It's time for a new program. It's time for Puzzlevision.
SMG4 Movie: PUZZLEVISION is the sixth movie length episode of SMG4 and the finale of the eponymous arc.
The mysterious Mr. Puzzles has still failed to reach his coveted five-star rating, especially thanks to last week's gaming show fiasco. His last resort is what he thinks will his prize-winner: "SMGBob 4Pants". The show seems to be going well... until it comes to notice that Mario is missing. The crazy plumber had, in fact, been safely teleported back home and is unaware of the threat that looms over them all.
Mr. Puzzles is furious when he learns that one of his "stars" has abandoned him, so he storms off to the Showgrounds to find Mario and bring him back. It goes as well as you'd expect, and Mr. Puzzles, after barely escaping with his life, decides that The Show Must Go On. However, he has made one crucial mistake: he left Mario on the loose.
With our heroes freshly snapped out of brainwashing thanks to this outside interference, SMG4 and his kidnapped friends need to find a way out of Mr. Puzzles' demented TV dimension and stop him from reaching five stars before they end up as unwilling actors on his show again—for good. Can they outwit the cunning Mr. Puzzles and escape their torture without running afoul of the evil director's tricks as Mario tracks them down?
This movie contains examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: As powerful as Mr. Puzzles is, breaking his screen can cause his powers to either malfunction or just straight up not work at all.
- Actually Quite Catchy: Begrudgingly, SMG3 thinks this of Mr. Puzzle's villain song.
- Adaptational Badass: During the South Park segment, Cartman, who's normally a complete wimp when it comes to actual fighting, delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to Bob when the two come to blows.
- Advertised Extra: Mario, as it turns out. Him being the only member of the gang not imprisoned in Mr. Puzzles' shows is something advertised in the movie trailer and the "COMING UP NEXT" livestream. While his presence outside of the show allows him to unwittingly set the events of the film into motion, he has considerably less focus than the other characters, he's more concerned that Mr. Puzzles ruined his TV time than saving his friends and he's not even close to tracking him down half the time, and while his convenient arrival to Mr. Puzzle's set just as the TV man just rose to power allowed him to give the rest of his friends a chance to make a comeback, he doesn't even show up for the final battle.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Downplayed. But Mr. Puzzle's last words make him rather pitiful:Mr. Puzzles: I just wanted... to make a good TV show.
- Art Shift: Bob and Boopkins end up in South Park in the show's art style. When Bob inadvertently turns the boys 3D, the show becomes over budget and kicks the duo out.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Mr. Puzzle's takes on a giant form when he officially introduces himself to the crew and sings his villain song, using his size to smack them off into different shows. He later becomes this size in the real world after becoming enraged by Mario damaging his ratings, and remains this size as he confronts and fights the rest of the crew, right up until the gang's show reaches a higher rating than his, at which point he returns to normal size.
- A Twinkle in the Sky: When Mr. Puzzles is rendered helpless by the gang's 5.5 star rating, SMG4 finishes him off by smashing him repeatedly with Luigi the Meat Mallet before sending him flying into the distance with one powerful swing.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Mario senses that his friends are in danger, so it appears like Mario will set out to figure out what happened to them.....nope, he decides to watch TV instead.
- Given how many SMG4 arcs tend to end with a change to the status quo, Luigi's Taking the Bullet gives off the appearance that he will die and this will change the status quo of the series moving foward, but he manages to survive as he's accidentally turned into a Meat Mallet.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: After Mario's stupidity frees them from Mr. Puzzles' control, the SMG4 Crew elect to steal his attention (and power) by running their own variety show, with the same goal of getting 5 stars.
- Beware the Silly Ones: When Mr. Puzzles realizes Mario has escaped his control and gone back to the real world, he tries to capture him back, but the crazy plumber gives him a beating after Mr. Puzzles ruins Mario's TV time, causing Mr. Puzzles to run away for his life.
- Black Comedy Rape: After Meggy and Tari knock Swag and Shroomy down in the Survivor parody's obstacle course, they're met with Baldi, who sings "Let's go camping, let me touch ya," while caressing Shroomy.
- Body Horror: When Bob decided to revert him and Boopkins back to 3D animation during the South Park segment, he attacks Cartman, causing him to go 3D too… before he starts violently glitching out with malformed limbs. It spreads to the other 3 boys shortly afterwards.Kyle: JESUS CHRIST!
- Brief Accent Imitation: After realising that events in the nature documentary they're stuck in follow the British narrator's words, Meggy turns things around by putting on a British accent and saying the monkeys attacked the narrator.
- Broke the Rating Scale: While Mr. Puzzles' ultimate goal is to get 5 stars, the SMG4 Crew run their own TV show to fight back against him. It ends up getting 5.5 stars, rendering Mr. Puzzles completely powerless.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite both appearing in the 72-hour COMING UP NEXT livestream that preceded the film, neither Melony nor Saiko are anywhere to be seen in the film outside of minor cameos.
- Crossover: Unlike the other shows, Bob and Boopkin's encounter with the main cast of South Park is less a parody and more or less a straight crossover.
- Dirty Coward: When trying to bring Mario back into his grasp, Mr. Puzzles initially acts tough, but when Mario actually fights back, he runs away screaming.
- Everybody Lives: No major characters die by the end of the movie. Luigi Taking the Bullet leads to a nonfatal Forced Transformation into a meat mallet, which is reversed by his next appearance, and even Mr. Puzzles' defeat leads to Uncertain Doom.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
- Inverted. After Mario messing with the channels almost gives back control to everyone, Mr. Puzzles is freaking out because one more sudden switch would restore their memories which would cause things to fall to chaos... which he realizes it's exactly what he needs to happen to reach 5 stars.
- Played Straight when SMG4 and SMG3 end up in a Titanic parody. Both are calm at first, until SMG3 breezily notes the iceberg coming for them. Cue Eye Pop and foghorn-censored cry of "AHHH SH**".
- Fingore: When Mr. Puzzles reveals himself to the gang towards the climax of the special, Meggy attempts to attack him with a jumping punch, only to crack her fingers on his screen. She lets out a Single Tear in pain.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. Thankfully he survives, but Luigi was more than willing to give his life to save the rest of the SMG4 Crew when Mr. Puzzles tries to kill them.
- Horrifying the Horror: Mr. Puzzles manifests in the real world donning his Nightmare Face... only to get it bashed in because Mario is furious that Mr. Puzzles interrupted his TV time. Mr. Puzzles not only flees in terror as Mario gives chase, but decides that it's not worth it to brainwash someone as violent and chaotic as Mario as part of his shows and proceeds with his remaining actors.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: In the South Park segment, when Cartman makes fun of Boopkins, Bob angrily says that only he gets to bully him.
- Internal Reveal: When he introduces himself to the SMG4 crew, Mr. Puzzles reveals to the crew that he was the man behind their recent adventures namely Western Spaghetti and It's Gotta Be Perfect.
- Kick the Dog: Mr Puzzles takes time to praise Meggy's emotional breakdown in Western Spaghetti and SMG4's turn to villainy in It's Gotta Be Perfect, convieniently forgetting those weren't acts but actual traumatic events. SMG4 looks away in shame and Meggy starts hyperventilating.
- Lighter and Softer: Surprisingly, while Mr. Puzzles has his creepy moments, this has the lightest tone of the Puzzlevision Movies.
- Mass Hypnosis: After Mr. Puzzles gains his 5 stars, he is able to brainwash the crew and anyone watching his show.
- Near-Villain Victory: After tricking the gang into making more shows and using the chaos to gain ratings, Mr. Puzzles gets his coveted 5 stars and with it control of everyone's minds. Mario shows up but is immediately brainwashed and sent away. If it weren't for Mario's clumsiness causing him to trip and slide back on to the stage, hurting the ratings, Mr. Puzzles would have won outright.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: As confirmed by the end credits, the Wildlife Commentary Spoof narrator is a pastiche of real-life Nature Documentary narrator David Attenborough.
- Obligatory Joke: The South Park segment naturally kills off Kenny, this time via explosion after getting corrupted by a 3D Cartman.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Mr. Puzzles has this reaction when he's at the mercy of a very angry Mario after his powers start to malfunction.
- He once again reacts like this after Mario ends up damaging his freshly obtained 5-star rating, and when Mario's expression makes it clear that he's about to further damage it on purpose.
- Precision F-Strike: Played for Comedy. Harsh language is censored for the usual cast but when Bob and Boopkins end up in South Park and end up corrupting it and killing Kenny, Kyle's catchphrase is unbeeped.Stan: Oh my God! They killed Kenny!
Kyle: You bastards! - The Reveal:
- Why is Mr. Puzzle's so obsessed with getting 5 stars? It will give him the power to use his Reality Warper powers in real life and he'll be able to control anyone.
- He also reveals why he specifically targeted the SMG4 gang: He thinks lowly of SMG4's show, and the cast by extension, and he believes that if he can make stars out of them, then he can do anything.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Mario gives him a beating and proves to much for him to handle and recapture, Mr. Puzzle decides to get the hell away from the showground to get away from Mario.
- Shout-Out: This episode is filled them as the characters travel to various television shows:
- The episode starts with the gang being forced to parody SpongeBob SquarePants and then Teletubbies.
- Mr. Puzzle's big musical number has several of these, as he does scenes from King Kong, The Shining, Toy Story, Robin Hood, Indiana Jones, Aladdin, and the famous staircase dance from Joker (2019). He also at one point plays piano on a platform in front of a cosmic background, just like Bowser does in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
- Bob and Boopkins end up trapped in South Park complete with the show artstyle and before that they were trapped in a parody of Rick and Morty, where they were cast in as the two titular characters.
- While looking for Mr. Puzzles, Mario comes across a certain character that looks a lot like Mr. Puzzles.
- When rescuing SMG3 from the clutches of Tommy Pickles, SMG4 swings around and strikes with a pair of crayons as if he was taking down a Titan.
- Skewed Priorities:
- Mario only truly leaps into the fray when Mr. Puzzles ruins his "TV time", and spends much of the movie hunting down the Arc Villain for revenge.
- Much later, Bob nearly quits saving his friends over finding the "boobie channel" in the TV dimension, and it takes Boopkins promising him to find said channel after dealing with Mr. Puzzles to get his dirty mind back in the game.
- Spanner in the Works: It turns out that Mario managed to escape back into the real world after the previous episode. In the beginning, his absence from the TV causes all his previous roles to become corrupted, as well as preventing him from appearing in any new roles. Mario then later arrives at Mr. Puzzle's studio, and, while he's initially brainwashed thanks to Mr. Puzzle's five star rating, he manages to do enough damage, both accidentally and intentionally, to the set that causes the ratings to drop and frees the crew, who are able to use the distraction to make a plan to finish him off.
- Taking the Bullet: Before an enraged Mr. Puzzles can kill the SMG4 Crew with an electric blast, Luigi leaps in front of it to save them. He doesn't die, but instead turns back into Luigi the Meat Mallet. This proves crucial to the gang fighting Mr. Puzzles to a standstill.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Naturally when Bob and Boopkins enter the world of South Park, the unfortunate trope namer suffers.
- Took a Level in Badass: Downplayed but present. Tari spends a lot of time in crippling fear of Mr Puzzles but when facing him with the whole gang, she pulls out her arm's oft unused built in weaponry to shoot him- a far cry from her attempting to make a peace offering to a meat moss monster in It's Gotta Be Perfect.
- Trauma Button: When Mr. Puzzles "praises her performance" in Western Spaghetti, Meggy starts hyperventilating.
- Uncertain Doom: Its uncertain at the end if Puzzles was killed when SMG4 launched him into the sky or if he survived to cause more trouble in the future.
- Villain Song: "Creative Control" acts as one for Mr. Puzzles, being a bombastic, big band 2 minute song that explains his origins and why he chose the SMG4 Crew.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: When Mr. Puzzles praises SMG4 for his "performance" during "Its Gotta be Perfect", all SMG4 can do is look away in shame as he remembers what he did while under the Perfectly Normal Keyboard's control.
