The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog (French: Les mystères d'Alfred) is an animated children's series originating in Canada and France and created by Mary Mackay-Smith and Merilyn Read. A co-production between the French animation studio Alphanim and the Canadian television company Muse Entertainment, the show explores science and nature with critical thinking and pro bono detective work.
It takes place in a small town carved out of a forest known as Gnarly Woods, and involves a trio of pre-adolescents trying to solve the mysteries surrounding strange events. Alfred keeps a cool head and figures it all out logically, while Milo adds entertainment by being panicky and believing in the supernatural. Camille balances out the two boys. Viewers learn about natural phenomena through this show.
This show aired on TVO Kids in Canada, Qubo in the US, and Discovery Kids in Asia. It ran for a single season of 26 episodes through 2010.
Tropes:
- Alpha Bitch: Cynthia Payne, in most appearances, acts like an insufferable snot to the main trio, particularly Camille.
- Anime Hair:
- Alfred and his family.
- Also, Polly Porcupine. It seems to be the animators' way of depicting hair for species that have quills.
- Birthday Episode: "The Case of the Invisible Visitor" takes place on Cynthia's birthday, and most of the action occurs at her party.
- Bottle Episode: "Ol' Fingerbone's Revenge!" takes place entirely in Hedgequarters.
- Catchphrase: Alfred has two:
- "This is serious mysterious".
- "Time for a clue review".
- Civilized Animals: Oakly Beaver, Victor Vole, Lugubrious Turtle, Loomis the Cougar, J.J. Raccoon and Chloe Owl in the main cast.
- Cute Little Fangs:
- Mr. Rusard and Dr. Anna. Both are foxes.
- Fox Boy, Fox Girl, and the wolf characters from Black Forest also have these. Basically, the ones with Cute Little Fangs in this show are the canine and vulpine characters.....and Razzy .
- Easy Amnesia or just Trauma-Induced Amnesia: After Grizz regains consciousness from a concussion, he can't remember the last few moments before he got it or just how he got it. Dr. Anna uses the word "amnesia" to describe it.
- Elaborate Underground Base: Hedgequarters is a benign, junior version of this.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Almost every other episode utilizes this. Usually, they're laughing at themselves for getting so worked up over a simple situation.
- Everything Is Online:
- Most of the research is done via computer and other media.
- Subverted a few times when the answers come from books, or from other characters.
- Eyes Half Open: Mr. Remy and his son Edgar, both of whom are moles. Subverted as Mr. Remy's daughter (possibly) does not have this, but her eyes are smaller then all of the other females.
- Feather Fingers: Chloe, an owl not on the same level of anthropomorphism as the main cast, has these.
- Four-Fingered Hands: All of the anthro characters have them.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble:
- Choleric - Alfred
- Sanguine - Camille
- Phlegmatic - Milo
- Melancholic - Cynthia
- Fun with Acronyms: Cynthia's mineral water is called Gnarly Rockin' Extreme Energy Drink.
- Furry Confusion: Animal characters come in feral (unintelligent, purely animal), semi-feral (intelligent, but having non-humanoid bodies), and humanoid forms. Lampshaded when Cynthia complains about a trouble-making feral bird and a joke is made that points out that Cynthia is also a trouble-making bird.
- Fur Is Skin: A majority of the characters are anthropomorphic animals with very human-like appearances, resulting in the only hairy parts of their bodies being the hair on their heads or tails, as their faces, arms, and legs appear pretty smooth.
- Hollywood Chameleons: Whoever wrote "The Invisible Visitor" must not have had access to research materials or wasn't willing to double-check.
- Last-Second Photo Failure: The ending frame of "The Blue Mystery" has Camille, Milo, and Cynthia sneezing once the school photo is taken, resulting in everyone but Alfred jumping in surprise.
- Limited Wardrobe: Sorta. In the entire series the main characters have shown up in at least 3-5 different outfits each. Some more, some less. But most of the time they will be in their usual outfits.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Two of Cynthia's three friends/cousins, Louise and Tina. They share the combined name of actress Tina Louise, who played Ginger in Gilligan's Island.
- No Cartoon Fish: The perch in the episode “It’s Raining Fish” are drawn realistically and have no anthropomorphic qualities.
- Power Trio:
- Ego - Alfred
- Superego - Camille
- Id - Milo
- Rain of Something Unusual: The aptly named episode “It’s Raining Fish” features clouds suddenly coming in on a sunny day and fish falling from the sky.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Rudy the gardener and Grizz Kodiak. Though Grizz has his moments of being very affectionate and giving "bear hugs".
- Shout-Out: "Boo Radley's House".
- Sick Episode: Alfred has a head cold in "The Blue Mystery", which Camille, Milo, and Cynthia end up getting at the end of the episode. In a later episode called "The Mysterious Sneeze", everybody in Gnarly Woods (except Alfred, Camille, and Milo) becomes sick due to an over-abundance of something in the air.
- Sickness Equals Redness: Anyone who had a head cold in the episode "The Blue Mystery".
- Somewhere, a Mammalogist Is Crying: In the stinger for an episode in which a raccoon has been stealing things (the stinger during the credits always gives additional facts about the natural phenomenon of the episode), raccoons are referred to as "rodents." In reality, they are procyonids.
- Species Surname: The Hedgehog Family, among others.
- Stealth Pun: Mrs. Radley lives in a creepy house. It wouldn't be surprising if she had a son or grandson named Boo.
- Given that the title of the episode where she's discovered refers to "Boo Radley's House", it's likely that her husband was named Boo.
- Or that she had earned the nickname at some point in the past.
- Given that the title of the episode where she's discovered refers to "Boo Radley's House", it's likely that her husband was named Boo.
- Strictly Formula: The basic plotlines involve the following...
- a mystery that needs investigating.
- clues to determine why the mystery occurred.
- a review of the clues that make up the solution to the mystery.
- Three clues shalt thou collect, and the number of the clues collected shall be three. Four clues shalt thou not collect, nor collect thou two, unless proceeding directly to three. Five is right out.
- Subverted a few times, when the clues are insufficient to solve the case. Or when a clue turns out not to be a real clue.
- At least one of the mandatory three clues will be something heard, smelled, tasted or touched rather than seen. Use all five of those senses, kids!
- Stock Animal Diet: Ricardo Rabbit is shown to have carrot soup, carrot cake, and carrot juice in his fridge.
- Stock Footage: The intro is made up of a compilation of shots from random episodes across the series.
- Tag Along Kid: Alfred's sister Lily sometimes comes along for the adventures.
- Talking Animal: Several wild animal characters, including Lugubrious the Turtle and Winston the Moose, fall into this category.
- Two Guys and a Girl: The main trio, in which Alfred and Milo are the two guys, and Camille is the girl
- Two-Teacher School: Mr. Thomas (the principal) and Mr. Russard. There are obviously not enough students to warrant a larger teaching staff.
- Wingding Eyes: In "Stranger Among Us", several fangirls of Ricardo Rabbit get heart eyes when Camille presents several posters of the pop star to them.
- World of Funny Animals: There are only animals here with no humans.
- Working Through the Cold: In "The Blue Mystery", a head cold is not enough to stop Alfred from pursuing the mystery.
