Line #33 WesternAnimation/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKids


1	[[quoteright:257:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/butch.JPG]]
2	-> ''"Travelin' around all over the world\
3	Solvin' every mystery\
4	Puttin' it together with the Sundance Kids\
5	You're somethin' else, Butch Cassidy"''
6
7	''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids'' is a Saturday morning cartoon produced by Creator/HannaBarbera Productions in 1973 for Creator/{{NBC}}. The show features several FollowTheLeader elements [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer that are often bungled online.]] The FiveManBand is designed to fit similar roles to ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou''. However, the way band travels around the world foiling schemes and the nature of the people they apprehend makes the actual show more like a cross between ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats'' and ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest''. The show itself depicted the adventures of a teenybopper rock group - led by heartthrob Cassidy, who - while eluding fans - worked undercover with his bandmates as a team of teenage secret agents (Butch, Merilee, Steffy, Wally, and Wally's dog [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis]]), solving mysteries and apprehending criminals.
8
9	The teen musical sleuths were advised by a supercomputer named Mr. Creator/{{Socrates}}, who, strangely enough, was highly allergic to fleabag Elvis. So when the group visited Mr. Socrates for their latest assignment, Elvis was always made to stay outside the lair. But in each episode, either Elvis would find his own way in, or Wally - forgetting Mr. Socrates' allergy - would for one reason or another bring Elvis into the lair. Either way, Elvis' presence would cause the supercomputer to violently sneeze, blowing the group out of the lair and off to their assignment (in one episode the mere mention of Elvis' name aggravated Mr. Socrates' allergy!).
10
11	Cassidy (designated as "Sundance 1") wore a special ring with a hidden communicator to keep in contact with Mr. Socrates from afar. When they performed their music, Butch sang and played lead guitar, Merilee played tambourine, Steffy was on bass guitar and Wally was the drummer.
12
13	The series title is a word-play on the title of the unrelated 1969 film ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid''.
14
15	Micky Dolenz, formerly the drummer and most commonly used singer of Music/TheMonkees, provided the voice of Wally, drummer for The Sundance Kids.
16	----
17	!!'''The series provides examples of:'''
18	* BandToon: They are a band, and this is a cartoon.
19	* BeachEpisode: "The Pearl Caper" has Merilee and Butch go to the beach and switch into swim wear. "The Super Sub" does the same for Steffy and Wally.
20	* BeepingComputers: Mr Socrates is an excellent example of how this trope was codified.
21	* BluffTheImpostor: In "Double Trouble" the kids use rock trivia to find out which Prince Taki is the real one. Given the prince is a big rock fan and the imposter has no clue. For example, Wally asks him who drummer of ''Music/TheBeatles'' is and turns it into a trick multiple choice question. The imposter screws it up so badly, his answer is "George Harris' son."
22	* CelebrityMasquerade: An incredibly popular teen pop group who are secretly [[TeenSuperspy Teen Superspies]] travel the world playing gigs as cover for their espionage activities.
23	* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase
24	* CounterfeitCash: In "The Counterfeiters", Butch and the gang are booked at an alpine lodge in Latvania while they secretly search for the source of counterfeit $20 bills.
25	* DeathGlare: Happens sometimes, usually from Steffy to Wally after some bad joke.
26	* DependingOnTheWriter: In the manual Steffy and Wally are siblings, and in some episodes this is briefly mentioned such as Steffy calling him "brother of mine". That being said in another episode she refers to Wally's mother as "his mother," and in "The Haunted Castle" this relationship is not mentioned at all when Wally is the one to receive an inheritance. (Unless there's been some misreporting there and they are instead supposed to be ''step'' siblings.)
27	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Given the spy nature of the show most of the other agents we meet are only known by some kind of spy lingo nickname. Most notable among the various contacts the stars meet OncePerEpisode.
28	* ExtremeSportsPlot: In "Road Racers", Butch and the gang trace black market diamond thieves and discover they're using a cross-country racing driver to smuggle the gems out of Italy.
29	* FakeBand: Literally. It’s their cover.
30	* {{Fanservice}}: Butch, Merilee, Steffy and Wally all invoke this. They appear in swimwear twice during the show's one season within three different episodes. It's also notable as far as 70s Hanna-Barbera teen characters go that Steffy and Merilee's beachwear designs were among the least covering.
31	* GreenAroundTheGills: Wally turns thoroughly green on a roller coaster in "The Gold Caper." It's established in an earlier episode that he also gets seasick and airsick.
32	* GroupieBrigade: Butch and company are often mobbed by groupie fans.
33	* LargeHam: Elvis sometimes. In "Double Trouble" Wally and Steffy want him to fake ill to call a vet. Elvis acts as if he's practically got the plague.
34	* LaughTrack: As per usual with [[TheSeventies early 70s]] Hanna-Barbera standard.
35	* MasterOfDisguise: Merliee sometimes dons a random get up in the line of the mission.
36	* MissionBriefing: It's why they go to Mr. Socrates.
37	* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous:
38	** Elvis and Mr. Socrates.
39	** Butch himself is an odd example sharing the name with a real life outlaw. While never outright expressed in the show the band name is probably intended an in-universe pun based on this trope. Out of universe, it's too late to say DontExplainTheJoke.
40	* OnceAnEpisode: Some way or another, Mr. Socrates will start sneezing whenever Elvis sneaks into the mission room, and at one time even when Butch petted Elvis before accepting a call on his ring.
41	* OrientExpress: In "Orient Express", Mr. Socrates interrupts the band's vacation to give them their next assignment: deliver a top-secret formula to their Paris headquarters via the Orient Express.
42	* PetsHomageName: Elvis
43	* PlotAllergy: Mr. Socrates' is dogs. Guess what Elvis is.
44	* TheReveal: Used in the end of the first episode where we learn the scientist the group had come to rescue, is the creator of Mr. Socrates.
45	* ScoobyDooHoax: Utilized only in one episode "The Haunted Castle", much less than some would have you believe.
46	* ShoePhone: Butch's ring.
47	* SpoofyDoo: A team of youngsters traveling around the world with their dog and solving mysteries.
48	* TheSpymaster: Again, Mr. Socrates
49	* TeamPet: Elvis
50	* TeenSuperspy: A very good example of this trope before it would boom in later years.
51	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Steffy and Merilee.
52	* UnexpectedInheritance: Wally receives an old castle from an Uncle he never knew in "The Haunted Castle".
53	* YouMeddlingKids: While not the normal type, they still are young people saving the day.
54	----
55
56	-->''"I pick that ax, and then I get a call,''
57	-->''Some bad guy is gonna take a fall/''
58	-->''One by one we're gonna meet them all,''
59	--> ''and solve that mystery...''
60	-->''Come along with me, Butch Cassidy...!"''

Context WesternAnimation / ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKids