Curious George

""George is a monkey, and he does things we can't do.""

- the PBS Kids show

Curious George is a series of books and a TV spin-off, plus a movie, based on the character by Margret and H.A. Rey. George is a monkey who is found overseas in Africa by "The Man With the Yellow Hat," a father-figure who takes the monkey home with him to his apartment in the city. Hilarity Ensues when the monkey is treated like a human child, rather than a pet. The books and series are marketed to the preschooler/early reader group and attempt to give children an early grasp on patterns and other bits of necessary information about life.

The original books
There have also been a number of pastiche works, most of them out of print for years.
 * Curious George (1941).
 * Curious George Takes a Job (1947).
 * Curious George Rides a Bike (1952).
 * Curious George Gets a Medal (1957).
 * Curious George Flies a Kite (1958).
 * Curious George Learns the Alphabet (1963).
 * Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966).

The Books, Movies, and TV Series Include Examples Of:


 * Adults Are Useless: The Man With the Yellow Hat often leaves George to his own devices. Let us repeat: George is a monkey.
 * Black Bead Eyes: In the books.
 * Caretaker Reversal: Occurs in a few of the tv series episodes.
 * Curious As a Monkey: Trope Namer
 * Deadpan Snarker: Junior. Actually Junior is made of this.
 * Don't Try This At Home (See the above page quote; used with the twist that the only death-defying stunts George does are his monkey antics)
 * Everythings Better With Monkeys
 * Great White Hunter: The Man with the Yellow Hat's role in the first book, where he captured George for an American zoo.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Maggie.
 * Hey Its That Voice: Frank Welker as George in the movie and TV series.
 * Hot Teacher: Maggie.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Ivan.
 * No Name Given: The Man With the Yellow Hat, until the movie, which revealed his name to be Ted Shackleford.
 * Nice Hat: The Man With the Yellow Hat, natch.
 * Person With the Clothing: The Man with the Yellow Hat.
 * The Nose Knows: Ivan.
 * Once Per Episode: George's curiosity would always get him in trouble. Then he would do something heroic, and all would be forgiven.
 * Shallow Love Interest: Thankfully averted with Maggie.
 * The Unfavorite: Junior.
 * Well Done Son Guy: Junior.
 * Shirtless Scene: Only happened once in the episode Curious George Sees Stars, where the Man in the Yellow Hat is seen in his swim trunks.

The Movies Include Examples Of:


 * Adaptation Expansion: The Movie, especially the character of Ted.
 * The Chew Toy/The Woobie: Ted spends most of the movie going between these two.
 * Crazy Prepared: The theater's phone tree has an option for Klingon.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Ted in the movie, when things don't go well for him.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: During Ted's exchange with an unseen and unheard angry motorist, Ted yells back, "Well, that's physically impossible for me to do!"
 * Sequel: Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey - Direct to Video
 * Single Issue Landlord: Only in The Movie.
 * The Other Darrin: In The Movie Ted was voiced by Will Ferrell; in the Sequel he was voiced by Jeff Bennett