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Okay, let\'s do this correctly this time. :P
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* ISeeLondon
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* ISeeLondonComedicUnderwearExposure
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Rename per TRS thread.
* ISeeLondon
** In one episode Mikey rips his pants while bending, and the others try to hide him from Miss Finster, knowing that she will take him into an office to sew his pants back together. They are afraid that the knowledge Miss Finster saw his underwear will cause the rest of the school to mercilessly tease Mikey. [[spoiler:In the end, T.J., Vince, and Gus decide to have their pants ripped as well. All four boys end up in their underwear while Miss Finster sews their pants. King Bob who understands what the other boys did for Mikey recognizes the selfless nature of it, and insists no one mock them for it]].
** T.J. himself is seen in his boxers in a few episodes.
** In one episode Mikey rips his pants while bending, and the others try to hide him from Miss Finster, knowing that she will take him into an office to sew his pants back together. They are afraid that the knowledge Miss Finster saw his underwear will cause the rest of the school to mercilessly tease Mikey. [[spoiler:In the end, T.J., Vince, and Gus decide to have their pants ripped as well. All four boys end up in their underwear while Miss Finster sews their pants. King Bob who understands what the other boys did for Mikey recognizes the selfless nature of it, and insists no one mock them for it]].
** T.J. himself is seen in his boxers in a few episodes.
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* ISeeLondon
** In one episode Mikey rips his pants while bending, and the others try to hide him from Miss Finster, knowing that she will take him into an office to sew his pants back together. They are afraid that the knowledge Miss Finster saw his underwear will cause the rest of the school to mercilessly tease Mikey. [[spoiler:In the end, T.J., Vince, and Gus decide to have their pants ripped as well. All four boys end up in their underwear while Miss Finster sews their pants. King Bob who understands what the other boys did for Mikey recognizes the selfless nature of it, and insists no one mock them for it]].
** T.J. himself is seen in his boxers in a few episodes.
** In one episode Mikey rips his pants while bending, and the others try to hide him from Miss Finster, knowing that she will take him into an office to sew his pants back together. They are afraid that the knowledge Miss Finster saw his underwear will cause the rest of the school to mercilessly tease Mikey. [[spoiler:In the end, T.J., Vince, and Gus decide to have their pants ripped as well. All four boys end up in their underwear while Miss Finster sews their pants. King Bob who understands what the other boys did for Mikey recognizes the selfless nature of it, and insists no one mock them for it]].
** T.J. himself is seen in his boxers in a few episodes.
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* TakeThatUs: In "First Name Ashley", when worrying about the effect Spinelli will have on their popularity, the Ashleys lament, "We'll have to marry guys with names like 'Paul' or 'Joe'!"
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* [[TheChick Mikey]] [[GentleGiant Blumberg]], the very tall yet good-hearted poet.
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* [[TheChick [[TheHeart Mikey]] [[GentleGiant Blumberg]], the very tall yet good-hearted poet.
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** "Gustuv Patton Griswald!"
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** "Gustuv "Gustav Patton Griswald!"
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In 2001, ''[[WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut Recess: School's Out]]'' was released in theaters to positive reception. Please put all tropes relating to the movie there.
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In 2001, ''[[WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut Recess: School's Out]]'' ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'' was released in theaters to positive reception. Please put all tropes relating to the movie there.there.
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* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: An interesting case. The show was going to always have "Disney's" in front of it's name. However, the creators instead wished for their names to be credited, as they told the executives at Walt Disney Television that Walt Disney didn't create the show (they don't believe in crediting people for work they didn't do). So official merchandise (and the show from season three onwards) has "Created by Paul and Joe" underneath the title logo.
**Though like ''Cars'', the official copywrited name is "Disney's Recess", as you can't put a copyright on "Recess".
**Though like ''Cars'', the official copywrited name is "Disney's Recess", as you can't put a copyright on "Recess".
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* TheNineties: While the show premiered in the nineties (1997 to be exact) and ended in 2001 (2003 counting the DTV movies), it's been established that the show only takes place from 1997 to 1998, even if the show is continuing into the next century.
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* NoirEpisode: "The Girl was Trouble"
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* NoirEpisode: "The Girl was Trouble"Trouble". In fact, the French title for the episode was, "Black Series for the Girl in Blue" (The "blue" part referring to Gretchen's [[TrueBlueFemininity signature outfit]])
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** In "Parents' Night", when Spinelli's dad is showing the other five kids pictures of her as a baby, he says, "Look at her on the rug with her fanny in the air". The "fanny in the air" part was cut after it's original airing on ABC, but ToonDisney added it back in (except in the U.K.).
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** In "Parents' Night", when Spinelli's dad is showing the other five kids pictures of her as a baby, he says, "Look at her on the rug with her fanny in the air". The "fanny in the air" part was cut after it's original airing on ABC, but ToonDisney added it back in (except in the U.K.).
*** In the U.K., of course, "fanny" refers to a ''much'' more private part of the female anatomy than in the U.S.A.
*** In the U.K., of course, "fanny" refers to a ''much'' more private part of the female anatomy than in the U.S.A.
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The series was notably the only show to premiere in the initial season of Disney's One Saturday Morning that would last the entirety of the block's run, going on well into the first two years of {{ABC}} Kids. It was also rerun the most out of all the shows on OneSaturdayMorning, pretty much being on all of Disney Channel's affiliates at one point or another. It was one of the few older shows to air on DisneyXD after ToonDisney shut down, and it has recently returned to the network. Yes, it was ''that good'' folks.
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The series was notably the only show to premiere in the initial season of Disney's One Saturday Morning that would last the entirety of the block's run, going on well into the first two years of {{ABC}} Kids. It was also rerun the most out of all the shows on OneSaturdayMorning, pretty much being on all of Disney Channel's affiliates at one point or another. It was one of the few older shows to air on DisneyXD after ToonDisney shut down, and it has recently returned to the network.down. Yes, it was ''that good'' folks.
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** The Tylers, the little brothers of the Ashleys, only appear in one episode and never show up in the series again.
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** The Tylers, the little brothers of the Ashleys, only appear in one episode and never show up in the series again. Same thing for their little sisters the Brittanys.
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* EdutainmentShow: Not ''really'', but with some morals given out at the end of some episodes, as well as various science/history facts usually given out by Gretchen (and thus going into the viewer's subconcious), makes some airings give it an e/i in the corner of the screen.
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* VerySpecialEpisode: Arguably, "Bonky Fever", about [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Mikey's addiction to the childrens' character, Bonky the Dragon]]. It plays out ''very'' much like a drug addiction episode.
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* MagicalNegro: In "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave", the black man who helps Mikey find his Christmas spirit is revealed in the ending to be Santa Claus.
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** Played straight with "El Diablo". A kid notices Gus playing a guitar and tells TJ and the others to get the heck out since Gus was a one-man army in dodgeball in a previous school.
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* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Mundy in "Mundy, Mundy" after he inadvertently saves a kindergartener from getting hit by a ball.
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** In "The Fuss Over Finster" T.J. calls all the kids out for taking advantage of the injured Miss Finster and they all feel bad, including Lawson.
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** T.J.'s older sister Becky is mentioned infrequently throughout the series, but was only seen once, and it was in the movie.
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* PuttingOnTheReich: The anti-germ movement in "Germ Warfare". Seriously, the banners and the speech are almost identical to the Nuremberg rallies.
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* TheGhost: Spinelli's older brothers, Joey and Vito. T.J.'s sister, Becky, was this until ''RecessSchoolsOut'' when she finally made a physical appearance.
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* [[HighSchoolHustler Elementary School Hustler]]: T.J. definitely has his moments, among them being able to provide a convincing forged prescription for ''chewing gum''. Hustler Kid is also a prime candidate, but mostly he just provides the goods while the main gang does the planning and executing.
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* [[HighSchoolHustler Elementary School Hustler]]: T.J. definitely has his moments, among them being able to provide a convincing forged prescription for ''chewing gum''. Hustler Kid is also a prime candidate, but mostly he just provides the goods while the main gang does the planning and executing.executing, Although in ''First Name Ashley'' we see him selling phony documents and committing, what is essentially, multiple cases of identity fraud.
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* {{Calvinball}}: The ''{{Pokemon}''}-esque card game Ajimbo. Just how do you play it, anyway?
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* {{Calvinball}}: The ''{{Pokemon}''}-esque ''{{Pokemon}}''-esque card game Ajimbo. Just how do you play it, anyway?
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* ChekhovsClassroom: Almost every lesson the kids learn in school is important to the rest of the episode.
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* ChekhovsLecture: Almost every lesson the kids learn in school is important to the rest of the episode.
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Minor changes
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In 2001, ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'' was released in theaters to positive reception. Please put all tropes relating to the movie there.
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In 2001, ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'' ''[[WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut Recess: School's Out]]'' was released in theaters to positive reception. Please put all tropes relating to the movie there.
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** Also in the episode "King Gus" they refer to an eggnog incident.
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* SeriesFauxnale: "Lawson and his Crew" was intended to be the final episode to air on TV, and TheMovie was supposed to be the true finale. However, the show was so popular that it was renewed for another season...[[ScrewedByTheNetwork which, thanks to Disney's sixty-five episode limit, didn't last long]]. There were the DTV movies, however.
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* SeriesFauxnale: "Lawson and his Crew" was intended to be the final episode to air on TV, and TheMovie was supposed to be the true finale. However, the show was so popular that it was renewed for another season...season [[hottip:*:Which was actually made up of unfinished episodes in between seasons three and five]]...[[ScrewedByTheNetwork which, thanks to Disney's sixty-five episode limit, didn't last long]]. There were the DTV movies, however.
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** "Paul and Joe" are once referenced as undesirable names.
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** Though it's most often played straight.
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Removing some examples that are strictly for The Movie.
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Recess was an American animated television series that was created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere (who worked on ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'' until the show was originally supposed to end in 1994), and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It ran from September 13, 1997 to November 21, 2001 on ABC. Recess focused on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers. In many respects, it serves as an animated knock-off of prisoner-of-war movies such as TheGreatEscape ... combined with a generally positive depiction of the elementary school experience.
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Recess was an American animated television series that was created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere (who worked on ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'' until the show was originally supposed to end in 1994), and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It ran from September 13, 1997 to November 21, 2001 on ABC. Recess focused on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers. In many respects, it serves as an animated knock-off of prisoner-of-war movies such as TheGreatEscape ...''Film/TheGreatEscape''... combined with a generally positive depiction of the elementary school experience.
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* BigBad: Dr. Phillium Benedict in TheMovie.
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* ConspicuousCG: The opening shot of the town and the school in the movie. The pasted-in kids' run cycles don't even match up with their speed!
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* {{Ninja}}: Part of Benedict's task force in the movie.
-->'''Gus:''' Ninjas! Why did they have to be ninjas?!
-->'''Gus:''' Ninjas! Why did they have to be ninjas?!
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** In TheMovie "[[Music/AliceCooper School's Out]]": "[[Music/PinkFloyd Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!]]" Heck, TheMovie as a whole is one big shout out to TheSixties.
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** The scene in TheMovie when T.J. and Prickly are captured, and Prickly's talk about summer vacation to T.J. reminded this troper an awful lot of ''ToyStory''.
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** The prequel-movie "All Growed Down" is named after the ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'' movie "All Growed Up" and, as one may expect from the name, has an inverted premise. All Growed Up was a sort of look-ahead to the future of the ''Rugrats'' characters' lives, while All Growed Down shows us the ''Recess'' gang when they were in kindergarden. The main difference is that ''Rugrats'' turned it into a full spinoff, while ''Recess'' did not. This is also funny when you remember that the creators of ''Recess'' worked on ''Rugrats'' before the show was supposed to end in 1994.
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** The prequel-movie "All ''All Growed Down" Down'' is named after the ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'' movie "All ''All Growed Up" Up'' and, as one may expect from the name, has an inverted premise. All Growed Up was a sort of look-ahead to the future of the ''Rugrats'' characters' lives, while All Growed Down shows us the ''Recess'' gang when they were in kindergarden. The main difference is that ''Rugrats'' turned it into a full spinoff, while ''Recess'' did not. This is also funny when you remember that the creators of ''Recess'' worked on ''Rugrats'' before the show was supposed to end in 1994.
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* SmolderingShoes: Prickly in the movie.
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Recess was an American animated television series that was created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere (who worked on ''{{Rugrats}}'' until the show was originally supposed to end in 1994), and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It ran from September 13, 1997 to November 21, 2001 on ABC. Recess focused on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers. In many respects, it serves as an animated knock-off of prisoner-of-war movies such as TheGreatEscape ... combined with a generally positive depiction of the elementary school experience.
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Recess was an American animated television series that was created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere (who worked on ''{{Rugrats}}'' ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'' until the show was originally supposed to end in 1994), and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It ran from September 13, 1997 to November 21, 2001 on ABC. Recess focused on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers. In many respects, it serves as an animated knock-off of prisoner-of-war movies such as TheGreatEscape ... combined with a generally positive depiction of the elementary school experience.
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Moving to Namepsace.
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/recessgang_4275.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Yup... they're up to ''something'' [[hottip:*:Counter-clockwise from bottom right: T.J., Mikey, Vince, Gus, Gretchen, and Spinelli]]]]
->''"Hey, watch it! I've got a {{black belt in origami}}!"''
-->-- '''T.J.''', ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut''
Recess was an American animated television series that was created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere (who worked on ''{{Rugrats}}'' until the show was originally supposed to end in 1994), and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It ran from September 13, 1997 to November 21, 2001 on ABC. Recess focused on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers. In many respects, it serves as an animated knock-off of prisoner-of-war movies such as TheGreatEscape ... combined with a generally positive depiction of the elementary school experience.
The [[FiveManBand main characters]] were:
* [[TheHero T.J.]] [[HighSchoolHustler Detweiler]], the leader of the gang and the one who comes up with the ZanyScheme.
* [[TheLancer Vince]] [[TheAce LaSalle]], the sportsman.
* [[TheSmartGuy Gretchen ]] [[ChildProdigy Grundler]], the group's genius who loves science, yet also kickball.
* [[EmbarrassingFirstName Ashley]] [[TheBigGuy Spinelli]], usually referred to by her last name, who was the "toughest kid in school". Also, since SheCleansUpNicely, counts as a CuteBruiser
* [[TheChick Mikey]] [[GentleGiant Blumberg]], the very tall yet good-hearted poet.
* [[SixthRanger Gus]] [[{{Adorkable}} Griswald]], the new kid at Third Street.
Many plots would deal with the kid's SeriousBusiness attitude about simple grade school life, mostly, among other aspects, [[TitleDrop recess]]. This includes having a designated 'King', nicknames for each other based on their main 'quality' (Swinger Girl, The Diggers, Pale Kids ect.) and the concept of popular fads quickly taking over playground demographics. The series was also well known for its large PeripheryDemographic, due to every episode having at least one ParentalBonus.
The series was notably the only show to premiere in the initial season of Disney's One Saturday Morning that would last the entirety of the block's run, going on well into the first two years of {{ABC}} Kids. It was also rerun the most out of all the shows on OneSaturdayMorning, pretty much being on all of Disney Channel's affiliates at one point or another. It was one of the few older shows to air on DisneyXD after ToonDisney shut down, and it has recently returned to the network. Yes, it was ''that good'' folks.
In 2001, ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'' was released in theaters to positive reception. Please put all tropes relating to the movie there.
----
!!''Recess'' provides examples of:
* AbsenteeActor: Gus wasn't in "The Great Jungle Gym Standoff", though he made his debut a few episodes prior. (He was edited into the picture book adaptation, though.) Although someone with a good eye can see that he's actually drawn in the background in a few shots, likely as an animation goof.
* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil
** Not exactly StudentCouncilPresident, but King Bob rules the playground with an iron fist.
** The Board of Education is also absurdly powerful, acting very much like the FBI or the CIA.
* TheAce: A new student named Jared. He comes up with better plans than T.J., he's stronger than Spinelli, a better poet than Mikey, smarter than Gretchen, has been to more schools than Gus, he's faster than Vince, can burp louder than Tubby so loud it shakes windows, and is a government agent.
** BrokenAce: He eventually explains that he doesn't have any friends, because people think he's a show-off or get jealous.
* AchillesInHisTent: In "Dodgeball City", Gus refuses to take sides in a dodgeball fight, despite being a dodgeball virtuoso at one of his older schools[[hottip:*:He was so feared, he got the nickname ''El Diablo'']]. Upon seeing a younger student (a.k.a. a kindergarten kid who he was keeping an eye on) getting clobbered, however, he enters rage mode and proceeds to wipe out the opposing team single-handedly.
* ActorAllusion: The old lady in "The Lost Ball" is named Dot and is voiced by TressMacNeille... who's played another character [[{{WesternAnimation/Animaniacs}} named Dot]].
* AdorablyPrecociousChild: T.J.; Gus
* {{Adorkable}}: Gus, Gretchen, Mikey, Miss Grotke, and the Pale Kids. T.J. himself has his moments.
* AdultChild: Principal Prickly clearly went into the right line of work. He's an absolute kid at heart.
* AdultsAreUseless: Adults are often the antagonist, although they are mostly a recurring obstacle with some exceptions. When they aren't, they're worthless -- Ms. Finster doesn't seem to be interested in Gus being bullied ''every single day'' despite telling the bully not to do it again. Subverted in TheMovie, where all of the teachers show up to help fight the bad guy and his {{Mooks}}. There were some exceptions to this, notable the single-episode teachers Mr. E and Mr. Dude.
* AdultsDressedAsChildren: The episode "The Spy who Came into the Playground" involved said spy disguising as a 10-year-old to get into the school.
* AnAesop: Mostly in the earlier episodes, and then sometimes after the first season. Season six cranked them UpToEleven.
* AirVentPassageway
* AllInTheManual: Various additional information was given about the characters on the original page for the show on Disney's website (before taken down). Some info includes that:
** T.J.'s favorite food is "everything and anything except Tomato Surprise";
** MichaelJordan is Vince's idol;
** Spinelli's goal in life was to become an ace fighter pilot;
** Gretchen having a crush on "The whiz kid in ''SmartGuy''";
** According to a few press releases/promotional material, Miss Grotke's first name is Alordyne. This isn't mentioned in the show itself, but it was in a few foreign dubs.
* AlliterativeName: Gus Griswold, Gretchen Grundler, Principal Peter Prickly (also his brother Paul Prickly), Ashley "Ashley A" Armbruster, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Thaddeus T. Third III]].
* AlmightyJanitor: Hank, who turns out to be a mathematics genius. He was once offered high-profile jobs by NASA and the military, but he'd rather be a janitor at the school.
* AlphaBitch: The Ashleys, with Ashley A. being the [[IncrediblyLamePun Alpha Ashley]].
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: One episode introduces a new kid who's better at everything than everybody else at Third Street. In the end it turns out [[MartyStu he's better at ''literally'' everything than everybody else in the ''country'', and that the government has him on call.]] Interestingly, the episode deconstructs the concept of a MartyStu by making the perfect kid a nice guy who despises being the best because it inevitably makes everyone else hate him and means he can't aspire to anything.
* AnimationBump: TheMovie has better animation than the cartoon, but then again it had a ''much'' larger budget and didn't have the deadlines as the animated series has. You can spot some Animation Goofs in the series, such as Gus apparently showing up in a crowd before he actually transferred to school, and Gretchen vanishing in mid-air.
* ArtEvolution
** Originally, the main six characters were given more realistic designs. When the show premiered, they had a more "cutesy" design.
** In season three onwards, some episodes were made with digital coloring instead of the hand-painted cels. This was odd considering that it would go back and forth between digital and hand-painted, ending with "Bonkey Fever", the final episode to use digital coloring until the movie.
** And T.J. lost the slight puppy-dog sparkle in his eyes after season one. There wasn't much explanation why, but it could've been because he was the only character with it and it looked odd compared to the others. He was also a bit chubbier as well.
** Gus and T.J. are a bit taller in the later episodes, showing that the kids are getting a little older.
** The colors got a lot more vibrant in season two.
* ArtShift: One episode had the kids become part of a government experiment to see if getting rid of recess would improve standardized test scores. As everyone lost time to blow off steam, the color palate of the animation becomes more drab. At the end of the episode, the government [[StatusQuoIsGod allows the school to have recess again]], and everything becomes vibrant as the children play outside in the sun.
* AssumedWin: In 'Principal For A Day." When the faculty draws a student's name out of a box to be principal for a day Randall stands up thinking he won (because he stuffed the box). The actaul winner is TJ.
* BackstabbingTheAlphaBitch: "Outcast Ashley"
* BadassAdorable: Arguably, the main kids, especially in the movie, but mainly Spinelli (for already being a CuteBruiser) and T.J. (for being the team leader).
* BadassCrew: The main six.
* BadassTeacher: Mr E. He's so awesome, no-one can even know what the E stands for. Also counts as a very SternTeacher. There were rumors going around with the kids that he physically tore down the Berlin Wall, and even made a kid repeat the fifth grade for stammering during a book report.
* BegoneBribe: In one episode, Mikey imagines himself as a bard/minstrel when he's older. He serenades a couple, making the lady swoon and prompting her date to pay him to move on.
* BerserkButton: The six main characters, except Vince, each have one.
** T.J.: Don't mess with recess.
** Spinelli: Never refer to her by her first name.
** Gretchen: Never suggest that she's dumb.
** Mikey: Don't mistake his kindness as a sign of weakness.
** Gus: Don't harm a little kid.
** It's suggested that Upside-Down Girl's berserk button is being turned right-side-up.
-->'''Upside-Down Girl:''' If I have to come down from here, ''no one'' will be happy.
* BewareTheNiceOnes
** Mikey (the tall, fat kid who's into poetry and art) does have a nasty streak when provoked (as seen in the episode where he fakes a rumor stating that he beat up a boy and shoved him into the girls' bathroom, or the one where Mikey is picked to be a soccer goalie and his friends think he can't do it).
** Gus with dodgeballs in his hands brutally knocked out an entire fifth grade class on his own.
* BeYourself: Spinelli in "The Beauty Contest".
* BigBad: Dr. Phillium Benedict in TheMovie.
* BigEater: Mikey; Kurst
* BigNo: Spinelli and TJ after they finished drawing straws knowing that they'll experiment a "kiss" in "The Experiment".
* [[BigDamnMovie Big Whomping Movie]]: The plot of the movie revolves around the kids and faculty uniting to stop a madman from plunging the Earth into an eternal winter and thus eliminating summer vacation. The series, meanwhile, focuses on mostly playground antics.
* BlackBeadEyes: Gus, one of a few characters with this eye style.
* BlackBestFriend: Vince
* BookEnds: The 2003 DTV movie ''Taking the Fifth Grade'' was the official SeriesFinale (''All Growed Down'' doesn't count, as it's a prequel/clip show), and it ended the same way the theme song ended: Miss Finster telling the main six that recess was over and them coming inside, with her following them. Right before she closes the door, T.J. comes out from behind and waves to the audience and then she slams the door shut.
* {{Bowdlerization}}
** The scene in "I Will Kick No More Forever" when Ashley Q. kicks the kickball all the way to Communist China was changed so that she kicked it in a nearby dumpster when it aired in certain countries (by using stock footage), which somewhat ruined the humor of the scene (although the U.S., as well as other countries like the U.K. keeps it).
** In "Parents' Night", when Spinelli's dad is showing the other five kids pictures of her as a baby, he says, "Look at her on the rug with her fanny in the air". The "fanny in the air" part was cut after it's original airing on ABC, but ToonDisney added it back in (except in the U.K.).
* BrickJoke: When Spinelli calls Miss Grotke "Mama" by mistake the gang come up with several crazy schemes to help her out such as playing subliminal messages over the PA system. This is forgotten about until the end of the episode when Gretchen says "I wonder why the subliminal messages didn't work" and it cuts to Prickly and Miss Finster calling each other "Mama" and "Daddy" without thinking.
* BrokenBird: Kurst the Worst may or may not fall under this trope: she's considered one of, if not the meanest girl at school, yet seems geniunelly unhappy when people call her by her nickname and never seems to take that much pride in her mean acts, unlike most of the other bad kids at 3rd Street.
* ButtMonkey: Gus
* {{Calvinball}}: The ''{{Pokemon}''}-esque card game Ajimbo. Just how do you play it, anyway?
-->"''It doesn't make sense! Some of the rules are completely inconsistent!''"
* TheCameo
** PlutoThePup appears in T.J.'s nightmare in "Rainy Days"
** [[Disney/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Owl]] appears briefly in "Bachelor Gus". What makes it obvious that it's him is from his markings and design.
* CassandraTruth
* CastOfSnowflakes: Most of the time.
* CatchPhrase: Several.
** TJ has "Ten-der!"
** The Ashleys have a loud "[=SCANDALOUS=]!" said in unison, and their little brothers do the same with "[=NOTORIOUS=]!".
** Mr. "The Dude" Dudakoff apparently used to use "Sup-ple!" in much the same way TJ uses "Ten-der!"
** And of course, any variation of "this whomps!" is shared among the main six characters, mostly TJ and Vince since they invented the word.
* ChainOfDeals: Mikey wanting to be a safety ranger.
* ChekhovsGun: Gretchen's voice-changing device first appears in "The Army Navy Game" and is later used twice in TheMovie.
* ChekhovsLecture: Almost every lesson the kids learn in school is important to the rest of the episode.
* ChristmasEpisode: "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave". Then it was released in a CompliationMovie released directly to DVD and video, ''Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street".
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome
** After "The Terrifying Tales of Recess" (the first episode of season six, and the stories in the episodes were non-cannon), Miss Grotke is completely AWOL for the rest of the series.
** There was another teacher's pet to be Randall's rival named Douglas. He only appeared once and was mentioned another time, however.
** The Tylers, the little brothers of the Ashleys, only appear in one episode and never show up in the series again.
* ClassTrip: In the episodes "Operation Field Trip" and "The Great State Fair".
* ClipShow
** The Christmas special released on video. All but one of the episodes featured had nothing to do with Christmas at all, although one admittedly was about Thanksgiving.
** Same with "All Growed Down", except for the last segment, which was most likely an unaired episode.
* ComicBookTime: Actually ''averted'', as it's been established that while the show aired from 1997 to 2001, the show is taking place over the course of Fall 1997 and Spring/Summer 1998 (with ''Taking the Fifth Grade'' taking place in Fall 1998)
* CompetenceZone: Kindergarteners are portrayed as wild savages, and adults frequently can't comprehend their children's problems.
* ConcertKiss: The episode "The Experiment" has T.J. and Spinelli kiss, [[TestKiss as an experiment]], in front of all their friends and all the kids in the playground, despite T.J. and Spinelli's request in not wanting to kiss in public in the first place, thanks to their friends inability to keep a secret about it.
* ConspicuousCG: The opening shot of the town and the school in the movie. The pasted-in kids' run cycles don't even match up with their speed!
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: King Bob's version of capital punishment. ''"Let him feel the rubbery thunder of the Dodgeball Wall!"''
* CoolTeacher
** Franklin "The Dude" Dudakoff. Known as a legendary student of Third Street School who was the prankster prince, the king of the playground before he became a sixth grader, and an all around badass wanted to become a teacher because he thinks science is interesting.
** Miss Grotke's a pretty cool teacher herself.
* {{Crossover}}: With ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'', where the cast had a somewhat clashing animation style and some different voice actors.
* CrowdChant: The opinion of the student body can sway violently, and at the drop of a hat, so this happens a lot.
* CucumberFacial
* CuteBruiser: Spinelli. And surprisingly, Cornchip Girl.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Many characters get at least one episode centered on them. Let's see...
** The Ashleys: "First Name Ashley", "Jinxed", "Beauty Contest", "Outcast Ashley", "The Ratings Game", and "No Strings Attatched";
** Guru Kid: "Don't Ask Me";
** The Diggers: "Diggers Split Up";
** Gordy: "Nobody Doesn`t Like T.J.";
** Kurst the Worst: "Kurst the Not So Bad";
** Mundy: "Mundy, Mundy";
** The Kindergarteners: "Legend of The Big Kid", "Wild Child", and "Kindergarten Derby";
** Swinger Girl: "Swing on Thru to the Other Side";
** King Bob: "Pharoh Bob", "Prince Randall", "The Big Prank", and "The Madness of King Bob";
** The Pale Kids: "Lord of the Nerds";
** Menlo: "Partners in Crime" and "Some Friend";
** Randall: "Randall's Reform", "The Trial", "Stand Up Randall", "Randall's Friends", "Partners in Crime", and "Prince Randall";
** Hustler Kid: "Huslter's Apprentice";
** Miss Finster: "To Finster with Love", "Weekend at Muriel's", and "The Fuss over Finster";
** Miss Grotke: "The Secret Life of Grotke";
** Lawson: "Fort Tender" and "Lawson and His Crew";
** Cornchip Girl: "The Army-Navy Game".
* ADogAteMyHomework: The begining of "This Brain for Hire", which involves Spinelli saying that her dog ate her homework, T.J. ripping up his homework with his mouth and ''then'' saying his dog ate it (he still had a scrap of paper on his lip, however), and Vince said that his brother ate it.
* DeadpanSnarker
** Half of the main group is this: T.J. (moreso in the earlier episodes), Vince and Spinelli.
** T.J.'s older sister, Becky, is even more of one than her brother.
** Miss Grotke can be one when she needs to be.
* DecidedByOneVote: Gretchen won the election against Vince this way; Vince was the last person to vote for her. Which, considering that it was stated that the class had an equal amount of boys and girl, would actually be winning by two votes.
* DemotedToExtra
** Chucko was only a major character for one episode, then he started to fade into the background until disapearing altogether.
** In ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'', Lawson only appears once to give a thumbs up (after being sprayed with silly string) to someone preparing to save T.J. with the other kids. He's still listed in the credits, however. He was probably going to have a bigger role, and then his scenes were cut. At least he had it better than Cornchip Girl or Swinger Girl, who don't show up ''at all'' in the movie.
** In ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade'', Miss Grotke only gets two lines in the entire movie and doesn't show up after that. Justified, as the main kids all moved up to fifth grade and weren't in her class anymore.
* DiggingToChina: The Diggers. Who ''actually do it'' once.
* DirectToVideo: ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade'', ''Recess: All Growed Down'', and most of ''Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street'' were all released directly to video and DVD in 2003 (except for the latter, released in 2001).
* TheDitz: T.J. (especially in later seasons) and Lawson.
* TheDocumentary: "Kids in the Mist", where a child psychologist films the kids.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In "Economics of Recess", the American Monsticker currency eventually gets overtaken by the [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japanese Lick-and-Stick Alien Stamp currency]].
* DoNotCallMePaul: Thaddeus T. Third V (the grandson of the man who Third Street is named after) is always mistakenly called "Mr. Fifth", much to his chagrin.
* DontAsk: About Mikey's [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Uncle]] [[{{Transsexual}} Mary]].
* {{Doppelganger}}: In an episode where the gang goes to a school for a kickball game (due to a bet of their principals as they're also brothers), the rival school is a near copy of the group's school with their opponents being copies of the gang themselves.
* DoubleEntendre: This is true anyone over the age of 12 who watches the episode "All the Principles Men"
* TheDragon: While there is no real main antagonist to the series (since the role is often shared by Principal Prickly, Lawson, and Ms. Finster), there ''is'' an obvious dragon amongst several of them. TheDragon to Prickly is either Ms. Finster or Menlo, while Ms. Finster's dragon is Randall.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Season one might fall under this. Both Miss Finster and Principal Prickly were more sadistic, Miss Grotke wasn't as sympathetic, and everyone's voice was higher, as well as T.J. being played by a completely different kid. It was ''much'' more OffModel as well. Not to mention that the main six were more of anti-heroes, Vince was more of a SourSupporter, and the show was a bit more cartoony.
* [[HighSchoolHustler Elementary School Hustler]]: T.J. definitely has his moments, among them being able to provide a convincing forged prescription for ''chewing gum''. Hustler Kid is also a prime candidate, but mostly he just provides the goods while the main gang does the planning and executing.
* EmbarrassingFirstName
** ''Ashley'' Spinelli (see the entries for GirlPosse and IAmSpartacus below).
** ''Theodore'' Jasper Detweiler.
** The Hustler Kid's first name is ''Francis''.
** Conrad "Connie" Mundy
** ''Erwin'' Lawson
** ''Alordyne'' Grotke
* EmbarrassingMiddleName
** Theodore ''Jasper'' Detweiler. No wonder he [[OnlyKnownByInitials goes by his initials]] T.J.
** Don't forget Ashley ''Funicello'' Spinelli.
* EndangeredSouffle
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The opening theme tells us all we need to know about the main characters. Everyone looking at TJ, [[FaceNodAction who nods at them before they set off]]. Gus getting gum splattered over his face, tripping, and getting a ball stuck to his head. Vince kicking a ball up into the air. Spinelli threatening Randall for snitching. Gretchen working on an experiment. Mikey eating a whole sandwich in one gulp.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: There are some punishments that even Miss Finster thinks go too far. Like in "The Biggest Trouble Ever" when the Mayor planned to separate the gang to six different schools.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Characters such as "Swinger Girl" or "Guru Kid".
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Well, ''obviously''. Less apparent, ''All Growed Down'' revealed Gus was at Third Street for a period of Kindergarten as well (which was [[{{RetCon}} retconned]] in).
* EverythingsBetterWithPlushies: The main six all got stuffed dolls of them released towards the end of the `90s going into the early 2000s, at The Disney Store and Toys "R" Us. T.J., Gretchen, and Gus were released first, with Vince, Spinelli, and Mikey released later.
* FaceYourFears: T.J. is forced to do this to overcome the terror of the Box... which was just a white square drawn on the playground tarmac.
* FanDisservice
** On the episode where Ms. Finster babysits Spinelli for the weekend, Ms. Finster arranges a luau after overhearing Spinelli talk about how boring Ms. Finster is outside of school, featuring the elderly and hunched Ms. Finster and the under-aged Spinelli in coconut bras and hula skirts. This is even lampshaded:
-->'''T.J.:''' ''(after watching them hula and is apparently grossed out)'' [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain ...Guys, we're never going to talk about this again.]]
** "The Big Prank" gives us a scene of chubby, under-aged T.J. in nothing but his boxers.
* {{Fanservice}}: The episode "Teachers Lounge" gave older male viewers a quick scene where Miss Grotke is naked (granted; the show is TV-G and she was lying down on her front for a massage, censoring the naughty bits).
* FantasyTwist: The gang find a $100 bill and all fantasize about what they'll do with their share of the money. Each of their fantasies end with them owning and flying a jetpack, except even in his own fantasy Gus can't control his.
* FatAndSkinny: Jordan and Jerome, King Bob's lackeys.
* FellOffTheBackOfATruck: "Tofu Crunchy-Creams. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Fell off a truck in Jersey]]."
* FeudEpisode: Subverted. Whilst the gang are mad at TJ, he's just confused.
* FinalSeasonCasting: More like "Epilogue Direct-to-DVD casting". For the 2003 Direct-to-DVD finale, ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade'', Myles Jeffery replaced Andy Lawrence (who replaced Ross Malinger earlier on) as the voice of T.J., due to the latter's voice changing.
* FirstKiss: T.J. and Spinelli in "The Experiment", but [[TestKiss as an experiment.]]
* FiveManBand
** TJ: TheHero
** Vince: TheLancer
** Gretchen: TheSmartGuy[=/=]TheChick
** Spinelli: TheBigGuy (not "big" in terms of size, but she's definitely the toughest).
** Mikey: TheHeart (with shades of TheBigGuy in some cases. Just because Mikey is the sweet, kind-hearted one doesn't mean he doesn't have a nasty side).
** Gus: SixthRanger, in a rare example of showing up at the very beginning of the series. He could also fill the role of the KidAppealCharacter.
** In "Lawson and His Crew", Lawson consciously mirrors these roles by gathering Kurst, Menlo, Randall, Skeens and Swinger Girl together under his leadership.
* FoodFight: In "Tattletale Heart".
* FootFocus: Ms. Grotke is often [[DoesNotLikeShoes barefoot]]. In fact, "The Substitute" begins with Ms. Grotke pointing out a bunion on her propped-up bare foot (which the camera focuses on).
* FreudianSlip: In one episode, Spinelli accidentally called Ms. Grotke "Mama" when warning her about a mud puddle she was about to walk into, after secretly bonding with her.
* FriendlyEnemy: Randall, Menlo and Lawson can be this sometimes. Miss Finster mentions in one episode that just because she punishes T.J. doesn't mean she doesn't like him.
* FullNameUltimatum
** "Gustuv Patton Griswald!"
** "Theresa Laverne [=LeMaize=]!"
* FunHatingConfiscatingAdult
* GenkiGirl: Cindy (one of the kindergarteners), Library Kid, and at times, Miss Grotke.
* GenreBusting: Comedy/drama/prison escape/satire
* GentleGiant: Considering only the kids, Mikey.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: [[{{Radar/Recess}} It has its own page.]]
* GirlPosse: The Ashleys.
* HereWeGoAgain
* HiddenDepths: Gus, a.k.a. El Diablo.
* HippieTeacher
** Ms. Grotke.
** Also, Prickly and Finster (and, arguably, all the others) in the 1960s flashback in TheMovie.
* HonestJohnsDealership: Hustler Kid
* HotMom: Spinelli's mom
* HotTeacher
** Mr. E
** Arguably, Miss Grotke, though she's more "cute" than "sexy".
* HowCanSantaDeliverAllThoseToys
* HumanLadder
* HypnoFool: In one episode Principal Prickly thinks he's six years old.
* HypocriticalHumor: Used a lot. One example from "Soccer Boy":
-->'''Vince:''' If we lose, Lawson's going to make us look like dummies!\\
'''[[TheDitz T.J.:]]''' Ooh, don't wanna look like no dummies.
* IAmSpartacus: Used twice for Spinelli. In one episode, the Ashleys find out what her first name is and makes her join them. Her friends get everyone to change their name to Ashley, even the boys. (They do forget that Ashley was originally a boy's name.) In another episode, Spinelli gets made fun of for accidentally calling a teacher "Mama". Her friends start calling the teacher "Mama" to take the heat off her.
* ImGoingForACloserLook
* InformedObscenity: In one episode, T.J. is brought to court for use of his CatchPhrase "This whomps". The judge decided that "whomps" was not dirty in and of itself, and that only a dirty-minded person would think it was.
* InkSuitActor: This wasn't intended at all, but...saying Andy Lawrence looks like T.J. is like saying fish enjoy water.
* InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike: Spinelli literally means "spliffs" in Italian. And ''it wasn't changed'' in the Italian dub. Awkward moments with parents ensued.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Spinelli, who's nine, and Miss Grotke, who's most likely in her early-to-mid 30s.
* IOweYouMyLife: "Copycat Kid" starts out as this kind of plot when Mikey thinks Vince saved his life, but it soon changes into more of an IJustWantToBeYou scenario.
* IrritationIsTheSincerestFormOfFlattery: Geoffrey to Gretchen.
* ISeeLondon
** In one episode Mikey rips his pants while bending, and the others try to hide him from Miss Finster, knowing that she will take him into an office to sew his pants back together. They are afraid that the knowledge Miss Finster saw his underwear will cause the rest of the school to mercilessly tease Mikey. [[spoiler:In the end, T.J., Vince, and Gus decide to have their pants ripped as well. All four boys end up in their underwear while Miss Finster sews their pants. King Bob who understands what the other boys did for Mikey recognizes the selfless nature of it, and insists no one mock them for it]].
** T.J. himself is seen in his boxers in a few episodes.
* {{Jerkass}}: Randall, despite (or possibly in part due to) what some might see as his personal crowning moment of funny: the Mikey refrigerator spelling joke ("O-I-C-U-R-M-T"). And while he does a IJustWantToBeYou rant on T.J., he [[KickTheDog kicks the dog]] on him as well. Only this can come from Randall.
-->'''Randall:''' You're fat, you're ugly, you wear that stupid jacket, but everyone wants to play with you!
* TheJimmyHartVersion: The theme is an obvious parody of the ''Series/HogansHeroes'' theme. Which in turn, as pointed out above, is an obvious parody of the march from ''Film/TheGreatEscape''.
* KarmaHoudini: [[AlphaBitch Ashley A]] and her GirlPosse. (Hey, that rhymes!) They [[ManipulativeBastard exploit]] Gus's HonourBeforeReason approach by tricking him into a "jinx" such that he doesn't talk at all, [[ForTheEvulz just to toy with him for their own amusement]]. When Gus holds back from talking at all, even to the point where the school staff is threatening to take him to the police station over it, '''[[KickTheDog they STILL enjoy causing him to get into this kind of trouble]].''' Eventually it's announced that Gus was jinxed, and the main characters retaliate against the GirlPosse by tricking them into a jinx. However, the episode ends there, and if you just think about the logic of the episode, you will realize there's no way in the world that GirlPosse has the "honor" within them to obey said "jinx."
* KidCom
* KidDetective: Parodied when TJ and Vince become fans of a book series in "The Barnaby Boys" and have the gang go around snooping.
* LargeHam
** Mikey, through and through.
** King Bob
* LastNameBasis
** Spinelli, of course.
** And then there's Lawson, Skeens, Gelman, Kurst (the Worst), Mundy, etc.
* {{Leitmotif}}: A few characters have one, such as Butch, the Diggers, the Ashleys, the kindergarteners, and the music that plays whenever T.J. has a plan.
* LetThereBeSnow
* LittleProfessorDialog: All the kids in the show talk like 1980's businessmen.
* LimitedWardrobe: Even the fashion-conscious Ashleys rarely change clothes.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: About 105 appeared in the series, and only a few are on the character page.
* LongRunners: Averted, as the show had a normal run for a Disney cartoon (1997 to 2001 with 65 episodes and three movies), but Disney's refusal to stop rerunning the show (which they did end up doing from July 2010 until October 2011) made it seem like it ran longer.
* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: King Bob attempts to build a pyramid of mud. [[spoiler:It rains.]]
* MadnessMantra: In "The Box", T.J. singing ''This Old Man'' when he's in the box and repeatedly saying he'll be a good boy.
* TheMerch: T-shirts, coffee mugs, toys, backpacks, and various other pieces of merchandise. Most of it was only sold at The Disney Store.
* TheMessiah: T.J. and Mikey.
* MilitaryBrat
** Gus, whose father is in the Army.
** One episode reveals that Theresa "Cornchip Girl" [[MeaningfulName LaMaize]]'s father is in the Navy.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Done ''quite'' a bit with:
** Principal Prickly.
** Muriel Finster.
** The old woman who lives next to the school.
** The Yo-Yo instructor.
** The Pale kids.
* MoeCouplet: Gus and Cornchip Girl.
* MoralGuardians: Not in real life, but used as a plot point: the UnusualEuphemism described below is taken by some of the adults to be profanity, and things escalate until T.J. is in a courtroom defending himself. A good chunk of the trial goes along without anyone willing to utter the word in question... until T.J. finally does. Upon realizing this whole thing is over the word "whomps", the judge promptly laughs the MoralGuardians out of the courtroom for wasting his time.
* TheMovie: [[RecessSchoolsOut One theatrical movie]] and three direct-to-video episode compilations with linking material, one of which was notably made from unaired episodes.
* MythologyGag: There's a background character that pops up from time to time that slightly resembles T.J. in the unnaired pilot.
* NaiveNewcomer: Gus
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Inverted. "Anyone named Gustov is bound to be trouble."
* ANaziByAnyOtherName
** Principal Slicer was a shockingly unsubtle example. There was even one part where Randall says he's going to have the jungle gym torn down and replaced with a guard tower. And that old cannon outside the school? He wants it ''to work.''
** The Fun Police in the episode "The Rules". In order for the old, previously lost rules of King Mortimer to be enforced, King Bob employed Fun Police, who even had red armbands with "Fun" on them. There were also higher-up ''Secret'' Fun Police.
* NeverSayDie
** Averted twice in "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave" when the deaths of St. Nicholas and Elvis are mentioned.
** Averted again in Taking the Fifth Grade in which Prickly saves T.J from falling off his roof and tells him he could have been killed by doing something so reckless.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] / mocked in "Speedy, We Hardly Knew Ye": The episode is about the death of the class' hamster; the word "death" is tossed around freely by the children, but Ms. Grotke always says it in a hushed whisper because she's afraid the kids couldn't handle the concept.
* NewTransferStudent: Gus again.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Gretchen, for trying to calm an increasingly mysophobic Gus by saying that germs are everywhere (including on his skin).
* {{Ninja}}: Part of Benedict's task force in the movie.
-->'''Gus:''' Ninjas! Why did they have to be ninjas?!
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Phillium Benedict was most likely named for former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett.
* NoirEpisode: "The Girl was Trouble"
* NoodleIncident: Twice, in the Christmas episode: "It's the Tooth Fairy incident all over again" and "Get me out of here! I don't want another Arbor Day incident!"
* NotSoDifferent: Mostly involving Principal Prickly, in a good way, though.
* NowWhichOneWasThatVoice: Only the cast for the main six and the three main teachers (most of the time -- the writers can't make up their minds on whether Miss Grotke's a main or supporting character) are credited for which character they played. Everyone else is listed as "additional voices", with only the names of the voice actors/actresses and not their characters. {{Averted}} with the movie.
* OffModel
** The episode "Buried Treasure" was sent to a different overseas animation department, and the animation suffered. At various times, the outlines became very inky, to the point of becoming ThickLineAnimation, the animation was much more cartoony, more colorization errors than the usual episodes, characters having off-model appearences, Spinelli's pigtails constantly changing position, and other mistakes. Only one more episode was made with this overseas animation department and never again, and the episode is considered to have the worst animation out of the entire series.
** The ''Lilo & Stitch'' crossover was bad about this as well. Because the episode (as with most L & S episodes) was animated by Toon City than Sunwoo Animation or Plus One Animation as ''Recess'' usually was animated at, the gang looked a bit different. T.J. was chubbier and Spinelli's eyes were too farly spaced apart. The animation was also much more cartoony.
** Most of the digitally colored episodes were ''full'' of mistakes.
* OneOfUs: In-Universe example: One episode has the kids discovering that Principal Prickly is a huge fan of the series' CaptainErsatz {{Franchise/Superman}}, Señor Fusion.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted with the Ashleys (and their brothers). (Spinelli shares their name, but doesn't want to be associated with them.)
* OnlyChildSyndrome: Mikey, Gus, and Gretchen are all only children. The other three have older siblings.
* OnlyKnownByInitials
** T.J. (usually); also substitute teacher Mr. E.
** The Ashleys initialize their surnames: Ashley A., Ashley B., Ashley T., etc.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Several characters, to the point where even the teachers don't seem to know their real names.
* OpeningShoutOut: In "Lawson and His Crew".
* OrbitalKiss: In "The Experiment".
* OrphanedPunchline: The ending of "Teachers' Lounge" had Principal Prickly delivering the punchline, "...and so I said, 'That's no kindergartner, that's my wife!'," to great reception among his peers. The second short of the episode, "Randall's Reform", has his opposite number, T.J., delivering the same punchline to his own peers and getting a similar reception. NotSoDifferent indeed
* OutOfFocus
** Aside from Gretchen, the other five members of the gang aren't in the spotlight in "The Girl was Trouble".
** "More Like Gretchen" focuses more on Spinelli and Gretchen than the rest of the main six.
** "Weekend at Muriel's" has Spinelli as the major focus, and the rest of the main six only appear in the begining and at the end of the episode.
** "Bad Hair Day" sends the two girls in the team to a science convention, causing them not to appear until the very end of the episode
** "League of Randalls" puts the main six out of focus, then brings them in briefly for their plan, then they're gone for the rest of the episode.
** This would end up happening to Miss Grotke in the later episodes
* PantyShot: Subverted by Upside-Down Girl, who wears thigh-length leggings under her skirt as she hangs from the monkey bar.
* PaperThinDisguise
* ParentalBonus: Many.
* ParentExMachina
* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: "Whomp" (used in the same context as "stinks", "sucks", or "blows" to describe an unfair or unpleasant situation or person).
* PickedLast: Explored at least a couple times. Played with a bit by having the second-to-last pick actually be the worst sports player (e.g. a random kid with a broken leg and crutches, or [[AndZoidberg Gus]]), but the one picked last is being socially snubbed.
* PictureDay: "One Stayed Clean"
* {{Pilot}}: "The Break-In", which was made in 1996 to get the show on the air. It was re-made into the first episode in 1997, though changing the character designs from the pilot to the ones in the series proper.
* PlanetOfSteves: The four Ashleys ([[spoiler:five actually, Spinelli's first name is Ashley, too]]). And their little brothers are all named Tyler. Especially used in ''First Name Ashley'' where the whole ''playground'' changes its name to Ashley.
* PlaygroundSong: Being a show that takes place at an elementary school, expect these to pop up every now and again.
* PlayingSick: Used in "Omega Kids" where Gretchen looks up an illness to keep the gang out of school by drawing green dots on everyone with marker and having them lick blue lollypops so that their tounges looked blue. It worked ''too'' well, as Gretchen mixed up the colors and they ended up looking like they had an even more serious disease.
* PottyDance: Mikey, after T.J. makes him drink water from a hosepipe.
* PositiveDiscrimination: Subverted in "The Candidates". Spinelli tries to use girl power to get Gretchen votes, but Gretchen says herself that being a girl is immaterial to being president. In the end, Gretchen wins partly because of the girl vote, but also [[DecidedByOneVote because Vince voted for her]].
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Subverted.
* PracticeKiss: "The Experiment"
* {{Prequel}}: ''Recess: All Growed Down''
* PunishmentBox: it's just a square drawn on the playground floor. T.J. at first laughs it off, but eventually it breaks him.
* PunnyName: Guy [=McMahon=], the representative of Kiddie Cosmetics.
* ReadingForeignSignsOutLoud: Used on the German version, ''Grosse Pause'' (Big Recess), at least.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Principal Prickly
* RecycledTheSeries: For some reason, in Spanish-speaking countries, the show is called (translated from Spanish): ''[[MarketBasedTitle Recess: The Animated Series]]''. No, really.
* RedOniBlueOni: Split into three groups of two with the main characters.
** T.J. and Vince.
** Mikey and Gus.
** Spinelli and Gretchen.
** If we talk teachers, then its Ms. Finster and Ms. Grotke.
* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation
* ReunionShow
** The ''LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' crossover. By that point, ''Recess'' had ended its run and the cast had come back to reprise their roles... at least most of them. T.J., Mikey, and Gus were all replaced.
** ''LloydInSpace'', which was made by the same creators, counts in a way. Pretty much every voice actor from ''Recess'' came to do voices on the show, including Ross Malinger, who only played T.J. for season one and two episodes of season two.
* RichBitch: The Ashleys have a dose of this.
* RunningGag: Gus always needed to go to the bathroom at the absolute worst time.
* SadistTeacher
** Implied to be Ms. Finster, although she's only seen grading in ''one'' episode; she mostly seems to just be in charge of Recess. The DTV "epilogue", ''Taking The Fifth Grade'', shows her to be the fifth grade teacher, something never hinted at anywhere in the rest of the series.
** [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Dr. Slicer]] is definetly this, put emphasis on [[CompleteMonster the sadist part]].
* SchoolPlay: The Holiday pageant in the Christmas special.
* TheScottishTrope: El Diablo. *Whip cracks*
* ScoutOut: The Woodchuck Scouts
* SecretTestOfCharacter: The "C Note" episode.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: With the four male main characters, each role is shared by two of them.
** Sensitive Guys: Mikey and Gus.
** Manly Men: TJ and Vince.
* SeriesContinuityError
** Cornchip Girl could be in [[VagueAge either 1st or 2nd grade]], but in "One Stayed Clean" she's nowhere to be seen when those grades are getting their picture taken and she seems to be in kindergarten since she spends most of her screentime with them, even though other episodes have shown that all kindergartners dress and act like savages and she's never been shown in kindergarten before.
** Gus is shown to be a new kid in school in grade 4, yet ''All Growed Down'' shows him in Kindergarten. ''The Great Jungle Gym standoff'' also apparently takes place before Gus transferred to school yet he appears in a few shots (probably an animation goof -- happens all the time). They explain Gus being the new kid again in fourth grade by the very canon fact he transferred many times over the past four years. The fact that he went to 3rd Street for a few days then transfered out fits his backstory well. Nobody (except Finster) remembered him because everybody who would actually have a reason to remember him was too young to remember. His friends think Gus made the whole thing up mostly because he helps over half of them become who they are today.
** And on a similar note, despite that it was established that Old Rusty had fallen down and replaced with what T.J christened "New Rusty", the jungle gym is still referred to as "Old Rusty".
** Menlo is revealed to have been T.J's best friend in the past, except for some reason another episode shows him speaking about him like he just heard about him.
** ''The Great Can Drive'' episode shows The Ashleys being in a separate class from Mikey and the gang, yet other episodes show all four being in Ms. Grotke's class.
* SeriesFauxnale: "Lawson and his Crew" was intended to be the final episode to air on TV, and TheMovie was supposed to be the true finale. However, the show was so popular that it was renewed for another season...[[ScrewedByTheNetwork which, thanks to Disney's sixty-five episode limit, didn't last long]]. There were the DTV movies, however.
* SeriousBusiness: Recess itself is like this, as is everything else -- and who honestly didn't have ''this'' happen when they went to elementary school? The Monstickers and Ajimbo game especially take the cake.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Gretchen
* ShallowLoveInterest: Johnny V. was this for Spinelli in "That Stinking Feeling". Due to him not appearing after the episode, it's pretty much confirmed that he only existed as a temporary love interest.
* ShoutOut
** Ashley Spinelli's last name is a reference to ''ManiacMagee'' novelist Jerry Spinelli.
** Mikey's last name, Blumberg, is named after Barry Blumberg, a producer at Disney Television Animation who convinced the company to give the series the greenlight. Not to mention, he also appears to have a [[TheDarkIsRising Great Uncle Merry]].
** In TheMovie "[[Music/AliceCooper School's Out]]": "[[Music/PinkFloyd Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!]]" Heck, TheMovie as a whole is one big shout out to TheSixties.
** Ever notice that Upside-Down Girl looks and dresses an awful lot like a [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnold certain someone]]? She even has the same voice actress, who plays several characters on the show, but specifically uses her Helga voice for Upside-Down Girl.
** Also, King Bob may be a reference to another character from ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': Big Bob Pataki, The Beeper King. They have similar appearances: unibrow, dark hair, perpetual scowl, and are both bossy and don't like being distracted from whatever has their attention.
** The "Terrifying Tales of Recess" segment with Mikey's living bike starts out as a parody of Stephen King's ''{{Christine}}'' and later when the other kids' bikes come to life it turns into a parody of ''Film/MaximumOverdrive''.
** The series is literally littered with shout outs to ''Series/HogansHeroes'', but one episode takes the cake with a senior citizen that TJ is visiting recalling the POW camp he was in during the war to be filled with [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of the cast of ''Hogan's Heroes''. The flashback ends with the Kommandant yelling, "ROOOOOGAN!"
** One of the Ashleys in particular looks like [[{{Heathers}} Heather Duke]].
** Vince's nightmare about turning into a geek in "Big Brother Chad" is a parody of the opening of ''AGoofyMovie'', with Max's nightmare about turning into {{Goofy}}.
** The scene in TheMovie when T.J. and Prickly are captured, and Prickly's talk about summer vacation to T.J. reminded this troper an awful lot of ''ToyStory''.
** Principal Prickly's secretary is named Ms. [[{{HerculePoirot}} Lemon]].
** The prequel-movie "All Growed Down" is named after the ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'' movie "All Growed Up" and, as one may expect from the name, has an inverted premise. All Growed Up was a sort of look-ahead to the future of the ''Rugrats'' characters' lives, while All Growed Down shows us the ''Recess'' gang when they were in kindergarden. The main difference is that ''Rugrats'' turned it into a full spinoff, while ''Recess'' did not. This is also funny when you remember that the creators of ''Recess'' worked on ''Rugrats'' before the show was supposed to end in 1994.
** Ashley A. owns a HelloKitty lunchbox.
* ShownTheirWork: In the episode where Prickly is hypnotized into thinking he's 6 years old, when the kids tell him he's not really a child and has to go back to being a grown-up he gets upset, climbs up Old Rusty and strips down to his underwear for seemingly no reason. It's typical for 6-year-olds to take off their clothes when upset.
* SimilarSquad: The Principal's brother runs a school with characters who are counterparts of the regular gang. There's only one DistaffCounterpart: T.J.'s opposite is a girl named C.J. For the rest of the gang, their counterparts are all [[PaletteSwap race swaps]] (or almost all, depending on [[AmbiguouslyBrown what you consider Spinelli]]).
* SitcomArchNemesis: Lawson, to both TJ and Vince. He is often [[InformedAbility described]] as the arch-rival of TJ, but he doesn't really seem to single him out; however, we frequently see him butting heads specifically with Vince.
* SixStudentClique
** The Main Character: [[BigManOnCampus TJ]].
** The Muscle: Vince.
** The Quirk: [[ButtMonkey Gus]].
** The Pretty One: Mikey (gender flip).
** The Smart One: Gretchen.
** The Wild One: Spinelli.
* SleeperHit: No-one expected the show to be as sucessful as it became.
* SmolderingShoes: Prickly in the movie.
* SoapboxSadie: Miss Grotke in some of her lessons.
* SomebodyDoesntLoveRaymond: One episode has T.J. trying to get a black kid named Gordon to like him, only to learn by the episode's end that he can't force anybody to like him.
* SophisticatedAsHell: King Bob
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'', which the creators worked on before it was cancelled in 1994 (Though it was UnCancelled shortly before ''Recess'' premiered).
* StarCrossedLovers: Gus and Corn Chip Girl.
* StealthPun: From Spinelli when she's suddenly wracked with guilt: "Man, I feel like a [[{{Heel}} bad-guy wrestler]]."
* StrongFamilyResemblance: T.J. looks like his mom, Vince looks like his dad, Spinelli doesn't really look like any of her parents but looks a bit more like her dad, Gretchen looks like both of her parents, Mikey looks like his mom (and has the same hair color as his dad), Gus looks like a smaller, less rugged version of his dad (and has his mom's eyes and glasses), the Ashleys all look like their moms, and Hustler Kid looks like his dad.
* SwivelChairAntics: When T.J. wins the "Principal for a Day" drawing and first sits down in Principal Prickly's chair:
-->'''T.J.:''' Wow, this is one big chair.\\
'''Prickly:''' Yes it is. And it takes a big man to fill it.\\
'''T.J.:''' ''(immediately starts spinning)'' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint WOOHOOOOOO!]]
* TheTalk: In "Dance Lessons", we see Miss Grotke finish up a lesson on [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar sex]] (which Gordy asked her about). Granted, we don't hear the actual discussion (thanks to the TV-G rating), but... yeah.
* TestKiss: The whole plot of the episode "The Experiment".
* ThoseTwoGuys: The Diggers (Sam and Dave), as well as King Bob's right hand men, Jerome and Jordan.
* ThoseWackyNazis
-->'''Digger Dave:''' Me, bossy? I'm not bossy! Am I bossy?\\
'''Spinelli:''' [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Jawohl, mein Kommandant]].
* ThrowingOutTheScript: Invoked. Mikey starts overly structuring his life and loses his knack for poetry. So his friends write on his schedule to tear up the horrible bit he had written to be performed (though not in those words). And in his anxiety, he starts winging it, winning the competition.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Spinelli and Gretchen without a doubt. You just got to look at em.
* TomboyishName: Subverted.
* TotallyRadical
** Miss Grotke is prone to this
** Sometimes the kids might talk like this, but very rarely, and it depended on the writer.
* TrueCompanions: The main six.
* {{Tuckerization}}
** T.J.'s original name, P.J., stood for the first initials of the creators, Paul (Germain) and Joe (Ansolabehere). Before animation was done on the pilot, his name was changed for unknown reasons.
** Mikey's last name, Blumberg, comes from Barry Blumberg, a producer at Walt Disney Television who convinced the executives to give the show the greenlight.
** In a fantasy sequence in "The Lost Ball", Paul Germain's son, Thomas Germain, was mentioned.
** One of the science teachers in the show is named Mr. Germain
** In "The Challenge", the landscaping crew that came to the school was "Paul & Joe's Landscaping".
* TunnelKing: The Diggers
* TwoGirlsToATeam: Gretchen and Spinelli are the only girls in the main six.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The earlier episodes came off as this at times.
* UnspokenPlan
* UnusualEuphemism
** "This whomps!"
** As well as "froopin`", but not as often.
* VignetteEpisode: The Halloween special.
* VocalEvolution: Because the kids in the show are all voiced by real kids, their voices ended up getting lower throught the show's run. Vince's voice broke half-way through the first season, Mikey's voice got a little lower in season five (and then completely broke in the 2003 DTV movies), Gus, Randall, and Digger Dave all had lower voices in the DTV movies, and Digger Sam's voice broke in the DTV movie ''Taking the Fifth Grade'' (due to this, we never hear him speak in ''All Growed Down''). Which was lampshaded at the end of the movie:
-->'''Digger Sam:''': My voice! What happened to my voice?
:: Averted with T.J., unlike the other male characters. Because the creators wanted his voice to always sound cute and youthful, he was replaced three times.
* WackyHomeroom
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: One episode had the kids build a cool fort to hang out in, only to have it promptly stolen from them by bullies. After spending the whole episode trying to win it back, afterwards they realize that it was more fun trying to take back the fort than actually hanging out in it. They promptly call up the bullies to try and take it back from them.
* WelcomeEpisode: "The New Kid", for Gus, and as a rare example, aired as episode 1B (first episode; second story after the commercial break).
* WhamEpisode: "The Biggest Trouble Ever", where the gang accidentally breaks a priceless statue and become town scapegoats, to the point where the SmugSnake of a Mayor plans to break them up and send them to six different schools. Sure, you know it'll be resolved and [[StatusQuoIsGod nothing will change]], but it's easily the most dramatic story ''Recess'' ever did.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous: The Unwritten Code of the Playground.
* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech: Subverted.
* [[WhyAreYouNotMySon Why Are You Not My Daughter?]]: "More Like Gretchen"
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Gus in "King Gus" and "Hustler's Apprentice", and TJ in "Principal For A Day" and "Economics Of Recess". And "Pharaoh Bob" to an extent but he already had great power, he just overdid the ego.
* WrenchWench: Spinelli and Gretchen.
* WrongGenreSavvy: "No Strings Attached". Basically, the Ashleys give Spinelli six tickets to a wrestling match. [[AlphaBitch Knowing what the Ashleys are like]], Spinelli and the others become suspicious, and when Mikey and Gus decide that the tickets are real, the rest of the gang dismiss the idea as naïve. By the time they find out that Mikey and Gus were right all along, they end up locked inside the Ashley's clubhouse....
* YesVirginia: The title of the ChristmasEpisode (which sort of gives away the plot twist) is "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave".
* YouAreFat: Randall says this to T.J. in his IJustWantToBeYou (and KickTheDog) rant.
* YouMeddlingKids: In the Barnaby boys episode, the janitor that the gang follows turns out to be a criminal and responds with "I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids" after Spinelli shows up with the police.
* YourTomcatIsPregnant: Happened in one episode. Turned out Stuart was a Stella.
* ZettaiRyouiki: The Ashleys. Not something one would expect elementary school kids to wear, [[RichBitch but then...]]
----
[[caption-width-right:250:Yup... they're up to ''something'' [[hottip:*:Counter-clockwise from bottom right: T.J., Mikey, Vince, Gus, Gretchen, and Spinelli]]]]
->''"Hey, watch it! I've got a {{black belt in origami}}!"''
-->-- '''T.J.''', ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut''
Recess was an American animated television series that was created by Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere (who worked on ''{{Rugrats}}'' until the show was originally supposed to end in 1994), and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It ran from September 13, 1997 to November 21, 2001 on ABC. Recess focused on six elementary school students and their interaction with other classmates and teachers. In many respects, it serves as an animated knock-off of prisoner-of-war movies such as TheGreatEscape ... combined with a generally positive depiction of the elementary school experience.
The [[FiveManBand main characters]] were:
* [[TheHero T.J.]] [[HighSchoolHustler Detweiler]], the leader of the gang and the one who comes up with the ZanyScheme.
* [[TheLancer Vince]] [[TheAce LaSalle]], the sportsman.
* [[TheSmartGuy Gretchen ]] [[ChildProdigy Grundler]], the group's genius who loves science, yet also kickball.
* [[EmbarrassingFirstName Ashley]] [[TheBigGuy Spinelli]], usually referred to by her last name, who was the "toughest kid in school". Also, since SheCleansUpNicely, counts as a CuteBruiser
* [[TheChick Mikey]] [[GentleGiant Blumberg]], the very tall yet good-hearted poet.
* [[SixthRanger Gus]] [[{{Adorkable}} Griswald]], the new kid at Third Street.
Many plots would deal with the kid's SeriousBusiness attitude about simple grade school life, mostly, among other aspects, [[TitleDrop recess]]. This includes having a designated 'King', nicknames for each other based on their main 'quality' (Swinger Girl, The Diggers, Pale Kids ect.) and the concept of popular fads quickly taking over playground demographics. The series was also well known for its large PeripheryDemographic, due to every episode having at least one ParentalBonus.
The series was notably the only show to premiere in the initial season of Disney's One Saturday Morning that would last the entirety of the block's run, going on well into the first two years of {{ABC}} Kids. It was also rerun the most out of all the shows on OneSaturdayMorning, pretty much being on all of Disney Channel's affiliates at one point or another. It was one of the few older shows to air on DisneyXD after ToonDisney shut down, and it has recently returned to the network. Yes, it was ''that good'' folks.
In 2001, ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'' was released in theaters to positive reception. Please put all tropes relating to the movie there.
----
!!''Recess'' provides examples of:
* AbsenteeActor: Gus wasn't in "The Great Jungle Gym Standoff", though he made his debut a few episodes prior. (He was edited into the picture book adaptation, though.) Although someone with a good eye can see that he's actually drawn in the background in a few shots, likely as an animation goof.
* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil
** Not exactly StudentCouncilPresident, but King Bob rules the playground with an iron fist.
** The Board of Education is also absurdly powerful, acting very much like the FBI or the CIA.
* TheAce: A new student named Jared. He comes up with better plans than T.J., he's stronger than Spinelli, a better poet than Mikey, smarter than Gretchen, has been to more schools than Gus, he's faster than Vince, can burp louder than Tubby so loud it shakes windows, and is a government agent.
** BrokenAce: He eventually explains that he doesn't have any friends, because people think he's a show-off or get jealous.
* AchillesInHisTent: In "Dodgeball City", Gus refuses to take sides in a dodgeball fight, despite being a dodgeball virtuoso at one of his older schools[[hottip:*:He was so feared, he got the nickname ''El Diablo'']]. Upon seeing a younger student (a.k.a. a kindergarten kid who he was keeping an eye on) getting clobbered, however, he enters rage mode and proceeds to wipe out the opposing team single-handedly.
* ActorAllusion: The old lady in "The Lost Ball" is named Dot and is voiced by TressMacNeille... who's played another character [[{{WesternAnimation/Animaniacs}} named Dot]].
* AdorablyPrecociousChild: T.J.; Gus
* {{Adorkable}}: Gus, Gretchen, Mikey, Miss Grotke, and the Pale Kids. T.J. himself has his moments.
* AdultChild: Principal Prickly clearly went into the right line of work. He's an absolute kid at heart.
* AdultsAreUseless: Adults are often the antagonist, although they are mostly a recurring obstacle with some exceptions. When they aren't, they're worthless -- Ms. Finster doesn't seem to be interested in Gus being bullied ''every single day'' despite telling the bully not to do it again. Subverted in TheMovie, where all of the teachers show up to help fight the bad guy and his {{Mooks}}. There were some exceptions to this, notable the single-episode teachers Mr. E and Mr. Dude.
* AdultsDressedAsChildren: The episode "The Spy who Came into the Playground" involved said spy disguising as a 10-year-old to get into the school.
* AnAesop: Mostly in the earlier episodes, and then sometimes after the first season. Season six cranked them UpToEleven.
* AirVentPassageway
* AllInTheManual: Various additional information was given about the characters on the original page for the show on Disney's website (before taken down). Some info includes that:
** T.J.'s favorite food is "everything and anything except Tomato Surprise";
** MichaelJordan is Vince's idol;
** Spinelli's goal in life was to become an ace fighter pilot;
** Gretchen having a crush on "The whiz kid in ''SmartGuy''";
** According to a few press releases/promotional material, Miss Grotke's first name is Alordyne. This isn't mentioned in the show itself, but it was in a few foreign dubs.
* AlliterativeName: Gus Griswold, Gretchen Grundler, Principal Peter Prickly (also his brother Paul Prickly), Ashley "Ashley A" Armbruster, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Thaddeus T. Third III]].
* AlmightyJanitor: Hank, who turns out to be a mathematics genius. He was once offered high-profile jobs by NASA and the military, but he'd rather be a janitor at the school.
* AlphaBitch: The Ashleys, with Ashley A. being the [[IncrediblyLamePun Alpha Ashley]].
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: One episode introduces a new kid who's better at everything than everybody else at Third Street. In the end it turns out [[MartyStu he's better at ''literally'' everything than everybody else in the ''country'', and that the government has him on call.]] Interestingly, the episode deconstructs the concept of a MartyStu by making the perfect kid a nice guy who despises being the best because it inevitably makes everyone else hate him and means he can't aspire to anything.
* AnimationBump: TheMovie has better animation than the cartoon, but then again it had a ''much'' larger budget and didn't have the deadlines as the animated series has. You can spot some Animation Goofs in the series, such as Gus apparently showing up in a crowd before he actually transferred to school, and Gretchen vanishing in mid-air.
* ArtEvolution
** Originally, the main six characters were given more realistic designs. When the show premiered, they had a more "cutesy" design.
** In season three onwards, some episodes were made with digital coloring instead of the hand-painted cels. This was odd considering that it would go back and forth between digital and hand-painted, ending with "Bonkey Fever", the final episode to use digital coloring until the movie.
** And T.J. lost the slight puppy-dog sparkle in his eyes after season one. There wasn't much explanation why, but it could've been because he was the only character with it and it looked odd compared to the others. He was also a bit chubbier as well.
** Gus and T.J. are a bit taller in the later episodes, showing that the kids are getting a little older.
** The colors got a lot more vibrant in season two.
* ArtShift: One episode had the kids become part of a government experiment to see if getting rid of recess would improve standardized test scores. As everyone lost time to blow off steam, the color palate of the animation becomes more drab. At the end of the episode, the government [[StatusQuoIsGod allows the school to have recess again]], and everything becomes vibrant as the children play outside in the sun.
* AssumedWin: In 'Principal For A Day." When the faculty draws a student's name out of a box to be principal for a day Randall stands up thinking he won (because he stuffed the box). The actaul winner is TJ.
* BackstabbingTheAlphaBitch: "Outcast Ashley"
* BadassAdorable: Arguably, the main kids, especially in the movie, but mainly Spinelli (for already being a CuteBruiser) and T.J. (for being the team leader).
* BadassCrew: The main six.
* BadassTeacher: Mr E. He's so awesome, no-one can even know what the E stands for. Also counts as a very SternTeacher. There were rumors going around with the kids that he physically tore down the Berlin Wall, and even made a kid repeat the fifth grade for stammering during a book report.
* BegoneBribe: In one episode, Mikey imagines himself as a bard/minstrel when he's older. He serenades a couple, making the lady swoon and prompting her date to pay him to move on.
* BerserkButton: The six main characters, except Vince, each have one.
** T.J.: Don't mess with recess.
** Spinelli: Never refer to her by her first name.
** Gretchen: Never suggest that she's dumb.
** Mikey: Don't mistake his kindness as a sign of weakness.
** Gus: Don't harm a little kid.
** It's suggested that Upside-Down Girl's berserk button is being turned right-side-up.
-->'''Upside-Down Girl:''' If I have to come down from here, ''no one'' will be happy.
* BewareTheNiceOnes
** Mikey (the tall, fat kid who's into poetry and art) does have a nasty streak when provoked (as seen in the episode where he fakes a rumor stating that he beat up a boy and shoved him into the girls' bathroom, or the one where Mikey is picked to be a soccer goalie and his friends think he can't do it).
** Gus with dodgeballs in his hands brutally knocked out an entire fifth grade class on his own.
* BeYourself: Spinelli in "The Beauty Contest".
* BigBad: Dr. Phillium Benedict in TheMovie.
* BigEater: Mikey; Kurst
* BigNo: Spinelli and TJ after they finished drawing straws knowing that they'll experiment a "kiss" in "The Experiment".
* [[BigDamnMovie Big Whomping Movie]]: The plot of the movie revolves around the kids and faculty uniting to stop a madman from plunging the Earth into an eternal winter and thus eliminating summer vacation. The series, meanwhile, focuses on mostly playground antics.
* BlackBeadEyes: Gus, one of a few characters with this eye style.
* BlackBestFriend: Vince
* BookEnds: The 2003 DTV movie ''Taking the Fifth Grade'' was the official SeriesFinale (''All Growed Down'' doesn't count, as it's a prequel/clip show), and it ended the same way the theme song ended: Miss Finster telling the main six that recess was over and them coming inside, with her following them. Right before she closes the door, T.J. comes out from behind and waves to the audience and then she slams the door shut.
* {{Bowdlerization}}
** The scene in "I Will Kick No More Forever" when Ashley Q. kicks the kickball all the way to Communist China was changed so that she kicked it in a nearby dumpster when it aired in certain countries (by using stock footage), which somewhat ruined the humor of the scene (although the U.S., as well as other countries like the U.K. keeps it).
** In "Parents' Night", when Spinelli's dad is showing the other five kids pictures of her as a baby, he says, "Look at her on the rug with her fanny in the air". The "fanny in the air" part was cut after it's original airing on ABC, but ToonDisney added it back in (except in the U.K.).
* BrickJoke: When Spinelli calls Miss Grotke "Mama" by mistake the gang come up with several crazy schemes to help her out such as playing subliminal messages over the PA system. This is forgotten about until the end of the episode when Gretchen says "I wonder why the subliminal messages didn't work" and it cuts to Prickly and Miss Finster calling each other "Mama" and "Daddy" without thinking.
* BrokenBird: Kurst the Worst may or may not fall under this trope: she's considered one of, if not the meanest girl at school, yet seems geniunelly unhappy when people call her by her nickname and never seems to take that much pride in her mean acts, unlike most of the other bad kids at 3rd Street.
* ButtMonkey: Gus
* {{Calvinball}}: The ''{{Pokemon}''}-esque card game Ajimbo. Just how do you play it, anyway?
-->"''It doesn't make sense! Some of the rules are completely inconsistent!''"
* TheCameo
** PlutoThePup appears in T.J.'s nightmare in "Rainy Days"
** [[Disney/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Owl]] appears briefly in "Bachelor Gus". What makes it obvious that it's him is from his markings and design.
* CassandraTruth
* CastOfSnowflakes: Most of the time.
* CatchPhrase: Several.
** TJ has "Ten-der!"
** The Ashleys have a loud "[=SCANDALOUS=]!" said in unison, and their little brothers do the same with "[=NOTORIOUS=]!".
** Mr. "The Dude" Dudakoff apparently used to use "Sup-ple!" in much the same way TJ uses "Ten-der!"
** And of course, any variation of "this whomps!" is shared among the main six characters, mostly TJ and Vince since they invented the word.
* ChainOfDeals: Mikey wanting to be a safety ranger.
* ChekhovsGun: Gretchen's voice-changing device first appears in "The Army Navy Game" and is later used twice in TheMovie.
* ChekhovsLecture: Almost every lesson the kids learn in school is important to the rest of the episode.
* ChristmasEpisode: "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave". Then it was released in a CompliationMovie released directly to DVD and video, ''Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street".
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome
** After "The Terrifying Tales of Recess" (the first episode of season six, and the stories in the episodes were non-cannon), Miss Grotke is completely AWOL for the rest of the series.
** There was another teacher's pet to be Randall's rival named Douglas. He only appeared once and was mentioned another time, however.
** The Tylers, the little brothers of the Ashleys, only appear in one episode and never show up in the series again.
* ClassTrip: In the episodes "Operation Field Trip" and "The Great State Fair".
* ClipShow
** The Christmas special released on video. All but one of the episodes featured had nothing to do with Christmas at all, although one admittedly was about Thanksgiving.
** Same with "All Growed Down", except for the last segment, which was most likely an unaired episode.
* ComicBookTime: Actually ''averted'', as it's been established that while the show aired from 1997 to 2001, the show is taking place over the course of Fall 1997 and Spring/Summer 1998 (with ''Taking the Fifth Grade'' taking place in Fall 1998)
* CompetenceZone: Kindergarteners are portrayed as wild savages, and adults frequently can't comprehend their children's problems.
* ConcertKiss: The episode "The Experiment" has T.J. and Spinelli kiss, [[TestKiss as an experiment]], in front of all their friends and all the kids in the playground, despite T.J. and Spinelli's request in not wanting to kiss in public in the first place, thanks to their friends inability to keep a secret about it.
* ConspicuousCG: The opening shot of the town and the school in the movie. The pasted-in kids' run cycles don't even match up with their speed!
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: King Bob's version of capital punishment. ''"Let him feel the rubbery thunder of the Dodgeball Wall!"''
* CoolTeacher
** Franklin "The Dude" Dudakoff. Known as a legendary student of Third Street School who was the prankster prince, the king of the playground before he became a sixth grader, and an all around badass wanted to become a teacher because he thinks science is interesting.
** Miss Grotke's a pretty cool teacher herself.
* {{Crossover}}: With ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'', where the cast had a somewhat clashing animation style and some different voice actors.
* CrowdChant: The opinion of the student body can sway violently, and at the drop of a hat, so this happens a lot.
* CucumberFacial
* CuteBruiser: Spinelli. And surprisingly, Cornchip Girl.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Many characters get at least one episode centered on them. Let's see...
** The Ashleys: "First Name Ashley", "Jinxed", "Beauty Contest", "Outcast Ashley", "The Ratings Game", and "No Strings Attatched";
** Guru Kid: "Don't Ask Me";
** The Diggers: "Diggers Split Up";
** Gordy: "Nobody Doesn`t Like T.J.";
** Kurst the Worst: "Kurst the Not So Bad";
** Mundy: "Mundy, Mundy";
** The Kindergarteners: "Legend of The Big Kid", "Wild Child", and "Kindergarten Derby";
** Swinger Girl: "Swing on Thru to the Other Side";
** King Bob: "Pharoh Bob", "Prince Randall", "The Big Prank", and "The Madness of King Bob";
** The Pale Kids: "Lord of the Nerds";
** Menlo: "Partners in Crime" and "Some Friend";
** Randall: "Randall's Reform", "The Trial", "Stand Up Randall", "Randall's Friends", "Partners in Crime", and "Prince Randall";
** Hustler Kid: "Huslter's Apprentice";
** Miss Finster: "To Finster with Love", "Weekend at Muriel's", and "The Fuss over Finster";
** Miss Grotke: "The Secret Life of Grotke";
** Lawson: "Fort Tender" and "Lawson and His Crew";
** Cornchip Girl: "The Army-Navy Game".
* ADogAteMyHomework: The begining of "This Brain for Hire", which involves Spinelli saying that her dog ate her homework, T.J. ripping up his homework with his mouth and ''then'' saying his dog ate it (he still had a scrap of paper on his lip, however), and Vince said that his brother ate it.
* DeadpanSnarker
** Half of the main group is this: T.J. (moreso in the earlier episodes), Vince and Spinelli.
** T.J.'s older sister, Becky, is even more of one than her brother.
** Miss Grotke can be one when she needs to be.
* DecidedByOneVote: Gretchen won the election against Vince this way; Vince was the last person to vote for her. Which, considering that it was stated that the class had an equal amount of boys and girl, would actually be winning by two votes.
* DemotedToExtra
** Chucko was only a major character for one episode, then he started to fade into the background until disapearing altogether.
** In ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'', Lawson only appears once to give a thumbs up (after being sprayed with silly string) to someone preparing to save T.J. with the other kids. He's still listed in the credits, however. He was probably going to have a bigger role, and then his scenes were cut. At least he had it better than Cornchip Girl or Swinger Girl, who don't show up ''at all'' in the movie.
** In ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade'', Miss Grotke only gets two lines in the entire movie and doesn't show up after that. Justified, as the main kids all moved up to fifth grade and weren't in her class anymore.
* DiggingToChina: The Diggers. Who ''actually do it'' once.
* DirectToVideo: ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade'', ''Recess: All Growed Down'', and most of ''Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street'' were all released directly to video and DVD in 2003 (except for the latter, released in 2001).
* TheDitz: T.J. (especially in later seasons) and Lawson.
* TheDocumentary: "Kids in the Mist", where a child psychologist films the kids.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In "Economics of Recess", the American Monsticker currency eventually gets overtaken by the [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japanese Lick-and-Stick Alien Stamp currency]].
* DoNotCallMePaul: Thaddeus T. Third V (the grandson of the man who Third Street is named after) is always mistakenly called "Mr. Fifth", much to his chagrin.
* DontAsk: About Mikey's [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Uncle]] [[{{Transsexual}} Mary]].
* {{Doppelganger}}: In an episode where the gang goes to a school for a kickball game (due to a bet of their principals as they're also brothers), the rival school is a near copy of the group's school with their opponents being copies of the gang themselves.
* DoubleEntendre: This is true anyone over the age of 12 who watches the episode "All the Principles Men"
* TheDragon: While there is no real main antagonist to the series (since the role is often shared by Principal Prickly, Lawson, and Ms. Finster), there ''is'' an obvious dragon amongst several of them. TheDragon to Prickly is either Ms. Finster or Menlo, while Ms. Finster's dragon is Randall.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Season one might fall under this. Both Miss Finster and Principal Prickly were more sadistic, Miss Grotke wasn't as sympathetic, and everyone's voice was higher, as well as T.J. being played by a completely different kid. It was ''much'' more OffModel as well. Not to mention that the main six were more of anti-heroes, Vince was more of a SourSupporter, and the show was a bit more cartoony.
* [[HighSchoolHustler Elementary School Hustler]]: T.J. definitely has his moments, among them being able to provide a convincing forged prescription for ''chewing gum''. Hustler Kid is also a prime candidate, but mostly he just provides the goods while the main gang does the planning and executing.
* EmbarrassingFirstName
** ''Ashley'' Spinelli (see the entries for GirlPosse and IAmSpartacus below).
** ''Theodore'' Jasper Detweiler.
** The Hustler Kid's first name is ''Francis''.
** Conrad "Connie" Mundy
** ''Erwin'' Lawson
** ''Alordyne'' Grotke
* EmbarrassingMiddleName
** Theodore ''Jasper'' Detweiler. No wonder he [[OnlyKnownByInitials goes by his initials]] T.J.
** Don't forget Ashley ''Funicello'' Spinelli.
* EndangeredSouffle
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The opening theme tells us all we need to know about the main characters. Everyone looking at TJ, [[FaceNodAction who nods at them before they set off]]. Gus getting gum splattered over his face, tripping, and getting a ball stuck to his head. Vince kicking a ball up into the air. Spinelli threatening Randall for snitching. Gretchen working on an experiment. Mikey eating a whole sandwich in one gulp.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: There are some punishments that even Miss Finster thinks go too far. Like in "The Biggest Trouble Ever" when the Mayor planned to separate the gang to six different schools.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Characters such as "Swinger Girl" or "Guru Kid".
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Well, ''obviously''. Less apparent, ''All Growed Down'' revealed Gus was at Third Street for a period of Kindergarten as well (which was [[{{RetCon}} retconned]] in).
* EverythingsBetterWithPlushies: The main six all got stuffed dolls of them released towards the end of the `90s going into the early 2000s, at The Disney Store and Toys "R" Us. T.J., Gretchen, and Gus were released first, with Vince, Spinelli, and Mikey released later.
* FaceYourFears: T.J. is forced to do this to overcome the terror of the Box... which was just a white square drawn on the playground tarmac.
* FanDisservice
** On the episode where Ms. Finster babysits Spinelli for the weekend, Ms. Finster arranges a luau after overhearing Spinelli talk about how boring Ms. Finster is outside of school, featuring the elderly and hunched Ms. Finster and the under-aged Spinelli in coconut bras and hula skirts. This is even lampshaded:
-->'''T.J.:''' ''(after watching them hula and is apparently grossed out)'' [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain ...Guys, we're never going to talk about this again.]]
** "The Big Prank" gives us a scene of chubby, under-aged T.J. in nothing but his boxers.
* {{Fanservice}}: The episode "Teachers Lounge" gave older male viewers a quick scene where Miss Grotke is naked (granted; the show is TV-G and she was lying down on her front for a massage, censoring the naughty bits).
* FantasyTwist: The gang find a $100 bill and all fantasize about what they'll do with their share of the money. Each of their fantasies end with them owning and flying a jetpack, except even in his own fantasy Gus can't control his.
* FatAndSkinny: Jordan and Jerome, King Bob's lackeys.
* FellOffTheBackOfATruck: "Tofu Crunchy-Creams. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Fell off a truck in Jersey]]."
* FeudEpisode: Subverted. Whilst the gang are mad at TJ, he's just confused.
* FinalSeasonCasting: More like "Epilogue Direct-to-DVD casting". For the 2003 Direct-to-DVD finale, ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade'', Myles Jeffery replaced Andy Lawrence (who replaced Ross Malinger earlier on) as the voice of T.J., due to the latter's voice changing.
* FirstKiss: T.J. and Spinelli in "The Experiment", but [[TestKiss as an experiment.]]
* FiveManBand
** TJ: TheHero
** Vince: TheLancer
** Gretchen: TheSmartGuy[=/=]TheChick
** Spinelli: TheBigGuy (not "big" in terms of size, but she's definitely the toughest).
** Mikey: TheHeart (with shades of TheBigGuy in some cases. Just because Mikey is the sweet, kind-hearted one doesn't mean he doesn't have a nasty side).
** Gus: SixthRanger, in a rare example of showing up at the very beginning of the series. He could also fill the role of the KidAppealCharacter.
** In "Lawson and His Crew", Lawson consciously mirrors these roles by gathering Kurst, Menlo, Randall, Skeens and Swinger Girl together under his leadership.
* FoodFight: In "Tattletale Heart".
* FootFocus: Ms. Grotke is often [[DoesNotLikeShoes barefoot]]. In fact, "The Substitute" begins with Ms. Grotke pointing out a bunion on her propped-up bare foot (which the camera focuses on).
* FreudianSlip: In one episode, Spinelli accidentally called Ms. Grotke "Mama" when warning her about a mud puddle she was about to walk into, after secretly bonding with her.
* FriendlyEnemy: Randall, Menlo and Lawson can be this sometimes. Miss Finster mentions in one episode that just because she punishes T.J. doesn't mean she doesn't like him.
* FullNameUltimatum
** "Gustuv Patton Griswald!"
** "Theresa Laverne [=LeMaize=]!"
* FunHatingConfiscatingAdult
* GenkiGirl: Cindy (one of the kindergarteners), Library Kid, and at times, Miss Grotke.
* GenreBusting: Comedy/drama/prison escape/satire
* GentleGiant: Considering only the kids, Mikey.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: [[{{Radar/Recess}} It has its own page.]]
* GirlPosse: The Ashleys.
* HereWeGoAgain
* HiddenDepths: Gus, a.k.a. El Diablo.
* HippieTeacher
** Ms. Grotke.
** Also, Prickly and Finster (and, arguably, all the others) in the 1960s flashback in TheMovie.
* HonestJohnsDealership: Hustler Kid
* HotMom: Spinelli's mom
* HotTeacher
** Mr. E
** Arguably, Miss Grotke, though she's more "cute" than "sexy".
* HowCanSantaDeliverAllThoseToys
* HumanLadder
* HypnoFool: In one episode Principal Prickly thinks he's six years old.
* HypocriticalHumor: Used a lot. One example from "Soccer Boy":
-->'''Vince:''' If we lose, Lawson's going to make us look like dummies!\\
'''[[TheDitz T.J.:]]''' Ooh, don't wanna look like no dummies.
* IAmSpartacus: Used twice for Spinelli. In one episode, the Ashleys find out what her first name is and makes her join them. Her friends get everyone to change their name to Ashley, even the boys. (They do forget that Ashley was originally a boy's name.) In another episode, Spinelli gets made fun of for accidentally calling a teacher "Mama". Her friends start calling the teacher "Mama" to take the heat off her.
* ImGoingForACloserLook
* InformedObscenity: In one episode, T.J. is brought to court for use of his CatchPhrase "This whomps". The judge decided that "whomps" was not dirty in and of itself, and that only a dirty-minded person would think it was.
* InkSuitActor: This wasn't intended at all, but...saying Andy Lawrence looks like T.J. is like saying fish enjoy water.
* InMyLanguageThatSoundsLike: Spinelli literally means "spliffs" in Italian. And ''it wasn't changed'' in the Italian dub. Awkward moments with parents ensued.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Spinelli, who's nine, and Miss Grotke, who's most likely in her early-to-mid 30s.
* IOweYouMyLife: "Copycat Kid" starts out as this kind of plot when Mikey thinks Vince saved his life, but it soon changes into more of an IJustWantToBeYou scenario.
* IrritationIsTheSincerestFormOfFlattery: Geoffrey to Gretchen.
* ISeeLondon
** In one episode Mikey rips his pants while bending, and the others try to hide him from Miss Finster, knowing that she will take him into an office to sew his pants back together. They are afraid that the knowledge Miss Finster saw his underwear will cause the rest of the school to mercilessly tease Mikey. [[spoiler:In the end, T.J., Vince, and Gus decide to have their pants ripped as well. All four boys end up in their underwear while Miss Finster sews their pants. King Bob who understands what the other boys did for Mikey recognizes the selfless nature of it, and insists no one mock them for it]].
** T.J. himself is seen in his boxers in a few episodes.
* {{Jerkass}}: Randall, despite (or possibly in part due to) what some might see as his personal crowning moment of funny: the Mikey refrigerator spelling joke ("O-I-C-U-R-M-T"). And while he does a IJustWantToBeYou rant on T.J., he [[KickTheDog kicks the dog]] on him as well. Only this can come from Randall.
-->'''Randall:''' You're fat, you're ugly, you wear that stupid jacket, but everyone wants to play with you!
* TheJimmyHartVersion: The theme is an obvious parody of the ''Series/HogansHeroes'' theme. Which in turn, as pointed out above, is an obvious parody of the march from ''Film/TheGreatEscape''.
* KarmaHoudini: [[AlphaBitch Ashley A]] and her GirlPosse. (Hey, that rhymes!) They [[ManipulativeBastard exploit]] Gus's HonourBeforeReason approach by tricking him into a "jinx" such that he doesn't talk at all, [[ForTheEvulz just to toy with him for their own amusement]]. When Gus holds back from talking at all, even to the point where the school staff is threatening to take him to the police station over it, '''[[KickTheDog they STILL enjoy causing him to get into this kind of trouble]].''' Eventually it's announced that Gus was jinxed, and the main characters retaliate against the GirlPosse by tricking them into a jinx. However, the episode ends there, and if you just think about the logic of the episode, you will realize there's no way in the world that GirlPosse has the "honor" within them to obey said "jinx."
* KidCom
* KidDetective: Parodied when TJ and Vince become fans of a book series in "The Barnaby Boys" and have the gang go around snooping.
* LargeHam
** Mikey, through and through.
** King Bob
* LastNameBasis
** Spinelli, of course.
** And then there's Lawson, Skeens, Gelman, Kurst (the Worst), Mundy, etc.
* {{Leitmotif}}: A few characters have one, such as Butch, the Diggers, the Ashleys, the kindergarteners, and the music that plays whenever T.J. has a plan.
* LetThereBeSnow
* LittleProfessorDialog: All the kids in the show talk like 1980's businessmen.
* LimitedWardrobe: Even the fashion-conscious Ashleys rarely change clothes.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: About 105 appeared in the series, and only a few are on the character page.
* LongRunners: Averted, as the show had a normal run for a Disney cartoon (1997 to 2001 with 65 episodes and three movies), but Disney's refusal to stop rerunning the show (which they did end up doing from July 2010 until October 2011) made it seem like it ran longer.
* LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair: King Bob attempts to build a pyramid of mud. [[spoiler:It rains.]]
* MadnessMantra: In "The Box", T.J. singing ''This Old Man'' when he's in the box and repeatedly saying he'll be a good boy.
* TheMerch: T-shirts, coffee mugs, toys, backpacks, and various other pieces of merchandise. Most of it was only sold at The Disney Store.
* TheMessiah: T.J. and Mikey.
* MilitaryBrat
** Gus, whose father is in the Army.
** One episode reveals that Theresa "Cornchip Girl" [[MeaningfulName LaMaize]]'s father is in the Navy.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Done ''quite'' a bit with:
** Principal Prickly.
** Muriel Finster.
** The old woman who lives next to the school.
** The Yo-Yo instructor.
** The Pale kids.
* MoeCouplet: Gus and Cornchip Girl.
* MoralGuardians: Not in real life, but used as a plot point: the UnusualEuphemism described below is taken by some of the adults to be profanity, and things escalate until T.J. is in a courtroom defending himself. A good chunk of the trial goes along without anyone willing to utter the word in question... until T.J. finally does. Upon realizing this whole thing is over the word "whomps", the judge promptly laughs the MoralGuardians out of the courtroom for wasting his time.
* TheMovie: [[RecessSchoolsOut One theatrical movie]] and three direct-to-video episode compilations with linking material, one of which was notably made from unaired episodes.
* MythologyGag: There's a background character that pops up from time to time that slightly resembles T.J. in the unnaired pilot.
* NaiveNewcomer: Gus
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Inverted. "Anyone named Gustov is bound to be trouble."
* ANaziByAnyOtherName
** Principal Slicer was a shockingly unsubtle example. There was even one part where Randall says he's going to have the jungle gym torn down and replaced with a guard tower. And that old cannon outside the school? He wants it ''to work.''
** The Fun Police in the episode "The Rules". In order for the old, previously lost rules of King Mortimer to be enforced, King Bob employed Fun Police, who even had red armbands with "Fun" on them. There were also higher-up ''Secret'' Fun Police.
* NeverSayDie
** Averted twice in "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave" when the deaths of St. Nicholas and Elvis are mentioned.
** Averted again in Taking the Fifth Grade in which Prickly saves T.J from falling off his roof and tells him he could have been killed by doing something so reckless.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] / mocked in "Speedy, We Hardly Knew Ye": The episode is about the death of the class' hamster; the word "death" is tossed around freely by the children, but Ms. Grotke always says it in a hushed whisper because she's afraid the kids couldn't handle the concept.
* NewTransferStudent: Gus again.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Gretchen, for trying to calm an increasingly mysophobic Gus by saying that germs are everywhere (including on his skin).
* {{Ninja}}: Part of Benedict's task force in the movie.
-->'''Gus:''' Ninjas! Why did they have to be ninjas?!
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Phillium Benedict was most likely named for former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett.
* NoirEpisode: "The Girl was Trouble"
* NoodleIncident: Twice, in the Christmas episode: "It's the Tooth Fairy incident all over again" and "Get me out of here! I don't want another Arbor Day incident!"
* NotSoDifferent: Mostly involving Principal Prickly, in a good way, though.
* NowWhichOneWasThatVoice: Only the cast for the main six and the three main teachers (most of the time -- the writers can't make up their minds on whether Miss Grotke's a main or supporting character) are credited for which character they played. Everyone else is listed as "additional voices", with only the names of the voice actors/actresses and not their characters. {{Averted}} with the movie.
* OffModel
** The episode "Buried Treasure" was sent to a different overseas animation department, and the animation suffered. At various times, the outlines became very inky, to the point of becoming ThickLineAnimation, the animation was much more cartoony, more colorization errors than the usual episodes, characters having off-model appearences, Spinelli's pigtails constantly changing position, and other mistakes. Only one more episode was made with this overseas animation department and never again, and the episode is considered to have the worst animation out of the entire series.
** The ''Lilo & Stitch'' crossover was bad about this as well. Because the episode (as with most L & S episodes) was animated by Toon City than Sunwoo Animation or Plus One Animation as ''Recess'' usually was animated at, the gang looked a bit different. T.J. was chubbier and Spinelli's eyes were too farly spaced apart. The animation was also much more cartoony.
** Most of the digitally colored episodes were ''full'' of mistakes.
* OneOfUs: In-Universe example: One episode has the kids discovering that Principal Prickly is a huge fan of the series' CaptainErsatz {{Franchise/Superman}}, Señor Fusion.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted with the Ashleys (and their brothers). (Spinelli shares their name, but doesn't want to be associated with them.)
* OnlyChildSyndrome: Mikey, Gus, and Gretchen are all only children. The other three have older siblings.
* OnlyKnownByInitials
** T.J. (usually); also substitute teacher Mr. E.
** The Ashleys initialize their surnames: Ashley A., Ashley B., Ashley T., etc.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Several characters, to the point where even the teachers don't seem to know their real names.
* OpeningShoutOut: In "Lawson and His Crew".
* OrbitalKiss: In "The Experiment".
* OrphanedPunchline: The ending of "Teachers' Lounge" had Principal Prickly delivering the punchline, "...and so I said, 'That's no kindergartner, that's my wife!'," to great reception among his peers. The second short of the episode, "Randall's Reform", has his opposite number, T.J., delivering the same punchline to his own peers and getting a similar reception. NotSoDifferent indeed
* OutOfFocus
** Aside from Gretchen, the other five members of the gang aren't in the spotlight in "The Girl was Trouble".
** "More Like Gretchen" focuses more on Spinelli and Gretchen than the rest of the main six.
** "Weekend at Muriel's" has Spinelli as the major focus, and the rest of the main six only appear in the begining and at the end of the episode.
** "Bad Hair Day" sends the two girls in the team to a science convention, causing them not to appear until the very end of the episode
** "League of Randalls" puts the main six out of focus, then brings them in briefly for their plan, then they're gone for the rest of the episode.
** This would end up happening to Miss Grotke in the later episodes
* PantyShot: Subverted by Upside-Down Girl, who wears thigh-length leggings under her skirt as she hangs from the monkey bar.
* PaperThinDisguise
* ParentalBonus: Many.
* ParentExMachina
* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish
* PerfectlyCromulentWord: "Whomp" (used in the same context as "stinks", "sucks", or "blows" to describe an unfair or unpleasant situation or person).
* PickedLast: Explored at least a couple times. Played with a bit by having the second-to-last pick actually be the worst sports player (e.g. a random kid with a broken leg and crutches, or [[AndZoidberg Gus]]), but the one picked last is being socially snubbed.
* PictureDay: "One Stayed Clean"
* {{Pilot}}: "The Break-In", which was made in 1996 to get the show on the air. It was re-made into the first episode in 1997, though changing the character designs from the pilot to the ones in the series proper.
* PlanetOfSteves: The four Ashleys ([[spoiler:five actually, Spinelli's first name is Ashley, too]]). And their little brothers are all named Tyler. Especially used in ''First Name Ashley'' where the whole ''playground'' changes its name to Ashley.
* PlaygroundSong: Being a show that takes place at an elementary school, expect these to pop up every now and again.
* PlayingSick: Used in "Omega Kids" where Gretchen looks up an illness to keep the gang out of school by drawing green dots on everyone with marker and having them lick blue lollypops so that their tounges looked blue. It worked ''too'' well, as Gretchen mixed up the colors and they ended up looking like they had an even more serious disease.
* PottyDance: Mikey, after T.J. makes him drink water from a hosepipe.
* PositiveDiscrimination: Subverted in "The Candidates". Spinelli tries to use girl power to get Gretchen votes, but Gretchen says herself that being a girl is immaterial to being president. In the end, Gretchen wins partly because of the girl vote, but also [[DecidedByOneVote because Vince voted for her]].
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Subverted.
* PracticeKiss: "The Experiment"
* {{Prequel}}: ''Recess: All Growed Down''
* PunishmentBox: it's just a square drawn on the playground floor. T.J. at first laughs it off, but eventually it breaks him.
* PunnyName: Guy [=McMahon=], the representative of Kiddie Cosmetics.
* ReadingForeignSignsOutLoud: Used on the German version, ''Grosse Pause'' (Big Recess), at least.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Principal Prickly
* RecycledTheSeries: For some reason, in Spanish-speaking countries, the show is called (translated from Spanish): ''[[MarketBasedTitle Recess: The Animated Series]]''. No, really.
* RedOniBlueOni: Split into three groups of two with the main characters.
** T.J. and Vince.
** Mikey and Gus.
** Spinelli and Gretchen.
** If we talk teachers, then its Ms. Finster and Ms. Grotke.
* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation
* ReunionShow
** The ''LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' crossover. By that point, ''Recess'' had ended its run and the cast had come back to reprise their roles... at least most of them. T.J., Mikey, and Gus were all replaced.
** ''LloydInSpace'', which was made by the same creators, counts in a way. Pretty much every voice actor from ''Recess'' came to do voices on the show, including Ross Malinger, who only played T.J. for season one and two episodes of season two.
* RichBitch: The Ashleys have a dose of this.
* RunningGag: Gus always needed to go to the bathroom at the absolute worst time.
* SadistTeacher
** Implied to be Ms. Finster, although she's only seen grading in ''one'' episode; she mostly seems to just be in charge of Recess. The DTV "epilogue", ''Taking The Fifth Grade'', shows her to be the fifth grade teacher, something never hinted at anywhere in the rest of the series.
** [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Dr. Slicer]] is definetly this, put emphasis on [[CompleteMonster the sadist part]].
* SchoolPlay: The Holiday pageant in the Christmas special.
* TheScottishTrope: El Diablo. *Whip cracks*
* ScoutOut: The Woodchuck Scouts
* SecretTestOfCharacter: The "C Note" episode.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: With the four male main characters, each role is shared by two of them.
** Sensitive Guys: Mikey and Gus.
** Manly Men: TJ and Vince.
* SeriesContinuityError
** Cornchip Girl could be in [[VagueAge either 1st or 2nd grade]], but in "One Stayed Clean" she's nowhere to be seen when those grades are getting their picture taken and she seems to be in kindergarten since she spends most of her screentime with them, even though other episodes have shown that all kindergartners dress and act like savages and she's never been shown in kindergarten before.
** Gus is shown to be a new kid in school in grade 4, yet ''All Growed Down'' shows him in Kindergarten. ''The Great Jungle Gym standoff'' also apparently takes place before Gus transferred to school yet he appears in a few shots (probably an animation goof -- happens all the time). They explain Gus being the new kid again in fourth grade by the very canon fact he transferred many times over the past four years. The fact that he went to 3rd Street for a few days then transfered out fits his backstory well. Nobody (except Finster) remembered him because everybody who would actually have a reason to remember him was too young to remember. His friends think Gus made the whole thing up mostly because he helps over half of them become who they are today.
** And on a similar note, despite that it was established that Old Rusty had fallen down and replaced with what T.J christened "New Rusty", the jungle gym is still referred to as "Old Rusty".
** Menlo is revealed to have been T.J's best friend in the past, except for some reason another episode shows him speaking about him like he just heard about him.
** ''The Great Can Drive'' episode shows The Ashleys being in a separate class from Mikey and the gang, yet other episodes show all four being in Ms. Grotke's class.
* SeriesFauxnale: "Lawson and his Crew" was intended to be the final episode to air on TV, and TheMovie was supposed to be the true finale. However, the show was so popular that it was renewed for another season...[[ScrewedByTheNetwork which, thanks to Disney's sixty-five episode limit, didn't last long]]. There were the DTV movies, however.
* SeriousBusiness: Recess itself is like this, as is everything else -- and who honestly didn't have ''this'' happen when they went to elementary school? The Monstickers and Ajimbo game especially take the cake.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Gretchen
* ShallowLoveInterest: Johnny V. was this for Spinelli in "That Stinking Feeling". Due to him not appearing after the episode, it's pretty much confirmed that he only existed as a temporary love interest.
* ShoutOut
** Ashley Spinelli's last name is a reference to ''ManiacMagee'' novelist Jerry Spinelli.
** Mikey's last name, Blumberg, is named after Barry Blumberg, a producer at Disney Television Animation who convinced the company to give the series the greenlight. Not to mention, he also appears to have a [[TheDarkIsRising Great Uncle Merry]].
** In TheMovie "[[Music/AliceCooper School's Out]]": "[[Music/PinkFloyd Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!]]" Heck, TheMovie as a whole is one big shout out to TheSixties.
** Ever notice that Upside-Down Girl looks and dresses an awful lot like a [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnold certain someone]]? She even has the same voice actress, who plays several characters on the show, but specifically uses her Helga voice for Upside-Down Girl.
** Also, King Bob may be a reference to another character from ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': Big Bob Pataki, The Beeper King. They have similar appearances: unibrow, dark hair, perpetual scowl, and are both bossy and don't like being distracted from whatever has their attention.
** The "Terrifying Tales of Recess" segment with Mikey's living bike starts out as a parody of Stephen King's ''{{Christine}}'' and later when the other kids' bikes come to life it turns into a parody of ''Film/MaximumOverdrive''.
** The series is literally littered with shout outs to ''Series/HogansHeroes'', but one episode takes the cake with a senior citizen that TJ is visiting recalling the POW camp he was in during the war to be filled with [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of the cast of ''Hogan's Heroes''. The flashback ends with the Kommandant yelling, "ROOOOOGAN!"
** One of the Ashleys in particular looks like [[{{Heathers}} Heather Duke]].
** Vince's nightmare about turning into a geek in "Big Brother Chad" is a parody of the opening of ''AGoofyMovie'', with Max's nightmare about turning into {{Goofy}}.
** The scene in TheMovie when T.J. and Prickly are captured, and Prickly's talk about summer vacation to T.J. reminded this troper an awful lot of ''ToyStory''.
** Principal Prickly's secretary is named Ms. [[{{HerculePoirot}} Lemon]].
** The prequel-movie "All Growed Down" is named after the ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'' movie "All Growed Up" and, as one may expect from the name, has an inverted premise. All Growed Up was a sort of look-ahead to the future of the ''Rugrats'' characters' lives, while All Growed Down shows us the ''Recess'' gang when they were in kindergarden. The main difference is that ''Rugrats'' turned it into a full spinoff, while ''Recess'' did not. This is also funny when you remember that the creators of ''Recess'' worked on ''Rugrats'' before the show was supposed to end in 1994.
** Ashley A. owns a HelloKitty lunchbox.
* ShownTheirWork: In the episode where Prickly is hypnotized into thinking he's 6 years old, when the kids tell him he's not really a child and has to go back to being a grown-up he gets upset, climbs up Old Rusty and strips down to his underwear for seemingly no reason. It's typical for 6-year-olds to take off their clothes when upset.
* SimilarSquad: The Principal's brother runs a school with characters who are counterparts of the regular gang. There's only one DistaffCounterpart: T.J.'s opposite is a girl named C.J. For the rest of the gang, their counterparts are all [[PaletteSwap race swaps]] (or almost all, depending on [[AmbiguouslyBrown what you consider Spinelli]]).
* SitcomArchNemesis: Lawson, to both TJ and Vince. He is often [[InformedAbility described]] as the arch-rival of TJ, but he doesn't really seem to single him out; however, we frequently see him butting heads specifically with Vince.
* SixStudentClique
** The Main Character: [[BigManOnCampus TJ]].
** The Muscle: Vince.
** The Quirk: [[ButtMonkey Gus]].
** The Pretty One: Mikey (gender flip).
** The Smart One: Gretchen.
** The Wild One: Spinelli.
* SleeperHit: No-one expected the show to be as sucessful as it became.
* SmolderingShoes: Prickly in the movie.
* SoapboxSadie: Miss Grotke in some of her lessons.
* SomebodyDoesntLoveRaymond: One episode has T.J. trying to get a black kid named Gordon to like him, only to learn by the episode's end that he can't force anybody to like him.
* SophisticatedAsHell: King Bob
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'', which the creators worked on before it was cancelled in 1994 (Though it was UnCancelled shortly before ''Recess'' premiered).
* StarCrossedLovers: Gus and Corn Chip Girl.
* StealthPun: From Spinelli when she's suddenly wracked with guilt: "Man, I feel like a [[{{Heel}} bad-guy wrestler]]."
* StrongFamilyResemblance: T.J. looks like his mom, Vince looks like his dad, Spinelli doesn't really look like any of her parents but looks a bit more like her dad, Gretchen looks like both of her parents, Mikey looks like his mom (and has the same hair color as his dad), Gus looks like a smaller, less rugged version of his dad (and has his mom's eyes and glasses), the Ashleys all look like their moms, and Hustler Kid looks like his dad.
* SwivelChairAntics: When T.J. wins the "Principal for a Day" drawing and first sits down in Principal Prickly's chair:
-->'''T.J.:''' Wow, this is one big chair.\\
'''Prickly:''' Yes it is. And it takes a big man to fill it.\\
'''T.J.:''' ''(immediately starts spinning)'' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint WOOHOOOOOO!]]
* TheTalk: In "Dance Lessons", we see Miss Grotke finish up a lesson on [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar sex]] (which Gordy asked her about). Granted, we don't hear the actual discussion (thanks to the TV-G rating), but... yeah.
* TestKiss: The whole plot of the episode "The Experiment".
* ThoseTwoGuys: The Diggers (Sam and Dave), as well as King Bob's right hand men, Jerome and Jordan.
* ThoseWackyNazis
-->'''Digger Dave:''' Me, bossy? I'm not bossy! Am I bossy?\\
'''Spinelli:''' [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Jawohl, mein Kommandant]].
* ThrowingOutTheScript: Invoked. Mikey starts overly structuring his life and loses his knack for poetry. So his friends write on his schedule to tear up the horrible bit he had written to be performed (though not in those words). And in his anxiety, he starts winging it, winning the competition.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Spinelli and Gretchen without a doubt. You just got to look at em.
* TomboyishName: Subverted.
* TotallyRadical
** Miss Grotke is prone to this
** Sometimes the kids might talk like this, but very rarely, and it depended on the writer.
* TrueCompanions: The main six.
* {{Tuckerization}}
** T.J.'s original name, P.J., stood for the first initials of the creators, Paul (Germain) and Joe (Ansolabehere). Before animation was done on the pilot, his name was changed for unknown reasons.
** Mikey's last name, Blumberg, comes from Barry Blumberg, a producer at Walt Disney Television who convinced the executives to give the show the greenlight.
** In a fantasy sequence in "The Lost Ball", Paul Germain's son, Thomas Germain, was mentioned.
** One of the science teachers in the show is named Mr. Germain
** In "The Challenge", the landscaping crew that came to the school was "Paul & Joe's Landscaping".
* TunnelKing: The Diggers
* TwoGirlsToATeam: Gretchen and Spinelli are the only girls in the main six.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The earlier episodes came off as this at times.
* UnspokenPlan
* UnusualEuphemism
** "This whomps!"
** As well as "froopin`", but not as often.
* VignetteEpisode: The Halloween special.
* VocalEvolution: Because the kids in the show are all voiced by real kids, their voices ended up getting lower throught the show's run. Vince's voice broke half-way through the first season, Mikey's voice got a little lower in season five (and then completely broke in the 2003 DTV movies), Gus, Randall, and Digger Dave all had lower voices in the DTV movies, and Digger Sam's voice broke in the DTV movie ''Taking the Fifth Grade'' (due to this, we never hear him speak in ''All Growed Down''). Which was lampshaded at the end of the movie:
-->'''Digger Sam:''': My voice! What happened to my voice?
:: Averted with T.J., unlike the other male characters. Because the creators wanted his voice to always sound cute and youthful, he was replaced three times.
* WackyHomeroom
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: One episode had the kids build a cool fort to hang out in, only to have it promptly stolen from them by bullies. After spending the whole episode trying to win it back, afterwards they realize that it was more fun trying to take back the fort than actually hanging out in it. They promptly call up the bullies to try and take it back from them.
* WelcomeEpisode: "The New Kid", for Gus, and as a rare example, aired as episode 1B (first episode; second story after the commercial break).
* WhamEpisode: "The Biggest Trouble Ever", where the gang accidentally breaks a priceless statue and become town scapegoats, to the point where the SmugSnake of a Mayor plans to break them up and send them to six different schools. Sure, you know it'll be resolved and [[StatusQuoIsGod nothing will change]], but it's easily the most dramatic story ''Recess'' ever did.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous: The Unwritten Code of the Playground.
* WhoopiEpiphanySpeech: Subverted.
* [[WhyAreYouNotMySon Why Are You Not My Daughter?]]: "More Like Gretchen"
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Gus in "King Gus" and "Hustler's Apprentice", and TJ in "Principal For A Day" and "Economics Of Recess". And "Pharaoh Bob" to an extent but he already had great power, he just overdid the ego.
* WrenchWench: Spinelli and Gretchen.
* WrongGenreSavvy: "No Strings Attached". Basically, the Ashleys give Spinelli six tickets to a wrestling match. [[AlphaBitch Knowing what the Ashleys are like]], Spinelli and the others become suspicious, and when Mikey and Gus decide that the tickets are real, the rest of the gang dismiss the idea as naïve. By the time they find out that Mikey and Gus were right all along, they end up locked inside the Ashley's clubhouse....
* YesVirginia: The title of the ChristmasEpisode (which sort of gives away the plot twist) is "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave".
* YouAreFat: Randall says this to T.J. in his IJustWantToBeYou (and KickTheDog) rant.
* YouMeddlingKids: In the Barnaby boys episode, the janitor that the gang follows turns out to be a criminal and responds with "I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids" after Spinelli shows up with the police.
* YourTomcatIsPregnant: Happened in one episode. Turned out Stuart was a Stella.
* ZettaiRyouiki: The Ashleys. Not something one would expect elementary school kids to wear, [[RichBitch but then...]]
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