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'The Last of Us' and Mario Kart Don't Usually Go Together, but Pedro Pascal Makes It Work

After seeing Pedro Pascal play the role of the world-famous Italian plumber in SNL's Mario Kart Trailer spoof, I reached the conclusion that the man could (and should) play any role, no matter how complex or ridiculous it might seem. His interpretation during the 3-minute mock video is akin to Leslie Nielson's dead-serious performances in parodies. But leaving Pedro's "method acting" aside, the entire video was so well produced that car companies should consider getting SNL to make Super Bowl ads for them.
HBO Mario Kart Trailer- SNL 27 photos
Photo: Saturday Night Live YouTube channel
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Before we go any further, there's one vital thing you need to know, and that's Mario's full name. Which is... Mario Mario. And no, that's not a Copy+Paste error. Back in 2015, during the 30th Anniversary of the "Super Mario Bros." video game, Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario's creator, revealed that the plumber's last name is the same as his first name.

Which makes Luigi... Luigi Mario. Now that we got this extremely important information out of the way, we can finally move on to SNL's Mario Kart trailer.

What do Pedro Pascal and Mario Kart have in common, that would make the extremely talented writers from Saturday Night Live even begin to think about smushing them together into a short promotional video like this? Well, directly, nothing, but indirectly, it could be everything.

For starters, Pedro Pascal is starring in the latest HBO show "The Last of Us" which is currently enjoying raving success. The first episode raked in 4.7 million views during its debut. It was HBO's second-biggest premiere of the last 13 years, beaten only by “House of the Dragon,” another in-house production.

The second episode actually garnered 22% more views, at 5.7 million. Last week's third episode miraculously managed to pull in 12% more than the previous one, at 6.4 million viewers. When I said miraculous, I didn't write that word randomly. Because in television, a three-week increase of this magnitude simply doesn't happen, according to industry sources.

HBO Mario Kart Trailer\- SNL
Photo: Saturday Night Live YouTube channel
This could mean that things might cool down during today's 4th episode called "Please Hold My Hand." But if it doesn't, everyone engaged in making this post-apocalyptic survival series will spend the entire night popping champagne.

Its inventors, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckman, are primarily responsible for its success. Neil is the author of the initial story that was released in 2013 as a PlayStation 3 video game.

The game was so excellent that it genuinely altered how the gaming industry views games as an interactive storytelling medium. It is still one of the best narrative-driven video games ever made today, if not the best.

Craig improved the plot in wonderful ways I can't discuss here because of spoilers by adapting the original script for television.

HBO Mario Kart Trailer\- SNL
Photo: Saturday Night Live YouTube channel
In 2003, a fungus mutation caused it to infect humans and started turning them into different types of zombie-like creatures. They're not brain-eating undead, but the overall picture is pretty much the same.

Just as an FYI, it's called Cordyceps and it's real, not fictional. However, the brain-hijacking-host thing is, though. They do that to ants and spiders, but not to humans. At least not yet...

Now, what other story has fungi... or better-said mushrooms, that affect your body? You got it, the Mario series from Nintendo. And if you take a closer look at the trailer, you'll see the mycelium connection between The Last of Us and Mario Kart as clear as post-apocalyptic daylight.

SNL even merged the plot from the HBO show with the characters from Mario, and for comedic purposes, it totally makes sense for some ungodly reason.

Princess Peach has to reach Rainbow Road and Mario is obviously the best driver or racer that can get her there in one piece. Their journey will be perilous, filled with banana peels and red turtle shells that are almost impossible to dodge and will blow up any kart that dares to stand in the way.

The Mario Kart video game franchise is one most successful in the world, with over 166 million copies reportedly sold as of March of last year.

HBO Mario Kart Trailer\- SNL
Photo: Saturday Night Live YouTube channel
This short 3-minute video isn't great marketing-wise only because someone thought of merging two famous titles together randomly, but because the Mario movie will be released on April 7, and I bet you dollars to donuts, it will be one of the biggest films of the entire year.

So when you merge a hit show with what will be a smashing box office success, you get one of the best promotional videos ever made. In fact, it's so good, that car companies should be lining up, trying to get the producers to create Super Bowl ads with the same level of quality.

As you can see, the video game industry is slowly but surely making its way into the movie business, and more will follow. Gran Turismo will hit theaters in August and if it's as good as the production company says it is, then get ready for an amazing visual experience like you've rarely seen in racing movies.

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About the author: Codrin Spiridon
Codrin Spiridon profile photo

Codrin just loves American classics, from the 1940s and ‘50s, all the way to the muscle cars of the '60s and '70s. In his perfect world, we'll still see Hudsons and Road Runners roaming the streets for years to come (even in EV form, if that's what it takes to keep the aesthetic alive).
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