Western Animation / Underdog

Our hero flies past (left to right) Riff Raff, Simon Bar Sinister, Sweet Polly Purebred, and Cad Lackey.

"There's no need to fear — Underdog is here!"

One of Total Television's most famous Animated Series, Underdog was a canine parody of Superman which debuted on NBC in 1964 and moved to CBS in 1966. Usually, each half-hour episode consisted of two chapters of a four-part Underdog story, separated by an unrelated TTV short.

Underdog's alter ego was "humble, lovable Shoeshine Boy". When summoned by TV reporter Sweet Polly Purebred^note "Oh where, oh where has my Underdog gone? Oh where, oh where can he be?", Shoeshine Boy dashed into the nearest phone booth and emerged in his heroic costume. For some unexplained reason, Underdog always spoke in rhyme. His foes included the mad scientist Dr. Simon Bar Sinister and his henchman, Cad Lackey (voice caricatures of Lionel Barrymore and Humphrey Bogart), and the lupine crime boss Riff Raff (based on George Raft).

Supporting segments included Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, Go Go Gophers and Klondike Kat. The series' voice talent included Wally Cox as Underdog/Shoeshine Boy and Norma McMillan as Sweet Polly Purebred.

A live-action film that just happened to be called Underdog was released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2007.

Underdog also inspired a well-remembered, well-loved Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon, as evidenced by this commercial, made 35 years after the balloon's debut.

You might've heard the theme song thanks to being Sampled Up by Wu-Tang Clan on their "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta F' Wit", which was created as part of a bunch of 90s acts redoing old cartoon themes. Parts of the Underdog theme song could also be heard in Wheels!, an Apple Macintosh game aimed at disabled children.

Not to be confused with the more graphic manga of the same name.

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There's no need to fear, TV Tropes is here!:

• Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: "Riff RAFF."
• Advertising Campaigns: Underdog vs. Stewie Griffin
• Affectionate Parody: The series is a sendup of Superman.
• Alliterative Name: An amnesiac Underdog lists many while trying to guess an equally amnesiac Sweet Polly's name in "The Forget-Me-Net, part 4".
• Amnesia Episode: "The Forget-Me-Net" story arc, where Simon Bar Sinister's latest invention causes amnesia on people.
• And Then What?: In one Klondike Cat cartoon, Klondike actually succeeds in capturing Savoir Faire at the beginning of the episode rather than the end. However, Savoir points out that catching him is the only job Klondike's ever had, and if he's in jail then there's nothing for him to do. Klondike then spends the rest of the episode trying and failing to break his nemesis out of jail.
• Arranged Marriage: Underdog was forced into a marriage with an alien princess in "Zot." He doesn't follow through, though, and the princess marries someone else. And that's after Underdog defeats a two-headed dragon that was menacing the aliens, also making it an inversion of Rescue Romance.
• Artistic License – History: In "Simon Says- "No Thanksgiving!"" Simon and Cad go back in time to the 1600s to prevent the pilgrims and Indians from having the first Thanksgiving so there will be no Thanksgiving parade to get in the way of him being able to push a button across the street to summon a small army. The problems with this logic and concept are multifold; but to keep it simple: what children's media calls the first Thanksgiving wasn't really the first and what we know the holiday for in modern times was developed over centuries. Nevermind the convoluted nature of Simon's plan rightfully making him into a laughingstock by the end of it.
• Artistic License – Politics: "The Tickle Feather Machine" has Simon and Cad sabotage Election Day with special feathers that leave their victims in a state of uncontrolled rolling laughter, making them unable to vote so the villains can cast their votes to make Simon dictator of the United States. Nevermind that such a poll could never go through, the electoral college is never brought up even once.
• Aside Comment: In part 1 of "Simon Says- "No Thanksgiving!"", soon after Simon assures Cad that he has a plan to ensure the success of his takeover scheme, the latter faces the audience while voicing his concern about Simon's potential failure and humiliation.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: This exchange when Simon shows Polly several test subjects for his Valentine Vault:
  Simon: Look at this, my dear. Earlier, these were happy, healthy people. But now they are-
  Sweet Polly: (horrified) Valentines!
• Batty Lip Burbling: One of the things Underdog does under Simon's control in "The Phoney Booths".
• Beach Episode: Never in the series, but a comic by Underdog's creator Joe Harris (never intended for release to the public, until he released it himself) had Underdog and Polly going to the beach and playing super-volleyball with a horde of robotic aliens in a story called "The Nug of Nog." See it here.
• Becoming Part of the Image: This happened several times.
• Benevolent Boss: Unlike a lot of villains with their henchmen, Simon treats Cad kindly and respectfully. Their relationship is so solid that Cad feels completely free to speak up when he spots a flaw in Simon's plan, and Simon genuinely appreciates and values Cad's constructive criticisms.
• Big Bad: Dr. Simon Bar Sinister
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Cad towers over Simon.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Simon's "Phoney Booths" from the episode of the same name attach a siren like device to the head of anyone who goes inside one, making them his brainwashed minion. Shoeshine Boy mistakenly heads inside one to change into Underdog, turning Underdog into another of Simon's slaves. It's only after he tries to make Underdog hurt Sweet Polly that Underdog fights off the control and breaks free through Heroic Willpower.
• Buffoonish Tomcat: Klondike Kat that is the bumbling, clumsy, and lucky Comedic Hero.
• Call-Back: Part 1 of "The Flying Sorcerer's" has Bric and Brac abducting aliens from the Magnet Planet and Zot.
• Captain Crash: Underdog. One episode where he has to drive an armored car shows he drives about as well as he flies.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Riff Raff loves being Public Enemy Number One, and once devoted an entire plan simply to recover that title.
• Cartoonish Supervillainy: Simon Bar Sinister.
• Cats Are Mean: Evil Overlord Overcat was not just mean; he could match Underdog as far as personal might was concerned.
• Catchphrase: Underdog is full of them:
  • "When (there's some kind of trouble), I am not slow./ It's hip, hip, hip, and away I go!"
  • "There's no need to fear./ Underdog is here!"
  • "Where, Oh Where Has My Underdog Gone?"
  • "The secret compartment of my ring I fill/ with an Underdog super energy pill."
  • Simon Bar Sinister would frequently preface an imperative with "Simon says..."
  • Go Go Gophers' Running Board (to Ruffled Feather): "Oopie doopie! You-um genius!"
  • Klondike Kat had two: "Klondike Kat always gets his mouse," and "OH, I'LL MAKE MINCEMEAT OUTTA THAT MOUSE!"
    • Major Minor, Klondike's superior, has "...And sometimes gets his Major!" in response to the first catchphrase whenever Klondike's schemes to catch Savoir Faire end up throttling him as well.
    • Not to mention said mouse constantly reminding us that "Savoir Faire is everywhere!"
• Character Overlap: Officer Flim Flanigan, a recurring character in The Hunter cartoons, appears in "A New Villain" and "Batty Man."
• Chaste Hero: He seems to be rather eager to escape Polly's advances.
• Cliffhanger: Most episodes were structured as four-part serials, with cliffhangers at the end of the first three.
• Combat Tentacles: The Guard from "The Bubbleheads."
• Cool Gate: Simon Bar Sinister has one bearing his surname.
• Counterfeit Cash: The opening of every episode shows a customer tossing a nickel to Shoeshine Boy, and Shoeshine Boy biting the nickel. This was an old trick dating back to The Great Depression, to tell if a nickel was real or just a wooden disc painted to look vaguely nickel-like. (He was adhering to the old adage "Don't take any wooden nickels!" and proving that Good Is Not Dumb).
• Criminal Doppelgänger: One of Underdog's enemies was his exact double, Tap-Tap the Chiseler, who didn't have any of Underdog's powers. It didn't stop Tap-Tap from using Underdog's image to get stuff like bombs without anyone batting an eye.
• Damsel in Distress: Sweet Polly Purebred, in practically every episode. Subverted, however, in "The Phony Booths", where Polly takes it upon herself to stop the Phony Booths. By that time, Simon Bar Sinister has gotten Underdog under his control, so he sends Underdog to stop Polly. However, Love Redeems, and because of this, Polly saves Underdog for a change.
• Damsel out of Distress: Polly doesn't always just wait to be rescued, even though it's usually necessary.
• Dartboard of Hate: After Underdog is turned into a valentine, Simon considers hanging him on a wall and using him as a dartboard.
• Dastardly Whiplash: Simon Bar-Sinister, minus the typical evil mustache.
• Daywalking Vampire: Batty Man apparently doesn't have any trouble with sunlight, as he's seen out in broad daylight in both his appearances.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Shoeshine Boy is a shoeshine boy.
  • In "Go Snow", Simon expresses desire for "money and power, and money and power, and money and power!"
• Depraved Dwarf: Simon is shorter than most characters, including his henchman Cad, and is a mad scientist.
• Disney Death: Underdog himself several times, e.g., in "A New Villain" and "The Silver Thieves".
• Distress Call: Polly's cry for help is in tune to Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?. It always works.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Would get him into some serious trouble if it weren't for his Hero Insurance.
• The Don: Riff Raff is a parody of the trope.
• The Door Slams You: Happens to Simon twice during his election campaign in "The Tickle Feather Machine"
• Dumb Muscle / Evil Minion: Cad to Simon, as well as Mooch to Riff Raff. Then again, they're not much dumber than the average citizen on this show.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In "Go Snow", "The Big Shrink" and "Weathering the Storm", Cad's complexion was pallid. Starting with "The Phoney Booths", he gained, among other design tweaks, a healthier complexion.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • The first cartoon has little in common with the others. There's no Sweet Polly (it remains the only cartoon she's not in), no villain, no Cliffhanger, and Underdog is a completely moronic, bumbling idiot Jerkass who demolishes two banks to rescue a boy trapped in a bank vault (at first, Underdog goes to the wrong bank by mistake) and does not sound as heroic when speaking as Underdog (he still sounds more like he's Shoeshine Boy but talking in rhyme.) The rest of the series portrays Underdog as much more competent.
  • Simon Bar Sinister's first appearance, like the first episode, is also a one-off with no cliffhanger. Simon notably does not have Cad with him, making it the only time Simon causes trouble without his henchman.
  • Early on, Underdog didn't need — or even have! — the "super energy pills" for his strength. When they were first introduced, they were for a short-duration burst of extra power to fight things that his normal awesome level of strength couldn't handle. In later episodes, they became his entire power source and he lost all of his powers if he didn't take them regularly.
• Election Day Episode: Simon Bar Sinister disperses treated feathers across the entire United States, keeping every American rolling on the ground laughing on Election Day. Only Simon and his henchman, Cad Lackey, are coherent enough to cast votes, electing Simon as United States Dictator by a total of two votes (the issue of the Electoral College isn't raised).
• Electricity Knocks You Out: Underdog tries to thwart Electric Eel during a robbery. However the Eel lures Underdog into an electric field, which saps his strength and leaves him in a heap, though conscious. Underdog weakly begs not to be thrown into a lake, so the Eel does exactly that. This was some Briar Patching by Underdog, as the electric charge in his body gets dissipated by the water, restoring him to health.
• Every Episode Ending: The episode always ends with a parody of the familiar "Look! Up in the sky!" phrase from The Adventures of Superman, with one civilian even mistaking Underdog for a frog. Also, Underdog crashing into a building.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": In his civilian disguise, Underdog is called Shoeshine Boy because he, er, shines shoes.
• Evil Counterpart: With a hero called Underdog, it was practically inevitable that there would be a villain named Overcat. He's unlike Underdog in every way: whereas Underdog is a small, good-natured dog who uses his powers to help others, Overcat is a hulking, loudmouthed Jerkass cat who uses his own powers to bully his entire planet into submission.
• Evil Twin: Tap-Tap the Chisler, a criminal who looks exactly like Underdog. Upon discovering the similarity, Riff Raff dresses him up like Underdog and has him go on a crime spree to frame the real Underdog, who is currently incapacitated under some rubble. When the real Underdog breaks out, he's now hated by everyone thanks to Riff Raff and Tap-Tap's plan. Underdog eventually proves his innocence, but Tap-Tap eventually breaks out of prison in a later episode and attempts to blow both himself and Sweet Polly up in revenge against Underdog.
• Evil Wears Black: Several villains include black in their ensembles, notable examples including Simon Barsinister, the witch of Pickyoon and Batty Man.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: In the end of the "Just in Case" arc, when Riff Raff and his gang are robbing a passenger cruise and loading them in his invisible ghost ship.
  Ship Captain: You'll never get away with this, Riff!
  Riff Raff: How can we lose? You can't find us because you can't see us! Just look out there. We're loading supplies on that ship. What can you see? Not a thing! Nothing but Underdog, a paint brush, and a ship and - UNDERDOG!? A PAINT BRUSH!? HE'S BACK, AND HE'S PAINTING OUR SHIP!
• Failures on Ice: In part 1 of "The Big Dipper", Simon's first attempt to suck up water with the eponymous machine only turns the water to ice, which Cad slips on as he notices this.
• Fake Defector: Underdog pretends to join Riff Raff and Tap-Tap the Chisler in "From Hopeless to Helpless" to discover where they've hidden the Hope Diamond.
• Falling into Jail: One of the bridging sequences shows the villain Riff Raff shaking down a citizen for money. Literally, Riff holds the man by his ankles and shakes out money. The Hero, Underdog, arrives on scene to deliver a flying jab to Riff's midsection, which makes Riff drop his victim. Underdog then delivers a fearsome left hook that sends Riff through a brick wall and into the city jail. It even says "Jail" on the wall.
• First-Name Basis: Cad is usually only called by his first name. His last name, "Lackey", is only mentioned once in the show, by Simon in "Weathering the Storm- part 1", when it's revealed that they hijacked the moon rocket Sweet Polly was on and were about to take her hostage.
• Flying Brick: Although Underdog is occasionally described as having a "computer-like brain" and sometimes devises clever solutions to problems, he's mostly a straightforward fighter type.
• Frame-Up: Underdog is framed by Riff Raff in two separate serials, "From Hopeless to Helpless" and "The Gold Bricks."
• Furry Confusion: Humans and talking animals living together? Say what you want about The Movie but at least it makes a point of averting this.
• Going for the Big Scoop: Polly. Lois Lane would be proud.
• Grand Finale: "The Vacuum Gun". Simon brings several old villains, including Riff Raff, Electric Eel and Batty Man, Back for the Finale. The end of the episode apparently has all the villains Killed Off for Real when, after Simon tries to use the Vacuum Gun for the last time on Underdog, Underdog uses his "Atomic Breath" and sucks all the villains and the Vacuum Gun towards him, uses the Vacuum Gun on the villains, then exhales into the Vacuum Gun, causing it to explode.
• Gratuitous Iambic Pentameter: Underdog speaks entirely in rhymed couplets, albeit not always with much concern for meter.
• Happy Dance: Simon and Cad do this in "The Phoney Booths" after Underdog gets brainwashed by one of the eponymous booths.
• Hard Head: After a successful test of Simon's amnesia machine in "The Forget-Me-Net", Cad reveals that, according to the instructions, it would have no effect on anyone with this, meaning Underdog would be immune. Simon tests the machine on Cad to see if that's true, and sure enough, it has no effect on him.
• Haunted House: In "The Gold Bricks." The ghosts were really all just special effects set up by Riff Raff.
• Helpless with Laughter: One Evil Plan of Simon's involves spreading small feathers over the entire United States, leaving the American population unable to cast a vote due to laughing too much. Only Simon and his henchman, Cad Lackey, were able to cast votes, electing Simon Dictator of The United States.
  • Batty Man's laughing gas guns provide the same effect.
• Heroic Dog: Super heroic dog.
• Hero Insurance: Few superheroes cause more collateral damage than Underdog. Virtually every entrance he makes involves him literally smashing his way in or out of a building. He'll even do things like break off the top of a skyscraper to use as a weapon against some giant monster, or use his supersonic whistling to shatter every item made of glass in the city (including pickle jars) if it means disabling a rampaging robot. Underdog frequently lampshades this destructiveness, especially in early episodes, and openly refuses to do anything regardless of the outrage against him.
  • Also subverted, every so often a civillian will angrily demand Underdog fix the damage he's caused, refusing to accept his usual excuse, only something to absolve him of his culpability by merit of the fact he saved the day, usually by Polly's insistence.
  Underdog: I am a hero who never fails/I can't be concerned with such details.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Often Simon will be defeated by ending up on the receiving end of his own inventions, including in "The Big Shrink," "The Forget-Me-Net," "The Tickle Feather Machine," and "Simon Says Be My Valentine."
• Honest Advisor: While Cad is generally slow-witted, he easily finds flaws in Simon's plans sometimes, and never hesitates to point them out. In response, Simon takes whatever measures are necessary to correct these flaws, though in one case he took preliminary measures to make his plan foolproof, only being foiled by unforseen circumstances, including Underdog's unknown involvement.
• How We Got Here: Most of "Underdog vs. Overcat" is a flashback explaining what led to the eponymous characters' fight.
• Human Popsicle: Underdog (and several other town citizens) get this treatment in "Go Snow."
• I Am Very British: Klondike Kat's superior officer, Major Minor, is this, being a rare good guy caricature of Terry-Thomas, right down to the gap-toothed smile.
• Ill-Timed Sneeze: In "The Vacuum Gun- part 2", Polly is eavesdropping on Simon when she sneezes, giving away her presence.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: Simon's Shrinking Water has this effect on all it's targets.
• Instrument of Murder: Simon Bar Sinister built a weather machine modeled closely after a pipe organ. Each key on its keyboard could loose some kind of weather phenomenon, including typhoons and earthquakes. However, early tests of the device tended to wreck Simon's laboratory first, so he and Cad Lackey hijacked a moon rocket to install the device on Earth's airless satellite.
• Ironic Name: An underdog is an archetypal character who is expected to lose. Underdog is a superhero and thus never loses.
• Killed Off for Real: The Witch of Pickyoon evaporates when Underdog destroys her magic broom. She is the only villain to actually die in the entire series.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Klondike Kat's traps for Savoir Faire would usually fail, often in hilarious fashion, but the moment Klondike Kat gets so frustrated that he exclaims, "I'll make mincemeat outta that mouse!" you can almost be certain his next trap will work.
• Lightning Bruiser: Underdog is capable of moving so fast that he becomes invisible, and has used this trick to defeat opponents more powerful than himself.
  Underdog: He's too big to be as fast as me/ And he can't fight what he can't see!
• Limited Animation: Since the animation production was done by the Mexican-based Gamma Productions (who also animated Rocky and Bullwinkle for Jay Ward Productions), this trope naturally comes into play.
• Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!
• Loved I Not Honor More: In the episode "The Witch of Pickyoon", Underdog meets a witch who will only wake his love interest from an eternal sleep if he helps her Take Over the World. Proving himself to be smarter than Anakin Skywalker, he flat out refuses (before accidentally saving the girl anyway with a True Love's Kiss).
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: Underdog's phrase: "When [there's some kind of trouble], I am not slow./ It's hip, hip, hip, and away I go!"
  • There's also "Simon says [insert command here]!"
• Made of Explodium: The telephone booths that Shoeshine used to become Underdog.
• Mad Scientist: Simon Bar Sinister, who would create a new machine to take over the world, but was always stopped by Underdog.
• Malicious Misnaming: The Electric Eel calls Underdog "Blunderdog" twice in "A New Villain".
• Meaningful Name: Simon Bar Sinister's first name is a reference to the game "Simon Says", a phrase with which he prefaces his commands. As a sort of Bilingual Bonus and Genius Bonus, in heraldry a "bar sinister" is a diagonal bar imposed over a noble coat of arms to indicate that the bearer is a recognized but illegitimate son of the noble, i.e. a bastard child. Hence, Simon Bar Sinister's name means "Simon the Bastard" as a delightfully obscure in-joke.
  • And then there's Cad Lackey, whose first name alludes to his villainy, while his last name refers to his lowly status as Simon's sidekick.
• Mind-Control Device: Simon Bar Sinister's Phoney Booths. Underdog was called into action to stop this, only to end up under Simon's control, then he snaps out of it when he is told to attack Sweet Polly.
• Mining for Cookies: The home planet of the villain Overcat possesses "milk wells" which are similar to oil wells. One episode is kicked off when the milk wells begin to run dry and he first steals Earth's supply of milking cows and then Sweet Polly Purebred to act as milk maid.
• Monster of the Week: Underdog often fights one of these in episodes where the villain isn't Simon Bar Sinister or Riff Raff.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: The finest and strongest warriors of the planet Zot are Clarn, Boad, Goad, Garn, Tarn, Churn, Ram, Ban... and Seymour.
• Nickname Basis: Mooch is only called as such.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: A few of the villains' voices were patterned after a few classic Hollywood stars- such as George Raft for Riff Raff, or Lionel Barrymore and Humphrey Bogart for Simon Barsinister and Cad Lackey, respectively.
• Now, Let Me Carry You: More often than not, circumstances would contrive to make a weakened Underdog lose access to his ring, requiring Polly to find it or otherwise protect him in the second act. The two make a great team!
• Officer O'Hara: Officer Flim Flanigan.
• Omnicidal Maniac: The following hostile species would do anything to wipe out humanity.
  • The Bubbleheads: They live underwater, causing natural disasters to kill people.
  • The Magnet Men: They would let Earth suffer freezing to death unless they give them all of their metal.
  • The Mole Men: They steal all crops so everybody would be too fatigued and weak to do anything.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If Underdog ever said something without rhyming, you know the business is very serious.
  Polly: Hurry, Underdog! You've got to stop the tidal wave machine!
  Underdog: What?!
• Our Vampires Are Different: Batty Man.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Aside from the various villains, Underdog himself. This is Lampshaded in the movie.
• Pepper Sneeze: In "The Tickle Feather Machine- part 2", the first invention Simon tests on Cad is a gun that shoots pepper, and thus makes him sneeze nonstop.
• Primary-Color Champion: He has a red outfit, a blue cape, and a white chest insignia.
• Psycho Electro: Electric Eel, who acquired his power from an electrified prison fence.
• Punny Name: Pops up now and then, from the names of criminals like Riff Raff^note based on George Raft, Dinah Mite and Batty Man to places such as Cape Carnival and the jewelry store Tympanni's.
• Putting on the Reich: There are shades of this for the Great Planet Granite and their dictator Captain Marblehead. Gravel salutes in appropriate fashion and addresses him as my leader or o peerless leader and variants thereof.
• Radio Drama: Had a one-off one in 1999, produced for Boston-area radio stations by co-creator W. Watts Biggers, to help promote his Victory over Violence organization; Biggers himself played Underdog, while Boston newscaster Tom Ellis narrated. Here, Barsinister was using his new "Switchpitch" baseball, to turn positive people negative, and become king of Boston; his plans were foiled as usual by Underdog and Polly.
• Recap Episode: The first half of the first part of "The Tickle Feather Machine" is spent recalling Simon Bar Sinister's past capers, including the Shrinking Water, the Weather Machine, the Snow Gun and the Forget-Me-Net, before going to the present time where Simon decides to run for dictator in order to Take Over the World.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: This is Cad's ensemble.
• Remember the New Guy?: "Simon Says 'Be My Valentine!'" has Simon and Cad working with two other crooks who were neither working with them before this arc, nor are they shown again after it.
• Rhymes on a Dime: This once became Underdog's Achilles' Heel in a comic book story, when Simon Barsinister undertook to commit crimes based upon the word "orange".
• Rising Water, Rising Tension: Happens with Underdog and Sweet Polly while they're trapped in the Vacuum Gun.
• Rogues Gallery: For most of the show's run, Underdog had exactly two recurring enemies: Simon Bar Sinister and Riff Raff. For the Grand Finale, Simon recruits Raff along with 2 other villians introduced in the final season, Batty Man and Electric Eel.
• Rule of Three: The Big Dipper machine malfunctions in 3 different ways before it's fixed enough to work properly.
• Say My Name: The antidote to the Forget-Me-Net.
• Secret Compartment: In some episodes, Underdog is weakened, and needs a Heroic Second Wind. Fortunately, he has a vitamin pill for that purpose, which is stored inside an insignia ring on his finger.
  Underdog: The secret compartment of my ring I fill. With an Underdog super energy vitamin pill.
• See the Invisible: Underdog was able to overcome Riff Raff's invisible ghost ship by painting it.
• Sequel Episode: "Tricky Tap by Tap-Tap" serves as a sequel to "From Hopeless to Helpless." But since the former ended up airing first, it unintentionally inverted things and turned "From Hopeless to Helpless" into a Prequel Episode.
• Shake Someone, Objects Fall: One of the opening sequences shows Riff Raff literally shaking a man down for money.
  • Cad does the same thing while he and Simon are robbing a bank at the beginning of "The Forget-Me-Net".
• Shoe Shine, Mister?: Underdog's secret identity.
• Shout-Out:
  • While amnesiac, Underdog thinks he's "Apple Mary", a name shared with an old apple-seller from a 1930s comic strip of the same name.
  • In "The Forget-Me-Net, part 3" Simon consults a book called "The Name Game", like the Shirley Ellis song of the same name.
  • Batty Man is obviously a pun on Batman.
  • In "Simon Says 'Be My Valentine!', part 1", Simon asks for "a few funny valentines" to be brought to him as test subjects for his Valentine Vault, referencing the song "My Funny Valentine".
• Silver Has Mystic Powers: At least, it does if you're an alien cloud, whose people are out to steal all the Earth's silver.
• Spectacular Spinning: When characters overcame their Easy Amnesia from the Forget-Me-Net, they would spin in the air.
  • Underdog once spun so fast that he could no longer be seen. Or heard. (Then again, his enemy was on the moon at that point.)
• Stealth Insult: At the time of the show, a Bar Sinister was thought to mean illegitimacy in heraldry. In other words, Simon Bar Sinister was "Simon the Bastard.
• Stealth Pun: Simon's Camera Ray literally captures people on film!
• Super Serum: Underdog's "Super Energy Pill" or "Energy Vitamin Pill" — sometimes removed from syndicated broadcasts.
• Take Over the World: Simon Bar Sinister's goal, most of the time.
• Taken for Granite: Underdog/Shoeshine, Polly, and several others in "The Marbleheads."
• Tasty Gold: A non-gold variation — Shoeshine Boy routinely bit the coins he received in payment for his services.
• Thanksgiving Episode: Simon Bar Sinister tries to stop Thanksgiving from ever happening because the Thanksgiving Day Parade was preventing him from crossing the street, keeping him from reaching a device he had cached there. Given that he had a time machine, it probably would have been easier for him to either go back a few hours and cross the street then, go back a couple days and tell his subordinates that the scheme will be postponed until a day when a parade isn't blocking the street, or go back a couple weeks and move the device to the other side of the street, but these notions never occur to him.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Subverted. When Underdog is framed by Riff Raff and Tap-Tap and discovers the truth, he decides that he might as well join forces with Riff Raff for real since he's considered a criminal anyway. However, it turns out he was really faking teaming up with him to discover where Riff Raff hid the Hopeless Diamond.
• Through a Face Full of Fur: Underdog's face quickly turns bright red upon receiving praise.
• Tickle Torture: What the Tickle Feather Machine provides.
  • Also, in "The Big Shrink- part 4", Polly tickles Simon with a feather to make him reveal the antidote for his Shrinking Water.
• Title Drop: Several episodes have these.
• Trap Door: Riff Raff uses one on henchmen who make stupid suggestions.
• True Love's Kiss: Once done with Sweet Polly thanks to a Wicked Witch.
• Valentine's Day Episode: "Simon Says, "Be My Valentine!"", in which Simon built a machine that turns his victims into life-sized images on valentine cards, including Underdog. In the end, the tables are turned and the bad guys are on cards.
• Villainous Friendship: Simon and Cad generally get along pretty well. In fact, in "Weathering the Storm", when Polly discovers they hijacked her moon rocket, Simon even refers to Cad as his friend while talking to her.
• We Will Meet Again: After Underdog defeats Overcat, the feline bully vows to return to Earth someday and fight the canine hero again.
• Weaponized Camera: Simon created a special camera in "Simon Says" (his first-ever appearance in the show), that, when it hits the victim, turns said victims into photographs, and he intended to do so to our hero and Sweet Polly and then kill them both by tearing up their photographs. Underdog defeated Simon by employing a mirror to make the ray bounce back towards him. The effects are reversible by switching the lens in the opposite direction.
  Simon: Simon says, "Hold it"!
• Weather-Control Machine: Simon had two. The first of which was his cloud-making machine in "The Big Shrink", which he used to make it rain his shrinking water over the city to shrink everyone to the size of his thumb. Later, in "Weathering the Storm", he combined this with an Ominous Pipe Organ.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Underdog in "Forget-Me-Net." It's a long story...
• Wicked Witch: The titular witch in "The Witch of Pickyoon".
• Wingding Eyes:
  • Happens Once per Episode for Underdog each time he takes his Super Energy Vitamin Pills; each time he takes one, we see his eyes display fireworks going off, stars flashing and the United States flag waving before small letter "U's" are displayed.
  • Anyone who entered Simon Bar Sinister's Phoney Booths gain spiral eyes due to being under Simon's control, including Underdog himself when he was called into action.
• Worthless Yellow Rocks: The cloud people of "The Silver Thieves" need silver but have nothing but a planet full of worthless gold! They apparently also assumed gold is just as worthless to humans, as Polly has to tell them how it could have been avoided if they had offered to trade gold for silver on Earth instead of stealing it.
• X-Ray Vision: His can set things on fire, apparently, making them more like Heat Vision.

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Man 1: Look, in the sky! It's a plane!
Man 2: It's a bird!
Woman: It's a frog!
Man 1: A frog?
Underdog: Not plane, nor bird, or even frog! It's just little old me— (*CRASH!!*, giggles sheepishly) Underdog.

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