Koopa Klaus

Koopa Klaus is the 29th episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, and the first episode of a Mario cartoon set at Christmas; its corresponding live-action segment is "Little Marios".

Plot Synopsis
In a castle somewhere in the Arctic region of the Mushroom World, King Koopa, going by the alias of Koopa Klaus (hence the episode's title), is overseeing the production of broken toys. Tryclyde (wearing bike handles as antlers and red noses on each of his heads) approaches, telling him that his Ice Bombs are ready. Glad to hear that, King Koopa reveals that he plans to use said Ice Bombs to freeze Santa Claus's workshop, "and then everyone will have an Unmerry Christmas!" After reprimanding Tryclyde for making a joke, King Koopa takes off in an Albatoss-driven sleigh.

Meanwhile, Mario (dressed in tropical clothing) and friends arrive in a very snowy landscape, prompting Luigi to point out that they have not arrived in Hawaiiland as planned, with Toad (who was in charge of navigating) sheepishly admitting they made a wrong turn. Princess Toadstool then reads a nearby sign that tells them they are at the North Pole, so Toad suggests they pay a visit to Santa Claus's workshop. Mario finds this suspicious and asks if Toad deliberately brought them here, but Peach agrees to it, since it's Christmas Eve. On the way over, though, it becomes clear that all Toad can think about is receiving presents. Peach decides to present Toad with an early gift - a snowboard. Toad eagerly accepts the snowboard and then promptly begins playing with it without bothering to thank the Princess.

Just then, the Princess and the Mario Bros. spot King Koopa in his flying sleigh up above. Upon seeing the Mario group, Bowser tosses some Bob-ombs down at them before continuing onward. The good guys manage to avoid being harmed by the Bob-Ombs, but Toad gets knocked off of his snowboard and gets upset that Bowser may have damaged it. This upsets Peach, who scolds Toad for not caring about their safety. Mario, meanwhile, figures out that Bowser is on his way to Santa's workshop as well, so he, Luigi, and Peach take it upon themselves to save Santa, although Toad's more concerned with saving the presents.

The good guys are too late to stop Koopa from freezing the workshop with his Ice Bombs, but they arrive just in time to see him flying out of there with a captive Santa in tow. Fortunately, Mario and Luigi load an ice boulder onto the elves' see-saw and catapult it at King Koopa's sleigh, hitting it dead on and causing King Koopa and Santa to fall to the ground.

Without his sleigh, King Koopa is forced to make off with Santa on foot with Mario's team in hot pursuit. He manages to gain a slight boost by using an empty sack as a wind sail, but then the Marios start throwing snowballs at him, so he starts catching the snowballs in said sack and throws it at the Bros. Following that, he slides down a snowy hill and onto a frozen ice pond using Santa as a sled. Mario and Co. follow Koopa onto the ice, where he calls out some Flurries to attack by shoving an ice block at them. The Mario Bros. and Toad manage to defeat the Flurries by shoving their ice block back at them.

King Koopa then dashes into a nearby cave, so the good guys do the same. The cave proves to be a bumpy ride for the quartet, and they end up falling off a cliff at the cave's exit and onto a snowbank. Koopa, who apparently didn't endure the same ride they did, holds Santa over the edge of the cliff, threatening to drop him into the icy water below. But then he makes the mistake of shouting about his holiday hatred, causing an avalanche. Mario manages to lasso Santa out of there with his plumber's snake; Koopa, on the other hand, is forced to dive into the water himself, and he ends up climbing onto an iceberg inhabited by an angry polar bear.

Unfortunately, Santa's rescue doesn't change the fact that his workshop is still frozen, and he fears he won't be able to make his Christmas deliveries this year. Toad at first doesn't care, since he already got his present, but after some prompting from Peach, he decides to give his snowboard to Santa, saying that he'll at least have one present to give. The warmth of the Christmas cheer spread by Toad then manages to melt the ice around Santa's workshop, thus saving Christmas. Afterwards, Santa allows Mario and his friends to ride in his sleigh with him as he delivers the presents.

Trivia

 * This is the only episode that does not immediately begin with "Plumber's Log".
 * This episode contains several plot holes:
 * The good guys manage to reach Santa's workshop at the same rate Koopa does, despite that fact that Mario and co. were walking and King Koopa was flying.
 * At the rate that the Mario Bros. readied the ice-boulder catapult, King Koopa would have escaped.
 * As King Koopa gets away, he whines about how he did not get to ruin Christmas. But, at this point, Santa's workshop was still frozen.
 * The good guys' entrance in this episode (coming out from underground) appears to be a nod to cartoon star Bugs Bunny.
 * Koopa's plot here (to kidnap and impersonate Santa Claus) would be reused in two later DiC-produced Christmas specials, Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas and Sonic Christmas Blast.