Episode 1: The Bird! The Bird!

Live Segment

Mario and Luigi are having a typical day at the Mario Bros. Plumbing shop that they both run, when a female customer enters who needs her sink fixed, and she needs it done quickly because she's headed for a party. The two brothers promise for a quick and easy job and get right down to it, but as they work on tightening the pipe under the sink, a bunch of water squirts out and splashes all over the girl! What ensues next is a chain of unfortunate yet comical events as the brothers try to apologize but only end up making the situation worse. The girl gets sprayed by dirty smoke, accidentally steps on a cake, gets dumped on with trash, and finally sits on a pizza. By then, the plumbers are so ashamed that they let this happen to her that they go into a panic. But then, the girl turns it around and admits to them that the party that she is going to has a messy theme- the person with the sloppiest getup wins an award. At this, Mario and Luigi are relieved, and they all get into a cake fight to make her even sloppier for the party.

Cartoon Segment

Non-Main Character Appearances: Birdo, Flurry, Albatoss, Bob-omb, Koopa Troopa

Summary

Mario and Luigi have just got done saving Princess Toadstool. The three of them as well as Toad are taking a sledding trip across some icy terrain when Toad suddenly gets picked up by a bird! But it isn't just any bird, it's Birdo! Birdo takes Toad back to her castle and starts babying him; why? Her vision isn't so great, and it seems that her glasses don't do her much good either, so she mistakes Toad for her lost baby. Despite Toad insisting that he is not who she is looking for, she just ignores him and showers him in overbearing motherly love as she plants wet kisses on his cheeks and feeds him with a bottle.

Meanwhile, Mario, Luigi, and Princess Toadstool are in a panic that Toad just got kidnapped. So they agree to go find him. Trudging through the snow, they get closer and closer to Birdo's castle. King Koopa eventually finds out about them and sends his troops of bad guys after them, presumably to re-kidnap the princess after she had just recently escaped. Soon, Mario and gang find themselves in a battle with Flurries, Albatosses, and Bob-ombs. No sweat, though, since the heroes do away with them quite easily; that is, until three Albatosses toss a few Bob-ombs onto the hill ahead of them, causing an avalanche. The heroes run for their lives and eventually end up in a cave nearby, evading the falling tons of ice. They are trapped, though, since the ice now blocks the way out. Princess Toadstool finds a Fire Flower in the cavern and tells Mario to use it, so Mario obliges and with his new super power, he melts the ice and they escape. King Koopa finds out about this and decides to deal with them himself, so he gets on his sled and goes after them. Back at Birdo's castle, Toad's situation quickly grows worse when Birdo announces that Toad will have his first flying lesson as a young Birdo. So she picks him up and flies up into the sky with Toad now fearing for his life since he obviously lacks wings.

On the ground, Mario, Luigi, and the princess continue their mission to rescue Toad. On their way, they discover a block of ice with a baby Birdo trapped inside. Mario melts the ice with some fireballs and they learn that the baby's name is Cheepy and wants to see his mama.

Meanwhile, high up in the sky, Birdo is taking Toad along on a flight, and then finally drops him, expecting him to start fluttering his wings. Of course, he doesn't, and Toad has to think quick or he will become mushroom mush. In a eureka moment, he then lifts his spotted hat and uses it to parachute to the ground. In a bout of luck, he lands right where his friends and Cheepy are! They are all very happy to be reunited again, and Toad is even happier that the real baby has been found, so Toad quickly takes Cheepy back to his mom. At this point, King Koopa has gained on the heroes and sends his arsenal after them. The two plumbers make quick work out of the weaker enemies, but soon all three of them find themselves surrounded by Koopa Troopas. But never fear, Toad is here! Toad comes to their rescue, throwing radishes at the bad guys from above while being carried by Birdo and finally defeats all of them. King Koopa manages to escape the barrage of vegetables and high-tails it out of there, vowing to return next time. Birdo then invites the whole gang over to her place for dinner, which Mario is very excited for.

In the final scene, the six celebrate King Koopa's temporary defeat and the reunion of mom and baby at Birdo's dinner table. Birdo lays out a plate for Mario with spaghetti- or is it? The spaghetti speaks, much to Mario's surprise; it's actually a worm! Disgusted, Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool vamoose, not being so hungry anymore.

Review

This was the first episode in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show and it did not take care to introduce any of the characters or any underlying plot, so someone completely new to the Mario series would be absolutely lost. But it was a fun little episode, nonetheless. Birdo was first introduced in this episode and was portrayed as an absent-minded mother, most likely because in Super Mario Bros. 2, she shot eggs as weapons. There's an ongoing heated debate on whether Birdo is male or female, and the general consensus (and also the way Nintendo portrays him nowadays) is that Birdo is actually male. Most of the enemies looked good except for the Koopa Troopas- they looked a little strange- they were mostly dark green and stood upright, and I wouldn't have recognized them if King Koopa hadn't addressed them by their names.

Errata, bloopers, and other inaccuracies

  • In the cave where Princess Toadstool found the Fire Flower, she told Mario that if he touched it, then he would turn into "Super Mario". We all know that Fire Flowers do not turn Mario into Super Mario- Mushrooms do that!
  • While Birdo was taking Toad on his flying lesson, they exchanged a few words. At one point, it was Toad who was talking, but Birdo's mouth kept moving.