History WesternAnimation / BensCity

''Ben's City'' is a Creator/{{CBC}} WebAnimation series from [[Creator/SphereAnimation Oasis Animation]] that airs in [[CanadaEh Canada]]. It depicts the adventures of NiceGuy Ben Hardy through his everyday life. Ben juggles his romance with [[MightyWhiteyAndMellowYellow his Asian girlfriend Sophie]], his friendship with publicist Scott Gardner, and his job as counselor for Quebec's Minister of Environment, [[MeaningfulName Henry Wallet]]. Scott also frequently helps his neighbor, Mrs. Shrink, whose husband was an inventor.

''Ben's City'' is a Creator/{{CBC}} WebAnimation series from Oasis Animation that airs in [[CanadaEh Canada]]. It depicts the adventures of NiceGuy Ben Hardy through his everyday life. Ben juggles his romance with [[MightyWhiteyAndMellowYellow his Asian girlfriend Sophie]], his friendship with publicist Scott Gardner, and his job as counselor for Quebec's Minister of Environment, [[MeaningfulName Henry Wallet]]. Scott also frequently helps his neighbor, Mrs. Shrink, whose husband was an inventor.

--> '''Captain:''' You were flirting with the waitress, and she told you [[spoiler: "Mange de la marde" (literally: Eat shit)]] and you said "Yeah, I'll take that.
** The joke is of course different in the French version of the episode.

The show first aired in the province of Quebec under the title ''Pérusse Cité''. The series was, in fact, created by François Pérusse, a Quebecois comedian famous for being a PungeonMaster, and the worlds he invents are [[WorldOfPun Worlds of Pun]]. He's already legendary in French-speaking Canadian culture for [[HeAlsoDid being the creator]] of ''Radio/LesDeuxMinutesDuPeuple''. He also does [[TalkingToHimself every single voice in the show]] [[CrossdressingVoices (yes, even the female ones)]]. The show was then translated to the English language for the rest of Canada, though many of the puns were LostInTranslation. Fortunately, having everyone voiced by the same person was kept in, with prominent Montreal-based voice actor Creator/RickJones being the show's sole dub actor.

* GagBoobs: Lindo Bumpo, homosexual crossdressing stripper, was known as Linda Bumper during his act. The illusion was perfect. Now retired, he still has those implants, which perk out strangely under his three-piece suit.

* LighterAndSofter: Compared to most shows and sitcoms.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ToxiCompany. Just guess whether or not [[ObviouslyEvil they are protagonists or antagonists...]]
* An advertising company is called Dark, Brown And Smelly. Don't ask questions on whether or not they get contracts.

The series' tone is generally upbeat and shows [[SliceOfLife Slices of Life]] of the characters. The episodes' plots go from political meddling to {{adult fear}}s to intrusion of supernatural.

* AdultFear: [[spoiler: Not being able to find a doctor for Ben and Sophie's baby.]]

The show first aired in the province of Quebec under the title ''Pérusse Cité''. The series was, in fact, created by François Pérusse, a comedian famous for being a PungeonMaster, and the worlds he invents are [[WorldOfPun Worlds of Pun]]. He's already legendary in the French-speaking world for [[HeAlsoDid being the creator]] of ''Radio/LesDeuxMinutesDuPeuple''. The show was then translated to the English language for the rest of Canada, though many of the puns were LostInTranslation.

''Ben's City'' is a Creator/{{CBC}} WebAnimation series that airs in [[CanadaEh Canada]]. It depicts the adventures of NiceGuy Ben Hardy through his everyday life. Ben juggles his romance with [[MightyWhiteyAndMellowYellow his Asian girlfriend Sophie]], his friendship with publicist Scott Gardner, and his job as counselor for Quebec's Minister of Environment, [[MeaningfulName Henry Wallet]]. Scott also frequently helps his neighbor, Mrs. Shrink, whose husband was an inventor.

* FamousLastWords: The owner of Scott's advertising company dies of a heart attack after saying "They can go to H-..... You'll tell 'em to eat sh-..."

The show first aired in the province of Quebec under the title ''Pérusse Cité''. The series was, in fact, created by François Pérusse, a comedian famous for being a PungeonMaster, and the worlds he invents are [[WorldOfPun Worlds of Pun]]. The show was then translated to the English language for the rest of Canada, though many of the puns were LostInTranslation.

The series can be seen [[http://www.cbc.ca/benscity/ here]].

* HartmanHips: Sophie and many female characters. Taken [[UptoEleven Up to Eleven]] with the news anchorwoman, whose hips are maybe larger than a door frame.

* MoralDilemma: Each time Henry Wallet is facing a bribe. Actually, he often needs to see Ben disapproving this act to say no to the bribe. But we can blame his stupidity for that.

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: When Ben gets the survey that shows only 13% calling themselves satisfied for the prime minister and see it was a really biased question, the prime minister reaction is simply I'll have you know that 13% of people want to a picnic on the highway with me in underwear.

[[caption-width-right:349:One of the least cartoony cartoons out there. Not that we complain.]]

* {{Bloopers}}: The series' DVD has these for every episode. These go uncensored and are much more vulgar, though.

* Bloopers: The series' DVD has these for every episode. These go uncensored and are much more vulgar, though.

* {Expy}: The villain in the finale of Season 2 is built up to be one of Darth Vader; we see from his point of view, people seem scared of him, and he has the mettalic voice, the heavy breathing... Subverted later when it's revealed to be actually a normal man speaking in a can of soup all the time. His nickname is even Don Vader.

* ActingForTwo: In the original French version, François Pérusse does the voice of every single character. This concept is kept in the English version, by Rick Jones. Also equals TalkingToHimself all the time.

* {Angrish}: Henry Wallet gets angry at a protester at a park (as these protesters would ruin the heroes' plan in this episode), yells at him in unspeakable terms (literally unspeakable, therefore Angrish), then gives him a beating. He too gets his fair share of punches in the encounter, though.

* BeyondTheImpossible: "The Debris" contains a lot of supernatural elements, and the conclusion of "The All Inclusive" feels like a KarmicTwistEnding. Yet, most of the rest of the series happens in a very realistic world.
** There are freaking Franchise/{{Transformers}} in the first episode of Season 2. Likewise, many episodes of Season 2 tend to do this, at least for one joke.

* BrickJoke: “The Shuffle” has a quick laugh, “Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!” said by a farmer, at the beginning and at the end of the episode.

* CrossDressingVoices: François Pérusse and Rick Jones also voice all the female characters.

* FollowTheLeader: In “The Little Bun”, Ben suggests Henry Wallet admits to using public funds for personal expenses, which leads all other ministers to admit their own mistakes on TV, and then the federal government does too, and it’s followed by governments of other countries.

* TheGovernment: Played with. Governments shown in this series seem to be actually trying to do good. They're not willingly bad. The ministers of Quebec are really TRYING to do the best for the people, but they constantly get approached by true villains trying to use the system to get to their goals. The only proof of a partly evil government is when the Provincial and Federal sides of the Quebec/Canadian governments clash. In which cases, both are shown in this series to strongly dislike each other, and nag each other as well.
** The whole "governments are nice, outside influences are evil" is closer to real life, making this a case of TruthInTelevision.

* ImagineSpot: The federal Minister of Environment has one when Prime Minister Peter Mess suggests firing him from ministry duty and instead putting him as ambassador of Canada in Italy. The evoked images are women, historical landscapes, food, and drawers.

** Actually, there's quite a lot of those.

* Irony: Preceding Minister of Environment, Donald Jobin, who uses a high level of language to flirt with a golfer lady, but falls downright into vulgarity when he throws the gold ball in a dirt pit.

* KilledOffForReal: The Minister of Culture, at the beginning of “The Arts”. Apparently from falling down the stairs with a final "Pataclaf" sound.
** Likewise, the owner of Scott's advertising company.

* LimitedWardrobe: Played straight in each season, but averted as many characters suddenly have a change in clothing between season 1 and season 2.

* {Masquerade}: In "The Debris", the government tries to keep the discovery of an extraterrestrial debris under wraps. They also keep as secret as possible a meeting with the aliens to give them their item back.

** According to WordOfGod, Splendid, the star depicted in "The Cloud" and getting a haircut at Sophie's Salon, is a reference to Music/LadyGaga. Splendid's songs have no intelligence value whatsoever, being only long series of onomatopeas in rythm with the music.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Some of the plots feel like this. Environment is always an important political topic.
** The most evident example is the first episode of the second season; it has Henry Wallet having to deal with projects for shale gas extraction, and needs to find a way to do so without polluting the environment. Comes Scott who got a contract for space tourism with the NASA; he convinces the NASA to create a method to extract shale gas without any danger to the environment. In exchange, they can use part of the shale gas as fuel for their rockets.

* TakeThat: Directed at golf. Yes, golf. The preceding Minister of Environment, Donald Jobin, is seen playing golf and [[BerserkButton losing his temper]] when he fails considerably. Made even worse when Henry calls him, distracting him and making him fail again. {{Word of God}} says it's a common plague for golf players to become irate when they are not so talented and frequently miss. The scene can be viewed in its French original version [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJzktt218Ew here]].
** Hilariously, this [[BrickJoke comes back in season 2]]. Donald is playing golf, again, when a deer steals his golf ball as it was near the hole. As the preceding Minister is on an angry tirade, Henry calls again. Actually, this second time, Henry knew what to expect.

* BeyondTheImpossible: "The Debris" contains a lot of supernatural elements, and the ending of "The All Inclusive" feels like a TwilightZoneTwist ending. Yet, most of the rest of the series happens in a very realistic world.
** There are Freaking Transformers in the first episode of Season 2. Likewise, many episodes of Season 2 tend to do this, at least for one joke.

* TheCameo: The first episode of Season 2 involves the villain, the owner of ToxiCompany, sending a freaking TRANSFORMER at Ben and Sophie's house. The robot is however taken down by [[BigDamnHeroes an army jet]] ordered by Henry Wallet. Seems the silly old guy [[GenreSavvy has grown aware of what could happen to his counselor...]]