Ain't no burger stands, ain't no disco bands, on the island where nobody goes.
— Opening theme
A Cartoon Networkoriginal from back in 1999. Set on a desert island, it revolved around the three titular characters : Mike, a foreign exchange student from Manhattan; Lu, a self-appointed princess; and Og, a boy genius. Secondary characters include the rest of the native tribe (who, perplexingly, speak with British accents) and Lu's long-suffering pet turtle, Lancelot. Its basically Gilligan's Island and Peanuts in a blender (with just a hint of Rugrats).The show lasted for only two seasons, with 26 episodes created.
Tropes:
Accidental Public Confession: Lu purposely spread a cold to the islanders that Mike caught in a plot to get her blamed and kicked off the island. However, when Og created a cure for the cold, she lost her temper and accidentally revealed that she spread the cold.
"There wouldn't have been a cure if I hadn't spread the cold".
All Animals Are Dogs: Lu keeps Lancelot on a leash and makes yelping sounds when trying to communicate.
All Balloons Have Helium: In the opening sequence, Lu tries to blow up an Action Guy balloon, but the air shoots back into her, causing her to inflate.
Authority In Name Only: Nobody takes Wendell, the governor seriously, mostly because he really does not have any politics to do. Ditto for "Princess" Lu.
Berserk Button: Don't call Mike by her real name (Michelanne).
Big Eater: Wendel. In one episode when he exercised and developed a buff physique, he gorged on chocolates and went back to his old self in a matter of hours.
Lu eats at least 5 candies each about the size of her head. What's more, she swallows them whole.
Bolt of Divine Retribution: in "Nobody's Nose", Mike, thanks to Queeks, is chased by a thundercloud until she fufils her durty as the "nose" of the First Day Of Spring Festival.
Queeks himself revieves one at the end of "Flustering Footwear Flotsam".
Does Not Like Shoes: In one episode, a cargo box of shoes washes ashore. While Mike (who hates shoes) could care less, the islanders go nuts for them. It doesn't work out so well.
Eagleland: Type 2 tourists visit the island in "Crowded House".
Expy: The designs of the characters were based on co-creator Mikhail Aldashin's shorts by Pilot Moscow in the early 90s ("Poumse" and "The Hunter").
Fangirl: Mike with Action Guy. She even dresses up as him and lip-synchs to audio tapes to ward off the pirates!
Fantastic Racism: The Albonquetine and the Cuzzlewitz clans live on opposite sides of the island and have strong animosity. Though it is implied it is just for show.
Freudian Couch: In "Flustering Footwear Flotsam", everyone came to Queeks when their new shoes started disrupting their lives (Alfred feels he has no purpose after catching the wombat, Margery obsessed with creating "shoe portraits", etc.).
Funny Animal: The goat, the pig, and the porcupine are rather fond of discussing philosophy.
Gilligan Cut: In "A Freudian Split", Og urges Mike to dress up as Sigmund Freud to settle Goat and Pig's feud, but she says there's no way she'll "wear a fake beard and mustache to talk to a goat and a pig". No points for guessing what happens in the next scene.
Humans Are Cthulhu: In "Losing Lancelot", while Lu is running, we're treated to a closeup of her feet to see ants running away screaming.
Humble Beginnings: The show's beginnings trace toward Mikhail Aladhin's short films "Poumse" and "The Hunter" (the former looking much closer to the show). The execs at Cartoon Network saw them as came up with the idea to make a show based on them while at the same time, veteran director Charles Swenson came up with the idea of a spunky, redheaded tomboy. The two ideas were combined and the rest was history.
Just One More Level: In "A Boy's Game", Og creates a Game Boy out of Bamboo Technology and gets hooked on it to the point of playing it out during a hurricane and neglecting the island's defenses.
Mythology Gag: Co-creator Mikhail Aldahin's film "Poumse", the partial inspiration for the show, was about a salesman who came to sell his items to a group of island natives. This was eventually reworked as "The King Of Curtains".
A Pirate 400 Years Too Late: The island has a trio of pirates who are the shipwrecked descendants of the pirates who shipwrecked the island's other inhabitants.
Right Behind Me: In "Night Of The Living Ancestors", Lu is badmouthing her deceased Aunt Lulu, calling her a "self-centered, old hag". Guess whose ghost was behind her.
Screwed by the Network: Cartoon Network canceled the series after two season, despite it still having a rather significant fanbase (the series was never given its an adaptation in the Cartoon Cartoons comic books, even though many fans kept writing in and requesting it).
Seldom Seen Species: You don't see Wombats that much outside of Australian Media.
To elaborate, Wendell told everyone that a giant is on an annual rampage and Queeks gets Mike to fetch three things (a shark's tooth, a spider web, and and egg shell) to keep the "giant" away. However, it turned out that the giant story was metaphorical for the rainy season and that Margery had the objects the whole time, revealing that Mike had to go get those things for nothing.
Short Runner: By any standard, but also for a cable cartoon series.
Strong Family Resemblance: The Ablonquetines (sans Margery) all have buck teeth. Likewise, the Cuzzlewitz have buck teeth from the bottom set.
The ghosts from "Night Of The Living Ancestors" looks like older versions of the islanders.
Sudden Anatomy: In "The Three Amigas", Mike suggests that she, Lu, and Hermione paint their nails. In the next scene, they suddenly have visible and painted nails.
Same goes for Lu when she told Mike to trim her toenails in "To Serve Lu"
Taken for Granite: While planning a party Lu gets coated with hard candy by Mike and Og (since they're sick of her jujubomb addiction), and becomes her own centerpiece.
A nice aspect is that she doesn't really mind, licking her own lips to taste all the candy she wants.
Use Your Head: When Lu tries to think of a plan to put her face on the island's new currency in "Money", she says to herself "Use your head", giving her the idea to ram her head into the printing press.
Vague Age: We don't know Mike's age, but most articles say she's around 11 or 12. Subverted with Lu and Og; Lu is revealed to be 10 in "High Rise", while Og turns 7 in "The Great Snipe Hunt".
Vocal Dissonance: The Albonquetines dress in faux-Polynesian attire, but speak in proper British accents. Justified, as their ancestors were British. Strangely, Lu and Og speak with more American dialects.
Averted with most of the Cuzzlewit clan.
Walk This Way: In "Yo Ho Who", the captain leads the kids to treasure and as the captain follows what the map says, the kids follow what he says.
Wild Child: The Cuzzlewitz kids, Haggis and Baggis. Subverted with their sister, Hermione.
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