Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Why Dragon Ball GT Is Better Than You Think [AND Better Than Super So Far]

Dragon Ball GT




Now, I know what you're thinking. "You can't defend GT! It's such garbage! Ugh why would you even try! You're not a true Dragon Ball fan if you like GT! You have terrible tastes!" Well sit back, you raging butthurt fanboy. Sit back, listen to what I have to say, and I'll hopefully show you how GT is better than you think....and better than the current Dragon Ball Super. As for the more mature or curious of you, I hope you enjoy.

I'll do a sort of skipping around, showing why GT is good as well as defend some of the points that people point at when crying about the series. Does it have it's problems? Oh absolutely. But let's take a look at the other side of the coin....

1. The Pacing of Dragon Ball GT 

Let's take a moment to think about it. How well paced is GT in comparison to Super and Z? Well, what's usually pointed out is the first 13 episodes or so of GT is sort of dragging, and while I agree, it still sets up more story. In episode 1 alone, we are reestablished with the characters, and are given a clear objective to go for: Goku once again venturing as a child.

Now, once we hit 14 or 15, the story picks up more with the Machine Mutants, etc. etc. The Super 17 Saga of GT was a mere 7 episodes long. You could argue that it set up the Shadow Dragon Saga, but it did what it set out to do: tell the story of the return of Android 17, show his dominance, his fight with Goku, and bam. Done. We've moved on.

Now, let's compare that to Dragon Ball Z: using Funimation's ordering of Sagas, the Frieza Saga alone is 33 episodes. Yes, for episodes 75 through 107, the final bits of the Frieza story dragged on, and on, and on....that's not even counting the Saiyan, Namek, and Captain Ginyu Sagas, which alone account for the first 74 episodes. Say what you will, but there's no denying that Dragon Ball Z had godawful pacing.

Now, on to Super. Dragon Ball Super is the latest in line, and ongoing, so I'll only be judging this based on what we've seen so far. How is Super's pacing? Well, we spent a few episodes doing nothing but showing filler, such as Goku being a farmer, Goten and Trunks going after a present for Videl, and then we spent over 30 episodes recounting (terribly, but more on that later.) material we had already seen before. Also terribly paced, at least for what we've seen up to this point.

The Concept of Super Saiyan 4




Super Saiyan 4 is something of a hotly debated topic, some love it, some hate it, and I'm going to objectively show you why it's great like a smug asshole. Super Saiyan 1 is without a doubt THE most iconic of the franchise, and definitely a great and useful transformation, as we've seen it used effectively many, many times. The concept of Super Saiyan 2 was fantastic, until it was ruined by the useless and poorly designed Super Saiyan 3....but that's a story for another day.

What I'm here to talk about is Super Saiyan 4, it's significance to the franchise, and why it made GT great. Designed by the very talented Toei Studio designer Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Super Saiyan 4 debuted in episode 34 of Dragon Ball GT, during the Baby Saga and was billed as the ultimate Saiyan transformation.

The writers of GT did in fact do their homework, as the way to achieve a Super Saiyan 4 transformation is a callback to Dragon Ball Z. The way you become a Super Saiyan 4 is by first turning into a Golden Great Ape, or a Golden Oozaru, a concept introduced to us by Vegeta.

In episode 66 of Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta mentions the first known Super Saiyan, who, "could only hold his power in a transformed state." This could be misconstrued to mean Super Saiyan 1, and that would be understandable, however there is more evidence to support the idea of Golden Great Ape being what Vegeta referred to.



In Volume 1 of the "Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files", there reads a blurb that states,

"Incidentally, the Super Saiyan legend has a passage saying that they "love destruction and slaughter", but in actuality everyone retains their reason. However, if you'll remember, there was a form where even Goku became extremely violent!! That's right, when he transformed into a Golden Oozaru!! Surely this brutality, destructive power, and large scale are a sign of the legend that tells that they will "love destruction and slaughter"!! One can think of the Golden Oozaru form (which includes Oozaru Baby too!!) as perhaps fit to be called the true Super Saiyan!!"

This of course gives Super Saiyan 4 as a transformation a much, much deeper and more meaningful significance than most others (especially 3), presenting it moreso as a refined and bettered version of the original Super Saiyan, a form much much closer to Saiyan heritage. On top of that even, it's design is just fantastic, and has a much more primal feel to it.

The Setting of Dragon Ball GT 

Now, this isn't exactly a comparison to Z or Super in terms of location, just the vast and interesting locations in which GT spans, and thus giving it a wide sense of space. In the Black Star Dragon Ball Saga alone, we get to see (obviously) Earth, deep space itself, Planet Imecka, and Planet M-2, and learn a bit more of each of them.



Next, in the Baby Saga, we get the history of the planet of the Tsufuru-Jins (Tuffles). In the Super 17 Saga we got a look at Hell, and the Shadow Dragon Saga features even more wonderful cityscapes etc. My point being, all of these locations are so well designed, and so appealing that it's really hard to hate the worldbuilding they did, as the effort is monumental.

The Techniques of GT




Now, this may be tangential, but c'mon. Everybody loves regular well known stuff like the Destructo Disc and Special Beam Cannon, but how can you not love fan service-y type moves like Baby's Revenge Death Ball, Kamehameha x10, Super Dragon Fist, or even Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta's amazing and quite impressive Big Bang Kamehameha x100? They were a "blast" to watch in action....okay, sorry, sorry.

The Soundtrack

The soundtrack to GT, composed by Akihito Tokunaga is, for lack of a better term, simply magical. Now, I mean the Japanese soundtrack solely, of course. The English soundtrack, with it's low, grungy sound is......eh.....far too late '90s for it's own good. But the Japanese? Whew. Brilliantly composed, fun, and just flat out Dragon Ball! A great example is the ending theme, titled "Blue Velvet". Give it a look!!

The Designs For GT




GT has some quite interesting character designs (both good and bad, but interesting none the less), alot done by the previously mentioned, and brilliant, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru. From Super Saiyan 4  (Gogeta included), Super 17, Baby, the Shadow Dragons, the setting (as mentioned before), all of it is very unique, and the bad ones are few and far between. Which brings me to....

Trunks may have bad fashion sense in GT (and the tendency to get hurt in car accidents), but no one tops Vegeta's "middle age Dad" appearance, with flat top and mustache. "Hurdy hurdy hur defend that one!!!" Oh, trust me fanboy. I don't intend to. But, I WOULD like to hear you admit that that's a design done by Akira Toriyama himself.

OH, YES. THATS RIGHT. COMPLAIN ALL YOU WANT ABOUT HIM "NOT HAVING INVOLVEMENT". OH, HE DID. HE DID. HE GAVE YOU MUSTACHE FLAT TOP VEGETA. Oh, and he gave us the set-up for the Tsufuru-Jins, but more on that in a second.

The Brilliance of Baby




Baby, or "Bebi" in Japan, is quite possibly the most well developed and multilayered villain in the whole franchise. Why? Well, referring to the Super Saiyan 4 portion, the GT writers did their homework. Hardcore. In a Dragon Ball Z filler episode during Goku's first tenure on King Kai's planet, Kai explains that Planet Vegeta (the homeworld of all Saiyans) used to be known as Planet Plant, and was inhabited by peaceful people known as the Tsufuru-Jins (Tuffles).

The Saiyans arrive, wage a war, and wipe out the Tsufuru-Jins and establish themselves as the rulers of the planet. This episode, this random filler, provided the GT writers with enough information to bring us Bebi. It's explained that during the Saiyan/Tuffle War, the Tuffles were in the process of developing perfect warriors (where have we heard that before?), parasites, with one sole purpose: Destroy all Saiyans. Spread across the whole universe, these weren't heard from again until GT.

Baby comes around, hellbent on revenge, and has a real, legitimate beef with Goku and company. Think about it: these people, the ruthless, bloodthirsty Saiyans, wiped out most of your people for their own benefit. Imagine if a new, stronger race came to Earth, wiped every human but you, and established dominance. Would you develop a hatred deeper than imaginable?

If you were a sane individual you likely would. That's how Bebi feels. In any other story, he would be the hero, as his race of people did absolutely nothing wrong, and it's Goku's race who threatened their existence. And that makes you wonder....who's really right here? Plus, his ability to infest and mind control people in just plain awesome, and kinda scary when you think about it.

Canon Doesn't Matter

There's a whole can of worms I'm opening here, but let's really take a moment to think about it. The most often brought up subject when GT is talked about is, "It shouldn't matter, it isn't canon!!" Let me tell you a little something about Dragon Ball and canon.

Canon is an often debated topic, and generally the point that most fans try to "agree" on is whats canon is what Toriyama himself wrote, ideas and designs and writing that he put to paper. That would seem to suggest only his original manga, right? But, as to be expected, there's a problem with that.

Toriyama has written more than just his manga, dear reader. He wrote the story of Battle of Gods and Ressurection F, so are those canon, or is Super, the official continuation, canon? He wrote concepts for movie villains. Hell, he did a whole page for Cooler. He also put Bardock, Goku's father, into the manga, who is someone else's creation. So does that make the Bardock movies canon?

So what is, canon? Hm? You tell me. Is the main series canon? But then again, what is exactly the "main series"? Only what was presented in Z?? Canon doesn't matter in Dragon Ball, no matter how you split it, and because of that, you shouldn't leap to the "canon" arguments when talking about GT. Judge the series for what it's worth on it's own, not wether it is or isn't part of the franchise.

Animation....Uh Oh

Tell me, in detail, one instance where Dragon Ball GT suffers from poor animation......hm? Oh, you haven't watched it? Move aside, fanboy. I'm asking the sensible readers. Oh? You can't think of any instances either? Sure, it isn't 100% perfect, but when you really look at it, nine times out of ten, GT's animation is consistently solid and quite pretty. The linework is stellar, the colors vibrant, and the shading lovely.





For some reason, fans hold Z up on a pedestal, and worship it as a godlike, untouchable anime that is unmatched by all. Except....some of, okay wait....alot of, the animation is downright terrible. Does it have good animation? Oh, absolutely. If it were constantly bad, no one would like it, right? But, it's not bulletproof. At all. Take a look at the movie Return of Cooler. I love that film, but some of it's animation is godawful. It isn't perfect, people. Here is some bad DBZ animation for proof:







Oh....okay. Super. Dragon Ball Super. I don't need to say much to really prove my point. Allow me to just....show you. I get it, animation is hard. And the story behind Super's animation is best left for another day. But, this still happened....





Mischaracterization

Oh, lord. I've got more important topics to move onto. "Wahhhh they don't train anymore in GT! They're all so weak!". Battle of Gods turned Vegeta into a damned stage show, and Gohan in Super becomes an unbelievable weenie. Bite me.





Plot Holes




Ohhhh my. This is the big one. Plot holes. Firstly, I'm not going to sit here and say that GT DOESN'T have plotholes. It certainly does. As a matter of fact, just to show you I acknowledge them, here are a few:

-Dende, who can heal, grabs a first aid kit for Goku?

-Vegeta's hair changed, when he himself stated a Saiyan's hair never changes from birth in Z.

-Uub wears a helmet at the Tenkaichi Budokai, when it's stated you can't have outside protection.

-It's said Pan can't turn Super Saiyan with only 1/4th Saiyan blood, but Goku Jr. in the movie Heroe's Legacy can...and he's Pan's grandson.

-Trunks gets hurt in a freaking car accident?? Really???

Now, that's not great, pretty poor as a matter of fact, but wait until I pull out all of the plotholes in it's competition. Ladies and gentlemen, I present only some of the plotholes in Dragon Ball Z:

-Saiyans can and can't breathe in space at the same time, somehow. Bardock and Vegeta do, and Goku does as a kid (when he sent Boss Rabbit to the moon, though this was likely a gag), but suddenly he needs a spacesuit as an adult? Even then, he and Beerus very clearly fight in space later in Super.....huh.

-While training for the Saiyans, Tien, Chiaotzu and Yamcha are told they are being transported to a replication of Planet Vegeta 100 years in the past. This isn't possible because the Saiyan/Tuffle war happened only 40 years prior.

-In episode 14, Goku has a nightmare in which Chi-Chi is attacked by Vegeta and Nappa. However, the only other Saiyan he should recognize at this point is his own brother, Raditz.

-Recoome gets most of his teeth knocked out, only to have most of them present again in later scenes.

-The length of Freeza's (which is the correct way to spell his name) tail never stays consistent, even after it's cut off.

-Freeza also expresses shock when blocked by Piccolo, stating he was unaware any Namekians had survived, when he had known the freaking guy for no less than 10 whole episodes!!

-Mr. Popo uses the Dragon Balls after Kami and Piccolo are revived, which shouldn't be possible since Goku had just been revived one month prior.

And those are just a few. Mind you I chose to leave out the giant holes in both the Cell and Buu Sagas, because I feel like you get the point. Now, onto Super....

-Beerus claims to have ordered Freeza to destroy Planet Vegeta. However, previously, it was stated that Freeza ordered it's destruction because he feared insurrection at the hands of a Super Saiyan. Beerus saying that contradicts the whole point of a Super Saiyan!!!!

-Beerus the walking contradiction also claims to have wiped out dinosaurs on Earth, when Dragon Ball and Z have both shown plenty of dinosaurs still living on Earth

-Despite being outright stated to be older than Goku, Bulma is said to be only 38...which shouldn't be possible, unless she were lying. But that, my friend, is headcanon.

-Earth has continents that match the real world, when the official Dragon World map looks entirely different.

-Need I mention the infamous "Goku shot with a laser" scene?

Is that enough for you??? No?? Alright, well, on to my final point, should you not have, for some reason, believed me by now....

The Ending of Dragon Ball GT 




Now here's a topic I'm sure some of you doubting Thomas' out there were waiting for. Since Super has yet to have an ending (it pains me just saying that), I'll only be comparing GT's ending to Z's

For GT's finale, the 64th and final episode, we see Goku kill Omega Shenron and save the Earth one last time. He bids a tearful goodbye to family and friends, absorbs the Dragon Balls (the 4 star ball enters at his heart, symbolic because that's the one his grandpa left him all those years ago.) We are then taken through a heartfelt montage of the whole story, from the original Dragon Ball until now, and greeted with the message, "Until We Meet Again...". Absolutely beautiful for any Dragon Ball fan, and a proper ending to the series as a whole.

Now, for Dragon Ball Z's ending...the 291st and final episode...yeesh.....Goku grabs a kid he just met, says goodbye quickly, and trains with a character whom Super doesn't acknowledge. Good on you!!



So, was that enough to convince you? If not, then hey. You're entitled to your own opinion. I mean, I may have just provided enough evidence to believe otherwise, like a smarmy asshole, but I'll be the first to admit GT certainly isn't without it's faults. For your liesure, I will certainly cite my sources for stuff I didn't quite remember below, and hey, if you still don't like it that's okay!! Just rock on, and continue loving Dragon Ball.

Sources Used:

http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Baby
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Baby_Saga
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Star_Dragon_Ball_Saga
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Super_Saiyan_4
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Golden_Great_Ape
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Planet_Vegeta
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_GT
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_inconsistencies
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Until_We_Meet_Again
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Goku's_Next_Journey

Monday, February 8, 2016

Super Mario Bros.: The Movie...Worst Video Game Movie Adaptation....Or The Best?

Now, I known what you're thinking. You're either sitting there, grimacing with disgust and probably feel like burning my house down, or you're intrigued as to why I've come to the defense of what's considered one of the worst movies ever. Rest assured, I will lay the facts out as I know them, and hope to shed some insight on this film that may change your mind about it. If not? No problemo. I hope you enjoy either way.


Take your mind back to the 1990's. The likes of Terminator 2 and other action flicks are tearing up the cinema, President Clinton comes under fire for his affair, and on the video game side of things, Mario is white hot at this point. 1991 saw the release of the acclaimed Super Mario World, and the debut of Mario's rival, Sonic. The two were in a heated battle for supremacy, and both had adamant supporters. So, like the Ninja Turtles before them, Mario and friends were destined for the big screen.



A History Lesson

Now, before we delve into the movie itself, let me give you a little bit of pre-production history so you have a better idea of what we're dealing with. Super Mario Bros. is a 1993 sci-fi adventure film directed by married co-directors Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, and is a loose adaptation of the popular Super Mario video game franchise. Several years prior, Roland Joffe, owner of production company Lightmotive negotiated a $2 million contract and a temporary ownership of the Mario property.

There were quite a few actors considered for Mario after the rights were secured, such as Tom Hanks and Danny DeVito, while the likes of Michael Keaton and Arnold Schwarzenegger were considered for King Koopa.



The script went through....quite a few changes, some for the better, some for the worst. The very first was written by Jim Jennewien and Tom S. Parker in early 1991 and very heavily based the story on fantasy elements like the Princess Bride and later on, Shrek. Because this writing team was let go, they were forced to rewrite it.

The next version of the script was written by Parker Bennett and Terry Runté in late 1991, and would go into a story that would be a solid Sci-Fi that cut down on the comedy and outright focus on the fantastical and science fiction elements of the story. Later versions of the script would keep this basic setup.

The NEXT versions would focus on many different genres, ranging from a Ghostbusters-like comedy to a Die Hard inspired adult action film, but the one that really caught on was a Mad Max type story, and one that garnered interest in acting talents Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper, who would replace the likes of Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton for the titular roles of Mario and King Koopa.



Why did I go into detail about only two of the early drafts? Because that, my friend, is the crux of the argument that plagued this film: many of it's creative minds wanted a grittier, dystopic film with an alternate take on the Mario Bros., and others wanted a family friendly fun romp Disney film. How did they solve this conundrum? I'll answer that question in a moment.

My next topic of discussion is telling you what the film got wrong. Yes, I want to throw out there what exactly turned out to be this film's downfall, and for the sake of consistency, it boils down to three big points.

The Three Problems That Doomed Super Mario Bros.

1. The Public's Perception of An Adaptation-
People always like to look at adaptations as something that will simply be an extension of the product they already love. Adapting, by it's very nature, is changing the format to better suit whatever platform it has. With this in mind, you can't tell the story of Super Mario 64 in an average movie format.

Whereas a video game, like a book, can be as long as need be, movies are on a time limit. Because of this, they can only tell so much in that time, meaning they have to alter anything they can for the sake of remaining consistent for the general public. Because people expect a completely faithful rendition, they're going to be disappointed from the start.

2. Source Material Isn't Your Friend-
Take a look at Super Mario Bros. as a series. Before the era of three dimensional Mario adventures with a bit more of a cohesive story, there were only handful of side scrolling platformers that didn't have any semblance of a story. Even Nintendo themselves admit that they never make games with stories in mind, instead focusing on gameplay.



Because in 1993 the only story Mario had to his name was the typical "Hero saves Princess" trope, the filmmakers were faced with the challenge of making a mountain out of a molehill. They literally had to make something out of nothing. But hey, it's an adaptation, right?

Since we have so little to go on, why not loosen up some and make what we can? This is where we get they idea of so many aesthetic changes in the Mario universe. How can you make cute Disney-like Mario when you want Mad Max-esque Mario? This leads to our third and final point.

3. Nightmare on Production Street-
Remember when I asked you earlier about how they solved the conundrum of wanting two different interpretations of Mario? They didn't. So many creative minds had differences about exactly what this movie was going to be, it became a nightmare. Remember how I mentioned that the allure of a Mad Max type story for the Mario Bros is what attracted the likes of Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper?

The final revision of the script, affectionately named the "Rainbow Script" due to the highlighted revision marks, was made AFTER the actors were signed on. This last script was an amalgamation of the gritty Blade Runner idea with fun Disney story for the whole family, and the result was....strange.




This obviously didn't please Bob Hoskins or any of the other main cast, and this poor mismanagement would continue for the duration of filming. Some actors didn't put in full effort, odd mishaps halted production (like Hoskins being stabbed four times, electrocuted, and breaking his pinky finger). This would truly make for something I like to call brilliant in concept and poor in execution. On record, it was said that the film's production was, "A F*****g Nightmare".

The Jury's Verdict

Because of the above factors, May 28th, 1993 would prove to be the bane of the crew's existence when Super Mario Bros. was unleashed to the public, and the reaction wasn't pretty. Terribly low reviews as well as bashing from even Siskel and Ebert cemented this movie's place in the pantheon of movies that should be swept under the rug....or is that really the case?



What if it didn't have to be bad, not in the way you think, anyways? What if we looked past the dated effects and hammy acting....would we find something more worthwhile? Let's find out together.

What Super Mario Bros. Did Right!

1. The Directors Did NOT Neglect The Source Material-
Contrary to popular belief, the power couple directors and producers didn't cast the original Mario games aside like a used napkin. As a matter of fact, they went so far as to add many, many insignificant details referencing jokes and characters that Mario fans would appreciate. Take a look at this, a portion of the set of the film's primary setting, and note the references. Speaking of which....


2. The Movie's Design, From Sets to Monsters, Is Brilliant-
That's right. You read that correctly. Take a look at the above picture if you need a reference, and I'll add more below, but it doesn't take a genius to see that the sets are pretty elaborately designed, from Dinohattan and it's dystopic neon to the dark, clean, and symmetrical lair of the nefarious King Koopa.



All of it is so well thought out, and the fact that the references mentioned above were meticulously added just for you to nitpick. This brings me to the creatures: Goombas, and Yoshi. Both of which, upon first glance, are silly puppets.



 But take a closer look. Do you know how elaborate those animatronics are, or how many they had to make just for each Goomba? Put into context, it's astounding. Yoshi was an incredibly advanced puppet for it's time, and remains a high spot for the film.

3. The Creativity Is Most Certainly There-
Now, we've established the detail is there. But what about the heart behind it? The real passion? It's there too. The lack of good direction for the film really serves a quick kick to the groin of all the love put into this movie's production. Forna good creatice example, you have the Thwomp Stompers, boots with hydraulics allowing the Mario Bros. to jump high into the air (like their in game counterparts).



You've also got the neat, albiet outlandish, concept of a world underneath ours, where everything plays out in just about the exact opposite way. King Koopa runs a Dictatorship over the innocent inhabitants of the underground world after the old King "died", and the fact that Luigi's love interest is technically part of this world adds a very interesting dynamic.





Then you have the characterizations of the characters themselves. Mario (Bob Hoskins) is played up as a very likeable reluctant hero, while his brother Luigi (John Leguizamo) is portrayed as this much more relaxed "free spirit" type guy who thinks with his heart. It's a neat Big Bro/Little Bro dynamic.



Daisy (who is moreso a composite character of Daisy and Peach) is portrayed as a much more ambitious character and not the typical "Damsel in Distress" role, leading to her playing a huge part in the film's story. Not only is she a character who can make her way around, but one pivotal to the plot.



Then, you have King Koopa, portrayed by Dennis Hopper. Y'see, Mr. Hoskins and Mr. Leguizamo really did put forth one hell of an effort on the acting front, legitimately giving it quite the try. Hey, gotta put in 110%, right? Dennis Hopper's portrayal of a tyrannical, oddball and germophobic King Koopa is well loved for....different reasons.

It's debatable wether his acting chops really shine through here, but it's very obvious he is really enjoying hamming up the role and making it as absolutely as silly as possible. All of them are a blast to watch, especially when their goofy characters trade all sorts of gems of dialogue.

4. The Devoted Fanbase Makes It Worthwhile-
While panned by the general public, and in some aspects justifiably so, Super Mario Bros. has garnered a huge cult following of devoted fans that have dug up every last bit of evidence on it's creation and celebrate the mark it's left in cinema, regardless if it were good or bad.



The fact that people, myself included, have involved ourselves in this wonderfully weird film, it gives you a sense of community as we continue to dig up bits and peices of information that shed more light on what we love, hate, or love to hate, and that's about all we could ask for, to be honest. There is an awesome website I'll link to at the end of this that archives all known information about the film, and if you're interested, I highly recommend you look into it.

In Conclusion
Regardless of it's status as a notoriously bad film, Super Mario Bros. has some very distinct and unique features and design choices that make it one of a kind, and it almost has this strange charm to it that never fails to make you smile, wether it be in sincerity or laughing at it. And hey, if it weren't interesting, why would we keep talking about it?



If you're a Mario fan, please seek this out for a viewing experience. If not out of enjoyment, then as a historical peice to show you where the series had spread it's influence throughout history. I'll link to the Super Mario Bros. Archive (seriously, they have everything.) Many of these images used here are from the Archive site, and all rights to them belong to their respective owners. I'll show you some of the production stills they have to offer on the website as an added bonus.



Thank you for reading! And with that, we'll meet another day.

The Super Mario Bros. Archive》http://www.smbmovie.com

Production Photos