Good question!
This 52-episode series from CBeebies is billed as "The first philosophy show for preschool-age children." Each episode is roughly 5 minutes long and features Hugo, a young boy who loves asking questions to his two unseen friends, Felix and Lily. Each short is about a different topic, such as “nature” or “friendship”, and aims to explore different philosophical questions about it in a way that little kids can understand, mainly through the Socratic method. Each episode also features an ending where Hugo asks a question to the audience without talking about the answer, instead asking "What do you think?"
What are tropes?
- Appeal to Authority: At the end of "Obedience", Hugo asks "If my parents tell me to do something that I think is wrong, what should I do?"
- Ambiguous Ending: Invoked. As stated above, each episode ends with Hugo asking the audience a question without answering it. This is so that kids can come to their own conclusions instead of having the show just tell them everything.
- Ambiguous Time Period: From the way everyone's dressed and the constantly shifting landscape, it seems like this show takes place at least 20 Minutes into the Future, but a lot of current technology like iPhones isn't present at all.
- Interactive Narrator: Felix and Lily, Hugo's two friends from offscreen who discuss his questions with him.
- Leit Motif: Anytime Hugo asks a question, a specific jingle is played.
- One-Word Title: All of the episodes are simply named for their topic, such as "Thinking" or "Sad".
- Present Tense Narrative: All three of the main kids have a habit of pointing out what's going on at the moment.
- Questioning Title?: Appropriate for a series all about philosophy and asking things.
- Space Clothes: Though it's never explained why, everyone in the show wears form-fitting jumpsuits that even cover most of their hair.
- Terrain Sculpting: The world Hugo lives in constantly changes according to whatever idea he's exploring at the moment. In "Humans", he comes to the conclusion that being human means being able to think, and suddenly the place he's in fills up with giant green question marks!
- True Art Is Incomprehensible: Discussed in the episode "Art." Hugo and Lily talk about how even if people don't understand your art, what matters is that it helps you express your feelings.
