HIYA, CRICKET!!! WHO'S THE DUMMY NOW???!!!
Although Big City Greens is considerably more light-hearted than even some of its contemporary Disney Channel shows, at times the show will unexpectedly introduce themes that are horrifying and dark, be it confined to the kids' vivid imaginations or actual trouble the characters get into around town. open/close all folders
Season 1
- In "Blue Tater", Cricket tries to explain to Bill to dispose of the blue potato, believing what Gramma told him about the curse that his skin will melt, his eyeballs will fall out, and his blood will curdle into cheese. Of course, this never ends up happening, but it's not a pleasant thought.
- Bill is missing the tip of his right index finger. He mentions in "Welcome Home" that he lost it in a hay baler accident, and is self-conscious of it. Although it hasn't been brought up again in the series yet, it is still clearly visible throughout the show, and is not hard to imagine that every time Bill looks at it, it reminds him of what was likely the most terrifying moment of his life.
- On "Welcome Home", Cricket talks to a stranger on the bus wearing a hoodie. Suddenly the hoodie starts stirring and the stranger is revealed to be a swarm of rats hidden inside. Cricket is rightfully horrified.Cricket: Rats! Rats! He's made of rats!
- At the end, the Greens finally make it to Gramma's house only to find her collapsed on the floor, seemingly dead. Happily, it turns out she was playing a prank on them.Gramma: That'll teach ya to be late! I could have died! Now give me a hug.
- At the end, the Greens finally make it to Gramma's house only to find her collapsed on the floor, seemingly dead. Happily, it turns out she was playing a prank on them.
- The Fish Fusion restaurant in "Fill Bill" serving live, uncooked octopi to customers. At the very least it would've earned them a health citation.
- In "Swimming Fool", as Cricket tries for the first time to dive off the community pool's high dive despite how terrified he is, he feels he has no choice but to make the and dives into the pool like a meteorite, and afterwards discovers to his horror that he hit the water so hard that his body has broken into several pieces*. Of course, this was just in Cricket's imagination, but still.
- In "Family Legacy", during the flashback episode, one of Alice’s aunts, who was a pilot, releases a swarm of ladybugs upon the aphids that were eating up the crops. Moments later the audience is treated to a close-up of an aphid being devoured by a ladybug with a rather scary look.
- During the city noise scene in "Gridlocked", as when the noise had worsened, the sky became black and the city buildings curled up while Bill holds onto his hat looking horribly pressured, looking like he's having an anxiety attack.
- In the same episode, Cricket thinks he has provoked a trucker with a hook hand after the trucker gave Cricket what Cricket thought was a menacing look when the trucker wouldn't honk back at the Greens' truck, resulting in Cricket thinking the trucker means to attack him and fleeing through the stopped traffic. Although the trucker ultimately means no harm in the end, the resulting chase sequence plays out like a scene from I Know What You Did Last Summer.
- In addition to that, there is Cricket's Imagine Spot of being chained to the front of the trucker's truck, complete with the trucker letting out an Evil Laugh and Cricket screaming in fear.
- There is also a Surprisingly Creepy Moment when Tilly washes a very dirty car while traffic is stopped and afterward the car "says": "Thank you for washing me, Tilly! Now I can TAKE OVER THE HUMAN RACE!". Tilly's nonchalant response of "Okay, have fun with that!" barely mitigates it.
- In the same episode, Cricket thinks he has provoked a trucker with a hook hand after the trucker gave Cricket what Cricket thought was a menacing look when the trucker wouldn't honk back at the Greens' truck, resulting in Cricket thinking the trucker means to attack him and fleeing through the stopped traffic. Although the trucker ultimately means no harm in the end, the resulting chase sequence plays out like a scene from I Know What You Did Last Summer.
- The scene in "Barry Cuda", where after Cricket has spent all evening trying to figure out which of the other Green family members was responsible for damaging Barry Cuda, it leads up to a scene where Bill uses an axe, then Gramma uses a frying pan, and Tilly uses a lawnmower to take turns destroying Barry Cuda further as Cricket looks on in horror.
- In "Blood Moon", when the moon turns blood red as Gramma predicted, the farm animals turn from normal and docile to feral and vicious under the spell of the red moon. The episode is played completely seriously and everyone is in legitimate danger of getting seriously injured.
- In the short "Secret Cat", having to see Cricket being constantly mauled by a random cat underneath the sofa, while the title card shows Cricket with red scratches which appear to show blood by the lines.
- "Hiya Henry" is pretty much "Automatonophobia: The TV Episode". Cricket encounters a rather creepy ventriloquist dummy found by Tilly in the backyard shed, which everyone but him adores. Cricket's fear of Henry leads up to a Nightmare Sequence wherein he sees much of his family turned into dummies like Henry before Cricket himself turns into one as a giant nightmare version of Henry (shown in the current page image) taunts him. It doesn't help that Henry himself
◊ isn't very pleasant to look at in the first place even when he isn't a nightmare-version of himself.- Cricket as his mind degenerates by fear and paranoia of the dummy really is disturbing. Especially when he dismembers the dummy right in front of a horrified Tilly.
- In "Cricket's Biscuits", after Bill tells his kids about how Alice only fixes her biscuits when a family member is injured, he mentions the hay baler incident and implies that he is willing to lose another finger (to the point of intentionally harming himself) just to have the biscuits; the scene cuts to Bill with a rather ominous expression as he holds up a knife to his other hand and mutters: "Surely I don't need all of them...".
Season 2
- Cricket’s "If I can’t have Christmas" song from "Green Christmas" qualifies. While some of the stuff he does is kind of funny and/or harmless (Like sneaking hot sauce into hot chocolate), others are terrifying (Like stabbing snowmen and setting up tinsel to make it look like they’re bleeding out) not to mention that this all leads to the end of the song where Cricket overflows a fountain and it looks like blood and freezes in a horrifying position, all while Tilly is visibly scared.
- "Reckoning Ball":
- Chip nearly destroying the Green House with a wrecking ball. Keys manages to stop him.
- The ending scene where Chip assumes full control of Wholesome Foods and begins to exact his complete revenge on the Greens with no interference from his retired father, complete with a full-on Nightmare Face in the mirror and ominous music. A Nightmare Face including a platinum filling.
- In "Impopstar," Cricket gets kidnapped by Amaryllis, Zillon Brax's Stalker with a Crush, and tries to keep him trapped inside a warehouse filled with headless mannequins. Where are the heads? Amaryllis used them to build her Stalker Shrine.Amaryllis: Now, now, Zillon... SAVE YOUR PIPES FOR THE DUET!!!
- Cricket's prank in "Shark Objects" goes horribly wrong when a lifeguard tries to kill him with a harpoon gun; it is to the point when Nancy gives herself a talking-to does Cricket realize the consequences, causing him to break down in tears and vow never to do it again.
- "Heat Beaters" has two cases of dangerous temperature extremes, with Cricket and Remy roasting in the Heat Wave and the other Greens freezing due to a malfunctioning air conditioner. The boys were uncomfortably close to dying of heat stroke by the time Officer Keys saved the day.
- "Flimflammed": The scene where Gloria furiously parts the fence panels apart looks as if it came from a horror film. Just imagine yourself in Cricket's place, where a furious person with bulging eyes and open teeth trying to catch you, as if they want to kill you. How can you NOT be scared?Gloria: Come here, Cricket!
- The librarians from "Quiet Please". They look less like humans and more like a cross between a snake and Ms. Bitters from Invader Zim.
- Cricket completely forgetting he's supposed to be quiet once he enjoys the graphic novel he unknowingly stumbles across, alerting the librarian; she begins to close in on him, and he doesn't even look up once or even notice her shadow. If it weren't for Bill intervening, Cricket would've been mauled and banned without even knowing it.
- Chip's plan in "Chipwrecked" is finally falling into place. First, he buys Big Coffee, effectively putting Cricket and Gloria out of a job and he plans on expanding Wholesome Foods by dismantling the Greens' farmhouse. Cricket tried to stop him, but one of his new bouncers holds him back by an arm and tosses him away. And just to rub it in Cricket's face, he tells him that if he hadn't followed his "advice" to "set him straight" and get into his father's good graces, none of this would have happened. Man, does Cricket totally feel sorry about this.
- Even before that, there's the setup of his plan. His father, not knowing what's really going on, gives Chip a call and he tells him he has a problem. His father responds by telling him to use the company to solve any problem. This gives Chip an idea. The first thing he does once he "gets his act together"? He fires his two henchmen and replaces them with a group of intimidating bouncers.
- The ominous Ethereal Choir played over the background score in the final scene. It completely sets the mood for the Greens' worry.
- The very last words of the episode, which shows Chip has won and the Greens are awaiting the inevitable if they don't fight back:Cricket: What the heck is going on?!? Chip can't win! It can't end like this!
Tilly: And yet... it just... did.
(Cut to To Be Continued as we hear a Sting and the choir sounds out) - And then the end credits roll — not set to the cheerful, upbeat "Do It All Again" with scenes of the Greens' house and their surroundings — but with a dark, ominous theme with a still shot of the now-closed Big Coffee that night. The image gets progressively darker as the credits near the end, followed by a Scare Chord as we cut to the end logo.
- This all gets even worse as similar to "Reckoning Ball"'s situation, this was the last new episode of the year, with the continuation airing some time in January or February, leaving many fans shaking in fear at the fate of the Greens.
- "Chipocalypse Now":
- Not only is the Greens' house is to be demolished, but Big Coffee and the Elkins Building as well. The expressions on all five Greens' faces says it all.
- Chip ominously saying Cricket's "bingo-bango."
- When Chip's plans start falling apart and his true nature is revealed to all of Big City, resulting in him being banned from the city for good, he finally snaps and tries to kill Cricket and his family with a helicopter.Chip Whistler: Cricket Green... you made a fool of me FOR THE LAST TIME! (Chip attempts to shred Cricket with the blades of his helicopter)
Tilly and Bill: CRICKET!!!
Cricket: (with sealed fate in his face) Oh, boy...THIS HAD BETTER WORRRRRRRK!!! (quickly jumps off the roof)- Bill seeing his son almost getting killed adds up to it; it's a good thing he managed to catch him while he was coming down (thanks to Cricket shouting that he needed help in return).Cricket: SOMEBODY BETTER CATCH ME!!!!!!!
- Cricket was obviously crying as he was leaping off the roof and swinging from the banner, as if he doesn't want to meet his fate either by helicopter or fall, in fact, Chip narrowly misses Cricket, (he only missed, due the banner getting ripped by Cricket's weight) when he attempts to shred him for a second time.
- Chip's swirling eyes before he attempts to take out the entire family with the blades of his helicopter looked like that of Judge Doom's for all but a second.
Chip Whistler: Now... I can get rid of all the Greens AT ONCE!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!- All of the Greens plus their neighbors' sheer look of horror during the above counts, just before Cricket realizes a Fatal Flaw leading to his Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
- Speaking of the neighbors, they aren't that far behind the Greens themselves. A lot of blood could've been shed. In case you don't know, among the neighbors there were children in the group (Andromeda and Kiki), animals (Daisy, Anoush), and old people (Mr. Grigorian).
- And to think, Officer Keys does not do anything about it, and lets Chip go, despite the fact he would've gotten him in even more trouble for attempting murder, like he said in "Reckoning Ball".
- For even more points, Mr. Whistler never showed up. How would he feel if he saw his son completely defied him, on LIVE TV??
- Bill seeing his son almost getting killed adds up to it; it's a good thing he managed to catch him while he was coming down (thanks to Cricket shouting that he needed help in return).
- "Bleeped": Bill going "full-dad mode" on the children to force them to stop cussing, using an even scarier version of his Comical Angry Face combined with Blank White Eyes, along with a Compelling Voice.
- "Sellouts" has Tilly try to form a "personal connection" with a woman named Angela, by staring and making eye contact for increased amounts of time. It is enough to even put her in a trance, complete with a hypnotic background and eerie music.
- Tilly's close-up shots during the aforementioned event makes it almost seem like she's hypnotizing the audience.
Season 3
- ”Squashed”: The entire episode has everyone getting possessed by disturbing-looking alien pumpkins, which makes sense given that this is a Halloween Episode.
- "Big Trouble": After Tilly realizes she stole a pez dispenser, it starts talking to her. It berates her for being a "bad girl" and makes a pretty disturbing Nightmare Face, all while an ominous heartbeat plays in the background.
