Line #5 Series/UnderTheUmbrellaTree


1	[[quoteright:173:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/umbrella03.jpg]]
2	->''"In your imagination, you'll find an invitation...."''
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4	This was a live-action children's series that aired on CBC from 1986 to 1993, and also the Creator/DisneyChannel in the early 1990s. The setting was an upscale apartment in Canada, and the main characters were freelance artist [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Holly Higgins]] and her three young animal friends (actually portrayed by puppets): Gloria the Gopher, Iggy (short for "[[ButNotTooForeign Ignatz Julio]]") Iguana and Jacob the Bluejay.
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6	Occasionally, guest stars (both human and "animal") would drop by the apartment for visits.
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8	After Disney's rights to the show expired in 2005, its creator Noreen Young began selling DVD's of the series independently through the official site. The Website/YouTube channel [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH9jfFz0VzO-sqfh_TLVT7A Encore +]] also had official uploads of the series until it shut down in 2022.
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11	!!''Under the Umbrella Tree'' provides examples of:
12	* AcidRefluxNightmare: In the episode "Sweet Dreams," a big dinner full of strange recipes causes Gloria, Iggy and Jacob to sleepwalk and have strange dreams: Jacob dreams that he grows buffalo horns, Gloria dreams that she turns into a butterfly, and Iggy dreams that he grows into a giant.
13	* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Jacob goes though this in "Jacob's Victory" after he wins a relay race. His roommates bring him down a peg by swamping him with requests for help with chores because he's "perfect" enough to handle them all.
14	* AlliterativeName: Several characters, especially Gloria (see OverlyLongName below)
15	* BandageMummy: In one episode, Gloria, Iggy and Jacob do this to themselves for minor injuries, just because they have so much fun using Holly's new first aid kit.
16	* BigEater: Iggy, especially if it's turnips.
17	* BizarreBeverageUse: At the end of "Twins", this is discussed when Gloria and Jacob ask Holly for [[TomatoSkunkStinkCure tomato juice so they can neutralize skunk spray]].
18	* CatchPhrase: Jacob, when corrected on something, would always say: "I knew that!" In one episode he {{Lampshaded}} this by listing his hobbies as "flying, playing with my friends and saying 'I knew that.'" He also sometimes exclaims "Wazoo!" when he's excited, and whenever he shows off one of his talents, he calls it his [[GratuitousForeignLanguage "spécialité."]]
19	* ChristmasEpisode: "Christmas Under the Umbrella Tree" is a 30-minute Christmas episode that had a SpecialEditionTitle and saw the gang partake in Christmas activities.
20	* ClipShow: "Gloria's Magic Piano," "Picture It," "Singing in the Tub," "Good Medicine," and "The Song Book" are all about remembering songs from previous episodes.
21	* CloudCuckooLander: Jacob, though in certain areas he's a GeniusDitz too.
22	* CompressedVice: Sometimes the characters fall into these. For example, in the episode "Private!" Jacob suddenly starts invading everyone's privacy in every way.
23	* DeliveryGuy: A variation occurs in "Special Delivery," when Iggy assists in the hatching of Mr. and Mrs. Chickadee's new baby. When the egg unexpectedly starts to hatch while the Chickadees are taking it out for a walk, they bring it into Holly's apartment. Then the chick has trouble breaking through the shell. But since iguanas also hatch from eggs, Iggy knows how to handle the situation, and gently eases the shell open so Chuck and Chelsea's baby sister can be born.
24	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the earliest episodes, Iggy talks more slowly and has a breathier voice than in the rest of the series, and Jacob's voice is slightly lower too. The first two years of the show's run also had different opening credits.
25	* EasyAmnesia: This happens to Iggy in the episode "Who Am I?" when he falls and bumps his head. Another head-bump brings back his memory in the end.
26	* FailuresOnIce: As shown in the ChristmasEpisode, Holly slips a lot when ice skating.
27	* FamilyThemeNaming: The Chickadee family are named Chester, Charlene, Chelsea, and Chuck.
28	* FracturedFairyTale: In some episodes, Holly and the puppets would put on plays of fairy-tales, which were usually at least a little bit fractured: for example, "The Princess and the Pea Soup," where the princess is a truck driver named Diesel and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a can of pea soup]] is put under her mattresses instead of a pea.
29	* FreeRangeChildren: Furthermore, they did live by themselves until Holly came (as explained in one flashback episode).
30	* GeniusDitz: Jacob doesn't have much in the way of common sense and often gets things wrong, but he's very knowledgeable about flying and recognized as somewhat of an authority on the subject, even among other birds. He also knows how to take good care of a bike, which he likens to taking good care of his feathers so he can fly, and he successfully becomes a crossing guard and teaches the others about road safety.
31	* GettingMyOwnRoomPlot: In "Iggy's New Room," Iggy gets tired of having his bed on a bookshelf in the living room because of the lack of privacy, so he decides to sleep in the bathroom from now on. Unfortunately, the bathroom turns out to be less private than he hoped because the others keep needing it. In the end, he goes back to his old bookshelf bed, but with a curtain added in front of it to give him privacy, which remains for the rest of the series.
32	* GirlishPigtails: Gloria has them.
33	* HalloweenEpisode: In [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Halloween"]], Iggy [[InjuredLimbEpisode hurts his leg]], doesn't know whether it's broken or not, and has to stay at the animal shelter until his x-ray is ready, which means he has to miss the Halloween party at the apartment. [[spoiler: In the end, Holly, Jacob, Gloria and the party guests all come to the shelter and bring the party to him, and it turns out his ankle is just sprained and will soon be fine.]]
34	* HiccupHijinks: The episode "Hiccups" has Holly get hiccups on the day she has to go to a job interview.
35	* IAteWhat:
36	** In the Christmas episode, Holly tastes one of Jacob's homemade holiday treats, only to find, to her displeasure, that they're made of birdseed.
37	** Jacob is outraged and disgusted in "Pot Luck" when he learns the Chinese soup they're eating is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_bird%27s_nest bird's nest soup.]]
38	* IDoNotLikeGreenEggsAndHam: In one episode, Jacob is convinced he won't like zucchini, but once he finally tries Holly's zucchini loaf he loves it.
39	* InformedSpecies: Gloria and Iggy are both much cuter than real gophers and iguanas, with more human-like face shapes, and in Gloria's case without a real gopher's buck teeth.
40	* InsomniaEpisode
41	** "Gloria Can't Sleep." It turns out she can't sleep because she's grown too big for her bed and can't get comfortable.
42	** "Wake Up, Holly!" has Holly purposefully kept awake through the night by her roommates to sabotage her job interview the next morning, because they're afraid that if she gets the job she'll move away. (They misunderstood a remark she made—she'll only be going on a trip, not moving.)
43	* TheKlutz: Iggy's Cousin Emmet used to be hopelessly clumsy. In his debut episode, flashbacks to his last visit show all kinds of accidents that he caused—he broke the teapot, spilled paint on one of Holly's drawings, and [[PlankGag accidentally knocked Gloria over with a ladder]] he was returning—and Holly, Gloria and Jacob are terrified by the thought of him visiting again. When Emmett arrives, though, it turns out that he's gotten over his clumsiness. He even effortlessly catches a whole bunch of things that Holly drops.
44	-->'''Iggy:''' I can't believe you're all afraid of a cute, friendly, harmless little iguana lizard!
45	* KnewItAllAlong: Jacob's CatchPhrase: "I knew that!"
46	* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: Despite essentially becoming Holly's "kids" (once she moves in), Gloria, Iggy and Jacob have lives of their own. Not only do they occasionally receive visits from their animal relatives, they also have animal friends such as Mitzi the dog and Chuck Chickadee, and the VerySpecialEpisode described below establishes that there are other animal residents in the neighborhood too.
47	* LiteralMinded: In "Laundry Day," when Iggy tells Jacob to put "the whole box" of laundry soap in the washer, Jacob puts it in box and all. Then when Iggy tells him "Take the soap out of the box before you put it in," he takes the soap out, then puts the box back in.
48	* LongLostUncleAesop: There was the time that Gloria's wealthy "Aunt Gloxinia" moved to Alaska and Gloria inherited the services of her butler. This butler was a WellIntentionedExtremist who constantly shadowed her and forbade her to do many things (such as eat ice cream, for example) because "Your Aunt Gloxinia never [did X]." This eventually drove Gloria to scream in frustration: "My Aunt Gloxinia isn't ''me''!" The problem was eventually resolved when the butler quit his job, admitting that even he had become sick of all the social pretension.
49	* LovableLizard: Despite his slightly creepy appearance (think something that Jerry Garcia might dream about after eating too much pepperoni pizza), Iggy was the most lovable and relatable of the roommates.
50	* [[ButtMonkey Monkey Ball]]: Although usually TheComicallySerious, Holly could be counted on to get herself humiliated from time to time for a cheap laugh. A notable example was an episode when she dressed in a gorilla suit and went around the neighborhood performing singing telegrams in order to make extra money—but [[CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise got mistaken for an actual gorilla]], captured by zookeepers, and was taken to a local zoo where she was locked in a cage for several hours! And in an episode where one of Iggy's relatives visits from the Southwest, Holly undergoes a HumiliationConga that includes her sitting on a cactus and burning her mouth on some spicy chili.
51	* MonsterMash: In the HalloweenEpisode, the roommates imagine themselves as monsters living in a haunted house, with Holly as a witch, Jacob as FrankensteinsMonster, Gloria as a MadScientist, and Iggy as a ghost.
52	* MotorMouth: Chuck Chickadee and his parents.
53	* NiceGirl: Holly treats Gloria, Iggy and Jacob with a ton of love, care, and support.
54	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Iggy's favorite actress was a pert-lipped, pompous British reptile named [[Creator/ElizabethTaylor "Elizardbeth Taylor"]].
55	* OverlyLongName: Gloria's full name is [[AlliterativeName Gloria Gladys Grace Gabrielle Gardenia Glenda Gale Gopher]].
56	* OddCouple: Gloria and Iggy had trouble getting along when they first became roommates because Gloria was too serious while Iggy was too much of a jokester, and because Iggy liked to stay up late and sleep in while Gloria preferred "early to bed and early to rise," and they kept each other awake. But Jacob was already their mutual friend, and for his sake they finally gave each other a chance, and then they became best friends too.
57	* OriginsEpisode: "How It All Began" reveals how Jacob, Iggy and Gloria came to live in the apartment.
58	* PingPongNaivete: Gloria, Iggy, and Jacob swung from being sophisticated pseudo-adults to hapless waifs whenever the plot demanded it. Sometimes the difference was outlandish: for example, Gloria got a job as a radio reporter in "Gloria the Reporter," but in [[SickEpisode "Hanky Panky"]] needed to be taught how to blow her nose like a toddler.
59	* PowerOutagePlot: In "The No-Power Hour", a storm knocks down the power line, causing the house's power to go out. Holly teaches the gang about electricity and antique objects, like kerosene lamps.
60	* PrecociousCrush:
61	** One of the plot lines of the Valentine's Day special revolves around Jacob's crush on a library employee named Megan.
62	** In "Iggy Loves Nancy," Iggy [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin has a crush on a woman named Nancy.]]
63	* SickEpisode: Several, including "Hanky Panky" (Gloria, Iggy and Jacob all have colds), "Gloria Iguana" (Iggy has a cold, so Gloria disguises herself as him for a special event), "The Circus" (Gloria has a cold and can't go to the circus), "Good Medicine" (Gloria has the flu), and "Speak Up!" (Holly has a sore throat and [[LostVoicePlot loses her voice]]).
64	* SmellySkunk: Identical twins Sparky and Spunky. In their introductory episode, Holly and Iggy spend their whole visit on edge, trying not to startle them so they won’t spray. But then Jacob crash-lands and triggers a spray from both of them.
65	* ShoutOut: In "Gloria Iguana," when the sick Iggy asks Gloria to give his speech at the reptile club for him, she objects "But I'm a gopher!" Iggy replies [[Film/SomeLikeItHot "Well, nobody's perfect."]]
66	* SpeciesSurname: Gloria Gopher and Iggy Iguana. Jacob Blue is a half example.
67	* StargazingScene: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Stargazing"]] is a full episode of this.
68	* StormInATeacup: PlayedForLaughs in "The Trombone". After showing Jacob and Iggy her new trombone, Gloria asks them to keep an eye on it while she's at the park. As soon as Gloria leaves, the other two decide to try playing it. They both do surprisingly well after an unsuccessful attempt or two, but Iggy falls down while playing it, and when he gets up, the slide has come off. Never having seen a trombone before, they both think it has broken in half. They frantically try to fix it before Gloria gets back and finally resort to tying and taping the slide onto the trombone. When Holly gets home first, she thinks they're playing a joke on Gloria and tells them that they should just put the trombone back together before she gets home.
69	-->'''Iggy and Jacob:''' ''[in unison]'' Huh?\
70	'''Holly:''' Oh, we're going to play it like that, are we? Okay, maybe I'd better put it back together. Knowing you two, you'd probably try some other trick. ''[She removes the string and the tape, then puts the slide back on the trombone.]''\
71	'''Iggy and Jacob:''' ''[in unison]'' ''What?''\
72	'''Holly:''' You and your jokes.
73	* TeamMom: Holly. Gloria was likely this before Holly moved in.
74	* ThroughAFaceFullOfFur: Or rather, through a face full of scales in Iggy's case. Later in "Christmas Under The Umbrella Tree", he's revealed to have turned blue and he's shivering from the chilly, icy water after Jacob accidentally sprayed him with a water hose.
75	* TotemPoleTrench: In the episode "The Wedding," the three main puppets attempt to do this in Holly's bridesmaid dress with Gloria on top, because Gloria wants to see how the dress would look on her but is too small to wear it by herself.
76	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Jacob's is banana smoothies and Iggy's is turnips, especially turnip casserole.
77	* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: In "Iggy Moves Out," Iggy [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin decides to move out of the apartment]] after his friends complain about his noisy, inconsiderate behavior. He goes to live with their grandmotherly neighbor Mrs. [=McMertree=], and proceeds to be just as noisy and inconsiderate with her. So Mrs. [=McMertree=] starts acting just like Iggy and teaches him how obnoxious he's been.
78	* UncannyFamilyResemblance:
79	** Iggy has an identical cousin named Emmet.
80	** In one episode, Holly's Irish cousin Lorraine comes to visit, played by Holly Larocque in an auburn wig and glasses. Lampshaded when Iggy thinks at first that Lorraine is Holly playing a trick on them.
81	* AVerySpecialEpisode: During an episode that took place in December, "The Great Goldberg," Holly and the gang visited a new shopkeeper who [[InformedJudaism outed himself as Jewish]] by saying he was getting ready for Hanukkah. This shopkeeper is also a retired stage magician, who doesn't want to perform anymore because he thinks he's lost his touch, but Holly and friends convince him to perform again by reminding him of the Hanukkah story and its message of faith and never giving up.
82	* WordSaladTitle: The titular "umbrella tree" is a tropical plant that Gloria actually lives "under", but was rarely referenced.

Context Series / UnderTheUmbrellaTree