Star Koopa

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode
"Star Koopa"
Production number	150
Airdate	November 29, 1989 (English) December 18, 1990 (French)[?]
Writer(s)	Phil Harnage
Plumber's Log #	2001
King Koopa's alter ego(s)	Darth Koopa
Title reference	Star Wars
Live-action segment	"Santa Claus is Coming to Flatbush"
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"Star Koopa" is the fifty-first episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Its corresponding live-action segment is "Santa Claus is Coming to Flatbush."

This episode is a parody of Star Wars, with several characters, such as Darth Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Luke Skywalker being parodied. In addition, the Koop Star's destruction emulates the destruction of both Death Stars (traveling down a trench to destroy the first Death Star in A New Hope and entering the second Death Star's infrastructure in Return of the Jedi). The Flying Pizza is a parody of the Millennium Falcon.

This episode has the same Plumber's Log as "Robo Koopa," 2001, which is a reference to the science-fiction movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is also the last episode where Mouser appears.

Plot synopsis

Mario and his friends are traveling through space and are on their way to help a group of Mushroom space colonists. The colonists are in trouble as Darth Koopa is threatening to blow up their planet. Mario's group is unaware they are being pursued by Darth Koopa's Koop Star.

While Mario flies through space, Luigi gulps and tells him to check his rearview video screen. Upon doing so, he notices that the Koop Star is following them, so he turns on the ship's "Fasten Seatbelts" light and speeds up.

The Koop Star pursuing the Flying Pizza.

Not wanting Princess Toadstool to escape, Darth Koopa orders Mouser, who is piloting Koop Star, to chase them. After telling him to close in on Mario and his friends and activate the tractor beam, Darth Koopa prepares his Stormtroopas for boarding their spacecraft; telling them to do whatever they want to the Marios and Toad, but to take Princess Toadstool prisoner.

Mouser locks onto Mario and his friends with the tractor beam and pulls them into the docking bay. Darth Koopa then orders his Stormtroopas to board the spacecraft. Mario's group prepares for the assault by drawing their Lightplungers.

Soon, the Stormtroopas discover Mario and his friends and engage in several duels with them. Mario knocks a Stormtroopa aside, while two others attack Toad, only for their Lightplungers to hit each other. Another Stormtroopa grabs Princess Toadstool's Lightplunger, and is shocked. Princess Toadstool then shocks yet another Stormtroopa that is holding Luigi upside-down, knocking him out. Mario and Toad then toss the final defeated Stormtroopa into a pile with the rest of his team.

Before Mario's group can celebrate their victory, Darth Koopa boards the spacecraft, demanding for them to leave his galaxy, which Mario and his friends refuse. Mario challenges him to a duel, and he and Darth Koopa fight with their Lightplungers. Eventually, Darth Koopa has Mario up against a wall, however, he fights back and manages to kick him into another wall. Just when he thinks that Darth Koopa is about to surrender, the space tyrant pulls out a Freeze Gun, and shoots him with it, encasing him in a shell of ice. Princess Toadstool demands for Darth Koopa to release Mario, only for him to freeze her as well, along with her friends.

Mario's group is brought aboard Koop Star, where Darth Koopa orders Mouser to thaw them out with a Heat Gun. When Mario regains consciousness and reacts to Darth Koopa, Mouser threatens him with his Freeze Gun, forcing him to stay in his spot. Princess Toadstool asks what Darth Koopa wants with them, which he explains that he needs to destroy the Mushroom Colonists' planet because they will not surrender it to him. He tells her to order the colonists to give up, or else their planet will be destroyed by his Birdo Ray. She says that the colonists will never give up, so he orders Mouser to activate the Birdo Ray have the heroes escorted to the Intergalactic InSinkErator.

After bringing Mario's group to a platform above the garbage disposal, Mouser explains that it will slice and compact them and eject their remains into space. He then pushes a button, dropping Mario and his friends down into the garbage disposal. While falling, Mario pulls out his plunger and uses it to hang onto the wall while his friends grab onto him. The thought of garbage disposals reminds him of all the ones that he and Luigi used to fix back in Brooklyn, and Luigi, pulling out the utensils that he was saving for lunch, remarks that they always had silverware stuck inside of them. Mario tells Luigi to drop the utensils, which he does, causing them to jam the garbage disposal's saws, bringing them to a halt, just as Mario's plunger loses its grip on the wall. With the saws turned off, his group safely falls past them.

Mario and his friends inside the Garbage Pod.

Meanwhile, Darth Koopa brags about how he is going to conquer the Mushroom Colonists' planet, and that eventually, the universe will be known as the "Koopaverse." Mouser returns to him to tell him that Mario's group has been disposed of and directs him to the pod that he believes is carrying what is left of them down toward the Mushroom Planet. Mario's group, still in one piece, are inside it, which crashes on the planet, sending them flying out of it. Luigi lands on a Pokey, upsetting it.

His friends have landed upon what appears to be a red rock and are unsure of what it is, except for the fact that it is hard. Toad kicks it, revealing itself to be part of a large Cobrat. They flee from it and run into Luigi, who is running from the Pokey. The Cobrat spits a bullet, which ends up hitting the Pokey, blowing it up. Mario comes up with a plan and tells the others to follow him while he runs in circles around the Cobrat. Watching them run in circles causes it to coil up, only for it to uncoil, making itself dizzy. Mario and his friends leap onto the Cobrat's back, and Mario uses his plunger as reins for the Cobrat so that they can ride it to the Mushroom Colony. Back onboard Koop Star, Mouser informs Darth Koopa that the Birdo Ray is set to fire in sixteen minutes.

Having arrived at the colony, Princess Toadstool explains to her friends and Obi-Wan Toadi that they need to do something to save the planet. Mario requests to have lunch, but Obi-Wan Toadi explains that they do not have time. When Princess Toadstool points out that they cannot give up, Obi-Wan Toadi explains that someone needs to penetrate Koop Star in a Mushroom Starfighter so they can disable the Birdo Ray. With the promise that he will receive lunch afterwards, Mario agrees to take on the task and boards a Starfighter. Before he leaves, Obi-Wan Toadi presents him with a pizza to bolster his spirts, and bids him good luck. Mario then takes off, and after Obi-Wan Toadi gives the signal, his friends take off after him in their own Starfighters.

Mario's Mushroom Starfighter traveling down one of the Koop Star's trenches.

After flying into space, the spacecrafts are confronted by Stormtroopa Starfighters, of which they dodge the attacks of. Toad succeeds in blasting one of them, while Princess Toadstool dodges one attacking from behind, only for it to hit a second Starfighter. With a path cleared, Mario flies over to Koop Star and travels through a groove along the surface of the spacecraft. A Stormtroopa Starfighter attacks him from behind, but he swerves away from a wall, which the Stormtroopa crashes into. Another Starfighter attempts to shoot Mario down, but Toad blows it up.

With only ten seconds left on the Birdo Ray's timer, Mario flies into a hole on the surface of the groove and enters Koop Star. After flying past some pipes, Mario opens the dome of his Mushroom Starfighter and tosses a Bob-omb at the heart of the spacecraft, causing it to blow up. As a chain reaction, Koop Star as a whole begins to self-destruct. Darth Koopa and Mouser board an emergency Space Raft, and are blasted into space once Koop Star blows up completely.

Mario's group returns to the Mushroom Colony, where the colonists cheer on their victory. Once Mario exits his Starfighter, Obi-Wan Toadi congratulates him. Mario explains that he could not have done it without the pizza he received or the help of his friends and suggests that the pasta was with them. The talk of pasta reminds him of lunch, and he asks Obi-Wan Toadi where the lunch he was promised is. Upon hearing this, he, his friends and Obi-Wan Toadi laugh.

Characters

"Darth Koopa"

• Mario
• Luigi
• Princess Toadstool
• Toad
• Darth Koopa
• Mouser
• Obi-Wan Toadi
• Mushroom space colonists
• Stormtroopas
• Pokey
• Cobrat
• Bob-Omb

Cast

• Lou Albano — Mario
• Danny Wells — Luigi
• Jeannie Elias — Princess Toadstool
• John Stocker — Toad, Mouser, Koopa Troopa, Obi-Wan Toadi
• Harvey Atkin — King Bowser Koopa

Animation and continuity errors

• After Darth Koopa tells Mouser to speed up the Koop Star, his costume is missing.
• When Darth Koopa tells Mario and his friends to leave the galaxy, the rim of his goggles is the same color as the goggles themselves.
• When Princess Toadstool explains that the Mushroom Colonists have a right to be on their planet, a line on her dress appears over her right arm.
• When Darth Koopa first points his Freeze Gun to Mario, his chestplate is missing.
• When Darth Koopa freezes Mario, his Freeze Gun is red, but when he freezes his friends, it is gray.
• Throughout its appearance, the Cobrat's eyes change from white to green several times.
• Mouser tells Darth Koopa that there is still sixteen minutes left until the Birdo Ray fires, though the machine's counter briefly says that four minutes and twenty-five seconds are left.
• While Mario and his friends are frozen, their positions change several times, such as their facial expressions and how they are frozen.
• When Mario's friends cheer for Mario when dueling Darth Koopa, Mario and Darth Koopa appear much larger than them and the surrounding background.
• When Mario asks if his friends have their seatbelts on, Princess Toadstool's brooch has its colors reversed.
• Throughout its appearance, the Flying Pizza changes color several times.
• When Mario and Darth Koopa's duel begins, Mario's Lightplunger is tan and red instead of gray.
• When Obi-Wan Toadi presents the pizza to Mario, the right strap of Mario's seat is connected to thin air. This also happens when he says the pizza will bolster his appetite.
• When Mario flies down into the trench, the cockpit of his Mushroom Starfighter flashes.
• When Darth Koopa demonstrates the planet's destruction, the group's location is shown on one of its moons instead of the Koop Star.
• When Toad dodges some Stormtroopas, the Flying Pizza appears to be flying out in space instead of in the Koop Star.
• When Princess Toadstool zaps the Stormtroopa holding Luigi, the light around it is misplaced.

• 

  Mario's miscolored Lightplunger

• 

  Darth Koopa's missing chestplate

• 

  Princess Toadstool's miscolored brooch

Quotes

“Today, the Mushroom Planet. Tomorrow, the Milky Way. Next week, the Universe will be the Koopaverse!”

—Darth Koopa

“He's showing a plumber how a garbage disposal works?”

—Mario

“Yikes, he's frozen solid!”

—Princess Toadstool

Profiles

• Mario's Movie Madness DVD: In a galaxy far, far away, the evil Darth Koopa has built a crazy contraption to destroy Mario Skywalker.
• Netflix: In a space-based plot a la Star Wars, Mario and Luigi go up against Darth Koopa and end up imprisoned in the Intergalatic Insinkerator.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Chinese (traditional)	星球大戰 Xīngqiú Dàzhàn	Star Wars (same as the film)
French	Star Koopa	-
German	Star Koopa	-
Italian	Attila-Nera	Koop Star; lit. "Black-Koopa"
Spanish	La Guerra de los Koopas	The War of the Koopas (reference to the 1898 science fiction novel The War of the Worlds)

Trivia

• In the original version, before bucking the Cobrat the first time, Mario says, "Hi Ho, Cobrat, Away!", a reference to the Lone Ranger's catchphrase from the eponymous television series. This reference is also present in the Swedish dub.
• In the French dub, the title is written in the Times New Roman font, unlike all other title cards in the dub.