Bubble Guppies

Clockwise from the top: Nonny, Oona, Gil, Molly, Deema, and Goby. Not pictured: Zooli.

"Hi! I'm Molly, and it's time for..."

Bubble Guppies is an Animated Show created by Jonny Belt and Robert Scull, who previously worked on The Backyardigans. And it shows.

In the first four seasons, each episode follows the adventures of a group of guppy children and the lessons they learn in preschool. Along the way, they sing, dance, and have imaginary adventures while exploring concepts of the episode's theme, such as pet care, the solar system, or how to run a restaurant.

When the show was Uncanceled in 2019, the show was Retooled by having the story segment span almost the entire screen time, with the Molly and Gil skits, playtime segments, dancing segments, and field trip segments removed. The fifth season also introduced Zooli, a young African-American girl who is also an animal expert.

The series originally premiered on Nick Jr. on January 24, 2011, then eventually ended on October 21, 2016. It was then revived three years later on September 27, 2019.

Now has a Character Sheet.

Tropes used in Bubble Guppies include:

Aesop Amnesia: Mr. Grumpfish has a bad case of it in "Happy Holidays, Mr. Grumpfish!". Justified in that it's a story being told by Mr. Grouper to Bubble Puppy.
A Mer-Boy and His Mer-Dog: A few episodes focus on Gil and Bubble Puppy's friendship.
Adorkable: Nonny
Aerith and Bob: Some of the characters in the show have normal names like Molly, Sam, and Sandy. Other characters have bizarre names such as Goby, Deema, and Bubble Puppy.
Ambiguously Brown: Molly
Ambiguous Disorder: Nonny.
Art Evolution: The CGI became a bit smoother and more shaded after the Halloween Episode. The Adobe Flash facial features also became more expressive.
Bizarrchitecture: The guppies' school.
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In "Fishketball!" the characters list an assortment of balls, such as baseballs, soccer balls, and eyeballs.
Broken Record: Bub-bub-bubble, gup-gup-guppies, bubble bubble bubble, guppy guppy guppies...
Butt Monkey: Everything that happens to Gil during his and Molly's sketches. Everything.
Catch Phrase: "Let's think about it!"
Christmas Episode: "Happy Holidays, Mr. Grumpfish!"
Cool Shades: The spring chicken.
Cool Teacher: Mr. Grouper buys his students their dog, and lets them build a badass doghouse for it by themselves. He also takes them to a hospital, lets them start a band, and open a restaurant.
Cowardly Lion: Gil. He's scared of planes, chickens, ducks, T. rexes, tubas, ghosts, caterpillars, gorillas, the planet Jupiter...
Curtains Match the Window: Gil
Darker and Edgier: "Haunted House Party!", mainly in the toned-down color scheme - very accurately giving it it a creepy, Halloween-y feel. Although it's a more downplayed example, given it's aimed at preschoolers.
Defeat Means Friendship / Well-Intentioned Extremist: Occurs very often in the recess segments.
Disney Acid Sequence: Every episode has at least one.
Dramatic Thunder: Playfully mocked in the recess segment of "The Grumpfish Special!"
Edutainment Show
Everything's Better with Cows: The focus of the episode "Have A Cow" is farm life, most specifically focusing on a cow named Butterscotch and the birth of her calf.
Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: "Can You Dig It?"
Everything's Better with Rainbows: The recess sketch in "The Color Prix!" Not to mention the song, which definitely applies.
Excited Episode Title: "Call a Clambulance!" "The Moon Rocks!" "Fishketball!" "X Marks the Spot!" All the episodes are like this! Except the ones that end in a question mark!
Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: A rather humorous example - even though Avi was wearing his helmet, he still broke his tail.
Six Token Band: Molly is Hispanic, Deema is blonde, Oona is Asian, Goby is African-American, Nonny is ginger, and Gil is white.
- This was later averted with the introduction of Zooli in Season 5.
Four-Fingered Hands: Each of the guppies have these.
Fractured Fairy Tale: "Bubble Puppy's Fin-tastic Fairy Tale Adventure!"
Free-Range Children: Never addressed directly, but the guppies walk to school by themselves, with only the Little Fish to watch them. They also tend to go on very improbable field trips for preschoolers, including the planetarium, camping in the woods, and a farm to watch a cow have its baby. Who's signing these permission slips?
Genki Girl: Deema
Hair Decorations: Oona.
Halloween Episode: "Haunted House Party!"
Clam Mail: Clam attempted to do this at the beginning of "Happy Clam Day!"
Improbable Hairstyle: Deema, whose giant blonde hair resembles cinnamon buns.
Incredibly Lame Pun: The lunch jokes.
Meaningful Name: Molly and Goby are named for small fish similar to guppies, while Gil is named for an imporant part of fish anatomy.
Medium Blending: The characters themselves have CGI bodies and Flash animated facial features. The show also has segments with Flash characters and backdrops.
Mind Screw: The characters are all either mermaids or aquatic life, implying that the series would take place underwater. However, the majority of the settings consist of above-water like aspects such as trees and grass. It could be Justified by the fact that bubbles are often seen rising around them, however in some of the Story sketches the characters are blatantly above water (etc. there is running water in the background, or on the moon) and there are still bubbles rising. Added to this that in the episode "The Moon Rocks!", the spaceship they travel in appears to be rising out of somewhere in Canada.
- In the camping episode, they build a bonfire. Underwater.
The Narrator: Whichever character happens to be presiding over the recess sketch of a particular episode.
No Flow in CGI: A particularly Egregious example, considering they're underwater.
Non-Interactivity: Like many preschool shows, the characters ask the viewer questions and pause for an answer.
Non-Singing Voice: Deema and Goby both have singing doubles.
Our Mermaids Are Different
Pirate: "X Marks the Spot"
- Pirate Mer-Parrot
Pokémon-Speak: The Ball Hog in "Fishketball!"
Precious Puppy: Bubble Puppy is Gil's pet puppy, and he even stars in a few episodes.
Puppy Love: All the characters, notably Molly/Gil, Goby/Deema and Nonny/Oona.
Rule of Cool: In "Have a Cow!", Goby and Gil are having their carrots stolen by a giant robot rabbit. To get it to leave, they use a giant, rocket, robot carrot.
- Possibly lampshaded by Oona; "Makes sense to me!"
Rose-Haired Girl: Molly.
Running Gag: Gil getting snow dropped on his head every time Mr. Grumpfish slams the door in "Happy Holidays, Mr. Grumpfish!".
- "SUPPLIES!"
Same Language Dub: The cast is completely revoiced in the UK dub.
Six-Student Clique: In the first four seasons:
- The Head: Gil.
- The Muscle: Goby.
- The Quirk: Nonny.
- The Pretty One: Molly.
- The Smart One: Oona.
- The Wild One: Deema.
Sketch Comedy: Or at least it was during its original run.
Sky Pirate: The pirate who pilots a wooden plane in "Gup, Gup, and Away!"
Stock Dinosaurs: T. rex, Apatosaur, and Triceratops were the only dinosaurs mentioned in "Can You Dig It?"
Strictly Formula
- Subverted in "Build Me a Building!", in which the sketches were out of order, for some reason.
- Completely averted in "Happy Holidays, Mr. Grumpfish!"
Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Molly and Gil
Talk Like a Pirate: Almost every stock pirate phrase is used in X Marks the Spot.
Team Pet: Bubble Puppy as a mascot of sorts.
Tempting Fate: "Hey, Molly, have you ever wondered why they call it the rainforest?"
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Averted with the snails, lobsters, crabs, and fish, where there's no physical way to differentiate between the males and females (some females will have hair, however.)
Title Theme Tune
Theme Tune Roll Call: "I'm Molly!" "I'm Gil!" "I'm Goby!" "I'm Deema!" "I'm Oona!" "I'm Nonny!"
The Stoic: Nonny, who smiles noticeably less than the others.
Villain Song: The mean witch gets one in "Bubble Puppy's Fin-tastic Fairy Tale Adventure!"
Visual Pun: The mailperson from "Happy Clam Day!" is, of course, a snail.
Wacky Homeroom
Water Is Air: Hoo boy. There are cars and trucks that make normal engine sounds. There are trees. There are things in the "air" that pretty much stand in for clouds (very non-puffy, but easily mistaken for being clouds that look this way due to the animation style, and if not clouds, what the halibut are they? The background turns colors the sky can be but water should never be. Characters do swim, but mostly hovering over the ground at the exact height they'd be standing if they had legs. It's to the point that when you see someone swim upward or otherwise move as if they are under water, you will say "wait, what?!" Amusingly, though, the Disney Acid Sequences do have them more believably underwater.
Welcome to the Big Bubble City: The episode "Super Shrimptennial Celebration" has the guppies go to the big city during the field trip segment.
Weird Moon: Though slightly subjective, in several shots featuring the moon it appears to be hovering in the water. This is most evident in the beginning of "The Moon Rocks!"
What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Nonny sneezes and discovers a nearly-complete Triceratops fossil.
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Gil and Goby. Oona has purple hair.
Your Princess Is in Another Castle: At the end of the movie, Bubble Puppy has been changed back. The end, right? Turns out the witch escaped at the last minute. When Gil and Molly point out that she can't change anyone into frogs, the witch says she still has her original Mean Green Bubble Potion. Cue Oh Crap from the main cast.

Crab: Awww.