Misadventure of Mighty Plumber

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode
"Misadventure of Mighty Plumber"
Production number	110
Airdate	October 13, 1990 (English) October 4, 1991 (French)[?]
Writer(s)	Michael Maurer
Opening curtain	Pipe Land
Featured song	"Super Plumber"
Episode chronology ← Previous — Next → — List of episodes

"Misadventure of Mighty Plumber" is the twelfth episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. It aired alongside another episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 entitled "Oh, Brother!"

Plot synopsis

Mario and Luigi are at Toad's house, watching their favorite television show, when Luigi cowers in fear of what is going to happen to the woman on TV. Mario complains about Luigi overreacting about the show, which they are watching on a TV they had brought from Brooklyn to the Mushroom Kingdom to watch. The TV is seen with a woman in front of a sink, from which some strange green slime is being produced. Luigi shouts at the woman to call Mighty Plumber, which she immediately does. Just as it looks like the slime, which has formed into a monster, is going to get the woman, the show cuts to a commercial. Mario and Luigi think about how Mighty Plumber will be able to save her.

Hop about to get onto the racecar.

Meanwhile, at Kastle Koopa, King Koopa appears to be doing some sort of exercise by jumping up and down, when Big Mouth and Bully appear and join him. Koopa shouts that he is having a tantrum, not doing exercises; this is because of the fact that he found a map leading into the Pipe Land Treasury, but he knows that Mario and Luigi will manage to stop him if he attempts to go there. At that moment, Hip and Hop run in and inform him of what Cheatsy is doing: using his magic wand to make the toys in commercials magically come out of the television.

Cheatsy zaps out a race car for Hip and Hop, to Koopa's annoyance. But then, Koopa sees that The Adventures of Mighty Plumber comes back from commercials, and Mighty Plumber saves the woman that was seen earlier. Koopa gets the idea to blast Mighty Plumber out of the television and trick him into helping him get rid of the Marios. He takes Cheatsy's scepter and zaps Mighty Plumber out of the TV, then tells him that two "evil plumbers" are trying to steal the gold Coins from the Pipe Land Treasury, and that his help will be necessary in bringing the Coins to his castle to keep safe, to which a naïve Mighty Plumber agrees.

Mario, angry at the television.

Back at Toad's House, the Marios' TV is on the fritz, and the distracted brothers do not notice a Fire Piranha Plant outside, until it spits flames through the window and at the wall. The ashes read "Robbing Pipe Land Treasury - Dare you to stop me... Your Enemy, King Koopa!" Mario says that they must stop Koopa, as Mighty Plumber would.

King Koopa and Mighty Plumber are in Pipe Land, in front of the Underground Maze of Pipes, the entrance to the hidden treasury. Mighty Plumber cracks open an entrance, only for water to spew out all over Koopa. He decides to wait elsewhere, and thinks about what to buy with his Coins, but is soon interrupted when Mario and Luigi arrive. Koopa tells Mighty Plumber that the "nasty" plumbers are here, only for the brothers to ask for an autograph. However, Mighty Plumber attacks them with a plunger, and they leap away several times.

Mario and Luigi grabbing the plumber's snake.

Eventually, they jump into a water-filled Warp Pipe, and Mighty Plumber sends down his plumber's snake. Luigi stuffs it into a smaller Warp Pipe growing out of the side and they swim further into the pipe. The snake re-emerges out of the other end of the Pipe, which is right behind Koopa. It grabs a hold of him and he pops out the other end, at which point he tells Mighty Plumber to stop "fooling around", as their time to get the Coins in the treasury is minimal.

In the underground maze, Mario and Luigi remember Koopa's message about robbing the treasury, and try to get there as soon as possible, only to find two pairs of footprints ahead of them. After following the footprints and going through a pipe, Mario and Luigi look around and hear Koopa's voice, talking about the vault being nearby. Luigi worries that Mighty Plumber's show will be canceled if he steals the Coins, but Mario hatches an idea to steal Koopa's map.

Luigi falling after the Venus Fire Trap rips his overalls.

Luigi then taunts a Venus Fire Trap until it pops out of a Warp Pipe. It attacks Luigi and Mario struggles with it, but it bites Luigi on his rear end, until the back of his overalls are clamped in the plant's mouth. Mario uses the Venus Fire Trap's stalk as a rope and lowers Luigi down another Warp Pipe - however, Luigi's pants rip and he falls right before Koopa. Luigi grabs the map and runs off, when Koopa tells Mighty Plumber to attack him.

Mighty Plumber tosses his plunger at Luigi, and Koopa snatches the map back. Mario jumps down the Warp Pipe and stomps Mighty Plumber's foot, grabbing hold of the plunger. He throws it in Koopa's eye and grabs the map. A chase scene through the maze then begins the song "Chill Out". When the chase ends, Mario finds that Koopa and Mighty Plumber somehow got ahead of them via a Warp Pipe when their footprints are marked beyond their path.

Mighty Plumber, shortly after King Koopa betrays him in the flood.

Sure enough, King Koopa and Mighty Plumber reach the Treasury, and Mighty Plumber breaks the door open. Koopa runs in and uses his scepter to force all the coins into his burlap sack. A sort of security system that triggers a flood goes off, and Koopa, figuring Mighty Plumber has fulfilled his purpose, reveals the truth and abandons him. Mario and Luigi appear in a gap in a high end of the wall. Mighty Plumber calls himself a disgrace to the profession of plumbing, but Mario and Luigi tell him that he is their hero, and that they learned great tricks from him like the pipe battering ram, which they immediately use - they stuff a clogged pipe into one of the pipes spewing water until it blasts out and breaks the door down.

Mighty Plumber about to catch Cheatsy with his plumber's snake.

Just as Koopa is about to exit the maze with the coins, Mighty Plumber throws his plunger, now attached to a rope, at Koopa. He yanks on the rope, but Koopa stomps the plunger and breaks it. He jumps into the Warp Pipe leading to Kastle Koopa with the money, although Mario and Luigi quickly turn the crank of a Warp Pipe that sprays water into the one Koopa used to exit. Just as Koopa begins celebrating, the water floods his castle and sends him plummeting into a hole in the floor. Cheatsy sees the money Koopa dropped and tries to grab it, but runs away when the three plumbers show up. Mighty Plumber uses his snake to grab Cheatsy by the tail, and Mario tells him to send Mighty Plumber back into the television. Cheatsy does so, and Mario grabs his scepter so that no more television-related mischief will happen. The bros. then return the money to the treasury where it belongs.

Later at Toad's house, the Mario Bros. are watching Mighty Plumber when the title character gives them a thumbs up. Mario proudly tells himself and Luigi that they are real heroes.

Cast

• Walker Boone — Mario
• Tony Rosato — Luigi
• Harvey Atkin — King Bowser Koopa, TV narrator
• Dan Hennessey — Bully Koopa, singer #1, Mighty Plumber
• James Rankin — Cheatsy Koopa, singer #3
• Gordon Masten — Big Mouth Koopa, singer #2
• Stuart Stone — Hip
• Tara Charendoff — Hop
• Paulina Gillis — Female singer
• Catherine Gallant — lady on TV

Animation and continuity errors

• When the woman goes over to the phone to call Mighty Plumber, it is gray, but in the next shot, it is yellow. In the shot afterwards, it is blue.
  • In the same scene, the slime monster's eyes and the top of the woman's dress are white instead of yellow and green, respectively.
• Initially, the Slime Monster is green, but when the lady says, "My hero!" it is brown.
• When the commercial break is about to start, the slime monster's animation repeats.
• When Mario says for Luigi to count on Mighty Plumber, it is rainy instead of sunny.
• When King Koopa has a tantrum, his shell's rim flashes.
• When Big Mouth and Bully walk over to King Koopa, Big Mouth speaks without moving his mouth. This also happens to King Koopa when he jumps into the Warp Pipe leading back to his castle.
• When Big Mouth notices that King Koopa is throwing a temper tantrum, his snout is outlined.
• When King Koopa says that he is not exercising, his shell's rim is the same color as his body.
• When King Koopa tells Big Mouth and Bully about his plans to rob the treasury, their heads are orange instead of gray and pink, respectively.
• When Hip and Hop call King Koopa to see what Cheatsy is doing, Koopa's eyes are green instead of yellow.
• When Cheatsy zaps the car out of the TV, the car goes off-screen instead of out of the TV.
• When Cheatsy zaps the car out of the TV, his wand is red, but when King Koopa looks at it, it turns purple.
• After Cheatsy zaps the car out of the TV, the lenses on Hop's glasses are blue instead of white.
• When the woman in Mighty Plumber screams when Koopa first sees the TV, the background is Kastle Koopa instead of her house.
• In his initial appearance, Mighty Plumber is at the door, but in the next shot, he is in front of a tan background.
• In Pipe Land's initial appearance, some geysers flash.
• When Mighty Plumber opens the pipe, his wrench is black instead of blue.
  • In the same scene, the water that splashes on King Koopa is blue, but in the next shot, it turns brown.
• When King Koopa says that Mario and Luigi are here, the spikes on his shackles are red instead of orange, while his left nostril disappears several times.
• When Mighty Plumber points his plunger at Luigi, it is orange instead of red.
• In a couple of scenes, Mario's Shoes are purple instead of brown.
• When Luigi mentions the plumber's snake, his and Mario's symbols on their caps flash.
• When the plumber's snake heads for King Koopa, its head is red instead of yellow while the rope is yellow instead of brown.
• In several scenes, Mario's hair is colored black like Luigi's instead of brown.
• When Luigi asks if Mario's plan is going to work, his mouth does not move.
• When King Koopa takes the map from Luigi the first time, it duplicates.
• When King Koopa says that he has the map, his snout flashes.
• When Mario says that King Koopa does not have it anymore, part of his face detaches from his face.
• When Mario and Luigi ride the pipe while avoiding the Piranha Plants, two appear out of thin air.
• When King Koopa takes the map from Luigi a second time, Luigi's sideburns are missing.
• When Mighty Plumber and King Koopa escape from Mario and Luigi, a purple pipe moves as they enter.
• When King Koopa and Mighty Plumber run over to the treasury, King Koopa's shell spikes are colored white instead of orange.
• When Mighty Plumber unlocks the door to the treasury, the sound of it being unlocked can be heard before Mighty Plumber actually unlocks it.
  • In the same scene, he has a wrench, but in the next shot, it disappears.
• When King Koopa and Mighty Plumber are in the vault, King Koopa can briefly be seen with his bag before he actually takes it out.
• When the vault starts filling with water, Mighty Plumber is missing while the spikes on King Koopa's tail are colored orange instead of white.
• When Luigi talks to Mighty Plumber in the treasury, the symbol on his hat flashes.
• When Mario and Luigi are using the pipe as a cannon, the pipe is completely dark-purple, but in the next shot, the center is light-purple.
• When Mighty Plumber is about to catch Cheatsy, Cheatsy's head is orange instead of green.
• Initially, King Koopa's bag has a green dollar sign on it, but when Mario and Luigi have it in Kastle Koopa, the sign is black.
• When Mario and Luigi escape from Kastle Koopa, Mario takes Cheatsy's wand, but when they jump into the pipe, he is holding a plunger instead.
• When Mario and Luigi jump into the fireplace, the sound of them warping can be heard before they actually warp.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
French	Les mésaventures de Super Plombier[?]	Misadventures of Mighty Plumber
German	Ein Fernsehstar[?]	A TV Star
Italian	Le disavventure dell'idraulico[?]	The Misadventures of the Plumber
Portuguese	O Super Bombeiro (Brazil - TV dub) O Super Encanador (Brazil - DVD dub)[?]	The Mighty Firemen (second meaning for Plumber) The Mighty Plumber
Romanian	Peripețiile Marelui Instalator	The misadventures of the Mighty Plumber
Spanish (NOA)	Las Desaventuras del buen Fontanero[?]	The Misadventures of the good Plumber
Spanish (NOE)	Las Desaventuras del buen Fontanero (re-dub) Desventuras de un poderoso Fontanero[?]	The Misadventures of the good Plumber (re-dub) Misadventures of a mighty Plumber

Trivia

• This is one of the few episodes in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 where Princess Toadstool and Toad do not appear.
  • This is also one of the only episodes where the Koopalings have small roles. Bully, Big Mouth, Hip and Hop appear at the beginning only, and Cheatsy does not accompany King Koopa in the Pipe Maze, with King Koopa being accompanied by Mighty Plumber instead.
• The Mario and Luigi dartboards from the previous episode "Oh, Brother!" can be seen a few times.
• This is one of the two episodes where Hip rides a ball like in Super Mario Bros. 3, the other being "7 Continents for 7 Koopas".
• Prior to this episode, Michael Maurer had also written for Mario's first animated series, Saturday Supercade.