Tuesday September 5, 1989
102
King Mario of Cramalot
Mario and Co arrive in Cramalot, only to be assualted by Beezos. They are saved by Mervin the magician, who tells them about how Koopa took over Cramalot, and how he can be defeated with a golden plunger that one must pull from a golden sink. Although Mario succeeds in pulling the plunger, he ends up losing it to Koopa, and the group is sentenced to execution in a dungeon.
Day of the Orphan
A bratty girl who refers to herself as "Patty, the sad-eyed orphan", persuades the Marios to take her in.
This is one of the first episodes of "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show". It is actually the first one to be shown. hide show
In case you haven't noticed, you can tell this episode was actually meant to be the first one to be shown before "The Bird! The Bird!/Neatness Counts". The theme song for this episode is a tad slow and it is the only episode I know that does not have any previews for future episodes of "The Legend of Zelda". Anyway, the episode opens up with the live-action segment "Day of the Orphan", which is about Mario and Luigi helping an "orphaned" girl celebrate her birthday. In between the segment, we see the animated adventure "King Mario of Cramalot", which is about Mario and his friends trying to save Cramalot from King Koopa and his henchman with the help of Mervin the wizard. Despite what I said earlier, this episode is good to watch, espcially with Mario as Super Mario.
Despite the clumsy animation, this episode manages to be decent enough. hide show
Before I begin, I just want to say that the overall animation quality throughout this episode is HORRIBLE! Not only is it full of goofs, but the animation itself feels all jerky and choppy. I won’t bore you with details as you can look up the goofs for yourself, but it doesn’t take a neurosurgeon to realize that the animation quality has taken a huge nosedive from the previous episode, which had really good animation.
Now, onto the episode itself. “King Mario of Cramalot” is a parody of the story of King Arthur. It starts off with Mario in Co. in the land of Cramalot. It’s a stereotypical medieval kingdom to say the least, but probably one of the plainer lands that our heroes venture to throughout the course of the series. Anyhow, after Mario says the Plumber’s Log, which is #22-37, Princess explains that they’ve come to Cramalot hoping that Mervin the magician can help free her people from King Koopa. After being attacked by Beezos, Mervin himself shows up in a puff of smoke. He’s a wizard clothed in purple, and he speaks in a Yiddish accent. He casts a magic spell, and with that, the Beezos are gone. After properly introducing himself, he takes Mario and Co to his cave and explains that the Beezos attacked because Koopa (natch) ordered them to. Mervin then uses his crystal ball (which runs on electricity) to show Mario and Co a flashback. Apparently, when the old King of Cramalot died, Koopa came and took over. Mervin then explains that a chosen one must pull a golden plunger from a golden sink in the town square, and that’s what Mario sets out to do. Mario, of course, succeeds in pulling out the plunger, but when Koopa finds out; he gets into a humorous argument with a dim-witted Troopa, and heads to the town square to steal the plunger from Mario. Koopa blackmails Mario into handing him the plunger, and sentences Mario and Co to execution in a dungeon. Just when they’re about to get killed, Mervin appears in a puff of smoke and rescues them. Mario then receives a plumber snake referred to as Excalibur, much like Excalibur from the original story (the hand in the water). Excalibur’s power makes Mario power up to Super Mario, and he sets off to fight Koopa. Keep in mind that Mario doesn’t actually take advantage of being Super in this episode, but who doesn’t like seeing Super Mario?
Back to the episode. In order to proceed, Luigi is forced into swimming across the Trouter-infested moat and lowering the drawbridge to the castle in a rather humorous scene. He actually runs over the water in midair, much like Wile E. Coyote would. Once they enter the castle, Mario and Koopa get into a rather long fight, which lasts over two minutes. It doesn’t get boring, as we get to see Luigi, Princess, Toad, and even Mervin fighting off Troopas. In the end, Mario succeeds in knocking the golden plunger out of Koopa’s claw. However, Koopa uses a potion to create a warp zone and escapes going to jail, or whatever Mario and Co plan on doing with him once he’s caught. In the end, Mario is crowned king, but when he learns that the king must stay trim, exercise, and diet, he literally head for the hills. And that’s how the episode ends.
Anyway, this episode probably has some of the worst artwork of the entire series. I’d say that the quality of the animation and backgrounds rival a Yogi Bear cartoon, and that definitely brings the grade of this episode down a bit. However, there was a lot of humor that carried the episode along, particularly with Luigi and Mervin. Overall, this episode isn’t too special, but if you don’t mind poor animation, there’s plenty of humor to go around.
The live-action sketch, “Day of the Orphan”, was rather amusing. A girl named Patty, who’s played by Danica McKellar of The Wonder Years, comes by claiming she’s a poor orphan. Even though the Marios feel sorry for her, she has to yell until she gets what she wants, and what she wants is a birthday party. After setting up for Patty, her parents show up and set things straight. Her dad even grounds her until the end of the century, which, if you take into account that we’re past Y2K, means that her sentence is already over! But, since this takes place in 1989, I’ll let that slide. After Patty apologizes to the Marios, they decide to throw a party anyway, since all the decorations have been set up. Much like “King Mario of Cramalot”, this sketch is full of humor, so you’ll probably enjoy it.
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