"You think your school's a zoo? My gym partner's a MONKEY!" A Cartoon Network animated series created by the husband-and-wife team of Timothy and Julie McNally Cahill that aired from 2005 to 2008.Due to a clerical error involving a misspelled last name, a middle-school aged human named Adam Lyon is sent to attend Charles Darwin Middle School: a school for talking zoo animals. Rather than fixthis problem, he befriends an animal named Jake Spidermonkey and deals with the obvious problems of being a human in an environment made solely for animals.
This series provides examples of:
Adorkable: Several characters can qualify but Ingrid Giraffe and Rufus Hyena stand out.
Animal Jingoism: Here, the animals are sentient and speak and are humanoid (mostly) but the snake kid still fights with the mongoose kid.
They were playing tag.
There was also a commercial bumper on Cartoon Network for a while where Adam walked past a lion, whose locker was banging and making noises from within. Adam amiably asks "Whatcha got in there?". The lion replies "Lunch."
Attack Its Weak Point: Bull's weak point is his nose, the nerdy crocodile is beating him up after he ask a question & Pixiefrog is getting sued.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: When the animals all see shiny doorknobs, they get hypnotized and very distracted when they say "Pretty Pretty! Shiny Shiny!"
Authority Equals Asskicking: Principal Pixie Frog, believe it or not. While trying to boost Mr. Hornbill's (Who is a rhino) confidence to help him woo Mrs. Tusk, they have him wrestle Pixie Frog. Pixie Frog whoops. His. Ass.
Ax Crazy: Pricipal Pixiefrog, though he never wheeled an ax in any of the episodes, his level of being a psychopath is very similar to Sweet Tooth.
Balloon Belly: Subverted. Adam has the food court sell human food and all the animals quickly get addicted. Instead of the usual cartoon result, the animals gained more permanent weight. At the end of the episode they were shown jogging, trying to burn it off.
Though played straight in so far that it was gone by the next episode. Still a bit of a subversion, though.
Bizarro Episode: Robo Frog 3000. The plot has the school board replacing Principal Pixie Frog and the rest of the teachers at Charles Darwin with robots(called robuts by everyone in the episode) and plan on replacing the students with robots, the teachers and Pixie Frog bringing out a wizard in their trunk to fight them, the school board bringing out a robot wizard that defeats the other wizard, and the robots eventually exploding due to running out of love. Adam and Jake lampshade this while the robots are exploding
Jake:Adam?
Adam:Yeah Jake?
Jake:Remember when this show used to be about a human kid going to an animal school?
Blind Without 'Em: Adam deliberately takes off the Spiffies' (nerds) glasses to avoid detection of a killer mob, as they were killing off the smart people (literally) and were under the assumption that anyone with glasses is smart (despite the fact that there at least two people in the killer mob who wore glasses). In their blind state, the Spiffies' were wondering around helplessly, pretending to be so dumb they can't tell where they're going (well, it worked).
And again, this time full-out, in "Thanksgiving Carol".
Couch Gag: Though not featured in the show's intro, the sign outside Charles Darwin Middle School changes EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Cute and Psycho: Lola Llama in "Save the Drama for Your Llama". Lola befriended Ingrid Giraffe but in truth she had no interest in being her friend. By Windsor's explanation, Lola was attempting an aggressive pack assimilation by targeting the weakest member. As Lola slowly began to steal Ingrid's identity, she became more and more crazed about wanting to keep it.
Cute Clumsy Girl: Ingrid. Having such a really long neck doesn't help.
Cute Is Evil: The subject of one episode, when Adam gets hosed by a group of cute miniature animals.
Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: "Lie, Cheetah, Steal": Coach Gill keeps gushing over her new assistant, Mr. Cheetah, via internal monologue, and other characters keep overhearing her "voiceover".
Disproportionate Retribution: Jake shunning Adam for almost an entire episode due to him saying that Bull Sharkowsci had "Gone ape on him". In the monkey world "Going ape" is supposed to be a compliment, unlike in the human world where it means "Go crazy".
Does This Remind Youof Anything: There is the human school and the animal school...and the animal school doesn't really teach much. Of course,the series presents this as more or less a good idea.
well they learn useful stuff for animals.
Deus ex Machina: "Robo Frog 3000": Because when any middle school faculty is confronted by the school board with robots ready to destroy them, you always keep a wizard in your trunk just in case. Right?
Subverted. The school board had their own robot wizard, so it didn't save them at all. But the robots couldn't leave the school cause they were powered by the school walls, saving Adam and Jake from being chased further.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: Adam Lyon, more notable in the episode "Notorious Windsor Gorilla"
In-episode example: When everyone at CDMS are forced to wear school uniforms, everyone, except Dickie (who is British of course), Adam and Principal Pixiefrog, started speaking in obviously fake British accents.
Speaking of Tom Kenny, David Coppertrout also qualifies.
In "Flesh Fur Fantasy" Winsor had students draw nude pics of him (in his "human" suit)
In "Middle School Musical" Adam gets hit in his "Lower stomach area" when its pretty clear where the ball actually hit him. and later on in the same special when Ingrid starts forcefully kissing Henry armadillo dressed as adam he say he is feeling funny in his lower stomach area.
Groin Attack: In the "Middle school musical" special, Adam gets hit in the groin with a dodgeball.
Good Old Fisticuffs: Jake gaining a "Mustache" inexplicably gives him 1337 skills with nunchucks, but Adam counters this by challenging him to a round of fisticuffs. Subverted in that neither of them actually knows what comes next.
I'm a Humanitarian, a lobster version. 2 lobsters are sitting at a table in a tank in a restaurant.
Boy lobster: Oh, it is so nice to get out of the house after 97 years.
Girl lobster: Oh, you take me to the nicest places.
Boy lobster: Waiter, I'll have the lobster.
Girl lobster (as she is lifted out of the tank by the waiter): Nathan, how could you?
Inept Aptitude Test: Adam, the only human attending a school full of animals, takes a career aptitude test and become depressed when the results indicated his career would be "zoo animal"; the principal later reveals that the tests aren't graded and everyone is given the result of "zoo animal" as that's what they all want anyway.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Adam Lyon comes dangerously close to crossing the Moral Event Horizon in The Hyena And The Mighty. First, he talks behind Rufus Hyena's back, insulting him and making him cry. When Windsor explains that Rufus may die because hyenas need to laugh to live, Adam clearly doesn't give a damn about Rufus saying "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya". Jake convinces Adam to help Rufus stop crying. They try visiting the principal, counselor and nurse with no help. Finally, Adam snaps and threatens Rufus with physical violence if he doesn't stop crying even though Adam himself MADE Rufus cry in the first place. It's a GOOD thing Adam gets hit with Karma in the end.
Euripedes Sharkowski. Yes, despite the mustache and masculine voice. And the way the students talked about her, Adam (and likely the viewers) were shocked to discover that Euripedes was a girl.
Slips Python's older sister, complete with deep voice.
Lampshade Hanging: Done a few times over the course of the series. One particular example coming from the result of a Deus ex Machina:
Lisa Needs Braces: Subverted. Bull Sharkowski has to wear headgear that's essentially reverse-SCUBA ear (gill) muffs.
Living Crashpad: After Jake Spidermonkey gains a huge amount of weight, he falls through the floor, but later calls up to Adam that "Principal Pixiefrog broke my fall!"
Meaningful Name: Adam's given name, which is also the name of the first man, created by God. And, since he's quite probably the first human to set foot in Charles Darwin Middle...
Medium Awareness: Several characters, most notably Prinicipal Pixiefrog, seem to know that they are characters in a cartoon.
The Music Meister: The magical fish David Coppertrout casts a spell casts a spell that transforms the school into a musical in "Animal School Musical".
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Virgil "Bull" Sharkowski should be renamed into Michael "Bull" Tysonowski. Seriously.
There is an episode where Adam and Jake visited the Neverland Ranch because Bubbles, Michael Jackson's pet monkey, is Jake's cousin. Their names are changed to avoid being sued.
Not Wearing Pants Dream: In "The Hyena and the Mighty", Adam had a dream that he came to school in his underpants. Jake informed him that it wasn't a dream.
Opening Shout-Out: Happens in "The Notorious Windsor Gorilla" with the credits re-done as My Gym Partner's a Gorilla and featuring Windsor instead of Jake.
Paranoia Fuel: In-Universe: In the episode where Jake is sent to a school of plants. He starts believing the plants are ganging up on him. A couple of plants looks as though one is whispering to the other.
Parental Abandonment: Adam seems to have parents, but they don't seem to object to him attending middle school with the animal kingdom.
And when they DID make an appearance and were asked that question (since they are allergic to animals and were wearing full hazmat suits), the viewer is unable to understand their answer. It's also worthy to note that the same episode had Adam's friends think he lives alone and that he killed his parents.
Adam's father also appeared in another episode where they were having a party at a Chuckie Cheese like establishment though you only see him buried in a ball pit with his arm sticking out.
Screams Like a Little Girl: Adam discovers this natural defensive mechanism when the entire school wants to eat him. His high pitched girlish shriek causes everyone to run away.
Shaggy Dog Story: The episode where Adam and Jake joining the hall monitors. It turns out that the force is TOTALLY corrupt, useless and tries to get rid of Adam when he tries to stop the corruption. So Adam goes and tries to get rid of their Dirtnuts by bribing the truck driver not to get rid of them to stop them from being corrupt. However, the force has Dirtarts and then Adam is blamed for the corruption, since the bribe was caught on video so the force gets away scot free.
Mr. Hornbill teaches the kids that rubbing mud on yourself will prevent predators from being able to see you. The camera shows a cartoon Predator sitting in a desk, who says, "It's true."
From the same episode, Adam, after been hit on the head by a piece of concrete, became Joey Mack.
There's an episode where it ends with a spoof of the intro from The Love Boat.
Principal Pixiefrog resembles and sounds like actor Hans Conreid. Miss Loon sounds like Katharine Hepburn, a Shout Out to On Golden Pond, in which she played a woman who loved to hear the sounds of the loons calling across the lake.
During the infamous "I'm A Friendly Armadillo" episode, the judges of the school talent show are positioned in the same order as the ones from American Idol.
Cyrus Q Hornbill (Randy Jackson, the neutral one.)
Miss Chameleon (Paula Abdul, the nice one.}
Coach Gills (Simon Cowell, the mean and honest one.)
When Adam temporarily took over Coach Gills' job for the day, he found a very valuable item on her desk, an autographed picture of Brian Doyle-Murray (her VA).
There is one episode where The Spiffies are modeled after The Mafia, with ringleader Phinnius Porpoise doing a very good impression of Don Vito.
One episode has Bull Sharkowsci dress and dance like Napoleon Dynamite.
The Big Field Trip contained multiple references to Lord of the Flies.
In fact, Adam Lyon was sent to CDMS because his name was misspelled "Lion" in a file.
Spit Take: When Jake creates a routine using his bottom and tail (creating a puppet of sorts), he causes the whole student body to laugh resulting in much milk being spurted out, half the time it was in Adam's face.
"But torches and pitchforks are a cartoon riot tradition!"
Transformation Trauma: There's an episode where Slips comes to school feeling rather ill which leads everyone to believe that he has a horrible disease called the... "Eccch!" and the students start feeling weird (an ox student's fur starts coming out, a bear student gets really hungry and so on), at the end of the episode Principal Pixifrog calls an assembly- at this assembly he shows a video called "It's Only Natural" which is about changes animals go through, everyone is relieved to find out that it's not a disease going around, but then Slips shreds his skin and says..."It's only natural? Phew! I'm not a freak!" and throws his old skin off- the old skin lands on Principal Pixiefrog who then states..."No you're not" and then Slips 'sneezes all over him, Principal Pixiefrog exclaims in a very disgusted way "Yuck, that snake's got a cold! Germ alert, germ alert!".
Wild Child: The Possum Girl posed as one to get closer to Adam
What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: This show plays with this trope endlessly. The staff includes a warthog, a chameleon, a goldfish, a baboon, a pixie frog and an elephant, all of whom have personalities that vary wildly with their appearances; the snake is friendly, helpful and a member of the main cast (one notable episode had him apparently fighting with a mongoose, only to be revealed that they were just playing tag); the (spider) monkey is the resident Jerkass; and the human, instead of being a bastard, is just trying to survive amongst the insanity. The shark, however, is the school bully, but like most bullies in recent fiction he's a coward who hides his insecurities behind violence.
Who Is Driving: "Slips, if you're here, then who's flying the plane?"
Fridge Logic/Horror kicks in when you start to wonder how Slips, who has no limbs, was flying the plane in the first place.
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