The Ugly Mermaid

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode
"The Ugly Mermaid"
Production number	122
Airdate	November 3, 1990 (English) November 15, 1991 (French)
Writer(s)	Perry Martin Sean Roche
Opening curtain	Water Land
Featured song	"Never Kiss a Mermaid"
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"The Ugly Mermaid" is the eighteenth episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3. It aired alongside another episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 entitled "Mush-Rumors". The episode's name parodies The Little Mermaid.

Plot synopsis

The episode begins as King Koopa swiftly pilots his Doom Sub through the ocean, planning to conquer the underwater world of Mertropolis, which he plans to turn into Kooptropolis. Already aware of his plans, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad pursue the sub, aided by Frog Suits.

Hip and Hop Koopa notice them and inform Koopa, who orders his Rocky Wrenches to attack. The Mario Bros. manage to catch some of the wrenches that are thrown at them, and throw them back, damaging the Doom Sub's propellers. The submarine spins out of control, firing strange beams in all directions. As Mario tries to protect the Princess from the blasts, he is hit by one of them himself. His body is encased in a block of cement, which causes him to begin sinking.

When all seems lost, a mermaid named Holly Mackerel comes out of a Warp Pipe and swims over to save Mario. She introduces herself as the mermaid princess of Mertropolis and brings Mario to the submerged city, which is covered by a dome. Luigi and the others follow, and try their best to revive the now-unconscious Mario. When he regains consciousness, Holly tells him that her fortune teller claimed a frog prince would "come hopping into my life". Believing Mario to be that prince, she falls in love with him and tries to get him to marry her. After some brief dodging and running away, Mario directly confronts her and tells her that they just are not compatible. Leaving her in tears, he and the rest of the team head back to the pipe leading to the ocean.

Frog Mario in the water, unable to swim.

However, before entering the pipe, Mario cannot bring himself to go back. His near-death experience has made him dreadfully afraid of the water, and he refuses to leave. The others try to convince him to go, but he makes it clear that he will not go into the water ever again. Suddenly, the Doom Sub appears over the city, and Koopa shouts his demands through a loudspeaker, declaring that if the city is not surrendered in seventeen minutes, he will destroy it. King Mackerel shows up, and worries about Mertropolis being destroyed.

Mario and friends looking towards the Doom Sub.

Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad jump into the exit pipe, but Mario is still too afraid. Toadstool tries to convince him that everything will be okay, but it does not do any good. Suddenly, two Boomerang Brothers enter through the pipe and start attacking the city. Mario defeats them, but just as soon as they are gone, more arrive. After Mario's group battles the small troop of Boomerang Brothers, Koopa announces that he has more to come. As before, Mario is too scared to leave the city. Princess Toadstool tells him to stay behind, while she, Luigi, and Toad stop the Doom Sub.

Holly grabbing Mario, proclaiming preparations for her wedding.

Holly sees that Mario is still there, and misinterprets his staying as a sign of love for her. King Mackerel still sees Mario hanging around, and warns Mario about King Koopa's threat. Holly, who was mistaking a Warp Pipe for Mario's "solid build", notices and introduces Mario to her father, and plans to prepare a wedding ceremony, much to Mario's dismay.

Onboard the Doom Sub, Hip and Hop spot Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad returning, and Koopa responds by firing Nasty Nets at his three foes, capturing all of them. Back in Metropolis, Holly tells Mario about how she is inviting all of the citizens to their wedding. However, Holly's plans are cut short when Koopa announces that he is going to throw them a wedding shower.

Mario fixing the hole.

Koopa then drops a Bob-omb onto the city's protective dome, blasting a hole in it, which causes water to pour in and start flooding the city. Mario regains his courage, realizing he is the only one who can rescue his friends and the city—that, and he wants to get away from Holly. He swims up the advancing flood of water, and fixes the hole in the ceiling on his way out with a manhole cover.

The Doom Sub fires a Chain Chomp at Mario, but Mario grabs ahold of the chain and uses the Chomp to cut open the Nasty Nets that are holding his friends. Mario and Luigi then take one of the nets to capture a school of Jelectros, and hurl the net at the Doom Sub. The Jelectros electrocute the Doom Sub, forcing the Koopa Troopas to retreat.

Later on, back in Mertropolis, King Mackerel presents Mario with a medal for his heroic deeds. Holly, still infatuated with Mario, arrives and puts a wedding-day helmet on him. The helmet, however, distorts his facial appearance, and she shrieks in shock, saying that she cannot marry him because he is "the ugliest-looking frog [she's] ever seen". With that resolved, the heroes cheerfully leave before Holly has a chance to get over her fear.

Cast

• Walker Boone — Mario
• Tony Rosato — Luigi
• Tracey Moore — Princess Toadstool
• John Stocker — Toad citizen
• Dan Hennessey — singer #1
• Gordon Masten — singer #2
• Tara Charendoff — Hip and Hop
• Diane Fabian — Holly Mackerel
• Rod Coneybeare — King Mackerel

Animation and continuity errors

• Throughout the episode, the nostrils on Princess Toadstool's Frog Suit disappear several times.
• When King Koopa says that Mertropolis will be his, the rings around the spikes on his shell are briefly colored orange instead of green.
  • In the same scene, he speaks without moving his mouth.
• When Mario and his friends dodge the wrenches, Toad's eyebrows turn the same color as his Frog Suit.
• In several scenes, gloves appear on Princess Toadstool. This also happens to Toad when King Koopa fires the Nasty Nets.
• When Mario almost drowns, his sideburns can be seen, but elsewhere in the episode, they are hidden by his Frog Suit. In addition, in one scene, they are black instead of brown.
• Mertropolis's citizens are unable to breathe air, but they live in an air-filled city.
• When Mario's friends place him on a table, Princess Toadstool's Frog Suit covers her hands.
• When Holly Mackerel says that Mario is afe, her bracelets turn completely white.
• In some scenes, King Mackerel's head is skin-color instead of purple, while his gloves turn completely green.
• When Mario says that he is afraid of water, his eyes are green like Luigi's instead of blue.
  • Inversely, when Luigi says that King Koopa will get even with him and his friends, his eyes are blue like Mario's instead of green.
• When Luigi says that Holly wants to marry Mario, his mouth does not move. This also happens with Mario when he says he will be a coward forever.
• In several scenes, Toad's arms are not covered by his Frog Suit.
• When Princess Toadstool tells Mario to come, the eyelashes on her Frog Suit disappear.
• When Mario watches his friends leave, a Spiny Cheep Cheep disappears into thin air.
  • In the same scene, Toad can be seen with Mario's friends despite him not leaving through the pipe.
• When King Koopa tells the Koopalings to fire the nets, Hop's hair turns completely pink while his eyelids are colored black like his glasses instead of green.
• When King Koopa walks over to the cockpit, he appears out of thin air.
• When the Mario Bros. throw the net of Jelectros towards the Doom Sub, the eyes on their Frog Suits are colored white instead of yellow.
• When King Mackerel awards Mario with a medal, it passes through him.
• When Holly tells Mario to put on his helmet, Mario's medal disappears.

• 

  Holly's miscolored bracelets

• 

  Hop's miscolored hair

• 

  King Mackerel's miscolored head and hands

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
French	La vilaine petite sirène	The Naughty Little Mermaid
German	Die Meerjungfrau	The Mermaid
Italian	La principessa sgombro	The Princess Mackerel
Portuguese	A Sereia Feia	The Ugly Mermaid
Romanian	Sirena cea urâtă	The ugly mermaid
Spanish	La Sirena Fea	The Ugly Mermaid

Trivia

• The opening music is different from normal, using the water level theme instead of the standard Water Land theme.
• This is the only episode where Mario and the others are in the same powered up form throughout the entire episode.