The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, also simply known as Super Mario and Super Mario Brothers, is the first cartoon of DIC Entertainment's Super Mario trilogy, aired between September and December of 1989; it was the only one to be produced directly for syndication. The show featured live-action segments in which Mario and Luigi (played by Lou Albano and Danny Wells respectively), living in their basement workshop in Brooklyn, were often visited by various celebrity guest stars. Also featured were cartoons based on the first and second Super Mario Bros. games, where the Mario brothers teamed up with Princess Peach (then known as Princess Toadstool) and Toad to battle King Koopa and his forces to save the many lands of the world. The Super Mario Bros. cartoons were shown on Mondays through Thursdays only; on Fridays, the show would air cartoons based on the animated Legend of Zelda series. In 1990, the show was retooled and aired under the name Club Mario, combining the animated segments with new live-action segments depicting the antics of two Mario-loving slackers named Tommy Treehugger and Co-MC.

Overview
Each episode began with a live-action segment starring Mario (portrayed by World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment Hall of Famer, the late "Captain" Lou Albano) and Luigi (the late Danny Wells) living in Brooklyn, where they would often be visited by a celebrity guest star either playing themselves or another character at Mario Brothers Plumbing, a basement workshop which doubled as their home.

The live-action segment would be followed by a cartoon-based on the Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 video games, where Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool (Peach), and Toad would battle against King Koopa (Bowser) throughout the many lands of the world, often in a book, movie or historical parody. Mouser, Tryclyde, Fryguy and a single, unnamed Koopa Troopa often worked closely with King Koopa, serving as his henchmen. Getting into the spirit of these parodies, King Koopa usually took on a varying alter ego. He had a different outfit for each one, and would take on a different alias to along with it. For example, in a riverboat-themed episode, King Koopa was "Captain Koopa", while in one of the western-themed episodes, he went by "Billy the Koopa". In many episodes, King Koopa's minions would often dress up in outfits as well, to go along with Koopa's themed costumes. In some episodes, King Koopa would go without an alter ego nor wear a costume except for "Jungle Fever" and "Mario of the Apes". The only episode where King Koopa does not appear is "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em".

Wart, the main antagonist of the second game, was never in any of the episodes, yet most of his minions managed to appear as members of the Koopa Pack. Like most 1980s cartoons, King Koopa would prolong the series' run by escaping from his adversaries (which he did through the use of a Magical Potion), even though they could easily catch him. Also similar to most 80s cartoons, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! had little continuity from episode to episode and ended with no obvious series finale.

The basis of the storyline (introduced at the beginning of every animated episode) was that Mario and Luigi were working on a bathtub drain which unknowingly was a warp zone to the Mushroom Kingdom, and Mario and Luigi had literally gone down the drain and ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom, by sheer coincidence causing problems for King Koopa and rescuing Toad and Princess Toadstool. Now that they were rescued, the focus for the Mario Brothers was to return to Brooklyn, while stopping King Koopa's tyranny whenever they could. Lou Albano and Danny Wells also voiced Mario and Luigi for the animated segment. It was never revealed whether their live action sequences were a prequel to the animated series or they successfully returned to Brooklyn and resumed their duties in the plumbing business.

Following the cartoon was the third portion of the episode, which continued the story that the live-action segment set up in the beginning. Towards the end, the second part of the live-action segment was interrupted with scenes from that week's upcoming episode of The Legend of Zelda.

The Super Mario Bros. cartoon was shown on Mondays through Thursdays only. On Fridays, the show would air The Legend of Zelda cartoons based on the game of the same name. However, a Mario live-action segment would air with the Zelda episodes.

In another Mario related television series, King Koopa's Kool Kartoons, framed portraits of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! versions of Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool can be seen in various episodes.

Broadcast history
The show was originally meant to start September 11 and end December 7 instead of September 9 to November 30.

After DiC's Mario cartoons ended, the show was aired in reruns on the Family Channel (currently known as Freeform). The Family Channel's reruns of the series removed The Legend of Zelda previews and the scenes that segued into them from the live-action segments, and slowed down the episodes to bring them back to their original length. They also changed the placement of the commercial breaks, placing them during scene dissolves in the animated segments. (Curiously, the Family Channel version of "King Mario of Cramalot" and "Day of the Orphan" is the version used in subsequent DVD and digital releases.) Also, from that point onward, the song covers were removed, similar to season one of Captain N: The Game Master, and were replaced with instrumentals of songs featured in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. This was done for licensing reasons as the lyrics of the song covers are copyrighted.

From 1989 to 1991, Kid Klassics released NTSC VHS tapes of the show. These tapes contained two, one, or no live-action segments, and featured the cartoon segments with their original song covers intact. On these tapes, the "Super Mario Bros." theme wasn't included before the cartoon segment.

The show was made available to watch from [https://web.archive.org/web/20050206091912/http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/tv/ Yahooligans! TV] starting in March 2004, with a new episode usually uploaded every week. It was taken down along with all DiC Entertainment cartoons on December 24, 2005.

Starting from November 3, 2009 it could be watched at Jaroo.com, a video-streaming website owned by. The website routinely cycled through all fifty-two of the show's episodes, hosting five at any given time. Each Tuesday, the next episode in line would be added, with the oldest being dropped. In 2012, purchased Cookie Jar and Jaroo was taken down.

As of April 2023, it can be watched via, (US only),  (UK and US; only the first 26 episodes via On Demand),  (US only),  (US only),  (US only) and 's Cartoon Super Heroes, Retro Cartoons, and Cartoons for Kids  channels. WildBrain also created a separate channel exclusively for The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episodes. When the episodes were uploaded by WildBrain from 2014 to 2020, the Legend of Zelda previews were removed (the only exception is that the intros with Mario and Luigi introducing the preview of a Zelda episode are still intact except for "King Mario of Cramalot" and "Day of the Orphan"); subsequently, starting from 2018, the entire series would be uploaded to the Super Show!-exclusive channel (as well as the other channels in 2022) with the Zelda previews restored (except for the former episode, which used the Family Channel version). The episode listings on most digital/streaming services and WildBrain's YouTube channels are in production order whilst on Plex and The Roku Channel they're in the original order.

Main protagonists

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Princess Toadstool
 * Toad

Main antagonists

 * King Koopa/his alter egos
 * Mouser
 * Tryclyde
 * Koopa Troopa

Main cast

 * Lou Albano - Mario, Flab Boy, Mushroom Person
 * Danny Wells — Luigi, Gramps, Goomba, Mushroom Person, Pokey, Pronto, Romano's father, Salvador Drainotto, Secret Agent N, Waldo the Wizard
 * Jeannie Elias — Princess Toadstool, Birdos, and Shyguys
 * John Stocker — Toad, Mouser, Koopa Troopa and Beezos
 * Harvey Atkin — King Koopa, Tryclyde, Sergeant Kooperman, Snifits, Calamity Clam, Talking Head, Crocodile 1, Crocodile 2, Outback mayor, Goomba 3 and Hooded Robin

Additional voices

 * Robert Bockstael — Goomba, Mervin, Mushroom Person
 * Dorian Joe Clark — Mushroom People
 * Rob Cowan — Elvin Parsley, Mushroom Person, Big bad wolf
 * Denise Pidgeon — Queen Rotunda, Mushroom Person
 * Paulina Gillis — Mermushroom
 * Greg Morton — Ward, King James, Prince Pompadour, Quirks, Scooter, Snifit, King Neptune
 * Joyce Gordon — Joliet, Mouth of the River, King Koopa's mother
 * Greg Swanson — Herlock Solmes, Romano
 * Diane Fabian — June, Captain Abidab, Genie, Mugga, Gramma Toadstool, Bunsen
 * Marilyn Lightstone — Additional Voices
 * Marla Lukofsky — Mushroom Person

Live-action guest stars

 * Nicole Eggert (herself)
 * Danica McKellar (Patty)
 * Karen Hartman (Patty's mother and Mrs. Gammliss)
 * Jim Ward (Patty's father and Count Zoltan Dracula)
 * Sgt. Slaughter (himself)
 * Joseph S. Griffo (mini Mario)
 * Lyle Alzado (himself)
 * Eugene Lebowitz (Dr. Frankenstein)
 * Craig Armstrong (Frankenstein's Monster and Gorilla)
 * Larry Gelman (Dr. Sigmund Fruitcake and Vincent Van Gook)
 * Fred Travalena (Elvis Presley and Mr. Gibbel)
 * Paul Elder (Alligator Dundee)
 * Shabba-Doo (himself)
 * Pam Matteson (Cher and herself)
 * Clare Carey (E.C.)
 * David Horowitz (himself)
 * Harry Blackstone Jr. (himself)
 * Magic Johnson (himself)
 * Marty Allen (Imperial Poobah)
 * Donna Douglas (Ellie Mae)
 * Gary Schwartz (Dr. Toby, Inspector Klean and Doc Freud)
 * Patrick Dempsey (Super Plant)
 * Regina Williams (Susanna Ross)
 * Phillip Clark (HAL 9001)
 * Ed Metzger (Einstein)
 * Vic Dunlop (Pietro)
 * Nedra Volz (Angelica)
 * Scott Nemes (Young McDonald)
 * Rob Stone (himself)
 * Kay Ballard (Madam AGoGo)
 * Brian Bonsall (himself)
 * (George Washington, Ralph Washington)
 * Sonny Trinidad (Obi-Wan Cannoli)
 * Norman Fell (Ted Bull)
 * Andy Heyward (Howard Stevens)
 * Jim Lange (himself)
 * Gary Owens (The Wonderfully Wacky Willy White)
 * Martin C. Gardner (Mikhail S. Gorbachev)
 * Melanie Chartoff (Tawny Tyler)
 * Vicki Bakken (Liz)
 * Courtney Gibbs (Luigi's girlfriend)
 * Joe Bellan (Tommy Lasagna)
 * Vanna White (Roxanne)
 * Rowdy Roddy Piper (himself)
 * Kort Falkenberg (Nick)
 * Cyndi Lauper (herself)
 * Ernie Hudson (himself)
 * Moon Zappa (Marilyn)
 * Elvira (herself)
 * Norman Fell (Fred Van Winkle)
 * Willard E. Pugh (Little Robert)
 * Paula Irvine (Mad Donna)
 * Maurice LaMarche (Inspector Gadget)
 * Elaine Kagan (The Old Psychic Lady with the Evil Eye Who Reads Fortunes and Knows Everything Before it Happens)
 * Eve Plumb (Jodie)

Songs
The first forty-one episodes also included covers of popular songs at the time, though all of the songs were later edited out due to copyright issues (except for the first part of from Jungle Fever most likely because DIC forgot to edit it out).

Home releases
VHS Tapes:
 * US: Mario Meets Koopzilla, Koopa Klaus, Count Koopula, The Great BMX Race, The Great Gladiator Gig, Butch Mario And The Luigi Kid, Mario's Magic Carpet, Hooded Robin, Two Plumbers And A Baby (Kids Klassics) and Super Mario Bros. Super Christmas Adventures! (Buena Vista)
 * UK: Great BMX Race/Pirates Of The Koopa, Special Extended Edition, Princess, I Shrunk The Marios (Tempo Video)

DVDs:
 * Two one-disc sets by Sterling Entertainment.
 * At least eight one-disc sets by NCircle Entertainment.
 * Three one-disc sets by Maximum Entertainment (UK only).
 * One one-disc set by Lions Gate Home Entertainment/Trimark.
 * Two four-disc box-sets by Shout! Factory (released 2006).
 * One two-disc set by Beyond Home Entertainment (Australia only).
 * One six-disc set by Beyond Home Entertainment (Australia only).

Production
Strong from its multiple animated shows based on pre-existing properties, DIC Entertainment approached Nintendo with an offer to make a cartoon based on the Mario franchise. Nintendo initially declined, but later signed a deal after DIC put together a creative team they liked. Nintendo required DIC to pay extensive royalties, an unusual arrangement for children programming at the time.

A few pieces of conceptual artwork have surfaced from early design phases of the show. Some of them were somewhat more accurate to the games, notably in King Koopa's design, while others were far more loosely based on official designs. One such piece is a poster featuring a much different depiction of Mario and Luigi (the latter of which is using his in-game clothing colors for Super Mario Bros.) who are brandishing a plunger and a monkey wrench as weapons, a yellow-capped Toad, two large, grotesque Trouters, a flying green Birdo being ridden by a Snifit holding two Beezo spears, a large purple frog monster with a necklace (possibly Wart) with a Hammer Brother in tow, a flying yellow Pidgit, two Hoopsters with distinct heads (one of which has a worried expression), a green Tryclyde, a pelican-like Albatoss holding a muscular red Bob-Omb by the fuse, a giant red octopus with blue arms (possibly a complete reinterpretation of Bloober), two tube worm-like creatures with sharp teeth and long tongues (possibly Piranha Plants), and some goggle-wearing, long-tongued aliens atop spacecrafts with vaguely face-like fronts (possibly intended to be Lakitus). King Koopa appears in the background and mostly looks as he does in the finished product but with more exaggerated proportions, while Princess Toadstool, the Shyguy, the Snifit, and the Beezo are fairly accurate to their artwork. The poster also shows a helmet-wearing skull mounted to a "Go Back!" sign, a Sphinx, a sea serpent, and some prehistoric reptiles. This loose, heavily abstracted depiction of game elements closely resembles that of their later show Captain N: The Game Master.

According to Danny Wells, him and co-star Lou Albano recorded the show on a six days schedule, where they would first film the live-action segments and then drive to another studio in order to record voices for the animated segments.

In a 2018 interview, freelancer writer Perry Martin explained that the show's focus on parodies came from Andy Heyward, as the production team had struggled to make much material from the thin story present in the games. Writers would first submit a one-page premise of the story to the show's editors Bruce and Reed Shelly, then spent two days on a four page outline and finally a week to create the final script.

There was initially an episode titled "" and a cover song in every episode including "", "", and "". Additionally, every episode without a cover song contains a unique piece of music suggesting that DIC replaced the last copyrighted songs with original ones.

In an interview about DIC's history in adapting video games to television, DIC executive Robby London stated that video games such as Super Mario Bros. were DIC's favorite type of media to adapt because "[...] the videogames themselves were colorful, imaginative, hip and more than a little bizarre – in the best sense" and that their sparse lores and simple character allowed more creativity than when adapting material from other media. London also spoke positively of Nintendo's involvement in the show, stating "[...] Nintendo was reasonable, professional and good to deal with. Their America office seemed quite capable of speaking definitively on behalf of their Japanese owners, and I don’t remember any problematic disputes with Nintendo [...]" and contrasting it with DIC's more turbulent partnership with Sega for its three Sonic series.

The series was a rating success and was widely syndicated. Also, according to Wells, the guest stars actively asked to be part of the live-action segments due to the popularity of Super Mario Bros. with their children. However, despite its success, Nintendo had little interest in continuing the show beyond the initial package, leading to its cancellation.

Staff
The Super Show was executive produced by Andy Heyward, directed by Dan Riba and produced by John Grusd, who also produced and directed the two subsequent Mario cartoons by DIC. Animation was provided by Sei Young Animation Co., Ltd.. The live-action sequences were co-produced with Saban Productions.

Differences from the games

 * Several characters have very different appearances from what became their standard character models in later years, mostly owing to being based on sprites and/or character artwork from Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2.
 * King Koopa's appearance was loosely based on his sprite from Super Mario Bros. His main skin color is green instead of orange-yellow; his ribbed stomach is deeper yellow than its game color; he has a crocodilian snout that matches the rest of his skin in coloration; he has two spike-bands instead of five (worn on his wrists only), which are dark green with gold spikes, instead of black with white spikes; his shell has a bright green lining and fewer spikes than in the games; his horn- and spike-rings are green like his skin; he has a crown instead of a mane, and no eyebrows; his tongue is reptilian instead of human-like; and his eyes are yellow instead of white and lack their red irises.
 * Princess Toadstool's model portrays her as a redhead instead of a blonde, resembling her sprites from the first two Super Mario Bros. games. She also lacks her gloves and crown jewels, and her brooch, earrings, and eye color are green rather than blue (though some episodes do depict her earrings and irises as blue later on within animation).
 * Mario and Luigi have overalls matching their cap colors, with blue shirts, and also have black hair instead of brown, along the lines of their early appearances in sprites and artwork.
 * Toad's appearance is based on his sprite from Super Mario Bros., with the waistcoat being red instead of blue. In the first three episodes, all instances of white and red in his appearance were inverted, but this was fixed from the fourth episode onwards, although his shoes were recolored purple instead of the red from the original sprite. However, Toad's original inverted color scheme was reused for his super form in the episode "The Fire of Hercufleas" and on VHS and DVD covers.
 * In several episodes, Birdos were shown to fly, a trait not seen in any Mario game.
 * Rather than becoming Fire Mario, unlike in the games, Mario (or Luigi) would become "Super Mario" or "Super Luigi" upon touching either a Fire Flower, Starman, or some other source of excessive power. As Super Mario, Mario could hurl fireballs, had super-strength, and on a few rare occasions, could even fly. Although Mario could lose his powers by taking a hit (similar to the 2D Mario side-scrollers), it was also possible for them to wear off after a while.
 * Mario's super form is based on his fire form sprites from Super Mario Bros.; Luigi's variant of this form replaces the red with his defining color, green. This resembles what would be their standard fire form color schemes from Super Mario World onwards, but with their shirt and overall colors swapped.
 * During Mario's transformation into a "Super Mario", Mario's color scheme from the Japanese cover of Mario Bros. is seen.
 * During Luigi's transformation into a "Super Luigi", he is shown in one frame with a green shirt and blue overalls, as it would later become his current color scheme in the franchise, starting with Super Mario Bros. 3.
 * Although Mario's eyes are the established blue, Luigi's are green instead. However, their game color is used on the cover of the Volume 1 DVD set.
 * Trouters were portrayed as being far more vicious than they were in Super Mario Bros. 2, and would pursue anybody who came near them. Their appearance more closely resembles that of Cheep-Cheeps, and they may be only a merger of the two enemies.

Differences from the other series

 * The voices of Mario and Luigi in this show most resembles the voice of them heard today, whereas their voices in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World shows (voiced by Walker Boone and Tony Rosato, respectively) was lower and raspier for Mario, and higher and softer for Luigi, instead of Mario having a higher voice and Luigi having a lower voice like Charles Martinet does for the two's voices, and he made neither of them any raspier than Mario and Luigi's voice actors in this show.
 * This is the only English DIC show where there is a live action section.
 * There is the Plumber's Log, whose number quote in every episode is a reference to the Captain's Log quote from Star Trek.

References in later media

 * Super Mario Bros. & Friends: When I Grow Up: The King Koopa design appears on the "Business Executive" page.
 * Super Mario Bros. Print World: King Koopa's promo art is one of the printable graphic.
 * Luigi's personality of being scared and cautious was (arguably) first used in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Later, this personality appeared in video games, most notably in the Mario & Luigi series, Luigi's Mansion, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, and Luigi's Mansion 3.
 * King Koopa's color scheme may have inspired his mostly green alternate costume for Bowser in Mario Golf and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U.
 * The Super Mario Bros. Movie: The arrangement of the start of the Ground Theme used before Mario's appearance in the teaser trailer for the film is the same one used at the start of the show's opening theme. Two of the film's posters have the first verse of The Mario Rap.

Profiles

 * The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Tempest Special Edition:
 * "The zany Italian plumbers are back with an extra escapade free!"
 * "Mario and Luigi are two wacky Italian plumbers who get washed through a warp zone into a magical land populated entirely by Mushroom people. Here they join forces with the lovely Princess Toadstool and her assistant to fight the dastardly King Koopa and his Koopa Troopas"
 * The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! - Volume One:
 * "You're in for a treat, so hang on to your seat Get ready for adventure and remarkable feats You'll meet Koopas, the Troopas, the Princess and the others Hangin with the plumbers, you'll be hooked on the brothers!"
 * The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! - Volume Two/The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! - Mega Disc:
 * "Mario and Luigi are two wacky Italian plumbers who got washed through a warp zone while fixing a clogged drain. They find themselves in the colourful video world of the Mushroom Kingdom where they stumble from one adventure to another helping the perky Princess"
 * Robokoopa:
 * "Hey paisanos! It's the Super Mario Brothers Super Show! We're the Mario Brothers, and Plumbing's our game We're not like the others who get all the fame If your sink is in trouble, you can call us on the double We're faster than the others, you'll be hooked on the Brothers"
 * Netflix:
 * "Mixing live action and animation, this classic series brought the beloved Super Mario Bros. video game characters to television screens everywhere."
 * "Beloved Brooklyn plumbers Mario and Luigi burst out of the video-game world and onto TV screens in this blend of animation and live-action."

Foreign/international variations
With the show being translated into 15 languages and 1 dialect (,, , , , , , , , , , , , , , and ) there are many differences between them.
 * Some international versions only dub the animated segments or completely cut out the live-action segments as well. The Latin American dub left the opening and ending songs unchanged in English (no subtitles either), but the live action segments are present and dubbed. A narrator would read the episode title's translation as it appeared, usually starting with "today we present: episode's name" (this was a common practice for cartoon dubs), however, in some instances the episode was given a title completely different from the original.
 * The French, Dutch and German dubs are the only international versions to completely re-dub the Plumber Rap, whereas other foreign markets use the English version and dub only the animated Mario head introducing the show. Also, the German and Dutch versions also re-dubs "Do the Mario" ("Mach den Mario") for the closing credits.
 * The original international versions in Spain and Italy use an entirely different extended theme song.
 * The Korean version uses a slightly modified lyrical version of the original Mario theme music and both the Korean and Danish versions replace the live-action skits with new ones starring Korean actors. The Korean skits feature original plots, sets, and costume designs, rather than simply remaking the Albano/Wells skits; among other changes, Mario & Luigi's outfits more closely resembles those of their game counterparts, their mustaches are stereotypical handlebar mustaches (as opposed to Albano & Wells' natural facial hair), and the set design is significantly more sterile.
 * The Italian version cut the Friday live action skits and the Zelda episodes. Later, these animated episodes will be broadcasted in their own series: Un regno incantato per Zelda (An enchanted kingdom for Zelda).

Trivia

 * Although on Fridays The Legend of Zelda animated episodes were aired, the live-action episodes were still The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episodes.
 * At least two live-action segments - "Dance" and "Treasure of the Sierra Brooklyn" - identify Mario as being Mario and Luigi's surname.