Doug: Difference between revisions

[[File:DougArtwork.jpg|frame]]

 

''Dear journal...''

 

 

In many episodes, Doug pretends to be one of his personal superheroes to solve the problem; the methods the hero uses are adapted to fit a real-life situation. For example, one episode has the vice principal Mr. Bone refusing to have a popular rock band play at their school; he considers it heathen entertainment. Doug pretends to be Quailman dealing with the strict alien robots called Robo-Bones. When Quailman couldn't overpower the robots, they turned on him with horrible yodeling (Mr. Bone was part of a yodeling quartet). Quailman ended up saving the day by suggesting that they sing in key and form a band, which made everyone happy. Doug learned that, instead of fighting Mr. Bone, they should make a compromise. He suggested Mr. Bone's yodeling group to open for the rock band, figuring that the student body suffering for five minutes was worth it.

Nickelodeon's ''Doug'' is now in reruns on [[Teen Nick]]'s "[[The 90s Are All That]]" block.

 

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[The Ace]]: Chalky Studebaker was the star athlete of every athletic team, and ''was'' the swim team. Deconstructed when Doug learned that he has insecurities about having to be the best at everything due to constantly being compared to his even ''more'' overachieving older brother, including when Chalky cheated off of Doug during an exam..

* [[Aesop Amnesia]]: One episode has [[Satellite Character|Larry]], due to a misunderstanding, starting a fight with Doug, which Doug surprisingly wins (after actually taking a punch). Doug's dad overhears Skeeter talking Doug up, then Dad scolds Doug and turns the episode into [[An Aesop|"Physical Violence is for those who've run out of good ideas"]], even in self-defense. Then, near the end of the (Nick) series, [[Harmless Villain|Roger]] hits [[Hollywood Pudgy|Connie's]] [[Berserk Button]] ''verbally'' and gets [[Megaton Punch|the wind knocked out of him]] with no repercussions, just everyone [[Pay Evil Unto Evil|having a good time.]] Yes, Roger's an undeniable [[Jerkass]], but it also leads to the other issue of [[Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male]].

** A word regarding the Doug vs. Larry fight, not only did Doug take the punch, he wasn't even very hurt by it showing that Larry was pretty weak to begin with, While Doug did hit back in retaliation it's easy to make him come off as the bad guy because he actually ''is'' bigger and stronger than Larry.

* [[Almost Kiss]]: Doug gets one with Patti.

* [[Amazing Technicolor Population]]: White, blue, purple, green? ([[Word of God]] says it's been Jim Jenkins's art style ever since he liked to color in his coloring books as a kid.)

* [[Amusement Park]]: Funkytown.

* [[Animal-Themed Superbeing]]: Parodied, of course, with Quailman.

** ''Brand Spanking New'' modifies the outfits but is otherwise ''almost'' identical. The biggest change is in the musical style, from acapella to more orchestrated.

* [[Ascended Extra]]: The Sleech brothers in the Disney series.

* [[Bad Job, Worse Uniform]]: When Doug ends up being a [[Burger Fool]] at the Honker Burger (usually it's Mr. Dink).

* [[Baseball Episode]]: Two, actually. "Doug Out in Left Field", where Patti forms her own baseball team for the kids who were rejected from the school's team, and "Doug's On First", where the parents of the kids on Patti's team think it's unfair about what position each player is playing.

* [[Being Good Sucks]]: "Doug's in the Money." Doug returns the money to the old lady, gets a piece of gum for the reward, loses the respect of Roger and some other kids, but ''gains'' the respect of Judy, who from that moment on is less of a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] [[Jerkass]] towards him and more of a [[Cool Big Sis]].

* [[Compressed Vice]]: Roger is particularly prone to this.

* [[Cool Big Sis]]: Judy, when she wasn't being a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] and/or [[Jerkass]] to Doug.

** Moreso the Disney episodes and movie.

* [[Crazy Cultural Comparison]]: Fentruck's holiday celebrations.

* [[Disappeared Dad]]: Roger lives alone with is mom, but his dad is never seen in the series.

** Until the Disney series. A flashback shows that his parents divorced.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]] / [[G-Rated Drug]]: Nic-Nacs.

* [[Dreaming of a White Christmas]]

** And another in "Doug's Disappearing Doug" when he realize why Porkchop ran away, because he "treated him like a dog".

* [[The Everyman]]: Doug is a mild-mannered, [[Book Dumb]] student with a mostly unrequited crush on a girl, is only a moderate athlete, and can never stay ahead for long.

* [[Expy]]: The Beets' name and Liverpool accents are obviously based on [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] (although singer Monroe Yoder looks more like [[The Who|Roger Daltrey]].

** Many of the characters are reminiscent of [[Peanuts]] characters. Doug is kind of like Charlie Brown in personality and character design, Porkchop is Snoopy, Patty Mayonnaise is the Little Red Haired Girl, Skeeter is Linus, amongst many others.

* [[Fake Nationality]]: A girl claiming to be from Yakistonia is called out on this by [[Funny Foreigner|Fentruck]] because [[The Woobie|she wants to be liked.]]

** At least some of her stories were true, as her Aunt (whom everyone is convinced is a lie) appears in person at the end of the episode.

* [[Fan Service Pack]]: Happened to formerly pudgy Connie Benge between the Nick and the Disney shows. Explained with her and her mother having been to a beauty farm.

* [[Free-Range Children]]: The eleven-year old cast behaves much more like older teenagers the way they run about their town.

** During the Founder's Day Pageant in "Doug's On Stage", look closely; someone in the audience can obviously be seen drinking what appears to be an alcoholic beverage.

** There is an episode where Doug makes a funny drawing of his teacher, but accidentally sends it with his essay. The title of the episode: "Doug's Doodle."

* [[The Ghost]]: Skunky Beaumont in the Nick episodes. Principal Buttsavage from the Nick episodes. Also the Lucky Duck Lake monster before [[The Movie]].

* [[Give Geeks a Chance]]: [[Shorttank|Patti]] with [[Adorkable|Doug]].

** He often follows it up with "It's not me," as well.

* [[Informed Attractiveness]]: Patti is apparently beautiful, but we have to be told that.

* [[Insistent Terminology]]: It's a journal, not a diary!

* [[Jerkass]]: Roger.

* [[Lovable Alpha Bitch]]: Beebe.

* [[Love At First Sight]]: Doug is lovestruck the second he sees Patti bike past outside the Honker Burger in the very first episode.

* [[Mascot with Attitude]]: Porkchop.

* [[Master of the Mixed Message]]: Patti Mayonnaise. One episode she actually asks him out on a date, which ends kind of awkwardly. This back-and-forth behavior continues throughout the rest of the series.

** Mr. Bone has a rather large nephew named Percy Femur, large enough to effectively bully Roger, which he does. The femur, (the thigh bone) is the largest bone in the human body.

** The Ponzi Puzzle Sweepstakes. The name itself says it's a scam.

* [[Missing Mom]]: Patti's mother died in a car accident.

** To a lesser extent, Chalky Studebaker and the Sleech brothers have fathers, but not moms. And unlike with Patti, what happened to them is never mentioned.

* [[The Moving Experience]]: Doug actually thought Skeeter was moving in one Nickelodeon episode. Turns out, he was... to a new room in his house's basement.

* [[Mr. Imagination]]

* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: [[Subverted Trope]] by Patti in the later Quailman comics who keeps pronouncing Guy Graham/Rupert Schmupert's last name the French way which he keeps correcting.

* [[Myth Arc]]: ''Disney's Doug'' had Doug and Skeeter occasionally visiting Lucky Duck Lake in an attempt to discover if a monster exists in there (a nod to the legendary Loch Ness Monster). The monster itself finally makes an appearance in [[The Movie]] and plays an important role.

* [[Nothing Is the Same Anymore]]: The premise of the first episode of ''[[Lampshade Hanging|Disney's Doug]]'', where Doug finds the world he knows has changed—the [[Jerk Jock]] bully got rich on a real estate deal, [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|his favorite movie character has been]] [[Retool]]ed, his favorite band has broken up, his favorite restaurant has gone up-scale, and his usual barber shop is under new management. Doug decides to change a bit himself (specifically, his haircut).

* [[Oh Crap]]: After Doug appeared on a goofy Western-themed kid's show (which his aunt was the director for), Skeeter reassures him that at least no-one they know saw it. Cue Roger dramatically entering, wearing a cowboy hat and spurs. {{spoiler|When his aunt realises that Roger appeared on the show as a kid, Roger has the same reaction when Doug threatens to show everyone the footage of his [[Old Shame]] unless he knocks it off}}.

* [[Only One Name]]: Flounder of The Beets.

* [[Our Founder]]: Thaddeus Bluff.

* [[Punny Name]]: [[wikipedia:DINKY|DINK (or DINKY)]] is slang for an affluent couple with no children.

** Mayor Robert "Bob" White. A bobwhite is a species of quail.

** Nickelodeon did promote the hell out of the show when it was still running, if for no other reason than the fact that they show ''was'' popular with kids and ''especially'' parents, who thought Ren and Stimpy and other shows like it were too obnoxious.

** Averted with the Disney series, it was promoted almost as much as ''[[Hannah Montana]]''!

* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: Principal Buttsavich, too bad we never see him.

* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]

* [[Rich Bitch]]: Beebe, though not nearly as bad as some examples (usually). Roger is a worse, male version in the [[Retool]].

* [[Ruritania]]: Yakistonia, homeland of the exchange student Fentruck.

* [[Screams Like a Little Girl]]: Roger seems like a tough guy until he screams...

* [[Screw the Money, I Have Rules]]: Doug proves this when he returns an old lady's money to her instead of keeping it, despite all of the insults he received from most people about it.

* [[The Southpaw]]: Doug is left-handed. It was a plot point in the episode where Doug is on Patti's baseball team (never having played baseball before) and she realizes that he is left handed and tells him to stand on the ''right'' side of home plate so he could have an easier time swinging at the ball. He manages a hit almost instantly.

* [[Special Effects Failure]]: An [[In-Universe]] example. The costume of a supposedly scary movie monster has a visible zipper.

* [[Start My Own]]: After being rejected by the Honkers softball team because she's a girl, Patti forms the "Patti's Pulverizers" softball team.

* [[Stock Ness Monster]]: The Lucky Duck Lake Monster.

* [[Superpower Lottery]]: Skeeter's superhero Silver Skeeter has a superpower for any and all situations, which Doug finds annoying because it lacks any serious tension.

* [[Suspiciously Similar Song]]: The show often uses [[Suspiciously Similar Song]] versions of movie themes.

* [[The Talk]]: A [[Running Gag]] of ''Disney's Doug'' has his father trying to initiate the conversation, which is usually offset by Doug being concerned with something unrelated. It doesn't help that he keeps trying to segue using nonsensical metaphors ("The salmon swims upstream"). This was put to an end on the Christmas episode where Doug just tells his dad that he already knows about sex from school.

* [[Tempting Fate]]: After Doug's aunt gets him on a children's cowboy show, Skeeter tells him "At least no-one we know saw it." Cue Roger bursting through the door, wearing a cowboy hat and spurs...

* [[True Art Is Incomprehensible]]: [[In-Universe]] Porkchop (the dog) leaves footprints all over Doug's canvas, and it's hailed as an artistic masterpiece.

** Anything that comes out of Judy's mouth.

* [[Tuxedo and Martini]]: Smash Adams.

* [[Ultimate Authority Mayor]]: Mayor White. Unusually for this trope, he's eventually voted out and replaced by Doug's neighbor, Mrs. Dink.

* [[Umpteenth Customer]]: Doug enters what looks like a video game store and looks around, only to discover that he's the one millionth customer and has won a [[Bland-Name Product|Pretendo]]. Of course, this was the setup for the episode's Aesop.

** Never underestimate how much income is left disposable by not having children.

*** [[Word of God]] says Dink stands for [[Meaningful Name|Dual Income No Kids]]

* [[Verbal Tic]]: Skeeter's little honking noises he makes.

** Mayor White's "Vote for Me!"

*** And not surprisingly his son Willie White also has a verbal tic considering he starts most of his sentences with "Duhhhh".

** "Very expensive."

** The Nic-Nacs episode could count too, aside from the whole [[G-Rated Drug]] business. Though it's very different from typical anti-drug/anti-smoking episodes, and just as much about being skeptical of marketing messages as it is about avoiding dangerous substances—not to mention openly hostile toward the company behind the product in ways that a program that relies on sponsorship from [[Mega Corp|Philip Morris subsidiaries]] (they owned Kraft at the time) could never get away with had they not substituted a made-up product for cigarettes.

* [[Welcome Episode]]: The first episode of the series, which features Doug moving to Bluffington and meeting most of the main cast.

* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]]: Subverted. Quailman's main superpower is the hypnotic "Quail-Eye," but he rarely encounters a situation that he could fix through sheer force, forcing him to take a third option.

** Keep in mind this is a superhero whose main attributes are a belt on his forehead and wearing his underwear over his pants.

* [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?|Where The Hell Is Bluffington?]]: Or Bloatsburg (where the Funnies came to Bluffington from), for that matter.

* [[Whole-Episode Flashback]]: Most episodes are structured this way, as Doug writes about it in his journal.

* [[Write Who You Know]]: Doug writes and draws almost the whole cast of the show into his Quailman comics, sometimes multiple times.

* [[Your Tomcat Is Pregnant]]: Roger's cat Stinky fell into this trope.

* [[Zettai Ryouiki]]: Connie wears Grade C after her [[Fan Service Pack|beauty farm visit]].

 

[[Category:The Musical]]

[[Category:Western Animation]]

[[Category:Nickelodeon]]

[[Category:Kid Com]]