King Koopa's Kool Kartoons
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
live-action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
children's television show
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
broadcast in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
during the holiday season of 1989-'90. The show stars King Koopa, the central arch-villain from the Mario
Mario (series)
The video game series, alternatively called the series or simply the series, is a series of highly popular and critically acclaimed video games by Nintendo, featuring Nintendo's mascot Mario and, in many games, his brother Luigi. Gameplay in the series often centers around jumping on and...
video game series. The 30-minute program was originally broadcast during late afternoon time slots on Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
-based KTTV Fox 11
KTTV
KTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP , Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station...
.
Format
The format of the show in the tradition of classic children's television shows in the vein of Bozo the ClownBozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
: the show would begin with the same pre-recorded sequence and lead into a live studio audience of children chanting "Koopa! Koopa! Koopa!" at the beginning of the show. The audience of children were all given special hats shaped like Koopa heads and T-shirts with "Koopa's Troopas" printed on them (the children would actually get to keep the shirts, but the troopa helmets, as they called them, were claimed by the producers at the end of the taping and reused every show).
The live-action Koopa would then act as emcee
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
, introducing old, public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
animated cartoon
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
shorts for the length of the show (none of the actual Mario cartoons that were produced were ever shown). King Koopa would end the show by giving a child gift certificates or NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
products, particularly the Power Glove
Power Glove
The Power Glove is a controller accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the first peripheral interface controller to recreate human hand movements on a television or computer screen in real time. The Power Glove was not popular and was criticized for its imprecise and difficult-to-use...
, which was a popular toy for the Christmas holiday season.
King Koopa
The show featured an actor in a King Koopa costume similar to one previously used in the Super Mario Bros.-themed Ice CapadesIce Capades
The Ice Capades was a traveling entertainment show featuring theatrical performances involving ice skating. Shows often featured former Olympicand National Champion figure skaters who had retired from amateur competition....
show, only with a more detailed mask to make the actor more believable on television. The actor playing Koopa (originally Chris Latta
Christopher Collins
Christopher Charles Collins , also known as Chris Latta, was an American actor, voice artist and comedian, perhaps best known as the voice of Cobra Commander on the G.I. Joe animated series and as the voice of Starscream in the first Transformers animated series...
) performed the role with a gruff, gravel-voiced faux-malevolence that ultimately revealed a hesitantly nice personality.
Unlike any previous appearance, Koopa was seen with a pet
Pet
A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...
creature that best resembled a mix of dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
and weasel
Weasel
Weasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
with the large ears of a bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
; it is believed by some that this pet creature was a spin-off of Mouser. The creature's name was Ratso and it had his own special "theater" where kids could also claim prizes from. Koopa would be seen walking Ratso on a leash in the pre-recorded opening and closing credit sequences.
Awards
By 1990, the program was nominated as the best youth program for the Los Angeles local Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s.