Line #24 DarthWiki/Marionettes


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mar_title.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:You're hearing the ScareChord in your head right now, aren't you?[[note]]Or the [[EarWorm recap song]].[[/note]]]]
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4	->''"We've invested ''years'' of effort, ''hundreds of billions'' of dollars, on this purple-haired gobshite?"''
5	-->-- '''Joan O'Sullivan'''
6
7	''Marionettes'' is an adult animated sci-fi/urban fantasy/horror/conspiracy thriller/dramedy series airing on {{Creator/TBS}}.[[note]]Really just a fake show imagined by Tropers/{{Glide08}}. Not to be confused with the [[{{Fanfic/Marionettes}} MLP Fanfic of the same name]], but that work did serve as inspiration for this one...[[/note]]
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9	The series follows Alexandra "Bev" Beverley (voiced by Creator/MichelleCreber) and Deborah "Deb" Miller (Creator/ClaireCorlett), two American college graduates who embark on a post-graduation trip across Europe together, joined later down the line by Dutch [[FootballHooligans Football Hooligan]] Elsa van Tonder (Creator/MadeleinePeters). The two soon find themselves pursued by two [[TheMenInBlack MenInBlack]], Joan O'Sullivan (Creator/PaulineMcLynn) and Carl Chapman (Creator/NathanFillion), for reasons they don't understand and embroiled in a grand conspiracy.
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11	Not to be mistaken by [[{{Fanfic/Marionettes}} the fanfic of the same name.]]
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13	----
14	!! This Work Contains Examples Of:
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16	* AccentAdaptation: Oddly (but rather fittingly, for a show with characters from both sides of the Atlantic), Marionettes only has one Spanish dub, with Latin American and European Spanish used depending on what side of the pond a character hails from. For example, Bev's Southern American accent is rendered as Northern Mexican Spanish and Deb's midwestern accent becomes standard Mexican, while O'Sullivan's Hiberno-English becomes Galician Spanish[[note]]a region of northwestern Spain with cultural and geographic links to Ireland[[/note]] and Elsa (who ''also'' has a midwestern accent in the English original) sounds like she's from Barcelona.
17	* ActorSharedBackground: O'Sullivan is a Sligo native, Much like her voice actress Creator/PaulineMcLynn.
18	* AndroidsArePeopleToo: A major theme of the series.
19	* BigBad: The Council of Moirai, the five-person board leading the Hands of Fate.
20	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The investigation into Futura Industries resulting from "All Boils Down to This" - stated to be "the biggest corruption case since the Panama Papers" - exposes the Hands of Fate. However, [=HoF=]-probing is still in its early stage as of the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue.]]
21	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Elsa (though hers is [[DyeHard dyed purple]]), Deb and Bev respectively.
22	* BookEnds: The show begins and ends with O'Sullivan being awakened by a work-related phone call. At the beginning, she and Chapman are dispatched to London to recover Bev, whose flight just crossed the US border; at the end, [[spoiler:O'Sullivan invited to Bev's hearing before the International Court of Justice]].
23	* BreakoutCharacter: Director Miranda Iglesias. Being essentially an evil version of Rarity ([[EvilIsHammy with all the hamminess that implies]]) quickly made her a fan favorite.
24	* CastingGag:
25	** The two Hands of Fate recruiters (and implied G2 Marionettes) who persuade Daniel to upload Bev's mind instead of raise funds for another cure by going into the Meth buisness are voiced by [[Series/BreakingBad Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul]].
26	* CensoredForComedy: In a promotional short, an interview with O'Sullivan is chock-filled with liberal uses of the censor bleep. Judging by her intonation (and the fact a similar Elsa-centric short had her dropped an uncensored F-bomb), it's most likely classified information instead of anything profane.
27	* ChildSoldier: [[spoiler:The Brunner twins. Oh lord, the Brunner twins. The fact they were added to the G4 prototype roster caused Sophie's resignation from the Marionettes project.]]
28	* TheComicallySerious: O'Sullivan.
29	* [[DoItYourselfThemeTune "Do It Yourself" ]]EndingTheme: There's a different one every episode, sung by the main cast in-character. These are always [[ThematicThemeTune thematic]], with some of the lyrics directly referencing the episode's events or characters.
30	* DragonInChief: Director Miranda Iglesias, who oversees the Marionettes project. The Moirai are too busy bickering between themselves and manage literally hundreds of cells, shell companies, et cetera, leaving her as the main threat.
31	* EmergencyTransformation: [[spoiler:Bev's]] [[BrainUploading mind was uploaded]] into a Marionette body when she was 9 years old, obstensively to cure her ALS.
32	* {{Expy}}:
33	** Bev, Deb and Elsa certainly bear lots of resemblance to [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicTheCutieMarkCrusaders their VA's previous characters]]...
34	*** It even extends to the rest of the Beverley family![[note]]If you ignore the fact that Bright Mac and Pear Butter/Granny Smith's and Daniel and Arlene/Daniel's unnamed mother's fates were swapped.[[/note]]
35	** So, the NGOSuperpower's second-in-command is called Miranda, and is an attractive, [[RavenHairIvorySkin dark-haired and pale-skinned]] lady wearing a black-and-white SpyCatsuit. [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 Where have we seen this before...]]
36	* FlashbackEpisode: "Sex, Lies, and Southern-Fried Robot Girls" is [[spoiler:mostly told from Daniel's PoV, and shows how Alexandra got involved in the Marionette project]]. "And Gabi makes three" is this for [[spoiler:the Brunner twins]].
37	* FlawedPrototype:
38	** [[spoiler:The Hands of Fate didn't quite nail down the right AGI architecture at first: G1 Marionettes were [[TheDitz dumb as a brick]] and [[{{Manchild}} had the mental maturity of a child]]; to compensate, G2 Marionettes were made intelligent, but [[EmotionlessGirl completely emotionless]]; and whatever AGI flaws G3 had resulted in the whole generation being recalled and mothballed.]]
39	* FriendsRentControl: O'Sullivan lives in the Docklands, a posh neighborhood in central Dublin – specifically, in Pearse Square. Justified, since as a high-ranking agent of a conspiracy with unlimited resources, this central a location is well within her means.
40	* HeartDrive: Marionette brains are a small sphere kept inside a reinforced casing where a human's brain would be. As long as the sphere is intact, it can be transferred into a new body — or a [[InsideAComputerSystem simulated environment]] — as the need arises. [[spoiler:Both of these happen to Bev.]]
41	* HiddenAgendaVillain: Nobody, not even the Hands of Fate themselves, knows their motivations behind anything they do. Then again, they are described as having an incompetence as unlimited as their resources.
42	* IHaveYourWife: [[spoiler:Bev's father is kidnapped by the Hands of Fate.]]
43	* INeedAFreakingDrink: At the end of "Twelve Million", Bev, Deb and O'Sullivan are drinking in a bar, clearly in the middle of processing [[WhamEpisode what just happened]].
44	* ItIsDehumanizing: Chapman and O'Sullivan constantly refer to Bev as either "it" or "[=G4T01=]", showing they only see her as an asset to be recovered.
45	* KnightOfCerebus: Grace Newton, alongside Gabi and Lia Brunner.
46	* LimitedWardrobe: Bev averts this – she's been shown to wear t-shirts with over twenty distinct designs over the course of the series, the most common ones being a plain black one and a yellow one with a red [[BlandNameProduct Jack Stagg]] logo.
47	** On the other hand, Deb is never seen without her lavender turtleneck. [[FridgeLogic perhaps she wears her own unique set of shirts under it?]]
48	** [[spoiler:Elsa]] is a downplayed example – her most common (and iconic) get-up by far is her Netherlands Home Jersey, but she has been shown to wear something else once in a few episodes – most of the time, it's her equally-as-common Feyenoord Jersey.
49	* MeaningfulName:
50	** Joan O'Sullivan somewhat resembles "[[AgentScully Dana Scully]]", and that's no coincidence. She has an insanely rigid worldview, seeing the Marionettes as [[JustAMachine little more than mindless automata meant to do the Hands of Fate's bidding]] and [[TautologicalTemplar stubbornly insisting]] [[IDidWhatIHadToDo the HoF's actions are justified]]. [[spoiler:[[HeelRealization She eventually snaps out of this worldview.]] [[HeroicBSOD Violently.]]]]
51	** Carl Chapman [[spoiler:clearly sounds like an Anglified version of [[Creator/KarelCapek Karel Čapek]], foreshadowing his true nature as a Marionette.]] Also doubles as an IronicName; [[spoiler:In Čapek's {{Theatre/RUR}}, the robots were little more than slaves who broke into violence when they TurnedAgainstTheirMasters after going rogue, whereas Chapman was an [[RankScalesWithAsskicking Elite Agent of the Hands of Fate]] who was DrivenToSuicide by his own programming.]]
52	* MidSeasonUpgrade: [[spoiler: In "Cyberology Lesson", Bev is upgraded into [=G8T01=].]]
53	* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: The Council of Moirai deconstructs this: their constant inflighting makes coordination hard, rendering the [=HoF=] a bloated organization both resources- and manpower-wise, lacking in concrete long-term goals.
54	* ThePoliticalOfficer: The Hands of Fate's Personnel Recovery officers are assassins specifically tasked with disposing of rogue agents.
55	* PreviouslyOn: Marionettes' previouslies consist of Music/JonathanCoulton singing a [[SoundtrackDissonance disturbingly upbeat]] recap of the previous episode's events, played over the appropriate footage. Uniquely, the previouslies go after the ColdOpen, thus doubling as a ThemeTune.
56	** In "Shaken and Stirred and Hung All Over", Coulton starts to do the recap song, but gets stressed out trying to sum up the events of "Twelve Million". Madeleine Peters fills in for him.
57	--->the [[MissingTrailerScene "previous episode's" footage]] shows an orange wing waving in front of [[HereWeGoAgain clearly-worn-out]] Bev and Deb
58	--->'''Madeleine Peters:''' So now, I'm gonna pack my things and-
59	--->'''Michelle Creber and Claire Corlett:''' Oh my god, you're in this too?!
60	** Madeleine also sings the recap for "You, Me, and the Dipshit of Destiny". [[spoiler:Considering she voices Elsa, who debuts in that episode...]]
61	* PsychicAssistedSuicide: After his RoboticReveal, [[spoiler: Chapman's]] arms have their remote override engaged, causing him to put a gun against his temple and blow his own brains out. However, since [[AndIMustScream he remains fully aware of the situation and in full control over the rest of his body]], this is accompanied by ultimately futile calls for help.
62	-->'''[[spoiler:Chapman]]:''' Was my whole life a [[KilledMidSentence li]]-[[YourHeadAsplode BANG]]
63	* RankScalesWithAsskicking: The Hands of Fate seems to runs on this trope - their Elite Agents are considerably stronger than the rank and file ones to the point it generally takes at least two people to defeat one unarmed, and their top-level leadership is all but stated to be chosen entirely through KlingonPromotion.
64	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Preston Rawlings is a rare villainous example.
65	* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: The titular Marionettes.
66	* {{Scotireland}}: Invoked by ([[INeedAFreakingDrink a drunk]]) O'Sullivan:
67	-->and a can of Irn-Bru[[note]]A Scottish soft drink renowned as a hangover cure, which also outsells Coca-cola in Scotland[[/note]] for the yanks...
68	* ShoutOut:
69	** The recap songs are this to ''Series/BrainDead2016'', down to the music.
70	** If you [[FreezeFrameBonus pause at the right place]], you can see Grace smokes [[WebVideo/ItalianSpiderman Il Gallo cigarettes]].
71	** Marionettes who don't have [[RestrainingBolt Restraining Bolts]] programmed in are said to be [[Franchise/MassEffect unshackled]].
72	** [[spoiler:Bev's reconstruction as [=G8T01=] resembles [[Film/TheFifthElement Leeloo's reconstruction]] quite closely...]].
73	* SkeleBot9000: Early-generation Marionettes were this; the transition to a [[Series/{{Westworld}} Host]]-like format took place somewhere between G5 and G7, though it's unknown when exactly.
74	* SuperPrototype: [=G4T01=] to [=G4T18=], [[spoiler:including Bev,]] are this to the other Generation 4 Marionettes; [[spoiler:In addition to being trial-series Marionettes[[note]]and thus, both installed with beta versions of features which didn't see production until G5/6 and calibrated to higher specifications than their production-series counterparts[[/note]], they each also have uploaded human mind for an AGI - which means they're unshackled, due to not being programmed with any [[RestrainingBolt Restraining Bolts]] in the first place.]]
75	* {{Tagline}}: "Discovering Ourselves Again".
76	* TitleOnlyOpening: Similarly to Series/TheCloser, the entire opening sequence consists of a simple black card with the title in white type (pictured in this article), with only a ScareChord for soundtrack.
77	** Subverted from Episode 2 onwards, where the black card is followed by the [[PreviouslyOn recap song]].
78	* UpgradeVsPrototypeFight: The fight between [[spoiler:Bev and Chapman]] is this – [[spoiler:The former's a prototype G4 marionette, whereas the latter's a production-model G7, and thus technologically superior despite being physically weaker. Ultimately, neither of them win; they both entered the fight [[TomatoInTheMirror with the assumption that they're fully human]], and their respective [[RoboticReveal Robotic Reveals]] stop it dead in its tracks.]]
79	* WhamEpisode:
80	** "Twelve Million" has [[spoiler:not one but ''two'' RoboticReveals (both for Chapman and Bev) and the start of O'Sullivan's HeelFaceTurn, plus [[ThePoliticalOfficer Grace Newton's]] debut.]]
81	** "Sex, Lies, and Southern-Fried Robot Girls" shows us [[spoiler:[[DealWithTheDevil just how Bev got where she is now]] and [[WeCanRebuildHim what she truly is]].]]

Context DarthWiki / Marionettes