Club Mario
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Tommy Treehugger and Co-M.C. were the hosts – two twenty-somethings pretending to be teenagers who "satellite surfed" between extreme sports clips and wacky interviews in their radical apartment. Their "satellite" looked like an upside-down Chinese parasol, whenever they wanted to "satellite surf", they would make a big deal of adjusting the thing.
The segments were shot to replace the live-action Mario and Luigi (Albano and Wells) when the show ran into further syndication. It’s likely that they were trying to win over the Saturday morning audience that was, at the time, consumed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the like with all-new “hip” hosts. By adding wrap-arounds only, DiC could save money by creating a new “series” while using existing cartoons.
On Fridays, (Legend of Zelda cartoon day!),Co-M.C. was replaced by his "brother", "Evil Eric", who loved to cause mayhem and hijinx which involved ganging up on Tommy.
The show opened the same way we expected. Your TV filled with a purple holographic screen and Mario's smiling head exclaimed, "Hey, Paisanos! It's the Super Mario Bros. Super Show!" But then the electric guitars came in with a heavy drum beat.
The visuals combined the Mario cartoon opening, scenes from the Mario episode "The Bird! The Bird!", and random shots of the Club Mario cast and set.
At one point, the digitized voice says "M-M-M-M-Mario", but it sounds like he's saying "Wario" (funny, because this was years before there even was a Wario). No Captain Lou dance at all. No sign of the famous plumbing shop and basement apartment.
In fact, the only thing Mario-related on the set was a Mario doll. They could have turned the set into "Club" Anything. It was about as generic you can get.
The Mario rap intro song was replaced by a different theme, something loud with cheesy lyrics and extreme guitar riffs.
Theme Song
Name any place that you wanna go-o We'll take you there, oh don't you know We're at the Club Club Mario Come join the Club C-C-C-Club M-M-Mario
Grab your seat, hold on to your ha-at Satellite Surfin' is where it's at Here at the Club Club Mario Come join the Club C-C-C-Club M-M-Mario
Why did they decide to change the classic Super Show opening for this tripe? Maybe it was an attempt to make Mario & Co more radical and extreme like rival mascot Sonic the Hedgehog.
The segments aren't mentioned anywhere on the Super Mario Bros. Super Show! DVD collections from Shout! Factory and it's been left off the DVD archives.
Cast
- Tommy Treehugger - Chris Coombs
- Co-M.C. / Evil Eric - Michael Anthony Rawlins
- Tammi Treehugger - Victoria Delany
