King Koopa's Kool Kartoons
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| King Koopa's Kool Kartoons | |
|---|---|
| |
| General information | |
| Format | Children's television series |
| Director(s) | Stephen J. Abramson |
| Writer(s) | Christopher Brough Jack Hanrahan Eleanor Burian-Mohr |
| Starring | Christopher Collins Patrick Pinney |
| Country of origin | United States of America |
| Original language | English |
| Seasons | 1 |
| Episodes | 65 |
| Production | |
| Production company | DiC Entertainment Fox Television Studios |
| Runtime | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| First aired | September 11, 1989 |
| Last aired | November 20, 1989 |
| Status | Cancelled |
| Chronology | |
| Related programs | The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! |
King Koopa's Kool Kartoons was a live-action children's television show created by DIC Entertainment as a spin-off of their previous show, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! The format of the series is comparable to Bozo the Clown's television show. King Koopa hosted the show and was originally played by Christopher Collins (later Patrick Pinney) inside of a rubber suit as the show's emcee. The King Koopa suit resembled the same suit worn by Bowser in Mario Ice Capades, the most notable difference being the mask. Koopa's appearance and demeanor were based on his role in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! At the end of the show, King Koopa gave away prizes such as the Power Glove.[1]
Broadcast and run
The show's run began in the latter half of 1989. Each episode of King Koopa's Kool Kartoons lasted for thirty minutes and aired during the after-school afternoon time slot starting 4:30pm.[2] KTTV Fox 11 broadcasted the show to the Southern California region alone, during late afternoon time slots between 4:30pm to 5:30pm, possibly to gauge the title's popularity before expanding. However, the production of the series ended after its first season. The show was nominated for a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award in the category "best children/youth program".[3] All episodes were produced over the course of 13 weeks, and there were a total of 65 episodes aired.
Later, the show was broadcast for audiences in the United Kingdom in 1990 through The Children's Channel.
Episode format
Like The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! before it, Kool Kartoons followed a set format for each episode. After the pre-recorded introduction, the show transitioned to the show's set, where King Koopa began hosting in front of a live audience of children called King Koopa's Troopas. The show's tech crew are dressed similarly to the Troopas when they appear.
Introduction
The pre-recorded introduction featured King Koopa, his pet Ratso, and his Troopas strutting down a Los Angeles street towards a television studio. The king and his minions sang the theme song (see below). As they pass a crowd of stunned people, one of the older Troopas puts a Koopa mask on a child in the crowd who proceeds to follow them. When they arrived at the doorway a bewildered guard attempted to block their entry, Koopa pulls the whistle from his mouth. Entering the set of a clown's studio as an episode of his show is filming, Koopa and his children proceeded to take over the show. Koopa pushed the cameraman away and proceeded to confront the clown, who panicked. After the clown attempted to win Koopa's favor through roses and a balloon, Koopa pops the balloon with his claw, scaring him away. The previous audience having left, King Koopa's Troopas are free to fill in the seats. Koopa glares at the screen as he screams, "It's my show now!" The screen turns black as he points his scepter at the screen and cries, "BAH!"[4]
Theme song
The show's theme song was composed by Haim Saban.
Words in parentheses are sung by King Koopa's Troopas. The words outside of the parenthesis are sung by Koopa.
Creepa!
Who calls you a nincompoopa?
Koopa
I'm the pain who plays the game
And knocks you for a loopa.
I'm Koopa, Koopa
(He's Koopa, Koopa)
Koopa! Koopa!
King of the afternoons!
(He's Koopa, Koopa)
I'm Koopa, Koopa
(It's Koopa, Koopa)
Koopa! Koopa!
King of the cartoons! I've got the show you'd better watch.
Even when you're grounded.
This is one show I would love
Baby you'll be hell-yoopa,
("Koopa! Koopa!")
King Koopa, Koopa.
King Koopa (screamed): It's my show now! BAH!
The studio
At this point, the show focused on the studio, where Koopa sat behind a desk in front of his audience of Troopas. The Troopas wore helmets and T-shirts with Koopa Troopa printings on them. The audience members were allowed to keep their shirts after filming.[5] Behind the host was a piece of a wall upon which hung pictures of Mario, Luigi, and Princess Toadstool as they appeared in the animated segments of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! As the show’s emcee, he would read fan mail and host quizzes. These quizzes were open to any child viewer, as responses were sent into the show via the mail. Throughout each episode, King Koopa would play cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s which were in the public domain. The cartoons had no relation to the Super Mario franchise.
Credits
At the end of the half-hour, the credits would appear in front of another prerecorded segment.
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Known cartoons
Controversy
Controversy arose regarding King Koopa's first actor, Christopher Collins. Mostly unverified claims allege inappropriate behaviors from Collins throughout his tenure, such as making sexually suggestive comments to women in the production staff and telling a group of African-American children "Where're you from? Biafra?!" during a live airing.[6][7] This culminated to his eventual firing after yelling at the audience of children during an altercation involving his son being overwhelmed by the other kids.[7] Patrick Pinney was hired to replace Collins as the actor to play King Koopa. Despite controversy, feedback on the show was generally very positive, though a concerned parent was published in the Los Angeles Times saying King Koopa was frightening to younger audiences and its "dirty underwear" segment was "disgusting".[8]
Cancellation
According to show writer Christopher Brough, the show was cancelled due to a letter from the president of The Walt Disney Company, Michael Eisner, to then-president of 20th Century Studios, Barry Diller. Said letter allegedly stated that the show "undermined the morals of its live, youthful audiences". [7]
Gallery
Title card
King Koopa starting a quiz
King Koopa close-up
Koopa, with his audience of Troopas
References
- ^ https://youtu.be/c_ZLmk54GWw Retrieved June 18, 2022.
- ^ https://youtu.be/_gA2gle-o1Y Retrieved July 7, 2022.
- ^ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-20-ca-1436-story.html Retrieved July 7, 2022.
- ^ https://youtu.be/8uflm_O7G-E Retrieved June 18, 2022.
- ^ https://twitter.com/aguywhodraws/status/853428742240182272?s=21&t=xVRhmGAgshY7ixD4dBKTww Retrieved June 18, 2022.
- ^ BetaGems Lost Media (August 12, 2023). 1989 King Koopa's Kool Kartoons on Fox Kids Club, longlost Mario Bros show. YouTube. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
- ^ a b c Thomas Game Docs (July 3, 2022). The Mario TV Show that made Parents Angry. YouTube. Retrieved September 14, 2022.
- ^ "29 Oct 1989, 623 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Note: Behind a paywall. Screencap has been provided here.
