History WesternAnimation / TheRaccoons

* StockNessMonster: In "Monster Mania!", Melissa Raccoon takes a blurry photo of a creature in Evergreen Lake. Soon, the place is teeming with sightseers wanting to catch a glimpse of the elusive, [[BreathWeapon fire-breathing]] "Evie." [[spoiler:It turns out Evie is a [[MechanicalMonster robot]], part of a plan by Cyril Sneer to drive up tourism.)

* StockNessMonster: In "Monster Mania!" Melissa Raccoon takes a blurry photo of a creature in Evergreen Lake. Soon, the place is teeming with sightseers wanting to catc a glimpse of the elusive, [[BreathWeapon fire-breathing]] "Evie." [[spoiler:It turns out Evie is a [[MechanicalMonster robot]], part of a plan by Cyril Sneer to driv eup tourism.)

* StockNessMonster: The elusive, [[BreathWeapon fire-breathing]] "Evie" in "Monster Mania!" ([[spoiler:which turns out to be a MechanicalMonster]])

* DubNameChange: In the Canadian French dub of the series, Bert and Ralph's names are changed to Benoît and Charles respectively.

** Bentley becomes Benoit.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All episode titles (with the exception of "Surprise Attack", "A Night to Remember", and "The Evergreen Grand Prix") are {{Excited Show Title}}s.

* PlasterCastDoodling: In "[[Recap/TheRaccoonsS5E8BlackBeltBentley Black Belt Bentley!]]", after Bentley accidentally breaks Bert's arm practicing his karate moves, Bert gets a bunch of signatures and doodles from his friends on his cast. Bert wants Bentley to sign it as well, but Bentley is too ashamed to even look at it and runs off.

* VerySpecialEpisode: In one episode Lisa starts smoking to fit in with cool kids. In the end it takes a speech from Cyril about how smoking ruined his life to get her to quit. The episode "The Chips Are Down!" could be interpreted as an anti-drug episode, replacing illegal substances with potato chips.

Unlike many other cartoons of its time, it handled action, humor, and romance in a fairly sophisticated manner, while remaining sufficiently uncomplicated for younger viewers, making it a favorite of many Canadian children (and some adults) during its time on air and one that is seen as still holds up today as a classic piece of truly Canadian animated programming. Before the series proper there were four [[TVMovie specials]] which were released from 1980 to 1984: ''The Christmas Raccoons'' (which introduced the Raccoons, Ranger Dan and his family, and the Sneers), ''The Raccoons On Ice'' (which added Sophia, Snag and the Bears), ''The Raccoons And The Lost Star'' (an interesting RecycledInSpace concept set either in [[AllJustADream a dream]] or a AlternateUniverse, which introduced Broo and the Pigs), and ''The Raccoons: Let's Dance'' (a {{clip show}} featuring songs from the first three specials). The first three aired on TV, and the fourth was DirectToVideo. The TV series itself aired on Creator/{{CBC}} in Canada and Creator/DisneyChannel in the US.

After rumours and early material of a [[ContinuityReboot reboot]] circulated around the internet during the mid-late 2010s, Kevin Gillis and the team behind the show have instead decided to remaster the original series in HD. Starting in late 2022, the remastered series began streaming in both English and French on Creator/{{Crave}}, and is also airing on Creator/{{Boomerang}} Canada as of 2023. In addition, the (non-remastered) series is free to watch in its entirety on [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxdH4iKoNENzOilhEmfzGHA Run With Us Productions’ official YouTube channel]].

* AdoptionAngst: In "The Family Secret!", Bert discovers that [[spoiler: Cedric was adopted. When Cedric finds out, he expresses mixed feelings, but [[HappilyAdopted feels proud that Cyril chose him to be his son]]. It turns out that Bert misunderstood, and that it was Cyril himself who was adopted. Cyril had simply been too afraid to admit this to Cedric in the past.]]

%%* AllJustADream: The episode "Time Trap!".

* ClockDiscrepancy: The first season finale, "Gold Rush!", plays with this trope. Cyril Sneer is planning to shut down the Raccoons' crusading newspaper, The Evergreen Standard, with the help of Mr. Knox. Cyril's plan involved cutting off the supply of ink and paper to the Standard and forcing it out of business. For his plan to work, the deal had to be finalized under a deadline. [[spoiler: However, Cyril is contacted by Mr. Knox that the deal is off because he missed the deadline - which saves the newspaper. Cyril is clearly confused as his clock indicates he had time to spare before the deadline. His son Cedric Sneer reminds him that years ago, the clocks were [[HoistByHisOwnPetard intentionally set back earlier so that he could get more work out of his employees]]!]]

** Cyril Sneer, eventually subverted by the above character development and [[spoiler: his conscientious son, Cedric, partially taking over the business]].

** In "The Sweet Smell of Success!", Bert agrees to be the official spokesman for Cyril's new cologne "Success" (which smells completely awful) in hopes that he'll become wealthy and famous. If he does, he'll get a lifetime supply of peanut butter. However, when his attempt at the stunt of rescuing a fair "maiden" (A.K.A. one of the pigs dressed as an incredibly ugly woman) and leaping into a hot air balloon with her goes horribly wrong, Cyril completely abandons Bert and leaves him to his fate, figuring that he's shot all the footage he needs for the commercial and that Bert is no longer his concern. [[spoiler: Bert and Broo wind up stranded in the balloon when it becomes trapped on a high cliff. Broo wants to help and Bert sends him off to go get help, but it's clear that Cyril will not be coming to his rescue. Night falls and all seems lost for poor Bert as the gondola is about to fall into the cliff below, which will no doubt kill him.]] [[HeroicBSOD Feeling foolish for not having listened to his friends and allowing himself to be suckered into starring in the commercial, he lowly sings "Hang On, Hold On" to himself one last time as he prepares to meet his demise.]] Just as he's about to fall to his death, however, the rest of the gang shows up. Broo managed to find them and bring them back just in the nick of time and they manage to pull the deflated balloon back up, rescuing Bert from a near-death experience.

** Subverted in "The Evergreen Grand Prix!". Thanks to foul play [[spoiler: Cedric's solar car loses the race to Cyril's gas-guzzler, and everyone is crestfallen... but then Mammoth waves away the outcome and decides to produce Cedric's model anyway. Cyril storms off in a fury... and two minutes later remembers that his company owns ''both'' of the cars, and building Cedric's car was what he'd wanted to do in the first place.]]

* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: The episode "Time Trap!" in which Cyril goes back to past episodes and makes sure all his moneymaking schemes actually come off. [[spoiler: It's AllJustADream.]].

** Although none of them ever met, there's Tommy (Ranger Dan's son), T.O.M. the time machine from "Time Trap!" and Old Tom the catfish from "The One That Got Away!"

After rumours and early material of a [[ContinuityReboot reboot]] circulated around the internet during the mid-late 2010s, Kevin Gillis and the team behind the show have instead decided to remaster the original series in HD. Starting in late 2022, the remastered series began streaming in both English and French on Creator/Crave, and is also airing on Creator/Boomerang Canada as of 2023. In addition, the (non-remastered) series is free to watch in its entirety on [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxdH4iKoNENzOilhEmfzGHA Run With Us Productions’ official YouTube channel]].

In mid-2017, it was revealed that series creator Kevin Gillis was working on a [[ContinuityReboot reboot]] of the series. A pitch pilot with slightly redesigned characters was found on Website/YouTube as an unlisted video in early 2018, however the video was soon taken down by Big Jump Entertainment due to a copyright claim. On June 17th of that same year, Big Jump [[https://bigjumpent.com/projects/the-raccoons/ officially revealed the new designs for Bert, Ralph, Melissa, Cyril and Cedric on their website]]. The reboot is scheduled to premiere with a holiday special entitled "When Raccoons Fly!".

The original series is free to watch in its entirety on [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxdH4iKoNENzOilhEmfzGHA Run With Us Productions’ official YouTube channel]].

* ArtisticLicenseChildLaborLaws: In "Endless Summer!", Bentley is offered a job at Cyril's olive factory, which Cyril faces no legal repercussions for allowing. In Canada, it's illegal for anyone under the age of 14 to be employed.

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: Subverted when Bert runs for Mayor of the Evergreen Forest against Cyril. The pigs don't think Cyril will give them cushy jobs at city hall if he wins the election, so they stuff the ballot boxes for Bert (who knows nothing about their plan and would've won the election fairly). Their plan is that, when Bert gets disqualified and Cyril wins by default, he'll be so grateful he'll give them the city hall jobs. The pigs get Bert disqualified, but when they tell Cyril he [[DidntSeeThatComing he exposes the whole thing and demands a new election.]] Bert decides not to run again, and Lady Baden-Baden wins the second election.

* TeamRocketWins: Double subverted in "The Evergreen Grand Prix". The Sneermobile ends up winning against the Solar Coaster in a race to impress Mr. Mammoth. Averted when Mr. Mammoth is more interested in developing the environmentally-conscious Solar Coaster and offers a contract for it instead. Cyril still ends up profiting from it, since Cedric is the one who designed the Solar Coaster and he owns the rights to it.

* TeamRocketWins: In "The Evergreen Grand Prix", the Sneermobile ends up winning against the Solar Coaster in a race to impress Mr. Mammoth. Averted when Mr. Mammoth is more interested in developing the environmentally-conscious Solar Coaster and offers a contract for it instead.

* APlotInDeed: "Read No Evil!" has Cyrill Sneer trying to buy a swamp to drill for oil. The land registry can't find the original deed for the land, so the pigs put a claim on it, and Cyril will get the land unless the original deed is found in the next four days.

* {{Shopkeeper}}: Mr. Willow, a friendly, elderly bear first introduced in "The Chips Are Down!", handles the characters' shopping needs in his general store.

* CoolOldGuy: [[AwesomeMCCoolName Herman Zechariah Stroll]], an old dog who lives in a swamp near the forest, knows a handful of things about survival and befriends Bert and Cedric in the episode "Read No Evil!"

%%* SeldomSeenSpecies: The aardvarks.

* EarlyBirdCameo: George and Nicole appear briefly in "Trouble Shooter!"; their next appearance is in "Moving In!" two seasons later.

** In "Go for Gold!", which features a triathlon, the Pigs dig a PitTrap for the other racers, but it doesn't work until the Pigs themselves stand on it and fall in. Cyril also uses a motorcycle and a rope at various points to help him gain a lead on the other racers, but Cedric ultimately convinces him to stop for the sake of his deteriorating health. During the bicycle portion near the end, Rod Steel drops tacks onto the track to [[PopTheTires puncture Lisa's tires]] and causes her to crash. Rod slows down near the end, only for Bert to surpass him before he can throw down more tacks. Rod grabs Bert by his sweater, but it rips and Bert speeds ahead, winning the race. In this instance, Cyril and the Pigs' cheating was slightly [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as Rod's father Robin Steel set up the race and barely promoted it, while also duping Cedric into paying a one million dollar prize to the winner. Not only is Rod is very muscular and athletic, but Ralph finds out that he and his father had pulled this stunt elsewhere several times before.

* OneBookAuthor: This series is the only acting credit of Geoffrey Winter's (the narrarator).

* OneBookAuthor: This series is Geoffrey Winter's (the narrarator) only acting acting credit.