The Ugly Mermaid
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| The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode | |
| "The Ugly Mermaid" | |
| Episode no. | 18 |
|---|---|
| Prod. no. | 114 |
| Airdate | November 3, 1990 |
| Writer(s) | Sean Roche, Perry Martin |
| List of all Super Mario cartoon episodes | |
"The Ugly Mermaid" is an episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3.
[edit] Synopsis
Bowser sets off to take over the underwater kingdom of Mertropolis in his new submersible, the Doomsub, but the Mario Bros., Princess Peach, and Toad, somehow aware of his plot, give chase after him, wearing Frog Suits. In their attempt to subdue the Doomsub, Mario gets hit by one of its lasers, which encases him in a block of cement and causes him to sink to the bottom of the ocean. Luckily, he is rescued by Holly Mackeral (a play on the term "holy mackeral"), the Princess of Mertropolis, who brings him to her kingdom, which for some reason is protected by an airdome despite its population of anthropomorphic fish. Luigi and the others follow her.
After Luigi and the others manage to resuscitate Mario, Holly starts hitting on him, mistakenly believing him to be a frog prince she was told would come to her. Although Mario appreciates her having saved his life, he finds her grotesque, as she is in fact a fish with human legs rather than a beautiful woman with a fish tail as mermaids are usually depicted. But instead of just taking off his Frog Suit and telling Holly he isn't a frog, he avoids her and tells the others that they have to get moving. But for no reason at all, Mario now suddenly also has aquaphobia.
Bowser begins to lay seige to Mertropolis, first sending out a batch of Boomerang Brothers whom the Mario Bros. easily take care of. But with Mario still afraid of the water for no reason, Luigi, Peach, and Toad go to combat Bowser on their own, only to end up being captured by Bowser's Nasty Nets. Holly, somehow unaware of Bowser's attack, boasts about her upcoming wedding to Mario. Bowser then proceeds to flood Mertropolis, which somehow frightens the citizens into fleeing in terror. Mario, realizing his friends are in danger, conquers his still-unexplained aquaphobia and rescues his friends, then uses Bowser's nets against him. In the end, Holly decides not to marry Mario because he looks ugly with a fishbowl on his head.
[edit] Trivia/Goofs
- The episode's title and the concept of a sea creature falling in love with a human come from the children's story The Little Mermaid, which had been adaptated into a Disney film the previous year. The episode's plot, however, completely recycles those of two episodes of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show - "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" and "Mario of the Deep".
- "Quite a feat, eh Princess?" Luigi asks after Mario knocks out one of the Boomerang Bros. "Marvelous feat, Luigi!" the Princess replies. This exchange does not make sense, since it was Mario, not Luigi, who performed said feat.
- The idea that Mertropolis, a city protected by an air-filled dome, would be populated by anthropomorphic fish is completely ridiculous. Fish have gills and thus need water to breathe, and because of this, the people of Mertropolis are forced to wear fish bowls on their heads (ala SpongeBob visiting Sandy's Treedome). Why would they want to live in a place that's not filled with water? And therefore, considering that all Bowser ends up doing to them is providing them with the very substance they need to survive, why do they flee in terror?
- When the King of Metropolis is first talking to Mario, the king's head is tan instead of purple!
- When Holly thinks the (purple) pipe is Mario, her color of her bracelet changes for a split second.
- When Bowser is speaking at the beginning, the rims around the spikes of his shell have turned yellow except when he says "Kooptropolis!"
- When Holly says "You're safe now" the white necklace she has on disappears for a second!
- Toad's hands continually alternate between his normal and the Frog Suit hands.
- When Holly is hugging Mario, her fishbowl helmet in one scene goes behind Mario!
- When King Mackerel talks to Mario, his hands are entirely green!
| Preceded by: Mush-Rumors |
List of Super Mario episodes | Followed by: Crimes R Us |
