Calvin and Hobbes: The Series/Tropes N-Z


The rest of the tropes are on this page.

Tropes for Calvin and Hobbes: The Series, N - Z:


N-S

"Gang's all here! Cally! Hobbo! Ando and Vermin!" [1]

  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: "Tornado Sharks", Calvin's idea for a movie.
    • In that same episode ("Wild Movie"), Socrates' ideas for improving Calvin's Stupendous Man" movie includes adding several ninjas and martians.
  • No Fourth Wall: Aside from all the Medium Awareness, there's "The Night of the Living Television": After Calvin leaves to test his newest invention, Hobbes turns to the audience and says:

"You know what's going to happen, and I know what's going to happen."

    • Socrates turns to the audience to lampshade his Rapid-Fire Typing in "Personality Test":

"I have 1,200 words per minute."

    • After Calvin finds Hobbes curled up in the water heater in "Pranking the Ghosts":

(to audience) "It's amazing what you find when you just clam up."

"I always figured you Brainstorms lost your vocal cords generations ago, and they were replaced with air horns."

    • Calvin in "Personality Test", complaining about anything and everything that crosses his path for several days.
    • He does it again (though slightly nuanced) in "Pharaoh Andrew".
    • It comes to a head in "Hear My Voice", when, in upgrading the Scream Horn, he has to scream into it constantly. It results in laryngitis.
  • Noodle Implements: In "Sherman Goes to the Vet":

Andy: "Let's see… Iodine, band-aids, gauze, bullwhip, small strait-jacket, helmet, pan, shampoo, gloves, tranquilizer, chloroform, tennis racquet, ice cubes, Banana Peel, cage, snare trap, baloney, modem…"

  • Noodle Incident: Aside from the Trope Namer, "Camp Blues" references a "soda can incident".
    • And "Chaos to My Ears" does likewise for a "peanut butter incident".
    • This bit from "The Alien Huntress" certainly implies something:

Sheila: Now what are you doing? You aren't abandoning me like you did in 1987, ARE YOU?

    • Calvin apparently trampled Roselyn's mom's garden in "Chains".
  • Non Sequitur Thud: After crashing their sled in "Hypercube":

Hobbes: How much cluck could a good duck cluck if a good duck could cluck good?
Calvin: Darkness? It is I, Pajama Sam! I have come to vanquish you!

Sherman: GAH! NO! I AIN'T GOING TO NO DOCTOR!
Andy: Hmm, your dialect is crumbling. You're nervous alright.

Socrates: It's Andy and Sherman. I'm at their house right now. They're just sitting at the TV doing nothing!
Hobbes: Isn't that what Andy usually does?
Socrates: Yes, but this time, there's no video game! And Sherman hasn't insulted me in over fifteen minutes! I'm beginning to worry!
Hobbes: You show worry for somebody else? Goodness, Socrates! This must be serious!

"OKAY! DOES ANYONE ELSE WANNA TRY AND STOP ME? BECAUSE THIS IS GETTING REALLY OLD!"

    • The first Visual Pun in "Tracer Bullet in Color!". See below for more details.
    • And Klein's Motor Mouth moment, noted above.
    • And another Klein's stating the rules of the theater in "Attack of the Monsters".
  • Pass the Popcorn: Hobbes does this at the end of "Camp Blues".
    • Also invoked by him in "Insanity is in the Air":

"Hello? Socrates? Meet me down at the park. And bring popcorn."

"DOCTER FREAKIN' BRAINSTORM!"

Narrator: A season of... product placement?
Hobbes: Who's up for the What About Bob? movie!

Calvin and Socrates: I AM!

  • Punch Clock Villain: Jack, who regularly chats with the heroes and doesn't really care much for Dr. Brainstorm's schemes.
  • Pyramid Power: "Pharaoh Andrew" has the gang going to the Pyramids of Giza for Calvin's school report. They end up having to fight off some mummies.
  • Race Against the Clock: "Eggs for Calvin": Hobbes and Socrates have Calvin find five eggs hidden throughout town in an hour or else he gets pranked. He ends up getting two crooks arresting trying to win.
    • "Our Solemn Hour": Holographic Retro sets up an extremely hazardous maze that Calvin and Hobbes must escape from within an hour, or else they'll be crushed by the ceiling. They just barely make it, and then Calvin and Retro have their showdown...
  • Rapid-Fire Typing: Lampshaded by Socrates to the audience:

"I have 1,200 words per minute."

Sebboh: It's still burning.

"He/I should have read the manul [sic]."

    • This also sets up a Brick Joke: after Calvin stops making the machine that sets up the plot, Dr. Brainstorm barges in:

"Alright, Calvin! I've gone over that manul [sic], and now I'm all ready for you and your precious little powers! GIVE ME YOUR WORST!"

  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Near the end of "Thunderstorm", Hobbes mocks the recently deceased MTM as being useless, and Calvin replies as follows:

"All MTM ever did was try to help us. He always fired his lasers on time, and he always tried to lighten the mood. And what did you do during all those adventures? You were always running off. You were always hiding. You never helped us. What happened when we were attacked by a monster under my bed? You ran off. What happened when Socrates and I were attacked by a mountain lion? You ignored us. What happened when we were all trapped by that ghost? You deserted us. What happened when Socrates was lost and cornered by two bears? You feigned injury and made me do all the work, AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE SOCRATES! YOU STAND HERE COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW USELESS MY INVENTIONS ARE, WHEN IN REALITY, YOU'RE THE USELESS ONE! I DON'T KNOW WHY I BOTHER WITH YOU! I SHOULD'VE KICKED YOU OUT ON SORRY FURRY BUTT YEARS AGO!"

Andy: (describing all the times Socrates has been injured) Well, let's see. Your voice has been switched into that of a duck's, you've been electrocuted by the MTM, you've been trapped in the hypercube, a transmitter has been inserted into you, you've been ejected into the clou...
Socrates: Wait a minute, what was that last one?
Andy: Uhhh... electrocuted by the MTM?

  • The Reveal: "Alien Nation": Calvin's surprise return. Socrates faints!
  • Reverse Psychology: Dr. Brainstorm's Servant Ray only works when told to do the opposite of what he wants it to do.
    • This is lampshaded in a completely unrelated incident in "Electronic Invasion":

Calvin: (after a Self-Destruct Mechanism fails to go off) So there you have it. If Brainstorm wanted the place to blow up, it wouldn't blow up. If he didn't want it to blow up, it would blow up. It's called "Brainstorm psychology".

Calvin: Yeah right, and we've been getting "your" and "you're" switched on this show all the time as well. [2]

(to Andy) "Keep that sense of sarcasm handy, Andrew. You'll go far in life."

"IT'S DOCTOR BRAINSTORM!"

"She'd keep us there all day and all night! We'd have to sleep in sleeping bags on the classroom floor, and be waken up by a drill sergeant at three in the morning to do laps around the school! She'd have us wear horrible itchy uniforms and ban recess! Homework would double! No, TRIPLE!"

Radio Shack employee: Welcome to Radio Shack. How may I help you?
Sheila: SPY EQUIPMENT! IT'S FOR MY SON'S BIRTHDAY! NOT FOR ME! MY SON! NOTHING SUSPICIOUS ABOUT BUYING SPY STUFF!


T-Z

Hobbes: The vet shall attack you, young Vermin! Be afraid! Be very afraid! Think of that 1997 Batman movie with George Clooney! Terrifying! Not terrifying entertainment! Just terrifying!

"Alternative title: Star Wars III: A Trip to the Dentist."

    • After encountering the clones in "Electronic Invasion":

Hobbes: Are you all going to become Ben Stine stand-ins?

"...no pagers, no iPods, no iPhones, no iTunes, no PDA, no laptops, digital cameras, no video cameras, no mini-DVD's… In fact, no technology that essentially does the exact same thing, but Apple says are each incredibly different in a scheme to make money."

Narration: Let's just have a nice little montage showing what happened during the week with music playing, shall we?

Calvin: Come on guys! Mission: Socrates is now in effect!

Tiger Eye: Everyone get back! You're all in danger! Run to safety!
(The crowd moves into the street, where they're immediately hit by a truck)

  • Took a Level in Badass: Calvin gets a lot more serious during the fourth season. His manipulating of the titular "Invasion" is a little eerie to behold.
    • It gets even more impressive during the Season Five premiere, where he manages to orchestrate events so that Rupert Chill will become trapped in his human disguise for the police to find, mistaking him for an escaped convict.
  • Totem Pole Trench: Calvin uses a singular variant using stilts to get on an amusement park ride in "The Genius Hamster".

"That was easy. Those kids on TV should try stuff like that instead of those silly growth machines and potions."

Calvin: Andy, quick! If you got a chain letter mailed to you saying you were going die a horrible death if you didn't forward it, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
(beat)
Andy: Uuuuuh..
Calvin: Hypothetically, of course!

MTM: (after Socrates' overly long security measures go off) I think we could classify this as mildly curious.

    • From "Attack of the Monsters":

MTM: The Mega-Shrinker 6000 malfunctioned and opened a hole in the universe, causing a monster from under his bed to escape, destroy his room and take off to find him. How's that then?
(beat)
Andy: Hmmm... Yeah, I guess that qualifies as being bad.

Tracer: (going through names) Here's one. Casabas.
(an egg timer goes off)
Tracer: Wait a minute. That name rings a bell.

(the egg timer goes off again)

Tracer: Casabas?

(the fire alarm goes off)

Tracer: Casabas?

(the doorbell goes off)

Tracer: Casabas...

(Big Ben rings)

    • From the same episode:

Tiger Eye: Oh, the Toe Truck's arrived.
(A truck shaped like a toe comes to tow a wrecked car)

    • And another one:

Club Flamingo employee: May I check your coat?
Tracer: Please.
(She draws a check mark on his coat)

Tiger Eye: Okay boys, run her in.
(The cops lead Lana to a starting line. Tiger Eye fires a starting pistol, and they start racing to prison)

"That... was... so... COOOOL!"

Calvin: Right, and so long after our sun goes kaput, and the rest of the living Earth dies out, those lobsters will still be kicking around, livin' la vida loca.

  • Weakened by the Light: The monsters under Calvin's bed, except for Jark because he's partly absorbed Calvin's DNA. It doesn't last, though.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Retro's hologram can be defeated by standing too far away from it. At least, until "The Night of the Living Television II"...
  • Weirdness Censor: From "Department Store Horrors";

People would enter the elevator every once in a while.
They found a six-year-old boy sticking a screwdriver into a CD player and a stuffed tiger with a magazine sitting in the corner.
They chose not to do anything about it.

    • This is taken Up to Eleven in "The Genius Hamster", where no one notices Calvin falling from nowhere and being saved by a CD player.

(later on) "The most unobservant town on the planet."

"Blah, blah, blah! This is the most boring part of the episode! Hero defeats villain, and villain threatens to come back, more powerful than ever! We've heard it all before, Charlie!"

    • And outright parodied in "SHEILA'S BACK!"

Dr. Brainstorm: (to Calvin and Hobbes, who did little to harm him) Oh right. DARN YOU and stuff.

  • Wham! Episode: "The Five Calvins" is much darker than anything before it.
    • And "Thunderstorm" brings in a competent and serious villain.
  • "What Do They Fear?" Episode: "The Return of Dr. Brainstorm" briefly sets itself up like this.
  • What the Hell, Hero??: Hobbes abandons his friends several times, and his name's in the title! Calvin finally calls him out on it in "Thunderstorm", and he finally helps in a big fight in the climax as a result.
  • Wolverine Claws: Jack's evil form has these in "62 Percent More Evil".
    • So does Jark, who uses them to Wall Crawl.
    • And Shadow.
  • Written-In Absence: Socrates isn't present in "62 Percent More Evil" because Andy and Sherman simply decided not to pick him up.
  • You Are Grounded: This often happens to Calvin, usually at the end of an episode.
  • You Didn't Ask: The MTM's reason for not telling Calvin that his data extractor would bring the mummies to life in "Pharaoh Andrew".
  • Your Head Asplode: The perceived consequence of Socrates' head transmitter/receiver not being replaced in time.
  • Your Mom: From "Pharaoh Andrew":

Calvin: (talking to a group of mummies who he thinks are worshipping him) And furthermore your mothers all wore paper towels on Halloween!

  1. ↑ This is the first time he called Andy "Ando" in the whole series.
  2. ↑ Yes, that was a re-occurring problem.
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