The Lost Live Super Mario Bros

Since the introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, Nintendo has stood in the world as a mighty colossus. Its theogony of video game characters has become even more ubiquitous and recognizable than Warner Bros. Looney Tunes or Mickey Mouse and his gang. Now there are even Nintendo theme park zones and movies, such as the animated film “Super Mario Bros. Movie”. The company is still going strong, too. Introduced in 2017, the Nintendo Switch soon became the third best-selling video game console of all time, trailing only the Nintendo DS itself and Sony's PlayStation 2.

Aside from a few missteps (remember the Virtual Boy?), Nintendo has always been that way. Looking back to the 1980s, some die-hard Gen-Yers might remember Nintendo Cereal, Nintendo wall calendars, and Nintendo-centric movies like “The Wizard.” (Raise your hand if you subscribed to Nintendo Power Magazine or, even further back, were a member of the Nintendo Fun Club.)

In 1989, Nintendo even hit the airwaves with “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show,” a quirky live-action/animated hybrid that, by the numbers, was one of the most popular series of its kind. . The show featured live comedy skits featuring “Captain” Lou Albano and Danny Wells as Mario and Luigi, a couple of New York City plumbers who very often hosted celebrity guests. These live-action series would then lead to the animated Mario Bros. segment where Mario and Luigi went on surreal “comedy” adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom. Every Friday, the theme of the animated series was “The Legend of Zelda”.

Less well known, however, was the show that followed “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.” King Koopa's Kool Kartoons, which debuted on September 11, 1989, was an old-fashioned children's show hosted by King Koopa. The show ran for 65 episodes during its only season. The tapes of the series have not survived; therefore, “King Koopa's Kool Kartoons” is now considered lost media.

King Koopa's Kool Kartoons was directed by King Koopa. He appeared in the studio with a live audience of children, often making menacing remarks and talking about how much he enjoyed being a villain. (King Koopa was a rebranded version of Bowser, the central villain of the Mario universe, for Nintendo starters.) Koopa introduced puppet shows featuring his pet rodent, Ratso, before the show was cut to a very old public domain cartoon. The suit worn by the Koopa cast was a more sophisticated version of the Super Mario Ice Capades show that was popular the previous year.

As noted CBR decrepit the first Koopa actor in the show's history, Christopher Collins (credited as Chris Latt), was fired for being “inappropriate” with the staff and visiting children. Not in a criminal way, it seems, but his jokes were apparently too witty for a young audience. He was replaced by Patrick Pinney.

Incidentally, Collins might be better known as the voice of Commander Cobra in GI Joe. He also played The second Starscream of the Decepticons in “Transformers: The Movie”. Meanwhile, Pinney played Wolverine in “X-Men Pryde” and has appeared in dozens of Disney projects and “SpongeBob SquarePants” cartoons.

There was a mild scandal with “King Koopa's Kool Kartoons” because some parents thought Koopa was too evil. The show was clearly aimed at a very young audience (it was pretty safe for kindergartners), so Koopa's comments about killing the Mario brothers or being villainous upset some. To this end, the show received a lot of angry mail. Koopa was also accused of being a little too scary, which is understandable. Koopa is nightmarish. And if Collins was joking about stalking and killing children in his own home, then one could understand all those offended letters.

Like all Mario-related media at the time, King Koopa's Kool Kartoons was a hit. Its Nintendo imprimatur was probably 100% responsible for the show's success, although some audiences may have reacted to its old-fashioned format. “King Koopa” was something completely innocent, giving the show, however malevolent, an innocent quality. It may have reminded some parents of “The Howdy Doody Show.” Kids in the audience got in on the action and Koopa even gave them prizes. At the end of several episodes, Koopa admitted to being a big softie who actually liked his Koopa Kid.

The show in 1989 was considered number one in its time slot and received many letters from children eager to hear King Coop read them on the air. So why was King Koopa's Kool Kartoons cancelled?

According to the YouTube channel Thomas Game Docsthe cancellation was at his request Disney CEO and “Beverly Hills Cop” director Michael Eisner of all people. “Koopa” was broadcast from KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles; the station was a Fox affiliate, but Eisner still paid attention. The story goes that Eisner wrote a letter to 20th Century Fox president Barry Diller complaining that Coop's villain status was eroding the moral center of children. In response, Diller outright canceled the show, despite its popularity.

However, this story is unfounded, and it doesn't seem entirely plausible that Diller would cancel “King Koopa's Kool Kartoons” just because a rival like Eisner asked him to. This is especially unlikely given how small the “Caricature” broadcast area was; it wasn't huge outside of California. It's likely that “Koopa” was canceled for more practical reasons.

Unfortunately, the show was not well maintained and no full episodes are available online. Some enterprising TV viewers have uploaded clips from their old VHS tapes to YouTube, but as of this writing there are no official home media releases or known archival prints for the show. This vague nightmare is gone, for better or for worse.