Curious George is a Long Runner franchise about a monkey, George, that is found in Africa by "The Man With the Yellow Hat" and goes to live with him in the city.
The franchise originally consisted of seven children's books by Margret and H.A. Rey, published between the 1940s and the 1960s. Since then, it has expanded into other media.
Curious George works:
- Curious George (1941-1966), the original books.
- A set of animated shorts (1980) that first played during the early morning hours on Nickelodeon, and later during the Disney Channel's Circle Time block.
- The Adventures of Curious George (1982), a Stop Motion animated special titled consisting of two segments adapting the original book and Goes to the Hospital respectively.
- A platform videogame (2006) published by Namco.
- Curious George (2006-present), a series of movie adaptations.
- Curious George (2006-present), an Edutainment Show running on PBS Kids.
The Curious George franchise contains examples of:
- Advanced Tech 2000: The roller coaster is called the "Turbo Python 3000".
- Adults Are Useless: The Man With the Yellow Hat often leaves George to his own devices. Let us repeat: George is a monkey.
- Animated Adaptation: Nine of them; a theatrical film, five direct-to-video movies, an obscure television special and two television series for preschoolers.
- Artistic License – Biology: George lacks a tail which would make him an ape. That said, he doesn't match any species of African ape either, being too small and brown and standing erect. It should be George was going to have a tail, but it was removed due to art complications.
- Catchphrase:
- "Don't get into trouble." (in the books and the 80s shorts)
- "Be a good little monkey." (in the cartoon series)
- Curious as a Monkey: Trope Namer
- Disproportionate Retribution: Various times George's curiosity gets the better of him, resulting in him unintentionally committing something that, if a normal person did it, would be considered a crime. But considering he's a small monkey who doesn't always know better, his penalty is still undeserving.
- George dialed random numbers on a telephone, and accidentally called the fire department. He was thrown in jail for it.
- George looked at an ostrich, who literally grabbed a bugle from his hands, and nearly choked on it. George was subsequently kicked out of a circus act for it. (He was reinstated for a heroic act shortly afterwards).
- George took an interest in painting, while watching some painters, and found himself painting a woman's apartment in a jungle theme. He practically had a whole mob of people, including painters, window washers, and the woman chase him down a fire escape, and in his attempt to escape, he jumped, and broke his leg in the process, having to be hospitalized. The mob's response: He deserved it.
- Escaped Animal Rampage: A monkey escapes from a zoo and has wacky mischievous adventures.
- Inexplicably Tailless: George the monkey does not have a tail. One of the most notable instances of the Mandela effect besides the fact that it's spelled "Berenstain" and not "Berenstein" actually involves this, as most people misremember George having a tail.
- Losing Horns: The 1980 series used three Type B variants whenever George gets into trouble: a three-note tuba, a four-note harmonica and a five-note trombone.
- Mischief-Making Monkey: George is this, often unintentionally.
- Nobody Poops: Monkeys and other primates cannot be housebroken and have to wear diapers to be kept as (sanitary) pets. Doesn't seem to be an issue with George.
- No Name Given: The Man With the Yellow Hat, until the movie, which revealed his name to be Ted Shackleford.
- Person with the Clothing: The Man with the Yellow Hat.
- Signature Headgear: The Man With the Yellow Hat.
- Stock Animal Diet: Three guesses what George likes to eat and the first two don't count.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: George is often treated more like a young child than a monkey.
