Line #136 WesternAnimation/AdventuresFromTheBookOfVirtues


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/book_of_virtues_747.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Tell me a story/Read me a poem\
4	Wrap it in melody/Sing me the song\
5	Then let me hold it/Deep in my heart\
6	Where it can speak to me all the day long\
7	The adventure of virtue/The adventure of truth\
8	The thrill of the knowing that it's up to you\
9	Building a new day shining in the sun\
10	This is my story/The adventure has begun..."''
11
12	''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0227868/ Adventures from the Book of Virtues]]'' is an American TV series that ran from September 2, 1996 to November 2000 on Creator/{{PBS}}. Based on the bestselling morality book ''The Book of Virtues'' by [[CausticCritic William J. Bennett]] (who also conceived this series), which was an anthology of fables, legends, historical speeches, and literary excerpts, it follows the adventures of 11-year-old Zach Nichols and 10-year-old Annie Redfeather as they run into typical ethical issues facing normal kids... and their TalkingAnimal friends at Plato's Peak are there to help them solve their problems with stories from The Book of Virtues.
13
14	The inhabitants of Plato's Peak are:
15	* Plato, a bison, voiced by Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson
16	* Socrates (also known as "Sock"), a bobcat, voiced by Creator/FrankWelker
17	* Aristotle (also called "Ari"), a prairie dog, voiced by Creator/{{Jim Cummings\|1952}}. Keeper of the Book of Virtues.
18	* Aurora, a hawk, voiced by Creator/KathSoucie (who also voices Annie)
19
20	This is the first television series from [=PorchLight=] Entertainment, as well as the first prime time animated series for PBS. It is dedicated to teaching life lessons to kids, such as of courage, faith, honesty, loyalty, compassion, gratitude, responsibility, perseverance, self-discipline, and friendship. For a TV series, the animation uses quite an advanced movie quality, giving most of the designs a {{Disneyesque}} art style.
21
22	Has episodes borrowing plots from Literature/AesopsFables, Literature/TheBible, Literature/TheOdyssey, etc.
23
24	Check out [[Characters/AdventuresFromTheBookOfVirtues the Characters page]] and [[Recap/AdventuresFromTheBookOfVirtues the Recap page]].
25
26	----
27	!!''Adventures from the Book of Virtues'' provides examples of:
28
29	* AdaptedOut: The story of Esther depicted in "Loyalty" removes the eunuch Harbona, and Esther is instead the one to tell the king of the gallows Haman had secretly constructed for Mordecai.
30	* AgelessBirthdayEpisode: There's one for Zach called "Gratitude." He's still 11 in this episode.
31	* AnachronismStew: In "Loyalty", the story of Esther depicts Haman setting up a gallows for Mordecai which looks decidedly more modern than what the gallows would have looked like during Biblical times.
32	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * AnimationBump: Happens frequently.
33	* AnthropomorphicZigZag: Plato often shifts back and forth between all fours and two legs.
34	* AntiEscapismAesop: "Moderation" has the problem being that Zach watches too much TV at once at the expense of his obligations and hobbies. It can some off as somewhat of a "Too much TV", which is a little hypocritical when you consider that the aesop is delivered via a TV show (and to the characters via storybooks... another form of escapism). However, the episode notably never says that TV itself is inherently bad-- it's just that he's doing it ''too much''. It comes off as much ''much'' less hypocritical than the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode about TV.
35	* ArgumentOfContradictions: Annie [[NeverMyFault accusing Zach of causing her bike accident]] results in a "Yes you did!" "No I didn't!" "You did too!" argument between them until Plato stops them from bickering. Then it's [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] when Plato tells Annie that arguing with a friend isn't the right answer to an accident.
36	* ArtEvolution: The animation design in season two has been changed, noticeably streamlining the designs on Zach and Annie to make them look a little like teenagers, in addition to darkening the backgrounds a bit and making the cells lighter. Finally, in season three, the animation quality is a little less smooth than the first two seasons and also added black outlines on the characters, even though the backgrounds are lighter again and the character designs are completely unchanged.
37	* ArtShift: Depending on the tone of the story segments, stories about historical or Biblical figures will feature realistic animation while fables will have a cartoony look, plus comedic stories will have a wacky style to the drawings and others will have stylistic designs.
38	* BabysittingEpisode: The plot point of the episode "Selflessness", in which Annie was forced to babysit her toddler cousins, skipping a trip of hers.
39	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * BagOfHolding: Ari's bag of books.
40	* BedlahBabe: The Djinn from the segment "How the Camel Got His Hump" in the episode "Work". (There's also a couple in the same segment, fanning the Man who the Horse, the Dog, and the Ox encountered.)
41	* BerserkButton: Don't touch and break Zach's dad's camera.
42	** Never climb on Zach's elderly friend Mr. Cleveland's plaque and break it.
43	** Also, don't insult a friendly junkyard man named Jake in "Respect."
44	* BinocularShot: When a binocular or spyglass is used by the characters in some episodes.
45	* BlindingCameraFlash: This happens to Zach at the beginning of "Honesty", when he touches his dad's camera and accidentally breaks it.
46	* BoltOfDivineRetribution: At the beginning the first episode "Work", a raging thunderstorm occurs, so everyone rushes to the cave--except for Sock, who just sits on a branch of a tree. When told by Plato that the tree isn't very safe to sit on during thunders, Sock disagrees, thinking the tree is very safe. Cue a lightning strike hitting the branch he's sitting on, and thus he falls on the ground.
47	* BreakingTheFourthWall: On occasion; near the end of "Honesty" (2000), Sock appears in front of the screen and talks directly to the audience right after Zach accepts Annie's apology letter.
48	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * BrokeEpisode: "Self-Discipline", "Generosity", "Integrity", "Charity" and "Honesty" (2000).
49	* CallBack: In "Trustworthiness", Zach's backpack is found by Sock, who digs into it looking for something. This makes Zach toss the backpack away and shoo him, causing it to spill its contents. Zach gives his lunch bag containing a sandwich to Annie and quickly packs them up in frustration but Annie immediately eats his sandwich, which leads him to accuse her of eating it. Then Annie holds out another bag containing a sandwich, making him happy. This is later repeated at the end of "Honesty" (2000) where Zach and Annie are having a picnic, but Sock steals Zach's bag of sandwiches, which makes Zach angry. Then Annie holds out another bag of sandwiches and Zach turns pleased again.
50	** Also, the first "Self-Discipline" is about Zach's desire to buy a video game with his mom refusing to let him. [[{{Irony}} The second one has him playing a video game at the beginning]].
51	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * CatsAreMean: Sock.
52	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * CatsAreSnarkers: Sock.
53	* CharacterFocus: Almost every episode would focus on either Zach or Annie back and forth. However, the first episode focuses on Sock.
54	* ChasedOffIntoTheSunset: Aristotle chases after Socrates at the end of the episode "Moderation", after Socrates eats the remaining cookies in the jar.
55	* ChickenJoke: The "Honesty" episode has Aristotle telling the joke "Why did the bobcat cross the road? To bother somebody ''else'' for a change!"
56	* ChristmasEpisode: "Tales of Compassion" (2000), a two-part episode.
57	* ClipShow: The ending of "Wisdom", where Annie and Zach tell recaps of their previous adventures.
58	* ClutchingHandTrap: This happens to Sock in "Moderation", when he tries to take a cookie out of the jar Zach gave him.
59	* ConspicuouslyLightPatch: While early episodes avoid this trope, other episodes seem to use it a lot. Especially noticeable is that the dirt could be colored lighter if animated.
60	* CoversAlwaysLie: The logo of the series, which depicts a lineup consisting of black silhouettes of the main characters standing against a red background with the show's title underneath them, along with a large yellow "jungle" font (reminiscent of the ''Jurassic Park'' logo) for "ADVENTURES", seems like it would fit well for an action/adventure series, but the actual show itself is more about characters telling Christian values, fairy tales and other famous stories.
61	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * CreditsMontage
62	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * DeadpanSnarker: Most of the characters, though Sock and Ari are the most prominent.
63	* DeathByFallingOver: In “Faith,” Annie’s neighbor Ruth died by falling and hitting her head on a rock. Annie is stunned that her lifelong older friend, who had such deep religious faith, died so suddenly and in such a senseless way.
64	* DeathGlare: In "Honesty", Plato does one to Sock in response to Sock's terrible pun.
65	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * {{Determinator}}: The kids in "Determination."
66	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * DeusExMachina: Many of the kids' problems were solved in this way.
67	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * {{Disneyesque}}
68	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample? how is this aversion notable? * {{Disneyfication}}: Generally averted with most of the stories.
69	* DivingSave: Sock does this to Annie in "Responsibility" after Annie falls off her bike and slides down the cliff.
70	* DontTouchItYouIdiot: In "Honesty", Zach's dad tells him not to touch his old fashioned camera. But then when Zach ignores what he said and touches it, he accidentally breaks it.
71	* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: During the ChristmasSpecial, this is Annie's response to seeing the state of her business in the BadFuture that serves as the climax of the adaptation of Literature/AChristmasCarol.
72	-->'''Annie''': My business... ''closed!'' Did I retire?
73	* DreamSequence: In the two-part ChristmasSpecial, Annie has several of them in which she's a female [[Literature/AChristmasCarol Ebenezer Scrooge]] (named Annie Scrooge) because, in the first part, she was in a bad mood and finally criticized her classmates (and Zach) while they're setting up the Christmas Carol play.
74	* DroppedGlasses: Happens to Ari in "Trustworthiness", for most of the episode.
75	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The three-part primetime premiere, broadcast on September 2-4, 1996, didn't have a funding credit for public television viewers, and each episode ended with the P-Pals logo instead of the general PBS logo later first-season episodes and later rebroadcasts of the primetime premiere episodes, which did feature the Viewers Like You credit, had.
76	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample, too unspecific * EarnYourHappyEnding: The kids receive this in every single episode.
77	* EpicFail: Sock is often prone to this trope due to his [[TheKlutz clumsiness]].
78	** At the beginning of "Generosity", Zach was carrying a load of canned goodies for donation. Sock walks in feeling sleepy and accidentally ''bumps into him'' making the cans ''fall on the ground'' burying him and roll down, and even one of them rolls down into one of Ari's tunnels. Then the kids went on to gather up the cans in boxes.
79	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * EpisodeFinishesTheTitle: Oh so much.
80	* EskimosArentReal: Sock thinks Mt. Rushmore doesn't exist.
81	* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Some of the episodes.
82	* EveryEpisodeEnding: Plato or Aurora reciting a few of the lines from a famous poem.
83	** Plus an original song will play after the reciting of the poem.
84	* FacePalm: Zach's dad in "Honesty", after he sees his camera broken by Zach.
85	** Zach himself also does it in one episode.
86	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: In "Courage", Annie has to race with another girl at the school field. As they run, they jump over a hurdle, even though Annie trips over it and falls flat on her face and the other girl wins making her lose. Annie gets upset because of this, pounding on the track with tears coming out of her eyes.
87	* FantasyHelmetEnforcement: The kids always wear helmets every time they ride their bikes.
88	* FeudEpisode: Several. Here are a few examples:
89	** In "Self-Discipline", Zach has an argument with his mother for not buying a video game and letting him get an allowance.
90	** In "Respect", Annie and Zach were angry at Jake, the junkyard man who let them find parts of his go-kart.
91	** In "Generosity", Zach and Annie get into a heated argument over which name to choose for their picnic campaign. They're just being generous, according to Plato.
92	** In "Patience", Annie loses her patience with a younger classmate during a school contest.
93	** In "Honesty" (2000), Zach is mad at Annie for not letting him pay her fifteen dollars, so they argue for a while until Annie decides to write a trustworthy letter to him.
94	** At the beginning of "Integrity" (2000), Zach lies in the class by telling them his dad's Egyptian replica of a school report he's taking, which makes Annie so furious at him.[[invoked]]
95	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample ** The Christmas special.
96	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample ** "Responsibility."
97	* {{Forgiveness}}: Almost every episode, most notably "Responsibility."
98	* FormerFriendOfAlphaBitch: At the beginning of "Friendship", Annie's "new friend" is a strange girl named Sarah who constantly teases her, so she stops being her friend.
99	* FourLegsGoodTwoLegsBetter: Plato walks on all fours, but Sock and Ari usually stand on two legs.
100	* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: The animals.
101	** '''The Realist''': Plato.
102	** '''The Cynic''': Ari.
103	** '''The Optimist''': Aurora.
104	** '''The Apathetic''': Sock.
105	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * FramingDevice
106	* FurryConfusion: Besides the main animal characters, some episodes have non-anthropomorphic animals show up when Zach/Annie isn't at Plato's Peak. Some examples include a dog that Zach plays fetch with in "Loyalty", Jake's pet dog in "Respect", and two squirrels that Zach mistakes for Sock and Ari in "Determination."
107	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * FurryReminder: The animals at Plato's Peak.
108	* GangOfBullies: The Wolf Pack in "Humility" (2000).
109	* {{GASP}}: Annie has one in "Honesty" (2000) right after she yells, "Fine!" at Zach, who [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leaves angrily]].
110	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * GentleGiant: Plato.
111	* GravityIsAHarshMistress: Invoked by Sock in "Respect", when he climbs on the bookshelf and sees a book titled ''[[ShapedLikeItself Gravity]]''.
112	-->'''Sock:''' Hmm. Gravity. (''falls'')
113	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample, dual-trope entry * GreatBigBookOfEverything[=/=]PortalBook: The Book of Virtues itself, kept by Ari.
114	* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: In the episode "Charity", Plato is seen wearing only a large white sheet around his body, and Ari and Sock are only wearing green and blue jackets respectively, due to the snow. However, in another episode involving snow, "Humility" (2000), they lack these clothes, just as in all other episodes.
115	* HappilyEverBefore: In "Courage", "Theseus and the Minotaur" conveniently ends before Theseus loses Ariadne to Dionysus and King Aegeus commits suicide because he mistakenly believes Theseus is dead.
116	* HighPressureEmotion: Happens to an angry Sock in "Respect" after Ari taunts him by grabbing his nose.
117	* HurricaneOfPuns: Occurs in "Honesty."
118	* TheHyena: Sock always laughs maniacally. For example, in "Honesty", when he hears Plato say "big picture" and thinks it's funny (inducing a LamePunReaction from Plato), and later in "Loyalty", when he watches Ari with his binoculars.
119	* ICantLookGesture: In "Wisdom", Ari does this near the end just as Sock was about to take the honey from the beehive.
120	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode title is basically the name of a virtue that was explained in every episode.
121	* ImpossibleHourglassFigure: Annie's mother.
122	* ImpossibleShadowPuppets: There's one done by Sock at the beginning of "Determination."
123	* InterspeciesFriendship: Zach and Annie (both humans), Plato, Aurora, Sock and Ari.
124	* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Basically the premises of the two "Perseverance" episodes.
125	** In the first one, Zach and Annie give up on their guitar and karate lessons respectively, because Zach said that playing a guitar is boring and Annie said that karate is very hard. At the end of the episode, after being told stories with the episode's virtue, the kids get over their problems and happily revisit the two topics.
126	** In the second one, Annie was racing with Zach on their bikes in the woods, but gets outrun by him when he wins the race and becomes so disappointed about it that she wants to quit. Later on, Annie tries racing with Zach again after resolving her problem and somehow manages to outrun him.
127	* LamePunReaction:
128	-->'''Sock:''' "Big picture?!" (''laughs'') Camera joke, right?
129	-->'''Plato:''' (''DeathGlare'')
130	-->'''Sock:''' ...[[ToughRoom Guess not]].
131	* LimitedWardrobe: The kids. Usually, Zach wears a yellow shirt and blue jeans, while Annie wears a pink shirt and lighter pants.
132	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy
133	* MagicalRealism: Zach and Annie are ordinary kids living in an ordinary small American town going to an ordinary school, who just so happen to have talking animal friends.
134	* TheMentor: Plato, to the kids.
135	* MistakenForQuake: [[PluckyComicRelief Bobcat Socrates]] mistaking [[MoleMiner Aristotle]]'s [[RunningGag digging]] for an earthquake twice.
136	** In "Courage":
137	--->'''Zach:''' ''(to Plato)'' Yeah, well, it sure found ''you'' scared!
138	--->'''Sock:''' ''(comes up while Zach and Plato are laughing)'' Did somebody say scared? I don't know the meaning of the word. [[MilesGloriosus Nothing, I repeat]], [[MilesGloriosus NOTHING scares me]].
139	--->''(the ground beneath him rumbles and he jumps as the earth shoots up spiraling toward him)''
140	--->'''Sock:''' AAAHHHHHH!! EARTHQUAAAAAKE!!
141	--->'''Ari:''' ''(Sock finally falls over, he emerges)'' What's going on?
142	--->'''Zach:''' ''(laughing with Plato)'' Sure, nothing scares ''you''!
143	** In the second episode about moderation:
144	--->'''Sock:''' It's a miracle he gets in or out without starting an earthquake. ''(yelps in startlement as a crack shows up in the ground then Ari airs, dislodging several things with him)''
145	--->'''Sock:''' See what I mean?
146	--->'''Plato:''' Not at the moment.
147	--->''(Sock and Annie laugh at the handkerchief that landed on his face)''
148	* MuckingInTheMud: At the beginning of "Self-Discipline", Annie and Zach were walking on mud while they enter Plato's Peak.
149	** In one scene of "Moderation", Sock is seen stepping in a puddle of mud, much to Ari's annoyance.
150	* MultiPartEpisode: The ChristmasEpisode.
151	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample, character page material * NaiveEverygirl: Annie.
152	* NegativeContinuity: The episodes do not seem to take place in linear fashion; no character speaks in memoriam of a previous incident, and there is no intimation that the kids act based on a previously referenced virtue.
153	* NeverMyFault: In "Responsibility", Annie blames Zach for her bike accident, but he keeps telling her that he didn't ask her to race. This leads to an argument between them.
154	** Later in "Integrity", Annie tries blaming Zach for making her sell their weather vanes really fast, but it was actually the fact that she cut the corners.
155	** In one scene of "Trustworthiness", Zach doesn't believe Annie for taking his sandwich and eating it.
156	* NicheNetwork: ''The Kids' Movie Channel'' in "Moderation" (2000).
157	* NonHumanSidekick: The ''[[Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk Zach and the Beanstalk]]'' story on "Courage" (2000) gives Zach a fast-talking white field mouse named Samuel J. Fieldmouse.
158	* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: In "Responsibility", Annie falls off her new bike after crashing into a rock because she accidentally races with Zach (while actually delivering her mom's cakes), but is eventually saved by Sock from hitting the ground.
159	* ObstacleSkiCourse: The plot point of "Humility" (2000).
160	* OhCrap: In "Responsibility", the animals get this look when they see Annie racing towards the rock.
161	** Zach also has one at the beginning of "Compassion", when he sees that his neighbor's house is in flames.
162	** Then in "Courage", Sock does this by screaming when a spiral (which he thinks is an earthquake) is being dug around him and Ari pops out underneath him.
163	** The characters may have this reaction during some of Sock's {{Epic Fail}}s.
164	** Ari in "Charity", when Sock is about to shove a giant snowball on top of him.
165	* OncePerEpisode: Each episode has the animals telling the kids [[SeparateSceneStorytelling a classic story that accompanies the episode's virtue, whether it is a fairy tale, a folk tale, a tall tale, a fable or a myth]].
166	* PlatonicLifePartners: Zach and Annie.
167	* PlayingATree: Not an inanimate object, but in the first part of the "Compassion" Christmas episode, during a school play based on ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', Annie apparently got cast as Ebeneezer Scrooge by her teacher because she yells at her classmates for not making up their minds.
168	* PluckyComicRelief: Sock and Ari. Especially Sock.
169	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample, character page material* PluckyGirl: Annie.
170	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: This line in "Responsibility" after Annie realizes that her own bike and delivery cakes have been wrecked in her accident:
171	-->'''Annie:''' The cakes are ruined! (''to Zach'') And it's! All! ''Your''! Fault!
172	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: WordOfGod confirmed that the plot of "Courage" is based on creator Bruce D. Johnson's hurdle incident when he was a kid.
173	* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: Out of the four animal characters, Plato, Sock and Ari are named after three famous Greek philosophers. Also, Aurora is named after [[Myth/ClassicalMythology the Roman goddess of dawn]]. Occasionally, Plato [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this in "Courage":
174	-->'''Ari:''' Talking brave and being brave; they're two different things.
175	-->'''Plato:''' Aristotle, you're as eloquent as your namesake, the great philosopher.
176	* RightInFrontOfMe: At the beginning of "Perseverance", the kids let Sock use their binoculars so he can see Plato's Peak using it, but then Plato steps up in front of him and asks Sock what is he looking at. This startles Sock, who [[SecurityCling jumps into Zach's arms screaming]] as Annie catches the binoculars.
177	* RunningGag: Ari popping out of the ground accompanied by a ScreenShake, which often startles a character (usually Sock).
178	* SayMyName: Done by Zach in "Responsibility" when Annie hits a rock on her bike and goes flying.
179	* SceneryPorn: Most of the backgrounds for the episodes had the quality of paintings.
180	* SecurityCling: See RightInFrontOfMe.
181	* SentOffToWorkForRelatives: In "Selflessness", Annie is sent by her parents to work at her younger cousins' house.
182	* SeparateSceneStorytelling: Happens OncePerEpisode (see above).
183	* SequelEpisode: Of a sort. The episode "Responsibility" features the story "Icarus and Daedalus" while the later episode "Courage" features the story "Theseus and the Minotaur." Of course, those are closely linked stories in Myth/ClassicalMythology. Note that in the original myths, King Minos imprisoned Daedalus ''after'' Theseus slew the Minotaur, but ''The Book of Virtues'' reworks the stories so that "Theseus and the Minotaur" comes off as a sequel to "Icarus and Daedalus." Also, both feature Creator/TimCurry as the voice of King Minos.
184	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * SeriousBusiness: Zach's dad's camera in "Honesty."
185	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample ** Mr. Cleveland's plaque in "Loyalty."
186	* SesameStreetCred: The characters in the story segments are voiced by such big names as [[Creator/EdwardAsner Ed Asner]], Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, Creator/EdBegleyJr, Creator/TimCurry, Creator/ShelleyDuvall, Creator/ElijahWood and Creator/MarkHamill.
187	* ShooOutTheClowns: This happens twice to Sock: Once in "Perseverance", where he only shows up at the beginning; and again in "Courage" (2000), where he goes away when Ari (who has been toned down during this part) tells Zach the story of ''Zach and the Beanstalk''.[[note]]However, this trope excludes Samuel the mouse, the story character.[[/note]] Also, he's completely absent in "Responsibility" (2000).
188	* ShoutOut:
189	** Plato often recites Creator/RudyardKipling and other famous authors.
190	** At the beginning of "Perseverance", when the kids tell Sock that Plato's Peak looks just like Plato, he reminds them "Next you'll be tellin' me there's a mountain in South Dakota that looks like four presidents!" He's actually referring to Mount Rushmore.
191	** In "Honesty", during the ''Frog Prince'' story, the frog at one point says: "[[Film/TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre Badgers? We don't need no stinking badgers!]]"
192	** When a new kids' movie cable channel arrives in "Moderation" (2000), ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' were mentioned in the letter that the cable company sent to Zach's family. Also, at the beginning of the episode, ''Film/TheBlackStallion'' was seen as one of the movies playing on the channel.
193	* SparedByTheAdaptation: The season 3 episode on "Humility" includes a retelling of the legend of Pecos Bill where the title character is able to save Slue-Foot Sue before her accident on their wedding day causes her to bounce all the way to the Moon.
194	* SpeakInUnison: Sometimes used by the characters.
195	* SplitScreenPhoneCall: Done between Zach and Annie at the beginning of "Moderation" (2000).
196	* TalkingAnimal: The animals at Plato's Peak.
197	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * ThoseTwoGuys: Sock and Ari.
198	* TitleConfusion: Some people think the show was called "''Tales'' from the Book of Virtues" or "''Stories'' from the Book of Virtues." Neither of these titles are true.
199	* TitleMontage: The opening contains clips from early episodes of the first season, mostly combining them as WelcomeTitles of the kids entering Plato's Peak and meeting the animals for the first time. However, the last few shots in the intro are exclusive.
200	* TodayXTomorrowTheWorld: In "Humility" when Annie boasts to Zach about her presidency at school, she says "Yeah, who knows? Today the school, tomorrow...the world!" This is then lampshaded when Zach replies, "What about the whole universe?".
201	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample, character page material * {{Tomboy}}: Annie.
202	* ToughRoom: Averted most of the time with Ari and especially Sock, when they constantly crack a joke or have an injury, and then the other characters (such as the kids) ''[[ActuallyPrettyFunny laugh at the animals' humor]]''.[[note]]Though sometimes, the latter plays this straight.[[/note]]
203	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * TwoForOneShow
204	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample * VitriolicBestBuds: Zach and Annie, type 2.
205	* WatchOutForThatTree: At the end of "Humility" (2000), Sock slides down the snow hill on a snowboard and accidentally crashes into Ari, resulting in both of them rolling into a HumanSnowball, and finally, they (especially Sock) crash into a tree.
206	* WelcomeTitles: The intro combines StockFootage of each kid discovering Plato's Peak from the earliest episodes.
207	* WhatTheHellHero: Zach and Annie will frequently give each other these type of speeches though how deserved they are varies from episode to episode.
208	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: Almost every episode ended with footage of one of the kids getting more used to the virtue of the day after having solved their problem.
209	* WholePlotReference: ''[[Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk Zach and the Beanstalk]]'' in "Courage" (2000).
210	* YetAnotherChristmasCarol: The two-part ChristmasEpisode "Tales of Compassion" (2000), which centers on Annie trying to get a SchoolPlay of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' replaced, only to be visited by the spirit of author Creator/CharlesDickens. A reenactment of the book with Annie in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge ensues.
211	* YouAreGrounded: Zach gets this treatment from his parents in "Moderation" (2000) because he's gone overboard watching the Kids' Movie Channel with Annie.

Context WesternAnimation / AdventuresFromTheBookOfVirtues