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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/telebugs.jpg]]
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3''The Telebugs'' is a British cartoon from the 1980s about the adventures of three robots with televisions for heads.
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5The Telebugs were a hi-tech trio of merry monitored robots created by absent-minded Professor Brainstrain. These robots were, in the professor's own words, [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome 'Pwogwammed to help people in twouble']], but more specifically to combat the new threat of computerized villains and advanced adversaries springing up around the country.
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7The Telebugs' leader was a white-shelled droid called Chip. He was a calculation robot, able to process data and statistics at a phenomenal rate. Yellow-shelled Samantha was a hi-tech monitor and tracking device. Then there was Bug, the red robot programmed to acquire video footage and pictures. Bug came with a sidekick called Mic, a mobile independent camera.
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9The Telebugs worked for the local tv station run by the ill-tempered Mr [=McStarch=]. Their main adversaries were mad Baron Bullybyte and his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Sister Magna. Bullybyte was in possession of an evil computer creation called Angel Brain. This wicked trio cropped up numerous times during the three Telebugs seasons. There was also Arcadia, a juvenile computer criminal who controlled an army of little evil robots.
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11In the course of the first season, Professor Brainstrain creates a fourth black shelled Telebug called Zudo. Unfortunately, Zudo's wires get crossed and he sets off on a wild rampage through the English countryside.
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13!!The Telebugs contains examples of:
14* BigBadEnsemble: Baron Bullybyte and Arcadia.
15* CatchPhrase: Chip's "I calculate" and "All systems - Go Telesonic!"; Samantha's "My scanners detect"; Zudo's "Evil OK!".
16* CatsAreMean: Averted with Professor Brainstrain's cat Grumble, who is on the whole helpful and good-natured... though he can get impatient if Professor Brainstrain doesn't feed him fast enough.
17* CuteMachines: The Telebugs themselves.
18* ElmuhFuddSyndwome: Professor Brainstrain suffers from this.
19* FieryRedhead: Mr [=McStarch=] has bright orange hair and a bit of a temperament.
20* FreudianTrio: Chip is the purely logical leader (Super-Ego), Bug is the most impulsive one and the most likely to get into trouble (Id). Samantha is more emotional than C.H.I.P (and by her own admission, has less processing power) but is more restrained and mature than Bug (Ego).
21* FunWithAcronyms: The names of the Telebugs - C.H.I.P. (Coordinated Hexadecimal Information Processor), S.A.M.A.N.T.H.A. (Solar Activated Micro Automated Non-inTerference Hearing Apparatus), B.U.G. (Binary Unmanned Gamma camera), M.I.C. (Mobile Independent Camera) and Z.U.D.O (Zero-failure Universal Data Optimizer).
22* LimitedAnimation: The show didn't have a very big budget, and it shows.
23* LiteralMinded: The Telebugs, being robots, tended to not be very good with metaphors or exaggerations, and would take whatever Mr [=McStarch=] said literally.
24--> ''' Mr [=McStarch=]:''' Get out of here in ''one second,'' or I --\
25'''Chip:''' Thanks. Mr [=McStarch=]! One second is all we need!
26* MindControl: Frequent with Baron Myllybyte and Magna, who would hypnotize children into playing their video games. Magna also used her vaguely defined hypnotic powers to make other people see her as a pretty blonde lady.
27* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: It seems there's nothing the Telebugs' sonic beams can't do.
28* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Zudo only turned out evil because Brainstrain's cat, Grumble, interfered during his creation -- he got impatient because Brainstrain wouldn't give him his dinner before the robot was assembled and so decided to "help."
29* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Arcadia is so called because she always gets the high scores in video games.
30* PaperThinDisguise: In the episode "Danger", the Telebugs attempt to infiltrate the Angel Palace disguised as children. Said disguises consist of wigs and hats. Naturally, Bullybyte is immediately suspicious.
31* RealityWarper: Lifo the alien robot.
32* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Zudo's color scheme, with some yellow thrown in.
33* SixthRanger: Lifo joins the group later in the series.
34* ShapeShifter: Another one of Lifo's powers.
35* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Samantha is the only female Telebug.
36* SoftGlass: Magna jumps through a window to escape the Telebugs in "Apple Hi" and doesn't recieve even a scratch.
37* TeamPet: Mic the video-pup.
38* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Samantha's bow, although it's actually a spinning radar.
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40* YouNoTakeCandle: Zudo has this manner of speaking, although there are a few occasions when he speaks normal English.

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