Geronimo Stilton, an anthropomorphic mouse who works as a journalist, is the protagonist of a series of books, originally written and published in Italy. The books follow the various adventures that Geronimo gets roped into (being a mild-mannered mouse, he'd much rather stay home, thank you very much). He's often accompanied by his sister Thea, his Cousin Trap, and his favorite nephew Benjamin.Each book is written by Geronimo in the first person, since he is a famouse author and publisher/editor-in-chief of The Rodent's Gazette, the most popular newspaper in New Mouse City.The books have been successful enough to spawn two Spin-Off series:
The Thea Stilton Series. Thea becomes a journalism instructor at Mouseford Academy. While Thea is the title character, the books actually focus on a group of her students, "The Thea Sisters". Five girls from around the world, the Sisters become not only Fire-Forged Friends, but a Multinational Team of Amateur Sleuths.
The original book series has been adapted as a 26-episode animated series as a joint venture by Italy, Canada and other countries; first aired in Italy (Italian) and Canada (English), and shown in several other countries shortly after. As of writing, a 2nd season is in the works. Despite being based on the books, the show is about 98% original material.
Geronimo's literary adventures include examples of:
Actually, I Am Him: When Geronimo first met his newly-hired assistant, Pinky Pick, he assumed she was his assistant's daughter, since she's only fourteen years old.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Chef Stewrat's long and very disgusting list of ingredients for his stew recipe ends with "...[plus] a little salt and pepper!"
Also, the poltergeist that lives in the Cacklefurs' castle is just a Bedsheet Ghost in his first appaerance. He gets mouse features in the spinoff series.
Barefoot Cartoon Animals: Despite being otherwise fully-dressed, almost none of the characters wear shoes. The most notable aversion is Pinky Pick, and how!
Cats Are Mean: The titular pirates in "Attack of the Bandit Cats".
Chaste Toons: Benjamin is Geronimo's favorite (and only) nephew. A rather extreme example, as Geronimo's only mentioned sister, Thea, is not Benjamin's mother, nor is any mention of her made in any of the books (yet). All this despite there being Loads and Loads of Stiltons.
Death Trap: In "Watch Your Whiskers, Stilton!", the game show "The Mousetrap" centers around a gigantic bladed mousetrap that the contestant is chained to.
Disguised in Drag: In "Paws Off, Cheddarface!" Trap is made up to look like Sally Ratmousen in order to counter her Identical Stranger Gambit.
The Door Slams You: Happens to Geronimo a number of times in "Watch Your Whiskers, Stilton!"
Even Evil Has Standards: In "The Giant Diamond Robbery," Sally Ratmousen's profile states, "She's known for breaking the rules, except on the golf course, because that's unethical!"
Plot-Driven Breakdown: In "A Very Merry Christmas," Geronimo accidentally picks up someone else's bag instead of his own. The other person calls her own cellphone and starts to make arrangements for her and Geronimo to meet up and exchange bags, but her phone dies just before she says where to find her.
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Some lines in the books are irregular and in color to emphasis the characters' thoughts.
Scenery Porn: Later books have BEAUTIFUL backgrounds. Most notably is the Fantasy Kingdom books (The third one has a beautiful depiction of New Mouse City in spring)
Sequel Hook: Some books end with Geronimo talking about something that happened after the end, saying "But that's another story, which I'll tell you very soon!". None of these sequels happened yetnote including a Paws Off, Cheddarface! sequel where Geronimo exploits the Identical Stranger for his own needs and one about Geronimo running at the New York Marathon.
A particular case was the Oliver story. It was a short book about one of Benjamin's schoolmates, the titular Oliver, having problems to move around with his wheelchair. With the help of his friends and Geronimo, he gets the mayor of New Mouse City build more entry ramps in the city, and the story ends with a scene from ten years later where an adult Oliver wins at the Special Olympic Games, with Geronimo's "I'll tell you very soon!" speech, and a advertisement promising a full series starring Oliver and dealing with a different disability in each book. Both of these things never got released, sadly.
Barefoot Cartoon Animals: Just as in the original books. However, as a variation, they do put on the needed footwear once they venture out of civilization.
Bigfoot, Sasquatch and Yeti: Big Toes, from the S2 episode "The Legend Of Big Toes". Though he's actually no different from the humanoid mice in the show; only much, much taller, hairier, and being speechless.
Butt Monkey: Trap is more of this than his cousin Geronimo was in the original books.
Composite Character: Benjamin in the TV series appears to be given the role and personality of his counterpart in the book series and Pinky Pick.
Chekhov's Gun: At the beginning of "The Mask of Rat-Jitsu", Geronimo takes out a vial of a rare, strong-smelling cheese from his safe and inadvertently puts it in his clothes. He finally got to use it during the said episode's climax to knock out the villain of the episode and his mooks.
Inevitable Waterfall: In the S2 episode "The Legend Of Big Toes", Geronimo was tricked into falling into the river and almost fell down one of these. He was saved by the titular Big Toes.
0 reviews