History SmallReferencePools / WesternAnimation

* If Nickelodeon is mentioned, the show most likely referenced will be WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants, and, if they're on the ball, Rugrats or RenAndStimpy.

* The DisneyAnimatedCanon is the only thing in Western Animation that has artistic merits. The only other animated features with any kind of artistic merit are Anime.

* ''Definitely'' ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' One major character is the Phantom Limb, who is named after a medical condition, dresses like ComicStrip/ThePhantom, and is a descendant of Literature/{{Fantomas}}. Who was a member of a Guild with Eugen Sandow, Creator/OscarWilde, Creator/AleisterCrowley, and NikolaTesla. And who went on to recruit Music/BuddyHolly and the Big Bopper, preventing them from getting on the doomed flight that killed them in real life. And the guild is ''now'' run by Music/DavidBowie and Music/BrianEno, and used to also include [[Music/TheStooges Iggy Pop]] and Klaus Nomi. And all that barely scratches the surface.

* The WaltDisneyAnimatedCanon is the only thing in Western Animation that has artistic merits. The only other animated features with any kind of artistic merit are Anime.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': [[AllAdultAnimationIsSouthPark All animation for adults]] is ''South Park'', not to mention gross...

* A short list of legendary animators whose mention will get you only a blank stare: Creator/RalphBakshi, David Silverman, Will Vinton, RichardWilliams.

** WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes characters: WesternAnimation/BugsBunny, WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck, WesternAnimation/PorkyPig, WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird, WesternAnimation/Elmer Fudd, WesternAnimation/YosemiteSam, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote, and the Road Runner. Maybe Foghorn and Taz. Anyone who can name a character other than that needs to get out more.

!! Tiny Reference Pools of Western Animation:
* AllAnimationIsDisney, naturally. Concerned entirely with the adventures of Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Scrooge [=McDuck=] and his nephews. Sometimes Jiminy Cricket and Tinkerbell, too. Chip and Dale[[note]]the names are a reference to the furniture designer, not the male strippers[[/note]] are more widely known since 1990 than they were previously, thanks mostly to ''RescueRangers''. And, uh, wasn't there a horse[[note]]Horace Horsecollar[[/note]]? And a cow[[note]]Clarabelle[[/note]]?

** Looney Tunes characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote, and the Road Runner. Maybe Foghorn and Taz. Anyone who can name a character other than that needs to get out more.

!!Notable exceptions and aversions of this trope from Western Animation shows:

* Creator/{{Hanna-Barbera}}

** Many of the episodes of ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' are named after {{Golden Age|OfHollywood}} films that children wouldn't be aware of, and often contain some {{Parental Bonus}}es that may go over the head of a few adults. One particular episode was full of obscure references, including a possible cameo by a young Franz Kafka (or an {{Expy}}) and a reference to RonaldReagan's autobiography.

** In one episode Henchman #21 wants to say "Sic semper tyrannis," which is what AbrahamLincoln's assassin was alleged to have said. He ''actually'' says "Semper fidelis tyrannosaurus," but Killinger does tell him what the right quote was.

--->'''Woman''': Who's Peter Lawford?

* AllAnimationIsDisney, naturally. Concerned entirely with the adventures of Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, Scrooge [=McDuck=] and his nephews. Sometimes Jiminy Cricket and Tinkerbell, too. And, uh, wasn't there a horse? And a cow?

* AllAnimationIsDisney, naturally. Concerned entirely with the adventures of Mickey and Minnie, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Scrooge [=McDuck=] and his nephews. Sometimes Jiminy Cricket and Tinkerbell, too. And, uh, wasn't there a horse? And a cow?

** Looney Tunes characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote, and the Road Runner. Anyone who can name a character other than that needs to get out more.

** Further lampshaded when Peter says that Kathy Ireland has betrayed him "worse than Lady Theatre/{{Macbeth}} betrayed Duncan" - cut to a bear fighting Lady Macbeth on a spaceship - Peter says "yeah, I don't know Shakespeare very well."

* ''Definitely'' ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' One major character is the Phantom Limb, who is named after a medical condition, dresses like ComicStrip/ThePhantom, and is a descendant of Literature/{{Fantomas}}. Who was a member of a Guild with Eugen Sandow, Creator/OscarWilde, AleisterCrowley, and NikolaTesla. And who went on to recruit Music/BuddyHolly and the Big Bopper, preventing them from getting on the doomed flight that killed them in real life. And the guild is ''now'' run by Music/DavidBowie and Music/BrianEno, and used to also include [[Music/TheStooges Iggy Pop]] and Klaus Nomi. And all that barely scratches the surface.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' gets a lot of humor from Fry's 20th century background, so a lot of the jokes aren't exactly obscure. But many of them are much more subtle and academic. Examples include Klein Beer (guess what the bottle looked like) being sold in a store advertising free bags of ice-9 and the holophonor, a recurring plot device based on the Visi-Sonor from the ''{{Foundation}}'' series (extra points for being possibly the only ''Foundation'' reference in mainstream pop culture ''ever''). Also made jokes about orders of infinity (a cinema called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleph_number aleph]]''-0-plex, likely meant to one up "The Googlplex" cinema in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'') and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle's "observer effect" (scientists change the result of a horse race by observing it).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' features a character named "Die Fledermaus," a ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' pastiche dressed like a bat. The name doesn't make a lot of sense until you realize that it is German for "the Bat" and the name of a popular German operetta. Consequently, unless you speak German you need a working knowledge of light opera. And honestly, who can name a light opera not made by GilbertAndSullivan? Not many, that's who.

** The ones who have taken a college course about Hinduism.
** Maybe the few that have played ''VideoGame/GrandChase'', as Jin has a move called Hanuman.
** Or anyone who remembers the cartoon ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax'', which had Hanuman in at least one episode.

** BillCosby stars in a ''RebelWithoutACause'' remake and suggests that his opponent in a knife fight swap out his weapon for a spoon to eat delicious Jell-O Pudding.

** The formal name he gave a stray puppy he briefly housed? UnChienAndalou.

* If Nickelodeon is mentioned, the show most likely referenced will be WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants.

* ''Definitely'' ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers''. One major character is the Phantom Limb, who is named after a medical condition, dresses like ComicStrip/ThePhantom, and is a descendant of Literature/{{Fantomas}}. Who was a member of a Guild with Eugen Sandow, Creator/OscarWilde, AleisterCrowley, and NikolaTesla. And who went on to recruit Music/BuddyHolly and the Big Bopper, preventing them from getting on the doomed flight that killed them in real life. And the guild is ''now'' run by Music/DavidBowie and Music/BrianEno, and used to also include [[Music/TheStooges Iggy Pop]] and Klaus Nomi. And all that barely scratches the surface.

* AllAnimationIsDisney, naturally.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', lowbrow show that it is, occasionally allows Brian and/or Stewie to show their considerable knowledge of the arts - Brian was once enraptured by an old woman's rendition of "Habanera" and Lois deplored Peter's jazzed-up version of ''TheKingAndI''. It's perhaps the only show where you can hear the characters talking about Matisse, then hear a fart joke.

* Famous characters: MickeyMouse, WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck, WesternAnimation/BugsBunny, WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry.

* ''Definitely'' ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers''. One major character is the Phantom Limb, who is named after a medical condition, dresses like ComicStrip/ThePhantom, and is a descendant of Literature/{{Fantomas}}. Who was a member of a Guild with Eugen Sandow, Creator/OscarWilde, AleisterCrowley, and NikolaTesla. And who went on to recruit Music/BuddyHolly and the Big Bopper, preventing them from getting on the doomed flight that killed them in real life. And the guild is ''now'' run by Music/DavidBowie and Music/BrianEno, and used to also include Music/IggyPop and Klaus Nomi. And all that barely scratches the surface.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': All animation for adults is ''South Park'', not to mention gross...