History Series / BetweentheLions

* TheHeroDies: Mentioned by Theo as a TearJerker trope in "A King and His Hawk".

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Between_the_Lions_6416.gif [[{{Tagline}} Get wild about reading.]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Between_the_Lions_6416.gif]]

* {{Catchphrase}}: Scott and Dot's simultaneous "Thank you, Chicken Jane", spoken after she saves them from danger for the umpteenth time [[AmusingInjuries at great cost]].

** The story "The Queen who Wanted to Touch the Moon" is a complete inversion of the usual aesop about determination. Because of her determination to touch the moon, [[spoiler:the queen ended up falling to her death.]] It just goes to show that there is a difference between giving up and knowing when to turn back.

* LampshadeWearing: Subverted. In the episode where Lionel infect the library's computer system with a virus he uses antivirus software to destroy it. When the software restores the library's computer system one of the things it restores is New Year's Eve pictures of Theo wearing a lampshade somewhere. We don't know where because he cuts himself off mid-sentence in surprise.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* EdutainmentShow: It's a show about reading and grammar. [[note]] It's above ''WesternAnimation/SuperWhy'' and below ''Series/TheElectricCompany'' on the difficulty scale. [[/note]]

* FantasticRacism: Crossing over with MoralGuardians, this occurred when a group of angry birds attempted to get "The Fox and the Crow" banned from the library due to the crow losing her piece of cheese to the fox, which they took as offensive to birds Leona and Lionel fixed it by writing a revised ending where the piece of cheese was so big it fell on the fox's head and sent him running off, proving that "not all birds are birdbrains!"

* FixFic: In-universe. Leona is distraught by the story "The Queen Who Wanted to Touch the Moon" ending with the queen failing to touch the moon and insists on a happier ending. Lionel writes what he claims is a better version of the story, but it turns out just to be a song about himself. Cleo ends up writing a book with Leona as the queen where instead of asking her assistant (Lionel) to pull a piano out of the bottom of the giant stack she had built to reach the moon, Leona spies the moon's reflection in the lagoon and dives into it, allowing her to touch the moon.

* NeverSayDie: Notoriously averted in [[UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode "A King and His Hawk."]]

* DownerEnding: Theo transports himself, the family, and everybody into a storybook with the help of Click; unfortunately, things become too crowded, and Click goes into sleep mode before getting everybody out of the book. A man comes in hoping to check the same book out for a two-year voyage around the globe; cue a MassOhCrap from everybody still trapped within. We never actually see Click get them out, but everybody emerges fine in the next episode regardless.

* IgnoredEpiphany: Both Lionel and Leona (especially Leona) tends to ignore when their actions cause trouble or the lessons they are taught, which can make come off as insensitive and overly carefree. It's usually PlayedForLaughs and their parents and Click tend to choose to make them happy and encourage their curiosity over teaching them to be considerate of others.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: In “A King and His Hawk”, Leona winds up having such a negative reaction to the story once Lionel reads it to her[[note]]given how the king winds up killing the hawk when it keeps interrupting him when he tries to drink from a waterfall, [[DramaticIrony only to learn that the hawk was trying to save him, as a snake was dripping venom into the water]][[/note]], she decides to take the book and hide it so no one can lose can read it. By the end of the episode, Lionel tries to take the book back, causing Leona to snap and tear back with the book... only to stop herself by [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything once she internally realizes she was about to hurt Lionel not unlike how the king hurt his friend.]] As such, Leona decides to quietly put the book back, so that no one makes the same mistake she almost made... all while the context of the scene flies right over Lionel’s head:

-->'''Lionel''': (as Leona leaves) Ah- [[{{Beat}} ...]] [[BreakingTheFourthWall (to the audience;]] [[MoodWhiplash confused) ...do you understand what just happened here?!]]

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: In “A King and His Hawk”, Leona winds up having such a negative reaction to the story once Lionel reads it to her[[note]]given how the king winds up killing the hawk when it keeps interrupting him when he tries to drink from a waterfall, [[DramaticIrony only to learn that the hawk was trying to save him, as a snake was dripping venom into the water]][[/note]], she decides to take the book and hide it so no one can lose can read it. By the end of the episode, Lionel tries to take the book back, causing Leona to snap and tear back with the book... only to stop herself by [[DoesTnisRemindYouOfAnything once she internally realizes she was about to hurt Lionel not unlike how the king hurt his friend.]] As such, Leona decides to quietly put the book back, so that no one makes the same mistake she almost made... all while the context of the scene flies right over Lionel’s head:

%%* ForTheEvulz: The Un-People seem to exist entirely on this trope.

%%** Also the plot of "The Popcorn Popper".

** The story "The Queen who Wanted to Touch the Moon" is a complete inversion of the usual aesop about determination. Because of her determination to touch the moon, [[spoiler: the queen ended up falling to her death.]] It just goes to show that there is a difference between giving up and knowing when to turn back.

** "You Can’t Catch Me" has Leona not wanting to say goodbye to the Gingerbread Man because of him getting eaten and on her birthday. Her parents sing her a song about how saying goodbye to someone we love is inevitable, but it doesn’t mean that person has to truly leave, because we can still remember all the great things we learned from them and the times we’ve had together.

** [[spoiler: Lionel's antlers turned out to be just that... to Leona.]]

-->'''Narrator''': (''as Cliff climbs the ladder dropped for him by the singers'') Can all be well thanks to Cliff's wistful wish?\\
'''Cliff''': That's easy for you to say...\\
'''Narrator''': No, it is only a dream!\\
(''cue Cliff waking up; still hanging from the cliff'')\\
'''Cliff''': [[OhCrap A...dream...?]] (''grips the tree root again'')\\

* BaitAndSwitchComment: Theo and Cleo leave home, and Lionel and Leona are babysat by Marmy Smartypants. While Theo and Cleo are gone, they throw a party. [[spoiler: When Theo and Cleo come back, they are very upset...because they were left out of the party.]]

** At the beginning of one episode, Dr. Nitwhite tells Theo and Cleo that he has discovered that "hen" is the only three-letter English word containing the letters "en." Theo says, "Let me go get my pen," causing Nitwhite to leave in disgust. At the end, he says he has done further research and discovered that "hen" and "pen" are the only two three-letter words containing "en." Then the narrator says, [[spoiler: "This is TheEnd."]]

** Thanks to Chicken Jane's penmanship skills, this trope was narrowly averted by [[spoiler: the cook who was trying to boil her]]...although we wish we could say the same for Jane herself.

* {{Determinator}}: The queen who wanted to touch the moon is a negative example. She is so obsessed with the moon, she doesn't notice that the tower she built to reach it is unstable. [[spoiler: She ends up falling to her death.]]

* TheEnd: Parodied several times. See [[spoiler: BrickJoke]] and OverlyLongGag for examples.

-->(as Theo is reading ''Literature/TheOldManAndTheSea'')\\

* {{Flanderization}}: Happened to Cliff Hanger. Never has he been the sharpest tool in the shed, but in the very first Cliff Hanger episode, Cliff was smart enough to realize that he just needed to let himself drop onto a bed, even if he needed his survival manual to drop a letter "B" onto an "ed," turning it into a bed. His dependence on his survival manual was flanderized until season 6, when he ''threw out a rope in favour of a yak costume'' because his survival manual told him to dress up as one!

--> When two vowels stand side by side, they say the first one's name with pride.
--> When E's on the end, it plays a no-talking game, but the vowel before it says its name.

* PungeonMaster: Sam Spud describes the other characters he meets with food-based expressions. (eg, "She was a real peach. As a matter of fact, she ''was'' a peach!")

* SeriesFauxnale: In universe, the author of the "Cliff Hanger" books decides to end his series with Cliff getting off his cliff and washing onto a beach because he has run out of ideas for his books. However, due to the lions helping him remember how to get ideas ([[ItMakesSenseInContext as well as the fact that the helicopter singers from the books were bothering everyone]]) he soon starts the series back up with Cliff being washed off the beach and getting blasted back onto the cliff by a whale (presumably the same one that helped him get off).

* StealthPun: The title is not only a pun on "between the lines", but it also refers to the fact that there are lion statues near the entrance of the library, which you must walk ''between'' to enter. This is a ShoutOut to the lions at the main branch of the New York Public Library.
** Also, this line from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_HP8M82pp8 "Ten Little Words"]]:
--> The ten little words were all partying on
-->They danced on the table, they danced on the lawn!

* TongueTwister: Trixie the Tricky Pixie offers to help Cliff Hanger if he can say, "six thick thistle sticks." [[spoiler: By the time Cliff succeeds, night has fallen, and Trixie says she has to go to a picnic in Dixie.]] At the end of the segment, Cliff gets his catchphrase mixed up, saying it as "Can't...hold...on...[[{{Spoonerism}} luch...monger]]!"

* UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode: "A King and His Hawk." While NeverSayDie is firmly in place for all the other season 1 episodes, this episode averts the trope...and ''boy'', does it ever. Worse is the StoryWithinAStory: the king and the hawk are stranded in a desert with no food or water. It takes a long time for them to find an oasis. Every time the king tries to drink from the oasis, the hawk stops him, king becomes furious and kills him. As he is about to drink one more time, [[spoiler: [[TearJerker he noticed that the oasis is poisoned and he killed his best friend for saving his life!]]]] The hawk is also the only time a corpse is shown in the show's entirety.

* VerySpecialEpisode: "Humph, Humph, Humph!" This episode introduces us to Gus, a rabbit who [[spoiler: NeverLearnedToRead. This episode teaches viewers about people with learning disabilities.]] Unlike most examples though, Gus shows up in later episodes.

* WholeEpisodeFlashback: The Season 6 episode "The Goat in the Coat" is the same as the Season 3 episode "Two Coats, One Goat, and One Boat," except with added inserts where Lionel and new character Sierra the Mountain Lion recap the story, with Sierra doing her parts in Spanish.
* WhosOnFirst: An example very similar to the original gag. In one skit called The Question Scouts, a scout leader asks the scouts for their names, which unfortunately are Who, What, Where, and Why. The ending is especially similar:
--> '''Scout leader:''' All right! So you're Why, you're Who, you're Where, and you're what.\\

'''When (arriving late):''' Here!\\

** At the end of "Sausage Nose:" [[spoiler: "I wish for the sausage on my nose to come off my nose and appear on this plate...in my kitchen...in my house with a..." and then they continue to mention things they want in their new house.]]

* WouldHitAGirl: Played for laughs. During the song "That Ram is On the Run", the ram (not ewe) knocks over both Marmy Smartypants and the female singer who is singing the song.

* {{Retool}}: In Season Five, the show stopped having one single story and had two ten minute stories (each of which contained new sketches instead of old ones). The show’s concept on learning to read later became TheArtifact and the stories would just tie into the themes of the episode. Also, despite still appearing in the intro, Busterfield, the pigeons, Heath, Martha Reader, and Dr. Nitwhite also vanished from the show. The library set was also greatly reduced, with just one small section serving as the primary location. One wonders if the show would've become more popular and not suffer from a SeasonalRot if the show kept its original format.

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: Just ask Chicken Jane!
** Walter and Clay Pigeon are also equally likely to suffer amusing injuries. In at least one episode, ''Clay'' got injured while ''Walter'' remained in good condition: Walter tried to tickle Clay, and was just about to give up when Clay suggested blowing in his ear. When Walter did so, he blew Clay across the room and she hit the wall.
--> Busterfield: I don't know about her, but that sure tickled me.
** In the "Sloppy Pop" music video, the first person to be CoveredInGunge, as well as the one covered in the most gunge, is actually a woman.

* TinyGuyHugeGirl: The unnamed man and woman who appear in every Lone Rearranger episode, ever. The man has a blond mustache and is pint-sized, while the woman is a tall redhead with glasses. [[SlapstickKnowsNoGender Unfortunately, in the "horses riding cowboys" episode, her horse still broke her back.]]

* WouldHitAGirl: Played for laughs. [[SlapstickKnowsNoGender During the song "That Ram is On the Run", the ram (not ewe) knocks over both Marmy Smartypants and the female singer who is singing the song.]]

* DisasterDominoes: Theo puts a pen on a stack of books. But by pulling a book out from the ''middle'' of the stack, he knocks the pen off, causing a chain reaction that practically destroys the library and sends [[SlapstickKnowsNoGender Cleo]] flying through the air to land on Theo!

* RhymingListSong: The "If You Can Read..." songs.

** In the episode about "Rats", the two-part storybook about the rats of Ireland has a [[BothSidesHaveAPoint two-fold]] lesson about name-calling. The first half of the story teaches that name-calling can deeply ''hurt'' other people's feelings, even change how someone views themselves (something [[BreakTheCutie Leona]] could attest to). However, the second half of the story teaches that even though it hurts to be called names, never forget that such names aren't true about who you are. Name-calling shouldn't stop you from being yourself or from doing what you love.

* ParentalBonus: Theo and Cleo display a '''lot''' of sexual tension during their cooking segments. You can't help thinking that after they're finished devouring that (as always, uncooked) hunk of meat, they'll start devouring ''each other.''
* PeskyPigeons Subverted with Walter and Clay Pigeon. They're friends with the lion family, but Busterfield doesn't get along with them very well.

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: A rare justified example. All that Sergeant Mark from the "Vowel Boot Camp" skits trains the vowels to do is say there "short" and "long" sounds at the appropriate times. This is used to teach the viewers about the following rules:

* AnthropomorphicTypography: One segment features the Silent E, a character with a humanistic body, but with the letter e in place of it's head. Other vowels also feature in the segment, each also with human bodies and letters for heads. It can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKWmkDv1jFk here]].

* BrokenAesop: "Quest, Quest, Quest" discusses this trope when one of Babs Caplain's latest stories ends with the bad guy coming out on top by cheating. Leona voices that [[EverybodyHasStandards even she]] recognizes this is not a good thing, teaching kids that the only way to win at life is to cheat. This bit of constructive criticism leads to her revise the ending so the characters make the villain's scheme [[CheatersNeverProsper backfire]].