Dr. Dimensionpants, and his sidekick/mentor unicorn
Dr. Dimensionpants is a Canadian animated television series created by Brad Peyton (director of such films as Cats & Dogs 2: Revenge of Kitty Galore and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) and produced by DHX Media for Teletoon.
The series focuses on Kyle Lipton, a normal 12-year-old kid, until he is visited by a talking unicorn named Phillip, who gives him "The Dimensionpants". When he wears them, he becomes a superhero called Dr. Dimensionpants. Now Kyle has all the superhero powers he ever wanted, along with responsibility. With the help of Philip, Dr. Dimensionpants learns his powers to save the universe, while dealing with normal kid issues.
Interestingly, this is actually Peyton's second cartoon creation, his first being CBC's adult-oriented 2006 series What It's Like Being Alone.
The series ran from November 6, 2014 to September 22, 2015 for a single season of 26 episodes.
This series provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Gay: Phillip. He has the stereotypical voice, he crossdresses a lot (even wearing a two-piece bikini on several occasions), and he has a flamboyant personality. Not to mention he's a Unicorn with a rainbow mane and tail.
- Another Dimension: Many of them in fact, and Kyle can visit them at will.
- Anti-Magic: In “Level 7 Birthday Magician”, we learn that in this show’s universe, carrying a cotton candy in your back pocket on your birthday grants you this effect. Kyle’s friend Paul is well aware of this and effectively uses it against evil wizard Silas (who doesn’t know this and thinks his spells fail because Paul must be an even greater wizard than he is.)
- Babysitter from Hell: The Cortex once disguised himself as a babysitter to infiltrate Kyle's house and steal his dimension pants.
- Babysitting Episode: In the episode “Poppacorn”, Phillip takes care of a lost baby unicorn, who he becomes very attached to and doesn't want to give up.
- Badass Normal: Mr. Lipton, of all people, in the episode “Los Luchadores Lipton”. When he and Kyle have to wrestle against evil wizards Silas and Murray (see Pro Wrestling Episode below) and Kyle can’t use the Dimensionpants because Phillip locked them up, Mr. Lipton suddenly proves himself a very competent wrestler, easily wrestling the wizards into submission.
- Big Brother Bully:
- Although he and Amanda are usually on good terms, Kyle can be this towards her at times. Especially when he gets jealous at Amanda.
- And among the evil wizards, Silas frequently acts like this towards Murray.
- A Boy and His X: A boy and his talking Unicorn, who acts as both his mentor and friend.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Glass Skull absolutely doesn't like the idea of his daughter Rebecca getting a boyfriend, and will violently chase away any boy that shows interest in her.
- Brother–Sister Team: Kyle and Amanda very briefly near the end of “The Pink Feather”, when they combine their powers to defeat a mud monster.
- Card-Carrying Villain: All the members of Kyle’s Rogues Gallery.
- Camping Episode: The episode “Dr. Dimensionpants Camp” is this for both Kyle and his dad, and Glass Skull and his daughter.
- Cassandra Truth: Kyle is not actually trying to keep his identity a secret, but whenever he tries to tell people that he's Dr. Dimensionpants, they don't believe him.
- Child Prodigy: Amanda. In “Get Smarter” she even wins several science contests in a row.
- The Chosen Many: Kyle isn’t the only dimensional superhero who received his powers from a unicorn, as several others are seen over the course of the series.
- Clark Kenting: When he's not trying to conquer dimensions, the Glass Skull wears a pair of glasses while at home. This is enough to fool Kyle, and even temporarily sway Phillip.
- The Collector: Kyle falls victim to one of these posing as the hero Dr. Dimensionscarf in “Sidekickn it”.
- Combat Tentacles: Many dimensional monsters have these.
- Comedy as a Weapon: How the Monster Clown Frankenclown is eventually defeated. Kyle shows him footage of some of his most humiliation moments on Phillips tablet, causing Frankenclown to laugh himself to death.
- Cool Crown: The pink crown Kyle gave to Rebecca in “Princess Perfectpants”. Unfortunately, it turned her into an evil princess.
- Costume Copycat: The Cortex wears a copy of Dr. Dimensionpants' costume in the episode "The Cortex in the Vortex".
- Clothes Make the Superman: All of Kyle’s powers come from his pants. Without them, he’s just a normal boy.
- Christmas Episode: The two-parter “Best Christmas Yeti / Christmas Eve Of Destruction”.
- Crossdresser: Both Kyle and Dr. Dimension Skirt end up as this when Glass Skull causes their outfits to be switched at the dry cleaning.
- Cute Bruiser: Kyle's friend Liz. She is the toughest girl in school, and has her moments of endearment.
- Dimensional Traveler: Kyle, and other dimensional superheroes.
- Disproportionate Retribution: On more than one occasion:
- In “Dry Clean Only”, Phillip’s mother sends a killer robot after Kyle’s mom after she accidentally ruined the dimension pants by putting them in the washing machine.
- In “Fee, Fine, Foe”, the Scary Librarian wants to destroy Kyle’s home town of Ganderville because he didn’t return a book on time.
- And in “Unicrone Penalty Box”: the penalty for failing as a mentor to a dimensional hero: 900 years of imprisonment in the titular Unicrone Penalty Box.
- Distaff Counterpart: Dr. Dimension Skirt to Kyle.
- Dumb Blonde: Averted with Kyle's younger sister Amanda; she's a blonde, intelligent and occasionally snarky Child Prodigy.
- Enemy Mine:
- Glass Skull and Kyle once actually teamed up to stop a school play which starred Rebecca in a role where she got to kiss her male co-star. Kyle because he wanted the role of the co-star and doesn’t like the idea of her kissing another boy, Glass Skull since he didn’t want her to be in the play at all.
- And in “Henchman N.O. 94”, Cortex, Glass Skull and Underwater Man all team up with Kyle to defeat Henchman N.O. 94, who has proven himself a far more dangerous and competent villain than the three of them and is treating all of them like dirt.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Glass Skull truly loves his daughter Rebecca, even though she doesn’t want to be evil.
- Everytown, America: Ganderville.
- Evil Costume Switch: Amanda gets this treatment in the episode "Nice-inator".
- Evil Counterpart: In “The Lesser Evil”, Kyle’s evil double from the Mirror dimension becomes an evil Dr. Dimensionpants when Phillip gives him the pants because he accidentally got the impression that this dimension’s Kyle was the good one.
- Evil Redhead: Redheaded Thora in "Horn to Be Wild" is a feisty, malevolent, self-proclaimed "unicorn hunter" out to steal Phillip's horn.
- Evil Sorcerer: The brothers Silas and Murray, two of Kyle’s most frequent enemies.
- Expy: Give Kyle blond hair and make Phillip a dog, and they are quite clearly Johnny and Dukey.
- Fan Convention: Dr. Dimensionpants, Glass Skull and The Cortex all attend one with their own stands in “Dr. Conventionpants”.
- "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: In “Catch And Release”, Phillip accidentally swallows Underwater Man’s father, forcing both Kyle and Underwater Man to shrink themselves with Amanda’s shrinkray and get him back.
- Female Gaze: We get a nice close up shot of Kyle's butt during the Transformation Sequence. Played for Laughs, as it is a Grossout Show.
- Flushing Toilet, Screaming Shower: Kyle does this to Phillip in the episode "Viking Games" in an attempt to make him tell where he tried to sneak off to last night.
- Flying Firepower: Kyle can fly and shoot lightning.
- Giant Enemy Crab: in "Viking Games", Thora unleashes one on Phillip and Kyle after the two refuse to fight each other any longer in the titular viking game. The crab even follows them back to their home dimension and is still bothering Phillip by the end of the episode, but Kyle, having promised to keep secrets from now on, refuses to tell Phillip about the crab's weak spot.
- Giant Flyer: The Gobbles, human sized intelligent turkeys from another dimension. And yes, unlike earth turkeys, they can fly.
- Goofy Print Underwear: In "I Tabby", when Kyle looses his pants in a fight with an evil tablet-robot, it is revealed he wears white boxers with red hearths. And judging by Phillips reaction, it's not the first time he wore these kind of boxers. This is proven to be true, since the same undies appear again in later episodes, though the trope is averted in "Faster, Higher, Lazier" , where Kyle wears plain briefs.
- Grossout Show: There is plenty of Toilet Humour to go around, like in "Bravo Dimensionpants", where Kyle farts twice, and "Dry Clean Only", where the Dimensionpants Alert sound is farting.
- Hammerspace: Dr. Dimensionpant’s Utility Belt contains multiple objects that are way too large to fit in there.
- Hates My Secret Identity: Rebecca is interested in the title character but not in Kyle.
- Hero for a Day: In “The Pink Feather”, Amanda becomes a superhero herself when she pulls the titular Pink Feather from the stone. Soon she becomes the town's number one hero, stealing the spotlight away from Kyle. At the end of the episode she apparently looses her powers again in a fight with a mud monster only to reveal that she still has the feather and just waits till she needs it again
- Inevitable Waterfall: Both Kyle’s dad and Rebecca are threatened with one of these in “Dr. Dimensionpants Camp”. Eventually Mr. Lipton saves both himself and Rebecca since Kyle and Glass Skull are too busy fighting each other.
- Interdimensional Travel Device: The dimension pants.
- Kid Hero: Kyle.
- Killer Teddy Bear: In "Robo-Teddy", Kyle's own teddybear becomes one of these after he discards it into another dimension, where it gains sentience and combines with various mechanical parts to become a robot.
- Loyal Animal Companion: Phillip, who acts more like a friend, mentor and sidekick than actual pet.
- Mind-Control Device: The Cortex uses one of these on Phillip in “Horn Control” in order to get the Dimension Pants. To do so he lets Phillip put Kyle through a series of disgusting tests. At the end of the episode, the device is turned against him.
- Mirror Universe: In “The Lesser Evil”, Phillip and Kyle accidentally end up in a dimension that is in every way an exact copy of Kyle’s home dimension, except people’s personalities are the polar opposite (villains are good guys and vice-versa)
- Monster Clown: Frankenclown from the episode "Mentors Only".
- Monster Protection Racket: Dr. Dimensionsocks, another Dimensional super hero, launches large meteorites into dimensions, and then 'conveniently' shows up to save said dimension from that meteorite, always demanding a large reward in return.
- My Beloved Smother: Phillip’s mother. Hence why he is reluctant to visit her.
- My Brain Is Big: The Cortex, one of Kyle's enemies, has a huge head.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Kyle has this reaction in “Unicrone Penalty Box” after he deliberately sabotages an important test and thus has Phillip branded as a bad mentor (because he thought Phillip was ashamed of him and wanted to learn him a lesson), but then learns that because of failing the test Phillip will be send to the Unicrone Penalty Box for 900 years.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kyle frequently suffers from this. A notable example: in “Henchman N.O. 94” Kyle tries to cheer up Henchman N.O. 94, who failed as a Mook, by learning him to be a competent villain in his own right. Unfortunately, this works so well that Henchman N.O. 94 immediately becomes the most threatening villain in town.
- Not That Kind of Doctor: Apparently, "doctor" means "he who wears" in Unicorn. When Kyle finds out, he is not amused and spends an entire episode trying to proof that he can be a real doctor (as in, someone who practices medicine).
- No Waterproofing in the Future: The evil tablet-robot that Kyle gave to his dad in the episode "I Tabby" is eventually defeated when he falls into the ocean and shorts out.
- Now, Buy the Merchandise: An in-universe example happens in the episode “Dr. Conventionpants”. While Kyle is busy fighting Underwater Man and his monsters, Phillip quickly keeps coming up with merchandise of all the monsters and weapons used in the fight to sell to the many Dr. Dimensionpants fans at a convention.
- Oblivious to Love: Liz has a thinly-veiled crush on Kyle, but he doesn't notice (mostly due to his own crush on Rebecca).
- Only the Chosen May Wield: The Pink Feather from the eponymous episode is of the “sword in the stone” variety. Only Amanda is able to pull it from the stone and become a superhero.
- Paper-Thin Disguise:
- Whenever The Cortex disguises himself, since his huge head and blue skin instantly give him away. Suprisingly (or not, considering his personality), Kyle still frequently falls for it.
- Glass Skull's disguises also qualify.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: Pretty much everything in the princess dimension is pink.
- Pokémon Speak: Wrongo Bongo, an other dimensional dog that Kyle adopts in the eponymous episode, can only say his name.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: When Kyle powers up, his hair goes from short and light red to a tall black Mohawk with a white lightning bolt-shaped streak. Plus, he grows a small moustache.
- In one episode, after Kyle's Dimensionpants get mixed up at the dry cleaners with Dr Dimensionskirt's skirt, he is later forced to don it in battle and grows long wavy brown hair as a result.
- Pro Wrestling Episode: “Los Luchadores Lipton” is about Kyle and his dad becoming a wrestling team, with Kyle secretly using the dimensionpants to easily defeat any opponent single-handedly. Eventually, they have to fight against evil wizards Silas and Murray, who, as it turns out, are also wrestling champions.
- Rogues Gallery: Kyle builds up one over the course of the series, consisting of at least four frequently appearing enemies (The Cortex, Glass Skull, and a duo of evil wizards: Silas and Murray), as well as some less frequently seen ones (a duo of Roblins, Thora the unicorn hunter, and Underwater Man).
- Scary Librarian: Kyle once had to deal with a supernatural one of these when he borrowed a book about all knowledge in the world, but forgot to return it on time. Her fee for not returning the book on time? The total destruction of Ganderville.
- Shock and Awe: One of Kyle's powers is shooting lightning from his hands.
- Showdown at High Noon: The episode “Pranks-A-Lot” starts with one of these between Dr. Dimensionpants and a cactus creature in a Wild West-themed dimension.
- The Show Must Go On: The director of Kyle’s school play has this attitude, and not even the fact that the whole stage is transported to a slimy dimension and the actors get eaten by giant snails will stop him. He even forces both Kyle and Glass Skull to step in as understudies for the lead roles after the main actors are taken out.
- Sibling Team: Evil wizards Silas and Murray zig-zag between this and Sibling Rivalry, sometimes effectively teaming up against Dr. Dimensionpants, while other times being at odds with each other.
- Skull for a Head: Glass Skull, one of Kyle's enemies.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Underwater Man isn't much of a villain, but he believes himself to a major threat.
- Smug Super:
- Dr. Dimensionsocks. He only saves dimensions if the inhabitants pay him great sums of money for it, and later Kyle finds out Dr. Dimensionsocks is actually behind the meteorites that threaten the dimensions he "saves".
- Kyle himself isn't exactly immune to this either, like in the episode "The Pink Feather" when he used his powers to beat Amanda at everything despite her just wanting her brother to be proud at her.
- Squashed Flat: Elder Zoron suffers this in "Unicrone Penalty Box" when the eponymous box drops down right on top of him.
- Stewed Alive: in “Goody Gobbles”, a group of other dimensional giant turkeys does this to pretty much all the inhabitants of Ganderville.
- Transformation Sequence: Kyle goes through one of these when he puts on the magic pants that give him his powers.
- Trash of the Titans: Kyle’s bedroom ends up like this several times, most notably in the episode “Dry Clean Only”.
- Two Men, One Dress: The episode "horsing around" has evil wizards Silas and Murray dress up in a horse costume.
- Unicorn: Phillip, who also talks.
- Utility Belt: Dr. Dimensionpants’ belt contains a wide array of useful (and less useful) tools, like mechanical arms and a fan. In "nice-inator" Phillip mentions that the belt contains every weapon in the universe.
- Wardrobe Malfunction: The Dimension Pants may only be dry cleaned. Thus, when Kyle’s mom accidentally puts them in the laundry in “Dry Clean Only”, the pants no longer work properly, gaining a mind of their own and zapping both Kyle and everyone around them. They have to be taken to Phillip’s mother to be repaired.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Phillip, who occasionally dresses up in feminine clothes.
- Wizard Classic: Silas and Murray. Robes? Check. Magic staffs? Check! Beard? Check!
- Women Are Wiser: Amanda, Kyle's younger sister. She is a Child Prodigy who writes a blog, has won multiple awards, and overall has more common sense than her older brother.
