Johnny Maxwell Trilogy: Difference between revisions

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To look at him, you'd think that Johnny Maxwell is just an ordinary twelve-year-old. But weird stuff keeps happening to him. Of course, you could blame these Trying Times -- his parents are in the middle of an acrimonious divorce -- but really, the kinds of things we're talking about aren't part of a normal kid's routine. I mean, what would you do if...

 

...Or if you started seeing the dead -- just as their cemetery was about to be demolished? Not many people can see the dead (not many would want to). But Johnny can, and he's got bad news for them: the town council wants to sell the cemetery and put up an office complex. But the dead have learned a thing or two from Johnny, and they're not going to take it lying down, especially since tomorrow is Halloween...

 

 

The ''[[Johnny Maxwell Trilogy]]'' is a series of three books comprising ''Only You Can Save Mankind'', ''Johnny and the Dead'' and ''Johnny and the Bomb'', written by [[Terry Pratchett]]. It concerns the adventures of Johnny Maxwell and his friends, Wobbler, Bigmac, Yo-less, and Kirsty, as they deal with whatever weird thing the Universe throws at them this week. ''Only You Can Save Mankind'' has been adapted for radio, the other two for TV (''The Dead'' for ITV in 1995 and ''The Bomb'' for [[The BBC]] in 2006). There's also been a [[All Musicals Are Adaptations|stage musical]] of ''Only You Can Save Mankind'', with accompanying soundtrack CD.

 

* [[Action Girl]]: Kirsty.

* [[Ace Pilot]]: Kirsty.

* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Kirsty isn't just brainy -- she also knows karate.

* [[Bedsheet Ghost]]: A pink bedsheet. With flowers.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Try and call Kirsty "little lady". See what happens.

* [[Black and Nerdy]]: Yo-less

* [[Due to the Dead]]

* [[Easy Evangelism]]: Averted. Here is Johnny trying to teach Kirsty about nonviolent approaches:

'''Kirsty''': But they were all killed and eaten in eighteen hundred and two. Except for those who were sold as slaves. The last one died in Mississippi in eighteen sixty-four, and he was ''very upset''. }}

* [[Embarrassing First Name]]: Kirsty doesn't like her name. Or any of the other names she comes up with.

* [[Expospeak Gag]]: The Captain's food order, which includes such delights as "pressed wheat extractions treated with sucrose". {{spoiler|Breakfast cereal.}}

* [[Five-Man Band]]:

** [[The Hero]]: Johnny

* [[Inventor of the Mundane]]: {{spoiler|Wobbler}} is left in the past, unable to return to his time due to a paradox. While taking [[The Slow Path]], he uses his knowledge of the present to "invent" fast food restaurants.

* [[It's for a Book]]: The universal "out" for getting grownups to let you do things: "I'm doing a project on it."

* [[Jive Turkey]]: Yo-less gets his nickname because he ''isn't'' one, and never says "yo".

* [[Kill Him Already]]: Johnny and the Gunnery Officer.

* [[Police Are Useless]]: not only do they get in the way, but they fail to get in the way very successfully.

* [[Politically-Correct History]]: averted in a scene in which a shopkeeper in 1941 uses a racial insult to refer to Yo-less. He is about as impressed as you'd expect.

* [[Reality Warper]]: Johnny when in a state of extreme stress.

* [[Resigned to the Call]]: Johnny. As contrasted with Kirsty, who tends to [[Jumped At the Call|Jump At The Call]].

* [[Ripped from the Headlines]]: The plot of ''Johnny and the Dead'' comes straight from a contemporary scandal when Westminster Council sold three cemetaries for 5p each.

* [[Serious Business]]: The entire series revolves around Johnny taking a serious look at things other people dismiss as unimportant. Also, Kirsty takes ''everything'' seriously.

* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: The Captain trying to talk about Earth food. "Pressed wheat extractions treated with sucrose" indeed. {{spoiler|Breakfast cereal.}}

* [[Shrouded in Myth]]

* [[Smart Guy]]: Kirsty. Yo-less sometimes fills in.

* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: In ''Johnny and the Bomb'', Wobbler is unconvinced by Bigmac's claim that he doesn't know a thing, especially not about burgers.

* [[Talkative Loon]]: Mrs. Tachyon.

* [[Tele Frag]]: It is theorized that occupying the same place as a solid object might be a very bad idea.

* [[The Tetris Effect]]: Johnny initially believes his starfighter dreams are merely an example of this.

* [[You Fail Nuclear Physics Forever]]: Yo-less and his "fridge molecules". The former trope name is pretty much Kirsty's reaction to this.

* [[Your Mind Makes It Real]]: averted.

 

* [[Accidental Kiss]]: Kirsty gets overexcited and kisses Johnny.

* [[Weenalized]]: In the ''Johnny and the Bomb'' Kirsty is sweet on Johnny, though the book never explicitly stated such a thing.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]

[[Category:Children's Literature]]

[[Category:Carnegie Medal]]