History Literature / CliffordTheBigRedDog

* StealthPun: Mac's name is short for "Machiavelli". Often, he often has skewered or misguided morality, such as when he cheated in "The Great Race", or wrongfully assumed [[TheScapegoat Emily Elizabeth]] really did steal Jetta's spelling bee medal. But often, [[MachiavelliWasWrong Machiavelli is wrong]].

** In the 2019 series, Clifford and his animal friends talk both to each other and to the humans.

* ZettaiRyouiki: Emily Elizabeth wears a pair of stripey stockings.

* InDefenceOfStorytelling: “Flood of Imagination” shows how the dogs entertained themselves by acting out a story on the spot. It is also established many times, most obviously during the Speckle segments, that Emily reading stories to Clifford is one of the activities that strengthen their bond the most.

** In “The Dog Park”, Mr. Bleakman becomes so fed up with the dogs interfering with his birdwatching in the park that he actually convinces the sheriff to ''ban all dogs from the park'' just so he can finally have some peace and quiet. Instead nobody comes to the park because they can't enjoy the company of their dogs, forcing Mr. Bleakman to realize that he had been selfish in his actions.

* KarmaHoudini: In one episode, Cleo gets a new playground assembled in her backyard and Mac insists on being the first to play on it, spending the episode conning his way onto it at the expense of T-Bone and Clifford. Eventually Cleo sprains her paw while playing and Mac doesn't care enough to help her inside, leaving her to fend for herself. Cleo realizes his deceit, but Mac is never forced to answer for it in any meaningful way.

** Cleo and Mac in "Cleo Gets a Cone". While they don't say it to her face, they do talk about how "ridiculous" a dog wearing a cone looks, and are soon forced to wear one themselves. Clifford and T-Bone, who don't make such remarks, are completely fine.

In May 2012, it was [[http://news.moviefone.com/2012/05/09/clifford-the-big-red-dog-movie_n_1502519.html announced]] that Illumination and Universal were working together to create a new ''Clifford'' movie, which would be based on the original book, but wouldn't have anything to do with the television series. However, the film went into DevelopmentHell and Universal ended up moving on to other projects, causing the rights to expire. [[http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/699611-paramount-adopts-clifford-the-big-red-dog-movie The rights were then picked up by]] Creator/{{Paramount}}, and Justin Malen (who penned the ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' movie) was attached as screenwriter. It will be released on [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/clifford-big-red-dog-movie-lands-november-2020-release-date-1191324 November 13, 2020]].

* PoorCommunicationKills: The eponymous sweater in “Jetta’s Sweater” is a gift to Jetta from her grandma, who is visiting Birdwell Island. Turns out that this is the same sweater Jetta just gave to Emily Elizabeth. Instead of being upfront about it, Jetta spends the episode trying to trick Emily into giving her the sweater back, which leads to her grandma seeing Emily with the sweater when they meet, much to Jetta’s dismay.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Emily Elizabeth, even if you ignore the fact that her bond with her dog is so strong, he turned into a giant. “Little Clifford” establishes that she is passionate about dogs in general, but she also takes care of a baby bird in “And Birdy Makes 3”, and in “Islander of the Year”, she nominates Dr. Dihn because she always helps animals out, including baby whales. She’s even capable of having fun with wild seals. Her only negative interaction is a crab pinching her finger. In “When I Grow Up”, she [[SarcasmMode shockingly]] reveals that she wants to become a veterinarian when she grows up.

--> “Clifford needed Emily, \\

* LovableAlphaBitch: Jetta might be a snotty RichBitch in training, but she's still part of the [[TrueCompanions group]] (and [[LickedByTheDog Clifford likes her]]). Machiavelli is a rare male example.

* MeaningfulName: Subverted in “Wedding Bell Blues”. The kids assume their new teacher will be grouchy and crabby because her name is Mrs. Grumbly, but she turns out to be friendly and enthusiastic about her profession, being able to guess who Charley, Jetta, and Emily Elizabeth are just by interacting with them for less than a minute and with the brief descriptions Ms. Carrington provided.

** A fair amount of episodes end with Emily affectionately hugging Clifford after someone praises him, and saying “He’s Clifford, my big red dog!” or a variation depending on the episode, such as “Clifford my tie-dyed dog” in “Tie-Dye Clifford”.

** Happens in the Movie, when Clifford arrives in the city. Naturally, the population gets freaked out at the sight of a dog, literally larger than a house, having just emerged from the harbor waters! “Welcome to Birdwell Island” shows something similar: everyone appropriately reacted with shock or fear when they first saw Clifford, who had to put out a forest fire to earn the townspeople’s love and respect.

* SwappedRoles: Jetta and Emily Elizabeth take care of each other’s dogs in “Topsy Turvy Day”.

* ¡Three Amigos!: Clifford, T-Bone, and Cleo. Emily Elizabeth, Charley, and Jetta also qualify, despite the latter’s [[VitriolicBestBuds dynamic with the other two]].

* Tsundere: Mr. Bleakman towards Clifford, especially in “Babysitter Blues”
* UnusuallyInterestingSight: Clifford was a subversion when he first came to Birdwell Island, but became a straight up example after most of the island’s residents got used to him.

* MartialArtsUniform: Charley, Jetta, Vaz, and Emily Elizabeth during Charley’s karate class in “When I Grow Up”.
* MeaningfulName: Subverted in “Wedding Bell Blues”. The kids assume their new teacher will be grouchy and crabby because her name is Mrs. Grumbly, but she turns out to be friendly and enthusiastic about her profession, being able to guess who Charley, Jetta, and Emily Elizabeth are just by interacting with them for less than a minute and with the brief descriptions Ms. Carrington provided.
* MerchandiseDriven: To some degree with the 2000 television series. Not so far with the 2019 series, which doesn't yet have any known merchandise to date, other than tie-in books.
* MistakesAreNotTheEndOfTheWorld: Probably one of the most consistent messages in the entire series. So many stories, both in the books and in the cartoons, have major goof ups on one or many characters’ part, and no matter how humiliating and frustrating the consequences are, the characters are forgiven because everyone makes mistakes.
* MoodWhiplash: The music from the movie. For something that's supposed to be fun, they have extremely depressing songs about how you gotta hit the lows before you can find the highs.
* MotorMouth: One of the other dogs on the island Al, who likes to broadcast their beach ball games while he himself also happens to be playing. This often leads to him being caught unprepared when the ball heads his way.
* TheMovie: Both ''Clifford's Really Big Movie'' and an announced live-action/animated movie that doesn't have anything to do with the 2000 TV series.
* TheMovingExperience: The entire plot of “Goodbye T-Bone” consists of Clifford and Cleo trying to make sure that T-Bone has the best time possible on what they think is his last day on Birdwell Island.

* PaperThinDisguise: When Jetta lies about owning a giant pet parrot in “Jetta’s Tall Tale”, she “proves” that her parrot exists by strapping a giant fake beak and a bunch of fake feathers onto Clifford. All the other kids, including Emily Elizabeth, fall for it.
* ParodyName: Clifford, Cleo, T-Bone, and Mac form a band in “Doghouse Rock” and call themselves the Backstreet Dogs

* OneHundredPercentAdorationRating: Pretty much everyone on Birdwell Island loves Clifford. Even the Bleakmans have moments where they admit they care about Clifford and like him. The 80s theme song even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this.

** In one episode Charley envies the lives of the dogs so much and wishes he were a dog so that he didn't have all the responsibilities of a human. He gets his wish, only to find that he can't enjoy the things he does as a kid. [[AllJustADream It all turns out to be just a dream]], with Charley now appreciating what he is.
** Mr. Bleakman becomes so fed up with the dogs interfering with his birdwatching in the park that he actually convinces the sheriff to ''ban all dogs from the park'' just so he can finally have some peace and quiet. Instead nobody comes to the park because they can't enjoy the company of their dogs, forcing Mr. Bleakman to realize that he had been selfish in his actions.

%%* CannotTellAJoke: T-Bone.

%%* ExpositoryThemeTune
* {{Flashback}}: The books are told by Emily Elizabeth as a flashback to a past event.

* HatesBaths: Cleo is not fond of going to the groomers, even though as a poodle she needs a regular trim.

%%* ImpliedLoveInterest: Mimi and T-Bone.
%%* ItsAllAboutMe: Jetta frequently exhibits this attitude, a trait she also shares with Mac. Cleo also has her moments.

** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Mr. Horace Bleakman, Jetta, Cleo, and Mac.

* LaserGuidedKarma: Cleo and Mac in "Cleo Gets a Cone". While they don't say it to her face, they do talk about how "ridiculous" a dog wearing a cone looks, and are soon forced to wear one themselves. Clifford and T-Bone, who don't make such remarks, are completely fine.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: A rather literal example. In one episode, Clifford is delivering a present that is meant to be mailed to Emily Elizabeth's cousin for her birthday. When he runs into Cleo and T-Bone at the post office, Cleo's first instinct is to take the package and open it to find out what it is, even though it's not hers to play with. It turns out to be a rubber ball that automatically self-inflates, and when they can't get it to deflate Clifford ''sits on the ball'' to force it in the box. It ends about as well as you'd expect.

** Cleo had this problem in "Limelight Fright", where she wanted to dance in front of a audience. She overcomes this at the end of the episode.

%%* RichBitch: Jetta.

** In the PBS series, a trapped Cleo panics when she sees a skunk, mistaking it for the ghost Wiffy. Her first instinct is to bark at the "ghost" hoping it will go away. Instead, the skunk turns around and sprays her.
** Happens in the Movie, when Clifford arrives in the city. Naturally, the population gets freaked out at the sight of a dog, literally larger than a house, having just emerged from the harbor waters!

** Jetta Handover, who is constantly seeking to be the center of attention. Prominent examples include when she [[AttentionWhore initially tried to hog the spotlight at her baby brother's own arrival party]] and when she nominated ''herself'' for Islander of the Year. Suffice to say, her efforts usually leave her humbled in some way.

* AdaptedOut: Cleo, T-Bone, Mac, and anyone else in the 2000's show except for Clifford and the Howards do not show up for the 2018 series, despite PBS claiming it to be a third season.

* CryingWolf: "The Dog Who Cried Woof" has Cleo repeatedly telling the others a ghost [[SmellySkunk skunk]] named Wiffy, who she'd told ghost stories about, was after her as a prank and they finally get fed up with it and leave. When she gets her bow stuck on a bush, she calls for help, but they don't listen to her due to her pranking. Then a ''real'' [[SmellySkunk skunk]] appears and sprays her. Meanwhile, Clifford and T-Bone hear that Cleo still hasn't arrived home, so they return to the woods to look for her, and they smell that she got sprayed. Cleo apologizes to Clifford and T-Bone for her cruel pranks and promises never to do it again. The next day, after receiving several baths in a row to get rid of the smell, a now complimentary-odored Cleo exits the vet's office where Clifford and T-Bone are waiting outside.

* RealityEnsues: Happens in the Movie, when Clifford arrives in the city. Naturally, the population gets freaked out at the sight of a dog, literally larger than a house, having just emerged from the harbor waters!

* NobodyPoops: [[ShmuckBait If you google "Where does Clifford poop?" you'll get some highly disturbing results]]. That said, the very idea pretty much cements this trope...
* OneHundredPercentAdorationRating: Pretty much everyone on Birdwell Island loves Clifford. Even the Bleakmans have moments where they admit they care about Clifford and like him. The 80s theme song even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this.
-->''Here comes Clifford, everyone loves Clifford...''

* CutShort: The show had a third and final season in the production phase in 2003, which would have concluded with Clifford getting married and having babies. Unfortunately, that same year also saw the death of Creator/JohnRitter, who had a fatal heart attack on the set of ''Series/EightSimpleRules''. This resulted in the show's third season being canned and ''WesternAnimation/CliffordsPuppyDays'' taking its' place.

* CryingWolf: "The Dog Who Cried Woof" has Cleo repeatedly telling the others a ghost [[SmellySkunk skunk]] named Wiffy, who she'd told ghost stories about, was after her as a prank and they finally get fed up with it and leave. When she gets her bow stuck in a branch, she calls for help, but they don't listen to her due to her pranking. Then a ''real'' [[SmellySkunk skunk]] appears and sprays her. Meanwhile, Clifford and T-Bone hear that Cleo still hasn't arrived home, so they return to the woods to look for her, and they smell that she got sprayed. Cleo apologizes to Clifford and T-Bone for her cruel pranks and promises never to do it again. The next day, after receiving several baths in a row to get rid of the smell, a now complimentary-odored Cleo exits the vet's office where Clifford and T-Bone are waiting outside.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Mr. Bleakman is presented as a grumpy old man who easily gets annoyed at Clifford some of the time, with his mere presence being a pet peeve. However, considering some of the stuff Clifford does (trespassing into his neighbors property and/or making a mess to it, licking the man and making him take a hard fall, ect.), it can be hard not to see he`s in the right for some points of the series.

* SpinoffBabies: ''Clifford's Puppy Days''.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Sheriff Lewis doesn't seem to do any police work. It would seem that Birdwell Island is a peaceful, law-abiding place and there are no crooks or crime. There's even an empty jail cell.

* OpaqueNerdGlasses: Mr. Bleakman doesn't have pupils from his glasses, though averted in the movie when he's given the same eyes as everyone.

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Emily Elizabeth: young, blonde, with enough love to overcome basic biology.

* ConeOfShame: Cleo got to wear one in the episode "Cleo Gets A Cone".