A 1991 Canadian animated series based on the works of Robert Munsch, by Cinar.
Tropes present in the series include:
- Adaptation Expansion: Episodes often expanded the stories they were based on.
- Adults Are Useless: A lot of the adults don't necessarily provide much help for the characters, and sometimes are even anti-heroes or villains such as in "The Boy in the Drawer", and "Thomas's Snowsuit".
- All for Nothing: She tries to save Ronald but he shows his true colors and does not want to be rescued due to Elizabeth wearing a paper bag.
- Ambiguous Time Period: It is unknown exactly where each and every episode is set, although some are more obvious than others.
- Arranged Marriage: Princess Elizabeth wants to marry an egotistic prince named Ronald, but he clearly is not necessarily interested in being her husband.
- Badass Adorable: Princess Elizabeth goes out of her way to save Ronald in "The Paper Bag Princess".
- Beware the Nice Ones: Princess Elizabeth finally snaps at Ronald at the end when she learns his true colors. Even the Dragon, though a villain, also snaps at him by blowing his fire breath on his butt.
- Big Bad: The eponymous character from the episode, "The Boy in the Drawer" causes problems for Shelley and her family and at one point floods their home.
- Big Ball of Violence: This is shown when Thomas and the adults are in the gym, and Thomas still tries to escape wearing the snowsuit.
- Birthday Episode: "Moria's Birthday" is a prime example of this trope.
- Brainy Pig: In "Pigs", the titular pigs can dance, sing, and read. In fact, the whole moral is that pigs are smarter than they seem.
- Breath Weapon: The dragon’s fire breath in "The Paper Bag Princess".
- Children Are Innocent: The child characters literally obey everything that is told to them, and almost never think for themselves.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Prince Ronald is the profile picture of this trope.
- Creator Cameo: If not appearing As Himself, Munsch often made cameos as the voice of a character.
- The Cutie: Almost all of the characters are very adorable.
- Disney Acid Sequence: Also in the episode, "The Boy in the Drawer" during the musical sequence of, "I'm So Happy" with the British Boy creature, that whole sequence depicts this very well.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Spot from The Fire Station is a rather typical Dalmatian.
- Downer Beginning: Princess Elizabeth’s castle was destroyed for no reason by the dragon, and Prince Ronald is very much a Jerkass.
- Dragons Are Demonic: The dragon from The Paper Bag Princes nonetheless. He has no reason whatsoever for burning stuff, mass vandalism, possibly even mass murder.
- Evil Brit: The eponymous character of "The Boy in the Drawer" speaks with a British accent.
- Evil Redhead: The title character from "The Boy in the Drawer".
- Firefighting Episode: "The Fire Station" of course.
- "I Am Great!" Song: The Dragon's contious rapping throughout the episode, "The Paper Bag Princess".
- Instant Home Delivery: The pizzas and birthday cakes are instantly delivered as soon as Moira orders them.
- "I Want" Song: Quite literally "I Wanna Be a Hero" from "The Fire Station". Also "A Perfect Guy" that is frequently sung in "The Paper Bag Princess".
- Jerkass: Prince Ronald and the dragon from "The Paper Bag Princess". Ronald does not even care about his own safety if he only wants to be saved by someone good-looking, the dragon literally burned everything for no reason at all, and the British Boy creature from "The Boy in the Drawer" has no reason for harassing and hurting Shelly whatsoever.
- Karma Houdini: The dragon never gets punished for his actions whatsoever, even though he committed so many acts of mass vandalism and possibly even murder in the process of burning down everything; despite having that said, he gradually does have and get chance to redeem himself and was Easily Forgiven, as he and the princess somehow eventually became the best of friends near the end.
- Land of Faerie: The whole setting in "The Paper Bag Princess".
- Limited Wardrobe: The characters wear the exact same outfits each and every day, if time passes in that episode.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Prince Ronald showing his true colors when Princess Elizabeth comes to save him, kinda saved her from being stuck with him, and taught her that she does not have to be famous to be happy.
- Nightmare Sequence: At the beginning of "Moira’s Birthday", she dreams about her birthday being very boring with only 6 kids, and a very square looking cake that she does not like, along with there being a thunderstorm. She then fears that her birthday is going to end up like this at first.
- Oh, Crap!: Many times in the episodes.
- When Moira’s father sees all of the kids Moira really invited coming to the door and imagines them all as ghosts in a graveyard.
- When Robyn’s parents see her driving a truck by herself at the end.
- The title character from "The Boy in the Drawer" has this reaction after Shelley's "Eureka!" Moment about him changing size depending on if he’s ignored or not.
- Or Was It a Dream?: Towards the end of "50 Below Zero", Jason is showing sleeping on top of the fridge even though he went to bed after finally tying his papa's big toe to the bed so he won't leave, and his mother assures him it was a dream or hallucination. But then his papa is shown with the rope tied to his big toe, indicating that maybe it possibly wasn't after all.
- Police Are Useless: The police don’t really seem to do anything to quiet Mortimer down, and they almost seem hesitant on doing so. In fact, it seems like the police never care about anything in this show as a whole, despite all of the situations you would think they would respond to.
- Save the Jerk: Princess Elizabeth has to save Ronald, and he is a prime example of Jerkass.
- Secret Test of Character: Princess Elizabeth has a major epiphany when she goes and saves Ronald, only to learn how he really is.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: In "The Fire Station" when Michael and Sheila's parents don't recognize them at first due to how dirty they are from their adventure.
- Shameful Shrinking: Serves as the defeat for the title antagonist from "The Boy in the Drawer", after Shelley realizes he’s able to grow or shrink depending on if he’s ignored or given attention.
- Sizeshifter: The title character of "The Boy in the Drawer" is able to grow and shrink depending on if he’s given attention by Shelley and her family or ignored.
- Spoiled Sweet: Moira is implied to be very rich and popular, but she really is a nice person who is willing to work to make up for all the mess the guests made.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Prince Ronald of course! In "The Paper Bag Princess".
- Villain Song: "I'm So Happy" from the episode "The Boy in the Drawer".
- Vine Swing: Thomas from "Thomas's Snowsuit" swings from the lights on the ceiling complete with the familiar yell when attempting to run from the adults.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: All of the characters are one-time, and are never present again in any other episodes. The cameos may not necessarily count although Jason's sleeping papa in "50 Below Zero" had slept learning on a car in "Mortimer" among the crowd.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: While in Canada, it is never stated exactly where in the country each episode is. Although some episodes reuse locations from other ones, indicating that they all are possibly in Toronto.
- Wild Teen Party: "Moira’s Birthday" is a prime example of this.
