The Ugly Mermaid

"The Ugly Mermaid" is the eighteenth episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3; it aired alongside another episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 entitled "Mush-Rumors".

Plot synopsis
The episode begins as King Koopa swiftly pilots his Doomsub through the ocean, planning to conquer the underwater world of Mertropolis, which he plans to turn into Kooptropolis. Already aware of his plans, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad pursue the sub, aided by Frog Suits.

Hip and Hop Koopa notice them and inform Koopa, who orders his Rocky Wrenches to attack. The Mario Bros. manage to catch some of the wrenches that are thrown at them, and throw them back, damaging the Doomsub's propellers. The submarine spins out of control, firing strange beams in all directions. One of them hits Mario, encasing most of his body in a block of cement, which causes him to begin sinking.

When all seems lost, a mermaid named Holly Mackerel comes out of a Warp Pipe and swims over to save Mario. She introduces herself as the mermaid princess of Mertropolis and brings Mario to the submerged city, which is covered by a dome. Luigi and the others follow, and try their best to revive the now-unconscious Mario. When he regains consciousness, Holly tells him that her fortune teller claimed a frog prince would "come hopping into my life". Believing Mario to be that prince, she falls in love with him and tries to get him to marry her. After some brief dodging and running away, Mario directly confronts her and tells her that they just aren't compatible. Leaving her in tears, he and the rest of the team head back to the pipe leading to the ocean.

However, before entering the pipe, Mario can't bring himself to go back. His near-death experience has made him dreadfully afraid of the water, and he refuses to leave. The others try to convince him to go, but he makes it clear that he won't go into the water ever again. Suddenly, the Doomsub appears over the city, and Koopa shouts his demands through a loudspeaker, declaring that if the city isn't surrendered in seventeen minutes, he will destroy it. King Mackerel shows up, and worries about Mertropolis being destroyed.

Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad jump into the exit pipe, but Mario's still too afraid. Toadstool tries to convince him that everything will be okay, but it doesn't do any good. Suddenly, two Boomerang Bros. enter through the pipe and start attacking the city. Mario defeats them, but just as soon as they're gone, more arrive. After Mario's group battles the small troop of Boomerang Bros., Koopa announces that he has more to come. As before, Mario's too scared to leave the city. Princess Toadstool tells him to stay behind, while she, Luigi, and Toad stop the Doomsub.

Holly sees that Mario's still there, and misinterprets his staying as a sign of love for her. King Mackerel still sees Mario hanging around, and warns Mario about King Koopa's threat. Holly, who was mistaking a Warp Pipe for Mario's "solid build", notices and introduces Mario to her father, and plans to prepare a wedding ceremony, much to Mario's dismay.

Onboard the Doomsub, Hip and Hop spot Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad returning, and Koopa responds by firing Nasty Nets at his three foes, capturing all of them. Back in Metropolis, Holly tells Mario about how she's inviting all of the citizens to their wedding. However, Holly's plans are cut short when Koopa announces that he is going to throw them a wedding shower.

Koopa then drops a Bob-omb onto the city's protective dome, blasting a hole in it, which causes water to pour in and start flooding the city. Mario regains his courage, realizing he's the only one who can rescue his friends and the city—that, and he wants to get away from Holly. He swims up the advancing flood of water, and fixes the hole in the ceiling on his way out with a manhole cover.

The Doomsub fires a Chain Chomp at Mario, but Mario grabs ahold of the chain and uses the Chomp to cut open the Nasty Nets that are holding his friends. Mario and Luigi then take one of the nets to capture a school of Jelectros, and hurl the net at the Doomsub. The Jelectros electrocute the Doomsub, forcing the Koopa Troopas to retreat.

Later on, back in Mertropolis, King Mackerel presents Mario with a medal for his heroic deeds. Holly, still infatuated with Mario, arrives and puts a wedding-day helmet on him. The helmet, however, distorts his facial appearance, and she shrieks in shock, saying that she can't marry him because he's "the ugliest frog [she's] ever seen". With that resolved, the heroes cheerfully leave before Holly has a chance to get over her fear.

Cast

 * Walker Boone &mdash; Mario
 * Tony Rosato &mdash; Luigi
 * Tracey Moore &mdash; Princess Toadstool
 * John Stocker &mdash; Toad citizen
 * Dan Hennessey &mdash; singer #1
 * Gordon Masten &mdash; singer #2
 * Tara Charendoff &mdash; Hip and Hop
 * Diane Fabian &mdash; Holly Mackerel
 * Rod Coneybeare &mdash; King Mackerel

Animation and continuity errors

 * In the first scene where Mario almost drowns, his hair is black.
 * The citizens of Mertropolis are unable to breathe the air, yet no explanation is given as to why they live in an air-filled city (or why they panic when Koopa floods the place).
 * King Mackerel's head changes from fish head, to human head. This happens in later scenes.
 * When King Koopa tells Mertropolis that they have ten minutes to surrender, a red screen can be seen for a split-second.
 * When Mario hops away from Holly Mackerel for the second time, Toad's arms are apricot for a few frames, then green in the next shot. This happens again when Koopa has them hooked on the Doomsub.
 * In the scene where Mario holds on to a boomerang and comes back with it, he had Princess Toadstool's voice when he attacked a Boomerang Brother.
 * When Toadstool tells Mario to calm down, one of her arms is missing when she holds him.
 * Hop's hair turns pink in the next scene when he catches Luigi, Toad, and Toadstool approaching the Doomsub.

Trivia

 * The opening music is different from normal, using the water level theme instead of the standard Water Land theme.
 * This is the only episode where Mario and the others are in the same powered up form during the entire episode.
 * The merpeople in this episode are inverse of the typical version. Usually, they are depicted with a human upper torso and a fish-like lower torso (fins instead of legs). In this episode, the upper body is fish-like and the lower body is human-like (legs instead of fins).
 * The episode's name spoofs The Little Mermaid.
 * When Mario's revived by Holly, his frog suit's eyes are closed, then open. This shows frog suits are living things, not just suits.