Why can't the world just see things my way?
Meet Ian Kelley. He's a 12-year-old boy from Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada with a big imagination, big ideas, and big dreams. Ian aspires to become a great filmmaker one day and win an Academy Award of his own. For now however, he's stuck trying to survive his everyday life, creating elaborate schemes (usually with the help of his trusty filmmaking camera and his best friends Sandi Crocker and Tyrone Washington) and trying to fit in with a world that just won't seem to match up to his cinematic passions.
In particular, Ian must cope with his quirky family, which consists of his father Ken (who runs a piano and organ shop called Kelley's Keyboards with a kooky Dutch immigrant named Odbald as his sole employee), his mother Vicky (who divides her time between helping Ken run the store and as a homemaker cooking up disgusting vegetarian dishes), his two teenage brothers, Kyle and Korey (who constantly prank Ian and pick on him), and his grandmothers (Ken's Violent Glaswegian mother Eleanor and Vicky's doting Polish mother Mary Menske).
But some day, mark his words, Ian Kelley will be able to make it big in his crazy little world - the world of being Ian!
Being Ian is a Canadian animated sitcom created by voice actor Ian James Corlett of The Ocean Group dubbing team (who had previously created another animated series, Yvon of the Yukon), inspired by his own childhood experiences. Produced by Nelvana and Studio B Productions (who would collaborate again on Class of the Titans), the show was shown on YTV in its home country, but also saw exposure on U.S. television as part Qubo's Night Owl block. It aired from January 1, 2005 to October 11, 2008 with a grand total of 63 episodes over three seasons. Prior to the series official premiere, there were sneak peeks of the episodes "Little Camp of Horrors" and "Sask-Watch" in October and December 2004, respectively.
Lights, camera, TROPES:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Frequently used in most of Ian's Fantasy Sequences. This technique is also used on vehicles such as cars in the show.
- Acting Out a Daydream: Due to Ian's very imaginative personality, this is bound to happen sometimes. In the beginning of "The Ians" for example, Ian imagines himself in medieval times where he pulls out a sword out of a stone. It then cuts to him in the bathroom with a toilet brush and him spreading water over the walls, which prompts a angry reaction from his mother.
- Adoption Diss: In "The Greatest Story Never Told", Ian comes to the conclusion that he's adopted based off his seeming lack of any hereditary characteristics tying him to his supposed ancestry, as well as the conspicuous absence of photos of him as a child that his brothers have. His father tries to convince him otherwise, asking Ian's older brothers to tell him he's not adopted... to which his brothers immediately start chanting "You're adopteeeeeed, adopteeeed..." to him until they get told to cut it out.
- Affectionate Nickname: Ian often refers to his friend Tyrone as "Ty".
- All Just a Dream: In "Being Principal Bill", when some home renovators come to fix up the house, Ian finds a cave in his room that leads into his school principal's brain, à la Being John Malkovich, and makes him do embarrassing stuff during the school assembly. It's revealed that Ian was dreaming after a ceiling title fell on him and knocked him out.
- Alliterative Name: Ken Kelley, Kyle Kelley, and Korey Kelley.
- Author Avatar: Ian Kelley is basically meant to be series creator Ian James Corlett when he was a kid.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Roberto, a rude entitled kid Ian takes care of in "Planet of the Imps".
- Balloon Belly: Happens to Sandi and Tyrone when they both eat a stockpile of chocolate that Tyrone had hidden in Sandi's locker to try to sabotage her efforts of beating him in fitness.
- Beach Episode: The Kelley family go to the beach in "Bad Day at White Rock". While the rest of the clan engage in typical beachside shenanigans, Ian gets stranded on a sandbar in a Cast Away parody.
- Big Brother Bully: Ian's older brothers, Kyle and Korey, especially the former.
- Blessed with Suck: Shown in "The Fifth and a Half Sense" when Ian gains the ability to smell the future, at first he's treated as a hero, but then everybody starts trying to take advantage of him.
- Book Ends: "Cyrano de Mille" begins and ends with a shot of a bird family and Ian waking up to his brothers pranks.
- Bubble Pipe: Ian uses one in "Crime Corder", which was Lampshaded by Tyrone, saying that he's too old to be playing with bubbles.
- Canadian Equals Hockey Fan: Ian and his family are shown to be big fans of hockey, particularly the Vancouver Canucks. This is especially shown in "Hockey Night in Burnaby" where Ian gets to meet former hockey players Trevor Linden and Ryan Walter.
- Candid Camera Prank: In the beginning of "SCREAM Because I Know What You Did to That Psycho Last Summer", Ian is shown to start having a obsession with these kinds of pranks, even stating to his mom that they're "so hot right now". Later on near the end of the episode, it's revealed the family "road trip", where members of the Kelley family start disappearing one by one, was a huge hidden camera prank orchestrated by Ian's family to get back at him.
- Career Resurrection: Dirk Octane is a former action star who becomes such a has been that he's working at Tiffany's party. While attending the party, Ian, who is a huge fan of Octane, reveals that he that he had to shave his head due to having lice and is made fun of. Defending Ian, Octane reveals that he too is bald. This move resurrects his career.
- Character in the Logo: One variant of the series logo has Ian standing on a globe with a banner of the show's title.
- Chekhov's Gun: In "Little Camp of Horrors" Ian gets a "swiss gadget hatchet" from Ken before he went to film camp. Later on in the episode Ian uses it to break out of film camp, to which he finds out the camp was a scam.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: For whatever reason, Odbald and Ian's grandmothers never appeared in the final episode, with no explanation for their disappearance.
- Clear My Name: The plot of "School Unfair" involves Ian getting blamed for flooding the school fields and as a result he is banned from the annual school fair, despite him not actually doing it. As a result, he has to figure out who really did it. In the end, it turns out to be Dennis who's angry at Ian for puking on him during the last school fair.
- Companion Cube: In "Bad Day at White Rock", Ian gets stranded on a sandbar in a parody of Cast Away, and ends having a styrofoam cup as a companion whom he names Cuppy (similar to Wilson the volleyball). Ian also imagines Cuppy actually talking to him.
- Company Cross References:
- Yvon of the Yukon, another series from Studio B Productions (and also by Ian James Corlett), is referenced several times in the series, including the show being directly namedropped in "Home Alone", Yvon appearing frozen in ice at an oddities museum in "Sask-Watch", Kyle and Korey watching the show in both "Snow Fun" and "SCREAM Because I Know What You Did To That Psycho Last Summer", and Ian using a doll of Yvon of demonstrate a heist in "Kelley's Seven". Korey is also shown to have a string puppet of Yvon in his room, as shown in "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and "School Unfair".
- In "Winning isn't Ian's Thing", during Ian's imagination sequence TVs featuring screenshots of The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers (another show worked on by Studio B) can be seen.
- Continuity Nod:
- In "Snow Fun" one of the items shown in Ian's locker at school is a VHS tape of a movie he made called "Little Camp of Horrors" from the episode of the same name.
- When Ian is looking for family photos in "What's Come Over You", Kyle and Korey are confused on why he's interested in them and wonder if he thinks "he's adopted" again, referencing the events of "The Greatest Story Never Told".
- In "O Brother Where Art Thou?", Ian brings up the times Korey has messed with him in the past to justify pulling pranks on him. Flashbacks to previous episodes like "Show Me The Bunny" and "Cyrano de Mille" are shown.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The theme song was co-written and sung by series creator Ian James Corlett.
- Detention Episode: "The Great Escape" involves Ian and his classmates trying to escape detention from a evil substitute teacher ( actually a famous video game designer who set the whole thing up) in order to get the newly released "Blood Blitz 3000 II" on time.
- Distinction Without a Difference: In "Crime Corder", Korey tries to build a fort made out of empty boxes, while Kyle sleeps in a box next to him. When Korey wakes him up and tells him to get to work, Kyle tell him he "wasn't sleeping, he was lying very still with his eyes closed."
- Dreadful Musician: Sandi is a terrible singer.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: At the end of the Series Fauxnale "Hurry for Hollywood" two parter, Ian participates in the filmmaker contest and he actually wins with his entry with him even receiving standing ovation from the audience.
- Egg Sitting: In "The Good Egg", Ian and Sandi get paired together to watch over an egg. Sandi gives the egg to Ian to keep and he ends up becoming emotionally attached to it.
- Evil Teacher: Mr. Man the substitute teacher in "The Great Escape" is this, with him being very strict and giving the students detentions over minor things, as well as forcing the students do chores around the school. After Ian and the other students escape the school it's revealed that he was actually the designer of the game "Blood Blitz 3000 II" and that the school was chosen as part of a "test drive" for his newest game idea.
- Fake Crossover: With Yvon of the Yukon during YTV's "Big BBQ Blowout", though they only interact during the bumpers rather than than either series.
- Fanboy: Ian is shown to be huge fan of movies, particularly those by horror movie director Werner Wolfenstein.
- Fantasy Sequence: Happens constantly due to Ian's movie like imagination.
- Fat Flex: In the episode "What's Combover You?", Ken flexes his muscles in the bathroom, and all of a sudden, it turns into a middle age pot belly, much to his shock!
- Feathered Fiend: There are several gags in the series involving seagulls attacking and chasing people in groups. This is notably seen in "Bad Day at White Rock", where Ian gets chased by seagulls while trying to enjoy his day at White Rock.
- Fiery Redhead: Sandi.
- Funny Foreigner:
- Odbald, the Dutch guy who works at Ken's store.
- There's also Ian's Polish and Scottish grandmothers.
- Fun with Acronyms: The B-plot of "Ian The Pecky Head" involves Ian's parents preparing to compete against Mr. Fleeman in the annual town parade which is called the Burnaby Annual Really Fun parade.
- Giftedly Bad: Sandi doesn't know that she is a horrible singer.
- Gratuitous English: In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, Ken's catchphrase "holy moly ravioli" is kept in English instead of being translated into a variant.
- Groin Attack: Happens sometimes to male characters in the show.
- Grossup Closeup:
- "Truth in Advertising" has one with Grandma Menske, when she's ready for Ian's commercial and the camera zooms in on her face.
- In "Adventures in Kelley Sitting", one happens when Ken and Vicky (who are very sleep deprived after working long hours at the store) scare a customer off.
- Another happens in "Winning Isn't Ian's Thing", when Grandma Kelley scares Odbald right out of the store with her "forget-em" face.
- Grumpy Old Man: Grandma Kelley. As opposed to Grandma Menske, who's more of a Cloudcuckoolander.
- Heh Heh, You Said "X": Occasionally, this is Kyle and Korey's response to something another character said.
- Hey, You!: Freaky Frank from "Truth in Advertising" refers to Ian as "kid".
- Homage:
- Horrible Camping Trip: In "Little Camp of Horrors", Ken and the rest of the Kelley family (sans Ian who's at film camp) try going on their first camping trip in the woods which doesn't go as planned, a lot of it as a result Ken's terrible camping skills.
- How Unscientific!: Usually averted, with fantasy sequences turning out to be dreams or daydreams, but played straight in "The Fifth and a Half Sense", where Ian can predict the future with his nose. Which itself contains a Dream Sequence based on "The Nose" by Nikolai Gogol, of all things: Ian's magic nose pops off his face and starts living a better life without him. Ian wakes to find he still has his nose... but it can still predict the future. Naturally, he fears his dream itself is a prediction and decides I Just Want to Be Normal.
- Humiliation Conga: Kyle gets this in "Bad Day at White Rock", where he gets babied by his parents and grandmas throughout the whole time at the beach.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: In, "Snow Fun", Ken is stuck in traffic with Kyle and Korey while trying to deliver a organ to a client. He yells out the window of his car:Ken: Come on, get out of the way! I've got a pregnant... goat, that I need to get to... the airport! (to Kyle) Quick, make a sound like a pregnant goat!
- Imagine Spot: Ian has one of these in nearly every episode, with a lot of them doubling as a reference to a movie.
- Intelligible Unintelligible: Despite the fact that Dennis mumbles, other characters can understand him.
- Invisible Parents: Tyrone and Sandi's parents. Despite both of their homes being shown in the series, we never see their parents (or siblings for that matter).
- Jerkass Has a Point: While Kyle's a huge jerk to Ian, he does have a point to him on how his parents would not let him skip school to see a movie in "Ian Kelley's Day Off".
- Kids Versus Adults: "Band 'o Bruthaz" sees Ian, Kyle and Korey start a boy band and enter a talent show, which alienates their parents. In retaliation, Vicky becomes the manager of the punk band Gob, and Ken and Odbald form their own metal band.
- Land of Tulips and Windmills: In the episode "The Curse", Ian has a imagination sequence in which he is in the Netherlands trying to escape from girls who wear traditional Dutch clothing while being surrounded by tulips and windmills.
- Laxative Prank: Kyle and Korey do this to Ian with a chocolate bunny in the beginning of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?".
- Left the Background Music On: In "The Greatest Story Never Told", a piano piece plays when Ken worries about Ian finding his baby photos. Ken turns around and tells Korey to stop playing the piano.
- Lice Episode: "Ian's Louse-ey Day" involves a lice outbreak in Burnaby with many characters (including Korey) getting hit with head lice. Ian however, wants to get lice in order to avoid going to Tiffany's costume party.
- Loser Team Mascot: "Ian the Pecky Head" has Ian becoming the school mascot Pecky the Pelican, with him making attempts to make them seem cool (all of which result in failure). He also starts hanging out with other kids who play school mascots, such as one named Irwin who plays a beaver mascot.
- Made Myself Sad: The opening of the B-plot of "The Kelleys" has Grandma Kelley attempting to brag about how much she enjoys her carefree reclining years, only to depress herself when she realizes she only has her impending death to look forward to.
- Medium-Shift Gag:
- In "Hockey Night in Burnaby", there's a brief moment of a live-action actor playing the piano when Ryan Walter talks about selling the organ to "an interested party overseas".
- In "The Good Egg", Ian's nightmare about what would happen to his and Sandi's egg is portrayed as live-action footage of a egg getting cooked in various ways.
- Movie-Making Mess: Happens many times, given Ian is a rather amateur film maker. For example, in "Joust Kidding Around" Ian tries to make a film at a medieval fair, to comedic results.
- Mr. Imagination: Ian is a big example of his, often having daydreams relating what he's experiencing and witnessing in the episodes. Since he's also a huge movie fan, a lot of them also happen to be references to films.
- My Little Phony: "Happy Unicorns", which Ian's shown to be a huge fan of, owning various merchandise of the series.
- Narrative Profanity Filter: In the episode "The Curse", Odbald admitted that he used profanity from his book of Dutch curse words.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: The B plot of "The Good Egg" involves Korey trying out various jobs in order to get a CD album, all of which don't go as they plan. His jobs range from packing up TVs for someone who's actually a robber, to doing office work and getting stressed out from all the angry clients, to doing brain surgery in which he passes out from shock right when it began.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- Royal Stilton from the episode "Piano Man" is a clear parody of Elton John. The song seen in the episode is also based on John's "Your Song".
- Coach Folter's voice is based on Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- One of the judges for Burnaby Idol is a Harsh Talent Show Judge named Simeon, who's a parody of American Idol judge Simon Cowell.
- "Everykid 13" has a imagination spot where Ian's on a talk show with a expy of Jerry Springer named "Jerry Stinger".
- No, You Hang Up First: Kyle does this with his girlfriend in "Hurry for Hollywood".
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Unlike Korey, Kyle is actually pretty smart, but he plays dumb to fit in with his friends.
- Old-Timey Cinema Countdown: The intro starts with a countdown from 4 to 1. After that, Ian crashes through the screen in an airplane and the rest of the intro plays out.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Tommy, one of Ian's film camp friends, is usually referred to by his nickname, "Gorehound".
- Only Sane Man: Sandi and Tyrone play this role in a lot of the stories. This is especially the case for the former in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", where Korey gets trapped on a stuck escalator and she's the only one to point out he can just walk up the steps.
- Parodies for Dummies: In "Dummy Up", a book called "Ventriloquism For Morons" is shown, which Ian uses to practice ventriloquism his new puppet he got.
- Parody Commercial: In "Planet of the Imps", there's a advertisement for a Matrix-themed laxative called "Matri-lax", which Ian called "the greatest commercial ever made".
- Periphery Demographic: Despite being way out of the target demographic, Ian's shown to be a fan of Happy Unicorns. This is shown especially in "Home Alone", where he gets his family out of the house just to watch a marathon of the series in secret.
- "Risky Business" Dance: Ian does this in the beginning of "Home Alone", complete with a soundalike of "Old Time Rock and Roll".
- Rubber-Hose Limbs: Everybody has these thanks to the art style.
- Same Clothes, Different Year: In flashbacks to Ian's past in various episodes, he's shown to be wearing the same type of clothes (green vest, blue shorts, red shoes, and same glasses lenses) as a younger kid.
- Sand Bridge at Low Tide: A sand bridge at low tide causes Ian to get stranded on a sand spit in "Bad Day at White Rock", which causes him to start living a Cast Away parody.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Happens at the end of "Catch Me if You Cane" when Ian states he has science project to work on, Mr. Lipsits then goes on about how he supposedly worked for NASA and went to Mars, to which Ian then takes off on his mobility scooter.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: In "Crime-Corder", Ian and Tyrone start a detective agency and spend the episode competing for the love of their first (and only) client. Long story short, they solve the case, but it turns out their client already has a boyfriend.
- Shout-Out:
- Most of Ian's Imagine Spots have at the very least one movie reference in them.
- The school Ian and his friends go to is called "Céline Dion High School". The episodes "Ian The Pecky Head" and "One Million Dollar Sandi" also show schools named after Anne Murray and William Shatner.
- Sibling Rivalry: The Kelley kids have a lot of moments like this, mostly with Ian and Kyle.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Ken has one with Mr. Freeman, the owner of a fruit smoothie stand that's right next to Kelley's Keyboards.
- Skipping School: The episode "Ian Kelley's Day Off" has Ian and his film camp friends skip school to meet the starring actor of the movie "Attack of The Giant Garden Slugs".
- Slower Than a Snail: The B plot of "Miss Tweenage Burnaby" revolves around Korey being tasked to mow the lawn, except the riding mower he's using is so absurdly slow, even going full speed, that a passing by turtle moves faster than it while laughing at him. This motivates Korey to modify the mower to make it faster, dubbing his creation "Monster Mow", except he winds up making it too fast and powerful for him to control where he's going.
- Snowed-In: In "Snow Fun", Ian and his friends get trapped in school when a snowstorm hits. As a result of this, Ian gets Cabin Fever and starts going crazy.
- Sticky Situation: Some of the pranks done by Kyle and Korey in the series involve using super-glue. For example, the beginning of "Cyrano de Mille" were Korey super-glues all of Ian's shoes to the floor.
- Suck E. Cheese's: In "Links for Love" Ian and his family go to a restaurant called "Yucky Cheese" to have pizza with Uncle Ian.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: In "Million Dollar Sandi", the principal tasks Ian with finding someone to compete in a boxing match with a rival school. The school's only good boxer turns out to be Sandi, but the principal won't let a girl compete. As a result, Ian gets Sandi to disguise as a boy called "Sammy" in order to get into the boxing club.
- Those Two Guys:
- Ian's best friends, Sandi and Tyrone, are almost always seen together.
- Craig and Nash, two teens Kyle hangs out with, also count. Unlike Sandi and Ty though, they have less personality, and in Principal Bill's own worlds, are mindless.
- Toilet Humor: Not as much as the creator's previous work Yvon of the Yukon, but there are still bits of it, most of which comes from Dennis.
- Token Trio: Ian, Tyrone and Sandi.
- Tomboy: Sandi, who's very athletic and plays a lot of sports.
- The Unintelligible: Dennis, who mumbles instead of speaking in full sentences.
- Vocal Evolution:
- At the beginning of the series, Ian's voice was more deeper. As the series went on, his voice started to become more higher pitch, likely to make him sound a bit more younger.
- Korey's voice in the first episode was notably more deeper than it is in the rest of the series.
- Wedgie: Ian is often given these by his big brothers.
- Wedding Episode: "For Whom the Wedding Bell Tolls" has Ian film a Indian wedding ceremony for some family friends. While the mother in law wants it to be done in an exact way and perfectly, Ian wants to shoot it like a cinematic feature.
- Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: In "Show Me the Bunny", Ian has to take care of a bunny named Mr. Fuzzy. Later on, the bunny runs away and Ian (with the help of Odbald) finds "him" in the forest. A month later, the bunny's revealed to be a female after giving birth to a litter of bunnies.
- Zany Scheme: Ian has these in many episodes, which usually backfire in one way or another.
Why can't...the...world...just...SEE THINGS MY WAAAAAAAY?!!
