In 1989, two fictional brothers from Brooklyn managed to transcend the video game universe and become pop culture icons. A small television show had a huge role in that development, which not only showcased the characters, thanks to “Captain†Lou Albano as Mario and Danny Wells as Luigi, but brought in celebrities like Cyndi Lauper, Nicole Eggert and Sgt. Slaughter, in a children-friendly format, which ended up increasing the spectrum for their parent company Nintendo.
The rest, they say, is history.
Nevertheless, while “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show†was a blast when you were a kid, it hasn’t aged well now that it’s on DVD. After watching 12 hours of the show on four discs, it’s fair to sat you’ll never want to watch the show again. The fact that it’s currently available on the Netflix Instant Queue as well means you technically don’t have to spend your money on it to get your ’80s fix either.
It’s not that the show is bad, it’s the fact that most of the jokes and jargon aren’t prevalent today and everything about the show is so entrenched in ’80s pop culture. The same way you can still listen to a band like Squeeze and appreciate the music and the message, but laugh your innards off at their videos, is the same feeling you’ll get from this show.
You’ll want to play the song or watch the show, but the time in between from when the show was aired and where we are today make it so tough to do so. You’ll just end up with another nail in your heart that is desperately trying to reclaim a part of your youth by watching the show- to remember the times when it was cool to play your Nintendo with a bunch of pals until 2 A.M. And forget about life.
Or the times when the chick from “Wonder Years†was hot.
Sadly, this DVD compilation can not make that dream a reality. As a result, watching this set proves the ’80s were great, but they are never coming back.
Beneath the ’80s feel that will remind many of their childhood, the live action sequences have aged much worse than the cartoon, which was nothing fantastic when it was originally released anyway. In 10-20 minute bursts, the show still has some nostalgia, but after that, there’s little reason to watch. Great with a group of friends, it’s easy to provide your own commentary to the show and the cartoon, a-la “Mystery Science Theater 3000.â€
That alone may be the best reason to pick this up.
However, if doesn’t prove how poorly the hands of time have handled this show, nothing else will.
Leave a Reply