Line #26 WesternAnimation/SylvanianFamilies


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sylvanian_families.jpg]]
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3	''Sylvanian Families'' (1987) is an animated series produced by Creator/DiCEntertainment to cash in on the ''Franchise/SylvanianFamilies'' franchise which was reaching the peak of its popularity at the time. Each episode, a small child with a problem makes a wish about something that might cause a message to be delivered, and then meets a magic woodkeeper who opens a door to Sylvanian Forest and shrinks them. They enter and meet a few of the Sylvanian Families, after which they learn the Aesop of the episode, which usually has something to do with either how you should have been happy all along, or that you should quit being such a JerkAss.
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5	Based on a toy line created and originally released in Japan by Epoch Company in 1985, the 1987 series was of American origin, though 3 Japanese studios, [[Creator/KKCAndDAsia K.K. DiC]], [[Creator/TMSEntertainment Tokyo Movie Shinsha]] and [[Creator/MookDLE Studio Mook]], provided animation production, TMS & Mook being uncredited. After the success of the show in the UK, a short four-episode stop-motion series of UK origin, titled ''WesternAnimation/StoriesOfTheSylvanianFamilies'', followed in 1988. This was followed in 2007 in Japan by [[Anime/SylvanianFamilies a three-episode 3DCG-animated OVA series]], and in 2017 with a series of Netflix-exclusive [=OVAs=] and shorts.
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7	Compare to ''Anime/{{Mapletown}}'', which aired on U.S. TV at the same time. On a fascinating side note, Haim Saban (yes, [[Creator/SabanEntertainment that Saban]]) and Shuki Levy were involved in both projects, although their involvement in ''Sylvanian Families'' is minimal.
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9	!!And the Tropes get small, smaller, smallest!:
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11	* AccidentalMisnaming: Gatorpossum can never get Packbat's name right. He's called him "Mr Porkerbat" and "Pig food" among other names.
12	* AdaptedOut: The older siblings for the Evergreen, Wildwood, Babblebrook and Timbertop families are absent and in some cases, they're merged with the younger siblings. Some other prominent characters who were in the toyline at the time such as the Treefellow family, also don't appear.
13	* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Sandy and Coral Babblebrook cause their older sister Breezy no end of grief by being rambunctious and making a huge mess of the recently cooked sweet and potato pie. However, when the characters are all captured by Packbat, the twins are the ones who find the keys and help them escape. It teaches the child protagonist Katie that younger brothers might be annoying, but they aren't as bad as she thinks.
14	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In "Here Come the Brides", after he starts a fire that the citizens promptly put out, Packbat is looking at Sylvanian Forest through a pair of binoculars and listing off some sinister sounds he expects to hear at any minute.
15	--> '''Packbat:''' Ah, I can hear it all now. The delicious crackling of flames... hah hah! The delightful sobbing of sad Silly-vanians... ha ha ha! The strain of a wedding march! Ha ha- WHAAAAAH! The strain of a wedding march?! AAAAUUGGH!
16	* BagOfKidnapping:Both Gatorpossum & Packbat kidnap Sylvanians this way in "Fraidy Cats" & "Double Trouble" respectively.
17	* BarefootCartoonAnimal: None of the FunnyAnimal characters wear shoes.
18	* BigDamPlot: In "Dam Busters", Packbat's evil plan is to send Gatorpossum to destroy a dam to flood the Sylvanian Forest.
19	* BinocularShot: In "Here Come the Brides", Packbat looks at Sylvanian Forest through binoculars, hoping that he will soon find Sylvanians panicking from a forest fire he tried to start. We get a shot of the Forest through his binoculars as he's looking.
20	* BlendedFamilyDrama: The child protagonists of the two wedding themed episodes had this as their problem. One was worried about all the changes that would take place while the other would get new siblings when he prefers being an only child.
21	* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: Donny from the first episode, "Dam Busters", wears a shirt with a "D" on it.
22	* TheCatfish: In "Hoppily Ever After", after Packbat & Gatorpossum steal the wedding feast of Hickory & Lily, Preston, Rusty & the episode's human Evan, go out to catch a large bass named "The Grandaddy Bass" to replace it. In a subverison of this trope, not only is the bass caught, but it isn't even caught by the main characters. Instead, Packbat & Gatorpossum catch it first to use in a trap and when that fails, the boys bring it back to be cooked (it also turns out to have swallowed the wedding rings Packbat had stolen & lost in "Here Come the Brides").
23	* CanonForeigner: The [=DiC=] series, again. The Woodkeeper, Gatorpossum, Packbat and the numerous one-off children don't exist in the official continuity.
24	* CreditsRunningSequence: The end credits show footage of one of the Sylvanian Forest kids, Ashley Evergreen, running to the right. At the end of the sequence, she reaches a hill where she gets a good view of the sun setting.
25	* CunningLikeAFox: The Slydale family consists of fox Sylvanians who work for Packbat and use all sorts of things to get their way. Their debut episode, "Outfoxing the Foxes", has Joey attempting to outwit them when they intend to steal carrots from the carrot bank.
26	* CuteClumsyGirl: Grace, one of the child visitors who wishes she wasn't this. Myrtle is this as well and the two bond over it quite quickly.
27	* DarkerAndEdgier: The series in relation to the toyline as a whole. It had villains while the toyline was completely devoid of them. Not true for the [=OVAs=] and shorts, however, which are just as sweet and gentle as the toys themselves look.
28	* DisguisedInDrag: Gatorpossum dresses as a woman in the episode "Boy's Intuition" to get to the babies and try to [[EatsBabies eat them]]. In "The Wheel Thing" Packbat also tries to disguise himself as the episode's human girl so he can get to the Woodkeeper and attempts to steal her wheelchair to complete the disguise.
29	* EdibleAmmunition: In "Dam Busters", Donny has the Sylvanian animals use Grandpa Ernest's vacuum device to suck carrots out of a garden and shoot them at Packbat and Gatorpossum.
30	* ExactWords: How Grace outwits Packbat. She says she will hand the mailbag over if he releases her friends from the hole trap he's set up (making sure he frees them first). She and Ashley then toss him the mailbag, causing him to fall into his own trap because she filled it with rocks. This exchange occurs.
31	--->'''Packbat''': You little sneak! You lied to me! This bag is full of rocks!
32	--->'''Grace''': I didn't lie. You wanted the mailbag and you got it.
33	* FakingAnotherPersonsIllness: In "Daddy's Little Girl", the Slydale family, to retrieve the black bag from the Sylvanian Forest's only doctor for Packbat, pretend their daughter is sick so that he'll come to take care of her condition.
34	* FullyDressedCartoonAnimal: The {{Funny Animal}}s are fully dressed. Well, except for [[BarefootCartoonAnimal shoes]].
35	* FreeRangeChildren:The Sylvanian adults don't seem to have much of a problem letting their children and their human friends roam the forest unsupervised despite there being a carnivorous monster with a taste for children and another monster who wouldn't hesitate to hold them hostage. In "Fool's Gold", Rusty, Grover & Penny decide to scope out Packbat's house for treasure, stating their plans in full earshot of Rusty's grandparents who do nothing to stop them. Predictably, one of them (Grover) gets captured and held hostage.
36	* IronicName: Grace, who wishes she wasn't so clumsy.
37	* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy: Human children visit the FunnyAnimal-populated Sylvanian Forest.
38	* MaliciousMisnaming: Packbat frequently calls the Sylvanians "Silly-vanians".
39	* MerchandiseDriven: Based on the Japanese toy line known today as ''Calico Critters'' in the U.S.
40	* MixAndMatchCritters: Packrat is part pack rat, part bat. Similarly, Gatorpossum is... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin part gator, part possum]].
41	* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Gatorpossum is ([[MixAndMatchCritters at least partially]]) an alligator serving as a villain of the show.
42	* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Packbat and Gatorpossum, the villains, have more cartoony designs compared to the {{Animesque}} Sylvanian animals and humans.
43	* OhCrap: In "Beauty and the Beast", Lisa, upon realizing that Packbat and Gatorpossum are right behind her, screams in panic.
44	* PaperThinDisguise:
45	** In "The Wheel Thing", Packbat plots to get through the Golden Door to get to the Woodkeeper. To do this, he disguises himself as the episode's human, a paraplegic girl named Chrissie. All he does is put on a wig and dress, doing nothing to hide his ratlike face, claws, feet and wingcape, yet thinks that all he needs to complete the disguise is Chrissie's wheelchair which he tries to steal. We never get to see if it would've worked as he fails to acquire said wheelchair. The main Sylvanians of the episode certainly aren't fooled, mainly as the real Chrissie is with them the whole time.
46	** In "Boy's Intuition", Packbat & Gatorpossum try to capture Buster's baby siblings to hold them in exchange for Buster's new spy kit (though obviously, Gatorpossum is more intrested in eating said babies). To do this, Gatorposssum disguises himself as a woman and claims to be a friend of the family. His disguise simply consists of a dress, wig and a pair of glasses yet all of the characters don't recognise him until one of the babies pulls the wig off. Later, Packbat, using a false orange beard that had fallen out of the spy kit, disguises himself as the Woodkeeper. He actually puts a bit more effort into this one, stuffing himself with straw to resemble the Woodkeeper's physique. Though again the disguise does little to hide his ratlike face, claws & feet. While the boys aren't entirely fooled (Mikey notes that the Woodkeeper never leaves his cabin), they only recognise him when one of the babies pulls his beard off.
47	* RecycledSoundtrack:Some of the musical cues are reused from "WesternAnimation/{{Popples}}", another [=DiC=] series.
48	* ShortRunners: The initial run was from September 1987 to December of the same year. The series ran for 13 episodes total.
49	* SigningOffCatchPhrase: The Woodskeeper wraps up episodes by saying "And so ends another journey to the Sylvanian Forest to visit our best of friends, the Sylvanian Families! Goodbye, all, and may your wishes come true!"
50	* TitleThemeTune: The theme song[[note]]Which is completely different from the jingle heard in the commercials for the toys.[[/note]] ''almost'' says the show's title verbatim:
51	-->''(Whoa-oh, Sylvanian!) All your troubles soon will melt away!''\
52	''(Whoa-oh, Sylvanian!) Like a bird, you too can fly away!''\
53	''(Whoa-oh, Sylvanian!) Wishes will come true and you will be''\
54	''A part of our Sylvanian Family!''
55	* TodayXTomorrowTheWorld: In "Outfoxing the Foxes", Packbat breaks into the cellar of the carrot bank and gloats "Tonight, the carrots... tomorrow, all Sylvanianville!"
56	* TwoShorts: The 22-minute-long episodes consisted of two 11-minute shorts each.
57	* UltraTerrestrials:In "Founders Keepers", its revealed that the Sylvanians used to live on Earth, but were forced to seek out the Sylvanian forest with a young Woodkeeper's help due to human development.
58	* VileVillainSaccharineShow: The original toyline is a pure SugarBowl and does not contain villains. The [=DiC=] series, on the other hand, features the villain Packbat and his minion Gatorpossum, and makes no attempts to hide the fact that they're legitimate threats. The latter tries to ''[[EatsBabies eat babies]]'' in a few episodes, for heaven's sake!
59	* WorldOfFunnyAnimals: Just like the toys the show is based on. All the animals in the Sylvanian Forest are anthropomorphic and act just like humans.
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Context WesternAnimation / SylvanianFamilies