Super Mario World (TV series)

Not to be confused with The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!.
Super Mario World
Genre Adventure
Comedy
Fantasy
Created by Shigeru Miyamoto (original characters)
Directed by John Grusd
Voices of Harvey Atkin
Walker Boone
Tara Charandoff
Catherine Gallant
Paulina Gillis
Dan Hennessey
Judy Marshak
Gordon Masten
Tracey Moore
James Rankin
Tony Rosato
Andrew Sabiston
Michael Stark
John Stocker
Stuart Stone
Theme music composer Mark Mothersbaugh
Opening theme "Super Mario World"
Ending theme "Super Mario World" (Instrumental)
Composer(s) Michael Tavera
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Andy Heyward
Producer(s) John Grusd
Editor(s) Mark McNally
Sue Odjakjian
Running time 10–11 minutes
Production company(s) DIC Entertainment
Reteitalia, S.p.A.
Nintendo of America, Inc.
Release
Original network NBC
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
Audio format Dolby Surround 2.0
Original release September 14, 1991 – July 25, 1992[1]
Chronology
Preceded by Captain N & The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990)

Super Mario World is an American animated musical comedy television series loosely based on the Super NES video game of the same name. It is the last of three TV shows based on the video game series, with the other two being The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. Unlike its two predecessors, this series does not feature Toad (though his voice actor, John Stocker, voices other characters in this show) and takes place in Dinosaur World. It instead features Yoshi. Thirteen episodes of the show were aired, as part of a block with Captain N: The Game Master called Captain N & The New Super Mario World on NBC. Just like The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, the show is produced by DIC Entertainment and the Italian studio Reteitalia, S.p.A. in association with Nintendo of America, Inc., who licensed the characters and power-ups from the game to DiC.

Format

The series centers on Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool, now living in Dinosaur Land (sometimes also called Dinosaur World) with Yoshi, who is depicted on the show as a curious childlike dinosaur with a large appetite and several phobias. King Koopa (otherwise known as Bowser) and the Koopalings were also around, having followed the Super Mario Bros. and the Princess to Dinosaur Land.

Unlike in the game, Dinosaur Land was depicted as being populated with cavepeople, including a pre-adolescent caveboy named Oogtar, who replaced the role of Toad (Oogtar even had the same voice actor as Toad, John Stocker). Some episodes revolved around Mario trying to introduce a modern invention to the cavepeople in an attempt to make their lives easier, only for the Koopas to twist it into an evil scheme. It is unclear whether the characters had traveled back in time (in the episode "Rock TV", King Koopa mentions "there's no TV here in the Stone Age [because] it hasn't been invented yet"), or if Dinosaur Land was simply a "lost valley"-esque island that the characters had come to (in the flashback episode "Mama Luigi", Luigi simply mentions that he and the others came to Dinosaur Land for a vacation without any mention of time travel).

The show was originally aired on Saturday mornings on NBC in the 1991-92 season, the last year the network programmed an animated children's block before the launch of a Saturday edition of Today. It was featured in a half-hour time slot with a shortened version of Captain N: The Game Master, titled Captain N & The New Super Mario World (also titled Captain N & Super Mario Bros. World in the commercial bumpers). Episodes of Super Mario World were later shown as part of the syndication package Captain N and the Video Game Masters. Afterwards, the series was split up from Captain N altogether and shown in time-compressed reruns on as part of Mario All-Stars on Family Channel, and later USA Network. In the United Kingdom, however, the show was still broadcast as Captain N & The New Super Mario World.

Unlike the previous two Mario cartoons, the show was not widely distributed on home video in the NTSC region, where its only release was the inclusion of the show's Christmas episode on the 1996 VHS release Super Mario Bros. Super Christmas Adventures. Meanwhile, two PAL tapes were released in the United Kingdom. More recently, the series was released on DVD in Australia. This series is the most short-lived of the three American Mario animated series.

Differences between the series and the game

The series takes place in Dinosaur World, rather than in Dinosaur Land, where Yoshi lives with a preadolescent caveman named Oogtar. In addition, Yoshi's Island is populated predominantly with cavemen instead of Yoshis. Several names were changed from the game as well: the Forest of Illusion was called the Enchanted Forest, and the Vanilla Dome was referred to as the Lava Pits.[2] Furthermore, enemies featured in the game were rarely called by their in-game names on the show: Bowser was called King Koopa. Furthermore, his castle says KOOPA instead of BOWSER. Also, Koopas are called "Troopas", and Chargin' Chucks are called "Football players". Many of these elements indicate the animators heavily relied on the Japanese version of the game than the official English release, as the series was in production several months before the game was released in North America. As in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, the Koopalings were still referred to by their nicknames. King Koopa still had his all-green appearance from the previous two cartoons. Mario, Luigi and Princess Toadstool kept their NES designs (red and green overalls for Mario and Luigi and red hair for Princess Toadstool).

Another notable fact was that when Yoshi hatched, the dinosaur was not born with his red shell, as revealed when Luigi told the story of Yoshi's birth in the final episode, "Mama Luigi". Yoshi also ate several enemies after he was found, but unlike in the game, Yoshi remained small.

Production

Another noticeable difference is that it was animated by a different animation studio, Pacific Rim Productions, Inc., hence the difference in character designs, not only for Princess Toadstool (the most obvious), but also for Mario and Luigi. An intro animated by a Japanese animation studio named Canvas, Inc. was also conceived for the series (due to the better resources and production values, it was better than the show's actual western animation). Like the third season of Captain N: The Game Master (which aired the same year), the animation and writing quality suffered, perhaps due to a smaller budget. The theme song for this show was written by Mark Mothersbaugh, who also wrote the music for Rugrats, which coincidentally, premiered in the same month and year.

Cast

Episodes

Broadcast stations

International broadcast

UK and US VHS history

DVD release

On November 13, 2007, Shout! Factory and Vivendi Entertainment released a Complete Series DVD set of Captain N & The New Super Mario World in Region 1. The series has also been released in Australia (Region 4) by Roadshow Entertainment. NCircle Entertainment (under license from Cookie Jar Entertainment) has also released the series in two volumes. They later released the complete series in one set.[4]

DVD name Ep # Release date Additional information
Captain N & The New Super Mario World - The Complete Series 13 November 13, 2007
  • Select Episode Previews
  • Storyboard-to-Screen: Opening Title Sequence
  • Original Concept Art: Yoshi
Super Mario World: The Complete Series: Collector's Edition 13 October 8, 2013
  • Storyboard-to-Screen: Opening Title Sequence
  • Original Concept Art: Yoshi

References

  1. ↑ Los Angeles Times; September 14, 1991 and July 25, 1992 TV listings
  2. ↑ Refer to Super Mario World episode "The Wheel Thing"
  3. ↑ Damian Inwood. "Pi Theatre, Independent Vancouver Theatre >> The Baroness and the Pig". Retrieved October 30, 2011. That's what Vancouver actresses Diane Brown and Tabitha St. Germain do with the delightful black comedy, The Baroness and the Pig. (...) St. Germain – better known to Vancouver audiences as Paulina Gillis – plays the Baroness as a naïve gentlewoman, full of prissy mannerisms and twittering, bird-like movements.
  4. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-Bros-World-Complete/dp/B00DOZRSPI/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1381176079&sr=1-1&keywords=super+mario+world

External links

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