The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3

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The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
Supermario3tv.jpg
GenreAdventure
Fantasy
Created byShigeru Miyamoto (original characters)
Based onSuper Mario Bros. 3
by Shigeru Miyamoto
Developed byReed Shelly
Bruce Shelly
Written by
  • Bruce Shelly
  • David Ehrman
  • Doug Booth
  • Heidi Holicker
  • Lee Schneider
  • Martha Moran
  • Matt Uitz
  • Michael Maurer
  • Perry Martin
  • Phil Harnage
  • Reed Shelly
  • Rick Holicker
  • Rowby Goren
  • Sean Roche
  • Steve Fischer
  • Steve Hayes
  • Ted Pedersen
Directed byJohn Grusd
Voices ofWalker Boone
Tony Rosato
Tracey Moore
John Stocker
Harvey Atkin
Dan Hennessey
Gordon Masten
Michael Stark
James Rankin
Paulina Gillis
Stuart Stone
Tara Charendoff
ComposersEvan Roberts
Joellyn Cooperman
Michael Tavera
Paige Ashley
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerAndy Heyward
ProducerJohn Grusd
EditorsMark A. McNally
Sue Odjakjian
Warren Taylor
Running time24 minutes (11 minutes per segment)
Production companiesDIC Animation City[a]
Nintendo of America
Reteitalia S.p.A.
Release
Original networkNBC (U.S.)
Italia 1 (Italy)
Picture format4:3
Audio formatStereo
Original releaseSeptember 8 (1990-09-08) –
December 1, 1990 (1990-12-01)
Chronology
Preceded byThe Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (1989)
Followed bySuper Mario World (1991)

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 is an American animated television series. It premiered on September 8, 1990, on NBC. It is the second animated series to be based on the Super Mario video game series, following The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and preceding Super Mario World, and is loosely based on the video game Super Mario Bros. 3.[1]

Overview[]

Unlike its predecessor, the series dropped the use of live-action segments, Wart's minions and King Koopa's alter-egos, featured an entirely new cast with the exceptions of John Stocker and Harvey Atkin, who reprised their respective roles as Toad and King Koopa, established a level of continuity in stories, and featured the introduction of a set of characters called the Koopalings, based upon the same characters from the Mario games but with different names to their official counterparts. Episodes were divided into two segments of around 11 minutes each, always opened by a title card featuring world-map footage taken from Super Mario Bros. 3, and often featured the use of power-ups and other elements from the game. The only episode to not feature world-map footage is "Kootie Pie Rocks". Although Nintendo modified the character designs from the Mario franchise and flipped the shirt and overall colors of Mario and Luigi's, DIC decided to keep the character designs from its predecessor, but beginning with "Princess Toadstool for President", Mario's hair color is changed to brown while Luigi's hair stays black. However, the Shout! Factory DVD cover depicts Mario wearing his modern colors from the video games.

Format[]

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 focuses on Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool, who reside in the Mushroom World. Most of the episodes revolve around the four characters' efforts to prevent the attacks made by King Koopa and the Koopalings to take over Princess Toadstool's Mushroom Kingdom.

Like The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, the show was produced by DIC Animation City, with the overseas animation being done at the South Korean studio Sei Young Animation Co., Ltd.; however, this show was co-produced by Italian studio Reteitalia S.P.A., hence the slight differences in character design.

Since the show was based on Super Mario Bros. 3, the enemies and power-ups were also seen in the show. In addition to being more faithful to the Mario gameplay, the series was given an established sense of continuity, something that the previous series lacked. Many episodes are set on Earth (consistently referred to as "The Real World" by the characters) and are set in locations such as London, Paris, Venice, New York City, Cape Canaveral, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. One episode titled "7 Continents for 7 Koopas" is about the Koopalings invading each of the seven continents.[2]

This cartoon was originally shown in the hour-long Captain N and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 programming block along with the second season of Captain N: The Game Master on NBC, whose format involved having two Mario Bros. episodes with a full-length Captain N episode sandwiched in-between. All further airings of the series separated it from Captain N when Weekend Today aired in 1992.[citation needed]

Voice cast[]

The TV series entered production before official names were given in the development process of the video game, so the Koopalings names are all different.

Home media[]

In 1994, Buena Vista Home Video released 4 VHS volumes of the series which each contained 2 episodes.

In 2003, Sterling Entertainment released a VHS/DVD titled King Koopa Katastrophe, which contained 6 episodes. The DVD release also contained the Sonic Underground episode "Sonic Tonic" as a bonus feature. The DVD was re-released by NCircle Entertainment in 2007, excluding the Sonic episode.

A DVD featuring one episode plus two Heathcliff episodes was released as a prize in Golden Grahams cereal in 2004.

Due to the success of the DVD sets of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Shout! Factory and Vivendi Visual Entertainment released a three-disc box set of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 with all twenty-six original episodes on June 26, 2007, which was released again in a double pack with Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog volume 1 as a double pack on December 4, 2007, as a tie-in with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. NCircle Entertainment (under license from Cookie Jar Entertainment) has also released the series in 4 volumes as well as the Collector's Edition of the complete series.

On July 1, 2015, the show was re-released to Steam by Cinedigm.

The original broadcast version of Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 features covers of licensed songs on five episodes and two Milli Vanilli songs on one episode. Due to copyright restrictions, the complete series DVD sets from both Shout! Factory and NCircle Entertainment use the song "Mega Move" from Captain N: The Game Master in place of the licensed songs. However, the King Koopa Katastrophe DVD from Sterling Entertainment/NCircle Entertainment features three of the six episodes with the original broadcast music still intact.

The show has also been released on DVD in Australia in a full box set made by MRA Entertainment, Europe which one volume out of the four has only been released in Germany, the distributor Disky released three volumes (each with six episodes) in the UK, and the Netherlands

Title Ep # Distributor Release date
Super Mario Bros. 3: Mind your Mummy, Mommy Mario 2 Buena Vista Home Video 1994
Super Mario Bros. 3: Misadventures in Babysitting 2 Buena Vista Home Video 1994
Super Mario Bros. 3: Never Koop A Koopa 2 Buena Vista Home Video 1994
Super Mario Bros. 3: The Ugly Mermaid 2 Buena Vista Home Video 1994
Super Mario Bros.: King Koopa Katastrophe 6 Sterling Entertainment/NCircle Entertainment July 22, 2003/August 21, 2007
Super Mario Bros. / Heathcliff 1 Sterling Entertainment 2004
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: The Complete Series 26 Shout! Factory June 26, 2007
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: The Trouble with Koopas 6 NCircle Entertainment January 6, 2009
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: What a Wonderful Warp 6 NCircle Entertainment March 3, 2009
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: Koopas Rock 6 NCircle Entertainment June 2, 2010
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3: Complete Series Collector's Edition 26 NCircle Entertainment May 14, 2013

References[]

  1. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 804–806. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  2. ^ Perry Martin (writer) (November 17, 1990). "7 Continents for 7 Koopas". The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. Episode 22. Various.
  3. ^ Damian Inwood. "Pi Theatre, Independent Vancouver Theatre >> The Baroness and the Pig". Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. 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. German – 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. ^ "Tabitha St. Germain resume" (PDF). Retrieved October 21, 2011. SUPER MARIO BROTHERS - Wendy O. Koopa - Nelvana
  1. ^ Animation outsourced to Sei Young Animation Co., Ltd.

External links[]

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