Escape from Koopatraz

Escape from Koopatraz
Mario and Luigi attempt to escape their jail cells
Chronology
Season	1
Episode	46
Information
Production no.	151
Writers	Phil Harnage
Airdate	November 21, 1989
Navigation
Previous episode	"The Provolone Ranger"
Next episode	"Mario of the Deep"

"Escape from Koopatraz" is the forty-sixth animated episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. It is paired with the live-action segment "French."

Plot

Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad are captured by King Koopa through unknown means and are taken to court. The group realizes immediately that the trial will be fixed as King Koopa is the Judge. After a quick and admitted fixed trial, the Marios are sentenced to five hundred years in Klub Koopatraz, an island prison run by King Koopa that no one had ever escaped and is wardened by King Koopa himself.

While the members of the group are being escorted to their cells, an old Mushroom marks off the days of how long he's been trapped in the prison. He is informed that he'll now have some company and is happy to hear it. However, he's even happier when he learns of Toad, who happens to be his grandson. Grandfather and Grandson are re-united but Mario is more concerned with getting out.

During lunch, Luigi comes up with the idea to shovel their way out of the prison using their spoons. Toad's Grandfather thinks this is a good plan except that the spoons are counted after each meal. Mario then decides to start a food fight to distract the guards from doing the spoon count. It works and the group members are put back into their cells with the punishment of no food while King Koopa plunders the Mushroom Kingdom.

The Marios dig their way out of their cell, but instead of tunneling outside the gate they end up tunneling into Warden Koopa's bedroom. They are captured again and sentenced to another five hundred years, hard labor, and solitary confinement. While the Marios do their jobs, Mario takes an extra bar of soap and later carves it into a Bob-omb using shoe polish for coloring. With the fake Bob-omb he scares the Goomba guard into giving him the keys and the group makes a run for it. Unfortunately, they are seen running. Mario holds out his fake Bob-omb but it starts raining and the ruse is revealed. In order to escape the group jumps into a drainage pipe where they discover a large plug. The Marios pull it and flood the island. They then swim to the outside and grab a boat. Warden Koopa attempts to stop them with a real Bob-omb but only succeeds in destroying the remaining boats.

Mario and the gang row off to freedom while Koopatraz sinks into the sea. The group then celebrates with a "treat" of bread and water.

Trivia/Goofs

• The episode's title spoofs the film Escape from Alcatraz.
• The prisoner numbers that the group is supposed to wear (Toad's Grandfather 00, Toad 1/2, Mario 1, Luigi 2, and the Princess 3) occasionally disappear between scenes.
• The group uses forks to eat but Toad's Grandfather refers to them as spoons, and in one scene they do turn into spoons.
• It's revealed that Toad came from Fungusville and his father's name is "Moldy."
• Toad's grandfather is the first member of his family to be seen (his cousins are shown in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode, "Tag Team Trouble.")

Availability

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! - Volume 2 (DVD, 2006)

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!: Showdown in Brooklyn (DVD, 2009)

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! - Volume 2 (DVD, 2012) (NCircle Re-release)