Line #137 WesternAnimation/MikeLuAndOg


1	[[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mikeluandog.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Ain't no burger stands, ain't no disco bands, on the island where nobody goes~"''
4	-->-- Opening theme
5
6	''Mike, Lu, & Og'' is an American/Russian animated series created by Mikhail Shindel, Mikhail Aldashin, and Charles Swensen for Creator/CartoonNetwork, serving as the network' seventh [[Creator/CartoonCartoons Cartoon Cartoon]]. The series aired from November 1999 to May 2001, running for twenty-six episodes.
7
8	When 11-year-old Michelanne "Mike" Mazinsky (Creator/NikaFutterman) is asked by her school where she would like to go as a foreign exchange student, she was mostly joking when she replied "a tropical island". To her surprise, her school is happy to accommodate that request. So, where is she off to? {{UsefulNotes/Hawaii}}? {{UsefulNotes/Guam}}? UsefulNotes/TheCaribbean? Try an uncharted island somewhere in the South Pacific, inhabited only by the descendants of the British sailors and pirates that got stranded there centuries prior, as well as some wildlife that's probably more intelligent than any of them.
9
10	While Mike is happy enough with the odd arrangement -- it's still a tropical island, after all -- she does still miss UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and all the modern staples that existed back home. Thankfully, this is a cultural exchange program, and the locals are just as interested in learning all about "television" and "apartment buildings" as she was about catching some sun and breathing non-smoggy air. And so alongside her new best friends, the island's bratty self-appointed princess Lu Bellissimo Albonquetine (Creator/NancyCartwright) and her soft-spoken inventor cousin Og (Creator/DeeBradleyBaker), Mike attempts to recreate elements of modern life, all while learning from the local culture along the way.
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12	----
13	!!Tropes:
14
15	* ActorAllusion: "Elephant Walk" wasn't the first time [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons a character played by]] Creator/NancyCartwright [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E17BartGetsAnElephant demanded an elephant]].
16	* AccidentalPublicConfession: In "Sneeze, Please", Lu purposely spread a cold to the islanders that Mike caught in a plot to get her blamed and kicked off the island. However, when Og created a cure for the cold, she lost her temper and accidentally revealed that she spread the cold.
17	--> "There wouldn't have been a cure if I hadn't spread the cold".
18	* AllAnimalsAreDogs: Lu treats Lancelot like a dog, even keeping him on a leash. The episode "Palm Pet" even has two scenes where the turtle hikes his leg in an attempt to pee on Mike's pet palm tree Petey before being pulled away.
19	* AllBalloonsHaveHelium: In the opening sequence, Lu tries to blow up an Action Guy balloon, but the air shoots back into her, causing her to inflate.
20	* AmusingInjuries: Occasionally.
21	* {{Ambiguously Brown}}: Possibly all of the islanders. They're darker skinned than Mike, have either British or American accents, and supposedly descend from a shipwreck centuries back.
22	* AndYourLittleDogToo: In "Jujubombs", Lu threatens Mike with "Give me my jujubombs OR THE TURTLE PAYS."
23	* AndIMustScream: Lu being encased in hard candy mold at the end of "Jujubombs". [[ITasteDelicious Not that she didn't like it.]] Besides, she ''can'' still speak, and it's not like she'll be there long.
24	* AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption: When Queeks attempts to teach in "A Learning Experience".
25	-->'''Queeks:''' When I was in school, I learned the most important lesson, and that lesson is- Sit still!
26	* AuthorityInNameOnly: Nobody takes Wendel, the governor seriously, mostly because he really does not have any politics to do. Ditto for "Princess" Lu.
27	* BambooTechnology: Og's inventions are often made of stuff like wood and stones because they live on an island.
28	* BarbieDollAnatomy: The natives of Albonquetine wear loincloths and skirts, but are shown to have no genitals whenever these garments are lifted or are at an angle that allows the audience to see what's underneath.
29	* BerserkButton: Don't call Mike by her real name (Michelanne).
30	* BigEater:
31	** Wendel. In the episode "Fitness Fever", after exercising and developing a buff physique, he gorged on chocolates and went back to his old self in a matter of hours.
32	** In "Jujubombs", Lu eats at least 5 candies each about the size of her head. What's more, she swallows them whole.
33	* BirthdayEpisode: Og's birthday is celebrated in "The Great Snipe Hunt".
34	* BoatsIntoBuildings: Lu and Og's houses are built from the wreckage of the ship that brought their ancestors to the island of Albonquetine.
35	* BoltOfDivineRetribution:
36	** In "Nobody's Nose", Mike, thanks to Queeks, is chased by a thundercloud until she fulfills her duty as the "nose" of the First Day Of Spring Festival.
37	** Queeks himself receives one at the end of "Flustering Footwear Flotsam" when the gods punish him for keeping the shoes to himself instead of destroying them like he promised the other Albonquetines.
38	* BreakingTheFourthWall: At the end of "Giant Steps"
39	-->'''Mike:''' You didn't expect a happy ending, did you?
40	* BrokenPedestal: Mike loses all respect she had for the nature documentary maker in "Alfred, Lord of the Jungle" once she sees what a bossy {{Jerkass}} he is.
41	* BumblingDad: Alfred spends more of his time fruitlessly hunting wombats than looking after his son Og, while Wendel doesn't do anything to curb his daughter Lu's bratty ways.
42	* ButtMonkey:
43	** Lancelot suffers countless abuse at the hands of Lu.
44	** Lu herself has had her fair share of indignities as well, though most of the time, [[LaserGuidedKarma she deserves it]].
45	* CallingYourAttacks: Margery shouts "Kierkegaard Kick!" while joining the debate in "A Freudian Slip".
46	* CaptainErsatz: Mike's favorite superhero is Action Guy, who is clearly a pastiche of Franchise/{{Superman}}, right down to wearing a cape and a red-on-blue costume.
47	* CaveBehindTheFalls: {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d in "Brave Sir Lancelot" when Mike, Lu and Og find one while looking for Lancelot.
48	-->'''Og:''' Why does it always have to be behind the waterfall?
49	* ChildProdigy: Og is a genius inventor despite being a child.
50	* ChromaticArrangement: Mike (red), Lu (green), and Og (blue).
51	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Everyone sans Mike has very unusual beliefs.
52	** {{Cloudcuckooland}}: Everyone native to the island of Albonquetine is rather bizarre and silly in behavior.
53	* CompanionCube:
54	** Mike has Petey (a palm tree) in "Palm Pet".
55	** The captain of the pirate trio occasionally talks with a pink bunny hand puppet.
56	* CoolBigSis: Hermione of the Cuzzlewit clan is notably smarter and saner than her two brothers.
57	* CreditsGag: Episodes from the second season credit the songs as being performed by the Albonquetine National Orchestra and Chorus.
58	* CreditsJukebox: Some episodes ended with original songs performed by the islanders.
59	* CultureClash: Mike is an exchange student from New York and many episodes revolve around her attempting to get the inhabitants of Albonquetine to adopt the cultures and pastimes of her home.
60	* DeadpanSnarker:
61	** Mike to a T. One of the most notable examples is her reply to Og saying why they have to save Lu in "The Good Ship Bad".
62	-->'''Og:''' It's the right thing to do.
63	-->'''Mike:''' Funny. Normally I enjoy doing the right thing.
64	** Lu can be this too. Take this exchange from "Scuba Doobie Doo", for example.
65	-->'''Mike:''' He's just coming here to deliver the mail. He'll be gone before you know it.
66	-->'''Lu:''' That's what they said about you.
67	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: In "Brave Sir Lancelot", when Og speculates on what may be threatening Lancelot, he lists several creatures and animals described as "giant", ending the list with a giant giant.
68	* TheDeterminator: Floyd from "Scuba Doobie Doo" doesn't let anything stop him from delivering the mail.
69	* DerangedAnimation:
70	** Lu's NightmareSequence from "The Three Amigas".
71	** Look at the [[http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.12/3.12pages/3.12television.php3 original concept art]] and tell me it's not one of the ugliest things you've ever seen.
72	* ADogNamedDog: Played straight with Goat and Pig of the Philosophical Society, but averted with the porcupine member, who is named Spiney.
73	* DropInCharacter: The Cuzzlewitz clan tend to appear in episodes for the sole purpose of having other characters for Mike, Lu, and Og to interact with.
74	* {{Eagleland}}: Type 2 tourists visit the island in "Crowded House". They turn out to be self-centered idiots who have absolutely no concern for the islanders' ways and belongings.
75	* EldritchAbomination: The germ monster from "Sneeze Please" is huge, green, and has limbs, eyes, and a mouth.
76	* ElmuhFuddSyndwome: Alfred pronounces his R's as W's. Bonus points for the fact he's a hunter.
77	* {{Expy}}: The designs of the characters were based on co-creator Mikhail Aldashin's shorts by Pilot Moscow in the early 90s ("Poumse" and "The Hunter").
78	* FanGirl: Mike with [[CaptainErsatz Action Guy.]] She even dresses up as him and ''lip-synchs to audio tapes'' to ward off the pirates in "Turtle Stew"!
79	* FeudingFamilies: The Albonquetine and the Cuzzlewitz clans live on opposite sides of the island and have strong animosity towards each other, though it is implied it is just for show.
80	* FishOutOfWater: Mike is a New Yorker living with island natives.
81	* FlashBack: In "Flustrering Footwear Flotsam", Mike relates to the [[FauxHorrific horrors]] of shoe shopping when she lived in New York told through still pictures. There is even [[SameClothesDifferentYear a picture of her as a toddler crying.]]
82	--> MOMMY!!! JUST LET ME GO HOME!!!
83	* FlatEarthAtheist: A minor recurring gag in the second season is Lu insisting that the Cuzzlewitz do not exist even when Hermione, Haggis, and Baggis are right in front of her.
84	* FourFingeredHands: All characters have four fingers on each hand.
85	* FracturedFairyTale: Many of them are parodied in "Sleeping Ugly", most notably Sleeping Beauty and The Princess and the Pea.
86	* FreudianCouch: On at least two occasions, people come to Queeks to tell him about their problems while reclining on some sort of couch.
87	** In "A Bicycle Built for Me", Wendel and Alfred both come to Queeks to ask him for help about their problems, which are a fear of getting hit by coconuts and the inability to catch a wombat respectively.
88	** In "Flustering Footwear Flotsam", everyone came to Queeks when their new shoes started disrupting their lives (Alfred feels he has no purpose after catching the wombat, Margery obsessed with creating "shoe portraits", etc.).
89	* FunnyAnimal: Goat, Pig, and Spiney are rather fond of discussing philosophy.
90	* GilliganCut: In "A Freudian Split", Og urges Mike to dress up as Sigmund Freud to settle Goat and Pig's feud, but she says there's no way she'll "wear a fake beard and mustache to talk to a goat and a pig". No points for guessing what happens in the next scene.
91	* GRatedDrug:
92	** Jujubombs are this to Lu in the episode "Jujubombs". She really likes eating them and her impatience in waiting for Mike and Og to make more are reminiscent of addicts dealing with withdrawal.
93	** Also in "Hot Dog" where everyone got addicted to hot dogs. There was even an [[TropaholicsAnonymous A.A.-esque meeting]] about their problems.
94	* GrumpyOldMan: Queeks tends to be rather crabby, though it's justified because he lives in a cave away from everyone else and prefers to be left alone.
95	* HandOrObjectUnderwear: In "The Hunter and the Hunted", Alfred covers himself after the wombat destroys his tree disguise even though he isn't naked.
96	* HereWeGoAgain:
97	** "For the Love of Mike" starts with Haggis and Baggis falling for Mike after seeing her fall into a mud puddle. After Mike successfully gets the two to stop pursuing her, the episode ends with Haggis and Baggis falling for Lu after she falls in the mud.
98	** The episode "Margery the Duck" has Og's mother believe she is a duck when she walks in on her son while he's in the middle of an experiment to make a duck think he is a travel agent. By the end of the episode, Margery is returned to normal, but everyone else except for Og and Mike end up thinking they're ducks because they walked in during the procedure to return Margery to normal.
99	** Subverted in "A Freudian Split". After Og finally puts an end to Goat and Pig's argument over peanut butter and jelly, they both get into another argument at the end of the episode over cream and lemons, but Pig is made to agree with Goat that cream is superior to lemons after she gets hit in the face with a pie.
100	* HighPressureEmotion: Og's face turns bright red with anger in "Hot Dog".
101	* HumansAreCthulhu: In "Losing Lancelot", while Lu is running, we're treated to a closeup of her feet to see ants running away screaming.
102	* HypocriticalHumor: When [[NeatFreak Og]] gets fed up with the others wanting hot dogs as messy as possible in "Hot Dog", what does he, a boy dressed in nothing but a loincloth, say to Wendell when he tries to order?
103	-->'''Og:''' No shoes, no shirt, no service.
104	* IDoNotLikeGreenEggsAndHam:
105	** Lu when it comes to a new modern fad. Take "Jujubombs" for example, where she states that she hates Jujubombs until she finally tastes one.
106	** And from "Hot Dog".
107	-->'''Lu:''' ''(eats hot dog)'' It stinks! ''(eats the rest of it)'' Give me more of this stuff that stinks!
108	* IfYouCanReadThis: It's only on screen for a few seconds, but the documentarian's film in "Alfred, Lord of the Jungle" is named "Truly Outrageous Aborigines" according to the clapperboard.
109	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: The pirates are always prevented by the titular trio from eating Lancelot.
110	* InflatingBodyGag: During the opening sequence, Lu tries to blow up an Action Guy balloon, but the air shoots back into her, causing her to inflate.
111	* IntellectualAnimal: Goat, Pig, and Spiney often spend their time talking about famous poets and authors.
112	* {{Jerkass}}: Lu is rather bratty and selfish and in general is the least nice of the main characters.
113	* JustOneMoreLevel: In "A Boy's Game", Og creates a UsefulNotes/GameBoy out of BambooTechnology and gets hooked on it to the point of playing it out during a ''hurricane'' and neglecting the island's defenses.
114	* KickTheDog: Lu's constant mistreatment of Lancelot.
115	* TheKidsAreAmerican: While the adults have British accents, Lu and Og speak with clear American accents.
116	* LikeASurgeon: In the pilot "Crash Lancelot", Og dons surgical wear and asks Mike for tools while he builds Lu a fancy car.
117	-->'''Og''': Congratulations. It's a car.
118	* LineageLadder: At the beginning of "Yo, Ho, Who?", when Margery shows the kids an old map of their island, she extends the "father's father" speech pattern to explain Lu's relation to his ancestor.
119	-->'''Margery:''' Drawn by the right, honorable Wendell Joshua Albonquetine.
120	-->'''Mike:''' Lu's father?
121	-->'''Margery:''' Lu's father's father's father's father's father. He founded the island.
122	-->'''Lu:''' He didn't "found" it, he crashed into it.
123	-->'''Margery:''' ''(groan)'' Shipwrecked, yes. A great man, but not a great navigator.
124	* LimitedWardrobe:
125	** At one point, Mike is shown to own several identical pairs of red sneakers - the kind she wears all the time.
126	** Ditto her red t-shirt:
127	--->'''Mike''': ''[Holding two identical shirts]'' Which of these do you think looks best?
128	--->'''Lu''': ''[beat]'' The red one.
129	* LosingYourHead: One of the ghosts in "Night of the Living Ancestors" carries around his detached head.
130	* MagicSkirt: Whenever the islanders are hanging upside down, doing handstands, or are otherwise in a position where the parts of their bodies their loincloths and grass skirts cover should logically be uncovered, said loincloths and skirts usually stay down somehow. Even when we do get to see what's underneath, the islanders have BarbieDollAnatomy anyway.
131	** Same with Mike. The end of an episode has her bedridden with her leg in a cast and elevated with a weight. When the weight gives heavier, it pulls Mike up and hangs her upside down with her skirt staying where it is.
132	* MultiCharacterTitle: The names of the characters Mike, Lu, and Og are in the title.
133	* MythologyGag: Co-creator Mikhail Aldahin's short film "Poumse", the partial inspiration for the show, was about a salesman who came to sell his items to a group of island natives. This was eventually reworked as "The King Of Curtains".
134	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: In "Hot Couture", Og contemplates what he'll wear for Mike's fashion show. While Lu wears Goat like a fur boa, Alfred wears live snakes, Wendel wears ostrich feathers, Margery wears a huge skirt and a crab in her hair, and Queeks wears seaweed, Og's ultimate decision is to take off his loincloth, the one article of clothing he wears at all.
135	* NiceMeanAndInbetween: Og is the nice, creating inventions to make Mike feel at her old home, Lu is the mean, being self-centered and demanding, and Mike is in between, as she tries to adapt to her new home.
136	* NoNameGiven: The nature documentary maker in "Alfred, Lord of the Jungle" is never given a name.
137	* NotInFrontOfTheParrot: "Repeat After Me" has Mike get in trouble when Wendel's parrot Skipper repeats her criticisms in front of the islanders.
138	* NotSoInnocentWhistle: Og does this in "A Freudian Slip" after throwing pies at Mike, Pig, and Goat.
139	* TheOneWhoWearsShoes: Mike is a rare human example. She wears shoes while everyone else on the island goes barefoot.
140	* OnlySaneMan:
141	** Mike, being from the city, is more knowledgeable and sensible than everyone else on the island.
142	** Og, Queeks, and the animals to a lesser extent, though this usually [[DependingOnTheWriter depends on the episode]].
143	* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: In "The Hunter and the Hunted", Mike tells Alfred that he's the best hunter she's ever known. Alfred replies that he's the only hunter she knows.
144	* APirate400YearsTooLate: The island has a trio of pirates who are the shipwrecked descendants of the pirates who shipwrecked the island's other inhabitants.
145	* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: The three pirates never really do anything pirate-like, due to no longer having a ship. The closest would be their attempts at stealing Lancelot to make turtle soup from him.
146	* PoliticiansKissBabies: "We the People" uses a variant involving baby animals where Mike kisses a piglet. Wendel's attempt to score points by kissing a baby porcupine doesn't go so well.
147	* RightBehindMe: In "Night Of The Living Ancestors", Lu is badmouthing her deceased Aunt Lulu, calling her a [[HypocriticalHumor "self-centered, old hag".]] Guess whose ghost was behind her.
148	* RoyalBrat: Lu believes that the fact she is a princess entitles her to always have her way.
149	* SayMyName: Lu frequently screams Lancelot's name whenever he leaves her sight.
150	* SanitySlippage:
151	** Mike goes nuts over the Albonquetine inhabitants' inabilities to understand how baseball works in "Sultans Of Swat".
152	** Og in "Hot Dog" when he goes berserk over Mike's insistence that hot dogs should be prepared and eaten messily.
153	* SceneryCensor: In "Fathers and Pies", Og ends up naked when blasted out of his lab by his father's bumbling. His genitals are covered by pieces of machinery when this happens.
154	* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Queeks is elderly and doesn't give anyone his respect.
155	* SeriousBusiness: Mike with baseball.
156	-->'''Og''': Hey, it's only a game.
157	-->'''Mike''': Only a game? ONLY A GAME?!? Baseball is not only a game! Baseball is THE game!
158	* ShaggyDogStory: In "Giant Steps", Wendel told everyone that a giant is on an annual rampage and Queeks gets Mike to fetch three things (a shark's tooth, a spider web, and and eggshell) to keep the "giant" away. However, it turned out that the giant story was metaphorical for the rainy season and that Margery had the objects the whole time, revealing that Mike had to go get those things for nothing.
159	* ShortRunner: By any standard, but also for a cable cartoon series.
160	* SmallNameBigEgo: Lu constantly brags about being the best at everything, being a self-entitled brat. This never ends well for her.
161	* {{Smurfing}}: When Mike starts hallucinating from lack of hot dogs in "Hot Dog", she sees the other characters as hot dogs that say "hot dog" in place of every other word. "We can get along just hot-dog without hot-dog."
162	* SpringtimeForHitler: In "For The Love Of Mike", the Cuzzlewitz boys [[AbhorrentAdmirer go crazy for Mike]] and her attempts to drive them away get them even more attracted to her. And that included cooking terrible food and covering herself with ''[[{{Squick}} bat guano!]]'' She finally gets them away by [[UnwillinglyGirlyTomboy wearing a dress and putting on perfume.]]
163	* StrongFamilyResemblance:
164	** The Albonquetines (sans Margery) all have buck teeth. Likewise, the Cuzzlewitz have buck teeth from the bottom set.
165	** The ghosts from "Night Of The Living Ancestors" looks like older versions of the islanders.
166	* SuddenAnatomy:
167	** In "The Three Amigas", Mike suggests that she, Lu, and Hermione paint their nails. In the next scene, they suddenly have visible and painted nails.
168	** Same goes for Lu when she told Mike to trim her toenails in "To Serve Lu".
169	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: In "A Learning Experience"
170	-->'''Lu:''' There are no other kids in this class! And if there were other kids, and I'm not saying that there are, they would not be Cuzzlewitz. ''[[FantasticRacism Because no one in their right mind would be caught dead with a Cuzzlewitz!]]''
171	* TakenForGranite: While planning a party in "Jujubombs", Lu gets coated with hard candy by Mike and Og (since they're sick of her [[GRatedDrug jujubomb addiction]]), and becomes her own centerpiece.
172	** A nice aspect is that she doesn't really mind, licking her own lips to taste all the candy she wants.
173	* ThemeInitials: Mike's [[spoiler:former]] friends from New York are named Melissa and Max.
174	* ThemeTuneRap: The EndingTheme is a rap about the things you won't find on the island:
175	-->''"Ain't no cars, no phones, ain't no parking zones, ain't no chaperones, ain't no leprechauns..."''
176	* ThisExplainsSoMuch: In "The Great Snipe Hunt", Mike quips that it explains a lot after being told that the Albonquetine rite of passage involves hitting oneself in the head with a rock.
177	* TomboyishName: Mike is usually a boy's name. Justified in that Mike's real name is the more feminine Michelanne, but she hates being called that.
178	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Mike is more interested in the superhero Action Guy than anything girly, while Lu is all about being a princess.
179	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Mike is revealed to like hot dogs in "Hot Dogs", Lu becomes addicted to a candy known as jujubombs in "Jujubombs", and the three pirates always try to capture Lancelot because they've gone so long without turtle soup.
180	* TropicalIslandAdventure: The series is set on a tropical island known as Albonquetine.
181	* TwoShorts: Every episode consists of two 10-minute shorts.
182	* UnstoppableMailman: Floyd from "Scuba Doobie Doo" doesn't let anything stop him from delivering the mail, [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass despite being]] [[TheDitz a ditz.]]
183	* UseYourHead: When Lu tries to think of a plan to put her face on the island's new currency in "Money", she says to herself "Use your head", giving her the idea to ram her head into the printing press.
184	* VagueAge: We don't know Mike's age, but most articles say she's around 11 or 12. Subverted with Lu and Og; Lu is revealed to be 10 in "High Rise", while Og turns 7 in "The Great Snipe Hunt".
185	* VitriolicBestBuds: Alfred and the wombat he tries to hunt occasionally act friendly towards one another when the former isn't chasing the latter.
186	* VocalDissonance:
187	** The Albonquetines dress in faux-Polynesian attire, but speak in proper British accents. Justified, as their ancestors were British. Strangely, Lu and Og speak with more American dialects.
188	** Zig-zagged with the Cuzzlewitz. Haggis and the more intelligent and proper Hermione both speak in Scottish accents, while Baggis sounds exactly what you'd expect an uncivilized native to sound like.
189	* WalkThisWay: In "Yo Ho Who", the captain leads the kids to treasure and as the captain follows what the map says, the kids follow what he says.
190	* WildChild: The Cuzzlewitz kids Haggis and Baggis are notably less civilized than the Albonquetine natives. Subverted with their sister, Hermione, who is more erudite and well-mannered than her brothers.
191	* WithFriendsLikeThese: Mike says this at the end of "Scuba Doobie Doo" after learning that her friends from New York known as Melissa and Max have chosen to abandon her since she first arrived to the island.

Context WesternAnimation / MikeLuAndOg