Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context WesternAnimation / TheAmazingChanAndTheChanClan

Go To

1%%
2%%
3%%
4%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
5%%
6%%
7%%
8[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chan_clan.png]]
9
10The AnimatedAdaptation of the Film/CharlieChan series, this Creator/HannaBarbera series from 1972 on Creator/{{CBS}} marked the first time -- and still the only time in the Occident -- that the Chan character was played by an ethnically Chinese actor: Creator/KeyeLuke, who had himself played Number One son, Lee Chan, in the Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox series of films back in the 1930s. It is notable that Hanna-Barbera did not emulate the iconic Genghis Khan moustache and beard, Panama hat and white linen suit of the Charlie Chan of the 1930s and 1940s; their Mr. Chan sported a pencil moustache, a short-brimmed pork-pie hat and a blue blazer.
11
12More importantly, the cartoon featured not only the Chinese detective himself, but his numerous progeny (plus dog Chu-Chu), who would make more — or sometimes very much less — effective efforts to help "Pop" out in his cases. This motif, which had figured slightly in the old films, was brought to the fore in line with H-B's other "[[Franchise/ScoobyDoo meddling kids solving mysteries]]" series, and like many of them, featured the kids as a musical group, in this case called "[[TitleDrop The Chan Clan]]". Another added feature was the "Chan Van", which could disguise itself as another form of vehicle at the press of a button — this idea would be reused for WesternAnimation/HongKongPhooey's "Phooeymobile".
13
14Also notable for being an early role for Creator/JodieFoster. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No, really.]] (she was the second voice for Anne - see the Trivia tab.)
15----
16!!''The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan'' contains examples of:
17* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: The mother of the Chan children (presumably Charlie's wife), is never seen or mentioned--Charlie seems to be raising his kids as a single parent.
18* AntiSneezeFinger: Alan does this for Anne in the episode "The Greek Caper" when they, Tom and Suzie are being chased by a masked stranger in a museum and disguise themselves as statues. It works...for about half a second.
19%%* AsianAndNerdy: Tom and Alan
20* AttractiveBentGender: Stanley in episode 3, so much that he even gets a ''marriage proposal''.
21* BeachEpisode:
22** "Will The Real Charlie Chan Please Stand Up?". Yes, [[{{Fanservice}} including Suzie and Anne in bikinis]].
23** The comic book adaptation of the episode (Gold Key #3, Nov. 1973) puts Suzie, Nancy and Mimi in single-piece suits with attached skirts.
24* BearyFunny: The funny dancing bear in "The Gypsy Caper".
25%%* BeeAfraid: The four mid-teens have such an encounter in "The Gypsy Caper".
26%%* BigEater: Nancy.
27%%* BorrowedCatchphrase: Anne and Scooter both say "Wham bam, we're in a jam" in episode 5, Flip says it in episode 8. Henry uses it in episode 7.
28* BrainsAndBrawn: Anne and Tom work within the same group and have paired off together several times.
29%%* BusmansHoliday: A lot of the episodes, but most notably episode 3.
30%%* Captain Obvious: "Hey! Sing Ha is an elephant!" "''Brilliant''." %% Provide more context. Who is Sing Ha?
31%%* CatScare: Happens to Henry and Stanley in episode 5.
32* CatchPhrase: Stanley's "Wham bam, we're in a jam!", also the show's SignatureLine. Henry has "Will you take off that stupid disguise?".
33%%* ChekhovsGun: The violin in episode 14
34* ConflictBall: Anne ''and'' Tom catch this in episode 12. Tom explicitly refuses to believe Anne's claim that Ms. Scarlet Avondale is the crook simply because she is "of the female gender"-not because it's her ring, not because they have no reason to believe it could be her, it's because she's a girl. Anne, being a feminist, naturally gets pissed off by this, and to make matters worse Alan and Suzie just tease her when she insists "a woman crook can be just as good as a man crook" as if it were an accomplishment to be proud of. Fortunately, the ball isn't carried for the whole episode and in the end it turns out Anne was right.
35%%* CoolBigSis: Suzie
36%%* CoolCar: The Chan Van
37%%* CoolShades: Alan's tinted sunglasses
38* ComicBookAdaptation: Creator/GoldKeyComics did ones for episodes 1-3, 5 and 11 plus an adventure not shown in the TV series. They were all drawn by Warren Tufts.
39%%* {{Cosplay}}
40* CrossOver: With ''WesternAnimation/HarveyBirdmanAttorneyAtLaw''. The kids appear in an episode, not as the Chans but as the titular band Shoyou Wienie. They're being sued for plagiarism by [[WesternAnimation/{{Jabberjaw}} the Neptunes]].
41%%* DeadpanSnarker: Anne and Suzie both have their moments. Henry falls into this every now and then as well, mostly in reaction to Stanley.
42%%* DinosaurDoggieBone
43* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Usually courtesy of Chu-Chu's antics.
44* {{Expy}}: Suzie has often been compared to [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Daphne Blake]] in terms of appearance and temperament. The only difference is that Suzie is somewhat more savvy, so she isn't shoehorned into the DamselInDistress role the way poor Daphne was.
45%%* FacePalm: Henry in episode 9, Nancy in episode 13, Stanley twice in the comics.
46%%* FashionDissonance: [[http://sarajaye.superbusnet.com/Pictures/fashiondissonance.JPG Alan's outfit.]] %% Administrivia/WeblinksAreNotExamples
47%%* FemaleGaze: [[http://sarajaye.superbusnet.com/Pictures/gditstanley2.PNG Um, Henry?]] %% Administrivia/WeblinksAreNotExamples
48* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Stanley and Henry, respectively, with Henry often annoyed by Stanley's over-the-top antics. Attempted between Scooter and Mimi but it often comes off more as Mimi just being a bossy older sister.
49%%* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Two examples.
50%%** The four youngest: Flip (choleric), Mimi (melancholic), Nancy (leuquine), and Scooter (sanguine).
51%%** And the middle four: Anne (choleric), Tom (melancholic), Alan (sanguine), and Suzie (phlegmatic).
52* FriendToAllLivingThings: Animals really seem to love Suzie. Nancy also has shades of this; in episode 10, Nancy's main concern is rescuing a missing dog, and in episode 15, a donkey refuses to stop licking her face, much to her chagrin.
53* GadgeteerGenius: Alan. He's the one who invented the Chan Van.
54%%* GoodParents: Mr. Chan
55* GreenAroundTheGills: Henry in "The Mardi Gras Caper" due to some [[DrivesLikeCrazy crazy driving]].
56* HeartSymbol: In "The Great Illusion Caper" Chu-Chu gives off hearts from his eyes when he sees Fifi on stage.
57* IncestSubtext: When you have a cast made up solely of family members, and have them take on character roles similar to [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Fred and Daphne]], there's ''gonna'' be some amount of accidental UST. The most notable cases, oddly enough, are among Anne, Alan and Tom as opposed to the actual Fred and Daphne-alikes. (Though if you think a little ''too'' hard about Henry and Stanley...)
58* InconsistentSpelling: The "official" spelling of Suzie's name in the comics is "Susie", but other sources spell "Suzie".
59* ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime: Tom, you may have meant well with your honey-stealing plan, but taking a couple sodas along for energy would be safer and result in less angry bees chasing you and your siblings.
60%%* JustAKid: Played for humor; Mimi treats Scooter like this a ''lot'' despite being a kid herself.
61* KidDetective: While all the kids are eager to help solve mysteries, Flip is the one who ''really'' gets into this role.
62%%* TheKlutz: Nancy. Stanley, to a lesser extent.
63* LamePunReaction: "It is unfortunate that Ona Bona is made of bronze and not stone." "Why's that, Pop?" "Because then he would ''really'' be a rock singer!" "Aww, Pop!"
64%%* LargeHam: Stanley, especially when in costume.
65* LastNameBasis: Their father is never referred to as "Charlie" at any point in the show. He is only ever referred to as "Mr. Chan".
66* LetsSplitUpGang: Usually in the following groups: Anne, Suzie, Tom and Alan; Henry and Stanley; Flip, Nancy, Mimi and Scooter. Sometimes the show mixes things up a little.
67* LimitedWardrobe: Pretty much a given, this being a Creator/HannaBarbera show in TheSeventies. Except, of course, Stanley's endless supply of disguises.
68* LoveAtFirstSight: Chu-Chu goes gaga for the magician's dog, Fifi. Fortunately for him, she feels the same way and even ''kisses'' him at the end of the episode.
69* LaughTrack: Not a Creator/HannaBarbera series from TheSeventies without one.
70* TheMeddlingKidsAreUseless: Though they sure did give it their all. But just as often averted.
71* MasterOfDisguise: Stanley has an endless supply of costumes and masks and disguises for whatever occasion. He even ''[[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdresses]]'' on more than one occasion!
72* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In episode 2, the kids successfully rescue Boo Blew from kidnappers... only to discover they've nabbed a lookalike who didn't ''want'' to be rescued ''and'' blown his cover as a double for Mr. Blew.
73* NoHuggingNoKissing: The ''dog'' was the only character to ever have a romantic subplot.
74* NoYou: In the comic book adaptation of episode 1:
75-->'''Suzie:''' I thought you said you felt like a pizza!\
76'''Stanley:''' Yeah? Well, you ''look'' like a pizza!
77* NotNowKiddo: Chu-Chu is often mistaken for trying to mess around anytime he tries to "tell" the younger kids something important.
78* ObsessedWithFood: Stanley. We never see him eating as much as we see Nancy eating, but he does talk about food and being hungry quite a bit. In episode 3, Henry even says "This is no time to be thinking about food" when Stanley complains he just bit his tongue; the tone suggests Stanley has frequent cases of the munchies.
79%%* PluckyComicRelief: Stanley
80* RaceLift: Averted with the lead, this is the ''only'' time Charlie Chan was portrayed by an actor of Chinese descent. Played straight with the kids except Henry and Alan, as the original voice actors' Chinese dialects were considered too heavy for American audiences to understand.
81* RealMenWearPink: Alan, sort of. He's not exactly the "brawny badass who does ballet", but he's a [[MrFixIt mechanical genius]] who wears purple and is no less "manly" than his brothers.
82%%* RedOniBlueOni: Henry and Stanley, Suzie and Anne
83* SayMyName: Stanley is prone to calling for Henry when in trouble, Henry is prone to scolding "Stanley!" whenever his brother does or says something foolish, which is often.
84%%* SecurityCling: Nancy and Mimi, quite often. Sometimes Stanley does this with Henry.
85* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Tom, so much. To quote Suzie: "Who else sounds like he ate a dictionary for breakfast?"
86%%* ScoobyStack
87%%* {{Shorttank}}: Anne
88* ShortRunners: 16 episodes.
89* SiblingRivalry: ''Shockingly'' averted, considering there were ''ten'' of them; the closest it ever came to this was Mimi being bossy and Scooter being annoyed by it. All of them bicker and tease each other half of the time, but they always find a way to work as a team and are very close.
90%%* SiblingTeam: Obviously.
91%%* SiblingYinYang:
92%%** Tom and Anne.
93%%** Henry and Stanley are an example of StraightManAndWiseGuy.
94%%** Anne and Suzie are a TomboyAndGirlyGirl respectively. Amazingly, lacks TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry that comes with the territory.
95%%* SleepCute: Mimi and Scooter in episode 4, as a platonic example.
96%%* SnoopingLittleKid: Flip, Nancy, Mimi and Scooter.
97%%* SoUnfunnyItsFunny: Stanley's jokes
98* SpoofyDoo: The Chans are basically Mystery Inc., but they are a family comprised of nineteen people.
99* StalkerWithACrush: Most of the love songs, albeit in a cute harmless way. Given that none of the main characters aside from Chu-Chu are ever involved in romances, it seems more like they're just trying to fit in with the show's detective motif than anything.
100* StayInTheKitchen: Played for laughs with Anne. Her brothers bust her chops with their [[JustAKid just a girl]] comments, but in the end it's clear they view her as their equal.
101* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: In "White Elephant", Stanley jokes that one of the many-armed statues in a temple would be great at a check-out counter. Later in the episode, Flip makes the same comment; Nancy even lampshades this by saying it sounds "like one of Stanley's corny jokes".
102%%* TeamDad: Mr. Chan, obviously. Sometimes Henry steps in, too, when Pop's not around.
103%%* TeamMom: Suzie, every now and then.
104%%* TeamPet: Chu-Chu
105* TemptingFate: This is how some of the cases get started; usually Flip is the one to make a comment about how easy it'd be to steal something, but in "The Eye of the Idol", Henry's the one to ask whether Pop is sure the idol and its valuable jade eye are safe shortly before the eye is stolen.
106* TheTheoremOfNarrowInterests: If it weren't for this show having its own ff.net section you wouldn't know there ''was'' any semblance of a fandom for it. Later more apparent when the show dominated a poll by Warner Brothers for its release. Prior to this the chances are high this show was seen much further down the ladder.
107%%* TokenMiniMoe: Mimi, and to a smaller degree Nancy. Scooter is a Token Shota.
108%%* TotemPoleTrench: Flip and Nancy do this in episode 3.
109%%* TransformingMecha
110%%* TranslatorBuddy: Alan, for Tom.
111* VagueAge: Only Nancy, Mimi and Scooter are given concrete ages in canon. The others are listed as "in their teens" (or preteens, in Flip's case).
112* VitriolicBestBuds: Mimi and Scooter argue quite a bit, mainly due to the former's bossiness. But they're shown as being quite close regardless.
113* TheWallsHaveEyes: There are creepy eyes staring from the shadows at least OnceAnEpisode, though they're never mentioned or perhaps even noticed by anyone in-universe.
114* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Kind of a hallmark to this series. As in your typical episode the kids split up into groups trailing different suspects. It is common for one if not more of the groups to be chased by your typical ScoobyDooHoax criminal. While usually this is the episode's antagonists, some have the kids be chased by someone that couldn't have been the one revealed to be the culprit. In the Gypsy episode, Henry and Stanley are chased by a hooded guy, while the middle aged ones get chased by a guy with a deer head and the youngest set get scared out of a gypsy tent by a ghost. None of which apparently related to the episodes actual revealed bad guy.
115* WhatTheHellHero: Suzie and Flip react to Henry and Stanley this way when they inadvertently get their father in trouble with the police due to a misunderstanding and a case of mistaken identity. The whole Clan reacts this way in the comic adaptation.
116%%* YouGoGirl: Anne had a few moments here and there, done ''quite'' well without her coming off as a StrawFeminist.
117* YouMeddlingKids: The crook in episode 4 calls the Chan Clan "pesty kid detectives" after he's been snared in a net by Anne and Flip.
118* YoungestChildWins: In the comic-only adventure "The Phantom of Ophir", Scooter's the one to solve the mystery and catch the culprit. Henry even makes a comment about the trope.

Top