Western Animation / Skatoony

And now the stars of the show...Mini Mario and The Earl!

Skatoony is a British children's animation/live-action hybrid Game Show in which real child contestants compete against animated characters. The brainchild of James Fox and Brian Boyle, it was originally developed in 2001 as a competition microsite on Cartoon Network UK's website (in co-production with FremantleMedia Animation), but became its own series in 2006 that ran for 3 seasons of 39 episodes.

The show's hosts are:

• Chudd Chudders - The bespectacled and diminutive Game Show Host. His Catchphrase is "Has anyone seen my glasses?"
• The Earl - Chudd's suave, Tom Jones-like co-host. He's there mostly to look cool.
• Tony Eagle-Eyes (UK/Arabia)/ Charles La Puck (Canada) - Chudd and The Earl's money-hungry boss.

The show's format is that three child contestants and three toon contestants compete on a quiz show lasting three rounds. At the end of the first two rounds, the two lowest scoring contestants are eliminated. The first round is always "Bang On! or Bogus?", a rapid-fire true-or-false questioning round; with "Bang On!" meaning true, and "Bogus!" meaning false. The last two rounds vary between episodes. At the end of the third round, only 1 of the 2 remaining contestants gets eliminated, and the remaining contestant (who is always one of the children) takes on the Skatoony Quiz Champ Challenge, where they must answer ten questions correctly in 90 seconds. After 45 seconds, the clock will temporarily stop, and The Earl's Halfway Deal will be offered, trading in time for correct answers (10 seconds per point to raise the contestant to a maximum of 7 points or 25 seconds for 3 points if fewer than five questions have been answered correctly at that point). If the contestant finishes with time remaining and gets ten questions right, the contestant wins a prize.

In 2010, a Canadian remake of the series premiered on Teletoon. Co-produced with Marblemedia, it has the same format as the British version, but different casting (the hosts' voice actors are changed while the Montreal and Toronto versions feature different child contestants). Additionally, characters from Teletoon's flagship series of the day, Total Drama and Jimmy Two-Shoes, appear as some of the animated contestants.

There's also a Middle Eastern version co-produced with Blink Studios that premiered on Cartoon Network Arabic in 2011. It is entirely identical to the British version except it guest stars characters from the Arab-language animated series Freej.

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This show provides examples of:

• All There in the Manual: The promos for the Skatoony block on various Cartoon Network European feeds explain how Chudd and The Earl met. It all began when The Earl was a singing lumberjack on whom a squirrel's egg has fallen into his head one day. Shortly after Tony Eagle-Eyes approached the singer with a deal and at the same time Chudd Chudders hatched from the egg. 17 years later during The Earl's tour Chudd fell from The Earl's head and the public went amazed with that, which resulted in the creation of Skatoony.
• Bad Boss: Tony Eagle-Eyes/Charles La Puck is at best uncaring of Chudd and The Earl (so long as they're making money for him), and at worst, outright cruel to them.
• Bat Out of Hell: One terrorizes the contestants in "To the Quiz Cave" when the quizblock falls into a sinkhole that leads to the creature's lair.
• Big Eater: Toon contestants Guts Glory and Sven Strudel are both defined by this trait.
• Birthday Episode: "TJ's/CJ's Birthday" is about Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Bowdlerise: The Canadian version of the episode where they go to a dystopian future cut the part where Chudd tries what he thinks is gruel but turns out to be some guy's ear wax collection.
• Broke Episode: In "Broke Tony/Charles", the studio goes bust after Tony/Charles spends all his money on an extremely expensive meal, forcing the hosts to run their show on the streets.
• Butt-Monkey: Freezee, a toon snowman contestant who never makes it past the first round due to him always melting when on set.
• The Cameo: In the Canadian version, Sierra is present in the studio audience, but never participates on the show.
• Catchphrase: Chudd Chudders always says "Has anyone seen my glasses?" when he introduces himself.
• Christmas Episode: "Stoopid Santa", in which Charles/Tony blows all of the money that the studio uses for prizes on an expensive summer vacation, so Chudd, The Earl and the other contestants must convince Santa Claus (who is a contestant in the episode) that it is Christmas, so they can get a present to use as a prize for the winner.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: The two losers of each round before the final are ejected from the quiz block into something gross or dangerous, even if they're currently in another universe or era in time and the quiz block is the only way to get back. "Quizoo" is the one exception, with the contestants instead being ejected to different continents (as part of the hosts' plan to help the animals escape)
• Covered in Gunge: The "Hoo Flung Dung!" challenge often has Hoo's "paint" splattering the contestants as he works out his paintings.
• Dem Bones: The toon contestants known as Da Skeleton Crew are a gang of hip-hop skeletons
• The Dividual: The Super Smile Gang are treated as one contestant and share the same square. The same applies to Katie and Sadie in the Canadian version.
• Doomy Dooms of Doom: The Danger Grid of Doom, a giant killer robot who provides Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Dream Land: "In Your Dreams" is set there.
• Dumb Blonde: Toon contestant Princess Nebula is a textbook example.
• Eat That: Some of the challenges mix disgusting food with answering questions, such as "Stink Drinky", "DangerBox", and "Mystery Pie Roulette".
• Eject the Loser: Every round launches the two lowest-scoring contestants out of the game, with The Earl providing a little goodbye song before it happens.
• Elimination Catchphrase: The Earl's song, "You're Outta Here!"
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: One game is called "Draw What You Hear, And Shout Out When You Know What You've Drawn!"
• Executive Meddling: Tony/Charles does a lot of it in-universe.
• Extreme Omnivore: Izzy displays this trait here in her appearances, despite not doing so in her own show. In her first appearance, during a game of DangerBox, she happily drank a smoothie made from fish eyes (which she apparently makes all the time at home), and swallowed a live squid whole (however she puked him up after eating oatmeal cookies). In her second appearance, she found the smell coming from a talking garbage can toon to be delicious and ate some of his garbage.
• "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: "Inside Eagle-Eyes/La Puck" sees the hosts and the quizblock getting magically shrunk and ending up in Tony's/Charles' stomach after a toon genie contestant overhears Chudd frivolously wishing to see the inside of his boss' stomach during a lunchtime conversation.
• Foregone Conclusion: Because they can't give the prize to a drawing, none of the toon contestants ever win.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: "Body Swap" sees toon magician contestant Fernando Fernando Fernando perform one on all the other toon contestants in order to cheat his way through the game.
• Game Show Appearance: Total Drama and Jimmy Two-Shoes characters appear as special guests in the Canadian version, although the characters from the former are technically already known from a game show (just a reality TV competition rather than a quiz show).
• Gasshole: One of the toon contestants is a kid known by the nickname "Burp", and for good reason. He doesn't even speak, he communicates entirely by burping, and his sister had to translate for him.
• Halloween Episode: "Halloween", in which Charles/Tony bans everything that has to do with Halloween on the show, but after Lucrezia, a witch contestant is eliminated second round, she sends Chudd, The Earl, and the quizblock into a spooky dimension ruled by a pair of monsters.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Chudd and The Earl are a two-in-one package for hosting Skatoony.
• Hilarity in Zoos: The episode "Quizoo" is set at Tony's/Charles' poorly run zoo, with Chudd and The Earl (as well as Bridgette in the Canadian version) helping the animals escape. A few of them even come onto the show as contestants to get themselves ejected!
• Horny Vikings: A gang of these attack the show in the episode "Vikings".
• Hostile Show Takeover: Several episodes involve toon contestants attempting to take over the show or position of host from Chudd and The Earl. Heck, in one episode of the Canadian version, one attempt was from none other than Chris McLean himself!
• Large Ham: The Earl is certainly capable of chewing the scenery.
• Lifelines: The Earl's Halfway Deal. Halfway through the final round, The Earl will offer to give the contestant some points in exchange for time off the clock. However, if the contestant is really good and only has 1 or 2 points to go before winning, The Earl won't bother offering the deal.
• Little Guy, Big Buddy: Chudd's the little guy with The Earl as his big buddy.
• Man of a Thousand Voices: All the voices in the UK version are done by just two guys (specifically, Lewis Macleod and Rupert Degas), resulting in Acting for Two
• Misplaced Wildlife: One of the toon contestants is a Scottish kangaroo. Lampshaded in ""Quizoo".
  Chudd: Don't worry Dale, we'll soon have you back home to Australia.

  UK Version
  Dale: Oh is that right to you, why do you assume that I'm from Australia?
  Chudd: Huh?
  Dale: Oh yeah, know, just because I'm a kangaroo isn't it, ai yeah hah oooooooooh! Waitaminute!
  Chudd: Umm... well?!
  Dale: Ach, ya sassanach!

  NA Version
  Dale: I'm from Scotland! What makes you assume I'm from Australia? Oh, it's just because I'm a kangaroo, and we're... indigenous to Australia... oh, I see your logic.
• Moral Guardians: Tony/Charles' grandmother in-universe, even objecting to T-Bone appearing naked even though he has no skin.
• Musical Episode: In the episode "Pop Video", Chudd and The Earl turn the show into a music video. They also had another episode parodying Bollywood musicals.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Mike replaces a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-esque character because they both have multiple personalities.
  • In one episode, Paris Hilton Expy Princess Nebula is replaced with another Paris Hilton Expy, Dakota Milton.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Chudd Chudders and The Earl are based on Ronnie Corbett and Tom Jones respectively.
  • Tony Eagle-Eye's voice is similar to Jimmy Durante.
  • Hoo's voice is based on Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  • Princess Nebula is based on Paris Hilton.
  • Goldie Pops is a family-friendly parody of Amy Winehouse.
  • Professor Fuddlehudd is based on Christopher Lloyd, whom played Doc Brown in the film "Back to the Future", even copying his catchphrase "Great Scott".
  • Dan Blam's voice may be modeled after Bill Paxton's Hudson character from the film "Aliens", copying his catch-phrase "Game over, man!".
  • Ernie Einstein is a parody of Albert Einstein, obviously.
• No Smoking: Tony has a sausage in place of a cigar.
• Non-Gameplay Elimination: Several of the toon contestants have quit the show in the middle of a game of various reasons. The Canadian version is notable in that one of these is Harold.
• A Pirate 400 Years Too Late: A gang of these attack the show in the episode "Pirates", with Izzy joining their takeover in the Canadian version.
• Repetitive Name: Chudd Chudders and Fernando Fernando Fernando.
  Fernando: So good they named me three times!
• Roger Rabbit Effect: The live-action child contestants are spliced into the animated game show set and interact with or react to the things the toon contestants say.
• Rules Spiel: In every episode, Chudd and The Earl will explain the rules of the game and of the different rounds.
• Santa Claus: He's one of the toon contestants, and of course plays a big role in the Christmas Episode.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Tony's/Charles' spoiled and bratty nephew TJ/CJ often uses his familial connections with the boss to get away with causing trouble on set for Chudd, The Earl, and the contestants.
• Space Episode: "Space: The Final Souffle" and "Destination: Moon" both feature the studio ending up in space. But of course, even that won't stop Chudd and The Earl from making sure the show goes on.
• Special Guest:
  • Total Drama characters appear as both contestants and audience members in the Canadian version.
  • Jimmy Two-Shoes characters joined the cast in the third season.
  • The Middle Eastern version features characters from Freej, an All-CGI Cartoon produced in the United Arab Emirates.
• Speed Round: The Skatoony Quiz Champ Challenge (the final round)
• Stock Footage: The Canadian episodes are edited versions of the UK episodes. The side plots are the same and all that's changed is the voices, the contestants, the questions, and Tony is replaced with Charles. All singing by The Earl is taken from the UK version.
• Studio Audience: They're all toons as well. And in the Canadian version, Sierra is present in the crowd.
• Superhero Episode: "Superheroes" is themed around this, with the Canadian version even featuring guest contestant Chef Hatchet putting on a superhero identity for the episode to keep with the theme.
• Sweet Tooth: The Easter Bunny is constantly eating chocolate, has rotting teeth and is in a perpetual sugar high.
• Time Travel Episode: Two different episodes involve the hosts and the quizblock being transported through time. First to prehistoric times in "Dinosaur", and then to the future in "Quiz to the Future".
• Toilet Humour: The "Hoo Flung Dung!" challenge is basically about a giant gorilla throwing poop at a canvas and the contestants having to guess what he's "painting".
• Toon: They form half of the contestants, the studio audience, and of course, the hosts of the show. And in the Canadian and Middle Eastern versions, some of them come from other animated series!
• Wicked Witch: Toon contestant Lucrezia is one of these.

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