Maisy, Maisy Mouse!
Maisy is both a British series of books and an animated children's series by Lucy Cousins. They feature the adventures of an apparently young female mouse named Maisy and her animal friends, which include Eddie the elephant, Cyril the squirrel, Tallulah the chicken and Charley the crocodile. Using her curiosity and imagination, Maisy is shown doing just about anything from taking her nightly bath to driving a train. Her adventures are presented in bright colors designed to appeal to the youngest audiences and all of the characters speak in a sort of childlike babble, their adventures described by a male narrator. The animated series (co-produced by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, and after their absorption of PolyGram, Universal) aired on CITV in its country of origin. Though no longer airing, most, if not all of it was released on VHS and DVD. In some places, such as The Other Wiki, the series is referred to by its more formal title of Maisy Mouse, but officially, including in TV listings and on the video releases, it was referred as simply Maisy. Though the TV series has long ended, the book series is still issuing new releases as of 2019 and an official online Maisy Fun Club
is available.Maisy includes examples of:
- Bathtub Bonding, Baths Are Fun and Interrupted Bath: The plot of the picture book Maisy Takes a Bath, later adapted for the animated series, was that Maisy Mouse wanted to take a bath, but her friend Tallulah the chicken kept knocking on her door, wanting her to come out and play. At the end of the story, Tallulah hopped in the bath with Maisy and they had fun together.
- British Royal Guards: Maisy and her friends encounter one, an owl-person, in the My Friend Maisy picture book Maisy Goes to London and Maisy takes a photo. The narration describes that the guard "is very serious. He doesn't even smile."
- Character Title & Character Name and the Noun Phrase
- Free-Range Children: The characters do what they want and go where they want, and There Are No Adults.
- Friendly Tickle Torture: There was an episode titled "Feather", at the end of which Maisy and her friends took turns getting tickled with said feather.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All of the titles are either one word or two at most describing what the episode is about, i.e. "Bath", "Christmas Tree", "Train", etc.
- Interactive Narrator: The narrator often speaks and asks questions of the characters, and always greets them by name. They often wave back, especially to say goodbye.
- A Lizard Named "Liz": The squirrel character is named Cyril.
- Long-Running Book Series: There are so many that a full count is hard to get, but there are at least 40, with the series having been going since at least the 1990s.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Maisy does just about anything, from being a doctor to flying planes.
- Potty Failure: Happens to Cyril in "Oops".
- Stock Animal Diet: According to Maisy's Surprise Party, Maisy's favorite snack is cheese.
- Surprise Party: One of the picture books, Maisy's Surprise Party.
- Thick-Line Animation: The series is a prime example of this. Based on simple picture books by Lucy Cousins, the characters and objects are all black lines with generally bright, cheery colors filled in to appeal to the youngest audiences.
- Title Theme Tune: "Maisy, Maisy, what are you gonna do today? Maisy, Maisy, do you want to play? ..."
- Universal Driver's License: Various books and television stories have shown Maisy driving a car, conducting a train, flying an airplane, driving a bus, and steering both a sailboat and a rowboat.
- Vague Age: They all play with toys and stuffed animals, and bedtime for Maisy appears to be 7:30 PM. They are also shown driving cars and flying planes, though official descriptions of the show suggest they are using their imagination.
- The Maisy First Experience books seem to make it more clear that they're children by having them do things like attending school and going swimming or to the museum for the first time.
- Voice Grunting: Besides the narrator, Maisy and her friends primarily babble, cheer, laugh, and otherwise emote without using words.
- However, in the Maisy First Experiences books, they speak to each other in complete sentences.
- Wedding Episode: The Maisy Goes to a Wedding book is about Maisy and her friends attending the marriage of Ostrich and Penguin.
- World of Funny Animals: Maisy and her friends look like animals that walk upright, but that's about it. From living in homes, to operating vehicles, to playing with toys, everything they do is human-like.
