Do the Koopa

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode
"Do the Koopa"
Production number	115
Airdate	October 27, 1990 (English) October 25, 1991 (French)
Writer(s)	Phil Harnage
Opening curtain	Dark Land
Featured song	"Do The Koopa"
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"Do the Koopa" is the fifteenth episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. It aired alongside another episode entitled "Kootie Pie Rocks." The title of the episode is a reference to "Do the Mario," the song that is used in the closing credits to The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, the previous Super Mario animated series produced by DIC Entertainment.

Plot synopsis

The episode begins with Luigi finding a treasure map to the Doom Dancer Music Box in Mushroomland Central Library. Princess Toadstool later gets Luigi, Mario, and Toad to help her get the Doom Dancer, which makes anyone who hears it dance fast or slow according to how fast it is cranked. Mario proposes that the Doom Dancer can keep the Koopa Clan under control. The group then sets out to get it in Dark Land's Temple of Gloom. When they arrive, a Dry Bones hears their plans and goes to tell King Koopa at Kastle Koopa. After telling him a few times (King Koopa has a cold), King Koopa sends Cheatsy Koopa, Big Mouth Koopa Jr., and Bully Koopa to get the Doom Dancer before the Mario Bros. do.

Mario and Co. face a problem getting over a wide gap. Toad suggests that Mario break some blocks to get some Super Leaves, which Mario does. Turning into their Raccoon forms, the group flies over the wide gap. They run through a field of giant spikes popping down from the cave ceiling. After getting through the spike field, two Koopa statues turn them all back into their normal forms.

The Temple of Gloom.

After traversing through a hallway, the group sees the Temple of Gloom, which is guarded by a group of Dry Bones. The group stomps on all the Dry Bones, but they just reform and get back up. Mario then sees a group of Blocks and tells everyone to break them. The rubble of the blocks block the Dry Bones from reaching the gang, allowing Mario and the group to get into the Temple of Gloom safely.

Cheatsy, Bully, and Big Mouth are later seen clearing the rubble, and following the gang into the Temple of Gloom. After narrowly avoiding beams from many Koopa statues, Mario and the gang reach a door. Princess Toadstool looks at the map and tells the group that the Doom Dancer is in the Inner Temple. The Koopalings, who are eavesdropping, realize that the Doom Dancer exists and is not a myth like their father always thought. The Koopalings decide to let Mario get the Doom Dancer, then Big Mouth says they should ambush them. Bully tells Big Mouth to give him his string. Big Mouth objects because it belonged to their great grandmother and attempts to tell an unneeded story about her. Bully covers his big mouth before he starts while Cheatsy steals the string and creates a trip-wire.

Traps going off after Mario grabs the Doom Dancer.

Mario and the group are then seen inside the room of the Doom Dancer, which is on a pedestal. Mario climbs up and obtains the Doom Dancer, which sets off a trap that makes projectiles fall from the ceiling. Mario gets back to the group after narrowly avoiding a Thwomp. A Boom Boom scares the group and sends them running outside, tripping on the trip-wire and sending the Doom Dancer into the air. Big Mouth attempts to catch it while mimicking football game crowds, but Cheatsy pushes him aside and attempts to catch it, but Bully grabs him by the hair and throws him away and the Doom Dancer falls into Bully Koopa's claws. Bully then uses the Doom Dancer to force everyone to dance, even his own siblings. He makes everyone march back to Castle Koopa, plotting to use the Doom Dancer to overthrow his father.

Bully with the Doom Dancer.

When the group gets to Kastle Koopa, King Koopa asks Bully to give him the Doom Dancer. Bully refuses, saying that he is going to use it to rule the entire world, starting with his father. However, King Koopa's cold prevents him from hearing the music, making him invulnerable to its magic. Koopa then takes the Doom Dancer, and cranks it, making everyone "Do the Koopa". King Koopa then says that he is going to make the whole Mushroom Kingdom dance to their doom. The Doom Dancer is powerful enough for its power to spread into Desert Land where a Sphinx, the trees and even the enemies start dancing.

King Koopa then flies over various parts of the Mushroom Kingdom on his Doom Ship, making everyone "Do the Koopa", even statues and plants. Mario then gets some Plumber's Putty from Luigi, and jams them in his ears, blocking out all sound. Pretending to dance, Mario slowly goes towards Koopa, tackling him and sending the Doom Dancer into the air. A struggle for the Doom Dancer follows, which ends up in the crank breaking off from the rest of the Doom Dancer. Attempting to crank it with his claw, Koopa gets his claw stuck. The Koopalings help Koopa get it off, but send the Doom Dancer crashing onto the landscape below, where it hits a Goomba on the head and breaks.

King Koopa, Bully, and Cheatsy then start arguing over whose fault it is for breaking the Doom Dancer. Mario and the group jump into the Warp Pipe and get warped to Mushroom Castle, where the episode ends.

Cast

• Walker Boone — Mario
• Tony Rosato — Luigi
• Tracey Moore — Princess Toadstool
• John Stocker — Toad
• Harvey Atkin — King Bowser Koopa
• James Rankin — Cheatsy Koopa
• Dan Hennessey — Bully Koopa, singer #2
• Gordon Masten — Big Mouth Koopa, singer #1
• Michael Stark — singer #3
• Paulina Gillis — female singer

Animation and continuity errors

• At the beginning of the episode, the Boom Boom moves on the map, but at Toad's house, it does not.
• In several scenes, Mario's hair is colored black instead of brown.
• When Mario and his friends looks at the map in Toad's house, the emblem on Mario's cap has its colors reversed.
• When Princess Toadstool explains how the Doom Dancer Music Box works, Kootie Pie's bracelets are colored gray instead of yellow, and when Hop falls down, his glasses turn red.
• When Luigi mentions that Dark Land is King Koopa's kingdom, the details on the map are missing.
• When Mario and his friends jump into the Warp Pipe, the skull symbol is blue, but when they arrive in Dark Land, it turns yellow.
  • Shortly after, the symbol on the pipe disappears.
• When the Warp Pipe appears in Dark Land, Mario and his friends appear, but in the next shot, they and the pipe disappear while a Dry Bones replaces them.
• When King Koopa explains to the Koopalings what he actually said, his eyes are colored white instead of yellow.
• When Cheatsy is relieved, Big Mouth's eyelids are colored gray instead of purple. This also happens when King Koopa tells the Koopalings that the Dry Bones will show where Mario and his friends went.
• In several scenes, Cheatsy's head is the same color as his body.
• In several scenes, Bully's snout is brown instead of cream-colored.
• When Luigi says for the music to stop, the fire flashes.
• When Mario breaks some Blocks, some of them remain intact.
• When Mario and his friends start flying, Mario, Luigi, and Princess Toadstool's raccoon ears are missing, along Princess Toadstool's raccoon tail.
• After Mario dodges a spike, the screen freezes for a few seconds.
• After Princess Toadstool loses her raccoon form, she is suddenly caught up with Toad despite being behind in the previous scene.
• When the Dry Bones leave the Temple of Gloom, the first Dry Bones disappears into the ground.
• When Mario and his friends run towards the Dry Bones, Toad's pants are missing.
• When Mario and his friends are beginning to enter the Temple of Gloom, the screen shakes.
• When the Koopalings spy on Mario and his friends, Big Mouth's head is tan instead of gray.
• When Big Mouth says that the Koopas will be doomed if Mario and his friends get the Doom Dancer, his star is missing.
• When Mario climbs up the pedestal with the Doom Dancer, the Doom Dancer is missing.
• When Mario dodges the Thwomp, the Doom Dancer is miscolored, and shortly after, he fades into existence.
• After Mario and his friends trip on the rope, it disappears.
• When Cheatsy pushes Big Mouth aside, the rim around Big Mouth's shell is colored white instead of yellow.
• When Cheatsy and Big Mouth look at Bully when he catches the Doom Dancer, Cheatsy's shackles are colored green instead of black.
• Bully's line when he slows down his cranking plays earlier than it is supposed to, resulting in him speaking with no dialogue.
• When Mario, his friends, and the Koopalings march, the Doom Dancer and Princess Toadstool's dress flash.
  • In the same scene, Toad smiles. This also happens shortly after Bully hands the Doom Dancer to King Koopa, along with Princess Toadstool.
• When Bully realizes that King Koopa cannot hear him, the rim of his shell is colored black like his shackles instead of white, and shortly after, his shell is colored green instead of pink.
• In a couple of shots when Bully gives the Doom Dancer to King Koopa, the bottom-right corner of the background is unpainted.
• When King Koopa says that he can make the Mushroom Kingdom dance, one of the spikes on his shackles is colored white like his claws instead of orange.
• As the camera pans up to the Doomship as it flies over Princess Toadstool's castle, the castle is orange instead of pink.
• When everyone starts dancing on the Doomship, several of the Koopalings are miscolored.
  • In the same scene, Big Mouth is floating in midair, while Kooky's mouth briefly disconnects from his face.
• During the song, the Angry Sun is completely white.
• While everyone dances on the Doomship, Hop changes from Cheatsy's side to Hip's between shots.
• When Mario puts some Plumber's Putty on his hand, the ends of the tube are purple, but in the next shot, they are yellow like the rest of the tube.
• When the Doom Dancer starts falling towards King Koopa and when it falls to the ground, it appears to be falling towards the Doomship's floor instead.
• When King Koopa holds the Doom Dancer Music Box in the air, the crank can be seen, but in the next shot, Luigi has it in his hand.
• When King Koopa's claw gets stuck, it is not placed correctly.
• When King Koopa and the Koopalings watch the Doom Dancer fall to the ground, the Koopalings' mouths move, but no sound can be heard.
  • In the same scene, Cheatsy overlaps the railing.
• The Goomba that causes the Doom Dancer Music Box to break is not seen when the Doom Dancer is falling towards the ground.
• When King Koopa becomes upset when the Doom Dancer is destroyed, the spikes on his shackles are colored white instead of orange.
• When King Koopa and the Koopalings have an argument at the end of the episode, Big Mouth is missing.

• 

  The unfinished background

• 

  Bully's miscolored shell

• 

  The error with Toad and Princess Toadstool having happy expressions

Profiles

• Koopa Kronicles DVD: Mario and his friends set out for Darkland and the Temple of Gloom to recover the magical music box.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	En avant la musique	Let the music play
German	Die Zauberkraft der Musikbox	The Magic Power of the Music Box
Italian	Il ballo di Attila	Koopa's Dance
Portuguese	A Dança do Koopa	Koopa's Dance
Spanish	El Baile de Koopa	Koopa's Dance

Trivia

• When Mario and his friends are at the large gap, the fourth wall is broken twice. It is first broken when Luigi screams, "Stop the music!", where the background music stops. It happens second time when Mario says, "Start the music!" where the background music starts again.
• In DVD releases of this episode, the episode runs slower than the other episodes. It is unknown why this happens.
• Princess Toadstool references Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when she says that the Doom Dancer Music Box is hidden in Dark Land's Temple of Gloom.
• Toad only has two lines in this episode, which are "Whoa! Try blasting those blocks, Mario!" and "Yeah, but we got the crank!"
• The pencil-like obstacles in Dark Land predate the Spikes from Super Mario World, obstacles with a very similar function and appearance, only lacking the tip made of lead.