Film / Wee Sing

The original nine films.

Wee Sing is a series of children's direct-to-video musical films created by two elementary music teachers, Pam Beall and Susan Nipp, consisting of various children's songs being strung together with a cohesive plot.

The series initially started out as a series of songbooks in 1977, the first of which was titled "Wee Sing Children’s Songs and Fingerplays". In 1981, the series would add audio cassette tapes to the books as companion pieces, with the books becoming more or less lyric sheets.

This was taken one step further in 1985, when the first Wee Sing video, Wee Sing Together, was produced, beginning a series of videos that continued until 1996 with the release of Wee Singdom.

These videos include:

• Wee Sing Together (1985)
• King Cole's Party (1987)
• Grandpa's Magical Toys (1988)
• Wee Sing in Sillyville (1989)
• The Best Christmas Ever! (1990)
• Wee Sing in the Big Rock Candy Mountains (1991)
• Wee Sing in the Marvelous Musical Mansion (1992)
• The Wee Sing Train (1993)
• Wee Sing Under the Sea (1994)
• Wee Singdom: The Land of Music and Fun! (1996)
• Wee Sing Favorites: Classic Songs for Kids (1996)
• Wee Sing Favorites: Animal Songs (1996)

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These films include examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming: Grandpa in Grandpa's Magical Toys feigns this by repeatedly calling David "Leonard," in an attempt to get the shy boy to talk by correcting him. Also played straight in Marvelous Musical Mansion when Aunty Annabella first meets Kelly: she goes through several names before she gets it right.
• Adaptational Name Change: In the original songbook and album Wee Sing for Christmas, the song about a clumsy elf in Santa's workshop is called "Alfie the Elf." In the video version, The Best Christmas Ever, the elf's name is Gusty, with the song changed accordingly. Also, in The Big Rock Candy Mountains, Little Bunny Foo Foo's bopping victims are called the Meecy Mice instead of just plain "field mice."
• Adapted Out: King Cole's Party is based on the songbook and album Wee Sing Nursery Rhymes and Lullabies, where the main little boy character who gives King Cole his own blanket as a gift is Georgie Porgie. But King Cole's Party omits both the character and his rhyme, and Jack of "Jack and Jill" fame becomes the blanket-giver.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: Shows up all over the place. It'd be easier to name characters without it.
• Adipose Rex: The Big Fun King Cole in King Cole's Party.
• Adults Are Useless: In Marvelous Musical Mansion, Auntie Annabella ends up locked outside when she's unable to come up with the answer to Doorknocker's riddle (though she does learn that no one entered or left the house through the front door, which proves that someone inside the mansion committed the crime), while Uncle Rubato solely investigates the dining room—which is the one place where nothing suspicious happened. It falls to the kids to find all of the clues and actually solve the crime.
• The Ageless: The end of Grandpa's Magical Toys implies that the toys in the playroom are immortal. Punchinello remarks that "he's been around a long time," and first helped Peter's grandfather—a man in his seventies—when he was Peter's age. Justified since they're toys.
• All Just a Dream: "King Cole's Party" was all Jack's dream.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Most of the Big Rock Candy Mountains animals and many of the Under the Sea creatures sport bright colors not found in their species in real life. In the case of Under the Sea, Weeber the Penguin's strange blue color is a plot point. Likewise, Melody Mouse in Wee Sing Together is pink (justified, since she's a Living Toy), and the Harmonies in Wee Singdom are ladybugs with bright purple bodies.
• Ambiguously Human: Sillywhim of Wee Sing in Sillyville looks human enough, but she also demonstrates the ability to teleport whenever she likes. She can also use her music-note bubble blower to generate rainbows which can teleport other things, turn individuals invisible, and perform minor telekinesis (as demonstrated when she knocks the Twirlypops for a loop). Sillywhim is also something of a Fisher King, as her clothing's colors are inherently tied to the level of friendship in Sillyville—when the populace fights, the hues fade to black and white. As such, it's not entirely clear what she is, which is perhaps justified by her being a coloring book character.
• Ambiguously Related: It's never stated if Benji from "Marvelous Musical Mansion" was adopted, Alex's step sibling or blood related brother. Unlike Susie in "The Best Christmas Ever!" where the viewers can tell she's adopted as everyone in her family is Caucasian, we only see their father and the mother is never shown.
• An Aesop: Each film features a "main" moral with a few smaller ones sprinkled along the way.
  • Wee Sing Together: As Sally tells Melody at the end, "When birthday magic is in the air, the very best times are the ones that you share."
  • King Cole's Party: The thought behind a gift, not how expensive it is, matters most.
  • Grandpa's Magical Toys: No matter how old you become, you should always be young at heart.
  • Wee Sing in Sillyville: Disliking people because of their colors or preferences is a foolish thing to do.
  • The Best Christmas Ever!: People have different physical needs that should be accommodated.
  • The Big Rock Candy Mountains: Listen to others when they set boundaries and learn to cooperate.
  • The Marvelous Musical Mansion: Don't compare yourself to others—you're special in your own way.
  • The Wee Sing Train: Don't be heedless—take your time and think things through.
  • Under the Sea: Don't pollute or make fun of people different than you.
  • Wee Singdom: Be responsible.
  • On a more video-specific level: In The Big Rock Candy Mountains, Profster spouts constant Aesops in the form of adages, much to the confusion of the other characters. Felicity initially serves as a translator—to the point where her catchphrase is "What Profster means is..."(Two times she says, “That’s right, Lisa” instead, and one time she says, “In other words…”)—but for the last three Aesops, the other characters are now able to understand them on their own, though Bunny Foo Foo and Lisa still offer their interpretations. Humorously, though, when Profster cries Tears of Joy at the fly and bumblebee's wedding, even Felicity can't figure out a moral.
• Argument of Contradictions: Blackbirds Jack and Jill have one about whether the former of the two snores or not in The Wee Sing Train when the protagonists meet them and then have that argument again when said protagonists leave to continue their journey.
• Artistic License – Biology: In The Wee Sing Train, Tusky the elephant has difficulty passing through the passing cattle. In reality, elephants can easily overpower this.
• A Weighty Aesop: The emphasis is on health, not weight, but The Big Rock Candy Mountains still features a warning about junk food when the Fat Comic Relief Snoodledoodles eat too much candy and get stomachaches. This is despite the fact that the setting is a land made mostly of candy. The other characters enjoy a picnic of healthy foods and then have only a little candy for dessert.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: In Under the Sea, Weeber the penguin, Ottie the otter, and humans Devin and his Granny can breathe just as easily underwater as the fish characters.
• Berserk Button: In Wee Sing Together, Melody gets mad when Sally says that maybe she’s too grown up to play with stuffed animals. Lampshaded by Hum Bear who says, “Now you’ve done it,” to Sally. In the same film, Peter Rabbit can't stand having flies buzz around his ears.
• Bewitched Amphibians:
  • The Wee Sing Train features a frog who claims to be a prince and is always trying to get Princess Jennie Jenkins to kiss him. Eventually she does and breaks the spell.
• Be Yourself: The overall Aesop of Marvelous Musical Mansion, as demonstrated with Andy Bandy Man—the human characters gently chide him for stealing objects from the rest of the household, saying that he is unique and special in his own way and doesn't need to take their items to be appreciated.
• Birthday Episode: Wee Sing Together is all about Sally's stuffed animals giving her a magical, musical birthday party.
• Blind Without 'Em: This turns out to be the reason behind Gusty the Elf's clumsiness in The Best Christmas Ever. Getting glasses makes him able to build toys again and saves Christmas.
• Brief Accent Imitation: A Running Gag with David in Grandpa's Magical Toys, who does it both with Sailor's British accent and with Lassie and Laddie's Scottish brogue.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Outrageous!" - Jonathan from Wee Sing Together.
  • "I knew that" - Scott from Wee Sing in Sillyville.
  • "This calls for muffins!' - the Muffin Man from Grandpa's Magical Toys.
  • "Superrific!" by Tusky/Trunky the Elephant.
  • "Sing-a-ling-a-ling!" by Singaling in all his appearances.
• Christmas Episode: The Best Christmas Ever.
• Christmas Elves: Aforementioned Christmas Episode revolves around Gusty the Elf having trouble making toys for Santa (he needs glasses). The elves are human sized, but have quirky names and voices and Pointy Ears, and at least two of them, Poofer and Dermie, have magical powers.
• Clip Show: The Wee Sing Favorites duology are mostly recycled songs from previous videos, though "Classic Songs for Kids" had some deleted scenes from The Big Rock Candy Mountains.
• Color-Coded Characters: Wee Sing in Sillyville revolves around groups of these. The Spurtlegurgles wear yellow, the Twirlypops wear blue, the Jingleheimers wear (and their friends the Froogy Frogs are) green, the Bitty-Booties wear red and Pasha wears purple. The Aesop they have to learn is that even though they like different colors, they can all be friends.
• Company Cross References: In Wee Singdom, a Littlefoot plush can be seen on the bed in the bedroom Annie and Tim are in.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Refreshingly averted as the main moral of The Big Rock Candy Mountains. In the "real world," Lisa's friends all leave when she starts being overly controlling about what to do, and she whines that they're in the wrong for not following her lead ("Why don't they want to play what I want to play?"). In the Big Rock Candy Mountains themselves, the Meecy Mice repeatedly protest Little Bunny Foo-Foo's rough treatment and make it explicitly clear that they don't like what he's doing, but he refuses to hear it and keeps badgering them until he's magically punished by the Good Fairy. Both Lisa and Little Bunny Foo-Foo (and, by extension, the audience) learn that if someone is uncomfortable with your behavior and raises a complaint about it, you should definitely listen to what they have to say and respect their boundaries and wishes.
• Cool Old Guy: Old King Cole and the Crooked Man in King Cole's Party, Grandpa in Grandpa's Magical Toys and Uncle Rubato in Marvelous Musical Mansion.
• Cool Old Lady: Granny in Under the Sea.
• Creator Cameo: Beall and Nipp show up in Marvelous Musical Mansion as bird watchers Midge and Marge.
  • Series composer Cal Scott plays many roles throughout the series, usually voicing a puppet.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: A mild example in The Big Rock Candy Mountains. Profster, while not mean, is incredibly prim and unimaginative. The gang persuades him to loosen up while looking for shapes in the clouds; he eventually catches on and starts singing "Grizzly Bear."
• Disability Tropes: In The Best Christmas Ever, one of the carolers that visit the family uses a wheelchair. No one even mentions it; he just happens to use one.
• Easily Forgiven: Little Bunny Foo Foo in Big Rock Candy Mountains is quickly forgiven for bopping the Meecy Mice on the head once he explains why he did it and apologizes, as is Andy Bandy Man for stealing in Marvelous Musical Mansion. Of course in Bunny Foo Foo's case, he had already been punished enough by being turned into a goon.
• Excuse Plot: The videos are mainly showcases for songs, with only simple plotlines to string them together. Some, such as The Best Christmas Ever and Marvelous Musical Mansion, are more plot-driven than others, though.
• Exploding Closet: An offscreen example in Wee Sing Together:

  Jonathan: I'm gonna go to my closet and get some clothes! (runs off)

  Sally: Jonathan's closet?! (covers her ears)

  (loud crash)

• Fantastic Racism: The conflict of Wee Sing in Sillyville, where none of the different groups of Sillyville citizens will talk to anyone who wears different colors than they do.
• The Fantastic Trope of Wonderous Titles: Most of the titles of the Wee Sing films fall under this trope, particularly Wee Sing in The Marvelous Musical Mansion.
• Fair-Play Whodunnit: The second part of Marvelous Musical Mansion becomes this type of mystery when various musical items go missing. The fact that Andy Bandy Man is accidentally left awake after he performs and is clearly shown envying the other music boxes makes it easy for kid viewers to solve the mystery along with the characters. There's also a liberal amount of clues sprinkled throughout the film, including Andy being the only person not missing something he needs for his performances (although he is missing his shoe), a sentient piano playing his theme when Alex asks if it knows anything, and the musical staircase playing the notes AD-BD, or ANDY BANDY, over and over.
• Fear of Thunder: Everyone in Wee Sing Together goes through this when a thunderstorm interrupts Sally's birthday party. They deal with it by singing, of course.
• Follow the Bouncing Ball: The Wee Sing Favorites duology were intended to be sing-alongs with recycled songs from previous videos with this feature. However, no lyrics onscreen.
• Forced Transformation: In The Big Rock Candy Mountains, as per his song, Little Bunny Foo Foo is turned into a goon by the Good Fairy. His goon form is Played for Laughs, looking just like his normal form, but bright purple, with crooked ears and covered in polka dots.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: King Cole's Party was the only Wee Sing video to be different from the other videos for a few reasons:
  • It was shot on film instead of videotape.
  • It was released two years after Wee Sing Together. Videos succeeding that would get released once per year.
  • It is the only video (until Wee Singdom) to not be composed by Cal Scott; King Cole's Party was composed by Bill Scream.
  • The whole plot is a dream by Jack with only the magical elements happening in the dream. Other videos are either blatant with the magical elements happening in real life or it's left ambiguous if the events actually happened or were just the imaginations of the kids.
• Genre Throw Back: Pam Beall and Susan Nipp basically did this, focusing on beloved songs and chants from their childhood. The videos quickly followed and helped their popularity spread.
• Girlish Pigtails:
  • Sillywhim, in keeping with her exuberant Woman Child character.
  • Both the Dutch Girl and Maggie the Rag Doll in Grandpa's Magical Toys have pigtails too, as dolls often do.
  • Several of the little girls in the series – Sally and Christina in Wee Sing Together, Jill in King Cole's Party, Biffy Bitty Booty in Wee Sing in Sillyville, Nellie in The Best Christmas Ever and Casey in The Wee Sing Train – have them too.
• Grand Finale: Wee Singdom, which features a bunch of characters from past Wee Sing videos (minus the ones from Wee Sing Together, King Cole's Party, The Best Christmas Ever and The Marvelous Musical Mansion) coming together to sing songs.
• Green Aesop: Under The Sea teaches the importance of not polluting the ocean with garbage.
• Green-Eyed Monster: This turns out to be Andy Bandy Man's motive in Marvelous Musical Mansion— Aunty Annabella forgot to magically freeze him after his performance, so he was awake to watch the kids heap praise on the other three music boxes and Meter Mouse, who lives in the grandfather clock. He comes to doubt his own talents and decides to steal items from the others to prove that he is just as special as they are.
• Happily Adopted: Susie in The Best Christmas Ever and Benji in Marvelous Musical Mansion are different ethnicities than their parents and siblings. This fact isn't emphasized; it just discreetly normalizes adoptive families. Benji even exclaims "It must run in the family!" when he finds himself able to do magic just like his adoptive aunt and uncle do.
• Honorary Aunt: Aunty Annabella in Marvelous Musical Mansion insists that family friend Kelly call her "Aunty A." just like her nephews do.
• Hypocritical Humor: In Big Rock Candy Mountains, Felicity the Unicorn calmly translates Profster's first pearl of wisdom as a lesson in being patient...only to immediately start screaming in excitement as Lisa, Snoodle, and Doodle teleport to meet the group.
• Informed Species: Felicity from Big Rock Candy Mountains is suppose to be a unicorn, but the costume makes her look more like either a cat or a regular horse due to the lack of a horn.
• Interspecies Romance: The fly and bumblebee that get married in The Big Rock Candy Mountains.
• Invisibility: In Wee Sing in Sillyville, after realizing that unable to take Laurie and Scott to meet everyone in Sillyville, Sillywhim manages to make the children invisible while using her magnifying wand blower (shaped as a musical symbol) to make sure that no one, not even the Twirlypops, can see them, although they can hear them.
• Ironic Name: In Big Rock Candy Mountains, "Little" Bunny Foo Foo is the tallest of all the creatures.
• Kid Detective: Kelly in Marvelous Musical Mansion.

  Alex: Do you have to make a mystery out of everything?

  Kelly: Life is a mystery, Alex.

• Knew It All Along: "I knew that" is basically Scott's Catchphrase in Wee Sing in Sillyville. To the point where Sillywhim ask him, "But you knew that, right?" and then...
• Large Ham: Little Bunny Foo Foo in Big Rock Candy Mountains. His rendition of "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" after he's been turned into a goon is so melodramatic that Lisa and the Snoodledoodles roll their eyes in Aside Glances. When he returns in Wee Singdom, he breaks into an equally distraught rendition of the same song just because he forgets his lines in a stage performance.
• Living Toys: The focus of Grandpa's Magical Toys (obviously), Wee Sing Together, and Wee Sing Train. Played with in regards to Marvelous Musical Mansion, which features living music boxes.
• Malaproper:
  • Aunty Annabella in Marvelous Musical Mansion.
  • The jester in King Cole's Party is also prone to Spoonerisms.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The adults sometimes have this reaction because they're not privy to what happens in their kids' worlds. In Big Rock Candy Mountain, Lisa's mom has this reaction.
  • Subverted by Grandpa in Grandpa's Magical Toys; since Punchinello helped Peter's grandfather when he was a child; he knows the toys are alive and figures out by the presence of gold dust from the music box that Peter, David and Sarah visited them.
  • Also subverted by the parents in The Best Christmas Ever, who go with the kids to Santa's workshop, and by Uncle Rubato and Aunty Annabella in Marvelous Musical Mansion, who openly use a magical hand gesture to activate his music boxes.
• Meaningful Name: Some of the characters in Marvelous Musical Mansion are named after musical terminology appropriate to their characterization:
  • Rubato means "played freely and loosely," and Uncle Rubato has the power to levitate, freeing himself from gravity's pull.
  • The Tap-A-Capella Singers are all named for different indicators of tempo and volume: Ally Allegro (quickly), Lawrence Largo (slowly), Flo Fortissimo (very loudly), Peter Pianissimo (very softly).
  • The cheerful rodent who chimes the hour in the grandfather clock is Meter Mouse. Meter is the tempo at which a piece is played—in other words, both musical meter and Meter Mouse mark the time.
• Misplaced Accent: Dutch Girl from Grandpa's Magical Toys. She dresses in a traditional Dutch outfit, but sounds like she's from Brooklyn. (This might be a joke about the fact that New York City's first European colonists were Dutch.)
• Monochrome to Color: In Sillyville, Sillywhim's jumpsuit fades to black and white when the other citizens of the titular land stop interacting with each other based on colors. When they all work together and become friends again in the end, Sillywhim's outfit is immediately restored to its rainbow hues.
• Motor Mouth: Again, Dutch Girl from Grandpa's Magical Toys.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Whether or not it's intentional, the Cookie Jar in "Grandpa's Magical Toys" sounds quite a bit like James Earl Jones.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: In King Cole's Party, King Cole's castle is supposedly in London – so the rhyme "See-saw, sacra-down/Which is the way to London town?" can be included – but no one has a British accent.
• Nostalgia Filter: Most people who watch these videos again years later, whether they be babysitting, have kids of their own, or rediscover them on YouTube will probably have these on.
• Nursery Rhyme: King Cole's Party centers around the characters from most of these rhymes coming together to celebrate 100 years of peace under King Cole's rule.
• Oh, Crap!: In Big Rock Candy Mountain, Little Bunny Foo Foo does this after he realizes he just bopped the Meecy Mice for a 3rd time despite being warned.
  Foo Foo: What's the problem? (Looks at his hand and it dawns on him) Oops!
• One-Steve Limit: Averted across the videos; Sally and Jonathan in Wee Sing Together and the family in The Best Christmas Ever share the last name Smith.
• Only Smart People May Pass: A very mild version occurs in Marvelous Musical Mansion—Doorknocker the sentient doorknocker insists that the only people who can enter the house are those who solve his riddles. Thankfully, the solutions to said riddles are "spin around in a circle" and Uncle Rubato's cat's name.
• Or Was It a Dream?: Implied with Sally's birthday party in Wee Sing Together.
• Random Events Plot: Most of the films involve a group of children interacting with various other characters for one scene each, often with a Grand Finale when everyone reunites for a final Crowd Song. The plot-heavier ones, like Marvelous Musical Mansion and Best Christmas Ever, downplay the trope by having a central theme justifying the visits.
• Portal Picture: This is how Scott, Laurie, and their dog Barney end up in Sillyville. Sillywhim uses her magic to pull them into the colouring book.
• Really 700 Years Old: In King Cole's Party, King Cole has reigned over his kingdom for 100 years. He doesn't look or act a day over 50.
• Relationship-Salvaging Disaster: Only "disaster" in the mildest sense: in Wee Sing in Sillyville, the Sillyville citizens finally overcome their Fantastic Racism when Sillywhim, whom they all like, hurts her ankle, and they all contribute ribbons, scarves and bowties to bandage it, making them realize how well all their colors go together.
• Rhymes on a Dime: As you might expect from a children's video series based on nursery rhymes, this is a very popular trope.
  • The Spurdlegurgles of Sillyville speak exclusively in rhymes; it also doubles as Finishing Each Other's Sentences, as there are four of them, and they simply pass the rhyme from one to the next.
  • The stuffed animals of Grandpa's Magical Toys largely speak in rap.
  • Doorknocker in Marvelous Musical Mansion both only talks in verse and gives rhyming riddles to anyone who tries to enter the house.
• Security Blanket: In King Cole's Party, Jack loves his yellow blanket and has always refused to give it up, but decides to give it as a present to King Cole. At the party he has second thoughts because the blanket it so plain and of little value, but to his surprise, the king is deeply touched by the gift, because it reminds him of the blanket he once had as a little boy.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Humpty Dumpty in King Cole's Party.
• Single-Minded Twins: Mark and Clark in Wee Sing Together and the Jingleheimers in Wee Sing in Sillyville.
• Sleepyhead: Jack-in-the-Box in Grandpa's Magical Toys and the Hatrack in Marvelous Musical Mansion.
• Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: Largely of the Animate Inanimate Object model. It's most apparent in Marvelous Musical Mansion: virtually everything in the titular house is alive, but the degree of its "humanity" is heavily dependent on how human it looks. The music boxes (or to be technical, the figures on the music boxes), photos, and suits of armor look the most human-like and are all capable of movement and speech; the doorknocker and hat rack are human-object hybrids who can talk, but don't move much; and the grand piano, stairs, and dining room chairs lack all human features, have virtually no mobility (the piano can play itself and the chairs can lean backward, but that's about it), and don't speak at all except for playing a few notes.
• Spanner in the Works: In Marvelous Musical Mansion, Meter Mouse awakens in the middle of the night to sound his hourly gong and discovers it missing, then hears someone running around inside the drawing room. He shouts at the noise, causing the thief to tumble from the stairs and fail in their attempt to steal something from the Rhythm Machine; this interference provides the humans the clues they need to solve the crime the next day.
  • Similarly, in the same movie, Cadenza playfully bats at a small object when the kids find themselves stumped by the mystery at hand. It's Andy Bandy's missing shoe, which proves to be the clue that ties everything together.
• Universal-Adaptor Cast: The father and children at the start of "King Cole's Party" play the roles of Jack, Jill, Little Boy Blue, Mary and King Cole.
• The '80s & The '90s: These films are VERY 80s and 90s.
• Tears of Joy: Profster sheds these during the Fly and Bumblebee's wedding in The Big Rock Candy Mountains, leading to this exchange.

  Snoodle: Why are you crying?

  Profster: I always cry when I'm happy.

  Doodle: Well, what do you do when you're sad?

  Profster:...Cry.

• Theme Tune Roll Call: Santa's elves do this in their group songs throughout The Best Christmas Ever.

  "Gusty!" "Poofer!" "Dimpie!" "Snooter!" "Munchie!" "Thooner!" "THAT'S US!"

• Totally Radical: A few of the films include an updated "cool" version of one of the children's songs featured. Examples include the remixed "I'm A Little Teapot" in Wee Sing Together, the hip-hop take on "Down by the Bay" in Sillyville, and the stuffed animal carousel's rap rendition of "Mockingbird" (called "Hambone") in Grandpa's Magical Toys.
• Translator Buddy: In Big Rock Candy Mountains, Felicity the Unicorn serves as one of these for Profster. It's a rare case because Profster actually speaks English—it's just that everything he says is a vague moral lesson, and it falls to Felicity to help the rest of the group understand how it applies to their current situation.
• Verbal Tic:
  • Uncle Rubato in Marvelous Musical Mansion has a tendency to add the word "marvelous" into his sentences.
  • Dermie in The Best Christmas Ever says everything twice.
• What's Up, King Dude?: King Cole in King Cole's Party casually pals around with all his subjects and servants. Several funny moments come from the queen's attempts to make him behave more regally. He also loves the humble gifts Jack, Jill, Mary and Little Boy Blue bring to his party more than any of the priceless treasures others bring.
• Waxing Lyrical:
  • The four Smith kids in The Best Christmas Ever are named Will, Nellie, Johnny and Susie: i.e. the "Johnny," "Susie" and "Nellie" mentioned in the song "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and the "Little Nell" and "Little Will" mentioned in "Up On the Housetop." If any viewer doesn't get it right away, it becomes clear when the songs are actually sung.
  • In Marvelous Musical Mansion, Alex and Benji reminisce about Aunty Annabella's travels to Japan, Algiers and Holland, before they break into a rendition of "My Aunt Came Back."
• Writing Around Trademarks: The reason for Tusky's name change in Wee Singdom. According to Beall and Nipp, a "Tusky the Elephant" was already trademarked prior to Wee Sing Train. The holders of the original copyright agreed to not file any claim as long as the name was changed should he make any reappearances, hence why he's called Trunky in Wee Singdom.

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