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{{quote|'''Riku:''' Now you know. And knowing is half the battle!<br />
'''Sora:''' The other half is shooting somebody.|'''''[[
The episode of your cartoon series is over already, and the kids haven't yet had [[An Aesop]] or a science lesson? Well, we can't have that!
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A type of [[Public Service Announcement]] or PSA, which often contains these when it uses characters from the show in the same timeslot.
Sometimes it wasn't even a moral lesson, but a science fact related to the [[Sci Fi]] setting. The first season of ''[[
Most commonly seen in [[The Eighties]], and a lot in [[The Seventies]] as well, its main use can be seen in police documentaries as a way to end the programme and to finish off with lessons learned - mainly aimed at drivers. So it's not quite a [[Dead Horse Trope]] or a [[Discredited Trope]] yet. And, [[Undead Horse Trope|as long as]] cartoons need E/I ratings or family shows need approval from [[Moral Guardians]], ''someone'' will play this trope straight.
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* ''[[G.I. Joe Extreme]]'' also had PSAs, and even used the "Knowing is half the battle" line too.
{{quote| "I didn't know we had a ninja..."}}
* ''[[G.I. Joe:
* ''[[G.I. Joe: Renegades]]'' drops this in as a [[Mythology Gag]] in the first episode as Cobra Pharmaceuticals ''corporate motto''.
* A somewhat-recent internet phenomenon was the spoof [[Redubbing|redubs]] of the original ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' shorts by Fensler Films, which usually turned them into [[Detournement|something utterly incoherent and surreal]] ("Alright, give 'im the stick - DOOOOON'T GIVE 'IM THE STICK!").
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ-ckU_D1fg G. I. JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOE..!]
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== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' -- the "Sailor Says" segments which were created solely for the North American dub.
** Some of these took ''extremely'' vague lessons out of the material. As [[That Guy With
*** Because artists take drugs. Right.
*** Not to mention that the lead in bit about the buses doesn't fit at all because the bus would technically be more efficient (as a single bus would house more people than a single car) than just a carpool. This goes double for cities that have invested in hybrid/electric buses, though the segment probably came before those became common. Not that energy efficient cars were common either... So yeah.
** ''[[Sailor Moon Abridged]]'' loves to mock these.
*** "So....Studying....Yeah...."
* The "science lessons" in ''[[
** Though in [[
* An anime which plays this straight is ''[[Mari and Gali]]'', which attempts to teach middle school students about scientific principles. Its makers still throw in a lot of slapstick and general silliness, so the result is [[Widget Series|rather strange]]--to say the least.
* ''[[Yakitate!! Japan]]'' ends each episode with a random factoid about bread.
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* ''[[Hikaru no Go]]'' ends episodes with a live-action segment that discusses actual Go strategy.
* ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'' ends each episode with basic safety tips for beginning football players.
* ''[[Harukanaru Toki no Naka
** ''[[La Corda D Oro|La Corda d'Oro - Primo Passo]]'' does the same with "Lili's One-Point Classic" and music.
* ''[[Nyan Koi]]'' ends each episode with a segment called MewView, where the main character cats recap the episode in a humorous way, and then sign off with an "interesting fact" about cats.
* ''[[Bartender]]'' ends each episode with a recipe for an alcoholic drink. The ending sequence also shows a bartender preparing said drink.
* Used in one volume of the English edition of [[Kindaichi Case Files]] talking about the differences between Western and Japanese computers. They also use it to justify the heavy edits by explaining that if they used a literal translation, the English reading audience won't get a fair chance at solving the mystery themselves.
* Some of the ''[[
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== Film ==
* Parodied by ''[[Love Actually]]'':
{{quote| '''[[Hates the Job, Loves
* In ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action]]'', after Bugs Bunny explains the art technique of Pointillism, he says: "I think, when you go to the movies, you should learn somethin'."
* Steven Seagal's speech at the end of ''[[On Deadly Ground]]''
* ''[[Toy Story]] 2'' has an in-universe example where the last aired episode of [[Show Within a Show|Woody's Roundup]] had the show Woody address the audience about not forgetting their friends and family while singing the recurring song "You've Got a Friend in Me". This convinces the Woody watching, who had just decided to abandon his old friends and his owner Andy to go to a museum in Japan with the rest of the roundup gang toys, to reverse his decision and take the roundup gang with them.
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* Each major American network has their own version of these. The most well-known and often parodied are NBC's "The More You Know Segments", which featured celebrities of the time in [[Public Service Announcement|Public Service Announcements]]. Notable parodies include:
** A special feature on ''[[The Office]]'' season 2 DVD, where the show's characters tell you important facts about life. Dwight informs viewers that he could survive on a wolf's diet, Jim tells you that the black jelly beans are bad, and Ryan tells you, if you're hanging out with your friends, and someone tries to sell you a $9 beer, just say no, because $9 is way too much for a beer. ''[[The Office]]'' [[Biting the Hand Humor|airs on NBC.]]
* ''[[
** It also parodied it with 'The More You Wish You Didn't Know' on a segment concerning the ACORN scandals.
* One of J.D.'s fantasies in ''[[
{{quote| '''JD:''' You had a tough day at the office. So you come home, make yourself some dinner, smother your kids, pop in a movie, maybe have a drink. It's fun, right? Wrong. Don't smother your kids.}}
* The other three "big four" networks have their own answers to NBC's "The More You Know" PSAs. As for TMYK, the logo at the top of the page is no longer used; they use a different one now, still with the star motif.
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** The camera then pans away to show that he's not addressing the audience, but a girl in the bar, and the music cuts out as she rejects him. He immediately turns to another girl and begins the speech again.
* In the early seasons, all episodes of ''[[Power Rangers]]'' ended with "a message from the Power Rangers." Though not as frequent as before, Rangers doing a public service announcement or two has made a comeback in recent years (apparently, listening to your parents is as important factor in being a hero as far as the Overdrive Rangers are concerned... even though [[Broken Aesop|their Red Ranger became a Ranger by ignoring his father's prohibitions]] against his putting himself in danger that way).
* The show ''[[Dinosaurs]]'' parodied this at the end of a parody of a [[Very Special Episode]], with Robbie exhorting viewers to "end preachy [[
* Has happened at least twice in the FOX series ''[[
* ''[[
* The [[ABC Family]] series ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'' features a clip of [[Shailene Woodley]]'s character prompting teens and parents to talk about underage sex, because "Teenage pregnancy is 100% avoidable!"
** Sometimes other characters do this, like [[Francia Raisa]]'s character, Adrian.
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* The ''[[Son of the Beach]]'' show attempted to parody this. Unfortunately, the parodies weren't funny.
* ''[[Eureka]]'' has a series of PSAs called ?Live Smart, Eureka? featured on the Season 2 DVD. They consist of reminding the really smart scientists that what they are doing could potentially be really dumb.
* ''The [["Weird Al" Yankovic
* ''[[Police Camera Action]]'' started doing from 2007 onwards at the end of the show. Even the episode ''Ultimate Pursuits'' had one, although that could be considered as [[The Parody|a parody]] of ''[[Back to
* ''[[
{{quote| '''Tracy's Sex Doll:''' You know a lot of people look down on sex dolls. But as you saw tonight they save lives and bring families together. How am I such an expert? I’m Tracy Jordan’s sex doll!}}
* Spoofed by ''[[The Late Late Show]] with Craig Ferguson'', which ends every episode with a segment named "What Did We Learn on the Show Tonight, Craig?" right before the ending credits. Quite often, the segment contains no lesson whatsoever, and on the occasion it does have one, it's never a serious one. "Lessons" have included a Spanish vocabulary word and "The kitten in the [[What Did We Learn on the Show Tonight, Craig?]] graphic is a computer animation, not a video of a real kitten."
** Craig Ferguson also parodies this trope and combines it with [[Biting the Hand Humor]] by frequently saying "CBS Cares" after giving some unhelpful advice. He sometimes combines this with a [[Spoof Aesop]].
* ''[[The
** Indeed, in the original version, the producers explicitly advised this in a disclaimer shown at the end of each program.
* [[Wizards of Waverly Place]] did this once.
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== Video Games ==
* One occasionally sees arcade machines in [[Attract Mode]] stating "[[Drugs Are Bad|Winners don't use drugs!]]" for games that may or may not have anything to do with the subject.
* Parodied in passing conversation in ''[[
* ''[[
* When drinking in Catherine, a [[Disembodied Voice]] will interrupt you to tell you about some random trivia about the drink you chose.
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* Parodied in [http://www.pvponline.com/2008/03/22/safety-first-kids/ this PVP comic] that suggests what "the other half of the battle" is.
* Also parodied by ''[[Overcompensating]]'' [http://overcompensating.com/posts/20050809.html here].
* ''[[
* Parodied by name, in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0145.html this] ''[[The Order of the Stick
* ''[[
* [http://theslackerz.com/index.php?nav=Comic&Page=106 The Slackerz] features G.I Derek: Magical Marine Pimp Supreme, a parody of [[G.I. Joe]] complete with [[Shout-Out]]
* ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]'' parodied the good touch/bad touch "Sonic Sez" in [http://samandfuzzy.com/580 this strip.]
* Used in [http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/?p=625 this] ''[[Brawl in
* ''[[The Dragon Queen]]'' gives one on the [http://www.dragonqueencomic.com/2010/08/18/transgender-tips/ proper way to pick up a transexual].
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
* Anything by [[Filmation]], including:
** ''[[Fat Albert and
{{quote| "This is [[Bill Cosby]] comin' at you with music and fun, and if you're not careful you may learn something before we're done. So let's get ready, okay? Hey, Hey, Hey!"}}
** ''The New Adventures of [[
** ''[[He-Man and
*** The 2002 series ''did'' have morals, following in the format of the original series, but they didn't air with the American episodes; only the international releases. However, they do come on the DVD sets for the curious viewer. They also tend to softened the blow by always making it the exact lesson the episode as a whole was meant to teach you, rather than clumsily segueing into "yo, kids — don't smoke."
** ''[[She
** ''[[
** ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Superman: The Animated Series
* Several PSA segments were prepared for ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'', another Hasbro property produced by Sunbow and Marvel Productions concurrent with G.I. Joe. The segments even used the "and knowing is half the battle" line (and the scripts from the G.I. Joe [[PS As]] almost VERBATIM), but they never aired. These were placed as unlockable bonuses in the [[Transformers Armada|Armada]]-based PS2 game, and are also available on some DVD releases of the show. The most hypocritical one had an anti-sexism message, at a time when there were no female Transformers, and came from Powerglide, who had an episode that season where a human woman fell in love with him (presumably, the PSA would have aired after that episode...).
** Parodied in an episode of ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' where Optimus Prime talks about prostate cancer.
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* ''[[Inspector Gadget]]''.
* ''[[MASK|M.A.S.K.]]''
** Like ''[[
* ''[[Captain Planet and
* ''[[
* ''[[
{{quote| '''Yakko:''' "Hey come on, the Wheel of Morality adds boring educational value to what otherwise would be an almost entirely entertaining program."}}
** "Early to rise/And early to bed/Makes a man healthy/But socially dead."
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** Be sure to brush your teeth after every meal. This moral was brought to you by the American Dental Association.
*** A touch of [[Hilarious in Hindsight]], as Animaniacs animator [[Jon McClenahan]] created Dudley the Dinosaur for the ADA.
** [[Bob Dylan
** Slow and steady wins the race, but it's faster to take a taxi.
** Don't go towards the light. Especially if it's a headlight.
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** In another episode, the wheel landed on [[Wheel of Fortune|Bankrupt]].
** In yet another episode they lampshade the whole purpose of the wheel of morality mandates from the FCC.
*** Of course, at the end of [[The Movie]] ''[[Wakko's Wish
** This was also spoofed at the end of [[Power Rangers|Super Strong Warner Siblings]].
{{quote| Yakko: Hey kids, playing with giant bugs isn't cool. If someone wants you to play with a giant bug, just say "No thanks!". That's cool!<br />
Yakko, Wakko and Dot: Right! }}
* ''[[
{{quote| And so what we have learned applies to our lives today,<br />
And God has a lot to say in his book.<br />
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And now that our song is done we'll take a look! }}
* ''[[Clerks the Animated Series]]'' parodied this with a number of post-episode shorts, such as having Jay and Silent Bob present a ''[[Mr Wizard]]'' inspired magic-from-science segment. They showed a simple sleight-of-hand trick, with the twist that a key element of the trick required invoking the power of Satan.
** Making it better, the third segment didn't do much but have Charles Barkley try to do the segment, then Jay and Silent Bob kick the crap out of him ''[[The Godfather
* Spoofed in an episode of Disney's ''[[
* ''[[
** In the 13th season premier, Kyle and Cartman actually quoted the phrase verbatim {{spoiler|after Kenny's death from syphilis, caught by getting oral sex from his girlfriend}}.
* ''[[Care Bears]]'', usually a lesson about sharing or not lying, or how bad it is to shoplift, etc.
* Also present and parodied (at the same time!) in the animated series based on ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police (
* This was used in ''The [[
** listen to the mighty sloth and not take rides in clothes driers!
** And remember kids--if you're surrounded by robots, don't call 911--that's for ''real'' emergencies!
** There is also that one PSA that had the bumbling villains Scratch and Grounder [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqVRCUBPc4E swigging booze] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZhM2m_dYBA smoking cigarettes]. But, you know, it was to encourage kids not to. Talk about [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]. "Hurry up, Grounder, I wanna try this booze!"
* ''[[The Simpsons (
{{quote| '''Bart:''' Contrary to what you've just seen, war is neither glamorous nor fun. There are no winners, only losers. There are no good wars, with the following exceptions: the [[American Revolution]], [[World War II]], and the ''[[Star Wars]]'' Trilogy. If you'd like to learn more about war, there's lots of books in your local library, many of them with cool gory pictures.}}
** A later episode, "Bart Starr", had guest star Joe Namath break the fourth wall to deliver an inspiring message.
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** And then there was the episode where 'N Sync (of all people) delivered one about how mocking the U.S. Navy was wrong - [[Hypocritical Humor|although the characters had just spent the episode doing exactly that]].
** "Kids, always recycle. TO THE EXTREEEEEEEME!"
* Spoofed at the end of the ''[[
** The whole episode was essentially a parody of these. The animators were informed that they absolutely '''had''' to do [[Executive Meddling|an Aesop-heavy episode about kids' health,]] so they complied, but tried to make it as deliberately [[Anvilicious]] and thus hilarious as possible.
*** Don't forget the [[Space Whale Aesop]]!
* One of ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
** The books did this too, ending with a couple pages that addressed complaints about inaccuracies and safety/physics violations.
* ''[[
** Well, Thundercats did have a consultant child psychologist on the staff. Though, to be honest, I'm not sure if the anviliciousness was deliberate, or just the way that Tygra (and it was almost always Tygra) was written - even the voice actor who played him regarded him as a rather "square dude".
** The exact line was "Rules are only meaningful if people agree to follow them. Otherwise, they're just words". In retrospect, it's strangely ambiguous. It ''sounds'' like a worthy and moralistic exhortation to follow the rules, but could equally be taken as saying that rules have no meaning if you don't agree with them, or could even be a veiled attack on rules that have no mechanism for enforcement (it was in response to a comment that the "Interstellar Council" ruled against a weapon that the mutants were using).
* ''[[
** Which was a bit odd, given that interstellar space was depicted as containing [[Batman Can Breathe in Space|breatheable air]] and Earth-normal gravity throughout the show proper.
** In fact everything about that universe was divorced from our own laws of physics. This was a world where banging a tuning fork in space created wind and ice.
* ''[[
* Spoofed in an ''Ambiguously Gay Duo'' animated short, from ''[[
** As long as we're on the topic of SNL...
{{quote| '''[[Mr. T]]''': "If you believe in yourself, eat all your school, stay in milk, drink your teeth, don't do sleep, and get 8 hours of drugs - you can get work!"}}
* The otherwise obscure ''[[Back to The Future (
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Mister T (
* ''[[
* In one early morning commercial on [[Nickelodeon]], Katara from ''[[
** You should also keep in mind that when you have characters who can [[Making a Splash|control the very water]] around them, and [[Healing Hands|heal you]] if you do get hurt, drowning is probably not high on their list of worries.
* ''[[
** Interestingly enough, Doc Hammer actually suffered from testicular torsion when he was younger and based Dean's experience in the episode on his own.
* The [[The Pond|football]]-themed cartoon ''[[
** There were. Amanda Carey (a.k.a. the [[Token Girl]]) is usually the one to explain the episode's lesson (there's at least one lesson for each episode). One notable exception was "Football Fugitives" where it was justified by the fact she wasn't involved in the episode's main plot. Surprisingly enough, she ''did'' explain the moral of an episode where she made no appearance at all other than the [[All Just a Dream]] episode "The Relegator". Napper explained the moral of another episode where it was left ambiguous if he dreamt the whole thing or not.
* The ''[[
{{quote| '''Peter''': That's more than you can say for those freeloadin' Canadians. (pause while the background goes black for him to give his inspirational educational message) ...''Canada sucks!''}}
** ''[[
*** Specifically, it was Flint. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Voiced by the original actor.]]
** At the end of "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington", an episode about smoking, Peter is lounging in his chair and starts "We've had a lot of laughs tonight..." the lesson: Killing hookers is bad. Cause they're people too.
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* ''[[Growing Up Creepie]]'', about a gothy girl raised by creepie-crawlies, included short inserts with educational insect facts.
* ''The [[Popeye]] and Olive Show'' had various safety messages, usually featuring Popeye's identical quintuplet nephews, between the shorts.
* ''[[King Arthur and
* ''[[Liberty's Kids]]'', a public-broadcasting educational series set during the American Revolution, initially included pieces of bogus news, reported by [[Benjamin Franklin]], in the middle of each program. These interludes, intended to teach (very) young viewers about life in the 18th century, were cut from non-PBS broadcasts to make room for commercial breaks.
* Spoofed in the ending of the ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'' episode: "The Fudd":
{{quote| '''Duck Dodgers''': That's right kids. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Stay in school, don't sass your elders and always color within the lines.]] Because if you're good and lucky, you'll grow up to be ''[[Anti Role Model|just like me.]]''}}
* ''[[Spliced]]'' parodies this with ''Knowing is Growing''
* Spoofed multiple times in ''[[Yin Yang Yo
* ''[[
* Viewers of ''[[Tenko and
* ''[[King of the Hill]]'' often acknowledged social issues, but these were only used a couple of times. One was encouraging viewers to vote, another was about working to get Antonio López de Santa Anna's leg returned to Mexico.
* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** In fact, so much so that in Part 2 of "The Return of Harmony", these letters (sent back by Celestia) gave her the resolve she needed to rescue her friends, power up the Elements of Harmony, and defeat Discord when all hope seemed lost. Even more impressive, she turns the aesop of ''that'' episode into an ''epic'' [[World of Cardboard Speech]]/[[Shut UP, Hannibal]] against Discord.
** Interestingly, Season 1 of My Little Pony has the EI rating, while season 2 does not. The production team apparently decided this change of rules ''awesome'', and thus made "Lesson Zero", an episode where Twilight is unable to learn a new lesson about friendship and [[Sanity Slippage|goes a little nuts]]. At the end of the episode, Princess Celestia tells Twilight she only has to write letters when she feels she has learned something and not all the time, effectively freeing this from being mandatory. This hasn't stopped the end-of-episode aesops as they still show up in subsequent episodes afterwards, but interestingly, though, fans and staff liked the idea so much that the writers also utilized the opportunity to allow ''other'' members of the mane cast to occasionally write their own letters to the Princess.
** This is given a hilarious subversion in [[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)/Recap/S2 E15 The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000|one episode]], where Applejack writes a letter just to brag that she already knew the Aesop.
* Spoofed in a ''[[Harvey Birdman, Attorney
* Every episode of ''[[Rescue Heroes]]'' would end with the characters recapping the lessons learned earlier in the episode. These typically were reduced to restating the emergency situation of the episode, telling you how it should be dealt with, and ending with the <s>clever</s> annoyingly cheesy phrase, "Think like a Rescue Hero. Think safe."
* Occasionally parodied in the ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police (
* [[
* ''[[
* Every ''[[Invisible Network of Kids]]'' episode ends with the 'Science Club' segment where Cosmo Soper discusses the scientific or hostoric basis for something that had been the theme of that episode; like amnesia, or chess.
* ''[[Pound Puppies]]'' had a "Pet Care Corner" where viewers were given hints on how to take care of their pets.
* The Captain Atom episode of ''[[Batman:
* Parodied at the end of an episode of ''[[The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat]]'', in which Felix steps up to deliver a [[Fantastic Aesop]] based on the episode's storyline. Instead of being about just saying "no" to [[The Aggressive Drug Dealer]], it's about not ever buying a magic bag from anyone. (And no, it's not supposed to be analogous to not wasting money or something, since Felix then urges to viewer to [[It Makes Just As Much Sense in Context|purchase an edible wig instead]].)
* Davey's father in [[Davey and Goliath]] got this duty, recapping the lesson of the day by talking with Davey (and sometimes others) about it. Mountain Dew even produced a commercial that parodied this practice (and subverts this trope in the process).
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