The Pied Koopa

"The Pied Koopa" is the twentieth episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Its corresponding live-action segment is "Super Plant".

Plot Synopsis
In Pasta Land, King Koopa uses a magical flute to lure all of the local Mushroom children away from the town, and leads them to his nearby castle.

Shortly after, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad arrive in Pasta Land, unaware of King Koopa's plot. Toad doesn't need to remind the Mario Bros. that they'd love Pasta Land, as pasta naturally grows all over the place. Toad explains that everybody in Pasta Land is happy, then leads the group to the town square to introduce Mario and Luigi to the mayor.

Upon reaching the town square, Mayor Fettuccine gives Mario's group the bad news about how King Koopa (or rather, the Pied Koopa) has stolen all of the children. When Luigi questions as to why King Koopa would want to kidnap all of the children, Mouser shows up to deliver a Koopagram stating that King Koopa has imprisoned the children as a ransom for all of Pasta Land's spaghetti tree crop. Mouser then charges Mayor Fettuccine four Gold Coins for the Koopagram, and leaves.

Right away, Mayor Fettuccine announces to the town that they must give their spaghetti harvest to King Koopa to save the children. However, Mario refuses to let all that pasta go to waste, and insists that he and his friends will get the kids back themselves by following Mouser back to King Koopa's castle.

Upon arriving at the castle, the group is spotted by the Koopa Troopa guarding the drawbridge. While they're crossing the drawbridge, the Koopa Troopa pulls a lever, dumping the four heroes into the moat. On top of that, they are attacked by from above by Albatosses with Bob-ombs, and from the shore by Koopa Troopas with spears. Thinking about wanting a submarine sandwich, Mario gets the idea of submerging.

Mario finds a Power Block at the bottom of the moat, and uses it to blast a hole in the adjoining dungeon wall. Doing so causes water from the moat to start flooding into the dungeon, bringing Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad with it. Mario and Princess Toadstool reassure Luigi that they're safe in King Koopa's dungeon, since he doesn't know that they're there. Princess Toadstool points out that they merely have to exit the dungeon through the door at the top of the stairs to rescue the kids, and they'll be home free.

When Mario goes to open the door, he is surprised to see King Koopa standing on the other side. King Koopa orders several Koopa Troopas to toss Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad back into the water, when a grate opens up, releasing several hungry Trouters. The Trouters chase Mario's group up against a wall, where Princess Toadstool spots several handcuffs hanging from a high spot, which they grab onto to stay out of the water.

Mario notices a Bob-omb floating in the water, which he concludes had been drained into the dungeon from the moat. Mario then places the Bob-omb against the far wall of the dungeon, so that the water can drain from the dungeon into the basement of the castle.

With the water now drained from the dungeon, Princess Toadstool easily jumps down to the floor from the handcuffs. Toad hurts his butt while falling, while Mario lands nicely. Luigi refuses to jump, due to his fear of high places. Mario comments that it isn't high down on the floor, so Luigi comes down, landing on top of Toad. Princess Toadstool reminds Mario that they still need to rescue the children, and Mario explains that they need to find where King Koopa is holding them all.

Meanwhile, King Koopa enters the courtyard of the castle, to discover that the children are playing games with the Koopa Troopas that are supposed to be guarding them. King Koopa reminds Mouser that his evil castle is not a nursery school, and demands that Mouser have the children locked up in the brig, and to "Double, no..., ..., triple the guard!"

Having spied on the courtyard through a window, Luigi fears that they'll be unable to rescue the kids if they're heavily guarded. Mario decides that they'll do to the Koopa Troopas what King Koopa did to the children: Lure them away with music. Mario and Luigi quickly assemble instruments out of small pipes, and head to the door leading to the brig. When Mario and Luigi start playing their instruments, they amplify their music by letting the sound travel through a pipe. Mario's plan works, as the music lures the Koopa Troopas away from their post, leaving King Koopa and Mouser baffled.

King Koopa then spots Mario and Luigi leading the Koopa Troopas away, but he is unable to do anything about it. Mario kicks over a key that one of the Koopa Troopas dropped to Toad and Princess Toadstool, who use it to unlock the cage holding the children. Just before Luigi can lower the drawbridge, Mouser interferes, claiming that the music has no effect on him. Luigi responds by knocking Mouser aside with his trombone. He then lowers the drawbridge and leads the Koopa Troopas away from the castle with Mario, while Princess Toadstool and Toad escape with the children.

King Koopa shouts at the Koopa Troopas to come back in vain, and announces that he's going to go out and recapture the children with his flute, planning to put Mouser in full charge of them afterwards. Mouser doesn't want to have to deal with the children anymore, so he purposely pulls the lever that drops the drawbridge, causing King Koopa to fall into the moat. As he falls, King Koopa drops and loses his flute, and begins to cry, stating, "Y'know, I've been having more bad luck lately than a bad guy can take!"

After returning to the town, Mario and Luigi are each treated to a plate of spaghetti, which they graciously eat. Mayor Fettuccine then presents Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad each with a golden medal known as the Order of the Golden Meatball for their efforts. Mayor Fettuccine asks for Mario to give a speech, and Mario says:

"My only regret is that I have but one stomach to give to your country!"

With all that said and done, Mario eats the last noodle of spaghetti on his plate as everybody else laughs.

Animation and Continuity errors

 * After Mario has the Bob-omb explode the wall to flush away the Trouters, the Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool jump off the handcuffs they held on to. Princess Toadstool jumped off first, then, Toad jumped off. In the next scene, when Mario is jumping off, Toad is still hanging up and in the next scene, when Luigi jumps off, Toad is no longer hanging there.
 * When Koopa says "they're using my own trick against me," his voice is slightly different.

Trivia

 * The events of this episode are followed up in the episode "Mario and the Red Baron Koopa".
 * Mouser's role in this episode is somewhat fitting, as the original Pied Piper story featured rats.