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6
7->''"We have to be good to bugs. All bugs."''
8-->-- '''Miss Spider'''
9
10''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends'' (2003-2009) is a Canadian [[AllCGICartoon computer-animated series]] [[PreschoolShow aimed at preschool audiences]] and based on a popular series of books by American children's author David Kirk. The show was developed by Creator/{{Nelvana}} for Creator/{{Teletoon}} and Creator/TreehouseTV, which both aired it in Canada. In the United States, the series originally aired on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} during its Nick Jr. block; from 2008 to 2009, several unaired episodes were burned off to the sister channel Creator/{{Noggin}}.
11
12The series features is set in tranquil Sunny Patch, a miniature forest town in the woods built out of common forest items and inhabited by talking insects, arachnids, and other creepy-crawlies. The focus of the show is the Spider family, made up of a "fruit spider" named [[MamaBear Miss Spider]] and her musician husband [[MellowFellow Holley]], as well as their eight children, composed of five spiderlings named [[BrattyHalfPint Squirt]], [[CuteBookworm Spinner]], [[GenkiGirl Pansy]], [[TheBabyofTheBunch Snowdrop]], and [[NervousWreck Wiggle]], and three adopted "buglets" -- a dragonfly named [[{{Jerkass}} Dragon]], a jewel beetle named [[DeadpanSnarker Shimmer]] and a bedbug named [[{{Keet}} Bounce]]. The young bugs have adventures around Sunny Patch, frequently interacting with the other arthropod denizens of their community while also learning various life lessons, with the most important being the one Miss Spider and Holley always remind them: "Be Good to Bugs."
13
14The series began with the PilotMovie ''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids'' that aired on Teletoon on March 31, 2003, with the TV series arriving in September 7, 2004. The show ran for 3 seasons and 43 episodes (plus 1 special), with Season 3 making a ChannelHop to Treehouse TV. You can find them all on [=YouTube=], thanks to Nelvana and its Treehouse Direct channel. [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUIixndCOJ8xcSkdMLxt8VdnxKJt2hDAV See them all here!]]
15
16----
17!!''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends'' provides examples of the following tropes:
18* ActorAllusion: This [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney ain't the first time]] Tony Jay played a villain with {{yandere}} tendencies, though this time, he's a lot less scary about it.
19* AdaptationDistillation: Many stories from the show were released in the numbered series ''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Library''. Some were released as 8 x 8 paperback books and others as large picture books in the style of the original books. These are all generally well done, but being picture books, they simplify the plots of the stories.
20* AllCGICartoon: Debuting the same year as ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'', this was one of Nelvana's first all-CGI offerings.
21* AllOfThem: In "Hum Bug," after Spiderus takes berries for himself that Bounce had asked him to deliver for the Earwig family, he has a nightmare in which he keeps taking everyone's berries. They chastise him for being selfish, asking him just how many berries he needs. "''All'' of them," he insists repeatedly, swiping berry after berry until finally wakes up, realizes it was a nightmare, and decides to make up for his real-life selfish action.
22* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: Includes a brightly pink jewel beetle and spiders of all colors
23* AnatomyAnomaly: Bedbugs are insects, yet Bounce walks on only two legs.
24* ArtisticLicenseArachnids: Most female spiders eat their mates, yet Holley and Spiderus are still alive. This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] because it's a preschool show, and in Miss Spider's case, it's {{Hand Wave}}d by the fact that she's a vegetarian.
25* AsideGlance: At the end of "Eight Legs Up," a beetle repeats his statement to Snowdrop that she has a lot of legs. "Yeah," she says, "give it a try," and then she gives a definite wink at the camera. The opening sequence even has Miss Spider ''herself'' winking at the camera during the show's title card.
26* AwardBaitSong: ''The Prince, the Princess and the Bee'' has "You Are Much Richer Than You Know," which was even performed by Canadian popular artist, Margo Timmins, as Miss Spider, unlike the other songs in the series, which are all performed by the characters' normal voice actors.
27* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Squirt, Shimmer and Bounce at the end of ''The Prince, the Princess and the Bee''
28* BackhandedApology: Squirt and Shimmer do this to each other in "Stumped" after having a fight over a hollyberry. Holley demands that they stop fighting and apologize to each other. "Sorry your ugly scarecrow won't have a head," shouts Squirt and Shimmer retorts "And ''I'm'' sorry that you're the world's worst berry thief!" Later, the two apologize to each other for real after they cool off and realize the pettiness of their earlier behavior.
29* BigBad: Spiderus starts out as this, but it doesn't last.
30* BigEater: Bounce, though one time was nervous about eating when it came to trying new foods.
31* {{Bowdlerize}}: In the pilot, Mr. Mantis was a priest rather than a teacher. Hence being a praying mantis. His role was changed in order to comply with Teletoon and Nickelodeon's secular preschool standards.
32* BumblingDad: Spiderus, once he and Spindella hatch their own little Spiderlings. Spiderus tries to be a perfect parent, but has to learn from Miss Spider and Holley that there are no perfect parents. Additionally, he often tries to show off in misguided attempts to impress his children.
33* CarnivoreConfusion:
34** This is a big one. Miss Spider and her entire family are all vegetarians, either by design or choice. Spiderus often threatens to eat other bugs when he is grumpy or annoyed, though it is unknown if he has actually ever done so. Additionally, an entire special was devoted to a frog named Felix who ate only berries and other plants because he found the taste of bugs awful.
35** And then there's Mr. Mantis. RealLife praying mantises are famous for their strictly carnivorous diet, and they will eat almost anything, including spiders.[[note]]If you think about it, a praying mantis could make for a great villain towards Spiderus.[[/note]] ''This'' mantis, however, completely throws all of that out the window in favor of a CoolOldGuy art teacher. What ''he'' eats is anyone's guess.
36* CartoonyEyes: The page for this trope features an image of several of the characters from this program, and for good reason-- there are both characters on this show with life-like insect eyes and ones with cartoon eyes. Some consider it to be rather unsettling.
37* CastHerd: Given that there are eight kids, kind of inevitable. Squirt and the three adopted bugs (Shimmer, Dragon, and Bounce) are really the focal characters; the other spiderlings tend to show up as a group.
38* CatchPhrase: Be Good to Bugs.
39* CatharticCrying: In "[[Recap/MissSpidersSunnyPatchFriendsS1E11WhatATangledWebCryBuggie Cry Buggie]]", Dragon convinces Squirt that [[MenDontCry "big bugs don't cry"]]. When Squirt injures one of his legs, he tries desperately to hold his tears in. During the soccerberry tournament, his parents come to comfort him and tell him it's okay to cry. While Squirt lets himself sob, a sudden rainstorm cancels the game. As the family goes back inside the tree, Dragon is revealed to be crying over the cancellation. Squirt comforts him and teaches him the lesson their parents had taught Squirt:
40-->'''Squirt''': Big bugs ''do'' cry, when they need to.
41* CharacterInTheLogo: There are two versions of the show's logo. One of them features a goofy-looking sun, the other features Miss Spider herself.
42* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The hair bows used by the twins.
43* CrankyNeighbor: Spiderus, though he mellowed greatly the longer the series continued. This may indicate that he is actually a {{Jerk With a Heart of Gold}}.
44* CrushBlush: Squirt blushes very brightly when Sweetie the cockroach gives him a kiss on the cheek at the end of "Country Bug-Kin".
45* DarkerAndEdgier: A few parents complained that the special ''The Prince, the Princess and the Bee'' went a bit too far with this with a fire-spitting fire and some drama involving danger in a hot-air balloon, but it really isn't too much of a slide.
46* ADayInTheLimelight: Since Squirt and the adopted bugs were really the main characters most of the time, the other kids tended to get side-episodes dedicated to them--such as one revolving around Pansy and Snowdrop's musical aspirations.
47* DescriptionCut: In "Secret Frog," Spiderus comes into the Hollow Tree shouting about a new frog family in Sunny Patch and sowing fear. He then describes how he had an encounter with one of the frogs and how he faced it bravely, "Horrible as it was, I stared that frog right in the eye!" Cue flashback...
48-->'''Spiderus''': (''sobbing, covering his eyes'') Is it... is it gone?
49* DidntThinkThisThrough: In the episode "Wiggle's Squiggles", after unsuccessfully trying to paint a realistic-looking daisy, Wiggle glues a real daisy to a piece of paper, completely forgetting about his father's allergy to daisies. As a result, Holley sneezes and exposes the picture to be a fake.
50* DiurnalNocturnalAnimal: Played with - Eddy Earwig attends school during the day but is usually tired because he's nocturnal.
51* DreadfulMusician: Pansy proves to be one of these in "Sing It Sister"... [[spoiler: Unless she duets with her twin Snowdrop, in which case, the two of them sound pretty good together.]]
52* DudeLooksLikeALady: Squirt has long eyelashes, and even wears a ''pink'' flower on his head.
53* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the pilot movie ''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids'', Miss Spider is regularly referred to by her first name of Flora by those who aren't her children. In the television series, she is always "Miss Spider." Also, Dragon's eyes were a much darker blue and Spiderus had sharp teeth.
54** Holley is also more cowardly in the pilot movie than he is in the tv series.
55* EasilyForgiven: Spiderus tries to kill Holley in the pilot (for the second time if the books are canon). However given Miss Spider is an AllLovingHero, she and Holley forgive him.
56* ElmuhFuddSyndwome and ThirdPersonPerson: In "All Pupa'ed Out," Cookie the caterpillar matures out of both in the space of just a couple days.
57* EvilSoundsDeep: "Evil" is probably not the right word, but Spiderus is an antagonistic character who has the delightfully deep voice of the late Tony Jay.
58* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Stinky the stinkbug
59* ExpositoryThemeTune: "To the Hollow Tree, a family on wings and strings and floaty things / Coming home for hugs-- Be Good to Bugs!"
60* [[FloralThemeNaming Floral Theme]] [[ThemeTwinNaming Twin Naming]]: Pansy and Snowdrop.
61* FriendshipSong: "Fly Away Friends" has the song "Bug Buddies."
62-->'''Squirt''': ''Some have wings / Some have strings / We can do all kinds of things''
63-->'''Dragon''' ''Racin' bees''
64-->'''Shimmer''': ''Or tickling fleas''
65-->'''Squirt''', '''Dragon''' and '''Shimmer''': ''It's way more fun / When it's done in threes / Bug buddies, bug buddies, We're best bug buddies!''
66* FriendToAllChildren: Miss Spider, who has a particular weakness for orphans, being one herself. In "All Pupa'ed Out," when Squirt and Shimmer want to take care of Cookie the caterpillar, simply learning that Cookie is an orphan is enough to make Miss Spider melt and give in to the request.
67** FriendToBugs
68* {{Foreshadowing}}: Several hints are dropped as early as "Big Bad Buggysitter" that Spindella and Spiderus are going to become parents.
69* FriendlyNeighborhoodSpider: The series stars the kindly Miss Spider, who adopts three insect children along with raising her own five spider kids. There is another spider character, Spiderus, who starts out as a bad guy, but becomes more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold as the series goes on.
70* GoodFeelsGood: In "Hum Bug," Spiderus poo-poos the idea of the "Dream Bug," and reneges on his deal with Bounce to deliver berries to Eunice Earwig, who has sprained her ankle, for her solstice morning breakfast. After having a nightmare, his wife Spindella asks him if he's even done one good deed, and he says there's still time and leaves to deliver the berries. He returns home and has a dream in which he is praised to the heavens for being so helpful. That morning, when he wakes up, he finds that his dream is real - Bounce and Eunice are outside the home and Eunice is delighted at his good deed and invites him and Spindella to her breakfast.
71* GreenEyedMonster: Spiderus was this towards Holley in the Pilot, since he was also in love with Flora and was jealous that she chose Holley over him.
72* HalloweenEpisode: Though as is so often the case with shows like this, they called it something else-- Bug-a-Boo Day
73* HappilyAdopted: One of the major points of the series, stemming straight from the original books. Miss Spider herself was adopted and later adopted Bounce (a bedbug), Dragon (a dragonfly) and Shimmer (a jewel beetle.) A later episode features Stinky and Whiffy adopting Grace the ladybug.
74* HenpeckedHusband: Any of Spiderus's [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold darker impulses]] are generally kept well in check by his sweetie-bug, Spindella, who clearly has him well under her eight legs.
75* HoldYourHippogriffs: A number of different phrases are used as "bugspeak," including "mayfly-day," "honey-bug," "bugging out" and, wait for it... "hold your horseflies."
76* IAmWho: True of Dragon, Bounce and Shimmer, but particularly Shimmer. In ''The Prince, the Princess and the Bee'' she goes on a quest to discover if she is, perhaps, a long-lost jewel beetle princess.
77* InformedSpecies: You really just have to take the show's word for it that Bounce is a bedbug. He only has two legs and basically looks like a giant blueberry head on top of them with two antennae. An actual bedbug is a normal brownish insect with six legs.
78* InstantlyProvenWrong: In "Ground House Rules," Betty Beetle comments that her grandbugs are all on their best behavior. Gus agrees that they're "quite as larvae." Immediately Dragon and Bounce are heard shouting and shown gallivanting through the room, Dragon riding Bounce and calling "Giddyup, horsey!" They then knock against the table, spoiling the adults' card game.
79* InterspeciesAdoption: Bounce, Dragon and Shimmer are respectively a bedbug, dragonfly and jewel beetle adopted by a family of spiders. Miss Spider was adopted by Betty Beetle as a child. In "Little Ladybug Lost" and the follow-up "A Beetle-ful Family," Stinky the stinkbug and his sister Whiffy adopt a ladybug named Grace.
80* ItsOkayToCry: This is the lesson taught in the episode "[[Recap/MissSpidersSunnyPatchFriendsS1E11WhatATangledWebCryBuggie Cry Buggie]]", where Dragon convinces Squirt that "big bugs don't cry", causing Squirt to hold in his tears when he gets hurt and has to stay home from a sports game he was supposed to be playing in. Eventually, Miss Spider finds him watching the game from far away and tells him that even big bugs cry sometimes when they need to, likening it to how clouds produce rain when they can't hold any more water.
81* IveHeardOfThatWhatIsIt:
82** In "The Listening Walk," Miss Spider tells Wiggle, Squirt, Dragon and Bounce that the Firefly Ballet is about to start. Bounce shouts "Ballet! Ballet! Ballet!", then asks what a ballet is.
83** In "The Marin Rose," Spiderus is cast as the king in Miss Spider's story of ''The Marin Rose''. He summons his Knights of the Round Toadstool, portrayed by Miss Spider's children, to fetch the Marin Rose, but warns them that the quest will be filled with "pitfalls and perils." Bounce shouts "Huzzah!" and Squirt tells him that pitfalls and perils are dangerous things. "They are?" he asks. "Can I take back my huzzah?"
84** In "Big Bad Buggysitter," Spiderus tells the kids that he'll grace them with a "nocturnal narrative" if they're good and get to bed. Bounce hops up and down and shouts excitedly about the idea of a "nocturnal narrative," then asks what this is. Spiderus explains that it's a bedtime story.
85** In "Be Good to Bugs... and Frogs," Felix hops up and down excitedly in the Cozy Hole at the idea of breakfast. Miss Spider tells him to calm down, that it's just berry cakes and honey. "Honey! Yum!" he says, then asks what exactly honey is.
86* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Spiderus comes to this decision in the Pilot when he talks to Flora and realizes how much she loves Holley and how happy he makes her.
87* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: As mean and pessimistic as he is, Spiderus is a genuinely good guy deep down.
88* LoveAtFirstSight: Miss Spider & Holley, Spiderus & Spindella
89* MenDontCry: Subverted in "[[Recap/MissSpidersSunnyPatchFriendsS1E11WhatATangledWebCryBuggie Cry Buggie]]", in which both Squirt and Dragon learn that "Big bugs do cry, when they need to."
90* MouseWorld: Sunny Patch. Though no humans are seen, they are implied to exist in the pilot movie.
91* MurderTheHypotenuse: In the pilot, ''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids'', Spiderus actually tried to '''''kill''''' Holley so that he can finally have Flora for himself. Thankfully he gets better.
92* NeverSayDie: In the pilot, Miss Spider mentions that her original mother "didn't stick around long enough to meet each other", and did you know that all spider moms die before their babies are born?
93* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Bounce is the only bug whose teeth are perpetually visible, while Spiderus and his family have a human like face.
94* ParentsAsPeople: Miss Spider and Holley aren't portrayed as perfect parents and neither are Spiderus and Spindella once they become parents. As early as "Family Circus," Miss Spider is shown making a mistake when she admits she jumped to conclusions regarding Squirt's actions.
95* PilotMovie: The series originally began with a film, which covers Miss Spider and Holley's wedding, the birth of their spiderlings, and the adoption of Bounce, Dragon, and Shimmer.
96* PlayingSick: The episode "The Bug Flu" is based around Dragon doing this.
97* PlotAllergy:"Wiggle's Squiggles" reveals that Holley is allergic to daisies.
98* PostKissCatatonia: In "Country Bug-Kin", Sweetie kisses Squirt before leaving Sunny Patch, which lives him standing still, blushing, and with huge eyes.
99* ThePowerOfFriendship: "Bug buddies, bug buddies, we're best bug buddies!"
100* RealMenWearPink: Squirt is a male spider who wears a pink flower on his head.
101* SaveTheVillain: In the pilot movie ''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids'', Spiderus tries to smoosh Holley and ends up taking a nasty fall for it. Miss Spider immediately declares that they have to help him.
102* ScoutOut: Squirt, Bounce, Shimmer, Dragon and Snowdrop are part of the Bug Scouts. Mr. Mantis is the leader, though their father Holley takes over the role in one story when Mr. Mantis is injured.
103* SecretIdentity: Squirt, who quite accidentally creates himself his own superhero outfit and becomes "Captain Sunny Patch"
104* SingleMindedTwins: Averted with Pansy and Snowdrop, though the whole thing is pretty weird. All of Miss Spider's children were hatched at the same time, so the only way in which these two are really twins is that they look alike. They wear different colored bows to distinguish themselves and have very different personalities and voices. Interestingly, in the original film, they wore purple and pink bows, but in the TV series, Snowdrop's was changed to green to provide greater distinction between them.
105* SmugSnake: Spiderus is so much this that his character profile on Nick Jr. even lampshades it.
106-->"Spiderus is a [[{{Wangst}} whiney]], [[ManipulativeBastard conniving]], [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] arachnid. His dastardliness is [[EvilIsHammy over the top]] and [[LaughablyEvil completely laughable]]. He lives with his new wife Spinderella in a crack at the bottom of the Hollow Tree. He's a heckler who taunts and torments everyone with empty threats that he'll eat them up. Even though he [[EvenEvilHasStandards would never follow through with his threats]], the kids go to great lengths to sneak by his door without being noticed."
107* SpaghettiKiss: A variation appears in the episode "[[Recap/MissSpidersSunnyPatchFriendsS1E11WhatATangledWebCryBuggie What a Tangled Web]]", where the spiders eat some leftover webs. Miss Spider and Holley end up slurping on the same web strand, which causes them to kiss by accident.
108* SpringySpores: In "A Little Slow", the children are seen bouncing on the tops of mushrooms while on their nature hike.
109* TheStinger: In ''The Prince, the Princess and the Bee'', the ants Ned and Ted try to get Miss Spider to bring them home a sweet treat from Mushroom Glen, but aren't successful. The closing credits show them trying Stinky's awful cowpies, but deciding that they don't want them.
110* StockAudioClip: Examples include Holley's "Well, you know...", before stating a fact to the kids, and the pillbug's gasping sound.
111* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: In "Be Good to Bugs... and Frogs," the Spider family gathers around Felix the frog to hide him when Beetrice pays a visit to the Cozy Hole. She asks if they've heard what the buzz is, and they say that they haven't. Bounce agrees, telling her, "This is our sofa, not a frog."
112* TalkingAnimal: The entire cast. There are no human characters, or even characters with human-like physical features.
113* TalkingInYourSleep: In "Country Bug-Kin," Bounce mutters "Chocolate, yum," while snoring after a city cockroach named Sweetie is blown into Sunny Patch and tells him and the other children about chocolate and other city foods.
114* ThatCloudLooksLike: Squirt and Shimmer do this when they're forced to be together on a tree stump in "Stumped!"
115* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Miss Spider and Holley. TruthInTelevision, as this is usually the case with spiders.
116* TwoTimerDate: Subverted from the normal way of the trope in "The Thinking Stone." Squirt is scheduled to attend both Lil' Sis's hatchday party and a tuber tuba parade. After finding his own special thinking stone, he solves the problem by inviting Lil' Sis to attend the parade as part of her hatchday celebration.
117* VegetarianCarnivore: Felix the frog, who chooses to only eat berries instead of bugs.
118* VerbalTic: "Anybuggy, everybuggy, somebuggy..."
119* VillainousCrush: Spiderus towards Flora Spider in the Pilot. Though it's actually Subverted since he's not '''''actually''''' a villain at all, [[AllLoveIsUnrequited he's just hurt and sad that the spider he is in love with loves somebody else.]]
120* WhyAreWeWhispering: In "Basketberry Blues," Dragon and Squirt pull a trick to make Spinner think that he's good at basketberry by tying low-visibility spider silk around the basketberry and having Spinner take off his glasses so that he can't see that it's rigged so that it always goes in the basket. He thinks he's so good that he'll try out for the basketberry team. That evening, the rest of the kids discuss that they can't let him do this in hushed voices. Bounce, however, isn't in on the trick and asks why Spinner shouldn't try out when he's really good, then asks "Why are we whispering?" Dragon explains in a normal voice, unfortunately, right as he's in the process of doing so, Spinner shows up.
121* WoundedGazelleGambit: Spiderus pretends to hurt his leg in "The Bug Flu" to get out of doing work.
122* {{Yandere}}: Spiderus's unrequited love for Flora in the Pilot shows shades of this, the most evident being that he was willing to '''''kill her husband Holley''''' in order to finally have a chance with her.
123* YetAnotherChristmasCarol: Featured in the story "Hum Bug," the title of which is a pun on Scrooge's oft-used phrase. This version focuses on Spiderus, who thinks that the idea that one must do a good deed for someone else or they won't be visited by the dream bug is "Hum Bug."
124* YouAreGrounded:
125** ''Miss Spider'' has its own twist on this one-- "Stumped!" When Shimmer and Squirt have an argument, they are placed on a tree stump and told that they've been "stumped" and they can't leave until they resolve their argument.
126** In "Fungus Among Us," Wiggle figures that he'll be grounded after admitting having brought a mushroom into the Hollow Tree, the result of which being spores spread everywhere and a bunch of mushrooms growing. He is instead sentenced to help in the ongoing chore of cleaning Sunny Patch of mushrooms.
127* YouGetMeCoffee: In "Secret Frog," Dragon, Bounce and Pansy join Spiderus's Sunny Patch Anti-Frog Squad as junior members. They ask what the first thing they can do for him is.
128-->'''Spiderus''': Fetch me a berry, I had a light breakfast.
129

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