Unnatural History



A 2010 live action show on Cartoon Network about a globe-trotting teen named Henry Griffin who must now adjust to living in Washington, D.C. and attend Smithson High School, which is connected to a museum. Along with his cousin Jasper and their schoolfriend Maggie, they solve history's mysteries. As of 11/20/2010, the show has been cancelled.

"Matt: Huh, weird. Houdini's real name was Erik Weisz."
 * [[Academy of Adventur]
 * Action Girl: Maggie, if the [[Fight Scen] in "Thor's Slammer" was any indication of where her character is going.
 * [[Air Vent Passagewa]: Used by Henry, Jasper, and  in Past, Presidents and Future
 * [[Beneath Suspicio]: Ambassador Tolo's PR representative.
 * [[Book End]: Shown in "The Liberian Candidate".
 * Bound and Gagged: The Villains Of The Week in this show employ this relatively often, one example being in "Maximum Insecurity" when Jasper is tied to a chair and gagged with his own sock while being held hostage.
 * [[Brainy Brunett]: Maggie.
 * [[Cannot Tell a Jok]: Henry in spades.
 * [[Ceiling Clin]: Henry does this in "The Fountain of Truth".
 * [[The Cheerleade]: Subverted when.
 * [[Chekhov's Gu]:
 * And Chekhov's [[Harry Houdini|Houdin]'s.
 * Continuity Nod: There was a lot of this in "Past, Presidents, and Future".
 * The Cracke]: Part of the [[Five-Bad Band in "Maximum Insecurity".
 * Then came the announcement on November 20th...
 * [[Dawson Castin]: Italia Ricci (Maggie) is 24. A bit of a stretch for someone playing a high schooler, but she makes it work.
 * [[Deadly Ga]: A bordeline case used in Professor Morneau's greenhouse.
 * [[Designated Girl Figh]: Maggie and the female professor/scientist in "Thor's Slammer".
 * Did Not Do the Research : An in-universe example. In the pilot, Henry promises to follow the "Five" Noble Truths, while training in martial arts at a Buddhist monastary. So much for knowledge of foreign cultures....
 * Justifiable due to the fact that its played for comedy.
 * To be fair, maybe this is a case of Never Say "Die".
 * Edutainment Show: Sometimes, such as in "Griffin Gang" and "Sleeper in the Box," which were based on the Pony express and Sputnik, respectively. Other episodes... not so much.
 * Elaborate University High: Surprisingly averted. Smithson High is reasonably sized ([[Your Mileage May Var]), considering the fact that it's connected to a museum.
 * Faking the Dead: Henry does this in.
 * [[Family-Friendly Firearm]: Completely and utterly averted!
 * show those ugly teeth dentures...
 * The show seems to find any excuse it can to get Henry shirtless.
 * Not that anyone minds...
 * Even when he's not shirtless, we still get plenty of glimpses of tummy due to the fact that pretty much every acrobatic move Henry does culminates in his shirt riding up - usually quite a bit higher than the move would normally result in, but hey, I don't hear anyone complaining.
 * Henry and Jasper in suits.
 * [[Female Gaz]: After it's mentioned in a roundabout way that Henry goes commando ("It's a formal dance Henry, so wear underwear!"), the camera follows his bum as it walks upstairs for a little longer than necessary.
 * [[Fish Out of Wate]: Henry lived in pretty much everywhere on Earth except in urban society.
 * Even though traveling the world would make avoiding urban society completely impossible.
 * They never said he didn't travel through urban society, just that he didn't live there.
 * [[Freudian Tri]: Henry (id), Jasper (superego), and Maggie (ego).
 * [[Fun with Acronym]: Inverted with the DOUM Room.
 * Has its own page.
 * Girl of the Week: Two is a pattern, by the way.
 * [[Going Command]: It's been hinted that Henry does this. See [[Female Gaz].
 * Granola Girl: Maggie, to an extent.
 * [[Green-Eyed Epiphan]: Jasper spends most of one episode in a jealous sulking when he suspects that Henry's taking Maggie to the eclipse viewing. What happens [[Virgin Sacrifice|is much wors].
 * Hair of Gold: Henry.
 * [[Haunted Hous]: E.W.'s definitely felt like one at first, minus the run down look.
 * Heroic BSOD: Maggie in "Maximum Insecurity". Henry makes her feel better about it.
 * [[Ho Ya]: Henry and Jasper. Jasper calls Henry his "butt posse" and "someone to cover his rear end" before explaining that "girls call them bff's" and hurrying away.
 * And Jasper always seems very...worried whenever Henry is in even the slightest amount of danger. (Which wouldn't be so obvious, except often he's the only one who reacts in these situations.)
 * In "Maximum Insecurity", after the scuff marks he and Maggie have been following to find Jasper disappear, Henry reveals that he knows Jasper's scent well enough to follow it. It's a bit interesting, to say the least.
 * [[Hollywood Hackin]
 * less than pleased.
 * Jerk Jock: Hunter
 * Just a Kid: In "The Griffin Gang".
 * It's not exactl] [[Ship Tease|unwarranted.
 * [[Lampshade Hangin]: "Henry, please tell me you've been in the exact same situation before and have some kind of astounding escape plan."
 * [[Laser-Guided Karm]: Or more precisely,
 * Washington, D.C. knows that it's not the National Museum Complex but the Smithsonian or the National Mall.
 * Le Parkou]: Part of Henry's basic skillset. This does beg the question of how he knows it if he's never really lived in a city, but let's chalk it up to [[Rule of Cool.
 * It's more of a case of All There in the Manual. On the website it explains that Henry learned parkour in Paris, probably only visiting.
 * [[Linked-List Clue Methodolog]: Episodes that focus on Henry's godfather Dante tend to involve this.
 * Where have I heard of this before... Also, Smithson High is named after the founder of the Smithsonian Institution, which, as every good Indy fanboy knows, keeps the dangerous magical artifacts out of the hands of the crazies. In real life, the Smithsonian is simply the largest museum in America; pious skeptic Ales Hrdlicka's been dead longer than most people here have been alive.
 * There's Sven Erickson who studied the impact of vikings on American history. Considering the most well known viking is Leif Ericson...
 * [[Mighty White]: Henry has apparently lived with members of every African and Asian culture and excelled at all their skills, though we don't know how good he was in comparison to the natives. Of course, this does leave him with problems being a standard North American teenage boy. It's not clear if this is supposed to be a [[Deconstructed Trop] or not.
 * [[My Greatest Failur]: Working on the rocket with Jasper, according to Maggie.
 * [[My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap Tha]: Upon being introduced to Maggie by Jasper the first thing Henry asks him afterwards is if he's asked her out yet.
 * [[Nerds Are Sex]: Jasper.
 * [[No MacGuffin, No Winne]:
 * Actually,
 * [[Nobody Here But Us Bird]: Played straight to lure the bad guys around the museum in "Maximum Insecurity".
 * [[Obfuscating Stupidit]: See [[The Cheerleade].
 * [[One of U]: One of the producers of the show posts on TV Tropes' forums.
 * Mike Werb [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=raonkyeayxthdw01dcaheda6&page=5#113 posts there, to.
 * [[Out of Orde]: Subtle hints of this.
 * [[Perpetual Frowne]: Professor Morneau.
 * Playing Against Typ]: Before Unnatural History Kevin G. Schmidt (Henry) had a recurring role in The Young And The Restless and a minor part [[Disney Channel Original Movie. Meanwhile Italia Ricci (Maggie) was cast in the likes of How I Met Your Mothe] and [[Secret Girlfriend.
 * Playing Sick: Henry does this in "The Griffin Gang" to this to.
 * Justfied in that he was six and [[It Makes Sense in Context|hanging in a net from a tre].
 * [[Red Oni, Blue On]: Henry is obsessed with figuring things out and steadfastly refusing to be tied down by convention, while Jasper is preoccupied with fitting in and doing what his father tells him (for the things his father pays attention to, at least).
 * Sailor Earth: When they're not writing Jasper/Henry slash, fanfic authors enjoy pairing up the already hinted [[Pair the Smart Ones|Maggie/Jaspe] relationship, and writing in an OC (usually very well-travelled as well) to act as a [[Love Interes] to Henry. These can stray into [[Mary Su] territory.
 * Samus Is a Girl: [[Girl of the Week|Hoshi'] introduction.
 * Screwed By Being On The Network: It's not a bad show, and if it were on almost any other network, it could be well-received. But because it's airing on Cartoon Network, no matter how much they promote the show a lot of viewers aren't willing to give it a chance.
 * [[Animation Age Ghett], for live-action.
 * [[Ship Sinkin]: Maggie has said that "boyfriend land" is the one place she will not go with Henry.
 * One of the two places. The other was the [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|boys' locker roo].
 * [[Ship Teas]: Hints of this, alternating between [[Uptight Loves Wild|Henry/Maggi], [[Pair the Smart Ones|Jasper/Maggi], and [[Kissing Cousins|Henry/Jaspe].
 * [[Shirtless Scen]: Henry gets a lot of them, being a [[Mighty White] and all.
 * Slash Fic: Henry/Jasper (Hesper/Jasry). It should be noted that this started after only three episodes aired.
 * Slow Motio]: Just for [[Rule of Cool.
 * However, the slow motion used in the show lacks quality. It's choppy instead of smoothly flowing.
 * [[Take Tha]: To [[The Jonas Brother]. The only time they're mentioned, they're [[Eek! A Mouse!|hiding from a group of mic], and one of them can clearly be heard yelling "Mommy!"
 * Talking to Himself: Henry is a big offender. Lampshaded by Jasper.
 * [[Three Amigo]
 * To Be Continued: Strangely, the season finale ended with a (literal) stamp of this, even though the plot of the episode wrapped up. It's questionable if the second season would actually start with
 * So much for season 2...
 * [[Toilet Humo]: Occasionally.
 * Occasionally?
 * Occasionally.
 * Two Guys and a Girl
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Jasper's known Maggie almost all his life. When he asks her out, she just [[Sarcasm Failure|stares at him and walks awa].
 * The Un-Reveal: "Maximum Insecurity" started off with Jasper and Henry making a deal that whoever got the better exam scores would plan their weekend. After an offer from Mr. Bartlett to excuse them from taking the test so they could fit in both plans, Henry refuses because he'd already studied so hard. We never see how the boys do. Most assume [[Book Dumb|Henr] [[The Ace|got the better scor].
 * Verbal Tic: Henry [[Self-Demonstrating Article|does no] really use contractions.
 * Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World
 * [["Well Done, Son" Gu]: Jasper.
 * [[Wham! Lin]: From "Now You See Me", after E.W. leaves:
 * [[Wham! Lin]: From "Now You See Me", after E.W. leaves:


 * [[What Could Have Bee]: Canned after its first season.
 * And the second season and beyond sounds so much interestin. The whole first season sounds like exposition [[Fille compared to it.
 * "What Do They Fear?" Episod]: "Public School Enemies". See [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Henry is scared of driving after crashing a jeep in his childhood.
 * Would Hit a Girl:
 * X Meets Y: [[National Treasur] meets [[Harry Potte], minus the magic.
 * [[Scooby Do] meets [[National Treasur] meets [[Harry Potte]?
 * Plus a little [[Martin Myster] for the inappropriate UST between Henry and Jasper.
 * One of the commercials for the show calls it "a cross between [[The Hardy Boy] and [[Indiana Jone] with [[National Treasur] thrown in for good measure".
 * IN HIGH SCHOOL! IN A MUSEUM!
 * You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You: Said word-for-word by Henry to Dean Bartlett after the outbreak is cured in "The Griffin Gang."

]

] ]

]