"Hi! I'm Molly, and it's time for..."
Bubble Guppies is an animated musical preschool sketch comedy (fantasy comedy in Season 5 onwards) show created by Jonny Belt and Robert Scull (who would later create Butterbean's Cafe together). The series premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block on January 24, 2011.
Each episode follows the adventures of a group of mer-children and the lessons they learn at their underwater preschool. Along the way, they sing, dance, and have imaginary adventures while exploring concepts of the episode's theme, such as pet care, the solar system, or how to run a restaurant.
"I wanna eat in a- RESTAURANT! I wanna be in a- RESTAURANT! I wanna go down to a restaurant."
The show initially wrapped in 2016 after four seasons. Production ended, and the show's creators moved on to make a new series titled Butterbean's Café. It was rebooted in June 2019, and a new character, Zooli, joined. The fifth season, which premiered on September 27, also switched to a new format where the story segment takes up a majority of the episode. The Gil and Molly sketches, dance songs and field trips are removed, and the lunch jokes are incorporated into the narrative.
On June 30th, 2023, the series finale, titled "See You Later, Alligator!" aired, bringing the show's 12-year run to a close.
Go in before they start singing about tropes:
- Actor Allusion: In one episode, a female character voiced by Ru Paul, a famous Drag Queen, says something along the lines of "it's a drag", with emphasis on the word "drag".
- And That's Terrible: When Deema and Oona first see Mr. Grumpfish at a restaurant, they immediately point out that he didn't say please.Deema: RUDE!
- Art Evolution: The CGI became a bit smoother and more shaded after the Halloween Episode. The Adobe Flash facial features also became more expressive. The animation and colors got more vibrant and improved upon when the show was Un-Cancelled for the fifth season.
- Artistic License – Biology: The white whale in "X Marks the Spot" spends his screen time shown on land (and air), never in water. Whales need to be in water to live.
- Artistic License – Paleontology: Invoked in one episode when the Guppies introduce a story about cavemen and dinosaurs. Nonny tells us cavemen and dinosaurs didn't really live at the same time. One of the others replies, "We know. But this just a story we made up."
- Audience Participation: Constantly asking the audience for help and hints.
- Bait-and-Switch: The entirety of "Secret Agent Nonny!" sets up Dr. Bigmouth Bass as the episode's Big Bad; It turns out that he's actually just the party planner for Nonny's birthday party.
- Ballet Episode: "The Super Ballet Bowl" focuses on ballet. With an ending that mixes ballet with football.
- Birthday Episode:
- "A Dolphin is a Guppy's Best Friend!" ends with the Guppies going to Buddy the dolphin's first birthday party.
- "Secret Agent Nonny!" focuses on Nonny going on a mission to deliver secret messages to the other agents, played by the Guppies. The plot twist? These messages were all invitations to his birthday party!
- ""Fogzilla"'s plot revolves around lighthouse keeper Deema's birthday, and how a monster named Fogzilla keeps blowing out the lighthouse, preventing the birthday cake to be delivered.
- Blind Without 'Em: The scuba mask Nonny wears is the underwater equivalent of glasses. When he breaks them in "Come To Your Senses", it causes his vision to be blurry and spends the majority of the episode without them until they're fixed in the end.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In "Fishketball!" the characters list an assortment of balls, such as baseballs, soccer balls, eyeballs, and meatballs.
- Broken Record: Bub-bub-bubble, gup-gup-guppies, bubble bubble bubble, guppy guppy guppies...
- The Bus Came Back: Pretzel Quatel, previously seen in Season 1's "Super Shrimptennial Celebration!", makes a surprise return in Season 4's "The Glitter Games!", and then returns in Season 5's "Too Bright For Movie Night!" and Season 6's "The Three Guppeteers!", with an updated design to boot.
- Cartoon Whale: White Whale from "X Marks the Spot!" is a blocky whale with a toothy mouth.
- Catchphrase: Multiple.
- "Let's think about it!" from Mr. Grouper.
- “Let’s sing about it!” from the main cast from season 3 onwards.
- Deema has "Well, you've certainly come to the right place!", uttered usually before the shop segment.
- Oona has a minor one, “makes sense to me!”
- "Field trip!" said by the Guppies as they prepare to visit the location from the beginning of the episode from Season 2 on.
- Character Tics: Nonny's main tic is having his arms and tail straight down giving his stoic nature.
- Chekhov's Gun: Nonny's allergy to dust in "Can You Dig It?", shown earlier in the episode, is what leads to him finding a Stegasorus skeleton at the end.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Clam disappears after season 1 and aside from a brief cameo during the pop song in Bubble-Cadabra!, he was never seen or mentioned again for the rest of the series. His tank was still shown in the background in season 2 but it was empty and by season 3 it was replaced with a globe.
- Company Cross References: Gil is briefly seen wearing a SpongeBob costume in "Trick or Treat, Mr. Grumpfish!". Ironically enough, Stephen Hillenburg has stated that he doesn't like the idea of SpongeBob crossovers.
- Cool Teacher: Mr. Grouper buys his students their dog, and lets them build a badass doghouse for it by themselves. He also takes them to a hospital, lets them start a band, and open a restaurant.
- Couch Gag: Molly trying to say the show title, and Gil interrupting her in some way.
- Cowardly Lion: Gil. He's scared of airplanes, chickens, ducks, T. rex, tubas, ghosts, caterpillars, amplifiers, starfishes, pigeons, gorillas, the planet Jupiter... He's even scared of his own dog.
- Crossover: Had one with Baby Shark's Big Show! in “The Jaw-some Sharkventure!”.
- Dance Party Ending: A lot of the episodes from season 5 onwards end this way.
- Darker and Edgier: "Haunted House Party!", mainly in the toned-down color scheme - very accurately giving it a creepy, Halloween-y feel. Although, all the characters do wear Excessive Evil Eyeshadow...
- Distant Duet: "Night Night" in "The Puppy and the Ring". The Night Wizard sings about the night, The Sun King sings about the sun and the day, and Bubble Slushy sellers Molly and Gil sing about their slushy business.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- In the first season, the dance song comes before the story segment; in later seasons, these were switched around.
- Season 1 was the only season where multiple Guppies each took turns as the shop owners and giving the food jokes. Starting in Season 2, Deema is the usual shop owner (with Goby sometimes filling in), while Nonny is the usual food joke giver.
- Emotionless Boy: Nonny. He rarely emotes, having a straight face most often, and even speaks this way as well. The others don't mind though.
- Evolving Credits: To go with the new animation as of Season 2, the theme was reanimated. It was slightly updated in Season 5 to include new Guppy Zooli.
- Fake Interactivity: Like many preschool shows, the characters ask the viewer questions and pause for an answer.
- Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: A rather humorous example - even though Avi was wearing his helmet, he
still broke his tail. - Five-Token Band: Or six-tokens: Molly is possibly Hispanic, Deema is blonde, Oona is Asian, Goby is Black, Nonny is ginger, and Gil is white.
- Foreshadowing: In the story segments, upon close inspection at the monster creature that pursues the Guppies, you can see they are looking worried and needing for attention, which hints they're not as scary as they think.
- Free-Range Children: Never addressed directly, but the guppies walk to school by themselves, although sometimes another guppy may join them. They also tend to go on very improbable field trips for preschoolers, including some random kid's house for a sleepover, camping in the woods, and the mall. Who's signing these permission slips?
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: During the "Big Warm Friendly Smile" song in "A Tooth On The Looth", you can see Molly react with worry whenever she sees Nonny's usual straight face.
- Furry Confusion: During "I Want a Pet Today", while Molly is singing about pets Nonny is seen with a pet fish in a bowl. This being a Disney Acid Sequence, no one notices.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: Prior to Zooli's introduction, there were three male and three female Guppies.
- Good All Along: A common twist in the story segments features the presumed monster or scary creature chasing the Guppies revealed to be nice all along and was trying to get their help. However, there are some exceptions, like the alligator from "A Tooth on the Looth" who did intend to eat Gil and Molly.
- Impairment Shot: Several of these occur from Nonny's perspective in "Come To Your Senses!", showing just how blurry everything appears to him without his glasses.
- Improbable Hairstyle: Deema, whose giant blonde hair resembles cinnamon buns.
- Instant Awesome: Just Add Mecha!: Humunga Truck appears for one episode, and at the end it turns into a Transforming Mecha.
- Introdump: All six main characters say their names in the theme song, with Zooli being added in Season 5.
- "I Want" Song: Several of the songs e.g. "I Want A Pet Today", "The Restaurant", and "I Wanna Be A Cowgirl/Cowboy" just to name 3.
- Later-Installment Weirdness: The fifth season introduced a new format for its first couple of episodes that is vastly different than the original run. The introduction is shortened, Molly and Gil's sketches are excluded, the Guppies aren't shown going to school in the beginning, there is no shop segment, dance song or field trip, and the outside segment comes after the pop song and lasts the majority of the episode. After the story, as the Guppies go back in, Mr. Grouper waves goodbye to the viewer before the reprise of the theme.
- Library Episode: The episode "Check it Out!" is themed around the library.
- Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: Only six merpeople (seven after Zooli's arrival) live in Bubbletucky, and co-exist with various sea creatures.
- Loners Are Freaks: The Humbug in "The Guppies Save Christmas!", who stole Santa's list because he spent Christmas alone in the Forest of Solitude.
- Loose Tooth Episode: "A Tooth on the Looth!" centers on Deema having a wiggly tooth. She goes to the dentist to get it out. She is later given a coin by the tooth fairy (actually Oona).
- Meaningful Name:
- Molly and Goby are named for small fish similar to guppies, while Gil is named for an important part of fish anatomy. Zooli's name is a pun on "zoology", and the character is interested in animals.
- "The Police Cop-etition" features Officer Miranda, as in the Miranda warning (you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, etc).
- Medium Blending: The characters themselves have CGI bodies and Flash animated facial features. The show also has segments with Flash characters and backdrops.
- Mind Screw: The characters are all either mermaids or aquatic life, implying that the series would take place underwater. However, the majority of the settings consist of above-water like aspects such as trees and grass. It could be Justified by the fact that bubbles are often seen rising around them, however in some of the Story sketches the characters are blatantly above water (etc. there is running water in the background, or on the moon) and there are still bubbles rising. Added to this that in the episode "The Moon Rocks!", the spaceship they travel in appears to be rising out of somewhere in Canada.
- In the camping episode, they build a bonfire. Underwater.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The Gorilla-Gator.
- *"Mission: Impossible" Cable Drop: Done in "The Ultra Spy Tool!". Fitting as, you know, spies.
- Mystery Episode: Three mystery episodes were made in Season 6: "Werewolves of Bubbledon!", "Mystery on the Guppy Express!", and "A Slow Day in Zippy City!".
- New Baby Episode: The episode "Bubble Baby!" focuses on Molly becoming a big sister to a baby.
- The Night That Never Ends: The main plot of "The Puppy and the Ring" has the Night Wizard steal the Ring of the Sun which casts Bubbledom in eternal nighttime.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: In "Haunted House Party", they constantly dance around just what a zombie is, calling them 'spooky monsters' whose breath is the worst, yet their very best feature.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: The guppies themselves are typical mermaids, but we also have mer-dogs, mer-cows, mer-horses... basically all land animals are mer-creatures in this show.
- Perpetual Frowner: Nonny, not that the others seem to mind. There's also Mr. Grumpfish, who has a big fat frown on his face at all times.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Hair colors of Molly and Gil.
- Potty Emergency: A croc wasn't chasing anyone to hurt them. He needed directions to the bathroom.
- Retool: From the traditional sketch comedy of the first four seasons to the fantasy/storybook format of Season 5 onward.
- Rule of Cool: In "Have a Cow!", Goby and Gil are having their carrots stolen by a giant robot rabbit. To get it to leave, they use a giant, rocket, robot carrot. This is lampshaded by Oona;"Makes sense to me!"
- Rule of Three:
- In the opening sketch, Molly tries to say the show title twice before it's finally said.
- The lunch gags have three of them show their lunches, ending on a pun-based lunch.
- Running Gag: Gil getting snow dropped on his head every time Mr. Grumpfish slams the door in "Happy Holidays, Mr. Grumpfish!"
- Same Language Dub: The cast is completely revoiced in the UK dub.
- Averted by Season 5. The only exception is the crossover episode with Baby Shark's Big Show!, but only the Baby Shark characters were dubbed over.
- Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Averted for a gag, where Gil says that Mercury is the biggest planet, and a small ball, looking like Mercury, bounces past him and Molly. Then he says it's Mars, and a slightly bigger Mars ball bounces by. Next he says Jupiter is the biggest planet... and has to run from a Jupiter boulder.
- Separate Scene Storytelling: Done Once an Episode when the kids go outside and do a story.
- Shout-Out
- In the episode "Who's Gonna Play the Big Bad Wolf?", if you look into the background during the Shop sketch, you can see a picture depicting a lobster wearing a very familiar mask.
- In "Build Me a Building!", Goby says, "It's Hammertime!" during the dance segment.
- Deema also says it in "The Ultra Spy Tool!" at the start of the episode.
- "THE WHITE WHALE!!"
- In "Can You Dig It?", the recess segment is titled "Tricera-COPS"
- Oona says "Bye Bye Birdie!" in "Boy Meets Squirrel!"
- The finale of "Humunga-Truck".
- "Who's Gonna Play the Big Bad Wolf?"
- The magic mirror in the fairy tale episode looks like the genie in Pee-wee's Playhouse.
- "The Puppy and the Ring" is one to The Lord of the Rings. Goby even says "You Shall Not Pass!!"
- The title and field trip segment of "The Wizard of Oz-Tralia!" is an obvious The Wizard of Oz parody, with Molly obviously playing Dorothy.
- Sixth Ranger: Zooli, who joined the team in Season 5.
- Sky Pirate: The pirate who pilots a wooden plane in "Gup, Gup, and Away!"
- Sneeze of Doom: Nonny's sneeze shakes enough dirt loose to reveal an entire dinosaur skeleton.
- Soft Reboot: In Season 5, the show was Retooled so that most of the Molly and Gil segments, as well as the dance and field trip segments, were removed, and a new guppy, Zooli, was introduced.
- The Stoic: Nonny, who smiles noticeably less than the others.
- Strictly Formula:
- Molly and Gil host a Cold Open where Gil keeps interrupting Molly with whatever is the subject of the episode. Cue theme song. One of the kids goes to school and encounters some sort of situation. Everyone gathers for school, the featured character tells the situation going on, and they think about it. Cue a song. The kids play store, have lunch where the third makes a food joke, followed by another Molly/Gil sketch. The kids play, they think more, then they go outside and play pretend, followed by coming back inside for a dance. Cue a third Molly/Gil sketch. The kids go on a field trip which resolves the situation as seen in the beginning, and the show concludes with the last Molly/Gil sketch and a reprise of the theme song. However, the end credits both use every pop song at the end of every episode.
- For the story sequences: Two or three of the characters are doing some sort of activity, but are followed by something seemingly dangerous. They cater to two major obstacles before whatever was following them appears and reveals they were Good All Along and needed help. So they help that character, and they live Happily Ever After.
- Super-Deformed: All chibi all the time, just like Handy Manny and Super Why.
- Talk Like a Pirate: Almost every pirate quote is used in X Marks the Spot.
- Team Pet: Bubble Puppy as a mascot of sorts.
- The Teaser: The episode starts with a prologue featuring Molly, who tries to announce the start of the show but is interrupted by Gil doing something related to the episode, usually three times until one of the two starts the show.
- Tempting Fate: "Hey, Molly, have you ever wondered why they call it the rainforest?"
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Averted with the snails, lobsters, crabs, and fish, where there's no physical way to differentiate between the males and females (some females will have hair, however.)
- Theme Tune Roll Call:
- Originally the call went: "I'm Molly!" "I'm Gil!" "I'm Goby!" "I'm Deema!" "I'm Oona!" "I'm Nonny!" (bark, bark) "Bubble Puppy!"
- As of Season 5: "I'm Molly!" "I'm Gil!" "I'm Goby!" "I'm Deema!" "Oona!" "Nonny!" "Zooli!" (bark, bark) "Bubble Puppy!"
- Title Drop: "It's a Lizard!" had this done a couple times, notably in the episode's pop song.
- Token Human: The six Bubble Guppies are the only mer-people seen on the show thus far, the rest of the population consisting of entirelly sea creatures. It's subverted in the fourth season when we see Molly's sister and a pop star named Stylee, both mer-people, and in the fifth season which features new Guppy Zooli. This is even lampshaded in this song.
- Transforming Conforming: "The New Guppy". In her debut episode, Zooli tricks the Sea Witch into transformining into a seadragon. Unfortunately for the Sea Witch, she didn't realize that despite its formidable name, the seadragon is a small fish related to a sea horse. She becomes too small to wield the magical object granting her the power to change form, and Zooli captures it before the Sea Witch can undo the change.
- True Companions: The Guppies all care for each other and like to help each other out.
- The Unpronounceable: The Weather Weasel Wizard... in universe, at least. Mostly Played for Laughs.
- Vague Age: The guppies attend some sort of preschool or kindergarten, which puts them somewhere from 5 to 7.
- Viewers Are Geniuses: The name "bubble guppies" is probably derived from "Bubble Puppy", the name of a psychedelic rock band.
- Villain Song:
- The mean witch gets one in "Bubble Puppy's Fin-tastic Fairy Tale Adventure!"
- The Night Wizard also gets this in "The Puppy and the Ring". The song is shared along with the Sun King, Molly, and Gil.
- Visual Pun: The mailperson from "Happy Clam Day!" is, of course, a snail.
- Voluntary Shape Shifting: The Flutter Guppies and the Snowy Guppy in "The Puppy and the Ring" can become swarms of butterflies and a polar bear respectively. This leads to a hilarious moment where The Snowy Guppy in his polar bear form answers his phone just as is about to attack Molly, Gil, and the Flutter Guppies.
- Water Is Air: Hoo boy. There are cars and trucks that make normal engine sounds. There are trees. There are things in the "air" that pretty much stand in for clouds (very non-puffy, but easily mistaken for being clouds that look this way due to the animation style, and if not clouds, what the halibut are they? The background turns colors the sky can be but water should never be. Characters do swim, but mostly hovering over the ground at the exact height they'd be standing if they had legs. It's to the point that when you see someone swim upward or otherwise move as if they are under water, you will say "wait, what?!" Amusingly, though, the Disney Acid Sequences do have them more believably underwater.
- Weird Moon: In several shots featuring the moon it appears to be hovering in the water. This is most evident in the beginning of "The Moon Rocks!"
- When He Smiles: Although Nonny is rarely expressive and doesn't smile so much, when he does, it's pretty adorable.
- Wrap-Up Song: The end of all episodes, following the final Molly and Gil sketch, has the Guppies singing a reprise of the theme song.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: At the end of Fintastic Fairy Tale, Bubble Puppy has been changed back. The end, right? Turns out the witch escaped at the last minute. When Gil and Molly point out that she can't change anyone into frogs, the witch says she still has her original Mean Green Bubble Potion. Cue Oh, Crap! from the main cast.Crab: Awww.
