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Schoolhouse Rock: Difference between revisions
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A series of educational short cartoons -- so short that they fit in the space of a single commercial break -- aired from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s on [[Saturday Morning Cartoon|Saturday mornings]] on [[ABC]].
Back in the day (1972, to be specific), Saturday morning children's programming was [[Moral Guardians|supposed]] to be at least tangentially educational, and [[Merchandise
At around the same time, ad executive David McCall noticed that while his son was struggling in school, he had no trouble remembering the lyrics to his favourite songs. Thus the idea to [[Educational Song|introduce basic learning concepts to young minds via simple-but-catchy rock, jazz, folk and pop tunes]] -- most written by jazz mainstay Bob Dorough and eventual Broadway lyricist Lynn Ahrens -- accompanied by entertaining visuals, animated by a team led by Tom Yohe.
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* [[Foot Focus]]: Twice in Multiplication Rock. Lucky Seven Sampson wriggles his toes into an [[Iris Out]] at the end of his song -- and then there's [[Humanoid Aliens|Little Twelvetoes, an alien from a world that uses the base-12 number system]] for obvious reasons.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: As per above. There's also "Verb: That's What's Happening!", which is performed as a '70s funk homage to a black superhero, including repeated references to getting his 'thing in action!' and this from the adoring female chorus: "I can question like, 'What is it?'/''Verb, you're so demanding!''/I can order like, 'Go get it!'/''Verb, you're so commanding!''"
** In one of the America Rock segments, wherein the Declaration of Independence is described, the three rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" are testified to by members of the Continental Congress. When the third right is listed, a man is shown pursuing a woman rather lecherously. ([[Historical
** This line from "Interjections!": "That's not fair givin' a guy a shot down there!"
* [[It Is Pronounced Tro PAY]]: "Interplanet Janet" rather obviously invents a non-offensive pronunciation for Uranus, rendering it 'Ur-Ahh-Nus'.
* [[Jive Turkey]]: "I Got Six" and the aforementioned "Verb: That's What's Happening!".
* [[Karma Houdini]]: The pool-playing cat in "Naughty Number Nine." For the entire duration of the segment, the cat puts a mouse through absolute hell on a billiards board; and at the very end, the cat tips his bowler, smiles at the audience, and struts away. But don't worry, the mouse pops out of the #9 ball, making for a ''very'' [[Happy Ending]].
* [[Laser
* [[Lost Episode]]: Even discounting the weather short that was removed from syndication for years, there is one Scooter Computer episode that hasn't survived as a video. "Introduction" only survives in audio form on the four-CD soundtrack set released in 1996.
* [[Lucky Rabbits Foot]]: Lucky Seven Sampson has a lucky foot with a 7 on it.
* [[My Hero Zero]]: [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Non
* [[Parental Bonus]]: The use of established jazz and cabaret performers means this runs through the entire series, intentionally or not. See (for instance) "I Got Six" for a splendid example of just how intentional they could get.
* [[Pluto Is Expendable]]: "Interplanet Janet" contains the lines "Nine planets" and "And Pluto, little Pluto, is the farthest planet from the sun." The fact that an entire generation grew up with ''Schoolhouse Rock'' may have had a little bit to do with the fervor over Pluto's demotion from planethood.
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