Line #86 WesternAnimation/TheSecretShow


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/secretshow4.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFtJDIfXdq4 Run...The Secret Show!]]]]
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4	''[[SelfDemonstratingArticle Hello there, you cutesy-wutesy little troping friends, Sweet Little Granny here, and welcome to... the Fluffy Bunny Show! Shall we sing our song?]]''
5
6	''Hmm? Okay!''
7
8	''Fluffy fluffy bunnies, bouncing in the woods, Fluffy fluffy bunnies, bounci--''
9
10	''--[[WeInterruptThisProgram Sorry Sweet Little Granny, but this wiki page is needed urgently!]]''
11
12	''Clear?''
13
14	'''Clear!'''
15
16	''[[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere Describe... The Secret Show!]]''
17
18	----
19	''The Secret Show'' (2006-2007) is either an incredibly silly SpyFiction cartoon... or a ruthless parody of Martini Flavoured SpyFiction. It's probably both. Any trope that gets even within a mile of this show tends to end up getting subverted, deconstructed or parodied. Like all good children's comedy shows, it can raise a smile in adults too.
20
21	The show follows top U.Z.Z. agents Victor Volt and Anita Knight as they thwart the various threats to earth's security, supported by DaChief whose name is [[CodeName Changed Daily]], always to something embarrassing and/or silly, and U.Z.Z. chief scientist Professor Professor. The most common foe is Doctor Doctor's T.H.E.M. and its [[{{Mooks}} Expendables]]. Other foes are the Impostors, a race of (probably) worm-like aliens who have special suits that allow them to assume perfect disguises; the Reptogators who live 60 miles below the surface of the Earth and are naturally stupid[[note]]they have terrible eye sight, so they track people down by the smell of dirty teeth. They only become intelligent by sucking out the brainwaves of other creatures (most are too stupid to know this, however)[[/note]]; and the Floaty Heads, aliens with floating heads who, according to the website [[MotiveDecay seem to want something different every time they show up.]]
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23	The format of each 15 minute episode [[StrictlyFormula is fairly regular and consistent]]. We start with Special Agent Ray clearing the time slot of The Fluffy Bunny show, run titles, have the briefing including [[OnceAnEpisode Changed Daily's new name of the day]], fight the often utterly ridiculous foe (with extra briefings as needed), and then close with a de-briefing. The show lasted for two series, consisting of 52 episodes in total, and won two Children's [=BAFTAs=] in 2007 for "Best Animation" and "Best Interactivity".
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25	Originally a British creation airing on Creator/TheBBC, this is among Creator/{{Nicktoons}}' independently-funded acquisitions it made in the later part of the [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000s]], along with ''WesternAnimation/KappaMikey'', ''WesternAnimation/SkyLand'', ''WesternAnimation/ShurikenSchool'', ''WesternAnimation/EdgarAndEllen'', ''WesternAnimation/RickySprocketShowbizBoy'', ''WesternAnimation/ThreeDelivery'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Wayside}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/MakingFiends''. The current distribution rights are with Universal, however. The show itself was produced by Creator/CollingwoodAndCo.
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27	The show is something of a hard prey to track down, rather appropriately, for collectors, due to lack of a reprint of the [=DVD=] collection, and can only really be [[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bogie-Ball/dp/B00FZS12RC/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+Secret+Show&qid=1631816110&sr=8-1 found on Amazon Prime]] legally.
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29	Now has a [[Recap/TheSecretShow Recap page in progress]]. Move specific episode tropes to their episode pages.
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31	Definitely ''not'' to be confused with [[Creator/CliveBarker ''The Great and Secret Show'']].
32	----
33	!!Tropes used include:
34	* AlliterativeName: Among others:
35	** '''V'''ictor Thomas Jefferson '''V'''olt
36	** '''P'''rofessor '''P'''rofessor
37	** '''D'''octor '''D'''octor
38	** '''M'''aestro '''M'''aestro
39	** '''F'''rau '''F'''rau
40	** '''A'''ssistant '''A'''ssistant
41	** '''St'''acy '''St'''ern
42	* AlliterativeTitle: The '''S'''ecret '''S'''how.
43	* BaitAndSwitch: In ''The Secret Thing'', U.Z.Z. Headquarters is put under {{Lockdown}} when Professor Professor finds out that someone is going to steal the Secret Thing. To get in, Victor has to show Ray, one of the agents, his pass. The joke is set up so that, because of his own incompetence, Victor doesn't have his pass and he has to trick Ray into letting him by (with one of the gags being convincing Ray that their (made up) children are best friends). [[spoiler:Then the real Victor shows up with his pass, the first Victor being an [[{{Shapeshifter}} Imposter]], and [[WhatTheHellHero calls Ray out on being so easily tricked]]]].
44	* BattleOfTheBands: The "World Anthem", which has T.H.E.M. attempt to hypnotize the world through song.
45	* BeneathTheEarth: The Imposters and the Reptogators both live there; the Reptogators inhabit a lair 60 miles below, while the Imposters occupy a vast network of caverns 90 miles below.
46	* BerserkButton: The early episode villain Robert Baron HATES to be deceived, a fact he is quick to angrily express.
47	* BigBad: Doctor Doctor causes the most grief for U.Z.Z. and its agents in comparison to any other villain they've faced..
48	* ButtMonkey: Victor seems to be a mild case of this until he gets that temporary lucky gene; [[StatusQuoIsGod it's cancelled out by the end of the episode when everyone gets it]].
49	** To a lesser extent, Changed Daily.
50	* CatchPhrase: Oh so many, from Professor Professor's "Totally untested und highly dangerous!" to the Impostors' "Ding Badoo!"
51	** Professor Professor calling at a bad time while shouting ''"Victor. Are you still alive?"'', with Victor always shouting ''"Yes, I'm still alive!"'' back in frustration.
52	** Changed Daily's '''"CODE CUSTARD! CODE CUSTARD!"''' when something goes wrong.
53	* ChekhovsGun:
54	** The red button on the chairs in the very first episode become useful later in that episode.
55	** Also that little switch in the back of the briefing room: one episode has Victor wondering what it does; he flips it, and the entire base is sent careening underground (apparently it kept the UZZ base locked in place or something).
56	** Also the spider occasionally seen crawling around in the briefing room. In the episode ''Secret Spider'' it is revealed that it is actually a robot piloted by tiny aliens with the purpose of spying on UZZ, though the aliens help foil the Impostor's plan of freezing the UZZ headquarters.
57	* ConstantlyChangingName: The chief of U.Z.Z has to have his name changed every day for security reasons. Being an animated comedy, his name is always something [[UnfortunateNames extremely silly and embarrassing]], such as Princess Daintycakes, Auntie Norbett, or the truly ridiculous Flobba Wobba Bobba Bobba Bobba Bobba.
58	* CouchGag: Special Agent Ray's method of evicting Sweet Little Granny from the opening time-slot, and in each episode, it's always something different.
59	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Victor is still a highly-trained U.Z.Z agent, so he's still very good at what he does, he's just got a lot of bad luck.
60	* CuttingTheKnot: Nearly every time a locked door and keypad appear, there is a request to enter a complicated and time-consuming code or input, to which the heroes usually respond by blowing up the keypad, [[DestructionEqualsOffSwitch which always inexplicably opens the door]].
61	* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage:
62	** At the beginning of "The Secret Thing", Victor and Anita are singing the show's theme song (as they usually do during the title sequence). It ends up being a plot point [[ChekhovsGun later on]] when Victor is confronted with two Anitas (the real one and an Imposter) and he uses it to [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay determine the real one.]]
63	** In "The Thing That Goes Ping", at an island in the Bermuda Trapezoid, Anita and Doctor Doctor have a dance-off to win the trust of the island's leader. The band's choice of music is the theme tune.
64	* DifferentInEveryEpisode:
65	** The chief changes his name in each episode for security reasons, and it's usually something really embarrassing.
66	** The evicting of Sweet Little Granny is different each episode.
67	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the first episode, when a security breach happens, U.Z.Z issues a Code Red. Later episodes would see UZZ use the more comedic "Code Custard", "Situation Celery", and "Code Cauliflower".
68	* EvilIsPetty: After Victor and Anita go undercover in "Mission to Monkey Nut Island", Victor gets up and starts shouting ideas out at how to defeat U.Z.Z at a competition, and Doctor Doctor thinks all of his ideas were amazing. Later on, Doctor Doctor reveals that she knew Victor hadn't turned turncoat and went along with the ideas out of curiosity, and she promptly restrains him. One of Victor's ideas had moths eat Changed Daily's moustache:
69	--> '''Victor:''' Oh you kept that bit!
70	--> '''Doctor Doctor:''' Pointless, but amusing.
71	* EvilVersusEvil: With both the Reptogators and the Imposters living underground (at distances of 60 and 90 miles, respectively), you knew they were gonna clash at some point; the moment comes when Victor sends the UZZ base crashing through both their lairs (see ChekhovsGun above).
72	* FunWithAcronyms: It's '''U.Z.Z''' versus '''T.H.E.M'''.
73	* FutureBadass: Victor in "Victor of the Future," although the "terrible future" aspect of the trope doesn't seem to be present. He now has Changed Daily's role and his daily codenames are much less embarrassing.
74	* HarmlessFreezing: On more than one occasion members of UZZ or even the whole UZZ base get frozen (usually due to The Imposters).
75	* HypocriticalHumor: Practically OnceAnEpisode, Professor Professor asks Victor if he's still alive. In the episode where their roles were reversed, Professor Professor berated Victor for asking the question.
76	* IAteWhat:
77	** Anita eats an alien. Everyone else in the world (except vegetarians) ends up doing the same thing twice by the episode's end.
78	** During an investigation, Victor and Anita find a weird white paste-like substance. While Anita analyses it with a handheld device, Victor looks at it, smells it [[FingertipDrugAnalysis and tastes it]] while saying it's peppermint toothpaste, he chokes as if he's swallowed a deadly poison after Anita's device's results come back and she's reading off a list of dangerous-sounding ingredients. Turns out it ''is'' peppermint toothpaste.
79	* IHaveManyNames: Changed Daily is known as such because his name is, well, "changed daily". [[UnfortunateNames Each new name tends to make people laugh at him]]. Here are but a few of his glorious names to be used over the series:
80	** Mummy Dearest.
81	** Pong Piffle Paws.
82	** Fluffy Tummy.
83	** Pineapple Chunks (this name was recorded in advance in the event Changed Daily was ever captured).
84	** Snortington Fairyshoes.
85	** Pooky Wooky.
86	** Spicy Onion Dip.
87	** [[Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}} Rumpelstiltskinny]].
88	** Princess Daintycakes.
89	** Flobber Wobba Bobba Bobba Bobba Bobba (he's not particularly happy about that one).
90	* InterspeciesRomance: Dabbled with between Victor and an alien princess, in the episode where the Floaty-Head Aliens steal the solar system, and again with U.Z.Z. agent Lucy Woo and an animatronic hamster.
91	* {{Jerkass}}: You would think that Professor Professor would bother to test his experiments, rather than just wait for Victor to need them, but apparently not. Professor Professor always seems intent on screwing around with people, even when it would really be inappropriate (like in the middle of a life or death situation). He's implied to be even more of a jerkass in the future. In "Victor of the Future," when his future self is asked by present Victor what defeated the Floaty-Heads back when this was happening for him, he plays a guessing game and has Victor throw ''potatoes''.
92	* IncrediblyLamePun: The spy agency U.Z.Z with Professor Professor vs the diabolically evil T.H.E.M. lead by Doctor Doctor.
93	* KentBrockmanNews: Stacy Stern is usually around to relay information to the world, and pops up very frequently.
94	* LampshadeHanging:
95	** Victor Volt figures out Doctor Doctor's plot to hypnotize the world with a song. He is ridiculed by his fellow agents, who tell him [[ThisIsReality that only happens in cartoons]]. Learning that Doctor Doctor ''had'' gotten the idea from an old cartoon prompts Victor to exclaim IKnewIt
96	** Anita exclaiming ''"How did people escape before ventilation shafts?"''
97	** In the episode where Doctor Doctor took over Sweet Little Grandma's bunny show for one of her plans, Sweet Little Granny comments that it happens to her once a week.
98	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Ominous music was mentioned every time somebody mentioned the Bermuda Trapezoid. A band was revealed to be doing it when Victor Volt asked them if they'd do that every time somebody said "Bermuda Trapezoid"? And yes, they did repeat it after Victor asked the question.
99	** Also: The Abyss Wooooo oooo ooooooo
100	* LethalChef: Victor's mother seems to be this by her lack of skill with cakes.
101	** The Chef is a literal example.
102	* LockedOutOfTheLoop: [[spoiler: A later episode revealed Victor was the ''only'' person at U.Z.Z. who didn't know his parents were also agents, and that his father had been on a secret mission in another dimension for years.]]
103	* LoopholeAbuse: A clown became the World Leader by renaming himself after the ballot's instruction of where to put the "X" to get votes from confused voters.
104	* MacGuffin: The aptly named Secret Thing. The Imposters want it, T.H.E.M wants it, and they only want it because of what it holds inside...which we never find out.
105	* MeaningfulName: Professor Professor, Doctor Doctor, and double agent Kent B. Trusted. Also the World Leader's name seems to really be [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep World Leader]].
106	* MeaninglessVillainVictory: In the episode "Monument Racers", Doctor Doctor succeeds in stealing all of the world's money by attaching stolen '[[BuffySpeak weird little motor thingies]]' to the world's banks, allowing them to fly. However, possibly as a fail-safe, after twenty minutes of use, the motors go thermal and become 'unshtoppable', sending all of the banks to crash land on the moon. By the end of the episode, she still has all of the Earth's money, but absolutely nothing to do with it.
107	* {{Mooks}}: The Expendables.
108	* MysteriousMiddleInitial: Kent B. Trusted's middle name is never revealed.
109	* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Victor's full name is "Victor UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson Volt."
110	* NegativeContinuity: Many episodes end with a seemingly irreversible outcome, such as Changed Daily’s brain being stuck in a mannequin, or all of humanity being sent to live on the moon[[note]]The latter can be waved away as humanity meeting the conditions set by the Ammonites to be allowed to return[[/note]]. These never stick, and everything is back to normal once the next episode starts.
111	* NoodleIncident: At the beginning of the episode "Flick the Switch", we join at the conclusion of another mission involving U.Z.Z. having thwarted the "Wobble Men of Dimension 10", who had been stealing all sorts of stuff, including [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking all of Earth's clouds, left-handed people,]] [[SelfDeprecation and]] Creator/TheBBC.
112	* NoSell: When humanity gets hooked on eating green visiting aliens due to them smelling and tasting like delicious dishes, Victor realises that he's unaffected by the smell due to being ''vegetarian''. He then assembles a "Vegetarian Task Force" to go to the mother ship of the aliens... only to find out that most of his members are pescatarian, which means they smell fish-flavored dishes instead.
113	* OnceAnEpisode: Several bits of the episode always come back, and in increasingly amusing ways too:
114	** Evicting Sweet Little Granny from her time slot, usually by storming the set of the show.
115	** Victor and Anita always land the jump they start in the title sequence (usually onto their skybikes or from somewhere high up).
116	** Changed Daily's name being changed daily to something embarrassing.
117	** Changed Daily's exasperated sigh - "ohhhhhh", before said embarrassing name is revealed. Victor also does this in his stead at the end of one episode, when everyone else is partying in the briefing room after the World Anthem.
118	** Victor being asked if he's still alive by Prof. Professor, usually after suffering from a great accident:
119	-->'''Prof. Professor:''' Victor! Are you still alive?
120	-->'''Victor''' (usually irritated)''':''' ''Yes, I'm still alive!''
121	** And when uttering the words "yes" and "no" turns U.Z.Z. agents into zombies, Victor '''just''' catches himself and angrily tells Professor Professor to never ask that again. (He obviously doesn't listen, though.)
122	* PaperThinDisguise: The U.Z.Z. emergency disguise kit consists of the classic Groucho mask; a pair of glasses with googly eyes, a huge nose and a moustache. Works perfectly every time.
123	* PunnyName: Kent B. Trusted.
124	* QuarterHourShort: The show used the single 12-minute episode format when airing on CBBC. Elsewhere in the world, it used the TwoShorts format.
125	* RepetitiveName: One of the chief naming schemes of the show is the first letter of the first name being the same as the last, with Anita Knight and Changed Daily's names (usually) being the exceptions:
126	** Professor Professor, the lead scientist at U.Z.Z
127	** Doctor Doctor, the leader of T.H.E.M. According to the old website, her real name is [[spoiler: Susan]].
128	** Maestro Maestro, Professor Professor's brother.
129	** Frau Frau, Maestro Maestro and Professor Professor's mother.
130	** Professor Professor also named a rocket "Professor Professor Professor".
131	** Victor Thomas Jefferson Volt.
132	** Stacy Stern, the news anchor.
133	* ReverseThePolarity: Of the shrinky-shrinky ray to get biggy-biggy ray.
134	** Also the moon magnet.
135	* RiddleForTheAges: What's Changed Daily's original name and why did Lucy Woo believe [[MeaningfulName it used to fit him]]?
136	** What's the Secret Thing and what did [[MeaningfulName Kent B. Trusted]] do with it after the end of "Secret [[TheMole Double Agent]]"?
137	* RunningGag: Oh so many. Changed Daily takes the fireplace he leans against '''everywhere'''. Plus The Secret Thing, a tiny mechanical spider and Granny's fluffy bunnies can be seen in the background of every episode.
138	* SeriousBusiness: After the initial giggling and laughing at Changed Daily's name, the characters all use his new name with deadly seriousness for the rest of the episode.
139	* ShoutOut:
140	** The way the toothbrush in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Return of the Killer Toothbrush"]] rips through Victor's clothing closely resembles the chestburster from {{Film/Alien}}.
141	** One of Changed Daily's names is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engelbert_Humperdinck_(singer) Englebert Humperdinck]].
142	* StarfishAliens: The Impostors, which look like fly maggots with a red cycloptic eye, speak a StarfishLanguage, ''and'' have a specialized queen. Somehow, they're pretty advanced in technology too.
143	* TwoShorts: The episodes aired in a two-shorts format when they were broadcast on Nicktoons Network, with the Sweet Little Granny segment in the middle to break them up.
144	* TheUnintelligible: The World Leader, according to the old website, spoke an ancient Aztec language, and her husband was the only one who could translate.
145	* TheUnReveal: What is the Secret Thing? Also what is Changed Daily's real name (4 times in the space of 30 seconds in one episode)?
146	* UnifiedNamingSystem: U.Z.Z. (Umbo Zim Zom) vs. T.H.E.M. (The Horrible Evil Menace).
147	* UntranslatedCatchPhrase: The Imposters are constantly heard saying the phrase "Ding Ba-Doo!" though it's never revealed what these words mean. This was ultimately subverted when in 2017, co-creator [[WordOfGod Tony Collingwood]] revealed in the commentary for "Flick the Switch" that "Ding Ba-Doo!" means "Freeze the World!"
148	* VoiceClipSong: A pair of aliens spying on the U.Z.Z. base makes one of these using some of [[https://youtu.be/yzKmwbozKE4 Changed Daily's names]].
149	* VoicesAreMental: In one episode, Professor Professor has to remove parts of Victor and Anita’s brains to remove the effects of a brainwashing device. When he replaces them, he puts the brain pieces into the wrong agents. In the flashback following this, the mix-up is represented by their voices being swapped.
150	* WackyAmericansHaveWackyNames:
151	** Victor's full name is Victor Thomas Jefferson Volt.
152	** There's also [[TheMole double agent]] [[PunnyName Kent B. Trusted]], a man with a MysteriousMiddleInitial who appears to have originally been from the American South.
153	* WeaksauceWeakness: The Impostors thrive in the cold, but are allergic to penguins, which (as we all know) also thrive in the cold. Also, their helmets vibrate to a high C note, making them [[YourHeadAsplode shatter]] and forcing the creepy crawly aliens that actually control the suits to retreat to their base 90 miles below the surface of the Earth.
154	** Which would explain why they live underground and try to freeze places where penguins are not a native species.
155	* WeInterruptThisProgram: As part of the shows laundry list of [[RunningGag running gags]], every episode starts by interrupting The Fluffy Bunny Show and taking its timeslot.
156	* WomenAreWiser: Anita is a million times wiser than Victor, her male counterpart.
157	* WorldOfWeirdness: Where to start? Let's see:
158	** The agents encounter aliens, killer toothbrushes, living wigs that can steal information from the human brain, a mother and son granted superpowers by their capes, sentient food, a giant brain that feeds on fear, just to name a few.
159	** Human beings don't own the Earth, but instead rent it from the planet's former occupants, the Ammonites. They need to pay rent once every 1,000 years or they'll be booted out.
160	** A pair of clown's trousers is granted incredible power once the stars align every 30 million years. These trousers are responsible for the disappearances of the dinosaurs and Atlantis.
161	** The Juseemee tribe is a race of creatures who exist alongside humanity. You can't see them due to the fact that they hide in your blind spot.
162	** Mermaids also exist, and they look human until exposed to sea water. [[spoiler: Anita is at least partially one herself.]]

Context WesternAnimation / TheSecretShow