The Night Before Cave Christmas (Super Mario World)

"The Night Before Cave Christmas" is the fifth episode of Super Mario World from DiC Entertainment's Super Mario cartoon trilogy.

Plot
Mario decides to bring Christmas to the Cave People. Luigi and Princess Toadstool make toys and wrap gifts, Mario dresses up as Santa Claus, and Yoshi pulls the "Cave-Sleigh". But when King Koopa, Grinch-like, steals the bag with Oogtar inside, Mario must save Cave Christmas.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) This episode is a great Christmas-themed one, especially for the Mario series, as our heroes manage to stop the fighting of the Cave People in Dome City by coming up with the prehistoric version of Christmas, Cave Christmas, which makes everyone excited and they all become nicer.
 * 2) While this did air in October 1991, it was acceptable since this was 2 months before Christmas, and WAY better than the Dexter's Laboratory Christmas episode that aired in April 1998.
 * 3) Great voice acting, as usual.
 * 4) The animation in this episode is brilliant, as is the case with many series produced by DiC Entertainment.
 * 5) A lot of funny moments, some of which even spawned internet memes, such as Yoshi realized good boys get presents so he spits out the candy canes he ate back on to the Christmas Tree, and when Oogtar caused problems for King Koopa.
 * 6) There are a lot of memorable quotes, such as Mario’s "Merry Cave Christmas, everyone" line.
 * 7) All of the action sequences are both thrilling and exciting at the same time.
 * 8) King Koopa and Bully are very funny villains in this episode, and even have some funny lines of dialogue too.
 * 9) * All of the Koopa’s minions were pretty funny too, which are Mechakoopas, Thwomps, Dry Bones, and Koopa Football Players.
 * 10) King Koopa kidnapping the presents to give to his kids was a genius plot, and Mario and Yoshi go rescue them, as well as Oogtar, who snuck in the bag before Koopa took it.
 * 11) While Oogtar did cause trouble, he did become more likable at the end when he was rescued by Mario and Yoshi, and learned his lesson to be good.
 * 12) Santa Mario and Reindeer Yoshi were both great, as they rescued the presents our heroes made as well as Oogtar, brought Oogtar back home and delivered all the presents in Dome City before Cave Christmas morning.
 * 13) The episode had a good ending, where Cave Christmas was saved, and Oogtar gave a present to Mario, which was very nice of him, much to Mario’s happiness that Cave Christmas was a success.
 * 14) "Wouldn't it be nice if everyday were Christmas?"

Bad Qualities

 * 1) There are some errors in this episode, such as the scene when Yoshi says "Oooh, eat treats?", Oogtar has 4 eyebrows.
 * 2) Oogtar was selfish near the beginning, but he did learn his lesson in the end as mentioned above.

Reception
While "The Night Before Cave Christmas" got mixed reviews from critics, like a 5.4/10 rating on IMDb.com, it got positive reviews from audiences and fans of the Super Mario franchise, because of Mario’s clever idea of bringing Christmas to the pre-historic era and the episode’s cheerful spirit.

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