Cartoons > Super Mario Brothers 3
Title: Sneaky, Lying, Cheating, Giant Ninja Koopas
Episode Writers: Bruce Shelley, Reed Shelley
They are the vilest, most menacing creatures that walked the Mushroom Kingdom. They are the koopalings, the offspring of the evil, Bowser Koopa. Now, four of his seven kids have become giant ninja koopas (inspired by the hit franchise, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and have cause all sorts of trouble. The editors and animators also have had trouble with this episode, especially in the coloring department, as you will notice when watching Sneaky, Lying, Cheating, Giant Ninja Koopas
Our story begins inside Castle Koopa, where King Koopa has gathered his mischievous offspring for a family meeting. He figures he should give his kids a challenge by ordering the capture of the ruler of Giant Land, Prince Hugo. His intentions: to turn the giant, lanky prince into a poodle with one of his magic wands. He calls for Bully, Big Mouth, Cheatsy, and Kooky to step forward as his crown decides to disappear for a moment. Naturally, the other three, Kootie Pie, Hip, and Hop, step back as Koopa waves his green wand and zaps the four lucky koopalings. Soon, the four koopalings are almost as big as the throne room with ninja gear. Koopa declares his new team of giant warriors the "Sneaky, Lying, Giant Ninja Koopas", and reminds them of their mission with his color-changing wand.
Meanwhile, at Giant Land, the heroic quartet of Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad meet Prince Hugo at his castle after receiving his "bigger than the post office"-sized letter. Hugo, with his deep, muted-coronet-sounding voice, explains that he is being attacked by the giant koopalings. His easily-agitated parrot also adds his unnecessary comments. Mario assures the prince that his friends and he will stop the mega-menacing monsters, despite the parrots squaking insults. Immediately, Mario jumps into a nearby pipe with his brother, Luigi, following.
The Marios find themselves in a huge forest. Mario has no trouble jumping down from the skyscraper that is the pipe, but Luigi, as usual, is hesitant. Thankfully, Big Brother Mario is there to help his little, tall brother get down from the pipe. However, the catch isn't as smooth as they hope, as Luigi and Mario stumble upon Luigi's landing (a tumble that is more than what it should input in terms of physics). Anyway, Luigi is a little annoyed, but Mario's excuse is that the sun was in his eyes, even though his brother was bigger than a baseball. Apparantly, the famous Angry Sun is not buying this excuse either and attacks the Mario Brothers. After much running, the Marios find a Super Leaf and become Raccon Mario and Raccoon Luigi. They announce themselves as they fly away, with Luigi's clothes in a different shade of green.
The Angry Sun (or as my sister and I called them in the past, the "Man-Eating Sun"), stops by the gliding Raccoon Mario Brothers (as in flying without wagging their tails), unaware of the Mario Brothers's new look. When he asks where the Mario Brothers were, Mario lies to the Man-Eating Sun that they're behind the cloud. The Man-Eating Sun thanks the Marios and goes through a slit underneath the cloud and disappearing into another dimension (which is supposed to be the animators' way of going behind the cloud). Mario comments that the Angry Sun is "not too bright" and flys back to Prince Hugo's castle with Luigi following him. Luigi reminds Mario to not get touched by an enemy or the Raccon power goes bye-bye.
You think Mario would have already known about this after rescuing the princess and saving the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser and his kids previously. Why Luigi would have reminded him of a fact that has been known since day one of their adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom is beyond me.
Back at Prince Hugo's castle, the Koopalings finally beat down the door with Kooky in a different face color (these chameleon abilities are common in almost every Koopaling, as you will see in all the other episodes). Immediately, they take the princess, the prince, and Toad hostage, with Prince Hugo demanding the release of his friends. Soon, the Marios, still with their awesome Raccoon powers, have made their grand entrance. The giant ninja koopas try to swat them like flies. However, it is Big Mouth who's had enough and decides to blow Mario away like a drifting feather. Mario crashes onto a pipe, housed by an unhappy Piranha Plant who bites Mario's tail, making Mario powerless. Things don't go well for Luigi, either, as he is grabbed by Big Mouth, who gloats on how he "loves being a Koopa!"
Yes, folks! That is a Ninja Turtle reference. The writers are showing their love for the "heroes in the half shell." Turtle Power!
Anyway, in the second act of this episode, Big Mouth evicts the squaking parrot of the home, because like me, he just can't stand the bird being there. Okay, so Big Mouth needs it to hold Luigi. Then, Bully locks the princess and Toad, as well. Just as Bully shuts the door, Big Mouth yells at his brother, because Mario is still on the loose. Speaking of Mario, the red plumber jumps on the parrot's back, hoping the parrot is at least useful in the escape. The parrot bickers with Mario as his plumage on the top of his head and the tips of his wings change color. After hearing Mario's promise to return him to his cage, the parrot flies away with Mario. The koopalings are surprising okay with this; they at least got Prince Hugo, as well as Luigi, the princess, and Toad.
At Castle Koopa, the Koopa king praises the good work his giant kids have done. He grabs a red wand from his wand rack and zaps Prince Hugo into a big, lavendar poodle. The prisoners three are shocked to see such horror. With his intentions satisfied, Koopa grabs his ninja wand so he can zap his kids back to regular size. However, Bully and Big Mouth suggest that they should stay that size to capture more kingdoms. This idea pleases King Dad, who puts away the color-changing ninja wand.
The Koopa family celebrates, unknown to them that Mario and the parrot have managed to reach the throne room. Mario tries to break his friends out of the cage, but was unsuccessful. Thankfully, Mario has a plan, which involves switching the heads of the magic wands, and hiding behind the throne.
Mario has the right idea on switching the heads on the magic wands, but he hasn't thought of the fact that the animators tend to change colors on magic wands, making viewers confused. In this case, the green wand (the ninja wand) was in the second slot and the red wand (the poodle wand) was in the third slot. When Mario switched it, the animators flopped the colors back as Mario walks away, making it like Mario never switched it in the first place!
The Koopas continue celebrating and begin their meeting on what kingdom they should conquer. Kooky, while impersonating Bully, suggest Water Land, while Cheatsy suggests Desert Land. King Dad tells his kids to shut their yaps. Soon, Mario comes out from behind the throne, and demands his friends' freedom (while addressing him as 'Bowser'). Koopa, unphased by the threat, orders his kids to grab him, which they did. The princess, not convincingly, comments on the sheer horror (obviously, she hasn't seen Luigi in his new red overalls) and mentions on how Bowser could turn Mario into a poodle. Koopa is overjoyed about this idea and grabs the ninja wand, which he thinks it's the poodle wand, or at least that's what the story was trying to imply.
Now, things are getting confusing. You see, Bowser grabs the green wand, which is now the poodle wand thanks to Mario's switcheroo. In other words, Mario would have been turned into a poodle thanks to Bowser's blindsight. Thankfully for our heroes, the confusion between the editors and animators has left Mario become a giant ninja, a "Good, Truthful, Honest Ninja Mario."
Yes, that title is redundant, but let's layoff on the technalities. The wand snafu has got me over my head.
Anyway, with this new power, Mario frees his friends, who chase Bowser, forcing him to drop his wand, which went from green to red, the color it should be (remember, the red wand is now the ninja wand). Meanwhile, Mario is left defending himself against the giant ninja kids, leaving the princess to zap the kids back to normal size (still with ninja garb). Luigi, then takes the red wand, which I guess they switched the heads off-screen, because that wand changed Prince Hugo back to normal.
Everything's back to normal. All that's left for Mario is to humiliate Koopa. The Koopalings cower behind their father's back. All four plea for help, but only two raise their voices. King Dad reacts by making his escape through a hidden pipe that can be accessed by hitting his head on a switch, high up on the ceiling. The Koopalings join him in his escape just as the pipe disappears. Prince Hugo is thankful for Mario's heroics (even though Mario's friends helped). The princess, with the red wand (I guess it got switched again), turns Mario back to normal size. Meanwhile, the bird and his color-changing plumage squawks about his ruined cage and gets his vengeance by using the color-changing ninja wand, turning himself into a "miserable, squawking, angry giant ninja parrot".
The episode's story leaves you with a lot of action, a special guest appearance from the Man-Eating Sun, I mean, Angry Sun, and the writers representing their Ninja Turtle fandom. Sad to say, those three factors are the only good things about the episode. Mario and Luigi get to have Raccoon Powers for a while, but only to fly away. The action really comes from the Koopalings destruction and the retaliation from Luigi and the princess. Mario does become a giant ninja, but it's used to hold off Koopalings and, eventually scare them away. Seeing the Angry Sun, a rare character in the Super Mario Brothers 3 video game, is always nice. However, if you would look at technicalities, the episode is plagued with obvious art and dubbing errors, as well as the whole magic wand snafu that I tried to explain throughout the synopsis. It seems that if you are a big nerd who doesn't care about technicalities, you may like this episode.
But you know what? This episode has taught me a lesson. I shouldn't worry about technicalities. They just give you headaches. It's fun to look back at these mistakes and laugh, but if you take things seriously, you're just going to leave yourself with a huge headache and a part of your life wasted. The best thing you can do is enjoy the cheesiness, look back at this, and laugh.
