January 17, 2012
As promised, our follow-up with Rob Burman continues:
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Our Creatures section has been updated with a dedicated page to the Koopa Creature, with sub-sections for all four stages featured in the film. There are over 40 exclusive images in here--and they're all fantastic. They really give you a sense of how much work went into creating this impressive combination of prosthetics, sculpts, animatronics, and CGI.
So, enjoy those awesome photos. If you haven't joined our forums yet, please stop in and let us know what you think!
January 7, 2012
What, new content? That's right! Here goes:
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We've caught up with Rob Burman (who was behind the Koopa Creature) and asked him some follow-up questions to add to our interview with him that was posted in late 2010. There are also some very interesting new photos added to go along with some of our questions. Check it out HERE or click on the update banner above.
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It looks like our recent efforts to spread the word about the film's upcoming anniversary aren't going unnoticed by some outlets. Check out Multiplayer Games' article about our doings HERE.
And as you've probably noticed, this is only the first part of our Rob Burman-related materials to update. Check back here next week for the rest!
January 2, 2012
Happy New Year, everyone! And with this new year comes the next wave of updates for the Archive.
One of the greatest things about running this site is getting to know all of these incredible people involved with the Super Mario Bros. film. And I'm not just talking about the cast and crew who made the movie, I'm also talking about our ever-growing community of dedicated fans. Whether it's someone who's making a fan film or fan art, scripts, costumes, or just posting on our forums, it's a pleasure to be involved with each and every one of you.
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And with that, we've got a great new editorial article from David Oxford (aka LBD_Nytetrayn on our forums) regarding his trip to Otakon 2011, in which he dressed up like Bob Hoskins' Mario and promoted our website with flair!
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Also, as this is the new year, it's worth noting that we're one step closer to the 20th anniversary of the film (which will occur in May 2013). If there's any hope of convincing Disney to consider a re-release of any sort, there's some stuff you can do to help:
If you haven't done either of those things to help increase awareness, please do so! Only a little of your time can go a long way to let the powers that be know we really want an updated release of the film!
December 21, 2011
Happy Holidays, fungineers! Just a few things to bring to your attention:
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Did you attend last week's screening of Super Mario Bros. at the PIT in NYC? If so, shoot me an email and let me know if you had a good time.
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Watch a 20-minute documentary on the Super Mario Bros. movie by college student Noah Whitaker! This documentary features a plethora of information, quotations and production images taken from our very own site, as well as section devoted to our hard work and fan community.
Since this will likely be the last update before the new year, be safe and be merry. Plenty more content will come in 2012, don't you worry. Rest assured that the lack of "big" updates has more to do with our busy schedules than anything else. With only a year to go until the 20th anniversary of the film, things should definitely get more interesting around here.
Until next time, watch the film again with family or friends. Join our message board or make some new posts if you haven't visited in a while.
And of course...trust the fungus!
December 12, 2011
Do you live within the New York area or will you be there on Saturday, December 17th? If so, we would love for you to join us at the People's Improv Theater for a FREE screening of Super Mario Bros.:
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We hope that more screenings like this can happen in preparation for the film's 20th anniversary. Show your support simply by watching the movie and having a good time! Check out the PIT website or RSVP HERE for more details. We'd also like to thank the PIT's Oscar Montoya for informing us about the event.
As far as more site content, it's definitely coming. Stick with us!
November 15, 2011
We've got a quick bit of Mario movie-related news for you today:
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Over the weekend, writer Jamie Russell shared several anecdotes from his upcoming book "Generation X-Box" in which producer Roland Joffé and director Rocky Morton reflect on the film's origin and failure.
Most interestingly, Joffé is said to remain fond of the film and admits that it has a "strange cult status."
This article was later covered by IGN, which uses Rocky's quotes to portray him as not entirely at fault for the studio's mistakes. Perhaps people are finally starting to understand that there was no one person or element behind the film's failure?
Something to chew on, right? More updates are coming in the future, but In the meantime, why not strike up a conversation on our message board? We don't bite!
October 12, 2011
I'm pleased to finally make available something we've been working on for some time:
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Our exclusive interview with Mark Goldblatt, the editor of Super Mario Bros, is finally live! It's here where you'll discover even more behind-the-scenes talk and even some info on what an extended cut of the film could look like--and how much longer than the theatrical cut it would be. Throw in some great reflection on the film itself and you have a great read on your hands.
Stay tuned for more--as it's definitely coming!
October 4, 2011
This week I've got some really cool stuff to share:
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We've overhauled our Art Direction section with the new site layout, and have posted a good amount of brand new, never before seen concept art. Thanks to Super Mario Bros. Art Director Walter Martishius, we have some great pieces from the likes of Patrick Tatopoulos, Simon Murton, and Martishius himself. Enjoy!
More to come, as always.
September 26, 2011
We're back this week with a pretty cool article:
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Our resident prop collector, Blake, has written a wonderful article for our Specials > Editorials section focusing on his acquisition of Thwomp Stompers--three in all! It really is a great article, with some great photos of what the "hero" version of the Stompers looked like back in '93, and what the foam rubber pairs look after 18+ years.
Keep checking back--more great stuff on the way!
September 7, 2011
Super Mario Bros. Movie fans, your attention is required:
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G4TV is currently holding a "Videogame Movie Deathmatch" in which Super Mario Bros. is currently a contender against Silent Hill. Please place your vote (for Super Mario Bros. of course) before 9 AM EST on Monday 9/12 to get the movie into the next round! You do need to register an account, either through the site itself or Facebook, but that shouldn't be a problem to get this movie exposure through what is one of the most popular and influential video game/tech sites out there. Please do your part!
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Click HERE or on the image above to visit the voting page.
Keep checking back--more great stuff to come!
August 23, 2011
Some slight housekeeping and other cool things are in store for today:
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If our recent interview with screenwriter Parker Bennett has been updated and revised for accuracy and clarity. Check it out if you haven't already!
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If you pick up the latest Game Informer magazine, you might have noticed an interesting article about your favorite film located in the very back. We're happy to report that the article features a good deal of information and photos from our site, so we're glad that articles being written about the film are able to be as factual and informative as possible--something you probably wouldn't have seen a few years ago. If you've already torn through the article itself, GI posted a commentary as well as coverage of our own scripts update from a while back.
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We have a winner! Steven and I chose the following entry as the winner for a signed copy of Jeff Ryan's book: Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America:
"I saw Super Mario Bros. the movie right after graduating elementary school with my father. My father and I had watched Blade Runner late night on TBS a couple of times, and Super Mario Bros. was kind of like a comedy version of Blade Runner. It really didn't matter to me that the movie wasn't like the game. I thought it was brilliant!
The de-evolution technology in particular was brilliant to me. But also the whole grimy, goofy feel of it. It wasn't too far from the tone of a lot of dystopian sci-fi point and click adventure games that were being made for PC platforms in 1990s. A lot of those games dealt with serious sci-fi ideas, and yet that very seriousness was leavened with screwball humor, absurdity, and downright silliness.
But the SMB movie itself actually had some nifty sci-fi notions. Like the idea of an intelligent fungus that's distributed like some intelligent organic network throughout the city. That was something else that I was drawn to as a kid. In my own imagination, I envisioned my own version of how that would play out: the fungus would start attacking people and eating them, drinking their blood--I was a morbid child.
There was also some intriguing socio-political context to SMB and my own upbrining. I grew up in a very conservative area of Northwest Florida, and had never been taught evolutionary theory in any of the science classes at my elementary school. I had to learn from watching science programs on TV and reading about dinosaurs in non-fiction books. Also, movies like Planet of the Apes and 2001: A Space Odyssey helped, too. I was not raised in a religious family, thankfully, and so my parents did not try to imprint any sort of creationist or anti-science dogma on my brain. I mention all this, because once I began to investigate the idea of evolution and our identities as animals and as a part of nature I was totally captivated. And then when I watched SMB and it had the whole de-evolutionary tech it was like certain vital connections that I hadn't made before were switched on: humans evolved, dinosaurs evolved from lower forms, maybe dinos could evolve intelligence--hey, maybe humans could evolve into some kind of higher form . . .a creative chain of speculations, but the point is that the movie made me actually think. It was inspiring!
I think it's interesting to wonder if SMB had more of an impact that it's been given credit for. I was really into video games as a teenager, and one of my very favorite games was the SNES classic role-playing game CHRONO-TRIGGER. CT involved traveling back and forth in time, journeying to different worlds and discovering unknown swaths of history. In the game, if you go back to pre-historic times you find out that there are three dominant species: humans evolved from the primates, the dinosaurs . . . and the Reptites!
The Reptites are intelligent humanoids with heavy duty reptilian features--clearly evolved from the dinosaurs.
Chrono-Trigger was developed by Square Soft, who, at that time, had an exclusive development deal with Nintendo. Could it be that some of the design team for Chrono Trigger drew on the ideas of the "dino sapiens" from the SMB movie? After all, Chrono-Trigger itself is a kind of mega-genre mashup: sci-fi, time travel, swords and sorcery, pre/post-apocalypse, comedy, tragedy, magic, superscience, martial arts, cavemen and cavewomen, dinosaurs, demons, lost civilizations in the manner of Atlantis, etc.
Another possible echo of SMB: the Reptite conspiracy theory! During the Bush-Cheney years, people were posting videos and pics claiming you could see a flicking reptile tongue in Dick Cheney's or W.'s mouth. The videos and pics were like UFO pics: so grainy and ambiguous that you could basically see whatever you wanted. Sheer lunacy, but just where did the notion of reptiles disguised as humans originate from? SMB, maybe . . .
Watching it now, I still dig it. No, it's not a perfect movie, but it has a lot of fun elements. Good special effects, a solid cast (Dennis Hopper is my favorite), and some out there concepts.
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And finally, for those who are curious, be sure to check out Super Mario Bros. director Rocky Morton's latest project: a live-action zombie commercial for Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection.
More to come--stay tuned!
August 8, 2011
If you couldn't tell by that big banner staring you in the face:
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Our exclusive interview with screenwriter Parker Bennett is now live. It's one of our longest interviews and there's a LOT of great content, photos and sketches in there. Check it out and you'll (hopefully) get a much better idea of how Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel's concept was translated into a screenplay by Parker and Terry.
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Obviously, we're trying out a new website design! It's only on a few pages for now, but if all goes well the entire site should be converted soon.
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Our social media links are located on the upper right banner of the screen--note that we now have an RSS feed if you're into that sort of thing.
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And finally, we're running a little contest to win the following:
A SIGNED COPY of Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan!
To enter, email me and tell me why you like the Super Mario Bros. movie. I'll accept responses up until Monday, August 15th. After that date I'll pick my favorite response, post said response on the site, and get your info you can recieve your prize!
August 2, 2011
All right, so this isn't everything I wanted to post, but it's pretty close:
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So here it is, folks--next week I'll be posting an exclusive interview with screenwriter Parker Bennett. You don't want to miss it! In preparation for the interview, we have quite a few items to get you prepared:
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Parker Bennett and Terry Runté's original pitch for the film (complete with the poster concept you see above!), dated 10/28/91,
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So, make your way through all that over the next week and get ready for Parker's interview. You don't want to miss it!