The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

Mario Bros. Super Show

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! was the first Mario television cartoon to be produced by DiC Entertainment, and the only one to be produced directly for syndication. Each episode began and ended with a live-action segment starring Mario (portrayed by WWF star Captain Lou Albano) and Luigi (Danny Wells) living in Brooklyn, where they would often be visited by celebrity guest stars. (Occasionally, the main actors would be playing guest stars themselves, forcing their regular characters to leave when it came time for their other characters to show up.)

The other portion of each episode was a cartoon episode based on the Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 video games, where Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad would battle against King Bowser, often in a movie parody. Getting into the spirit of these parodies, Bowser usually had a different outfit for each one. Interestingly, Wart, the main antagonist of the second game, was never in any of the episodes, yet most of his minions managed to appear. Like most 1980s cartoons, Bowser would prolong the series' run by escaping from his adversaries (which he did through the use of sub-space potions), despite the fact that they could easily catch him. The Super Mario Bros. cartoon was shown on Mondays through Thursdays only.

On Fridays, the show would air the Legend of Zelda cartoons based on the game of the same name, in which Link and Princess Zelda fight against the forces of Ganon.

The show later changed its name to Club Mario, replacing the live-action Mario segment with two completely different characters known as Tommy Treehuger and Coemcee, with occassional appearances by Tammy Treehuger (Tommy's twin sister) and Evil Eric (Coemcee's evil twin brother).

This show lasted from 1989 to 1990, and was available to watch from Yahooligans! TV in 2004, but was taken down along with all DiC Entertainment cartoons sometime in 2006.

Cast

• Lou Albano — Mario
• Danny Wells — Luigi
• Jeannie Elias — Princess Peach, Birdo, and Shy Guy
• John Stocker — Toad and Mouser
• Harvey Atkin — King Bowser

Episodes

Note: The first titles are the cartoon segments. The second titles are the live-action segments.

1. The Bird! The Bird! / Neatness Counts
2. King Mario of Cramalot / Day of the Orphan
3. Butch Mario & the Luigi Kid / All Steamed Up
4. Mario's Magic Carpet / Marianne and Luigeena
5. Rolling Down the River / The Mario Monster Mash
6. The Great Gladiator Gig / Bonkers From Yonkers
7. Mario and the Beanstalk / Bats in the Basement
8. Love 'Em and Leave 'Em / Will the Real Elvis Please Shut Up!
9. The Great BMX Race / Mama Mia Mario
10. Stars in Their Eyes / Alligator Dundee
11. Jungle Fever / Dance
12. Brooklyn Bound / Cher's Poochie
13. Toad Warriors / E.C. The Extra Creepy
14. The Fire of Hercufleas / The Marios Fight Back
15. Count Koopula / Magician
16. Pirates of Koopa / Do You Believe in Magic?
17. Two Plumbers and a Baby / Lost Dog
18. The Adventures of Sherlock Mario / Plumbers of the Year
19. Do You Princess Toadstool Take This Koopa...? / Mario Hillbillies
20. The Pied Koopa / Super Plant
21. Koopenstein / Baby Mario Love
22. On Her Majesty's Sewer Service / 9001: A Mario Odyssey
23. Mario and Joliet / Fake Bro
24. Too Hot to Handle / Time Out Luigi
25. Hooded Robin and His Mario Men / Flower Power
26. 20,000 Koopas Under the Sea / Vampire Until Ready
27. Mighty McMario and the Pot of Gold / Heart Throb
28. Mario Meets Koop-zilla / Fortune Teller
29. Koopa Klaus / Little Marios
30. Mario and the Red Baron Koopa / Gorilla My Dreams
31. The Unzappables / George Washington Slept Here
32. Bad Rap / Caught in a Draft
33. The Mark of Zero / Toupee
34. The Ten Koopmandments / The Artist
35. The Koopas Are Coming! The Koopas Are Coming! / Zenned Out Mario
36. The Trojan Koopa / Texas Tea
37. Quest For Pizza / The Painting
38. The Great Gold Coin Rush / Game Show Host
39. Elvin Lives / Home Radio
40. Plumber´s Academy / Glasnuts
41. Karate Koopa / Adee Don't
42. Mario of the Apes / Chippie Chipmunks
43. Princess, I Shrunk the Mario Brothers / A Basement Divided
44. Little Red Riding Princess / No Way to Treat a Queenie
45. The Provolone Ranger / Goodbye Mr. Fish
46. Escape From Koopatraz / French
47. Mario of the Deep / Two Bums From Brooklyn
48. Flatbush Koopa / Opera
49. Raiders of the Lost Mushroom / Cyrano de Mario
50. Crocodile Mario / Rowdy Roddy's Rotten Pipes
51. Star Koopa / Santa Claus is Coming to Flatbush
52. Robo Koopa / Captain Lou is Missing

Trivia

• Every Friday, a Legend of Zelda cartoon was shown in place of a Mario cartoon. Scenes from the episode were shown during the live-action segments as sneak previews on the preceding days. (These preview clips are edited out of the episodes on Yahooligans! TV.)
• When shown in reruns after cancellation, DiC took out all the song covers played during the chase scenes, and replaced them with instrumentals of songs featured in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3.
• The show was sponsored by Domino's Pizza.
• From 1989 to 1991, Kid Klassics released NTSC VHS videos of the show. These videos contained two, one, or no live-action segments, and featured the cartoon segments as they originally aired (meaning they included the chase songs that were edited out in later airings). On these videos, the "Super Mario Bros." theme wasn't included before the cartoon segment.
• The episode "Two Plumbers and a Baby" was aired without an intro on television.
• There was a View-master three-reel set based on the show (but labeled as "Super Mario Bros. 2"). The A reel showed various scenes from the live-action segments, while the B and C reels were an adaptation of the episode "The Bird! The Bird!" Oddly, although the picture descriptions say "King Koopa", the villain featured in reels B and C is clearly Wart.