The Nome Trilogy

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The Nome Trilogy, also known as The Bromeliad Trilogy, is a trilogy of novels for younger readers by Terry Pratchett, consisting of Truckers, Diggers and Wings.

It begins with a small (and shrinking) tribe of Nomes, tiny people who live in woodland near a motorway. Among their few and valued possessions is the Thing, a black cube that is reputed to talk and give good advice.

And one day it does talk, and reveals that it knows the true history of Nomes, how they came to be where they are, and how they can get Home.

There's just one or two small problems they need to overcome first...

Truckers has been adapted for television by Cosgrove Hall animation. A movie version is in Development Hell.

Tropes used in The Nome Trilogy include:

• Canon Welding: The first book is set in the real town of Grimthorpe, although it mentions the Neil Armstrong Shopping Centre. Since the Neil Armstrong Shopping Centre is a major location in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy, the later books say the Store was in Blackbury.
• Cargo Cult: The Store nomes worship Arnold Bros Est. 1905, and the nomes of Florida worship NASA.
• City in a Bottle
• Dinky Drivers: Occurs in all three books.
  • Truckers - the nomes drive a truck.
  • Diggers - the nomes drive a JCB backhoe.
  • Wings - Subverted; Angalo wants to fly a Concorde jet, but is foiled. A plan to fly the Space Shuttle was also briefly considered...
• Encyclopedia Exposita
• Frogs and Toads
• Giant Flyer (relatively speaking)
• Gulliver Tie Down: Discussed in Truckers after one of the Nomes sees the illustration in a copy of Gullivers Travels. Masklin concludes that the most impressive thing about it is the amount of co-operation required; if a group of Nomes tried it, they'd start arguing and never get the job done.
• Human Aliens: Aside from their size and the Time Dissonance issues, the Nomes are more or less identical to humans.
• Humans Are Cthulhu
• Insistent Terminology: A few examples, such as referring to space shuttles as "Going Straight Up Jets".
• Lilliputians
• Mouse World
• Never Mess with Granny
• Our Gnomes Are Weirder
• Shangri La
• Take a Third Option: To quote the back cover blurb of Diggers:

"And Grimma said, We have two choices. We can run, or we hide. And they said, Which shall we do? She said, We shall Fight."

• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork
• Time Dissonance

The TV series provides examples of:

• Good Old Fisticuffs: Granny Morky does this to one of the Bandits, flooring him with a punch while he's showing off his skills.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Thames TV released the series as a feature length version on VHS shortly after it came out, yet various rights issues have prevented ITV Plc. from releasing a DVD version