For YMMV items specific to the 2002 movie, see [[YMMV/TheWildThornberrysMovie here]].
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* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmBSiYulUSk&t=60s theme song]] composed by Drew Neumann is a vibrant and lively piece featuring lovely vocals from an African choir. It sets the exact mood you'd expect for a globe-trotting adventure.
* BrokenBase: Believe it or not, ''professional zoologists'' are split on the show's portrayal of animals. Some believe it is overly anthropomorphic and encourages dangerous attitudes towards animals, while others think that the anthropomorphism and [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality breaks from reality]] are justified in order to get children interested about zoology.
* DesignatedVillain: The customs agent in "Chew if By Sea." Admittedly, he's a {{Jerkass}} who keeps animals in uncomfortable conditions so it's hard to like him. But the show treats him doing his job (preventing the smuggling of exotic animals) as villainous, in and of itself, as if he's to blame for Eliza bringing Emily the wombat into the country.
* EsotericHappyEnding: In the episode with the Galapagos Tortoises, it's presented as a happy thing that they have mated and will have offspring. Sure, it's a nice heartwarming ending... except it's still not going to bring the species back from extinction and only delays the inevitable: Since any other mating pairs will be genetically related.
* HollywoodHomely: Eliza is actually really cute for a pig-tailed, bespectacled nerd. Especially in the later seasons, where she lets her hair down and stops wearing the violent yellow dress she usually favors.
** Granted, according to the book ''Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons'', this was more a case of ExecutiveMeddling.
** On the other hand, the creators were hellbent on ensuring that Eliza never, EVER had her braces removed, as they wanted it to be a more benign detail about herself in order to make children with braces feel less self-conscious.
* JerkassWoobie: The stoat from "Show Me The Bunny". Sure, he's out to kill the titular bunny (which isn't a villainous act given he's just a predator) but at some point, he gets captured and almost killed by poachers. After Eliza rescues him, [[UngratefulBastard he goes right back to chasing the bunny]].
* JustHereForGodzilla: Many people who have watched the show like to admit that they found the aforementioned Nigel Thornberry to be the best part of the show and wish that he had been the main character instead of Eliza.
* MemeticMutation:
** [[EroticDream Hellooooooo.]] [[http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b125/Uaarkson/1233020416099.png I'm Nigel Thoooooorrrrnnnnbeeeerrrryyyyy.]]
** And a more recent one, also concerning a Nigel Thornberry: combining his unintelligible gibberish from a random episode with a well-known song and then photoshopping his face onto the single/album cover. [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nigel-remix-x-feat-nigel-thornberry Blaaaaaarghghghgh.]]
** This tendency has now extended to photoshopping his face onto gifs of scenes from [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney movies]]; later, this extended to any cartoon character and then even further, to anything that can be readily photoshopped (especially gifs where characters appear normally at first, turn away or hide their face temporarily, and return with Nigel's face). They often vary between being creepy to outright NightmareFuel. [[http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/photos/14-smashing-nigel-thornberry-gifs Example.]] [[http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3d6wlj3Nn1qbh33po1_500.gif SMASHING!]]
* {{Moe}}: With her cute looks and sweet personality, Eliza is quite adorable.
* NeverLiveItDown:
** If there's one thing most people remember about this series from their childhood, it's the "Naimina Enkijio" episode, mostly for being NightmareFuel incarnate for many kids of the 90s. The fact that it's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loita_Forest based off an actual legend]] doesn't help. Such examples from that episode include; creepy wailing from a Ghost Girl constantly calling Eliza's name, Eliza ''seeing the Ghost Girl as her reflection in a swamp that supposedly grabs and drowns children'', and the general creepy atmosphere of said episode thanks to taking place in dense, dark forest.
** Nowadays, the show is best remembered for Nigel's "Blaaaaargh" moment and his "Smashing" face.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Recurring antagonist Kip is [[Creator/KeithSzarabajka voiced by]] [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 Harbinger.]]
* TheScrappy:
** Tyler, Eliza's annoying and haughty cousin, who becomes a main character for part of Season 3. Fortunately, the creators caught on quickly and his appearances became much more sporadic.
** Shane also counts. Not only is he a completely unnecessary SatelliteLoveInterest for Eliza, but the audience is also supposed to like and agree with him despite the fact that he endangered not only himself, but Donnie and Eliza as well, a toddler and a preteen, respectively, and see him as being in the right when his only concern afterward was insulting Eliza, who was understandably furious at his incredibly reckless actions. And that's just his ''first episode''.
* SeasonalRot: Seasons 3 onward are still enjoyable and do contain some of the shows best written episodes like “The Origin of Donnie”, but are still widely considered mostly inferior to the first two seasons. The main flaw was how the show started focusing less on the animals and locales, and more on hijinks that just happen to involve talking to animals and had more IdiotBall plots. For comparison, Season 2's "Chimp Off the Old Block" centers on the social structure of chimpanzees, and the series finale centers on Eliza struggling to confess her love to a pop star.
* {{Squick}}: In "The Origin of Donnie: Part 2", Eliza chews some fruit for a baby orangutan. Lampshaded by Darwin.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The Lion in "Have Yourself a Thornberry Little Christmas" is treated as a Woobie driven by hunger who once he's full is able to come to his senses and apologize for trying to eat Darwin--he also threatened to eat Eliza too. It comes off though as a very flimsy excuse for him doing so because of how smug he is beforehand, that the audience is just supposed to take him not thinking clearly due to extreme hunger at face value--when other very hungry animals in the series have been shown to not get anywhere near as crazy as he does--and that he also comes off as an UngratefulBastard when he demands more after Eliza gives him the Christmas goose. Only after he then eats the rest of the food is he satiated and actually thanks her.
* {{Wangst}}: Debbie, always PlayedForLaughs.
* WheelchairWoobie: A character of the week was one. The conflict came from Eliza trying ''very hard'' not to seem like she's pitying her just because she's in a wheelchair, eventually annoying her.
* TheWoobie: Quite a few one-shot animals characters actually. Like the hyena from "No Laughing Matter", Emily the wombat from "Chew if By Sea", the rabbit from "Show Me The Bunny" or Tano the cheetah cub from "Cheetahs Never Prosper".
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