The Bird! The Bird!

"The Bird! The Bird!" is the first episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and the series premiere of DIC Entertainment's Super Mario cartoon trilogy. Its corresponding live-action segment is "Neatness Counts".

Plot synopsis
Having recently rescued Princess Toadstool from King Koopa, Mario, Luigi, Toad and the Princess begin their search for something that can rid the Mushroom Land of King Koopa and his followers and return Mario and Luigi back to Brooklyn. Traveling through the Land of Ice, Mario and Luigi lead the way through the path while Toad pulls Princess Toadstool on a sleigh. As the group travels onward, they are followed by a near-sighted, purple Birdo who continues to crash into things. Suddenly, the Birdo swoops downward and grabs Toad and begins to fly away, saying that she's found her baby, Cheepy.

As the Birdo flies away with Toad, Princess Toadstool asks Mario and Luigi go save Toad, who has been brought to the highest mountain in the area. Undaunted by the size of the mountain, Mario, along with Princess Toadstool, set off, leaving a hesitant Luigi behind; eventually, after hearing there are polar bears in the area, Luigi decides it would be best to go with Mario and the Princess.

Arriving at her home, the Birdo drops Toad in a crib and crash lands into the house herself. Grabbing Toad, the Birdo begins to give him kiss after kiss, saying how much she missed her "Cheepy". Ignoring Toad's claims that he's not Cheepy, the Birdo roughly throws Toad into the crib and grabs the nearby, ringing phone. Answering the phone, the Birdo says its the "Missing Bird Bureau" and proceeds to tell the caller they can call-off the search for Cheepy, saying she already found him. Approaching Toad, who has begun to climb out of the crib, the Birdo tries to hug and kiss him; not wanting another one of the Birdo's slobbery kisses, he begins trying to run away, with the Birdo chasing him.

Down below, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool have started their trek up the mountain, when suddenly, the ground below them splits, creating a large fissure. As Luigi and the Princess begin to bemoan Toad's fate, Mario, not giving up, tries to jump the fissure and succeeds. Next, the Princess jumps the crack and then Luigi, who almost falls, is quickly grabbed by the Princess. Mario, Luigi and the Princess then continue to travel up the mountain, unaware that they're being watched by a Flurry named Flaky and his accomplice, who, using skis, leave to inform King Koopa of the Mario group's presence in the area.

At a frozen ice palace, Flaky and his Flurry friend tell what they saw to King Koopa, while bombarding him with pleasant comments; after hearing the Flurries' story, King Koopa, after telling the Flurries to "lick his feet", uses a radio to contact his Koopa Troopers - a gang of Albatosses, led by one with a radio receiver on its head - to begin their attack.

At the Birdo's house, Toad is in the process of being force-fed from a bottle by the Birdo. After getting the bottle out of his mouth, Toad starts trying to explain that he can't be the Birdo's baby, as he doesn't have wings or feathers and can't fly. Oblivious to Toad's comments, the Birdo starts to kiss Toad repeatedly, only to remember that it's time for "Cheepy"'s flying lesson.

Still climbing the mountain, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool are suddenly ambushed by an Albatoss, who drops a Bob-omb in front of them. Reacting quickly, Mario throws the Bob-omb into the air, causing it to hit an Albatoss, knocking it out of the sky. Unfortunately, more Albatosses appear and begin to drop more Bob-ombs, which the group easily knock aside. Suddenly, a group of Albatosses drop some Bob-ombs on a nearby ledge, causing an explosion which triggers an avalanche, forcing the Mario Brothers and the Princess to fearfully flee.

Running from a wave of snow and debris, the brothers and the Princess take shelter in a house half-submerged in snow. Unfortunately, the trio become trapped in the house, as the snow blocks the door, the only way out. Up above, Toad is being carried through the air by the Birdo; after unsuccessfully trying to bribe the Birdo to let him go, Toad learns the Birdo's plans on soon dropping him so he can fly on his own.

In the snowed-in house, Princess Toadstool suddenly sees a Fire Flower and points it out to Mario, who plans on eating it. The Princess goes on to explain to Mario that the Fire Flower will give him superpowers that he can use to help them escape. Having Luigi give him a boost, Mario reaches the Fire Flower and uses it to become Super Mario and begins to use his fireballs to melt the snow keeping him, Luigi and the Princess trapped.

In his ice palace, King Koopa is in the middle of awarding his Albatoss minions medals for getting rid of Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool when he is suddenly approached by Flaky and his companion, who say that the Mario group survived the avalanche. Bowser, infuriated, violently grabs the medals he gave to the Albatosses and says that he'll have to come up with another plan.

On the mountain, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool, having escaped, stop to rest, only to discover a baby Birdo frozen in a block of ice. Using his fireballs, Mario manages to release the Birdo from the block of ice it's frozen in; the Birdo, once released, begins to shout for its mother, who Princess Toadstool surmises must be the Birdo that took Toad, meaning the Birdo they just rescued is the missing Cheepy.

In the sky, the Birdo, judging that she has brought Toad up high enough, suddenly drops him, expecting him to fly. Plummeting to the ground, Toad suddenly gets the idea to use his mushroom cap as a parachute and, after a rough landing, falls right into Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Cheepy's campsite. Seeing Cheepy, Toad recognizes him as the Birdo's child; after being asked where the Birdo is now by the Princess, Toad says that he isn't going near the Birdo, but is forced to change his mind when Cheepy begins to cry for his mother.

Deciding that Toad and the Princess should take Cheepy to the Birdo, the Mario Brothers stay behind to distract King Koopa, who has appeared riding a snowmobile, with several dozen Koopa Troopas and Flurries following him. Blasting the Flurries with fireballs, Mario is eventually regressed back to his regular form when a Bob-omb tossed by an Albatoss explodes near him. Before they can react, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool are surrounded by Koopa Troopas and Flurries.

Before King Koopa can order his minions to attack, though, he is suddenly bombarded with Turnips thrown by Toad, who is being carried through the air by the Birdo. Calling a retreat, King Koopa and his minions begin to flee. Unfortunately for them, the Birdo isn't finished with them and, picking up Mario, has him and Toad begin to throw more vegetables at King Koopa and his troops.

With the threat of King Koopa gone, the Birdo, as thanks for finding Cheepy, decides to invite Mario and his friends to dinner at her house. At the Birdo's house though, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad quickly leave after learning that the "food" they're being served are large, talking worms.

Animation and continuity errors

 * Oddly, Princess Toadstool has to explain the effects of the Fire Flower to Mario, yet when he uses it to transform, he exclaims "I love it when that happens!", implying he has used a Fire Flower previously. Additionally, Mario's transformed state is referred to as "Super Mario", while the correct name is "Fire Mario".
 * When the Birdo first lands in her house, there is a purple book on the table, which is orange in the next scene.
 * When Toad says he got ten gold coins, Birdo's mouth is still moving.

Trivia

 * "The Bird! The Bird!" is Plumber's Log 101, which is the same number as the episode's production number.
 * This is the first time Birdo is seen as female, reflecting the odd description in the Super Mario Bros. 2 manual.
 * Here and elsewhere in the series, not only are Fire Mario's shirt and overall colors reversed from what they are in the game franchise starting with Super Mario World, but his "M" emblem has its colors reversed as well. Additionally, during the sequence of his transformation, he is shown in one frame with a red shirt and blue overalls, as would later become his current color scheme in the franchise starting with Super Mario Bros. 3, but his cap is blue instead of red, in which the colors of his outfit in the series are reversed, resembling his outfit in his artwork from the Japanese cover of Mario Bros..
 * Toad's cap is red with white spots in this episode as his head resembles the design of the Super Mushroom in the franchise starting with Super Mario World, but this is reversed in later episodes (this is the coloration that is used for Super Toad in The Fire of Hercufleas).
 * The scarf and earmuffs that Mario and Luigi wore in this episode would later be reused in Little Red Riding Princess.
 * The writers of this episode are also the developers for television in the following Mario animated series The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3.