When the cartoon itself finally begins, we’re dropped into a factory where Koopa Troopas are dumping toys into a machine to grind them up into junk. The lyrics are different and tell the viewer how the Mario brothers came to be in the Mushroom Kingdom (they found the secret warp zone while working on the drain). When we get to the cartoon, we get the other opening credits with the modified rap. The show makes very liberal use of a laugh track which makes it feel even more dated than it is. The Mario brothers basically speak in Italian stereotypes and seem to consume nothing but pizza and spaghetti. For some reason, the telephone is always shown in the middle of an actual pizza and it’s covered in cheese and pepperoni. Their home, which doubles as their place of business, makes no attempt to disguise itself as something other than a set. Albano even shaved his signature beard for the role, which was quite a commitment for him. They’re definitely a little older than how I would have pictured the Mario brothers, but they have the colored overalls, blue undershirt, and big moustache. Both men are, unfortunately, no longer with us.
CAPTAIN LOU ALBANO AND DANNY WELLS PROFESSIONAL
For one, Mario is played by former professional wrestler Lou Albano and Luigi by Danny Wells. Now, I already said I’m going to ignore it, but while we’re here, I’ll just make some observations. When the opening credits are done, the episode begins with the first segment in the “Little Marios” plot.
However, I unironically love “The Plumber’s Rap.” It is perfect for what it is. Let’s just get it out of the way right now: this show sucks. Plus, it also allowed for the show to have some guest stars when the opportunity presented itself.Įvery episode opens with the very catchy theme song, “The Plumber’s Rap.” There are actually two versions of the rap, the one at the beginning of the show and then a different, much shorter one, that introduced the cartoon itself. There’s no on-location filming, wardrobe is pretty consistent, and they could probably bang out a few of these things in a day. And the live-action part is just shot on a soundstage. The actual cartoon in each episode is only 12 minutes or so in length. Who knows what Nintendo charged for the license, but my guess is the live-action was a lot cheaper to produce than animation. Why did DiC feel the show needed this live-action component? Well, it probably didn’t, rather DiC just saw an opportunity to knock the costs down. When the cartoon concluded, the show would go back to the live-action portion where it’s story would progress and then resolve in the final act. The cartoon featured Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and her attendant Toad as they traveled through the vast Mushroom Kingdom always crossing paths with the evil King Koopa. They would have their own plot to untangle that would be setup in the opening act before the show would transition to the cartoon segment. Super Show! would begin with a segment featuring actors playing the brothers Mario and Luigi. That was hardly a surprise, but what was a bit surprising was the decision to include a live-action component in the show. It handed things over to Inspector Gadget creator, Andy Heyward, and trusted him to bring Nintendo’s mascot to the world of cartoons. Well, it’s not when you ignore that there are plenty of far more talented animation studios in Japan that Nintendo could have turned to, but their cartoon was clearly being targeted towards Americans so that likely explains the choice.įor DiC’s first stab at a Nintendo cartoon it turned to the Super Mario Bros. Because of their stature in the world of animation, it wasn’t a surprise to see Nintendo go with DiC. The company has had some big hits while the former Hanna-Barbera juggernaut is starting to flounder and will soon be purchased by Ted Turner. By now, DiC is practically on top of the cartoon world in the US. Good old DiC was the first to come calling. Other older video game stars made that leap before Mario and found success, so it’s no surprise that Nintendo was willing to take the plunge as well. This naturally made everything associated with Nintendo desirable for things like cartoons. If it could be sold to a kid, then it had a Mario on it.
In addition to video games, there were tons of licensing deals for clothing, school supplies, bedding, you name it.
The Nintendo Entertainment System came storming into living rooms, basements, and dens across the country making Mario and Luigi household names. During the late 80s Nintendo was on fire in the US.
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