Western Animation / Ciencia Zapata

"Science has solved another mystery!"

Ciencia Zapata^Translation Zapata Science is an Argentine TV show directed by Pablo Accame and produced by Esteban Gaggino.

Science travels to the list of tropes!

• Agents Scully and Mulder: Sofia and Zapata, respectively.
  • Zapata even has a blog titled "The Z-Files".
• Alien Among Us: What Zapata seeks to uncover in They're Among Us.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Downplayed. Sure, Zapata's hypotheses are all alien-related, and he corrects Sofia every time she calls him "little brother", but overall they get along pretty well.
• The Antagonist: Dr. No (no, not that one), a self-proclaimed scientist who takes advantage of people's ignorance and gullibility for profit, sometimes taking on Paper-Thin Disguises. In the end, the siblings always manage to expose him (followed by him running away).
• Best Friend: What Zapata calls Carl Sagan (who sort of agreed with his thoughts about aliens) when recording for The Z-Files while climbing up the mountain in Live Aliens!
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Sofia sometimes uses Zapata's "I hate".
  • In Alien Volcano, the grumpy old man uses it too.
  Grumpy old man: I hate brief interruptions of vacations to prove that it's all a hoax.
  Zapata: Hey! I'm the one who says that!
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: At the end of Alien Birdhouses, when Zapata finally gets a whistle right, he whistles the show's theme song, prompting Sofia to ask "Where have I heard that melody before...?" to which Zapata winks at the audience.
• Brother–Sister Team: The Zapata siblings.
• The Cameo: In the "Brainstorm" segment of an episode, Sofia asks a renowned scientist/-ologist for ideas. They also give part of the explanation to debunk Dr. No's hoax.
• Captain Obvious: Sofia has a moment of this in most episodes. When science arrives to a destination and finds someone, she takes out her magnifying glass, points out parts of the person's outfit (and sometimes what they're holding), and says "Science confirms that you're a [...]!"
• Catchphrase:
  • "Science travels to [...]!"
  —Sofia, when she and Zapata head somewhere
  • "I hate [...]."
  —Zapata
  • See the quote below the page picture.
  • "Science has spoken."
  Dr. No, after giving his own explanation of what's going on
  • "Aaaaand?"
  Zapata^note and if they meet someone when they arrive at their destination, they're there too while Sofia is analyzing something in the lab.
  • "We need a... Brainstorm!"
  Sofia, right before the Title Card of the episode's Brainstorm segment
• Chekhov's Gunman: A kid seen swimming in the sea of Samborombón, while the siblings talk to the fisherman, in Giant Alien Octopus. It's autumn, so the lake should've been cold, but for him to be swimming in it, it'd have to be warm. This, along with the Patagonian seahorse Zapata found, helped Sofia figure out that the black drums had gone away due to the phenomenon known as El Niño.
• A Dog Named "Dog": Dr. No's parrot... Parrot.
• Double Entendre: In Alien Tornadoes, Zapata hears the town's meteorologist mention Dr. Oracle, laughs and says "She said a bad word!". In Spanish, "oracle" is "oráculo"; take away the "orá-" and you get "culo", meaning "ass".
• Evil Laugh: Dr. No does these frequently.
• Fangirl: A girl called exactly that; "fangirl". Like a stereotypical fangirl, she squeals a lot, is a fan of... a lot of things, and asks for autographs.
• Flea Episode: Superpowered Fleas! The siblings find news about a flea invasion in Pueblo Rascarasca (approx. translation: Scritchscratch Town). There, a sleepy man tells them the townsfolk have been taking turns to watch the fleas, and as a consequence, haven't been getting much sleep. It turned out Dr. No had been experimenting with the fleas, making them resistant to the insecticides the townspeople use and sending them through the town's dogs, in order to sell them his (HIGHLY expensive) own insecticide.
• Forced Sleep: In Alien Dreams, the people of Nightmare Town are constantly and suddenly falling asleep. This was due to the high amount of carbon monoxide released by the in-situ leaching by Dr. No, which reduced the oxygen in the air.
• Fountain of Youth: What the eponymous episode revolves around. Dr. No claims to have found an elixir that grants eternal youth and is selling bottles of it at Eternal Youth Town, where people — even at age 70 — can pull of physical activities like they're only 17. Turns out the youth came from just having a pretty healthy lifestyle, and the "elixir" was just water.
• Haunted House: What the eponymous episode revolves around. The siblings, after seeing news about a haunted house in Buenos Aires, head there to investigate. There, they find floating objects and fairies. In the end, Sofia proves that the objects floated due to a high amount of pyrolytic carbon added onto them, plus the set of magnets placed under the house's floor by Dr. No, which pyrolytic carbon levitates on instead of going towards; and the fairies were hallucinations caused by carbon monoxide.
• High-Class Glass: Worn by Dr. Oracle, one of Dr. No's disguises.
• Insectoid Aliens: In Live Aliens!, Dr. No claims to have found alien beetles from Neptune that can live in up to -150°, and claims he'll be opening a zoo in Pueblo Fresquete (approx translation: Blizzard Town) for people to watch them, as an excuse to get money from the townsfolk.
• Ironic Echo: There are cases when something one sibling says is echoed by the other later.
• Love Interest: Olivia, Zapata's love interest. First appeared in The Origin of Captain Z, where it also turned out she has an interest in aliens and paranormal stuff too, which made Zapata fall in love even more. In Aguas Blancas, she starts her own blog titled "The Olivia Files", which starts a Friendly Rivalry between her and Zapata.
• Man-Eating Plant: In The Cactus Dance. At the beginning of the episode, Zapata fights one in the Captain Z videogame, and in the episode's videogame segment (see Shout-Out), he has to dodge a few by jumping.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Einstein, the siblings' pet hamster.
• Nap-Inducing Speak: In Alien Dreams, Zapata recalls that one time when he fell asleep listening to Sofia explaining the periodic table.
• Parrot Pet Position: Parrot, like any Pirate Parrot, stands on Dr. No's shoulder when not doing anything.
• Pirate: The Purity Town fisherman resembles one. He's got a Hook Hand and occassionally lets out an "Arrr".
• Pokémon Speak: Parrot, being a parrot, can speak, but only says his name.
• Repetitive Name: Zapata Zapata.^note Though his full name is never directly mentioned.
• Rhymes on a Dime: The Samborombón fisherman delivers (most of) his lines in rap.
• Say My Name: When Dr. No appears as himself, the siblings gasp and do this.
• Shout-Out: Each episode has a short segment that resembles a videogame; it stars Zapata as he carries out his "investigations". The credits sequence does this too:
  • Donkey Kong: Same concept, but with Zapata as Mario, Dr. No as DK, Sofia as Lady, and the hammer is instead a lightsaber.
  • Pac-Man: Parrot chases Einstein until the latter gets a powerup and starts chasing the other back.
  • Super Mario Bros.: Sofia and Dr. No get under two blocks and jump, hitting them with their heads — which brings out the credits of that part.
• Snooping Little Kid: Zapata. Dr. No even calls him an "annoying kid" when he's "getting close to the truth".
• Something Only They Would Say: At the beginning of They're Among Us, when Zapata tries to check whether Sofia is an undercover alien or not.
  Zapata: Here's a question only the real Sofia could answer: What is my blog's password?
  Sofia: Everyone is an alien until proven otherwise.
  Zapata: Ha. You're the real Sofia. But I'll be watching you...
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Dr. No seems to understand what Parrot says, even though all the audience hears is "parrot".
• Spot the Imposter: In Alien Cloning, the siblings find news about one judge Juan Replicado (Juan Replicated) in Double Town having an exact copy of him; house and sheep included. Turns out one of them was Dr. No in disguise, and his sheep were clones. He had taken the guise of judge Replicado in order to make human cloning legal.
• Squee: The Fangirl lets out a lot of these (duh). However, Sofia lets one out too when she meets the director of her favorite magazine, Top Science, in Live Dinosaurs!.
• Stock Ness Monster: Cuellito Largo (Long Neck), from the episode of the same name. In the episode, the siblings hear news about a lake in a town (also of the same name) losing its water. There, they see Cuellito Largo merch and meet a guy wearing a Cuellito Largo costume, and in the lake, Zapata encounters a Cuellito Largo robot built by Dr. No.
• Useless Without Cell Phones: At the beginning of Alien Garbage, Zapata freaks out when he loses the Internet connection.
  Zapata: No Internet!? [starts panicking]
  Sofia: Calm down, Zapata.
  Zapata: Calm down!? There's no Internet and you tell me to calm down!? I was born with Internet! I grew up with Internet! My generation needs In-ter-net! I need Internet!
• Weather Manipulation: Dr. Oracle (who is really Dr. No in disguise) in Alien Tornadoes...seemingly. In reality, he had a Weather-Control Machine. He did this in order to get money from the townsfolk in exchange for fixing the constantly changing weather.
  Dr. Oracle: [dramatically] I have magical powers!