History Headscratchers / TheWildThornberrys

** Probably somewhere between [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Zordon's]] "Never use your powers for personal gain" and possibly endangering herself and those around her by wanting control of her abilities.

** Easy - just do what ''Anime/DinosaurKing'' and ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' did and say that he's a weird looking dog.

This doesn't so much bug me as it amuses me, but when Eliza narrates to the audience at the beginning of every episode, she says "and between you and me something amazing happened! Now I can talk to animals! It's really cool, but totally secret." You just shared your secret with us, Eliza. Now you've lost your powers.

** It’s probably just verbal shorthand.

This is something that bugged me even as a kid, but why does the show phrase Eliza's powers as being able to "talk to animals"? Literally anyone can talk ''to'' animals, even people that are deaf and thus communicate via sign language. It's being able to both have animals ''understand'' you and you understanding them that's the important part.

International trade & transfer of endangered species such as chimpanzees is regulated by CITES. Darwin is a wild chimp. To be transferred internationally as a pet, any great ape must be second generation captive bred. Also this species is considered to be dangerous and banned to own in several countries, not to mention quarantine.

** Twelve nothing. This troper is 23 and would probably wish for the same thing.

[[WMG:Why couldn't Debbie have gone to boarding school?]]
Yes I know her grandmother (rather harshly if you ask me) dismisses her as "too far gone" in the movie but why not? Maybe I just sympathise with her despite her position as BrattyTeenageDaughter and think there's something wrong with her parents dragging her all over the world when she obviously hates it. Nigel's certainly rich enough to send her to a private boarding school or do they care more about having a babysitter than their daughters feelings? I'm not saying Debbie isn't unduly whiny or anything (even though I really like her) but I can understand why she hates it, animal activism doesn't interest her and she doesn't get to socialise with other teenagers at all.
* I think there was one episode of the cartoon series where she tried and failed the interview. And despite her complaints maybe Debbie feels being closer to her family is better than being in a boarding school.
** She actually passed the interview, she chose not to go
* The latter may actually be true, but I can't help but think there would be a boarding school out there which would waive the interview and just let her in to say they had the daughter of a famous animal expert attending. Actually, surely a lot of private boarding schools will just let the kid in so long as their parents can pay.
* She passed the interview in the episode where she decides to go to boarding school but the {{Aesop}} is about how families always stick together and you love your sibling deep down no matter how much you fight, so she decided not to go.
* The episode in question also revealed that she is actually learning quite a lot as they travel around the world. It is mostly about other cultures, the history of the world, geography and so on but she is getting a fairly decent education anyway.
* I always imagined that they simply decided to homeschool the kids and were ''extremely'' tight about it, despite what Nigel's mother said. As time went on, she started presuring them more and more, which is why they were ready to cave with Eliza in TheMovie.
*** They weren't so much "ready to cave" as it was "trying to keep her safe", actually, what really prompted Nigel and Marianne to send Eliza away was because of Eliza almost getting hurt (or worse) while trying to save the cheetah cub. After all of that, coupled with the grandparents' visit, they felt forced to.
** It's confirmed that they're homeschooled in at least two episodes. In one, Eliza's teacher/tutor shows up and expects her to write a history report rather than go on an adventure; in another, Marianne stops Eliza from traveling with her new Mongolian friend by pointing out that "she has homework to finish."

[[WMG:In the {{Crossover}} with the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'']]
Toward the end the babies sink the submarine and can't surface because they've run out of fuel. Why not just empty the ballast tanks?
* Because the pressurized air kept to force water out of the ballast tanks is used only for the last bit of distance needed to bring the periscope-depth sub above the water line. Pumping water out of the tanks at deeper depths requires the engines.

* This happens in the episode entitled "Only Child" Long story short, the family settles down in the Amazon, Eliza is told that The dolphins of the amazon are [[BalefulPolymorph Baleful Polymorphs]] and that during and shortly before a full moon, they transform into humans that they can take back to the river to turn into dolphins. This is done to alleviate their loneliness. Debbie meets a Dolphin turned human in the form of Jao and Eliza sets out to prove that Jao is a dolphin in a number of ways. This includes standing on the dinner table and screaming at Jao in dolphin. Immediately afterwards, Jao says she should leave and Eliza screams that this was what she had just said in dolphin. Why didn't she lose her powers then? She specifically stated "I told her to leave in dolphin and she understood me."

I never really understood Donnie. Was he supposed to be a ShoutOut to ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' or {{Tarzan}} or something? Why didn't Eliza try to talk with him like she would the other creatures? Why and how did the family find him?