"Spells are so tricky..."
Meg and Mog is both a series of picture books and a children's cartoon. The books are by Helen Nicoll.
The books are about a witch named Meg and her two talking pets Mog the cat and Owl the, well, owl. They all live together and sleep in/on the same bed (Strangely, Owl sometimes seems to be nocturnal like a regular owl and sometimes he doesn't).
In every story, Meg tries to do magic to solve a problem but it nearly always has wacky and undesirable side effects because, according to her, spells are "tricky".
Meg and Mog provides examples of
- All Witches Have Cats: Downplayed. Meg definitely does, but it's unknown if her witch friends have cats.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Downplayed for Mog. While black and white cats exist, black and white tabby cats don't generally.
- Artistic License – Medicine: In "Mog's Mumps", Mog gets the mumps, a disease which, in Real Life, only affects humans.
- Babysitting Episode: In "Meg and the Baby", Meg, Mog, and Owl babysit a baby.
- Birthday Episode: In "Meg's Leg", it's Cress's birthday but Meg injures her leg.
- Butt-Monkey: Meg, Mog, and Owl always seem to be getting themselves into trouble. Implied for the ostrich, hedgehog, and cat who are always seen at the vet.
- Catchphrase: Meg has "It's time for a spell" when she decides to cast a spell and "Spells are so tricky" as her go-to explanation for her spell failing.
- Edible Theme Naming: One of Meg's friends is called Cress.
- Deadpan Snarker: Both Mog and Owl seem a bit snide sometimes.
- Does Not Like Spam: The caterpillar in "Mog's Lunch Box" is seen disliking spinach.
- A Dog Named "Dog": An owl named Owl.
- Dress-Up Episode: Meg's Fancy Dress.
- Flying Broomstick: Meg and her witch friends all ride broomsticks.
- Green Around the Gills:
- Meg gets seasick once and her face turns green.
- One time, Mog's stripes turn green after he drinks too much milk.
- Hiccup Hijinks: Meg gets the hiccups in "Meg's Hiccups".
- Implausible Deniability: In "Meg's Leg", Meg tries to claim she knows what she's doing but crashes into a tree before she can even finish her sentence.
- Injured Limb Episode: In "Meg's Leg", that's the very body part that ends up getting injured. A witch is also seen with a bandaged arm.
- Insomnia Episode: In "Mog Can't Sleep", Mog is too excited to go fishing to sleep and his enthusiastic shouting keeps Meg and Owl (who's apparently not nocturnal that episode) awake.
- Limited Wardrobe: Meg (and her witch friends) wear the same black dress and buckled shoes. At night, Meg wears a white nightdress.
- A Lizard Named "Liz": Mog's name likely comes from the word "moggy", which means cat.
- Lost Voice Plot: In "Owl's Voice", Owl gets a cough and loses his voice. Meg manages to get rid of the cough but instead of getting his voice back, he makes animal noises, so he has to be taken to the vet.
- Meaningful Name: One of Owl's classmates is named Titch and she's quite small.
- The Medic: Both a doctor and a vet occasionally show up.
- Name and Name: Meg and Mog.
- Odd Name Out:
- Owl's name is the only one in his household that doesn't start with M.
- Meg's name is the odd name out of the witches. The other witches' names are Bess, Jess, Tess, and Cress.
- Rage Breaking Point: "I WANT MY BED BACK!"
- Recurring Extra: At the vet, an ostrich, a marmalade cat, and a hedgehog are always seen in the waiting room.
- Sick Episode:
- In "Mog's Mumps", Mog gets the mumps.
- In "Mog's Sneeze", Mog and Owl get colds.
- Sneeze Interruption: "Mog's Sneeze" has several gags of people with colds sneezing in the middle of their sentences.
