History Literature / GreenEggsAndHam

In 2019, it received [[WesternAnimation/GreenEggsAndHam2019 a second animated adaptation]] in the form of a mini-series starring Adam Devine and Creator/MichaelDouglas on Creator/{{Netflix}}.

In 2019, it received a second AnimatedAdaptation in the form of a mini-series starring Adam Devine and Creator/MichaelDouglas on Creator/{{Netflix}}.

* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: There is a theme of forcing someone to do things, i.e. "You should try to stop people making their own decisions, because they might not even be right about what they'll like."

!!The animated series contains examples of:
* AchievementsInIgnorance: The only one who seems to know anything about chickeraffes is [=EB=], while its zookeepers (who had it in captivity for years), Sam (who rescued it), and the general public know next to nada.
* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: The fox from the book is given both a name (Michael) and potent cocktail of neuroses as he attempts to woo an aloof hen at the farm he works at who looks down on him for eating eggs. His efforts to deprive himself of his favorite food have caused him to become unstable and violent. Mentioning eggs or even the name of his would-be girlfriend is enough to cause him to go on a rampage.
** [[spoiler:Sam as well. It turns out he loves Green Eggs and Ham as it connects to his disappeared mother and he's actually a SadClown underneath his beaming smile.]]
* AdaptationDyeJob: Guy-Am-I's fur color is a bit darker compare to the original book, and his hat is dark brown.
* AdaptationExpansion: Green Eggs and Ham has gone from a book about learning to eat new things only using 50 words to a "postmodern Film/PlanesTrainsAndAutomobiles" where Sam and Guy find themselves on a road trip to return a rare creature back to its natural habitat.
* AdaptationalBadass: Sam breaks into a zoo and liberates the chickeraffe ''Mission Impossible'' style.
* AdaptationalIntelligence: Guy is shown to be quite the mechanic in the series.
* AdaptationalVillainy:
** The goat from the book is a bounty hunter.
** [[spoiler:'''''SAM-I-AM''''', no seriously. Though not ''evil'' by any means, the last few episodes of Season 1 reveal that his claim to want to return Jenkins to his family in the wild was a lie and that '''he’s''' the one trying to sell him to Snerz as part of his career as a animal-smuggling scam artist, with a notorious enough rap sheet to catch the BADGUYS attention. Thankfully, his adventures and friendship with Jenkins and Guy inspire him to pull a HeelFaceTurn and help Jenkins for real]].
* AerithAndBob: Contrast Sam and Guy's fairly normal names to the typically outlandish ones of the other cast members. Michellee (''not'' Michelle) and [=EB=] (short for ''Elana''beth) exist somewhere in the wide gulf between those extremes.
* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler: Sam-I-Am. Even though he is a scam artist and an animal smuggler in this version, his friendly attitude towards Guy and everyone is genuine. He later pulls a HeelFaceTurn, becoming a NiceGuy]]
* TheArtifact: The titular Green Eggs and Ham. The subtext of the dish (i.e. trying out new things) becomes the actual text of the show as Guy does undertake a plethora of unfamiliar adventures to help Sam get the chickeraffe back to its natural habitat. Sam does offer Guy various types of Green Eggs and Ham OnceAnEpisode, but he's not as persistent as he was in the book and is fine with his pal going without sustenance if there's no other food available. It's still symbolic of Guy's character development and his relationship with Sam, but its consumption no longer constitutes the main thrust of the story.
** Well it's not ''Guy'' consuming it that's part of the story. [[spoiler:Sam loves the dish so much because he's trying to find the one that was like how his mother made it.]]
* BaitAndSwitch: BADGUYS are here to chase after Sam and Guy...[[spoiler:because ''Sam'' is the real bad guy, not them. Turns out they were hired because Sam's a smuggling scam artist.]]
* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:Sam was the true villain the entire time, wanting to turn Mr. Jenkins in as he's actually an animal-smuggling scam artist. But his time on the run with Guy made him switch sides in the end.]]
* BigBad: Snertz, whose desire for the Chickeraffe kickstarts the entire plot.
* BrainsAndBrawn: Guy's the mechanic and Sam seems to be the upfront socializer. Or as Sam states, "You're the brains. I'm the ''other'' brains."
* BunglingInventor: Guy has inventions that always explode no matter what he does.
* ButtMonkey: Life seems determined to make Guy miserable.
* CanonForeigner: Much of the supporting cast, including [=McWinkle=], Gluntz, Michellee, [=EB=], Snerz, among others.
* CentralTheme: Do not take things at face-value, ranging from Michelee and her thinking that Mr. Jenkins the Chickaraffe is dangerous to [[spoiler:Sam to the identity of BADGUYS.]]
* CerebusRetcon: Guy's grouchiness is shown to be justified every scene he's in. He's first introduced when he steps in a puddle and somehow sinks up to his waist. He's been trying to get his invention onto the market for who-knows-how-long and on his most recent pitch, the device blows up in his face. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Then his hat gets bent.]]
** Sam's love of Green Eggs and Ham? [[spoiler:His mother always made it for breakfast and then one day she disappeared. He's eating it so much to see if that one matches hers.]]
* ChainedHeat: In preparation for their trip, Michellee gets [=EB=] and herself "friendship bracelets." These accessories are more like handcuffs that magnetically latch on to each other with a press of the button so her daughter can't get too far away from her.
* ChekhovsGun: Over half-a-dozen.
** Sam and Guy's matching briefcases.
** Sam's Wildlife Protection Agent badge.
** Guy's failed flight pack.
** The Stovepipe newspaper Sam reads during his origin story.
** Michellee's jar of beans.
** Michellee and [=EB=]'s "friendship bracelets."
** The [[spoiler:BADGUYS]] calling card.
** The [[spoiler:Giroosters]]' uncanny resemblance to Mr. Jenkins.
** Snertz's living wig.
* CoolTrain: Sam and Guy ride on one of these on their journey. Perplexingly, it has a "Model Train Car" which contains a scaled down model of the actual train that reflects exactly what's happening on and inside of it.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Of all the Seuss book adaptations, this show has the capacity to really scale back the levity to create atmospheres of bonafide danger and mortal peril. [[spoiler:Oh and Sam is actually a ''bad guy''.]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The trailer has Sam reacting to Michellee being "vegan" as if she had a serious medical condition, complete with him sympathetically asking "How long have you known?"
* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Sam I Am for Snertz; he wasn't trying to return the Chickeraff home, he was trying to sell it to Snertz!]]
* TheDreaded: The Goat. He’s so notorious that even Sam-I-Am shows fear of him!
* EpicFail: Pretty much all of Guy's inventions violently explode. Even very simple ones like a device made from two chopsticks, an eggbeater, and a pair of gloves.
** Gluntz tries to conquer a Green Eggs and Ham MegaMealChallenge , but fails to even skim its topmost layer.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Guy heading off to Snerzco in order to make his dreams come true...then he sinks half-way into a puddle. After that, he says "no" to pretty much everyone who interacts with him. Sam, in the meantime, befriends the exact same people Guy dismisses.
* EstablishingSeriesMoment: The narrator stating -- "This is Dr. Seuss, I didn’t expect a n… WHY WOULD YOU CUT THE LINE?" which reveals how off-kilter this series will be.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Averted with Snerz. [[spoiler: He had a pet Flemur once, he said he was inseparable with. But his mother noticed how miserable the Flemur was and let him escape free. He hasnt spoken to his mom since he was six.]]
** [[spoiler: Played straight with Sam-I-Am. He’s on a journey to find his mother, while being a con artist and smuggler. It gets to the point where it hurts when Guy brings up the fact that she abandoned him during a heated argument.]]
* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:While it's a stretch, it turns out lovable Sam is actually a scam artist in this setting.]]
* EvilCounterpart: [=McWinkle=] and Gluntz are basically bounty hunter versions of Guy and Sam in terms of temperament and size, but [=McWinkle=] is genuinely successful at his profession and Gluntz mostly listens to what he has to say.[[spoiler: Subverted when they’re revealed to be GoodAllAlong]].
* EvilPoacher: [=McWinkle=]. [[spoiler:But not really: see GoodAllAlong]].
* FireForgedFriends: The trailer shows how Sam and Guy slowly become friends, including Guy even ''calling'' Sam his friend.
* {{Foil}}: Guy and Sam's quest is paralleled by a cross-country trip undertaken by Michellee and [=EB=], a mother-daughter pair whose dynamic is an inversion of the protagonists' with the former being quirkily cautious and the latter being sensibly adventurous.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The group called BADGUYS actually get along so well compared to our main characters. [[spoiler:It's because ''they're'' the good guys this entire time.]]
** Sam stating that Guy is "the brains" and he's the "other brains". [[spoiler:Because Sam is a smooth-talking scam artist with people skills in comparison to Guy's technical genius.]]
** Also, even though Sam is determined to get the Chickaraffe home, why is it that he doesn't seem to have any knowledge about it at all? [[spoiler:Because he's lying; he's an animal smuggler scam artist.]]
* FunWithAcronyms: [[spoiler::BADGUYS stands for “Bureau of Animal Defense, Glurfsberg, Upper Yipville Section".]]
* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler:The BADGUYS, whose name is actually an acronym for “Bureau of Animal Defense, Glurfsberg, Upper Yipville Section, and were chasing after Sam and Guy to '''stop''' Sam from selling Jenkins to Snerz. The narrator even uses this trope word-for-word to describe them]].
* GrumpyBear: Guy. Though between his crushed dreams and the constant string of bad luck he endures at every turn, you can't blame him.
* GutturalGrowler: [=McWinkle=].
* HashHouseLingo: The waitress at Donna's Diner calls Guy's order of dry oatmush the "Sad Man's Special."
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Every episode is only one word, and is named after an element where the meal would be eaten in the original book which otherwise refers to whatever is the subject of the plot.
* LanternJawOfJustice: Gluntz is one of the few characters in any Seuss-related production who has [[NonStandardCharacterDesign a bonafide, solid chin.]]
* LastNameBasis: [=McWinkle=] and Gluntz go by and call each other by their last names exclusively.
* LemonyNarrator: He can be muted, confused, and when he briefly talks to Guy in the second episode, the Narrator tells him that he's gone insane.
* LovableRogue: Deconstructed with the precocious Sam whose harebrained whims and reckless spending of ''Guy's'' money leave the pair broke midway through the show. [[spoiler:Especially true when he’s revealed to be an animal-smuggling scam artist]].
* MissingDad: Michellee is a widow which presumably is why she's so worried about her daughter's safety.
* MissingMom: [[spoiler: Sam comes up with all sorts of lies about his mom, and how much of a wonderful mom she was. Truth is, she left him at an orphanage at a young age, without any clue why. The one thing he remembers is that she always made him breakfast: Green Eggs and Ham. He's on a journey to find her, by tasting every Green Eggs and Ham, hoping to find the ones that taste like hers.]]
* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Gluntz. [[spoiler:Except she’s not evil]].
* MuseumOfBoredom: After giving up on his invention, Guy's fallback plan is to go to Meepville and get a job as a paint-watcher. Even the perpetually-enthusiastic Sam has to force himself to sound excited about that choice of career.
* MythologyGag: The trailer has Sam mention "Whoville" and "The Places You'll Go" the former is the setting of ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' and ''Literature/HortonHearsAWho'' and the latter referencing ''Oh the Places You'll Go!''
** There is also a [[Literature/OneFishTwoFishRedFishBlueFish family of fish]] whose house is accidentally destroyed by the car Sam & Guy hijack.
** Blink and you'll miss it, but Snerz takes out a passport to the [[Literature/TheButterBattleBook Nation of Zookia.]]
** Each of the one word episodes are based on what Guy said in the books that he doesn't want to get Green Eggs and Ham. (eg. I will not eat with them in a house, I will not with a fox)
* NamedByTheAdaptation: Sam's "friend" (for lack of a better term) is finally given a name, which is Guy-Am-I. The unnamed Fox and Mouse are also likewise given names.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Sam's lack of caution causes him to make most situations he and Guy find themselves in worse. Such as deciding to drive a car off a cliff into a lake without bothering to wake up Guy (who was still inside it), or opening up a drainage pipe without reading what it was being used for and causing corrosive toxic sludge to flood the area. [[spoiler:Then again, calling Sam a "hero" is a bit of a stretch...]]
* {{Ninja}}: One appears in the first episode (Sam). This gets lampshaded by the narrator.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Snerz has bouffant yellow hair (actually a fluffy animal he forces to cover his baldness), runs a conglomerate and collects a series of gold-plated objects. [[Usefulnotes/DonaldTrump Ring any bells?]]
* ObviouslyEvil: Sam and Guy are chased by, gasp, BADGUYS! [[spoiler:Subverted, the acronym for BADGUYS is the opposite of what we're expected to believe.]]
* OddCouple: Sam's an upbeat guy with a love of green eggs and ham. Guy is a grump dragged along for the ride with a keen mind of machinery. There's also the familial Michellee and [=EB=], and the coworker pair [=McWinkle=] and Gluntz.
* OneWordTitle: Crossed with IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming above.
* OnlySaneMan: Guy and [=McWinkle=], who are often frustrated at how weird and lackadaisical the world and people around them are.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The one thing that Sam would show absolute terror of is the Old Goat.
** In one of the more depressing scenes of the series [[spoiler: he is shown in shock after Guy chews him out for hiding his past and Guy stating that Sam doesn't deserve anyone; not even a mother.]]
* ThePollyanna: Sam; not even getting stuck in jail dampens his mood.
* PowerUpFood: '''FLANNEL CANDY.'''
* TheReveal: Episode 10 shows us that [[spoiler:Sam and BADGUYS are actually the opposite of what we're expected to believe. Sam is the villain and BADGUYS are trying to stop ''him'' from returning Mr. Jenkins to Snertz.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler: Oh dear does Guy rage at Sam when he's revealed to be a liar and a scam artist. But he stops himself after he says that Sam doesn't deserve anyone. [[ThatCameOutWrong Not even a mother.]]]]
* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler:Once the viewer knows the true colors of Sam and BADGUYS, they'll start to notice the hints sprinkled throughout the entire season. Such as the fact that Mr. Snerz never refers to the smuggler by name. So it misleads us to think that the BADGUYS are working for him, when really, it’s Sam-I-Am.]]
** Sam loving green eggs and ham becomes harsher to look like when we learn why he loves eating it so much.
* RoadTripPlot: The story is about Sam and Guy traveling the world to return a rare creature to its home.
* Running Gag: Besides Sam trying to offer Guy Green Eggs and Ham, there are several.
** Guy's inventions exploding.
** [=McWinkle=]'s fur getting greyer and greyer with each setback he and Gluntz experience in their investigation.
** Mr. Jenkins' appetite for ties.
** Goat loudly announcing how he is performing the action that a character in a different scene said he would.
** Cantaloupe hatred.
* SadClown: [[spoiler:Sam, underneath his jovial exterior and love of Green Eggs and Ham is someone who is very lonely and that titular dish is his way to hopefully find his mother.]]
* SatchelSwitcheroo: The premise of the plot involved Sam and Guy accidentally switching briefcases (the former smuggling a rare creature the latter with his failed invention).
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: In a bizarre world, [=McWinkle=] gets by with sensible logic and ruthlessness. For example, when the protagonists would theoretically have an entire town to hide in, [=McWinkle=] is able to determine just from visiting a restaurant they were at, that the pair is short on cash (they only ordered partial portions) and to make money fast, they'd likely find work at the local carnival (which they are at). The Goat is a more typical example of the trope as he manages to get on Sam and Guy's trail with some rather off-kilter methods.
* SceneryPorn: The scenery looks just like someone took landscapes from a ''Dr. Seuss'' book and gave them a splash of color.
* SelfMadeMan: After falling out with his mother, Snertz left his country home and built himself an immense financial empire to fund his passion for collecting/imprisoning the world's rarest animals.
* ShipTease: Michellee and Guy.
* ShipperOnDeck: Sam for the ship mentioned above.
* ShoutOut: Multiple allusions to other ''Dr. Seuss'' books are made. At one point, Sam destroys the home of characters from ''One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish'' and later gives a ''very'' abbreviated version of ''Oh, the Places You'll Go!'' to high school graduates as he's being chased by the police.
* SistineSteal:
* SynchroVox: In the second episode Guy hallucinates green eggs and ham singing to him, with the hams having actual mouths super imposed on them.
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Grizzled, on-the-edge-of-retirement [=McWinkle=] and exuberant, rookie Gluntz. [[spoiler:Then it’s revealed that they’re not bad guys at all]].
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Sam loves Green Eggs and Ham. Surprisingly this is a deconstruction. [[spoiler:His love for it stems from his mother making it for breakfast and he's trying to find the one who tastes exactly like hers.]]
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Guy used to be happy as a kid.
* WasItAllALie: Guy is ''pissed off to no end'' when he learns about [[spoiler:Sam's true nature.]]
* WhamEpisode: Episode 10 is the episode to reveal that [[spoiler:Sam I Am's story was not 100% real.]]
* WhamLine: When Sam [[spoiler:calls in to Snertz to deliver Mr. Jenkins]].
* WhamShot: The end of the first episode: Guy tossing his suitcase into the fireplace...and something starts moving before the shadow reveals [[spoiler:The Chickeraffe.]]
* YankTheDogsChain: Whenever Guy looks to be on the cusp of becoming more optimistic or tolerant of Sam, a new crisis (sometimes caused by Sam) immediately punishes him for letting his guard down.
----

** Gluntz tries to conquer a Green Eggs and Ham MegaMealChallenge , but fails to

* TheArtifact: The titular Green Eggs and Ham. The subtext of the dish (i.e. trying out new things) becomes the actual text of the show as Guy does undertake a plethora of unfamiliar adventures to help Sam get the chickeraffe back to its natural habitat. Sam does offer Guy various types of Green Eggs and Ham OnceAnEpisode, but he's not as persistent as he was in the book and is fine with his pal going without sustenance if there's no other food available. It's still symbolic, but its consumption no longer constitutes the main thrust of the story.
** Well it's not ''Guy'' who consuming it that's part of the story. [[spoiler:Sam loves the dish so much because he's trying to find the one that was like how his mother made it.]]

* MythologyGag: The trailer has Sam mention "Whoville" and "The Places You'll Go" the former is the setting of ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' and the latter referencing ''Oh the Places You'll Go!''

* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler: Sam-I-Am. Even though he is a scam artist and an animal smuggler in this version, his friendly attitude towards Guy and everyone is genuine. He later pulls a FaceHeelTurn, becoming a NiceGuy]]

* {[Ninja}}: One appears in the first episode (Sam). This gets lampshaded by the narrator.

* CentralTheme: Do not take things at face-value, ranging from [[spoiler:Sam to the identity of BADGUYS.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The group called BADGUYS actually get along so well compared to our main characters. [[spoiler:It's because they're the good guys this entire time.]]

* MissingDad: Michellee is a widow.

* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler:Once the viewer knows the true colors of Sam and BADGUYS, they'll start to notice the hints sprinkled throughout the entire season. Such as the fact that Mr. Snerz never refers to the smuggler by name. So it misleads us to think that the BADGUYS are working for him, when really, it’s Sam-I-Am.0]]

* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler:Once the viewer knows the true colors of Sam and BADGUYS, they'll start to notice the hints sprinkled throughout the entire season.]]

* WasItAllALie: Guy is ''pissed off to no end'' when he learns [[spoiler:Sam's true nature.]]
* WhamEpisode: Episode 10.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Guy will give Sam one of these at one point in the series, as shown in the trailer (whether or not Sam gets it is a different story).

* BaitAndSwitch: BADGUYS are here to chase after Sam and Guy...[[spoiler:because ''Sam'' is the bad guy, not them. Turns out they were hired because Sam's a smuggling scam artist.]]

* CerebusRetcon: Guy's grouchiness is shown to be justified every scene he's in. He steps in a puddle and somehow sinks up to his waist. He's been trying to get his invention onto the market for who-knows-how-long and on his most recent pitch, the device blows up in his face. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Then his hat gets bent.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Of all the Seuss book adaptations, this show has the capacity to really scale back the levity to create atmospheres of bonafide danger and mortal peril.

* GadgeteerGenius: Guy is shown to be inventing a merry-go-round walker in the trailer. The Netflix summary states that he's actually a brilliant inventor.

* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler:Once someone knows the true colors of Sam and BADGUYS, they'll start to notice the hints sprinkled throughout the entire season.]]

* WhamEpisode: Episode 10
* WhamLine: When Sam [[spoiler:calls in to Snertz to deliver Mr Jenkins]].
* WhamShot: Guy tossing his suitcase into the fireplace...and something starts moving before the shadow reveals [[spoiler:The Chickeraffe.]]

* FunWithAcronyms: [[sopiler:BADGUYS stands for “Bureau of Animal Defense, Glurfsberg, Upper Yipville Section".]]

** [[spoiler:'''''SAM-I-AM'''''. Though not evil by any means, the last few episodes of Season 1 reveal that his claim to want to return Jenkins to his family in the wild was a lie and that '''he’s''' the one trying to sell him to Snerz as part of his career as a animal-smuggling scam artist, with a notorious enough rap sheet to catch the BADGUYS attention. Thankfully, his adventures and friendship with Jenkins and Guy inspire him to pull a HeelFaceTurn and help Jenkins for real]].

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Guy says "no" to pretty much everyone who interacts with him. Sam befriends the exact same people Guy dismisses.

* EvilPoacher: [=McWinkle=]. [[spoiler:But not really]].
* FireForgedFriends: The trailer shows how Sam and Guy slowly become friends, including Guy even ''calling'' Sam his friend.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Sam's lack of caution causes him to make most situations he and Guy find themselves in worse. Such as deciding to drive a car off a cliff into a lake without bothering to wake up Guy (who was still inside it), or opening up a drainage pipe without reading what it was being used for and causing corrosive toxic sludge to flood the area.

* WhamLine: When Sam [[spoiler:Calls in to Snertz to deliver Mr Jenkins]].

* MissingDad: Michellee implies to be divorced.

* WhamLine: When Sam [[Spoiler: Calls in to Snertz to deliver Mr Jenkins]].