20,000 Koopas Under the Sea

"20,000 Koopas Under the Sea" is the twenty-sixth episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Its corresponding live-action segment is "Vampire Until Ready".

Plot Synopsis
Having warped to the Ocean World, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool are searching for someone who will help them in defeating King Koopa. Unfortunately, as Mario states, the Ocean World is having troubles of its own, and just as Mario says this, a metallic sea monster emerges from the surrounding water. As the monster lets out a roar, Luigi tells Mario, Toad and Princess Toadstool to run. As Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool run, the sea monster swims towards a nearby ship and as the ship's crew jump off of it, bites into and begins to tear the ship apart, eating some of it as well.

As the sea monster devours the ship, Toad points out that the creature has a bigger appetite than Mario, while Princess Toadstool says that it is still hungry. As the sea monster charges towards, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstoool begin to run again, as the sea monster draws ever closer to them. As Mario tells Toad to hurry, a large wave, caused by the sea monster, sweeps them, Luigi and Princess Toadstool off their feet and flings them into the nearby town of Happy Harbor; when Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool land, the sea monster, letting out a few more roars, turns around and submerges itself.

Left lying against a barrel, Luigi, before spitting out a mouthful of sea water, shouts Mario's name and asks where the sea monster has gone. As he helps Luigi up with Princess Toadstool, Mario states that he doesn't know where the monster has gone, he's just glad it left, which Toad, who is pouring water out of his hat, agrees with. After wringing his hat dry, Toad suddenly tells Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool to look nearby, where a crowd of people, surrounding King Koopa, who is standing on a barrel with two Bloobers at his side, has gathered. As Princess Toadstool yells out King Koopa's name in shock, King Koopa tells the surrounding Mushroomers that, unless they make chim the ruler of Happy Harbor, the sea monster will destroy them. As King Koopa tells the Mushroomers to grovel before him and that he will get rid of the sea monster, the Mushroom People talk amongst themselves; as they talk, the Mushroom People are made aware of Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool's presence by Princess Toadstool, who tells the Mushroom People that King Koopa is the real monster that needs to be gotten rid of.

As the Mushroom People whisper amongst themselves once more, King Koopa asks Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool how they plan to get rid of the sea monster, a question which neither Mario or Princess Toadstool can find an answer too. As Mario and Princess Toadstool stutter, trying to find an answer, a woman by the name of Captain Abidab, a sailor and harpooner, appears and claims that she will get rid of the sea monster; a prospect which King Koopa scoffs at, saying that the populace of Happy Harbor shouldn't blame him when the sea monster comes to wreck their homes. After he says this, King Koopa takes a seat on his barrel and instructs his two Bloober associates to pick him and carry him away, which the Bloober do. With King Koopa gone, Captain Abidab proceeds to ask the surrounding people who will be her crew in the hunt for the sea monster; just as Captain Abidab finishes asking this question, all the surrounding Mushroom People run away, leaving Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool as the Captain Abidab volunteers.

On the dock near Captain Abidab's ship, the Peapod, which is shaped like a boot, Captain Abidab is showing off her ship to Mario, who claims to have fixed bathtubs bigger than it, and Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool. Telling Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool not to worry, Captain Abidab proceeds to order Luigi to weigh anchor, which Luigi, as he lifts the Peapod's anchor from the sea, misinterprets as meaning that the anchor should be cweighed on a scale. As Luigi says this, Toad begins to unfurl the Peapod's mast, only get his foot caught in a rope in the process and by pulled up and left hanging from the mast, which Toad did succeed in unfurling. Its only after Mario is accidentally knocked into Luigi after being knocked away by the Peapod's steering wheel, that Captain Abidab begins to doubt Mario, Luigi and Toad effectiveness, only to be reassured by Princess Toadstool, who seems to doubt her own words.

As the Peapod sails through the sea, Captain Abidab exclaims that there’s still no sign of the sea monster, and, after rebuffing Luigi's want to go home, decides that, to find the sea monster, they must go deeper. In response to Toad's question about what she means by deeper, Captain Abidab opens a nearby chest and removes a diving helmet from it, which she puts on while grabbing a plunger-loaded harpoon launcher. Before jumping into the sea, Captain Abidab tosses her harpoon launcher to Mario, who, after Captain Abidab jumps overboard, follows her, along with Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool.

Under the sea, Captain Abidab, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool are walking on the ocean floor, as Luigi states that he hopes they see the monster before it sees them. After he says this, Luigi is jabbed repeatedly by a large metal object, which, upon turning around, he sees is the fin of the sea monster. As Luigi jumps into Princess Toadstool's arms, Mario aims the harpoon launcher at the sea monster and manages to attach a plunger, which has a rope attached to it, to the sea monster. With the plunger attached to it's snout, the sea monster turns around and begins to swim away, pulling Mario, who was tugging on his end of the rope, with it. As he is pulled along, Mario, and Luigi and Princess Toadstool, who had grabbed Mario legs, are brought to an arch-shaped rock, which the sea monster swims under, breaking the rope Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool are holding on to when it gets caught on the arch-shaped rock.

Turning around, the sea monster, seeing Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool, charges towards them, and, as they run, it devours them, as Captain Abidab and Toad look on in shock. As Toad closes his eyes, claiming he can't watch as Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool are eaten, he is told to open his eyes by Captain Abidab, who claims the sea monster is heading towards them. Grabbing Toad, Captain Abidab begins to run from the approaching sea monster, managing to find a hiding place in a small pit, which the sea monster swims by. Following the sea monster as it heads to the surface, Captain Abidab and Toad see the monster bash into the Peapod before submerging once more, leaving Toad to bemoan Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool's fate.

Inside the sea monster, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool, who are shrouded in darkness, begin to wander around in the dark, while Mario says that he now knows what a pizza feels like when its swallowed. After Mario says this, the voice of King Koopa can be heard taunting Mario; hearing King Koopa's voice, Luigi believes he has been eaten by the sea monster too, a statement which King Koopa, after turning on the lights, reveals to be false, as it isn't a sea monster he, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool are in, its a submarine known as the Koopilus, owned by him, Koopa Nemo. As Princess Toadstool, Mario and Luigi realizes that Koopa Nemo has been behind the attacks on Happy Harbor, the citizens of which he had been trying to trick into making them his ruler, Koopa Nemo then says that, thanks to the machinations of Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool, his original plan will never work now, and also says that now, he will have to resort to simply destroying Happy Harbor. As the Koopilus travels back to Happy Harbor, Koopa Nemo decides to keep Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool as his galley slaves. Inside the Koopilus's kitchen, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool are peeling onions, which are in a large pile in front of them; as they cry due to peeling onions, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool begin to worry about Happy Harbor, Toad and Captain Abidab; wanting to warn Toad and Captain Abidab about the Koopilus, Mario decides to try and send them a message, using several bottles he takes from a cupboard to do so.

On the Peapod, Captain Abidab, while steering the Peapod, tells Toad to continue bailing water out of the Peapod, saying that if the Peapod doesn't stay afloat, they will never be able to find Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool. As he pours another bucket-full into the sea, Toad sees a bottle floating nearby and using his bucket, which has a rope attached to it, he manages to reel in the bottle. Taking a piece of paper from the bottle, Captain Abidab reads and tells Toad its from Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool, who say they're alright and that Koopa Nemo is going to attack Happy Harbor in the Koopilus. After reading all this, Captain Abidab tells Toad she's going to take a shortcut home to Happy Harbor and beat Koopa Nemo their, before turning the Peapod in another direction.

At Happy Harbor, Koopa Nemo is looking through the periscope of the Koopilus and, upon seeing Happy Harbor, tells his two Bloober minions to prepare to attack Happy Harbor. As the Koopilus emerges from the water, Captain Abidab, seeing, launches Toad, who is unsure of Captain Abidab's plan, from a makeshift catapult and into the open jaws of the Koopilus. As they peel onions, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool hear Toad's distinctive squeaking noise and, looking over to the door of the kitchen, see Toad enter. Glad to see Toad, Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool hug him, only to be told by Toad to quit the mushy stuff and be reminded that they need to stop the Koopalus. Outside, Koopa Nemo has begun his attack on Happy Harbor, smashing ships out of the way and causing Happy Harbor's citizens to panic and run away in a frenzy. As Koopa Nemo gloats about the chaos he is causing, Captain Abidab watches the ensuing chaos through her telescope and laments that Happy Harbor is doomed unless Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool do something.

Inside the Koopalus, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool are walking down a corridor, when Toad asks Mario what his plan is, only to be told by Mario that he thought he had a plan. After Mario exclaims this, he, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool hear Koopa Nemo yell that they've escaped and see him appear with a quartet of Bloobers, who he orders to recapture Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool, who begin to run. Fleeing from the Bloobers, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool fall out of the Koopilus's mouth and into the water, with the Bloobers following them. Running on the ocean floor, Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool find themselves at a large wall covered in starfish that is blocking their way.

As Princess Toadstool bemoans the fact that she, Mario, Luigi and Toad are trapped, Luigi is attracted to a bright light and notices several Starmen attached to a wall. Telling Mario about these Starmen, Luigi and him grab a pair of the Starmen and, after reciting an oath and clapping the Starmen together, they become Super Mario and Super Luigi. After Mario and Luigi's transformations, Princess Toadstool is grabbed by two Bloobers and pulled away, while two other Bloobers try to charge into Mario and Luigi. Shooting several fireballs, Mario and Luigi defeat these two Bloobers and begin to bombard the other two Bloobers with fireballs; managing to evade these fireballs, the Bloobers are eventually defeated when two of the fireballs ricochet off a wall and hit them; dazed, the Bloobers swim away and relinquish Princess Toadstool. With the Bloobers defeated and Princess Toadstool saved, Mario and Luigi high-five each other and yell that its Koopa-bopping time.

As Captain Abidab helps Princess Toadstool and Toad on to the Peapod, Koopa Nemo continues to cause havoc, smashing apart another boat. Suddenly, Mario and Luigi leap from the water and on to the head of the Koopilus; seeing Mario through his periscope, Koopa Nemo begins trying to shake him and Luigi off the Koopilus by driving erratically. After a particularly sharp turn, Koopa Nemo manages to knock Mario and Luigi off the Koopilus, and they are flung on to the deck of the Peapod. Before he can react, Koopa Nemo accidentally crashes the Koopilus into the shore of Happy Harbor, where it explodes, leaving Koopa Nemo covered in ash and soot.

With Koopa Nemo defeated, Captain Abidab, Toad, Princess Toadstool, Toad and the inhabitants of Happy Harbor begin to cheer for Mario and Luigi, while Koopa Nemo, left in the ruins of the Koopilus, begins wishing plumbers were never invented.

Trivia

 * The title of the animated segment of "20,000 Koopas Under the Sea" is a reference to the Jules Verne story 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; the animated segment also draws some inspiration from the story Moby Dick.