Mario Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

For my Christmas media review this time (yes, that wasn't just a one-time thing), I'm taking a look at the Christmas episodes of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. The animated Christmas segment, "Koopa Klaus," starts with a rare view from space of the Mushroom World. Unfortunately, most of it is obscured by clouds, so we can't really see what the continents look like. We do see that the Arctic region is mountainous, though, and it's this area where the episode takes place. The Mushroom World apparently has its own Santa Claus. Well, hey, if the world from Secret of Mana has its own Santa, why not? I believe this is actually the only Super Show cartoon that doesn't start with Mario's Plumber's Log narration, instead showing King Koopa destroying toys, and planning to freeze Santa's workshop with Ice Bob-ombs. He's assisted by Randolph the Red-Nosed Triclyde, and his catchphrase in this episode is "Bah humkoop!" Gee, I wonder how long it took the writers to come up with THAT one. :P After Koopa Klaus sets off in his sleigh drawn by two Albatosses with what look like handlebars on their heads (I guess they're supposed to be makeshift antlers), we get the standard narration. The Mario gang comes out of the ground, where I guess they must have been digging or something. You'd think a warp pipe would make more sense, but they were apparently channeling Bugs Bunny this time. In fact, wasn't there a Looney Tunes cartoon where Bugs was trying to go to Hawaii, but ended up at the North Pole instead, due to his typical wrong turn at Albuquerque? You'd think Bugs would eventually start planning routes that didn't go through New Mexico. Anyway, it's pretty much the same thing here, with everyone prepared for a vacation in Hawaii Land (which might or might not have something to do with the island of Waki-Waki from "Too Hot To Handle"), and Toad taking them to the Arctic instead. Toad is a real selfish brat in this episode, not caring about anything other than whether he gets Christmas presents. He's a bit childish in other episodes, but he's particularly obnoxious this time. Anyway, Koopa goes through with freezing the workshop and capturing Santa, but Mario and Luigi take down his sleigh with an ice block (which the animators, with their typical attention to detail, forget to draw in one shot). Then there's a chase sequence, involving a fight with a pack of Flurries, and Bowser eventually seals his own doom by yelling a lot for no real reason (okay, he's expressing his hatred for Christmas, but still), thus causing an avalanche. Mario saves Santa with his plumber's snake, and Bowser ends up on an iceberg with a polar bear. After seeing Tweeter bats, a Shyguy lion, and a Mousersaurus Rex in other episodes, you'd think it would be drawn to somehow resemble an enemy from one of the games. But no, although oddly drawn, it does appear to be just a regular polar bear. The workshop is still frozen, but Toad expresses the true spirit of Christmas by giving up his own present (a snowboard from the Princess) to Santa, causing the ice to melt. Yeah, Toad's bratty attitude was actually setting up a plot point. A rather trite and clichéd one, sure, but it's still more of a setup than you usually see on this show. And the gang of four (Mario's group, that is, not the organization that took over running China after the death of Chairman Mao) gets to ride with Santa on his sleigh.

There's also a live-action segment with a Christmas theme, but for some reason it's not paired with "Koopa Klaus," but with the totally unrelated "Star Koopa" instead. Actually, the live-action and cartoon segments never seem to be thematically paired, even though some of them deal with similar subjects. I guess "Plummers' Academy" and "Glasnuts" are kind of related, but that's about the only case. Anyway, the segment is called "Santa Claus Is Coming To Flatbush." There are several references in the series to the Mario Brothers being from Flatbush, yet a sign in their plumbing shop says it's located at Water and Dock Streets, nowhere near Flatbush. Oh, well. A show of this caliber being accurate in terms of Brooklyn geography would be too much to ask, I'm sure. The bit involves Mario and Luigi taking in a white-bearded, red-suited man named Nick, whose "transportation" had been stolen on Christmas Eve. Okay, does anyone NOT know where this is going? That's what I thought.

There was also a Christmas-themed episode of the Super Mario World cartoon. I believe I had it on tape at one point, but I don't know if I still do.

Oh, by the way, does anyone have any ideas for songs I can include on a winter-themed mix?