Rock TV

"Rock TV" is the tenth episode of the Super Mario World cartoon.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler Bowser is shown plotting his next evil scheme and remembers from a trip to Earth (apparently a heretofore unseen part of one of his escapades in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3) that people are easily transfixed to television, so he decides to use it on the cavepeople. After having a stage built to resemble a TV set (to catch everyone's attention), he goes up on the stage disguised as a presenter and shows off a product he calls Rock TV, advertising it at ten Coins to purchase, and one Coin per minute of viewing. He does such a good job advertising his TV that even Mario and Luigi buy one, even though Luigi is afraid it might land them in financial problems, recalling an incident involving a "Speak To Santa" hotline back in Brooklyn.

After Mario sets the TV up, Princess Peach declines on watching it with them, taking Yoshi on a nature walk. The Mario Bros. sit down to watch and, along with everybody else in the city, are immediately hypnotized not by the TV itself, but rather the Magikoopa hiding in the TV. Bowser appears onscreen, hosting a workout show titled Koopa Sez. After several silly exercises, he prepares to start "a real special game Koopa wants everybody to play", at which point the Marios' TV breaks apart (because Bowser did not want them to find out about his doing). Bowser then orders the entranced cavepeople to capture the Mario Bros. and bring them to him, which they immediately do.

Bowser then forces the Mario Bros. onto his stage, now converted into a wrestling ring, pitting them against a pair of reptilian behemoths known as the Tyrannosaurus Twins. Things look bleak for the plumbers at first, but then the Princess and Yoshi happen to pass nearby and see them in peril. They jump into the ring and break the Blocks in order to find a Cape Feather, which Mario uses to get a cape and attack Bowser and the Tyrannosaurus Twins. Afterwards, Yoshi eats up the Rock TVs, including the gigantic one, which falls apart on Bowser.

Trivia/Goofs

This is another episode that can be seen as social commentary, in this case on television and its powers.
While all of the male Koopalings appear in this episode, Morton is the only one who speaks.
When Mario and Luigi slam into each other, they immediately switch color schemes and stay that way when they land on the ground.
The TV breaks into two pieces, but a third piece appears when Mario throws it out the window. In addition, it is never shown what happens to the Magikoopa who was inside it.
In their first attempt to find a Feather, the Princess and Yoshi smash a Block that sends out a pack of miniature Mario clones. This does not happen in Super Mario World (though another Mario game created many years later, Super Paper Mario, has a similar concept called Pal Pills) and is never explained.
The Koopa Clown Car makes a small cameo as a flower plant in the beginning.
Bowser states that the TV hasn't been invented "yet". This is probably a goof, given that Dinosaur World isn't actually a separate world, but Bowser could mean that the Mushroom Kingdom didn't have them either.
When Bowser says "Top THIS, turkey mouth!", Morton's mouth is moving along in sync with his.
The Koopa Sez program, from the title to the off-air signal, was actually only 50 seconds long, rather than a minute. (For the record, though, it's likely that Mario and Luigi's TV was programmed to self-destruct when Bowser gave a signal.)
Mario accidentally calls coins "clams" while paying Bowser for the Rock TV, which is currency in The Flintstones.
Mario and Luigi don't seem to know anything about wrestling when they face the Tyrannosaurus Twins, but in the Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode Tag Team Trouble, Mario claims that "[he and Luigi] used to wrestle back in Brooklyn!"
On his stage, Bowser parodies early 1990s rapper Vanilla Ice and childrens' TV host Fred Rogers of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.