Western Animation: The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius aka: The Adventures Of Jimmy Neutron
Jimmy: It's a heavy burden being a man of science.
Sheen: I know what you mean, Jimmy. That's why I set out early to sabotage my highly scientific brain with cartoons and sugar.
Based on the movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, this CGI Nickelodeon series follows the adventures of Jimmy, a preteen genius who creates inventions in his underground lab. He, his robot dog Goddard, and fellow grade-schoolers Carl, Sheen, Libby and Cindy (and occasionally extra characters like Bolbi or Betty) save Retroville/the world from invention-induced disasters just about every episode. The show lasted from July 2002 to November 2006.Of interest is that the film and television series was made from consumer-grade programs. The show strains to compensate for the lack of raw technical power with very clever visuals. As per the very nature of its premise the "science" was either never explained or clearly made up.It was a fairly successful show, running for three seasons. It was involved in a few crossovers withThe Fairly OddParents and in later Massive Multiplayer Crossovers in the Nicktoons Unite series and Nicktoons MLB.Feel free to further amuse yourself by checking out the Character Sheet or FanficRecs.A Spin-Off has been made, Planet Sheen.
This series provides examples of:
Accidentally Accurate: Despite coasting along on Rule Of Cool, the show sometimes got something right even when the writers obviously weren't even aiming for accuracy. One such highlight occured in Sorry, Wrong Era when Jimmy shattered the big diamond in an attempt to break off a chunk small enough for his jury-rigged Bamboo Technology time-warping device. Diamond, while certainly the hardest natural substance on earth, is also brittle enough to shatter using little more than a hammer, chisel, and a little bit of precision.
Adults Are Useless : Taken to its literal extreme, There Are No Adults, in the movie, when the entire grown-up population of Retroville is kidnapped by aliens.
Played straight with Jimmy's dad in the TV series, who is probably one of the biggest idiots in the city.
Subverted with Jimmy's mom, though. She's incredibly athletic, coordinated, intelligent, and she keeps a plasma rifle in her utility closet (for those tough ground-in stains!)
His daughter Beautiful Gorgeous inherited this from him
Grandma Taters counts as well
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Nanobots have a bad habit of taking Jimmy's orders to their most logical extreme. After being told to correct for errors and then Logic Bombed with "humans' flaws are what make them perfect", they decide to delete humanity.
Aliens Speaking English: Taken to quite an extreme with not only the Yolkians, but the fact there is a "galactic television lineup" with billions of channels, all in English.
All CGI Cartoon: Notable for being the first film and series animated entirely with over-the-counter programs.
Anguished Declaration of Love: Almost. Cindy attempts this tactic to calm Hulk!Jimmy down in "The N Men", but passes out before she can complete her confession.
Anime Hair: Jimmy's. This is lampshaded pretty regularly.
Area 51: Appeared in the movie. In the episode N Men, Cindy, Libby, Sheen, and Carl are taken to "Area 86" after they prove unable to control the superpowers that they developed from contact with space radiation.
Miss Fowl: It has come to my attention that some of our candidates have been guilty of bribery, blackmail, and MURDER!![the kids in the audience scream] Sorry, not murder, I meant operating a zeppelin on school premises.
Bamboo Technology: Trapped in prehistoric times because of his Dad goofing around with a time-warping device, Jimmy built a replica with wood.
Bare Your Midriff: Betty Quinlan's Lady Macbeth costume in "Out Darn Spotlight." There is no way this would be worn in an elementary school play in real life.
Batman Can Breathe in Space: Lampshaded in one episode, where Sheen asks how this is possible. Jimmy's explanation is not heard due to Carl singing during it.
The Bermuda Triangle: One episode takes place in the "Bahama Quadrant", which Jimmy, Sheen, and Carl visit so that Jimmy can prove them that nothing supernatural is going on there. They end up finding a super villain/scientist that appears to be the cause for odd sightings and disappearances... though the ending leaves us questioning it.
Sheen once refers to the Bermuda Triangle as the mythological North Dakota.
Betty and Veronica: An unusual example. The sweeter, more mature Betty is...well, the Betty, while the edgier and occasionally antagonistic Cindy is the Veronica. In the end he chooses the Veronica, Cindy.
Bizarrchitecture McSpanky's, which is in a burger-shaped building.
Not just a burger, but also including the giant head of the mascot sticking out of its side, with his mouth serving as the drive-thru window.
And the lolipop on the Candy Bar. Although according to Nicktoons Unite, these are only huge to the cast, and would be even smaller than normal to real, live action humans.
Brain Critical Mass: Jimmy's normally ditzy friend Sheen gets his intelligence increased with Jimmy's Phlebotinum and gains telekinesis.
Brawn Hilda: After time traveling into an alternate future where he is rich, Jimmy soon discovers he has a cranky, hideous nanny named "Hilgo."
Brilliant, but Lazy: Why do something as simple as neatly put away your piles of pants when you can implant chips in them that do it for you? Carl and Sheen call him out on this, though.
Butt Monkey: Jimmy. His inventions usually cause troubles. And when it doesn't come to his inventions, he's picked on by those left and right. How rare is it that the main character falls under this trope?
Jimmy might also be a Woobie because he's always picked on and sometimes you just want to hug him.
What about Carl? He's the Gina pig to all of Jimmy's experiments.
Camp Gay: Principal Willoughby is quite blatantly gay, with his campy behavior and his love for Judy Garland and musical theater.
Can Not Spit It Out: Cindy and Jimmy to each other, and, to a lesser extent, Libby to Sheen.
Character Development for a series so episodic in nature there's a surprising amount, though not in terms of learned aesops, but interpersonal relationships. Throughout the series you can note small but noticeable changes in character interaction. Especially when it comes to romantic couples
Chekhov's Gun: The solution to the problem in the episode is usually this.
Chosen One: Literally. Sheen is called "The Chosen One" by the monks of Shangri Llama, thanks to his strange ability to put his foot behind his head. Subverted by the fact that he isn't the 'true'' Chosen One, but merely a substitute (since the monks were sick of waiting around for the real one to show up).
Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Jimmy and his parents could have been millionaires if he sold some of his inventions instead of just making them for fun.
They backfire way too much for someone to mass produce them, though.
Also, Jimmy's dad once got a job making toys, which Jimmy amped up with his technology. The first one was met with such success that he got the job... as long as he kept making toys of that same calibur every day. Jimmy ended up exhausting himself after a few days, which led to the accident of the week; the Nanobots making a rampage on Retrovile on a doll-faced toy tank that grew in size to be a real tank.
Demoted to Extra: Nick, he was a somewhat relevant character in the movie even though he just had Informed Ability. In the series, he is much less prevalent
Distracted by the Sexy: Sheen with practically any attractive female (most notably Libby, Beautiful Gorgeous, Sally and Princess Guan Qi "Peggy" Tsu); Jimmy with Betty Quinlan, Sally, April, and later with Cindy. Oh yeah, and Carl with Jimmy's Mom.
The Ditz - Bolbi, though he seems like just a goofy foreigner at first.
Expy: When they all get superpowers it is exactly the same as other well-known superheroes. Cindy has Superman flight and strength, Libby is The Invisible Woman, Sheen is The Flash and Carl...well has burps that seem like Black Canary. Jimmy was originally just turned orange, until he got angry...
Egocentric Team Naming: When Jimmy and his friends gain superpowers due to cosmic radiation he immediately calls them the "N-Men" (as in Neutron Men,) despite a couple of protests.
In the episode where they form a band, Sheen proposes the name "Sheen and the Sheenettes".
Epic Fail: After losing to many times in a gym race against Cindy, Jimmy sprays his shoes with a chemical compound to give him super speed. He runs in circles around her and showing off how fast he is, all gloating and confident, but he still lost. Why? Because he fell for the old point and look behind your back distraction, being a "1957 Van de Graff electrostatic generator" of all things.
Eskimos Aren't Real: Jimmy's friends are positive that ancient Egyptian curses are a myth, just like the Loch Ness Monster and North Dakota.
Face Full of Alien Wing-Wong (Carl is impregnated with an alien child in "Who's Your Mommy?". The extra fat grows out from well, his butt - but let's not go there.)
Incidentally, at the end (where they had to manually switch back their memories) They found that one of the two had an extreme dislike of the other one. However Sheen said that it got too confusing reading the hilariously long name and deleted it, never getting to the end (and thus, figuring out who it belonged to). It is after that one that the two started getting closer.
Free-Range Children: The fifth grade cast behaves more like young adults/older teenagers. They run all about Retroville, hang out at the local fast food joints, and that's only what they do when not on a adventure caused by Jimmy's invention.
From the Mouths of Babes: Baby Edward "Eddie" Neutron, Jimmy's infant evil cousin, who can be very crass at times.
Girls Have Cooties: Jimmy, Sheen, and Carl all exhibit this sentiment from time to time, especially at the beginning of the series. It wears off as the show progresses, however, giving way to Distracted by the Sexy.
Goofy Print Underwear: In "When Pants Attack", Hugh runs around in a pair of white, heart-covered boxers. He can be seen wearing these (and only these!) again in "Lights! Camera! Danger!" during his Gollum impression.
Not to mention in the same episode everyone else Sheen's imported Ultralord underwear, Jimmy's plaid boxers and Cindy's polka dot panties
On one occasion, Carl's underwear. I forget what was on them, though. I think llamas.
Hilarious Outtakes: These appear out of the blue at the end of the episode "Crouching Jimmy Hidden Sheen."
Hollywood Tone Deaf: Sheen is mocked relentlessly for his inability to sing throughout the series - there is even a reprise song number at the end of "My Big Fat Spy Wedding", where the characters belt out in glorious harmony "We all can sing except Sheen!" Becomes beneficial in "Attack of the Twonkies" - Sheen's singing is so bad that it actually puts the Twonkies (who normally become enraged and then mutate when they hear music) to sleep.
Carl: Oh no... It's started! The gnawing hunger! MUST RESIST DESIRE TO EAT HUMAN FLESH!!
I Know Karate: Cindy - she actually says this in "King of Mars."
Important Haircut: Libby gets one in the Beach Party Mummy episode to fool a bunch of mummies that were chasing the gang. She keeps the new look for the remainder of the series.
I See London: Jimmy, Carl, Sheen and Cindy's pants get minds of their own and run away... in the first episode.
This is actually said in the first episode/movie, by Cindy, when Jimmy's pants fall down.
Cindy: I see London, I see France!
Carl: Wow, you have really good eyesight....
Isolation Despondency: In "The Feud", Jimmy and Carl are forbidden to play with each other again by their fathers, due to an incident involving weed spray that was borrowed and never returned.
The Jimmy Hart Version: The title card for "Hypno-Birthday to You" has a Jimmy Hart Version of The Beatles' "Birthday" playing over it.
Jimmy: May I suggest that instead of the arm-missiles button, you push the one right below it? Carl: I know what button to push! I was just testing you.
Limited Wardrobe: the only time this changes is the episode where Libby gets a makeover, and declares that she's keeping the new look. From then on that became the outfit she wore every episode.
Love Triangle: Betty and Cindy toward Jimmy, though the latter two would claim not to like each other.
In the Jimmy Timmy Power Hours, there was also Timmy/Cindy/Jimmy — the two boys fight over her in the second power hour ("When Nerds Collide"), but Cindy ends up in a way, going with both of them since she wished for a cross-dimensional dance party for Dimmsdale and Retroville's elementary schools so she can dance with both Jimmy and Timmy.
Lets not forget Carl's infatuation with Jimmy's mother.
Love Potion: Another one of Jimmy's inventions. It causes him to fall for Cindy and Sheen, Libby. And Carl falls for Jimmy's Mom, which then goes on to become a Running Gag. Poor Carl.
My Future Self and Me: Jimmy, Carl, and Sheen all get to meet their future selves as well as future Cindy and Libby.
Naked People Are Funny: In "Jimmy Goes to College", the boy genius streaks through the halls of the Pomona School of Advanced Physics - only to find himself face to face with the elderly female patroness of the coveted Moran Grant. He quickly covers his front with a book and his backside with an exit sign. In the movie, Sheen can also be seen naked - peeing, in the shower!
Never My Fault: In "King of Mars", Cindy blames Jimmy for her Face Heel Turn with Eustace, for never paying any attention to her.
Never Say "Die": In the episode The N-Men, Jimmy has to save himself and his friends before their "life forces" are depleted.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Nearly every episode and movie is this. Jimmy's inventions and motives usually cause the problem of the week and it's up to him to fix the problem he caused.
Panty Shot: Cindy gets a few... graciousegregious shots (blue thong) in The N-Men.
Parody Names: Quite a few of the episode titles. Examples include "I Dream of Jimmy" (I Dream of Jeannie), "A Beautiful Mine" (A Beautiful Mind), "The Junkman Cometh" (The Iceman Cometh), "Crouching Jimmy, Hidden Sheen" (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), "My Big Fat Spy Wedding" (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), and "Trading Faces" (Trading Spaces, although the episode was originally titled "A Mind is a Terrible Thing, Two Ways" - a parody of the educational slogan "a mind is a terrible thing to waste). "Journey to the Center of Carl" (Journey to the Center of the Earth) is actually a Fantastic Voyage Plot.
Pizza Vampires Don't Believe In Humans Either: Pops up at the end of the sleepover episode. The climax of the episode features a series of increasingly-nonsensical Catapult Nightmares involving the various characters and a flying vampiric pizza. The final nightmare turns out to belong to an actual pizza vampire, sleeping in his pizza box; when he explains his terrible dream to his wife, she consoles him that children don't exist, everyone knows that.
Playing Sick: Invoked by Jimmy when he invents patches that make the wearer sick when applied. He gives them to the rest of the kids so they can skip school. Until they get absorbed into their bodies, forcing Jimmy and Sheen to pull a Fantastic Voyage into Carl to get the cure needed.
Running Gag: Jimmy making something using Hugh's toasters.
Carl's crush on Jimmy's mom, Judy.
Nick: "Oww, I broke my leg."
The exact same footage is used for this scene every time this happens. "Lady Sings the News" even Lampshades it when Jimmy and Cindy note that this has happened fifteen times with Nick, and that everyone is expecting it to happen to Nick again shortly after he recovers.
The Twonkies that Sheen had after an episode appear in several later episodes; they don't morph however.
Actually, when it first appeared, I think it was red, not blue.
Cindy's entire character could be a shout out to June from KaBlam!! Let's see, bossy 10-11 year old girl with a ponytail, crush on the main boy... yup, it's June.
The N Men episode, particularly Retroville's reaction, is similar to the X-Men.
Not just that, but Cindy, Sheen, Libby and Carl's powers are similar to Supergirl, The Flash, The Invisible Woman and Banshee, well if Banshee was burping instead of screaming. Carl's costume is also a shout out to Plastic Man. Jimmy was well, orange... right until he turned into The Hulk.
And, think of Sheen's name idea. The Fantastic League of Justice Bringing Avenging Men (and two girls!)
Show Within a Show: ''UltraLord'' — Sheen is crazy over it to the point of claiming that Ultralord fills George Washington's role as the father of America.
Lampshaded when Sheen asks Jimmy how they could go on space without spacesuits or how they can get to the moon in mere minutes, but Carl's singing blocks out Jimmy's answers.
Space Whale Aesop: The pilot episode, "When Pants Attack", has one: Always remember to be responsible and clean up after yourself, because if you don't, those pants that you forgot to pick up off your floor might become sentient and go on a mad rampage.
Sheen: Don't do it Jimmy. Don't tell him about the limitless power-source you found on Mar-(Jimmy covers his mouth)
Carl: And we're not going there to get the limitless power-source if that's what your thinking- (Jimmy covers his mouth)
Sheen: MARS! (beat) Sorry I just get excited.
Stalker with a Crush: Carl to Jimmy's mom. It's shown in several episodes that he has a picture of her and Hugh. Hugh's face is obscured by Carl's taped over it. Cindy comes off like this to Jimmy In Season Three. She gets Jimmy in the Finale.
Taking You with Me: After being defeated, Evil Jimmy breaks the dark matter chip he used to create his evil copy of Earth, causing the entire planet to be sucked into the the dark matter dimmension in an attack to take Jimmy down with him.
In the original movie she explains that she only became one to Jimmy, because she was jealous of his better grades and hated his tendency to show off his intelligence on every given occasion.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Hugh and Judy, though Hugh's just a moron, and Carl and Elkie, though it's just a one episode fling, and then there's The Junkman and Beautiful Gorgeous.
Undead Author: Jimmy points out the difficulties with this.
Un Evil Laugh: Eustace Strych and Beautiful Gorgeous.
UST: Jimmy and Cindy, which slowly developed into a real romance.
Villain Team Up: The League of Villains consists of King Goobot, Finbarr Calamitous, Beautiful Gorgeous, evil genius Eddie, the Junkman, Eustace Strych, Grandma Taters and the Space Bandits.
This is also played with in one of the episodes where Jimmy states that his script for a movie has one of the locations in 'a fictional city in Texas'.
Although, in the first episode Cindy mentions that Jimmy's head is the size of Texas, to which Carl, upset, replies that his uncle is from Texas, and not that they live in Texas.
The company who does the animation on the series is itself based in Dallas.
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