History WesternAnimation / Cro

An educational/informative show about mechanical engineering and technology. It was based on an excellent children's technology book called "[[http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/davidmacaulay/ The Way Things Work]]" by David Macaulay. The show ran from September, 1993 to October, 1994 on PBS. A total of 20 episodes per season.

An educational/informative show about mechanical engineering and technology. It was based on an excellent children's technology book called "[[http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/davidmacaulay/ The Way Things Work]]" by David Macaulay. The show ran from September, 1993 to October, 1994. A total of 20 episodes.

* TheUnintelligible: Bob

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Nandy.

* FramingDevice

* {{Sidekick}}

* TheTeaser

* [[HumanPopsicle Mammoth Popsicle]]

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Mandy.

* [[DownerEnding Downer Opening Sequence]]: [[spoiler: The opening sequence starts off with the main family of cavemen being saved from reoccurring villain, a purple sabertooth tiger, by Phil the Mammoth. Then the ground underneath Phil's feet collapses and he seemingly dies before the eyes of his friends when he plummets to his [[DisneyDeath "death"]]. This Troper, at least, always found this to be unsettling, at the best of times.]]
** [[spoiler: This is made all the more depressing by that Phil would not be found for thousands of years, [[TearJerker so Cro and company never found out that Phil survived and ended their lives never knowing.]] Then by the time said Mammoth would be reanimated, everything he knew and loved had long since died, though this never is brought up in the actual series. Whether that is a good or bad thing is left in the eyes of the beholder. And given the light-hearted nature of the series, some viewers found to be very jarring...]]
** [[spoiler: Not enough for you? The opening theme song is done to the tune of Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion"!]]
** [[spoiler: Heck, even the part stating Cro is "just a memory" is pretty sad.]]

* HotScientist: I swear it was this show, but among the cast is a rather attractive scientist. At the start of one episode she's in a bikini much to a blushing Phil's embarrassment.
** What episode are you talking about?

* LiteralAssKicking: Cro got a lot of this in "Meal Like A Pig." He was repeatedly gored in the backside by a (baby) wild boar and he repeatedly fell off a small cliff and landed on his butt. [[spoiler: What's more, it's implied that his adventure ended with him getting a huge dose of this trope from an entire pack of (adult) boars!]]

Each FlashBack would have the mammoths coach Cro and his Neanderthal familiy through the solving of a problem with some type of simple machine. It differed from the typical BambooTechnology in that all the devices were built on a foundation of good solid science.

* SesameWorkshop: Produced this show.

A brilliant educational/informative show about mechanical engineering and technology. It was based on an excellent children's technology book called "[[http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/davidmacaulay/ The Way Things Work]]" by David Macaulay. The show run from September, 1993 to October, 1994. A total of 20 episodes.

All in all, an entertaining and educational show that taught valuable lessons about mechanics and physics in an easy-to-understand way.

A brilliant educational/informative show about mechanical engineering and technology. It was based on an excellent children's technology book called "[[http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/davidmacaulay/ The Way Things Work]]" by David Macaulay. The show run from September, 1993 to October, 1994. A total of 20 episodes.

The premise: A mammoth from the ice age is frozen in a glacier, and thawed out by a scientist and her kid {{sidekick}}. The mammoth, named Phil, can speak perfect English and comes from a surprisingly sophisticated tribe of mammoth scientist/engineers. Each episode, Dr C. and Mike would, in a [[{{TheTeaser}} cold open]], encounter a tricky engineering problem with some device, and Phil would tell a story about solving the same problem years ago. Cue titles, then a FlashBack.

Each FlashBack would have the mammoths coach Cro and his Neanderthal familiy through the solving of a problem with some type of simple machine. It differed from the typical BambooTechnology in that all the devices were built on a foundation of good solid science.

* HotScientist: I swear it was this show, but among the cast is a rather attractive scientist. At the start of one episode she's in a bikini much to a blushing Phil's embarrassment.
* HulkSpeak: most of the neanderthal characters would talk like this. Complete with the [[BlazingSaddles Mongo Pawn In Game Of Life]] moments:

** [[spoiler: This is made all the more depressing by that Phil would not be found for thousands of years, [[TearJerker so Cro and company never found out that Phil survived and ended their lives never knowing.]] Then by the time said Mammoth would be reanimated, everything he knew and loved had long since died, though this never is brought up in the actual series. [[YourMileageMayVary Whether that is a good or bad thing is left in the eyes of the beholder]]. And given the light-hearted nature of the series, some viewers found to be very jarring...]]

* [[DownerEnding Downer Opening Sequence]]: [[spoiler: The opening sequence starts off with the main family of cavemen being saved from reoccurring villain, a purple sabertooth tiger, by Phil the Mammoth. Then the ground under beneath both their collapses and Phil seemingly dies before the eyes of his friends when he plummets to his [[DisneyDeath "death"]]. This Troper, at least, always found this to be unsettling, at the best of times.]]

* [[DownerEnding Downer Opening Sequence]]: [[spoiler: The opening sequence starts off with the main family of cavemen being saved from reoccurring villain, a purple sabertooth tiger, by Phil the Mammoth when the ground collapses under them both and Phil seemingly dies before the eyes of his friends as he plummets to his [[DisneyDeath "death"]]. This Troper, at least, always found this to be unsettling, at the best of times.]]
** [[spoiler: This is made all the more depressing by that Phil would not be found for thousands of years, [[TearJerker so Cro and company never found out that Phil survived and ended their lives never knowing.]] Then by the time said Mammoth would be reanimated, everything he knew and loved had long since died, though this never brought up in the actual series. [[YourMileageMayVary Whether that is a good or bad thing is left in the eyes of the beholder.]]. And given the light-hearted nature of the series, some viewers found to be very jarring...]]

A brilliant educational/informative show about mechanical engineering and technology. It was based on an excellent children's technology book called "[[http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/davidmacaulay/ The Way Things Work]]" by David Macaulay.

* TokenFemale: Mandy.