History WesternAnimation / TimeSquad

* SameContentDifferentRating: When this show first aired in the early 2000s, it carried the TV-Y7 rating on American TV and even when it reran at five in the morning after Adult Swim's nightly run in 2004 and 2005. You see, back then, Cartoon Network only used the TV-PG and TV-14 ratings for their Adult Swim shows. The MA rating wasn't used much, as Cartoon Network still thought of itself as a children's channel and didn't want to go that far into adult territory. Compare to now, when you have shows like ''MoralOrel'', ''The Eric Andre Show'', ''Frankenhole'', the later episodes of ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'', ''Squidbillies'', and even some anime series [particularly ''CrayonShinChan'' and ''FLCL''] sporting the TV-MA rating like a badge of honor, even if the alleged MA content would actually score more of a heavy TV-14 rating on other American channels or a 15 and up rating on the international ratings system [maybe an 18 and up rating if the series in particular is considered offensive to the sensibilities of another country]. In 2012 [[note]](and thanks to such shows as ''AdventureTime'' and ''RegularShow'' pushing boundaries of content)[[/note]], Cartoon Network ''finally'' gave the show the TV-PG rating it deserved [[note]](though a TV-PG-D for suggestive dialogue rating would be better, but beggars can't be choosers)[[/note]] when they aired old reruns of ''Time Squad'' on their website as part of Cartoon Network's 20th Anniversary celebration.

* SameContentDifferentRating: When this show first aired in the early 2000s, it carried the TV-Y7 rating on American TV and even when it reran at five in the morning after Adult Swim's nightly run in 2004 and 2005. You see, back then, Cartoon Network only used the TV-PG and TV-14 ratings for their Adult Swim shows. The MA rating wasn't used much, as Cartoon Network still thought of itself as a children's channel and didn't want to go that far into adult territory. Compare to now, when you have shows like ''MoralOrel'' ''Frankenhole'', the later episodes of ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'', and even some anime series sporting the TV-MA rating like a badge of honor, even if the alleged MA content would actually score more of a heavy TV-14 rating on other American channels or a 15 and up rating on the international ratings system [maybe an 18 and up rating if the series in particular is considered offensive to the sensibilities of another country]. In 2012 [[note]](and thanks to such shows as ''AdventureTime'' and ''RegularShow'' pushing boundaries of content)[[/note]], Cartoon Network ''finally'' gave the show the TV-PG rating it deserved [[note]](though a TV-PG-D for suggestive dialogue rating would be better, but beggars can't be choosers)[[/note]] when they aired old reruns of ''Time Squad'' on their website as part of Cartoon Network's 20th Anniversary celebration.

* RegularCaller: The History Instability Alarm. "Cabin Fever" lampshaded this.

* SameContentDifferentRating: When this show first aired in the early 2000s, it carried the TV-Y7 rating on American TV and even when it reran at five in the morning after Adult Swim's nightly run in 2004 and 2005 (as back then, Cartoon Network only used the TV-PG and TV-14 ratings for their Adult Swim shows. The MA rating was only used for something they knew was going to be too violent or sexual even by Adult Swim's standards, which, back then, wasn't often). In 2012 [[note]](and thanks to such shows as ''AdventureTime'' and ''RegularShow'')[[/note]], Cartoon Network ''finally'' gave the show the TV-PG rating it deserved [[note]](though a TV-PG-D for suggestive dialogue rating would be better, but beggars can't be choosers)[[/note]] when they aired old reruns of ''Time Squad'' on their website as part of Cartoon Network's 20th Anniversary celebration.

The show [[CartoonCartoons premiered]] on Creator/CartoonNetwork in June 2001 and was cancelled in November 2003. It reran for a time in 2004 and 2005 (strangely, [[PeripheryDemographic yet appropriately]], after Adult Swim's weeknight line-up), but the show has now all but disappeared from the airwaves.

* RefugeInAudacity: The entire series packed more HoYay and other risque jokes and visual innuendo than any adult cartoon currently on TV (and some that have long-been cancelled). '''''NOTHING''''' was [[{{Bowdlerization}} bowdlerized]] or edited in syndication.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: This show lives and breathes on this trope, thanks to the seemingly constant flashes of HoYay, AmbiguouslyGay behavior, and moments of FreudWasRight. Examples:

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: This show made the radar its bitch (moreso than ''RegularShow'', ''WesternAnimation/MAD'', and ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' combined) thanks to getting away with the following:
** References to homosexuality, ''a lot'' of which centered around the Larry 3000 and made up a good chunk of what got past (the HoYay page will fill in any and all details)

* SameContentDifferentRating:Back in the first airings of Time Squad it was rated TV Y-7, but just in time for Cartoon Network's twentieth anniversary, CN has clips available for viewing on their site with the the rating of PG. Due to content that could easily make Time Squad be aired along side Regular Show, it's not surprising.

* [[spoiler:SexForServices]]: Implied in "Ex Marks the Spot."

* WeirdnessMagnet: The guys often have to deal with some pretty bizzare people and situations, from giant fly people to evil My Little Ponies, and to robot night clubs, it's never a dull day while on the job apparently.

** Drug humor (season one's "Eli Whitney's Flesh-Eating Mistake" and season two's "Pasteur Packs O'Punch" had Larry acting drunk and both of those times, the "drunken" Larry has muttered something about wanting to drive or being okay to drive despite being under the influence [and the obvious fact that the Time Squad doesn't have a car]; in "Betsy Ross Flies Her Freak Flag," Betsy Ross and George Washington's army all have red-rimmed eyes and act like stoners. On top of that, there was a strange, white cloud around the "Magical Farm Place Farm").

* ShoutOut: to ''The Benny Hill Show'' (in "The Prime Minister Has No Clothes"), ''PlanetOfTheApes'' (in "Planet of the Flies"), ''The Day Of The Locust'' (in "Day of the Larrys"), ''ScoobyDoo'' (in "White House Weirdness"), ''TheShining'' (in "Cabin Fever"), ''TheStepfordWives'' (in "Larry Upgrade"), and even the 1960s ''Batman'' series (in "Houdini Whodunit").

-- A CartoonNetwork promo for the show

The show [[CartoonCartoons premiered]] on CartoonNetwork in June 2001 and was cancelled in November 2003. It reran for a time in 2004 and 2005 (strangely, [[PeripheryDemographic yet appropriately]], after Adult Swim's weeknight line-up), but the show has now all but disappeared from the airwaves.

The show premiered on Cartoon Network in June 2001 and was cancelled in November 2003. It reran for a time in 2004 and 2005 (strangely, [[PeripheryDemographic yet appropriately]], after Adult Swim's weeknight line-up), but the show has now all but disappeared from the airwaves.

Imagine that as time continues into the future, the past starts to unravel, with various points in history coming out all wrong: AbrahamLincoln leaves his presidency to pull pranks, Eli Whitney invents flesh-eating robots instead of the cotton gin, WinstonChurchill becomes a nudist, LudwigVanBeethoven becomes a professional wrestler, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe writes cheerful children's stories, AmeliaEarhart is too afraid of germs to become the first female pilot, AlCapone uses circus clowns to run his crime syndicate, and so on.

Now has a CharacterSheet and a HoYay [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/HoYay/TimeSquad page]].

This show provides examples of:

* TheCameo: While Tuddrussell and Larry are trying to find another ChildProdigy orphan on the series finale "Orphan Substitute," one of them is...[[DextersLaboratory Dexter]] ([[TheOtherDarrin voiced by Candi Milo, not Christine Cavanaugh]]), who points out he's not an orphan.

* ChildrenRaiseYou: Otto often resorts to being the parent to Tuddrussel and Larry, who can act like bickering siblings (or, in a lot of cases, husband and wife). Even Dr. Freud makes a comment on the dysfunctional relationship, saying that the poor kid is slowly being robbed of his childhood and will be traumatized by this in his adult life (this, by the way, is all PlayedForLaughs).

* DidYouJustHaveSex: Try not to think about the exact "[[IncrediblyLamePun mechanics]]" of it, but this was all but explicitly stated to be the cause behind Larry's sudden, over-the-top good mood at the beginning of "Ex Marks the Spot" [[hottip:*: at least by what the fandom says. It hasn't been confirmed by creator, Dave Wasson, or anyone else who has worked on the show]]. Otto even calls him out on it and the Freudian symbolism of the food involved (the gravy being pumped into the turkey and a lone cherry sinking into the gravy-smothered turkey) seems to speak volumes of why Larry is such in a good mood.

** Some racial/ethnic stereotyping (Larry saying the orphans looked cute with their "black faces" [which they got from mining coal] in "Orphan Substitute"; Atilla the Hun portrayed as a [[FamilyGuy Mort Goldman]]-esque Jewish stereotype in "A Thrilla at Atilla's") [[hottip:*:Although (for the "black face" remark), considering how big of a fan of history this show was, it may have been a reference to William Blake's poems "Little Black Boy" and "The Chimney Sweeper". The former criticized the idea of blacks being punished with dark skin, and the latter compared the cruel treatment of the "black-marked" chimney sweeping children to the enslavement of Africans]].
** Even a couple of the titles were iffy, particularly "To Hail With Caesar" (try affecting a Southern accent and saying it out loud) and "Big Al's Big Secret" (which comes from watching too much ''SouthPark'').

* HenpeckedHusband: Napoleon in "Napoleon the Conquered." Lampshaded by Tuddrussell, who, after hearing Napoleon get yelled at by his wife, snickers, "Man, that guy is whipped!" (just before Josephine pokes her head out the door and Tuddrussell [[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl screams like a little girl]])

* PecFlex: Tuddrussell. With those muscles, who wouldn't?

** The entirety of the episode "Billy the Baby" was a shout out and homage to the animation direction of TexAvery, and to the SpaghettiWestern director SergioLeone [[hottip:*:The episode even has a special credit at the end that dedicates "Billy the Baby" to SegioLeone and "the great TexAvery"]], where we get the ClintEastwood expy as The Man With No Name breaking the forth wall like this was a Droopy cartoon.

* WeirdnessMagnet: The guys often have to deal with some pretty bizzare people and situations, from giant fly people to evil My Little Ponies, and to robot night clubs, it's never a dull day while on the job apparently.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Otto, but at the same time he's just a normal kid in abnormal circumstances.
* WorkingWithTheEx: Occasionally other [[TimePolice Time Squad units]] join in to help the trio. [[TheChosenMany One of these squads]] consists of [[TheBigGuy Buck Tuddrussel]]'s ex-wife Sheila Sternwell. While Buck is good-natured towards his ex, Sheila seems to hold nothing but enmity for him (then again, [[ManChild he]] ''[[IdiotHero is]]'' [[DumbMuscle an]] [[WhatAnIdiot idiot]]).
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Shakespeare speaks in this dialect. His agent, by contrast, sounds like Phil Silvers.

* The episode "White House Weirdness" is a homage to the original ScoobyDoo series, complete with a similar plot (the ghosts of former Presidents apparently haunting the White House turns out to be a plot by WilliamHowardTaft to run unopposed in the 1912 elections), the iconic music from the original ScoobyDoo cartoon, and even a scene with ScoobyDooDoors.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs?: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin flesh eating robots]] from the pilot episode. So sane person could possibly come up with something that nuts.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasn'tMadeonDrugs?: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin flesh eating robots]] from the pilot episode. So sane person could possibly come up with something that nuts.

** DeadBabyComedy: see the DudeNotFunny entry in the YourMileageMayVary section.

* [[ADayInHerApron A Day in His Apron]]: In "Hate and Let Hate," Tuddrussell finds himself on the side of the satellite with the kitchen (Larry's domain) and decides to cook for himself after not having a decent meal in days. Subverted in that Tuddrussell actually does a good job at cooking.

* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: Literally--Freud is the only psychologist who appears in canon. On a more tangentially related note, the series is obviously influenced by Freudian theory.

** [[BeyondTheImpossible Even a couple of the titles were iffy]], particularly "To Hail With Caesar" (try affecting a Southern accent and saying it out loud) and "Big Al's Big Secret" (which comes from watching too much ''SouthPark'').

* TheChosenMany: For many of the early episodes, it seems that Buck, Larry and Otto are the only Time Squad unit, until we are introduced to at least two featuring the same "Officer-Robot" dynamic (one with Tuddrussell's ex-wife and Larry's rival, the XJ-5 and another with J.T. Laser and The Lance 9 Trillion, whom Buck and Larry idolize).

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: This show made the radar its bitch (moreso than ''RegularShow'', ''WesternAnimation/MAD'', and ''AdventureTime'' combined) thanks to getting away with the following:

* AmbiguouslyJewish: Attila the Hun, somehow.

* BookEnds: The show begins at Otto's orphanage where Sister Thornley is looking for him, it ends with Tuddrussel and Larry taking Otto back again after leaving him in his own time,and right as Sister Thornley was trying to hunt him down she is stumped to find that had Otto disappeared again.
* BrainBleach: This line from "The Prime Minister Has No Clothes":

* CannotStandThemCannotLiveWithoutThem[=/=]LikeAnOldMarriedCouple: Guess who?

* ChildrenRaiseYou: Otto often resorts to being the parent to Tuddrussel and Larry, who can act like bickering siblings (or husband and wife). Even Dr. Freud makes a comment on the dysfunctional relationship, saying that the poor kid is slowly being robbed of his childhood and will be traumatized by this in his adult life (this, by the way, is all PlayedForLaughs). But while Larry and Tuddrussell have a lot of problems, they still manage to give Otto a better life than he would have had in the twenty-first century (when he was in the orphanage and kept getting harassed by the other kids and forced to do chores by Sister Thornly).

* [[TrailersAlwaysLie Commercials Always Lie]]: Some commercials are like this, for instance, Otto is portrayed as a [[{{Keet}} hyperactive curious kid]] who'll more likely screw the missions of Tuddrussel and Larry. In the actual show, Otto is the OnlySaneMan who had to deal with the wacky antics of his two friends.

* DidYouJustHaveSex: Try not to think about the exact, er, [[IncrediblyLamePun mechanics]] of it, but this was pretty blatantly implied to be the cause of Larry's over-the-top good mood at the beginning of "Ex Marks the Spot." Otto even calls him out on it and the Freudian symbolism of the food involved (the gravy being pumped into the turkey and a lone cherry sinking into the gravy-smothered turkey) seems to speak volumes of why Larry is such in a good mood.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Thanks to the seemingly constant flashes of HoYay, AmbiguouslyGay behavior, and moments of FreudWasRight, a lot of moments are played as metaphors for something else. Examples:

** Tuddrussel always berates Larry's effeminate personality and hobbies and tells him to act like a robot (as seen in "Hate and Let Hate" and "Forget the Alamo"), which [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything can be taken as a G-rated version of saying]], "GetBackInTheCloset!"

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: This show made the radar its bitch (moreso than Cartoon Network's current shows) thanks to getting away with the following:

** Some racial/ethnic stereotyping (Larry saying the orphans looked cute with their "black faces" [which they got from mining coal] in "Orphan Substitute"; Atilla the Hun portrayed as a [[FamilyGuy Mort Goldman]]-esque Jewish stereotype in "A Thrilla at Atilla's")
*** Although (for the "black face" remark), considering how big of a fan of history this show was, it may have been a reference to William Blake's poems "Little Black Boy" and "The Chimney Sweeper". The former criticized the idea of blacks being punished with dark skin, and the latter compared the cruel treatment of the "black-marked" chimney sweeping children to the enslavement of Africans.
** Even a couple of the ''titles'' were iffy, particularly "To Hail With Caesar" (try affecting a Southern accent and saying it out loud) and "Big Al's Big Secret" (which comes from watching too much ''SouthPark'').

* GoneHorriblyRight: When the Time Squad successfully return Edgar Allen Poe to his original manic-depressive self they feel bad about it.

* HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster: [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment As mentioned in]] DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything -- "Tuddrussel always berates Larry's effeminate personality and hobbies and tells him to act like a robot (as seen in 'Hate and Let Hate' and 'Forget the Alamo'), which [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything can be taken as a G-rated version of saying]], 'GetBackInTheCloset!'"

* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: When it doesn't run on HoYay, GettingCrapPastTheRadar, DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything, and FreudWasRight.

* LimitedWardrobe: Granted, Larry doesn't wear clothes (but if he does they're always different and it's usually a costume -- and even then, it's often {{Stripperiffic}} drag) and Otto will sometimes be seen in PJs or occasionally in period costume, but Buck is never seen without his uniform. ''Ever''. He'll wear things over it but the uniform can always be distinctly seen.
** Even in the ''shower'', as seen in "Larry Upgrade."

* PersonalitySwap: Buck and Larry enter one by accidentally switching their usual areas of habitation and going native in "Hate and Let Hate."

** "Blackbeard Warm Heart" and "Repeat Offender": Bloodthirsty pirate Blackbeard (real name: Edward Teach [or Thatch, depending on what you learned in history class]) is an environmentalist and animal lover.

** The entirety of the episode "Billy the Baby" was a shout out and homage to the animation direction of TexAvery, and to the SpaghettiWestern director SergioLeone [[hottip:*:The episode even has a special credit at the end that dedicates "Billy the Baby" to SegioLeone and "the great TexAvery"]], where we get the Clint Eastwood expy as The Man With No Name breaking the forth wall like this was a Droopy cartoon.
* SpiritualSuccessor: The whole show is probably a tribute to ''Peabody's Improbable History'', which featured a similar plot, with things in the past being twisted, and the characters going back in time to set things right, or close to it. Also Otto looks and acts a bit like Sherman, and interestingly enough have a similar backstory- both were orphans living in abusive homes before being "adopted."

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Shakespeare speaks in this dialect. His agent, by contrast, sounds like a mix between TopCat and a stereotypical greedy producer from New York.