History Series / MyHero2000

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: 6x08, the final episode of the series, establishes that the speed of light is the speed limit for superheroes, that is, a legal speed limit rather than a biological limitation, and George infact receives a penalty for breaking it. In any case, this is problematic as Ultronian civilization is established as having a pan-galactic influence; indeed, there have been episodes before in which Thermoman has travelled from Earth to Ultron and across the galaxy in a matter of hours at most. However, if this speed limit is to believed, it would take him no less than four years to get to the nearest star system. Simply put, the notion that star-hopping superheroes can be expected to restrict themselves to sublight speed is ridiculous as they are essentially equivalent to the spacecraft of interstellar civilisations.

* SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance: 6x08, the final episode of the series, establishes that the speed of light is the speed limit for superheroes, that is, a legal speed limit rather than a biological limitation, and George infact receives a penalty for breaking it. In any case, this is problematic as Ultronian civilization is established as having a pan-galactic influence; indeed, there have been episodes before in which Thermoman has travelled from Earth to Ultron and across the galaxy in a matter of hours at most. However, if this speed limit is to believed, it would take him no less than four years to get to the nearest star system. Simply put, the notion that star-hopping superheroes can be expected to restrict themselves to sublight speed is ridiculous as they are essentially equivalent to the spacecraft of interstellar civilisations.

* FakeBetterAlternateTimeline: In "Time and Time Again", George changes the past to make Janet's life happier. The eventual timeline created as a result seems to be perfect — Janet and Piers are happily married with ten children, Janet's parents and Mrs. Raven are happy, and Tyler is both in a relationship with Miranda and is living where George and Janet usually live. George is tempted to live in this new timeline be... until he learns that Mrs. Raven is having an affair with Piers, at which point he resets the timeline.

* ItsAWonderfulPlot: The episode "Time and Time and Time Again" sees George learn how to travel in time, using it to prevent an incident where Janet broke her arm as a child and retains a twinge of pain into adulthood, but he learns later that this accident also lead to the discovery that she had a medical condition that would have caused her to go bald in her teens. As a result, George goes back to stop her arm being broken at seven and leaves her a note to get her scalp checked in her teens, but this creates a world where Janet is happily married to Piers after he treated her condition, with Janet's parents and Mrs Raven now far happier people, and Tyler is now in a relationship with the gorgeous blonde who lives in what would have been Janet and George's flat. Witnessing this, George initially plans to leave forever now that everyone appears to be happier without him, but when he sees that Piers and Mrs Raven are having an affair, he goes back in time once again to restore the original course of events.

* ForWantOfANail: In 4x10, George changes the past by preventing Janet from falling out of a tree on her 9th birthday, the fall having caused a twinge in her arm which persists to the present day. However, he did not factor in that the young Janet was found to have a chronic scalp condition after being taken to hospital as a result of the fall, thus she is bald in the new timeline.
** After reverting his change to the past, George goes back and prevents the fall but makes sure to leave an anonymous note at the bedside of 18 year old Janet, advising her to see a doctor about her scalp. This leads her to meeting with Dr. Crispin, which results i a new timeline where Janet and Piers are happily married with ten children by the present day. Furthermore, Janet's parents and Mrs. Raven are happy people while Tyler is in a relationship with Miranda, a woman who lives in what would have been George and Janet's flat. Though George is tempted to leave the new time continuum be, he learns that Piers and Mrs. Raven are having an affair and so goes back to restore the timeline.
* FreakyFridayFlip: In 5x06, George accidentally switches several character's minds using Ultronian computer technology, transferring Janet's mind to Piers' body, Piers' to Tyler and Tyler to Janet. Ella and Stanley are also swapped.

Originally starred Ardal O'Hanlon from ''Series/FatherTed'', who left the show in the last season and was [[TheOtherDarrin replaced]] by Creator/JamesDreyfus.

* ActorAllusion: In episode 2 of season 5, Tyler chains himself to a fence in protest, a call back to Ardal O'Hanlon in ''Series/FatherTed''. Down with this sort of thing!

* EvolvingCredits: Throughout the series, clips from the show are used with Ardal O'Hanlon (George) and Emily Joyce (Janet) are the only two to be credited in the opening though the other main characters are featured as well. Whereas Janet's shot was changed for nearly each series, except for Series 1-2, George's uses the same clip of him from the first ever episode until Creator/JamesDreyfus takes the role in Series 6.

* HypotheticalFightDebate: A meta example. [[WordOfSaintPaul Ardal O'Hanlon]] was once asked who would win in a fight between Thermoman and [[Series/FatherTed Father Dougal]]. He responded that it would be a tough call, with both characters being good-natured pacifists, but ultimately backed Dougal to win since he has God on his side.

* TheNthDoctor: The sixth season sees Ardal O'Hanlon replaced by Creator/JamesDreyfus, explained as George having lost his body while gambling and requiring a new one.

* {{Pacifist}}: [[WordOfSaintPaul Ardal O'Hanlon]] believes that George / Thermoman is one and, going over the series, he is mostly right. Thermoman's job consists of little more than saving people from natural disasters with nary a supervillain in sight. One incident where George confronts an armed thug ends with him peacefully disarming him (quite easy when one is ImmuneToBullets). Then again, he is not 100% non-violent; incidents include endangering the structural integrity of the Moon by stomping on it (2x05), threatening to punch Arnie for supposedly having an affair with Janet (3x07), and pushing a fellow Ultronian who attempted to seduce Janet into a wall (5x09). There is also his Chang-Ching contest with Rovi (2x05), a duel frought with danger despite appearing to be rock-paper-scissors.

* {{Pilot}}: A [[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/ardal-o-hanlon-answer-the-questions-89025.html 2013 interview with Ardal O'Hanlon]] revealed that there was a pilot where George, evidently played by a different actor, had an English Jewish persona. This was changed with the casting of O'Hanlon, who was more comfortable with portraying George with his natural Irish accent. The pilot remains unaired and indeed, unreleased to this day.

Another one of those British comedies that's apparently [[Series/TheBennyHillShow considered bad in its home country yet gets a lot of airtime in America]], mainly due to Creator/{{PBS}} thinking "British = good".

'''Stanley''': [[Franchise/SpiderMan That is my gift, that is my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-Man]]!\\

* MeddlingParents: Janet's parents, Ella and Stanley.

* AmusingAlien

* BadassCape

* TenMinuteRetirement: In 4x08, "The Consultant", George resigns from his superhero duties protecting the Earth after new rules make him so stressed he almost causes the death of his friends by a [=ICBM=]. He is replaced by Locum Man, who is soon replaced by Tempman, who is replaced by Work Experience Boy when Tempman decides to take a gap year. When Janet is trapped in the burning Health Centre, Work Experience Boy's attempt to save her goes tits up when he accidentally flies into a bush, but George triumphantly returns as Thermoman and saves her.
* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Tyler, a TalkativeLoon and ConspiracyTheorist who is nonetheless the only person to recognise George Sunday as Thermoman.
** Thermoman does have a much better disguise than Superman, however. Thermoman wears a helmet that covers much of his face, has a radically different voice and accent than he uses as George, and almost never walks anywhere (flying instead) which makes it difficult to recognize him by how he moves.
** In 5x05, Janet (and the audience) are surprised to learn that Tyler is infact a good friend of the [[Main/BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy actually Ultronian]] Leonardo da Vinci.

* TheFunInFuneral: In 4x02, "The Living Dead", Thermoman's BizarreAlienBiology acting up leads to his secret identity, George Sunday, being thought dead by everyone. The idea was that he'd sit up in the coffin during the ceremony before his cremation and make [[SmugSnake Dr. Piers Crispin]] look like an idiot (which isn't particularly difficult). Two things combined to put it under this trope: a sudden attack of that same BAB problem that caused all this in the first place, and a B-plot featuring Mrs. Raven fusing therapeutic and stage hypnosis. HilarityEnsues:
-->'''Vicar''': One...\\
'''Ella''': Take me now my stallion Stanley, ravage me you raving beast! (Out of character as all hell)\\
...\\
'''Vicar''': Two...\\
'''Stanley''': [[Franchise/SpiderMan That is my gift, that is my curse. Who am I? I'm Spider-Man]]!\\
...\\
'''Vicar''': Three...\\
'''Piers''': <[[HypnoFool chicken noises]]>\\
'''Mrs. Raven''': Shame he won't get to four!\\
...\\
'''Vicar''': These are the things we will remember this good man for.\\
'''Janet's Parents, Arnie, and Piers''': (complete with the dance) [[Music/VillagePeople YMCA... It's fun to stay at the YMCA]]\\
...\\
(BizarreAlienBiology is acting up, so George hasn't sat up on schedule, and Janet is trying to stop the coffin from entering the [[BuffySpeak furnace cremation... thing]])\\
'''Priest''': She's got the strength of ten!\\
'''The Same Four As Before''': (Start doing the Chicken Dance. Mrs. Raven falls out of her seat laughing)
* ThePresentDay: Numerous references place the show as taking place ''roughly'' the same time it was produced rather than aired.
** All of Series 1, including the Christmas special, takes place in 1999, when it was filmed, rather than 2000, when it was broadcast. This is established by George's Health Shop, which has a sign stating its establishment in 1999 and "Christmas" explicitly introduces him to the holiday, with 3x03 confirming that he had only just arrived on Earth by Series 1. In addition, Janet's 30th birthday is celebrated in 1x06, and 4x10 explicitly states that she was born in 1969.
** Speaking of, 4x10 explicitly places itself around April Fools' Day (April 1st) 2003, six months prior to its airdate.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: In 4x10, George and Arnie accidentally travel from the present year of 2003 to the year 2010 of an alternate future where they have been absent for seven years. As a result, Janet has lived without George while Ollie has taken up his superhero duties. John Prescott is Prime Minister now, and Ollie is teaching him English.

Originally starred Ardal O'Hanlon from ''Series/FatherTed'', who left the show in the last season and was [[TheOtherDarrin replaced]] by James Dreyfus.

* DayOfTheWeekName: Thermoman's ClarkKenting name is George Sunday. When James Dreyfus takes the role, Thermoman [[SarcasmMode uses his imagination really hard]] and goes with the Alter Ego of George Monday.

* EvolvingCredits: Throughout the series, clips from the show are used with Ardal O'Hanlon (George) and Emily Joyce (Janet) are the only two to be credited in the opening though the other main characters are featured as well. Whereas Janet's shot was changed for nearly each series, except for Series 1-2, George's uses the same clip of him from the first ever episode until James Dreyfus takes the role in Series 6.

** There are also gender-changing pills that Ultronians can take. After George temporarily becomes a woman (James Dreyfus in drag) they accidentally slip into the water supply, affect Mrs. Raven.

* TheNthDoctor: The sixth season sees Ardal O'Hanlon replaced by James Dreyfus, explained as George having lost his body while gambling and requiring a new one.

** In 6x01, George Monday's attempts to create a clone of his original body only to create a clone of his new one. Thus, there is a second George played by James Dreyfus.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: An Ultronian superpower which is performed by placing a finger to the forehead and giving a good "Thermoblast" ([[EarllyInstallmentWeirdness though merely staring worked initially]]). Comes in handy when someone guesses that George is Thermoman. On multiple occasions throughout the show, Piers, Mrs. Raven, Ella and Stanley learn the truth only for George to erase their memory and thus restore the status quo. George even erases his own memory by accident once, in 3x10, thus forgetting he is Thermoman and believing himself an ordinary human. As the CloudCuckoolander, Tyler is immune to the memory wipe.
* LastMinuteBabyNaming: Somewhat justified as Janet's first pregnancy lasted only six days while her second was only a single day. After their first baby is born, George and Janet spend the first few days arguing over what to call him. Ultimately, the boy himself rejects their choices and wants a name that "symbolises the link between two heavenly bodies", offering a choice of either Apollo 11 or ''Series/BattlestarGalactica''. George suggests calling him Apollo, which Janet shortens to Ollie.