Rupert

A 1990s Nelvana adaptation of the children's comic strip Rupert Bear. The show lasted for 5 seasons and 65 episodes (1991-1995, 1997), first airing on YTV and later appearing in reruns on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block.

Tropes exclusively in the Nelvana cartoon series
"Billy Blizzard: Merry Christmas! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
 * Art Shift: The intro (the original one, not the Nick Jr. version) starts with Rupert leaving his house, where the art style mimics the original comic's style having Rupert being fairly small; after a few seconds, it transitions into the art style used by the show with a taller, older looking Rupert.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Bill will immediately get worked up whenever Toby appears to be in danger.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the 1990's cartoon, Rupert will occasionally make aside comments directed towards the audience.
 * Catch Phrase: The Professor's "Think of the possibilities!"
 * Chess Motifs: Rupert and Bill in Gameland
 * Cycle of Revenge: Rupert and the Leprechauns: "First they stole the amulet, then we stole it, then they stole it, then we stole it, then they stole it, then we stole it, then they stole it, then we stole it, then they stole it...''
 * Dawson Casting
 * Digging to China: Rupert's Chinese friend Pong Ping had a lift that took the occupants straight down to China. It turned over halfway so they wouldn't arrive standing on their heads.
 * Fractured Fairy Tale: Happens to Storyland in Rupert and the Fiddle.
 * Furry Confusion: Due to the nature of Rupert's universe, it's bound to happen. Especially in Rupert and the Little Bear.
 * Harmless Freezing: Tends to happen whenever Billy Blizzard is around.
 * Historical Domain Character via Time Travel
 * Rupert's Roman Adventure: Gaius Julius Caesar
 * Rupert and Queen Bess: William Shakespeare and Queen Bess
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf: Bill is terrible at singing. Ironically, it always succeeds in putting babies to sleep.
 * It Runs on Nonsensoleum: The reason that Rupert and Podgy were not affected when time was frozen is because they were sitting in a tent, eating peppered pickles, and they sneezed at the exact same time.
 * Message in a Bottle: Rupert receives an invitation this way from a pirate friend, courtesy of Seven Seas Postal Service. Complete with an eel postman!
 * Another time, Rupert is captured and folds a paper boat message and sends it downriver.
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: Both straight and played with in Rupert in Timeland
 * Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: Rupert and the Tiger's Eye: Rupert is on holiday at Sandy Cove, where nothing ever happens... except for the jewel thief has crash landed his plane.
 * Oh Dear: In Rupert Bear and Billy Blizzard, Billy's being a jerk in the North Pole, as per usual, but once they tell Father Christmas, he'll sort everything out! Except he's frozen too...


 * Reluctant Monster: Kledwin the Dragon in Rupert and the Knight.
 * Ruthless Modern Pirates: One of the cartoons featured river pirates, who show up in a later episode as members of a pirate retirement home, which had previously been inhabited solely by more traditional pirates.
 * Shaped Like Itself: "Edward's as strong as an elephant."
 * Short Cuts Make Long Delays: A recurring plot element and running joke in the cartoon series is that all of Bill's "short cuts" invariably lead to some sort of strange adventure, but never where they wanted to go in the first place. In one episode, the two decided to split up and make a race out of it. Naturally, this time it's Rupert taking the proper route who finds himself in a land of adventure, which implies that it's not the shortcuts that lead to adventure, it's Rupert.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: Algy brags about being better at things than he really is; most everyone just ignores it, but once when Rupert and Bill played a prank to make him look as good as he says he is, he is mistaken for a great hero and drafted to fight a monster.
 * Time Skip: Due to an accident in Timeland, Rupert and Podgey skip through various stages of their future selves from teenagers to seniors; luckily, Father Time was able to restore their proper ages when he sent them back home.

The CGI cartoon:

 * Disneyfication: BIG TIME. It completely skewed the characters toward little kiddies.
 * Flying Car
 * Gender Flip: The cartoon flipped Pong Ping and Ferdy Fox into females. Pong Ping's name was flipped to Ping Pong and Ferdy was renamed "Frieda".