History Series / DieSendungMitDerMaus

* SignatureSoundEffect: The Mausspots have very distinctive sound effects.

* TheUnintelligible: The elephant and the duck only make noises fitted to their respective species. The mouse's voice sounds more human, but it's not intelligible besides "Hrm" or occasionally "Oh!"

* SqueakyEyes: Done with castanets for the mouse. The elephant's {{Alertness Blink}}s make a more coventional 'boing!' sound.

** For a 2016 April Fool's gag, the show's Facebook page posted a note suggesting that thanks to numerous complaints they were finally going to fix the issue once and for all, complete with convincing drawing of the teeny-tiny mouse at the feet of the massive elephant. Maus-Fans who missed the joke were *not* happy.

The basic concept is relatively simple: For half an hour, [[{{Anthology}} cute animated stories alternate with documentary-style educational segments]], wherein a wide range of real-world topics - often involving the industrial production of everyday objects - are explained in a child-friendly way. Meanwhile the [[GadgeteerGenius confident and curious]] Maus, along with her more excitable friends Elefanten (Little Elephant) and Ente (Duck), opens each show and appears throughout in short interstitial animations, called Mausspots.

The basic concept is relatively simple: For half an hour, [[{{Anthology}} cute animated stories alternate with documentary-style educational segments]], wherein a wide range of real-world topics - often involving the industrial production of everyday objects - are explained in a child-friendly way. Meanwhile the BugsBunny-esque Maus, along with her more excitable friends Elefanten (Little Elephant) and Ente (Duck), opens each show and appears throughout in short interstitial animations, called Mausspots.

The basic concept is relatively simple: For half an hour, [[{{Anthology}} cute animated stories alternate with documentary-style educational segments]], wherein a wide range of real-world topics - often involving the industrial production of everyday objects - are explained in a child-friendly way. Meanwhile Maus, along with her friends Elefanten (Little Elephant) and Ente (Duck), opens each show and appears throughout in short interstitial animations, called Mausspots.

* {{Balloonacy}}: Turns up frequently in the Mausspots, courtesy the elephant. In one he blows a bubblegum bubble to float across a chasm, in another he stealthily ties a balloon to the duck to help her fly, and in a third he (very sweetly) ties one to the mouse's leg cast to help her along. He's also very nearly floated away while blowing soap bubbles.

* GadgeteerGenius: Most of the Mausspots, in very typical German fashion, involve the mouse jury-rigging a clever solution to her latest dilemma. The means and materials might be completely surreal (ie., folding her tail into a paperclip) but the engineering principles are always sound.

** For a 2016 April Fool's gag, the show's Facebook page posted a note suggesting that thanks to numerous complaints they were finally going to fix the issue once and for all, complete with convincing drawing of the teeny-tiny mouse at the feet of the massive elephant. MausFans who missed the joke were *not* happy.

* BagOfHolding: Not exactly a bag, and not visible to the viewer, but the mouse evidently has ''some'' sort of front pocket that contains whatever she needs in any given situation, from a coin or pencil to spray paint can
or drill auger.
* {{Balloonacy}}: Turns up frequently in the Mausspots, courtesy the elephant. In one he blows a bubblegum bubble to float across a chasm, in another he stealthily ties a balloon to the duck to help her fly, and in a third he (very sweetly) ties one to the mouse's leg cast to help her along.

* BagOfHolding: Not exactly a bag, and not visible to the viewer, but the mouse evidently has ''some'' sort of front pocket that contains whatever she needs in any given situation, from a coin or pencil to a drill auger.

*** On the Carnival weekend, it's usually in Kölsch, the Cologne German dialect; until this day, the show is produced in Cologne, Germany, as it is the WDR's (and Armin's) home.

* FunnyAnimalAnatomy: Variable. The mouse walks upright and uses her front paws as hands, but she also snuffles round things as a real mouse would. The elephant and duck deviate even less from their real-world counterparts (it helps that a trunk and wings make very plausible hand analogues).

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: They showed the initial training of avalanche rescue dog Chili, but just before they commenced filming the big final exam for a follow-up segment she had an accident, possibly ruining her career. (Filming went on with a "colleague" of hers instead.)

* SqueakyEyes: Done with castanets for the mouse. The elephant's AlertnessBlinks make a more coventional 'boing!' sound.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: They showed the training of avalanche dog Chili, but just before the big exam she had an accident, possibly ruining her career. (They filmed the last part with a "colleague" of her instead.)

* SqueakyEyes: Done with castanets for the mouse. The elephant's blinks when startled make a more coventional 'boing!' sound.

* BagOfHolding: Not exactly a bag, and not visible to the viewer, but the mouse evidently has ''some'' sort of front pocket that contains pretty much whatever she needs in any given situation, from a coin or pencil to a drill auger.

* BagOfHolding: Not exactly a bag, and not visible to the viewer, but the mouse evidently has a front pocket that contains pretty much whatever she needs in any given situation, from a coin or pencil to a drill auger.

* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: The mascots of the show are the titular ''orange'' mouse, a tiny ''blue'' elephant, and a ''yellow'' duck.

* BreakoutCharacter: The eponymous mouse, to the extent that she got the show renamed after her. In the beginning, she wasn't even present at all!

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The three mascots of the show are only known as the mouse, the (tiny blue) elephant and the (yellow) duck. According to WordOfGod the mouse doesn't even have a binary gender (though by German grammatical default she uses female pronouns, as does the duck; the elephant uses male ones).

* InsistentTerminology: Viewers are invariably referred to as 'Maus-Fans' or 'Maus-Freunden' ('mouse fans' or 'friends of the mouse') while the creators call themselves the 'Maus-Team'.

* InsistentTerminology: Viewers are invariably referred to as 'MausFans' or 'MausFreunden' ('mouse fans' or 'friends of the mouse') while the creators call themselves the 'MausTeam'.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The three mascots of the show are only known as the mouse, the (tiny blue) elephant and the (yellow) duck. Even their genders have never been formally revealed (though by grammatical default the mouse and duck are female and the elephant is male).

* ShutUpHannibal: A kid-friendly version in "Gute Nacht Carola". A MonsterUnderTheBed boasts of how evil he is, but [[MinionWithAnFInEvil the worst he does]] is holding Carola's [[EverythingIsBetterWithPenguins plush penguin]] hostage. But Carola fears nothing and calls him out on his "I am soooo scary" routine. "You're not evil - you're just ''petulant!''" The [[NoNameGiven unnamed]] monster sees the error of his (non-)ways, meekly allows Carola to rename him "Johnny", and while they might not be bestest friends ever after, he may sleep under her bed.