a plan on how to escape their cell.
Later, Princess Toadstool begins to yell to a nearby Beezo guard that Luigi and Toad have escaped. The Beezo, running to the cell, notices Luigi and Toad's absence and begins to unlock the cell door. As the Beezo enters the cell, Luigi and Toad, at Princess Toadstool's signal, suddenly drop from the ceiling of the cell and trap the Beezo in a blanket; as Luigi holds the Beezo in place, Toad grabs the Beezo's keyring and places it over the Beezo, keeping the blanket covering it in place. After Luigi and Toad finish trapping the Beezo, Princess Toadstool leaves the cell, with Toad and Luigi following her.
In Queen Rotunda's kitchen, Queen Rotunda is in the process of kissing and hugging Mario hard enough to hurt him; eventually releasing Mario from her rough grip, Queen Rotunda decides to have some more of Mario's hot pepper pistachio ice cream and begins to eat a nearby bowl of it, refusing to let Mario have any, saying he's still on a diet. After some begging though, Mario gets Queen Rotunda to let him have some hot pepper pistachio ice cream; unfortunately for Mario, he doesn't get to have any hot pepper pistachio ice cream after all, as Queen Rotunda, in a fit of rage, throws the only bowl of it at a Beezo which had appeared to inform her that Toad, Princess Toadstool and Luigi had escaped the dungeons.
As Queen Rotunda begins to reprimand and threaten the Beezo that had informed her of Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool's escape with a beheading, Mario begins to try and run-off to find Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool. Before he can leave Queen Rotunda's kitchen though, Mario is forced back by a Beezo brandishing a sword; with the Beezo blocking his path, Mario is grabbed by Queen Rotunda, who begins to give him several forceful kisses as Mario yells for help from Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool.
In a hallway, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool, having heard Mario's shouts for help, also overhear several Beezo guards sent to look for them saying that Mario and Queen Rotunda's wedding is in two hours. As the Beezos pass them, Princess Toadstool, Luigi and Toad enter a nearby room. Noticing the various magic potions surrounding her, Princess Toadstool gets an idea, another Passion Potion could be created and used on Queen Rotunda to make her fall in love with someone besides Mario. Thinking Princess Toadstool's plan to be a good one, Luigi begins to read a nearby book of potions to find the ingredients needed to create a Passion Potion.
In the courtyard of her castle, Queen Rotunda is in the midst of preparing her wedding to Mario as several peasants and Beezos look onward; inside the laboratory of Hildy, Luigi and Toad are creating a Passion Potion as Princess Toadstool reads the ingredients in the potion to them. Unfortunately, once Toad adds the odd ingredient of a Fat Boys record, the potion they are creating explodes violently. In the castle courtyard, Queen Rotunda has finally decided to begin her wedding to Mario, as a nervous Luigi watches them from a window. As Luigi watches the wedding begin, Toad adds the final ingredient of the Passion Potion, which doesn't explode this time. Hearing Toad exclaim that the potion is ready, Luigi collects some of it in a erlenmeyer flask.
As Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool begin to descend the tower they're in to the courtyard below, Queen Rotunda begins to drag a pink colored tuxedo wearing Mario down the aisle towards a Beezo minister and a Beezo ringbearer. Seeing Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool approaching, Mario makes a distraction by pretending to tie his shoe, allowing Luigi to pour the Passion Potion from his flask into two nearby glasses resting on a table.
Seeing that Luigi has poured the Passion Potion in two glasses, Mario proposes a toast to Queen Rotunda and the nearby Prince Pompadour and gives the two the two glasses. Drinking the Passion Potion, Queen Rotunda and Prince Pompadour instantly fall in love with one another. Proposing to Queen Rotunda, Prince Pompadour gets a yes from Queen Rotunda as a reply to his proposal and the two instantly embrace.
Mario, happy that he's not marrying Queen Rotunda, goes to thank Luigi, who is waving to him up above. As Luigi waves though, the stair beneath him crumbles slightly, knocking him off balance. Before Luigi falls though, he is grabbed by Princess Toadstool, only to drop his flask of Passion Potion into the wedding's punch bowl.
As Mario climbs the stairs where Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool are, Hildy goes to get a drink of punch to propose a toast to Queen Rotunda for not marrying Mario. As Luigi tries to warn her, Hildy drinks the Passion Potion spiked punch and instantly falls in love the first person she sees, Luigi.
Seeing that Hildy has fallen in love with him, Luigi quickly begins to run from Queen Rotunda's castle and Rotunda Land with Princess Toadstool, Mario and Toad, with the love-struck Hildy chasing them.
Animation and Continuity errors
- Several animation problems can be found in this episode, such as the spots on Toad's cap turning black, Luigi gaining Mario's hat and several objects and characters disappearing and reappearing.
