King Mario of Cramalot

"King Mario of Cramalot" is the second episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Its corresponding live-action segment is "Day of the Orphan".

Plot synopsis
Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool are traveling through Cramalot while searching for Mervin the Magician, whom the Princess believes can free her kingdom from King Koopa's tyranny. While traveling, Mario suddenly hears some bee-like buzzing, which leads him to believe a beehive and thus, bees, are nearby. Mario and Toad start thinking about food until the latter notices that unfortunately, it turns out that the buzzing isn't being caused by bees; instead, it's being caused by a nearby swarm of Beezos, who are preparing to attack.

Narrowly dodging the Beezos, Mario grabs a nearby Tomato and hurls it at their leader; after being hit, the Beezo, angry, orders another attack. Before the Beezos hit Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool, though, a man dressed as a wizard suddenly appears and, with a blast from his wand, disintegrates the Beezos.

Princess Toadstool suddenly realizes that the man who saved them must be Mervin; the man says he is indeed Mervin and invites Mario, Luigi, Toad, and the Princess to his cave home. In his cave, Mervin proceeds to tell the group that the Beezos that attacked them were sent by King Koopa.

Mervin then tells a surprised Luigi that King Koopa became the new king of Cramalot when, after the old king died, he simply marched into the castle and took over. Princess Toadstool, after hearing Mervin's story, asks if there is anything they can do to help him free Cramalot. Mervin says there is an old legend that says that the one who can pull the Golden Plunger from the Sacred Sink of Cramalot will be able to defeat King Koopa and save Cramalot.

Taking Mario's group to the Sacred Sink, Mervin says that if one of them can remove the Golden Plunger, they'll gain enough power to defeat King Koopa. Mario, jumping on top of the Sacred Sink, manages, after some effort, to pull out the Golden Plunger.

At his recently claimed castle, King Koopa, after hearing from one of his somewhat dimwitted Koopa Troopa soldiers that Mario pulled the Golden Plunger out of the Sacred Sink of Cramalot, sends several of his minions out to get rid of Mario.

In the town square of Cramalot, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, Toad, Mervin, and several villagers are in the middle of celebrating Mario as the new king of Cramalot. Suddenly, King Koopa and a brigade of Koopa Troopas appear; before anyone can react, King Koopa orders several Koopa Paratroopas to dump a net on them, trapping them.

Using his Golden Plunger, though, Mario is able to cut a hole in the net, freeing himself and everyone else; unfortunately, Mario is unable to fight King Koopa, as the Koopa king has taken Princess Toadstool hostage, threatening to let his Beezo minions attack her if Mario doesn't cooperate. Taking the Golden Plunger, King Koopa has Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, Toad, and Mervin to the dungeon of Cramalot Castle.

In the dungeons, Mario begins trying to calm down a panicking Luigi, saying things could be worse-the ceiling could lower. Just as Mario says this, the spike-covered ceiling indeed begins to lower, and then Mario says that the dungeon could fill with water, which does happen. Mario says, "Hey, I can think of another way things could be worse!" but Luigi stops him.

Before Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad are crushed or drowned, Mervin suddenly appears and, using his magic, transports everyone out of the cell and into the "Forest of Perpetual Night and Terrible Dangers".

Suddenly, lightning strikes a nearby lake, causing a hand holding a plumbing snake to rise from the water. Mervin says that the plumbing snake is Excalibur; suddenly, the hand tosses it to Mario. Grabbing Excalibur, Mario is suddenly turned into Super Mario. With his new powers and confidence, Mario has Mervin lead him and Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool to Cramalot Castle.

Arriving at the castle, Mario notices that the drawbridge of the castle is up and decides to send a resistant Luigi through the castle moat to lower it. After some trouble with hungry Trouters, Luigi manages to reach the drawbridge.

Inside the throne room of the castle, King Koopa begins to gloat about how he is now officially king of Cramalot, now that he has the Golden Plunger. Suddenly, Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Toadstool, and Mervin appear to challenge King Koopa. As Luigi, Toad, and the Princess defeat King Koopa's Koopa Troopas, Mario begins to duel King Koopa.

Battling King Koopa atop a stairway, Mario chases after him, who has swung to a balcony and begins to get the upper hand against him. As the two battle, King Koopa suddenly drops down onto a dining table with Mario following him. Grabbing a food-covered plate, King Koopa hurls it at Mario, who easily dodges it. Shortly after his minions are defeated, King Koopa himself is; losing the Golden Plunger, King Koopa manages a desperate escape using a Magic Potion.

With the threat of King Koopa gone, Mervin asks Mario to become the new king of Cramalot and he accepts this offer. Unfortunately, it seems the king of Cramalot has to be trim and slim as a running machine appears underneath Mario, who, not wanting to be forced on a diet, crowns Mervin as king and runs off, while the others laugh about it.

Animation and continuity errors

 * When Mario first challenges King Koopa in Cramalot Castle, King Koopa is holding a regular scepter, but when he battles Mario, he is using the Golden Plunger.
 * Toad's mushroom cap's shade of red is inconsistent between scenes.
 * When Luigi is about to jump in the moat, Toad, Mervin, Princess Toadstool, and another Luigi are seen at the rock in the distance.
 * Koopa's maw and neck turn varying shades of green.
 * Luigi has Mario's color scheme (blue shirt and red overalls) before Mario cuts the gang out of the net using the Golden Plunger.
 * When Mario, Luigi, Toadstool, and Toad are in the dungeon, the ceiling changes location relative to their heads.
 * This could, however, be due to perspective.
 * In the cell scene, Mario moves to the right for one frame then returns to his orignal position.
 * Similarly when the scene fades in from black, when Toad turns his face, he suddenly is layered behind Toadstool for one frame, then returns to being in front of Toadstool.
 * When Luigi is talking about "we'll be mushed", the ceiling is very close to Luigi. When Toad, Mario, Princess Toadstool, and Luigi are seen, the ceiling is shown much higher than when only Luigi is seen.
 * This also could be due to perspective.
 * At the end of the episode, when Mario runs off, he turns blue.
 * When Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad were in the dungeon, they had handcuffs on, but when Mervin appears, Luigi doesn't have any on.

Characters

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Princess Toadstool
 * Toad
 * King Koopa
 * Mervin the Magician
 * Koopa Troopa
 * Beezos

Cast

 * Lou Albano &mdash; Mario
 * Danny Wells &mdash; Luigi
 * Jeannie Elias &mdash; Princess Toadstool
 * John Stocker &mdash; Toad, Beezos, Koopa Troopa
 * Robert Bockstael &mdash; Mervin the Magician
 * Harvey Atkin &mdash; King Bowser Koopa

Trivia

 * This episode is a clear parody of the Legend of King Arthur, with Cramalot being a pun on the fictional castle Camelot.
 * For some reason (likely due to DiC's master copy of the original version of the episode having gone missing), all DVD/digital and streaming releases of this episode and "Day of the Orphan" use the slowed-down Family Channel version of the episode. However, the original version of both this episode and its accompanying live-action segment (minus the preview for The Legend of Zelda episode "The Ringer") were made available on VHS, as well as on the PAL DVDs.
 * Additionally, in the Family Channel version of this episode, the background music mysteriously drops out when Mario says "That's right, Koopa; I'm gonna clean your pipes!"
 * Both times when Toadstool jumps onto a Koopa Troopa, their heads go under her skirt. Afterwards, they're both shown to be smiling.
 * The Koopa Troopas' outfits would later appear in "Hooded Robin and His Mario Men."