On March 30, the animated live-action hybrid series The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Returned to television via MeTV Toons. Piggybacking this launch with the release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, when interest is at an all-time high. Fans were certainly excited to see the 1989 show return to the air… until they watched an episode.
And they accused distributor WildBrain of using AI technology to restore the series. WildBrain has since responded to and confirmed some of these accusations.
Now, we are not saying that The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! is known for its stellar production values. However, it didn’t look this bad. The line work is inconsistent, and characters are smeared and muted. Some text even seems mistranslated, a hallmark of AI-slop.
WildBrain Responds
WildBrain has now responded to these accusations in a statement to Cartoon Brew. The company describes it as “human‑led, AI‑assisted processes.” Claiming that this process is to “increase resolution, improve colour quality, and make other adjustments to upscale the overall presentation.”
While we appreciate that they didn’t try to lie about using AI, if the end product showed any of that, people may not have been as upset. WildBrain says AI was used to help “upgrade the viewing experience for the classic content in our library,” but given fan reactions, it did the opposite.
WildBrain went on to state that the AI upscaling was done outside of their studios and “overseen by professionals.” Pointing out that, given the age of some of the materials don’t “always contain enough information for the AI tools to interpret properly. In some cases, this can result in visible distortions.” Adding, “We are actively reviewing the episodes and working to correct issues where they occur.”
We understand that technology isn’t infallible. So, shouldn’t the AI product have been viewed by a person who could have seen these issues before it was widely released? Instead of after the fact. Our biggest question is: how did this all make it to air in the first place?
It’s not like anyone was clamoring for a high-resolution restoration of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! We think it’s safe to say that fans of the series are used to some janky animation. So, this just seems like it trashed the show’s quality even more to satisfy no one.
You can read WildBrain’s full statement here.
