Gopher Bash

Gopher Bash
Chronology
Season	1
Episode	9
Information
Production no.	408
Writers	Brooks Watchtel
Airdate	November 9, 1991
Navigation
Previous episode	"Party Line"
Next episode	"Rock TV"

"Gopher Bash" is the ninth episode of the Super Mario World cartoon.

Synopsis

Luigi wants to teach the Cave People how to plant crops, but Mario insists that they already have food because of the many berry bushes around Dinosaur World. Larry and King Koopa over hear Luigi's plan and decide to steal the crops so they can sell them back to them for their own gain.

Luigi teaches the Cave People how to plow (by using Yoshi for the power), how to plant seeds in the ground, and how to water the seeds (unfortunately, the Cave People pull an entire water-filled well causing disaster in the field, but causes the crops to grow a few days later). Admiring their success, Larry and his army of Monty Moles pilfer the crops and replace them with Piranha Plants the next day.

When Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi discover that their crops are gone, the aforementioned Piranha Plants pop out of the ground and attack them. Yoshi then gets hungrier and eats them all. One of the Piranha Plants is being controlled by the Monty Moles which results in Larry and his mole army being pulled out of the ground and them being chased into a deep cave.

Before Luigi and the rest go into the cave, Luigi cries because he failed in giving the Cave People food for the winter. Mario and Yoshi agree to help him get the veggies back and re-plant the crops. When they land in Larry's hideout, Larry and the moles sing a song of their success. While they sing, Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi kidnap the moles and tie them all to a rope and smashes Larry with them.

After Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi have returned the sack of crops, Luigi opens it. (Then Luigi, he says to the cave people, "We have rescued the crops! And here they are!".) That is, to find no vegetables. But he sees that Yoshi ate them all. (That is, when he finds an extremely bloated Yoshi rolling out of the sack.) And Luigi says to Yoshi that since he ate the whole thing, he can do the "hoe thing". (That is, as he --Luigi-- says, "Well since you Yoshi ate the whole thing, you can do the hoe thing".) Yoshi picks up the hoe. And before starting to plant the vegetables over again, he lets out a burp. That is, to which Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and the cave people all laugh.

Characters

• Luigi
• Mario
• Yoshi
• Cheatsy Koopa (Main Antagonist)
• King Koopa (Minor Antagonist)
• Princess Toadstool
• Cave People
• Monty Moles
• Piranha Plants

Trivia/Goofs

• Larry's hair is light green in this episode as well as in the rest of the episodes in which he appeared. In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, his hair was blue (as it was in the official game artwork).
• Mario was right about the Cave People always having food in Dinosaur World, and Luigi should have never tried to teach the Cave People how to plant crops. And since Larry and Bowser never thought about this, their plan is basically useless.
  • Even if Larry stole the crops, the Cave People can always re-plant them because they apparently have access to seeds.
  • Luigi asks Yoshi to do the "hoe thing" after eating the crops. This means that Luigi, Mario, and Yoshi didn't have to go through all that trouble retrieving the crops.
• While the Pirahna Plants attack Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi, one of them has hair.
• When Luigi starts crying, the "L" on his hat is white with a black background.
• Yoshi is first seen with four red triangles on his back. When Luigi says "It's time for our gopher bash," he only has three. This oddity is found in many other SMW episodes.
• The bag of crops that Larry stole was gray. When Mario, Luigi and Yoshi sing and finish Larry's song, the crops they recover are now in a green bag. Not enough? The torches on Larry's throne aren't lit after the song like they were when we first saw them.
• When Mario says "Hey Luigi, I think I see something down there," the "L" on Luigi's cap is white on a black background.
• When the Piranha Plants start chasing Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi, the "L" on Luigi's cap is white on a black background.
• When Yoshi says "Salsa" after eating the second Piranha Plant, look quickly and you'll see the "L" on Luigi's cap turn into a black "M".
• When Larry sees the Mario Bros. for the first time, his pupils are white.
• When Larry's song is being sung, the smiley face on Larry's throne disappears until the song is over.
• When the moles smash Larry, the beak of one of them is the same color as his skin.
• Larry's line "The only way you guys are gonna eat is by shopping at the Koopamart!" is a coincidental tie-in to the Mario Nintendo Comics System comics, where there actually is a supermarket of the same name where the characters occasionally shopped.
• "Cheatsy's Life" is the longest song sang by a Koopaling (Cheatsy), and the only one that is not played on the background (although 'Kootie Pie Rap' in "Fire Sale" was partically sung (rapped) by Mama Fireplant).
• Piranha Plants don't have spikes on their heads, but the second one Yoshi ate did.

Availability

Captain N and the new Super Mario World (DVD, 2007)

Super Mario World: Koopa's Stone Age Quests (DVD, 2009)

Super Mario World: The Complete Series (DVD, 2013)