Line #63 Animation/TingaTingaTales


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4	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tinga_tinga_tales.png]]
5	%% [[caption-width-right:350: Tales from Africa!]]
6
7	''Tinga Tinga Tales'' is a 2010 Kenyan/British 52-episode children's series based on African folk tales and aimed at the preschool demographic.
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9	It was commissioned by Creator/TheBBC for its Creator/{{CBeebies}} channel, and by Creator/DisneyChannel for its Disney Junior block. Named after the Tingatinga art from Tanzania, it was made in Kenya by a studio of about 50 people.
10	----
11	!!Tropes include:
12	* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: Almost none of the animals are their natural colour: Lion is blue, Elephant is purple, the monkeys are red, orange and yellow, Hippo is black, Giraffe is black with white spots, Warthog is green, etc.
13	%%* AmbiguouslyGay: Zebra, Peacock and Chameleon.
14	* AnimalStereotypes: Many of the characters are this
15	** [[KingofBeasts Lion]] is the king of Tinga Tinga
16	** [[HeinousHyena Hyena]] and Jackal are unlikeable scoundrels
17	** Peacock is a proud and vain narcissist.
18	** [[TheOwlKnowingOne Owl]] is noted for her strong wisdom
19	** Eagle is the regal ruler of the birds
20	* BareBottomedMonkey: "Why Baboon Has A Bare Bottom", as the title suggests, is all about explaining why Baboon has this trait in the first place. According to the story, the other animals were so fed up with Baboon playing tricks on them that they devised a plot to give him a taste of his own medicine, and it ended in him sliding all the way down a steep cliff on his behind, [[RumpRoast setting it on fire]]. By the time it was put out, all the hair on Baboon's backside was gone.
21	* BatOutOfHell: Like all the animals, Bat is very cute, but he originally acted as hellish bat for the other animals as he would scare them for fun.
22	* BeautyToBeast: The fate of Warthog at the end of his episode, after accidentally getting his face prickled by Porcupine.
23	* BerserkButton: Do not call Crocodile "[[DoNotCallMePaul Croc]]", or he'll pinch at you.
24	%%* BigGood: Lion.
25	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Monkey talks to the audience in the beginning of the end of every episode.
26	%%** Guinea Fowl at the end of the meerkat episode.
27	* {{Bowdlerise}}: The story of "Why Mosquito Buzzes in People's Ears" traditionally has mosquito start a riot that causes owl to quit her job of raising the sun. In the original folktale, it is because the riot killed one of her babies and she wants revenge. Here, the owl herself is simply knocked unconscious.
28	* ButtMonkey: Tortoise is always getting stepped on and mistaken for a rock by Elephant and Hippo.
29	* CarnivoreConfusion:
30	** The "Aardvark" episode has this. Firstly, Mama Cheetah is [[ItMakesSenseInContext teaching Aardvark how to hunt an Impala]], despite impalas being just as sapient as any other animal in Tinga Tinga. Also, in the same episode, Bat says he likes eating mosquitos, despite Mosquito being a character.
31	** The "Jackal" episode has the Cheetahs eating "chops" of unspecified meat. It's never explained where they came from or how they are so perfectly cut.
32	* CatchPhrase:
33	** Lion: "It is Nature's way" and "I want, never gets".
34	** Elephant: "Sorry. Big head, (see,) tiny brain."
35	* CensoredForComedy: The monkeys and Tortoise play with this when they're forbidden to say "run".
36	%% * CloudCuckoolander: Jackal, after the whole moon honey incident.
37	* CuteMute: Woodpecker and Parrot, until they learned how to speak.
38	* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The theme song is sung by all the animals of Tinga Tinga.
39	%% * DoubleTake: The monkeys in the Tortoise episode.
40	%%* TheDitz: The wildebeest and Elephant.
41	* DiurnalNocturnalAnimal: Bushbaby.
42	* DumbMuscle: Elephant, the strongest animal in the kingdom, often says he has a big head, but a tiny brain. [[spoiler:Majitu the giant]] doesn't sound all that intelligent either.
43	* EveryEpisodeEnding: Each episode ends with Monkey Red saying "And [event that was pivotal to episode but not the main focus of it]? Well, that's a whole other story!".
44	* ExpositoryThemeTune: The theme song explains how the land of Tinga Tinga has alot of stories to share.
45	* FurryConfusion: The flies and termites are non-sapient, despite other insects, such as ants, bees, mosquitos and even fleas all being sapient.
46	%%* GentleGiant:
47	%%** Elephant.
48	%%** Hippo.
49	%%** [[spoiler:Majitu the giant]] is implied.
50	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Hippo & Tickbird, Crocodile & Lizard and Tortoise & Elephant.
51	%% * TheHyena: Hyena.
52	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: All of the episodes follow the pattern "Why [Animal] [Action]" or "Why [Animal] Is [Adjective]".
53	* InsistentTerminology: "I'm not a monkey. I'm a baboon!"
54	%% * JerkAss: Many animals fit the bill: Hyena, Jackal, Crocodile, Vulture, Lizard, and even Lion can be a real JerkAss like in the Hippo episode, but Warthog is by far the worst. He threw mud at the monkeys, Owl and Lion, insulted Hippo, Hyena and Tortoise and questioned Lion's authority as "king of Tinga Tinga". Lion was NOT pleased at all.
55	%% * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [[spoiler:Crocodile in "Why Cheetah Has Tears".]]
56	%%* JustSoStory: The show quite literally thrives on these.
57	%% * {{Keet}}: Chameleon, The Monkeys and Hare.
58	* KingOfBeasts: Lion is the ruler of all of Tinga Tinga.
59	* TheKlutz: Ostrich was kultzy and prone to accidents before she lost her feathers.
60	* MischiefMakingMonkey: Baboon is quite a prankster. The other Monkeys not so much, although they also have their moments.
61	* MedicinalCuisine: The giraffe eats honey to cure her stomachache.
62	* MisplacedWildlife: A skunk appears in several episodes, even though skunks only live in the Americas. It's possible that Skunk is actually supposed to be a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striped_polecat striped polecat]], which is a similar mammal native to Africa, but he looks more like the striped skunk familiar to North Americans than to said animal.
63	* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: The animals fear Puff Adder because of his nasty bite. Despite this, Puff Adder is really a NiceGuy who will only ever bite if he feels frightened.
64	* MonkeyMoralityPose: In "Why Warthog is so Ugly?", the three monkeys did this when they saw Warthog's face after he got hit by Porcupine's quills.
65	* NegativeContinuity: Every episode portrays the animal of whom the episode is ADayInTheLimelight to be the last to have their problems fixed. For example, tick bird is not friends with hippo in her own episode, despite already being friends with her back when hippo had fur. Likewise, Buffalo bullies Rhino for not having horns, with Rhino having a horn in the episode when Buffalo first gets his horns.
66	* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Crocodile. But since this is a show for little children, he is portrayed as TheBully rather than an actual killer.
67	* OnceAnEpisode: Monkey talking with Lion at the end of the episode appears in every single episode. (At least the US dub)
68	* OstrichHeadHiding: The "Ostrich" episode is all about this.
69	%% * PungeonMaster: The monkeys at the end of that episode.
70	%%* RealAfterAll: [[spoiler: Majitu the giant]] in the bushbaby episode.
71	* RunningGag:
72	** Elephant making references to his tiny brain being clashed with his big head.
73	** Tortoise getting stepped on by the other animals, usually by [[DumbMuscle Elephant]] himself.
74	%%* SassyBlackWoman: Hippo and Eagle.
75	%% * SeaMonster: Whale
76	%%* ShipTease: Lion and Leopard.
77	* SnakesAreSinister: Averted with Snake and Puff Adder, who are both pleasant to everyone around them despite being their respective species. Puff Adder in particular doesn't like being treated as TheDreaded to all the other animals ''because'' he is a snake, to the point that he TookALevelInJerkass as a way to cope with the hate and fear he receives. he later took Camal's advice after saving Puff Adder to make the latter [[DefrostingIceKing mellow out from his cold behavior]] and become openly friendly to everyone else.
78	* SameLanguageDub: The show got a US dub which aired on Disney Junior. The dub only replaced voice actors of a select few characters and the episodes were pitched lower for unknown reasons.
79	* SomewhereAHerpetologistIsCrying: Crocodile swims with motions of his feet, while RealLife crocodiles use their tails.
80	* SomewhereAMammalogistIsCrying: A little forgivable given that the series is based on old fairy tales, but can still crop up. It's odd that an elephant was given the role as DumbMuscle (claiming to have a "tiny brain") given they're among the most intelligent animals. Likewise, some of the animals living in Tinga Tinga do not actually live in Africa, like moles (it's possible she's meant to be a golden mole, but it's unlikely given that she's purple.)
81	%% * SpaceWhaleAesop
82	* ToiletHumor:
83	** In the "Giraffe" episode, Giraffe has "tummy trouble" and has to eat some honey to stop her runny stomach.
84	** In the "Skunk" episode, Baboon gives some "smelly fruit" to Skunk as a prank, which gives him a stinky fart.
85	%% * TooDumbToLive: Vulture tries to fly as high as the sun, gets burnt and then angers a bunch of bees to make her feathers pretty.
86	* ToothyBird: Tortoise has teeth for some reason.
87	* VillainHasAPoint: In the Monkey episode, Crocodile notes that none of the other animals seem to care that the monkeys are constantly harassing him, which is entirely true.

Context Animation / TingaTingaTales