The Super Mario Bros. Super Show – Volume 2
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C Episodes: C+
HEY
PAISANOS! Here we present to you The Super Mario Bros. Super Show: Volume 2,
with its plethora of nonsense and nostalgic greatness. If you missed Volume 1 don’t worry no storyline was missed here. The
Super Mario Bros. Super Show contains two entities, a live segment and
cartoon shorts, each containing their own life and form of entertainment. The ‘Live Segment’ stars Mario (Captain Lou
Albano) and Luigi (Danny Wells) with a plethora of guest stars just as seen in
Volume One with Cyndi Lauper paying a visit to the Mario Bros. Plumbing
Company.
This time
around wrestling star Rowdy Roddy Piper and the letter spinner (now toucher and
turner) herself, Vanna White stop by to pay homage to the Nintendo
Originals. This animated series is by no
means fantastic in storyline, animation quality, or voice acting, but it is the
nostalgic factor that does contribute to why this series is a must own for all
Nintendo fans and children of the 80’s.
While mom and dad were rockin out to Madonna and Bon Jovi us kids were
plopped in front of the television watching the most entertaining animated
feature the day had to offer. From
1983-1985 we had He-Man, from
1985-1987 we had Thundercats, 1988
we had Count Duckula (ok not the
best example), and then in 1989 came The
Super Mario Bros. Super Show. Other
animated series may not hold up as well, though enjoyable, such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
and Thundercats due to the sometimes
military and serious nature of the animation.
The SMB Super Show, however, does stand the test of time in the sense
that the viewer can watch each episode with a light heart and not take any individual
piece of the work too seriously.
The main
problems that exist with this particular set as well as the previous set are
the quality of animation and sound found in the DVD transfer, and the little
care that was placed into each. Volume One of the Mario Bros. Super Show had much criticism due to the poor quality
in both picture and sound, and between the two sets nothing has changed. This lack of concern for these aspects of the
DVD may have many contributing attributes that can not even be fully
comprehended here, but we will try. One
element that exists is that the animation which was originally created for the
animated series was never superb to begin with, being pumped out fast and
hastily to profit off of the growing Nintendo Video Game crazed youth in
society. Secondly, the original
animation is either in such poor quality that Shout! Factory had very little to
work with or the original animated film is no longer available to be utilized,
having either been lost or sold long ago.
Dic (the company that produced many of the 80’s animated series) did not
take very good care of their original animation, for reasons that are unknown
to this reviewer, after their original release maybe seeing little or no later
profit from the series. Overall, many
features that could have highlighted this set have been lost over the years and
Shout! Factory has done little to improve this importantly nostalgic DVD set.
Moving
forward, the different technical aspects of this DVD set are majorly lacking in
the three areas of picture, sound, and extras.
The picture is presented in an unimpressive Full Frame format. The 1.33 X 1 picture quality is quite bad but
not a complete disaster, though the picture’s color is not right, grainy, and
often times particles of dirt can be seen flying across a scene. At times this reviewer did not know if this
was a DVD or VHS. The sound quality is
also quite poor at times fading in and out, from very to low to loud. Also the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo remains
inadequate even for this simple animated series. The extras on this set are comparable to
those of Volume One. Extras include one
extra animated episode for each disc, though the ‘live action’ sequences are
missing from these shorts, due to unresolved legal issues. Other extras include an interactive tour of Mario
Bros. Plumbing (set), Fan Costume Gallery, and Meeting Mario (Captain Lou): A
Fan’s Tale. All three of these features
are interesting for a viewing once but lose their luster quickly. A final additional feature on each disc is
“The Worlds of Super Mario Bros.” a feature that gives a sound guided tour
(video game music) of the art that was used for the background scenery for each
episode, an overall interesting concept.
Though there was great quantity within this set, quality was
missing. In the end, this set for many
reasons needs to be revisited in all areas.
The Super Mario Bros Super Show embodies 1980’s nostalgia and
though the set is not the best in the areas of picture and sound it holds
valuable childhood memories for many.
Any Mario or Nintendo fans out there should buy this set, for nostalgic
purposes for sure and the fact that this set has never been available before
and may not be available again for quite some time even further emphasizes the
need for this animated collection. Video
Games hit it big in the 1980’s and Nintendo was the forerunner for this
advancement, this DVD animated collection only is further example of the impact
the Video Game Industry has on our youth and how it remains in the minds and
hearts of all. So grab you wrench and
magic mushroom to hop, skip, and stomp into this next Super Mario Bros. Super Show installment.
- Michael P Dougherty II
