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    Q 
  • Quarreling Song: In "Which Moon is Best?", Carrot and Celery argue, in song, about which moon is better — Enceladus or Europa.
  • Queer Colors: In the special "Back to Bortron 7", Jet sings a soft duet with his male friend Sean, and the colors in the song are all of the bisexual pride flag - pink, purple, and blue. They have a lot of Ship Tease in the special, and in the show in general. Jet started out as Ambiguously Bi, but after the show ended, he was confirmed to be bisexual by Craig Bartlett.
  • Questioning Title?: Used as an episode naming convention.
  • Quirky Household: The Propulsion family, who do many odd things. They also all have an unironic love of failure, cannot keep their alien identities secret, are perpetually enthusiastic, and, according to Word of God, wake up each day having forgotten previous events.
  • Quirky Town: Boxwood Terrace. A small, semi-mythical neighborhood full of eccentric, but loving people, all of which work at at a JPL Expy. Never mind that there are actual aliens living there, unbeknownst to most of the townspeople.
    R 
  • Rain, Rain, Go Away: Happens in "Eye in the Sky". Sean plans a sleepout under the stars for his space scout troop, but the rain ruins his plans.
  • Raygun Gothic: Being set in a Retro Universe, the series mixes modern astronomy facts with the '50s-60s Space Race aesthetic. There are shiny flying saucers that are treated as cars, jet packs, geometric/Art Deco houses, rollerskating waiters, and music evocative of '50s-'70s rock, jazz, and Broadway.
  • Record Needle Scratch: One can be heard in "The Tide is High" at one point, and also in "Mindy Turns Five".
  • Redhead In Green: Eggplant and Zerk are both redheads, and they both have green space-suits.
  • Red Herring: The episode Detective Mindy has Mrs. Peterson's sunglasses go missing, and Mitchell, being a detective, naturally tries to find out where his mother's sunglasses went. Mindy, Sean, Sydney, Sunspot, and Jet all get involved in this mystery, too, one by one. Mr. Peterson said the kitchen counter, where Mrs. Peterson lost her sunglasses, was like a black hole, which causes all the kids to believe that the kitchen counter really is a black hole, and they waste their time trying to find an actual black hole. In the end, it is revealed that Mr. Peterson was just using an expression.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Jet is the Red Oni, Sean is the Blue Oni. Jet is hyperactive, leaps before he looks, and is very energetic and enthusiastic. Sean is more nervous, intellectual, and calm. During Sean's dream sequence in "Back to Bortron 7", Jet even stands in front of a red sphere and holds a pink one, while Sean stands in front of a blue one and holds a purple one.
  • Reflective Eyes:
    • Used in "Zerk Visits Earth", when Zerk sees the Earth for the first time.
    • In "Sunspot's Sunspot", Sunspot gets these eyes when he sees the sun.
    • In "Mars Rock for Mom", when Jet 2 leaves Mars with the kids, Boop gets memories of when they formed a heart in her lenses.
  • Rejection Projection: The kids don't hate Mitchell, they just don't like that he wants to expose Jet's alien identity. But they still offer Mitchell chances to hang out with/help them, which he keeps rejecting. At the same time, Mitchell thinks no one wants to be his friend and is quite lonely. This makes him a quite tragic character, ruining his own chances at friendship. Luckily, Mitchell does actually become friends with Jet, Sean, Sydney, and Mindy towards the end of the show.
  • Retcon: Many examples. For example, the kids mention having a treehouse in "Jet 2", but they build the treehouse in the later episode, "Treehouse Observatory". This is due to PBS airing the episodes out of production order.
  • Retro Universe: The show takes place in the mid-to-late 2010s, most likely somewhere between 2015 and 2019. However, the show's architecture and design are clearly '50s-60s inspired. The show also includes songs inspired by '50s rock and roll music, including the show's theme song.
  • Rhetorical Request Blunder:
    • In "Space Junk", Sean is flying outside the saucer, collecting garbage, with a guy named Zucchini. He then asks Sunspot to pinch him, which he does.
    • This also happens in "Whole Lotta Shakin'", "Zerk Visits Earth", and in "Astronaut Ellen Ochoa".
  • Rhyming with Itself: In "How Come the Moon Changes Shape?", Carrot rhymes "my dear" with "my dear" during his duet with Celery.
    "Well I could fix a little dinner, my dear / But this night is such a winner, my dear"
  • Riddle for the Ages:
    • What happened to Sean's dad, Sydney's dad, Mindy's parents, Mitchell's mom, and Lillian's parents?
    • Does Lone Star have future vision?
    • What happened to Mitchell that made him have self-esteem issues and a mean streak as a result?
    • What are the other 8 Bortrons like? In particular Bortrons 8 and 9.
    • In "Ice Moon Enceladus", Jet mentions the frozen star system of Marzipan. We never got to see Marzipan. It's implied that it also inhabits aliens.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Sunspot is a hybrid of a kangaroo, bunny, and raccoon with the personality of a dog or a cat, and has a stuffed animal-like quality to him..
  • Ridiculously Fast Construction: In "Sean Has a Cold", Sunspot manages to build a kite flying machine in a matter of seconds.
  • Robinsonade: In "Castaway Carrot", Carrot gets stranded on the moon.
  • Robot Buddy: Jet 2, and later, his companion, Sydney 2. Face 9000 also qualifies.
  • Robot Me: Jet made a robot version of himself named Jet 2 to do menial tasks for him. However, he is rusty, falls apart frequently, and has a limited vocabulary. In "Sydney 2", Sydney notices how lonely Jet 2 is, so she makes a robot version of herself named Sydney 2, who is much more sleek and advanced.
  • Rousseau Was Right: Jet is an All-Loving Hero to makes it a point to treat every living thing with kindness, even those who are mean to him, because he loves them so much. We later learn that the resident douchebag of the cul-de-sac, Mitchell Peterson, has a heart of gold deep down, and his rude behavior stems from deep-seated emotional issues.
  • Rubber-Forehead Aliens: The Bortronians look exactly like humans, but have stretchy bodies and very thin faces.
  • Rubber Man: The Bortronians can all stretch their bodies. This is one of the things that make them stand out from humans since they are Human Aliens.
  • Rube Goldberg Machine:
    • Jet and Sean construct one in "Sydney 2".
    • In "Sean Has A Cold", Sunspot and Sean design and build one in order to entertain Sean while he's sick.
  • Rule of Cool: In general, this trope is why the kids always go to space to look for answers to their science questions instead of simply looking it up online. It even gets lampshaded a few times, like in "Potatoes on Mars".
  • Rule of Seven: Bortron 7 is the most perfect planet in the Bortron system, which takes after 7 being the divine number and representing perfection according to several religions.
  • Rule of Symbolism: According to Craig Bartlett, each one of the main child characters is supposed to represent an important factor of science, given the show's science curriculum.
    • Sydney represents the power of imagination in science. Sydney is obsessed with science fiction and comics, and idolizes a character named Commander Cressida. She is very imaginative and likes to think creatively in situations, as well as create her own fanfictions about Commander Cressida in the treehouse. She correctly states that science-fiction ideas have inspired many technological innovations and advances, that scientists are as inspired by what they saw on Star Trek as anything in a scientific journal.
    • Sean represents science facts. In contrast to Sydney, who likes fiction, Sean is all about the facts. Sean likes to do things the old-fashioned way and does not like change as much as the others do, and he's got a hard time using his imagination as shown in "Backyard Moon Base", however he does come from a family of scientists AND astronauts, so he figures he's going to be a great scientist himself, and likes to use the Scientific Method to solve problems. He also wants to lead the first human mission to Mars, despite the fact that he gets space-sick easily, is afraid of cramped spaces, and has a fear of heights.
    • Mindy represents curiosity. Mindy was originally not in the show, according to the producers. But after testing the initial pilot with children, the producers decided to add Mindy in to have a character for the younger set to look up to as a role model, since this show is more for older kids. Mindy doesn't know a whole lot about science, and is far too young to go into space with the others, but she’s welcomed into the group, treated as an equal, and never talked down to. Mindy is often the reason for the episodes' plots. Due to her curiosity, she often asks a basic, kid-friendly question about space which prompts the kids to look for an answer, either by going into space or by staying on Earth.
    • And rounding out the main cast of children, we have Jet Propulsion, who is the coolest kid ever, and an ambassador for space. Jet embodies what the other children represent. Jet is creative, and being from outer space, and having travel-doc parents, he knows a whole lot about it, and he's very curious to learn about Earth and its customs. Jet also represents how the creators of this show want the target audience to see Earth: with a sense of curiosity and wonder. Jet is continuously amazed by our lush and beautiful planet, and as such, wants to protect it, since it is his current residence. The episode "Tiny Blue Dot" proves this.
  • Rule of Three: In "My Three Suns", the kids have three daymares as to what it would be like to live on a planet with 3 suns.
  • Running Gag:
    • Mindy not being able to go into space due to not being allowed to go anywhere past Jet's yard. Averted after she turns five in Season 2.
    • The Propulsions messing up on Earth words and traditions.
    • Jet almost exposing his identity.
    • Sean being nervous when going into space.
    • Sean singing the Scientific Method.
    • Mitchell spying on Jet, followed by Mindy sneaking up on him to his discomfort.
    • Sunspot being silly and functioning as a Deus ex Machina.
    • Carrot making weird dishes.
    • The show having a comic book motif and using comic book transitions.
    • In "That's One Gigantic Pumpkin, Jet Propulsion!": zoom transitions being used any time someone calls Sunspot.
    • A recurring gag on the series is Jet's strange obsession with his hair.
    • In "Astronaut Ellen Ochoa", Sean exercising while doing math problems.
    • In "My Three Suns", Face 9000 trying to be a comedian.
    • In "Mars Rock for Mom", Jet being a Forgetful Jones and leaving his stuff behind.
    S 
  • Samus Is a Girl: A variant occurs in "Solar Power Rover". Sean's "pet" rover, "Shep" was referred to with male pronouns. After Jet suddenly become fluent in rover-speak, he talks to "Shep" and reveals that he is actually a she, and her name is Beep.
  • Sanity Slippage: Played for Laughs in "Castaway Carrot". Carrot goes insane while stranded on the moon. He attempts to farm pizza on the moon, and gets lonely so he draws pictures of Jet, Celery, and Sunspot on some moon rocks. He even briefly makes out with the Celery rock!
  • Say My Name:
    • In "Total Eclipse Block Party", everyone yells "SUNSPOT!" after they discover that he stole the eclipse countdown clock.
    • Mitchell screams Jet's name at the end of "What Goes Up..."
  • Scooby Stack: The kids form one in "Freebird".
  • Scout-Out: Sean is a part of a scout troop called Space Scouts, as shown in "Eye in the Sky". Their business isn't selling cookies or popcorn though; their business is learning about science.
  • Screwball Squirrel: Floyd the squirrel is a literal example, as he likes to be naughty and cause trouble sometimes, such as when he eats the jellybeans in "Earth Camping". Although, on occasion, he helps the kids out.
  • Secret Chaser: Mitchell. Only Mindy is aware of this.
  • Secret Identity: The Propulsions are secretly aliens from the planet Bortron 7, and are trying to keep a low profile on Earth or else they could become celebrities, and Jet would never get to play with his friends again (as pointed out in "Visit to Mom's Office"). Their alien identities are only known to Sydney, Sean, and Mindy.
  • Secret-Keeper: Sydney, Sean, and Mindy keep the secret that Jet is an alien.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: In "Moon Circus", Carrot overhears from the kitchen that Jet is planning a surprise party for him. Carrot then has to keep the secret that he knows about the surprise party, but ends up telling Jet anyway.
  • Security Cling:
    • Jet jumps into Sunspot's arms at one point in "Sunday Drive".
    • Sean and Carrot cling to each other in fear in a few episodes, like "How Come the Moon Changes Shape?" and "Which Moon is Best?"
  • Sentimental Music Cue:
    • In "Jet 2", somber piano music starts playing when Jet discovers what jealousy is.
    • The same music cue plays in "Castaway Carrot" when Carrot worries that Jet and Celery won't come back for him.
  • Sequel Episode: "Asteroid Belt Space Race" is a sequel to "Space Race", as it focuses on the rematch that Celery and Zucchini promised to have at the end of the latter episode, this time with Eggplant and Zerk involved.
    • "Racing on Sunshine" is a sequel to "Kid-Kart Derby", and takes place one year after said episode.
    • "Lone Star 2 - Rocket Kids!" is a sequel to "Lone Star", hence its title.
  • Series Continuity Error:
    • See Retcon above.
    • In "How We Found Your Sun", Mindy learned that the sun is a star, but in "Our Sun Is A Star!", she doesn't think that the sun is a star.
    • In "Round and Round", Mindy learned that the Earth revolves around the sun. But in "Galileo, Galileo!", she thinks that the sun revolves around the Earth.
    • In "Diggin' Earth", Jet and Mindy learn that magma is underneath the Earth's crust. They forget this in "I Feel the Earth Move" and have to learn it again.
  • Series Goal: Mitchell's is to expose Jet's identity as an alien.
  • Serious Business:
    • Mr. Peterson treats mini-golf as such as shown in "Mini-Golf at the DSA". The kids even lampshade it.
    Jet: Isn't mini-golf supposed to be goofy fun?
    Mindy: Isn't pretty much everything supposed to be goofy fun?
    Jet: I certainly think so!
    • Bergs' motto is to stay calm, but coffee is an exception to that rule.
    Dr. Skelley: What about your rule about staying calm in any emergency?
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: In "Project Pluto", Mindy wants to make a model of Pluto for show-and-tell at school, but then the other kids tell her that Pluto is no longer a planet. Then, the older kids go to the DSA and have a debate with the scientists on whether Pluto should be considered a planet or not. Then, the kids are forced to go home and tell Mindy that Pluto truly is no longer a planet, (which could have lead to an emotional ending with a moral) but then discover that Mindy has already accepted the fact that Pluto is no longer a planet and has made a model of Saturn instead.
  • Shaking the Rump: Sean does this at one point during the song featured in "Sean's Neptune Tune".
  • Shell Game: In "Kid-Kart Derby", Mitchell is using a stack of identical cups to listen in on Jet's plans. When Jet and Sunspot catch him, the cups collapse and wanting to distract them, Mitchell quickly puts a tangerine under one of them, asking Sunspot to guess which cup the tangerine is hidden inside. Sunspot correctly guesses where it was hidden.
  • Shipper on Deck:
    • The older kids seem to largely support Mitchell/Mindy as of Detective Mindy. They cheered wildly when Mitchell "proposed" to Mindy, Jet was largely interested in the fact that Mindy was working with Mitchell to solve a mystery, and Jet invited specifically Mindy and Mitchell to the treehouse in the Halloween special.
    • The kids love it when Mr. and Mrs. Propulsion do something romantic.
    • Sydney also ships Jet 2/Boop as seen in "Mars Rock for Mom", when she calls their apparent relationship sweet.
  • Shipper with an Agenda: Jet definitely ships Mindy and Mitchell, and in "Jet's First Halloween", he gets them to come to the treehouse together so they can look at the red moon together and see Jet (dressed up as a witch) fly across the moon on a broom to fulfill Mindy's wish of wanting to see a witch fly across the moon.
  • Ship Tease: In the early episodes, Jet and Sydney had some shipping moments, such as skating together on an ice chunk in Saturn's rings, or Jet comparing Sydney to Venus (the brightest planet in the sky, in his words). However, later on, Jet began to have more ship tease with Sean. He's affectionate with him, once sang a soft duet with him, and gave him an Affectionate Nickname, Sean-zo. Mindy also gets some Puppy Love moments with Mitchell, who at first was annoyed by her sneaking up on him, but later warms up to her and makes her his Morality Pet. Even the robots, Jet 2 and Boop, and the pets, Sunspot and Moonbeam, get some teasing.
  • Shiny-Looking Spaceships: The flying saucer is very shiny.
  • Signature Headgear: Mindy is identified by her crocheted bear hat, which aids in her bear motif, as well as just looking cute. Mitchell has a red checkerboard aviator hat, to go with his detective schtick.
  • The Show Must Go On: In "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace", Sean gets Performance Anxiety right before he sings his big finale song, but Mitchell takes over for him and the pageant continues.
  • Shown Their Work:
    • This show has a production team composed of people with great track records for cartoons, and more importantly, astronomers like Amy Mainzer. This helps them to convey verifiable information about space and science in every episode.
    • In just one example, in "Earthday Birthday", Face 9000 says that Mindy would be almost 17 years old on planet Mercury. Mindy is 4 years old on the show. If you multiply 4 by 365 (the number of days in an Earth year), you get 1,460. Divide that by 88 (the number of days in a Mercury year), and you get 16.5909090909. So, yeah, Face 9000 was correct.
  • Show Within a Show:
    • "Commander Cressida", the kids' favorite show. Also, the Bortronian hit show, "Bortron Chef".
    • Hilda Horse's First Sleepover, the book that Mindy's mom was going to read to her and Lillian in "Our Sun Is A Star!".
  • Shrink Ray: In "Jet Shrinks the Kids", Jet builds a shrink ray so he, Sean, Sydney, and Sunspot can become small like Mindy. It can also be used as a grow ray when reversed.
  • Shy Finger-Twiddling:
    • Sean does this at one point in "Our Sun Is A Star!".
    • In "Mars Rock for Mom', Sean does this after he's relieved that Dr. Rafferty doesn't know that the rock he gave her came from Mars.
  • Sibling Rivalry: Face 9000 has a rivalry with his younger brother Face 9001, who only appears in "A Kid's Guide to Mars" but has a huge impact on Face 9000's character development. Face 9001 is a bonafide little-brother-bully who pesters his brother, is always trying to one-up him, loves to show off, and outright gaslights Face 9000 into believing that he's The Unfavorite of the family and that Face 9001 is smarter than him.
  • Sick Episode:
    • In "Endless Summer", Carrot has a cold.
    • In "Sunspot's Sunspot", Sunspot's odd behavior concerning the sunspot is regarded as an illness.
    • Downplayed in "Sean Has A Cold". Sean only has a slight cough, but it's treated as a cold In-Universe, thus forcing him to have to stay at home. Sunspot joins him, and they do building activities to have fun instead.
  • Sickness Equals Redness:
    • A sickly Carrot in "Endless Summer" had a red nose.
    • Averted in "Sean Has A Cold", where Sean doesn't have a red nose despite being sick.
  • Signature Laugh: Jet's "HA-HA-HA-ha-HA!"
  • The Silent Bob: Sunspot and Moonbeam do not talk, but use body language and sound effects to communicate.
  • Silent Snarker: Sunspot and/or Moonbeam can be like this at times, snarking via face-palms.
  • Singing in the Shower: In "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace", Sean reveals that he sings a lot....in the shower.
  • Singing Voice Dissonance: In "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace", Mitchell's singing voice is very high-pitched compared to his regular voice. The reason being is that Mitchell had a separate VA for his singing voice.
  • Skyward Scream:
    • Mitchell screams Jet's full name at the end of "What Goes Up...", after proclaiming that he will figure out Jet's alien identity one day.
    • Mitchell screams at the sky again at the end of "Pet Sounds".
  • Slice of Life: For the most part, the show is this, but a better way to describe it is that it's a sci-fi slice of life show. Outside of the episodes where the gang goes to space, they hang around Boxwood Terrace doing mundane activities such as baking cake and flying kites.
  • Sliding Scale of Continuity: Level 3. While the series isn't very arc-driven, it has Character Development and permanent changes to the status quo. If you watch a season one episode and then a season two one, you may think, "Wait, when did Face 9000 become 3D?" or "Whoa, Mindy can go to space now?"
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Leans heavily on the idealistic side. The show is about overcoming your personal struggles, the beauty of imperfection, and learning to love yourself and others. The world is seen through the optimistic Jet's eyes as a planet full of wonder and beauty.
  • Slow Motion:
    • This is used when Beep the Rover jumps across the Mars Yard in "Beep and Boop's Game".
    • Used in "Asteroid Belt Space Race" after Eggplant and Zerk steal gravity from the other saucers.
  • Slumber Party:
    • The kids have one in "Night of a Bazillion Stars".
    • Mindy plans to have one with Lillian in "Our Sun Is A Star!". They wanted to have it outside, but they later take it indoors.
    • In "One Small Step", the kids plan a slumber party, and then take it to the moon to celebrate the Apollo 11 mission. They then take it back to Earth, where they invite Mitchell.
  • Smart Dumb And In Between: Mitchell is incredibly intellectual and adorably precocious for his age, and that's saying something since Boxwood Terrace is full of child prodigies. Lillian is the exception to that, since she's an Asian Airhead who Cannot Keep a Secret and at one point, believed clouds were made of cotton candy. Mindy is the middle point between the two. Mindy does know a lot about space for her age, but is prone to forgetting facts she learned in previous episodes.
  • The Smart Guy: Sean is a Child Prodigy and usually the logical one in Team Propulsion.
  • Smart Jerk and Nice Moron: Mindy's two friends, Mitchell and Lillian, fall into this category. Mitchell is quite smart for a kid his age, and he's also very blunt and snarky, with a high-and-mighty attitude at times. Lillian, on the other hand, is ditzy and forgetful, but makes up for it with her politeness and sweetness. However, Mitchell is nice deep down, and unlike most examples, he certainly doesn't go out of his way to bully Lillian.
  • Smart People Wear Glasses: Plenty of smart people on this show wear glasses, like Dr. Rafferty, Dr. Bergs, and Mitchell.
  • Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter: In "Jet Can't Sleep", the Propulsion family is playing charades. In one round, Celery pretends to be sleeping. Carrot guesses a coffee table, but then Sunspot correctly guesses that Celery is sleeping. Carrot then remarks that he was gonna say that. Carrot says: "If I wasn't, may lighting strike me!" Then lightning flashes in the sky, and Carrot jumps into Jet's arm. Carrot then remarks that tonight isn't a good night to say that.
  • Snake Charmer: In "Sunspot's Sunspot", Carrot plays some typical snake charming music, and Sunspot's tongue wiggles like a snake.
  • Sneeze of Doom: In "Endless Summer", Carrot gets sick, and his sneezes are practically deadly.
  • Snowball Fight: Sean, Sydney, and Jet have one in the beginning of "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace"
  • Solid Clouds: In "Fact Or Fiction?", Jet, Lillian, and Mindy all believe that clouds are made of cotton candy, although at first Jet thought that clouds were made of cotton balls and wanted to take a nap on them. However, a trip to the clouds proves that they aren't solid.
  • The Song Remains the Same: The Indonesian dub keeps the songs in English. It also removes the background music, making the dub pretty creepy.
  • Sound Off: In "Earth Camping":
    I don't know but I've been told (x2)
    Camping songs will never get old! (x2)
  • Soup Is Medicine: In "Endless Summer", Carrot is sick. Mindy gives him chicken noodle soup to help him feel better.
  • Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Mitchell hides behind this as revealed in the Christmas Episode. Mitchell acts mean to Jet and his friends, and Mitchell claims that he "doesn't do friends", but Mitchell isn't really mean, he's really just a lonely kid who wants to join Jet's gang, but doesn't know how to fit in. Fortunately, he gets his happy ending.
  • Space Is Cold: Constantly gets brought up in "From Pluto With Love".
  • Space Is Noisy: Averted to hell and back in "Not a Sound". Jet and Sydney are convinced that there are sounds in space, but then they learn that there isn't. However, they can still hear each other through their helmets, but only because there is air in their helmets.
  • Special Guest: Ellen Ochoa, in "Astronaut Ellen Ochoa", even though she doesn't star as herself.
  • The Speechless: Sunspot does not talk, instead he uses various sound effects to communicate.
  • Spinning Paper: In "Mindy's Meteorite Stand", as meteorite fever grips the neighborhood, a spinning newspaper is shown with Mindy's portrait on it.
  • Split-Screen Phone Call: Jet has this with Carrot and Celery in "The Plant From Bortron 7".
  • Spoiled Brat: Mitchell is a downplayed example of this trope. In "The Grandest Canyon", when he and his father look at the Propulsions' pictures of Valles Marineris, Mitchell whines that the hats that the group wore in the picture were not at the store that was at the canyon that the Petersons went to. Also, in "Mindy's Weather Report", Mitchell whines that the sandbags are too heavy, and his father spoils him by carrying his sandbag for him.
  • Spoiler Title: Guess what happens in "Mindy Turns Five".
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Mindy in season 2. Due to how much she resonated with the target audience, she plays a major role in most, if not all of the episodes she stars in and has the most spotlight episodes of all the characters in the season.
  • Stage Magician:
    • In "Who Messed Up The Treehouse?", Jet tries to be a magician to make the trash disappear, with failed results.
    • "Magnet, PI" reveals that Sean is an amateur magician called The Great Seanzo. Later, the kids put on a magic show for Carrot using magnets.
  • Stalker with a Crush: A rare example in which both the stalker and the crush are this to each other. Mitchell is the stalker first. In his debut episode, "Mindy's Moon Bounce House", Mitchell watches Mindy, his (speculated) crush through a pair of binoculars. Later, in "Solar System Bake-Off!", Mitchell attempts to spy on Mindy and her baking contest entry, and acts rather awkward around her. Mindy then becomes the stalker starting in "What Goes Up...", where Mindy sneaks up on Mitchell several times throughout the episode. It would then become a Running Gag which would appear in "Kid Kart Derby" and "Detective Mindy", where Mitchell more or less warms up to her. Then in "Mindy's Mystery", Sean and Sydney actually more or less help Mindy to stalk Mitchell! (Then again, all they were doing was trying to track the source of the mystery smell from Mitchell's yard)
  • Status Quo Is God: The show for the most part avoids this, especially with its large amounts of continuity and permanent changes. However, in the season 1 finale, "Commander Mom", Dr. Skelley rebuilds Jet 2 into Jet 3, only for him to return to his normal form in season 2.
  • "Staying Alive" Dance Pose: In "Moon Circus", Carrot assumes this pose when he does his famous flip.
  • Steamrolled Smart Guy: Sean is an uptight perfectionist who likes to do things the traditional way, most notably by using the Scientific Method. He's smart and also serves as the Straight Man and Only Sane Man in his gaggle of goofy friends, and they never listen to him, especially Jet since he always wants to make mistakes deliberately and play around to solve problems.
  • Stepford Smiler: In "Mars Rock for Mom", Jet 2, being the Perpetual Smiler that he is, still keeps a smile on his face even though he's clearly dejected that he has to leave Boop behind.
  • Stock Food Depictions: The series has featured apples, cake, cookies, pancakes, eggs, pizza, sandwiches, and sushi before, and all of them looked like their stock depictions.
  • Stock Footage:
    • Face 9000 shows the real-life Apollo 11 launch in "Earth Mission to Moon".
    • The show reuses the same footage of the kids buckling up when they're about to go into space over and over, though it gets changed whenever Carrot and/or Mindy come with them.
    • In "Commander Cressida Story Contest", stock footage from the entire "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" segment from a season 1 episode is used to pad out the runtime and to explain how Earth's water is "just right".
    • In "Astronaut Ellen Ochoa", when the kids explain how to play a game to Ellen, stock footage from "Sean's Year in Space" is seen.
    • In "Moon Circus", footage from "What Goes Up..." is reused during the "What Goes Up (Must Come Down)" song, but there is some new animation and new voice-clips.
  • The Storyteller: Sydney. She loves to tell stories, the most famous example being when she told Jet about the legend of Lone Star in the episode of the same name.
  • St. Patrick's Day Episode: In "Bortron Leprechaun", it is St. Patrick's Day. Jet learns about leprechauns and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and wants to find one. The Irish jig is heard a few times in the episode.
  • Straight Man:
    • Mitchell's dad, when paired with Carrot. He tends to be the more logical of the two.
    • Sean is usually this when with Jet, Sydney, and Mindy. He is the most rational of the gang.
    • Mitchell, when with Mindy and Lillian, or at least he tries to be. He thinks he's the Only Sane Man, but is prone to bouts of goofiness.
  • Sting: In the episode "Diggin' Earth", Sunspot does it by drumming the air (aliens!) then hitting a shot blade as a cymbal. A response to Dr. Rafferty's "groundbreaking project" quip.
  • Stock Audio Clip: The show uses the same stock audio clip of Sean (voiced by William Ainscough) screaming every time the gang goes into space, even after Sean was recasted. Another stock audio clip includes Mindy's "yay!"
  • Story Arc: There are actually some subtle ones:
    • The secret identity arc. The Propulsions are aliens, but they can't let anyone find out. They have a hard time keeping the secret. This comes to a head in "Back to Bortron 7" where Mitchell almost exposes the Propulsions, but fails thanks to Jet 2.
    • Sean's Character Development arc. Over time, Sean becomes less nervous of going into space, and more open to trying and failing. In "Astronaut Ellen Ochoa", he learns that he doesn't have to worry about training to be an astronaut for years, and he should just enjoy life since he's still a kid.
    • Mindy's turning five arc. Over the course of Season 1, Mindy's boundaries get expanded beyond Jet's yard. In "Mindy Turns Five", Mindy finally turns five and goes to space.
  • Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish:
    • Jet is somehow able to communicate with the rovers Beep and Boop perfectly.
    • In "Freebird", Sunspot turns out to be an expert at communicating with the snow geese.
  • Suddenly Speaking: Sunspot had never said anything before, but "Sunspot's Sunspot", he says "No, thank you" and "I am lovable, aren't I?".
  • Sudden Name Change: In "Solar Power Rover", Beep the rover was originally named Shep until Jet found out that she was actually named Beep.
  • Super-Hearing: Bortronians have super-hearing; this is showcased every time Celery pulls up with the minivan anytime someone mentions going to space.
  • Super-Strength: Celery possesses this as shown in "A Hammer and a Feather", where she lifts the saucer up with one hand.
  • Surprise Party:
    • The episode "Earthday Birthday" has the group planning a surprise party for Jet for the anniversary that he came to Earth.
    • In the episode "Moon Circus", the kids plan one for Carrot, though it's not much of a surprise later on.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: Many of these occur throughout the series, usually by Jet, along the lines of "I'm totally not an alien from another planet or something!"
    T 
  • Tagalong Kid: Mindy is the youngest of the main group and wants to go into space, but can't because she can't go anywhere past Jet's yard.
  • Tag Line: A Kid's Place is Exploring Space!
  • Take That!: In "Galileo, Galileo!", Sean makes a well-deserved jab at flat earthers in his rendition of "I'm Not Afraid of New Ideas".
    Sean: Some folks say that the world is flat, the edge is very scary / But me, I say the world is round, exactly the contrary.
  • Talking to Plants: In "That's One Gigantic Pumpkin, Jet Propulsion!", Jet not only talks, but sings to the pumpkin to make it grow. Mitchell, on the other hand, simply talks to it and calls it his "precious".
  • Talk Like a Pirate: Lillian does this at some points in "That's One Gigantic Pumpkin, Jet Propulsion!" as part of her Halloween costume.
  • Tearful Smile: In "Jet Cooks Dinner", the Propulsions begin to miss Bortron 7 and the Classic 3-part Bortronian Meal. After they sing the commercial tune, Jet gets nostalgic about Bortron 7 and starts to cry a little bit, while smiling.
  • Team Chef: Carrot is a great chef, making many odd Bortronian dishes.
  • Team Mom: Sydney usually plays this role to the other kids, being the wisest of them all.
  • Team Pet: Sunspot, being the only animal in the main cast, fills in this role, and also serves a mascot of sorts for the group.
  • Telepathy:
    Carrot: What is this, Mind-Reading Day?
  • Tempting Fate: In "Satellite Selfie", Jet says he's not gonna blink when the satellite takes a picture of Boxwood Terrace. He then sneezes, which causes him to blink.
  • That Cloud Looks Like...:
    • Happens at the beginning of "Project Pluto".
    • Happens at the beginning of "Fact Or Fiction?".
  • That Reminds Me of a Song: This show loves this trope.
  • This Is Gonna Suck: In "A Hammer and a Feather", Carrot tries to drop a chicken egg and an ostrich egg at the same time. Sydney's reaction:
    Sydney: I think I know where this is going...
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: Despite his Butt-Monkey status, Sean does get tossed a bone in "Tiny Blue Dot" where his being space-sick is treated with concern.
  • Time for Plan B: In "One Small Step", when the gang is heading back to Earth, Sydney reveals that she used the landing gear crank to fix the saucer. Jet says that it's time for Plan B, and Plan B involves manually deploying the landing gear himself.
  • Time Travel Episode: Jet's Time Machine" has Jet build a time machine. On the same night, a meteor shower is to occur. Jet, Sean, and Sydney get distracted while helping Carrot, and they end up missing the meteor shower. The gang goes back in time to see the meteor shower, but end up in a "Groundhog Day" Loop. They learn that you can’t change the past, you can only learn from it.
  • Title Drop:
    • Happens quite often. The kids often say "Ready! Jet! Go!" while blasting off.
    • In Part 2 of "That's One Gigantic Pumpkin, Jet Propulsion!", Sean says "That's one gigantic pumpkin, Jet Propulsion!" as he looks at Jet's enormous pumpkin.
    • Mindy name-drops the episode title of "Moon Circus" when she comes up with a simple codename.
  • Title Scream: READY! JET! GO!!!!
  • Title Theme Tune: "Jet Propulsion, Jet Propulsion, Jet Propulsion! READY JET GO!"
  • Today, X. Tomorrow, the World!: Parodied in "Try And Try Again". The kids want Jet 2 to be their Mars rover. So they make a 'Mars Yard' in their backyard and put some wheels onto Jet 2 in order to see if he can balance on the rocky surface of Mars. It succeeds, and Jet proclaims "Today, our Mars Yard. Tomorrow, Mars!". However, Celery pulls up with the minivan so they can go to Mars today.
  • Toilet Humour: The show studiously avoids this kind of comedy, but "Earthday Birthday" has some. One of Jet's birthday badges makes a farting noise (and also emits skunk spray).
  • Token Evil Teammate: Mitchell is this ever since he somewhat joined the group in "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace". He definitely has the most vices of the cast, being aloof, sarcastic, vain, and temperamental. Plus, he's out to expose Jet's identity. However, he is not evil and has many good qualities.
  • Token Minority: Several.
    • Sydney is African-American.
    • Mindy is Latina.
    • Lillian, Mindy's friend, is Chinese-American.
  • Token Robot: The main team has Face 9000, a talking computer who serves as a teacher of sorts to the kids. Everyone else in the team is either an alien or a human.
  • Token Trio: The three main kids: Jet is an alien who disguises himself as a white male, Sean is a human white male, and Sydney is a human black female.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl:
    • Sydney, who has no interest in feminine things, and Mindy, who loves teddy bears, dolls, and tea-parties.
    • Mindy is herself the tomboy to Lillian's girly girl, as seen in "The Grandest Canyon". Mindy may be fairly feminine in her own right, but Lillian appears to be even more so, right down to her blatantly feminine outfit when she first appears, in comparison to Mindy's more, um, plain usual outfit.
  • Tomboyish Ponytail: Dr. Skelley wears her hair in a ponytail, which fits her due to her job as a robotics engineer.
  • Took a Level in Kindness:
    • Mitchell in "Detective Mindy". Also in "Mindy's Mystery", even though he was a jerk towards the group for most of the episode, Mitchell still attended Mindy's concert just for the heck of it (and possibly out of sympathy). It's also important to note that he's considerably mellowed out in season 2, considerably in the second half. Compare the aforementioned "Mindy's Mystery" to "Sean's Robotic Arm", and you'll notice massive character growth.
    • In the first "Lone Star" episode, the townspeople were utter jerks to Lone Star, didn't approve of his ideas, and kicked him out of town. However, in the Sequel Episode, "Lone Star 2 - Rocket Kids!", they are much kinder to him and even help him build the first rocket.
  • Too Much Information: In "Date Night", Jet is looking at pictures of Carrot and Celery on their first date. He sees a picture of them about to kiss, and is promptly disgusted. Then, he has this to say:
    Jet: Woah, okay! This is too much. That's enough, mom and dad!
  • Tooth Strip: The characters' teeth are usually styled in this manner, although a few close-up shots show that they do have individual teeth.
  • Totally Radical: "Hey, daddy-o! What's shaking?"
  • Town Contest Episode:
    • "Solar System Bake Off" has Boxwood Terrace hold a kids' baking contest. Mindy wins a ribbon for her Saturn cake, and Mitchell wins a ribbon for his cake replica of the Saturn V rocket.
    • "That's One Gigantic Pumpkin, Jet Propulsion!" sees Jet enter a pumpkin contest. He inadvertently makes his pumpkin ginormous through the use of a Bortronian sun lamp, and wins the ribbon for biggest pumpkin.
  • Trademark Favorite Food:
    • The Propulsions love the Classic 3-Part Bortronian Meal, which consists of a Hoagie, a Figinnuz, and an Exploding Shake.
    • Sean loves pot roast.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: The commercial for the week of new episodes in August 2016 spoiled Face 9000's new look.
    • Sometimes, this is a case of Episode Descriptions Always Spoil. For example, the description for "Mindy's Meteorite Stand" spoils the fact that Mindy's meteorite really wasn't a meteorite, but the big rock she was sitting on is, "Sunday Drive"'s description spoils that the Propulsions weren't on Mars, but an Earth desert, and the description for "Mindy's Mystery" spoiled that the mystery smell came from moonflowers, and the bright light that was bothering Mitchell was from the moon itself.
    • Zigzagged for the images the wiki provided for Season Two. While some images are tied to the episode's theme, some are just random screenshots. A few ridiculous examples of the latter include: The image for "Zerk Visits Earth" doesn't feature Zerk, the image for "Sunspot's Sunspot" doesn't feature Sunspot, the image for "Sean Has a Cold" depicts Sean as completely healthy, and the image for "Mars Rock For Mom" is a frame from the the takeoff sequence.
  • Trail Of Breadcrumbs: In "Earth Camping", Carrot marks the hiking trail with Mitchell's jellybeans so the group can find their way back to camp. However, Floyd the squirrel eats them all, rendering the group lost.
  • Training Montage:
    • Parodied in "My Fair Jet", Jet goes through a training montage while training to behave like a regular human child. Complete with rock music playing in the background, until Sean tells him to stop that.
    • A variation occurs throughout "Pet Sounds", with the kids trying to train Cody to do tricks, but with the show's regular quirky music instead of rock music.
  • Training the Pet: In "Pet Sounds," Mitchell enlists Jet to train his dog, Cody, while Mitchell is away at his grandparents' house for the weekend. Jet and the others have difficulty teaching Cody new tricks, but they find out that Cody can do amazing tricks if he gets treats as an incentive.
  • Trash of the Titans: The conflict of "Who Messed Up The Treehouse?" stems from the kids all making a mess in the treehouse and not disposing of their trash properly.
  • Treasure Hunt Episode: "Treasure Map". In the episode, Mitchell is convinced that there's buried treasure in his yard after reading Treasure Island. Wanting to do something nice for Mitchell, Jet decides to make a treasure chest for Mitchell to find, with a map.
  • Treasure Map: Jet makes one for Mitchell to use to find the treasure in "Treasure Map".
  • The Triple:
    • Happens in "Detective Mindy":
    Sydney: How does [the black hole] do that?
    Mindy: And how did it get there?
    Jet: And how does my hair look today? (beat) Oh...not the right time?
    • This happens again in "Galileo, Galileo!", where Sean is listing his heroes: Galileo Galilei, Neil Armstrong, Albert Einstein, Madame Curie, and Patti Smith.note . Even Sunspot seems confused.
    • In "Freebird", the kids point out that they can make a bird feeder, a birdbath, plants that birds like, and the right seeds. Jet follows that up by saying that he can teach the snow geese to river-dance. No, really.
    • In "Astronaut Ellen Ochoa", when the kids show their drawings to Ellen, Sydney shows her a Commander Cressida comic she drew, Mindy shows her a Pluto drawing, and Jet shows her a drawing of a cucumber sandwich he ate the week before.
    • In "Moon Circus", when the gang is trying to think of places to take the circus to, Sean suggests Mercury, Jet suggests the comet Churymov-Gerasimenko, and Mindy suggests Edmonton, Alberta. Sean and Jet's suggestions are both from outer space, while Mindy's suggestion is the capital of a Canadian province.
  • Troperiffic: It utilizes a lot of common science-fiction, sitcom, and edutainment tropes, as well as general cartoon ones.
  • Tropey, Come Home:
    • In "Sunspot's Night Out", Sunspot goes missing in the neighborhood, and the gang tracks him using the North Star. Mitchell's dog Cody also went missing. Turns out, they were both performing in an animal choir.
    • In "You Can Call Me Albedo", Cody runs away after Mitchell makes him wear a black sweater.
  • True Blue Femininity: Celery, Dr. Rafferty, and Dr. Skelley all wear blue. Moonbeam has blue fur.
  • True Companions: Even after all the drama they've been through regarding Jet's alien identity, and the occasional disagreements, Jet, Sean, Sydney, Mindy, and Sunspot love each other to death, hang out all the time, and will do literally anything for each other.
  • Truth in Television: While the idea of getting space-sick may seem a bit bizarre at first, it actually can happen. This video made by astronaut Chris Hadfield connects it to the shift in gravity.
  • Tsundere: Mitchell. Type A. He's usually very cruel and snobbish towards the main characters (especially Mindy) in public, but he actually does have a nice side. The Christmas Episode even reveals that his tsun tsun tendencies are all a facade.
  • Twitchy Eye: As part of his Sanity Slippage, Carrot gets a twitching eyelid at one point in "Castaway Carrot".
  • Two Girls to a Team: The full Five-Man Band (Jet, Sean, Sydney, Mindy, and Sunspot) has only two females - Sydney and Mindy.
  • Two Girls and a Guy: The trio of Mindy, Lillian, and Mitchell.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: Jet, Sean, and Sydney.
  • Two Lines, No Waiting: The episodes of the show often have two plot-lines in the same episode. Often, these two plots will collide.
    • "Mindy's Moon Bounce House" had a sub-plot of Mitchell wondering why Mindy appears to be floating, this being his first appearance on the show.
    • "A Kid's Guide to Mars" had the main cast go to Mars to update the information on it in Carrot and Celery's guidebook, while the side-plot was Face 9001 visiting and having a rivalry with his brother, Face 9000.
    • In "Sunspot's Night Out", while the main characters search for Sunspot, Mitchell looks for Cody, who has also gone missing. Sunspot and Cody were actually missing for the same reason - they were both involved in an animal choir.
    • In "The Grandest Canyon", Mindy and Lillian dig a hole in the sandbox while the rest of the characters go to Valles Marineris.
    • "Mindy's Weather Report" has Mindy give pretend weather reports while chaos around the neighborhood ensues as misinformation spreads.
    • "Solar System Bake Off" and its sister episode "Kid-Kart Derby" both have subplots involving Mitchell spying on the main characters and trying to get information about their contest entry.
    • "Mindy Pet-sits" has two plot-lines: Jet, Sydney, and Sean going to space with Carrot (!!!) to try and find the Northern Lights, and Mindy pet-sitting Sunspot, unaware that he is planning a surprise for her.
    • In "Diggin' Earth", besides the main plot, there's also a side plot of Carrot and Celery attempting to go to the center of Jupiter.
    • In "Mindy's Mystery", the main characters try to find out what kept Mindy up at night. At the same time, Mitchell is trying to find the source of an annoying light that bothered him. They both have the same source - the moon. (The smell that kept Mindy up at night was moonflowers).
    • In "Jet's First Halloween", the main characters go trick-or-treating. At the same time, Mitchell investigates to solve 3 mysteries involving weird-looking pumpkins, a flying saucer, and a green alien head.
    • In "The Mindysphere", Jet, Sean, and Sydney go to space to fly past the heliosphere, while Mindy, who has recently been given permission to go out farther into the neighborhood, proceeds to explore her new boundaries.
    • In "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace", the A-plot is Jet, Sean, Sydney, and Mindy putting on a Christmas pageant, and the B-plot gets set in motion when Jet hires Mitchell to find the Spirit of Christmas. Mitchell's plot involves the revelation that he acts like a jerk to hide his loneliness, and him wanting to be friends with the main characters. These two plots collide when Mitchell takes over Sean's role in the play after the latter gets Performance Anxiety.
    • "I Feel the Earth Move" has a very strange B-plot - Sunspot riding Mindy's bounce house all over town, causing the ground to shake.
    • In "Endless Summer", the main characters go to Australia to experience summer, while Mindy stays on Earth to take care of Carrot, who has a cold.
    • "That's One Gigantic Pumpkin, Jet Propulsion!" has the A-plot of Jet, Sean, and Sydney trying to figure out what to do with Jet's giant pumpkin, and the B-plot of Mindy, Mitchell, and Lillian going trick-or-treating.
    • In "Total Eclipse Block Party", Sunspot had his own sub-plot involving him trying to teach the Earth animals about eclipses so they won't sleep during the eclipse.
    • In "Astronaut Ellen Ochoa", the main one is Jet, Sean, Sydney, and Mindy meeting Ellen and hanging out with her. The subplot is Dr. Rafferty, Dr. Skelley, and Dr. Bergs panicking over Ellen's impending visit. When Ellen helps revise Jet's rocket chair, this inspires her to use the same solution with the DSA project.
    • In "One Small Step", the main one is Sean and Mindy looking for Jet and Sunspot after the latter two went missing, and the other one is Sydney and Jet 2 fixing the super saucer. There's also a tiny subplot involving Mitchell doing his spying as usual.
  • Two of Your Earth Minutes: The Propulsions tend to talk like this.
  • Two Shorts: There are usually two 11 minute shorts, with a minute and a half long Amy Mainzer segment in between.
  • Two-Timer Date: A non-romantic example. In the episode "Jet 2", Jet wants to watch Commander Cressida with Sydney, but also promises to help Sean with something at the same time. Jet tries to remedy the situation by making a robot clone of himself called Jet 2 and having it watch Commander Cressida with Sydney while he helps Sean, but when Sean and Sydney start hanging out with the robot instead of the real Jet, he gets jealous.
  • Treehouse of Fun: In "Treehouse Observatory", the kids build their own treehouse which serves as a hangout for the group and an observatory.
  • Tyop on the Cover: One Australian website listing the Season Two episodes spell/punctuate certain titles wrong. Some of the more ridiculous examples include "Dean Has A Cold" and "Mindy And The Carrot Bake".
    U 
  • Unconventional Food Order: Zig-zagged in the episode "How Come the Moon Changes Shape?" Carrot orders a pizza with typical toppings like mushroom, anchovies, and fish, but he also asks for pineapple, apricot, and arugula. With extra gravy.
  • Understatement: In "Who Messed Up The Treehouse?", everyone thinks they only left a little mess in the treehouse. However, the treehouse is incredibly messy, making this an understatement.
  • Unexpectedly Dark Episode: In the episode "My Fair Jet," Jet wants to go to the Deep Space Array's Open House. However, Sean and Sydney won't let him go because they are afraid he will expose his alien identity. They make Jet go through training to act like a human kid. The episode starts out seeming light-hearted, but then it takes a turn for the bleak when it is revealed that if the Open House doesn't go well, the Deep Space Array will lose all its funding. Sean gets carried away by a weather balloon and is put into serious danger. Jet saves him and performs a song about he's Bortronian. Although Weirdness Censor is in effect, and the episode has a happy ending, this episode is still quite dreary.
  • Unknown Rival:
    • Jet, for the most part, is unaware of Mitchell spying on him. The only kid who knows about it is Mindy.
    • However, in "Back to Bortron 7", it is implied that the other kids know that Mitchell spies on them.
  • The Unpronounceable: All three members of the Propulsion family have weird strings of sound effects for their Bortronian names.
  • Unwanted Assistance: Happens many times, usually with Mitchell trying to solve a case. If another character offers to help, Mitchell will usually turn them down, claiming that he works alone. Usually, this is out of shyness or overconfidence.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
    • In "What Goes Up...", Mindy tells Mitchell next door that Jet is building a flying saucer. This causes him to get suspicious and begin his Series Goal to learn the truth.
    • In "Sean's Robotic Arm", Mindy slams her toy rocket on the seesaw, causing Neil Armstrong to fly in the air and fall into the crevice.
    V 
  • Vague Age: While it is known that Mindy is 4 years old, it is unknown how old Lillian and Mitchell are supposed to be, especially considering Mitchell's height constantly fluctuates. Jet, Sean, and Sydney are all 10 according to an early description.
  • Valentine's Day Episode: "From Pluto with Love" is this, making it the 3rd holiday episode. The kids get ready for Valentines Day by making their own valentines out of paper, and Mindy feels sad that little, frozen Pluto is so far out at the edge of the solar system. So, the older kids go up in space and visit Pluto, while Mindy watches on Jet's smartwatch, and the cast sings "Dear Little Frozen Pluto".
  • Vanilla Edition: The first DVD release was so barebones, it only had the episodes, and four of them at that.note  So the DVD only lasts 1 hour since each individual episode is 11-minutes.
  • Verbal Tic: Jet's cousin Zerk has a tic where he says a word multiple times. For example: "Bye bye bye bye bye!"
  • Vibrant Orange: The show uses Color Motifs for each of the characters. The ones associated with orange; Sunspot, Dr. Bergs, and especially Mindy are known for being enthusiastic and lively.
  • Vine Swing: Carrot briefly does this in "Mindy in Space". He even imitates the Tarzan yell!
  • Vocal Evolution: In season 2, Sean's voice gets deeper and raspier, likely due to puberty.
  • The Voice: Several characters have been heard, but not shown, such as Mitchell's mom.
  • Voiceover Translation: The Latvian translation is just one man voicing over the show. Only the theme song is properly dubbed.
  • Void Between the Worlds: During Jet's Imagine Spot in "My Three Suns", he eventually ends up in a black void, unable to find anyone
    W 
  • Water Is Dry: In "One Small Step", when the kids land in the lake, they don't seem to be wet at all.
  • Waxing Lyrical: In "Jet Can't Sleep", the characters are playing charades. Sunspot acts out a thunderstorm by dancing around with a flashlight and drum. Jet guesses "I got rhythm, I got music".
  • Weirdness Censor: Nobody in Boxwood Terrace (save for Mitchell), acknowledges the alien behaviors of the Propulsions, or notice their minivan turning into a flying saucer.
  • Weird World, Weird Food: Carrot tends to make many odd Bortronian dishes such as "deep-fried lollipops."
  • We Need a Distraction:
    • In "Mindy's Mystery", the kids try to infiltrate Mitchell's backyard in order to find the source of the mystery smell. In order to distract Mitchell, Jet and Sunspot stop him in his tracks and perform circus tricks while Sean, Sydney, and Mindy search Mitchell's area.
    • In "Ice Moon Enceladus", the kids run out of ice for their sno-cone stand, so they decide to fly to Enceladus to get more. However, the Propulsions need to keep secret that they are aliens, so in order to distract the angry customers, Mindy sings a reprise of "My Name Is Mindy" while hula-hooping to distract them.
  • We Were Rehearsing a Play: In "My Fair Jet", Jet sings a song about how he is Bortronian. Then, Mr. Peterson comes over, and asks "Bortronian is what you what?!?" Sean and Sydney, desperate to keep Jet's alien identity a secret, claim that he was rehearsing for a play he wrote.
  • Wham Episode: Several episodes.
    • "What Goes Up...", where Mitchell vows to uncover Jet's alien identity.
    • "My Fair Jet", where at the DSA Open House, the weather balloon (with Sean grabbing for dear life on it), gets away in some nasty weather. Sydney nearly succumbs to tears to convince Jet to rescue Sean. Jet also spills the beans to everyone in Boxwood Terrace that he is from Bortron 7, although they didn't seem to care, and it is forgotten about in later episodes. Did we mention that Sean almost died?!?
    • "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace", which reveals that Mitchell is really a lonely kid who has trouble making friends and hides behind a Jerkass Façade due to his insecurities, confirming the fan theories. The other kids realize this and assure Mitchell that they're his friends at the end of the episode.
    • "Back to Bortron 7", where we finally see Bortron 7, Sean and Sydney are almost permanently separated from their parents, and Mitchell exposes Jet AGAIN, which also backfired.
    • "Mindy Turns Five" is a huge one. Mindy turns five years old and finally goes into space with the older kids, permanently breaking the chains of the status quo.
    • "One Small Step", the series finale where the kids get stranded on the moon (they get off, thankfully) and Mitchell most likely knows about Jet's alien identity.
  • Wham Line:
    • "That looks like fun. I can only imagine." and "Thanks for including me. I really wanted to be a part of the show, but I didn't know how to ask, both from the Christmas episode.
    • "No, thank you" and "I am lovable, aren't I?", both spoken by Sunspot in "Sunspot's Sunspot".
  • What Could Possibly Go Wrong?:
    • Jet says this in "Back to Bortron 7", after Sean says that he hopes that he doesn't regret going to Bortron 7. Tons of things go wrong. The group finds out that after Carrot and Celery do their presentation, they will be done with Earth, and they will be assigned to another planet. They can't go back to Earth, meaning that Sean and Sydney will never go back to Earth. Also, Mitchell almost exposes Jet's alien identity to the public.
    • Sean says this in "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace" after Mindy asks him if the pressure for him to sing the pageant finale song will be too much. When its time to sing it, Sean gets Performance Anxiety and freezes up in front of everyone. Mitchell takes over for him.
  • Whatever Happened to the Mouse?:
    • In "Beep and Boop's Game", the DSA scientists want to know if a mountain on Mars is really a volcano. By the end of the episode, we never do find out if it was a volcano or not.
    • In "Magnet, PI" we never find out what Mitchell's "top-secret" detective case was. When he appears again at the end of the episode, he only wonders why Sunspot appears to be tap-dancing on the ceiling, and is then dragged away by Cody.
  • What Have We Ear?: Sean pulls a magnet out of Sunspot's ear in "Magnet, PI".
  • What the Hell, Hero?: The other kids are this to Jet whenever he does something really dumb.
  • Whole-Plot Reference:
    • "My Fair Jet" is an entire reference to My Fair Lady, since Sean and Sydney try to get Jet to be a regular Earth kid the same way that Professor Higgins tries to get Eliza to become a proper lady.
    • "Endless Summer" is an entire reference to The Endless Summer, as both plots involve traveling to the Southern Hemisphere in search of summer.
  • Who's on First?: In "The Grandest Canyon", Carrot serves Mr. Peterson a chocolate cake, which he calls a "Carrot cake". Mr. Peterson points out that it isn't a carrot cake, but Carrot points out that he called it a carrot cake because Carrot is his name.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
    • For Sean, it's heights and cramped spaces — things that he's trying to overcome in order to become an astronaut.
    • Mitchell is scared of clowns.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Jet. He is perpetually optimistic and sees the good in everyone.
  • Wingding Eyes:
    • Jet gets these towards the end of "Lone Star 2 - Rocket Kids!"
    • Sean gets fireworks in his eyes when he sees Ellen in "Astronaut Ellen Ochoa".
  • Wink "Ding!": A "ding!" sound can be heard almost every time a character winks.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: The kids all seem to be this, especially Mitchell, who is little but can build an exact copy of Saturn V.
  • Women Are Wiser: Celery is the most levelheaded between her and Carrot. Drs. Rafferty and Skelley are the most rational of the DSA scientists, although Rafferty can be dorky at times.
  • Worldbuilding: Slowly over the course of the show, Boxwood Terrace begins to encompass more than just a small science-based town. Also, we get to learn a lot more about the lore of Bortron 7 in "Back to Bortron 7".
  • The World Is Just Awesome: One overarching theme of the series is just how wonderful the Earth really is. Jet, being an alien, absolutely adores everything about Earth and often points out the wonders of ordinary things to the Earth kids. This is exemplified in the episode "Every Day Is Earth Day".
  • Worst. Whatever. Ever!: In "Chore Day", Jet calls his chore of testing out the hover scooters the "Worst. Chore. Ever."
  • Wrench Wench: Sydney is shown to be an expert mechanic in "One Small Step", fixing the super saucer with ease.
  • Writers Cannot Do Math: In "Mindy's Ice Rink", Sean says that winter will come in six months. The episode takes place in July, and since December is the start of winter, that means winter will come in five months.
    Y-Z 
  • Yellow Earth, Green Earth: The show uses Color Motifs for its characters, so characters that wear green tend to have a special connection to Earth. Sean adores Planet Earth above all else, and occasionally takes time to comment on how beautiful it is. Jet's cousin Zerk also wears green. Although he started out belittling Earth, he eventually grew to love it when he actually visited it.
  • You Are Number 6: In "Freebird", all of the other Hanks are referred to as "Hank Two", "Hank Three", and so on.
  • You, Get Me Coffee: In "Commander Mom", there's a Running Gag that involves Jet ordering Sunspot to get him a glass of water, instead of actually helping him with his project.
  • You Remind Me of X:
    • In "The Grandest Canyon", Sean remarks that Mindy reminds him of a young him, but Sydney tells Sean that "you are still young you."
    • In "Visit to Mom's Office", after Jet blabs to Dr. Rafferty that he's from another planet, she says that Jet reminds her of her when she was a kid, since she felt like an alien too. She appreciates how he's got it all worked out, unlike her in her youth, apparently.
    • In "Astronaut Ellen Ochoa", Ellen says that the kids remind her of herself, when she was a kid.
  • Your Size May Vary:
    • Seriously, this show's sense of scale is practically nonexistent. For example, in one scene Mitchell might tower over Mindy, and in another he might be the same height as her.
    • It's especially ridiculous in "Jet Shrinks The Kids", where Sydney can't reach something on a high shelf and gets Sean to help her, even though Sydney is taller than Sean.
  • You Say Tomato: While Uranus is often pronounced as "your anus", the characters insist it is called "your-eh-nus", which is actually the correct way to pronounce it, making this a weird example of the trope.
  • Youthful Freckles: Sean, Mitchell, Dr. Rafferty, Eggplant, and Zerk all have these.
  • Zany Scheme: Jet is full of them.

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