History Creator / RichardScarry

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: One "Imagine That" segment is about dinosaurs.

* ThreeShorts: Each episode has three segments, the first and last ones would focus on the denizens of Busytown, while the middle segment would be a sort of anthology with stories that are set in different countries around the world with Lowly as our tour guide, in-between the main segments would be songs about how things work and safety respectively.

* VocalEvolution: Creator/StuartStone was one of a few young voice actors for the series. He voiced Kenny, Pig Will and Pig Won't. Their voices break by the end of the series. However, Pig Will had a [[TheOtherDarrin new voice actor]], so as not to confuse them.

* EditedForSyndication: DVD releases as well as reruns of the show on Creator/ThisTV and Creator/{{Qubo}} edit out the "A CINAR Presentation" text on the in-credit opening logo so that it now reads "A COOKIE JAR Presentation" due to Cinar rebranding as Cookie Jar and possibly wanting to edit out all references to the former company due to the scandals that brought them down.

* EditedForSyndication: Reruns of this show on Creator/ThisTV and Creator/{{Qubo}} edit the "A CINAR Presentation" text on the in-credit opening logo so that it now reads "A COOKIE JAR Presentation" due to Cinar rebranding as Cookie Jar and possibly wanting to edit out all references to the former company due to the scandals that brought them down.

* LogoJoke / MatchCut: The Creator/{{Paramount}} logo morphs into a mountain in Busytown which the Applecopter promptly flies out from behind, again via a fade.

Richard [=McClure=] Scarry (June 5, 1919 – April 30, 1994) was an American children's author and illustrator known for his anthropomorphic animals, particularly those of the "Busytown" books, which were later adapted by Creator/{{Cinar}} (now Creator/CookieJar) into an animated series, ''The Busy World of Richard Scarry'' (1994–1997). It was aired on Creator/NickJr on Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}. Additionally there was a series of educational DirectToVideo releases made by [[WesternAnimation/{{Doug}} Jumbo Pictures]]. The direct-to-videos are:

* [[UsefulNotes/HomeVideoDistributors Random House Home Video]] has released the episodes of the Creator/NickJr series, ''The Busy World of Richard Scarry'' on VHS and Betamax as well in 1993.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Each book introduces dozens of colorful characters, resulting in a cast of several hundreds for the entire franchise.

** A RunningGag in "The Best ABC Video Ever" is Office Murphy chasing down Bananas Gorilla, with Huckle and Lowly's help, because Bananas stole a bag of bananas from a mail truck, and Murphy's police car to boot. Just as they catch up to him, Huckle finds the address tag: it was meant to be sent to Bananas Gorilla all along. Huckle and Lowly run to catch up with Murphy and explain the misunderstanding.

* AgeLift: Bridget, Sergeant's Murphy's daughter in this series. In the book ''What Do People Do All Day'', she is implied to be a baby, seen in a cradle being bottle-fed by her father. In this series, she walks around, talks and is closer to Sally's age.

* AnimalGenderBender: Recurring character Huckle is a male calico cat (Calico cats in real life are almost AlwaysFemale).

* ThreeShorts: Each episode had three segments, the first and last ones would focus on the denizens of Busytown, while the middle segment would be set in different countries around the world with Lowly as our tour guide, inbetween the main segments would be songs about how things work and safety respectively.

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* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: In ''Busy, Busy World'', giant boat constrictor named Noah helps keep a plane together when it splits apart, by wrapping himself around the metal rip.

** "The Best Sing-Along Mother Goose Video Ever" ends with Huckle and Lowly falling sleep as Huckle's mother sings "Sleep Baby Sleep".

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: One episode has Lowly Worm breaking his bones and having to be put in a cast. Worms are invertebrates (meaning they have no bones at all).

* ArtEvolution: In his early books, Scarry used painting and illustrated detailed and realistic art. However, later on, he switched to his SignatureStyle of simple ink and watercolor drawings.

** In "Be My Valentine", both Lowly and Hilda are wrapped in blankets and given both {{FootBathTreatment}}s and [[HotDrinkCure hot cocoa]] after being pulled out of an icy pond.

* IllnessBlanket: In "Grouchy Mr. Gronkle", Mr. Gronkle is wrapped in a blanket and given a FootBathTreatment after being pulled out of the frozen lake.

Before creating the ''Busytown'' series, he made a [[Literature/LittleGoldenBooks Little Golden Book]] adaptation of ''Literature/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'' in 1958. This version of ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' later received an audio adaptation that was released by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnZ-oDeOW6I Disneyland Records in 1976.]] Scarry' adaptation is based on the song but uses elements from the original 1939 story and [[WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1948 the 1948]] cartoon by [[Creator/FleischerStudios Max Fleischer]].

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In some of the earlier books (such as the 1966 ''Storybook Dictionary''), Huckle is a bear.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: It is never revealed exactly where Busytown is located, although it is located in the U.S. according to ''The Best ABC Video Ever'' special.

* EverybodyDoTheEndlessLoop: In ''The Best ABC Video Ever'', when Busytown is introduced, you can see numerous animations being reused over and over. This was due to it being made with a tight budget.

* VagueAge: Lowly Worm and Bananas Gorilla are both sometimes presented as children (attending the same class as Huckle Cat) and sometimes adults (driving apple- and banana-shaped cars respectively).

* ArtEvolution: The first two videos, ''The Best ABC Video Ever'' and ''The Best Counting Video Ever'', are produced by a small New York City-based animation studio, so they were done with rather LimitedAnimation; but in the Jumbo Pictures videos that follow them, the animation has gotten [[AnimationBump a lot better and much more fluid]] than its predecessors.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: "A Trip to the Moon" gets [[SpaceDoesNotWorkThatWay many facts about space and the Moon absolutely wrong]]. It shows some objects [[GravitySucks floating away in zero gravity]] from the surface of the Moon, and also the characters are able to light a candle, despite the lack of atmosphere.

* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Sally in "Busy town Mysteries" wears a red bow and a yellow and red dress which resembles Huckle's clothes and looks a bit older than she was previously seen in the books and previous animated incarnation