Western Animation / Moville Mysteries

Tommy "Hitch" Hitchcock, Mosley "Mo" Moville and Mimi Valentine

"Here's where it gets weird."

Moville Mysteries is a Canadian animated Horror Comedy/Mystery Fiction television series produced by the famed Nelvana studio. It was created by American artist Guy Vasilovich, previously known for having made several pilots for Oh Yeah! Cartoons, like "Earth to Obie, "Lollygaggin", "The Boy Who Cried Alien" and "Elise: Mere Mortal". All of the abovementioned shorts contained elements that eventually made their way into Moville Mysteries, and can be thought of as prototypical versions of the show in some ways.

The series stars Mosley "Mo" Moville (voiced by Frankie Muniz), a huge fanatic for all things freaky and mysterious who attends Lone Pine High with his friends Mimi Valentine (Tara Spencer-Nairn) and Tommy "Hitch" Hitchcock (Dan Petronijevic). These three ordinary teenagers live in Ouigee Falls, a not-so ordinary little town where strange happenings occur every day. No matter where they go, Mo and his friends are brought into encounters with the unexplained, the bizarre, and the outright supernatural around their town, whether it be the trio investigating urban legends and paranormal activity a la Scooby-Doo or following stories of their neighbors and classmates having direct run-ins with unusual events and other general weirdness in a sort of anthology style.

Think of it as what would happen if you took The Twilight Zone (1959), Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Goosebumps, The Outer Limits (1995), and Tales from the Crypt, threw them all into the blender, and then turned the results into a cartoon.

The show premiered on September 7, 2002 and concluded in May 14, 2003, running for 26 episodes over 2 seasons. It originally aired on YTV in Canada, but also popped up internationally on Fox Kids (and later Jetix), although the series never made its way to the United States despite Fox Kids owning the show's broadcasting rights in that country.

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Tropes:

• Abusive Parents:
  • The parents of Rico Caliente from "The Day Rico Became Smart" see him as little more than a meal ticket, and after he announces that he is leaving sports behind so that he can use his newfound intellect to help the world pro bono, they stifle his dreams, and try to drop objects on his head in a desperate bid to turn him back into his normal, jock self who won't "throw his life away" by choosing science over being offered anything to play anything.
  • "Ghoooul!!" reveals that Coach Konkout's father was a sports-obsessed maniac who raised his son to believe that he was a worthless loser and that there was nothing more important in life than trophies and winning (including through any means necessary).
• Aesop Amnesia: "The Tell Tale Recliner" is about a fibber named Milo being terrorized into becoming truthful by a sentient easy chair purchased from "Karma Komfort." In subsequent episodes, Milo is shown to have regressed back to being a compulsive liar.
• Agent Mulder: B.B. Boon. Mo is like this as well, though he is more normal and common-sensed than Boon.
• Alien Invasion: The Soybean Growers Alliance was prepping for one using addictive food in "How Green Was My Lunch Meat." Boon also nearly kick starts one by building a transportation device that he found the schematics for on the Internet in "Don't touch that Dial."
• All Animals Are Dogs: The green slime in "Goo On You" bonds with Hitch and acts like his puppy, which makes a bit of sense, since it turned out to be the lost pet of extraterrestrials.
• All Myths Are True: Every myth, urban legend and superstition is real, or at least partly so.
• Almighty Janitor: Mr. Cistern was an Adventurer Archaeologist, but left that life behind after his possessed foot kicked the Queen of England.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Barely anyone has a normal skin tone, which can range from blue to purple to yellow to grey.
• Animalistic Abomination: The exotic pets which Emil buys from Mr. Pong in "Pet Shop Of No Return". They all belong to non-existent species, are seemingly capable of Offscreen Teleportation, have red, piercing eyes, display an unnaturally aggressive behavior and do not seem to require food or water of any sort. As it turns out, they were created from the corpses of Emil's past pets which he mistreated so much.
• Animate Inanimate Object: The Relax-O-Magic Ultra Recliner from "The Tell Tale Recliner." The ending reveals that it originates from a store called "Karma Komfort."
• Applied Phlebotinum: Mr. Cistern's Pink Stuff, capable of cleaning up vomit, unclogging toilets, and halting the manifestation of an Eldritch Abomination.
• Artifact of Doom:
  • The premiere had a jock strap that made its wearer excel at sports, while also turning them into an insufferable Jerk Jock.
  • The Hunter from "The Night and Day and Night of the Hunter" makes good things happen to those who honor it, and bad things happen to those who piss it off.
  • The hand mirror from "Mirror, Mirror Off The Wall" turns its owner into a fashion genius, but torments and traps them in a mirror world if they ignore it.
  • The Brings Us Luck penny from "Just My Luck" gives its owner good luck, which quickly reverses if they lose it.
• Asshole Victim: There were victims who were this, but as long as they learned their lesson before it was too late they always avoided the horrible fates of those who didn't.
• Attack of the Monster Appendage: All we see of the creatures in "Big Toe, Big Evil" and "Don't touch that Dial" are tentacles.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Hitch's skateboard. When Mimi complains that he should have gotten a bike because they are much more reliable, Hitch retorts that boards are more stylish.
• Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: Big and Little Wally go fishing for 'Ol Whopper together in "Something Fishy In Lake Gimmee-Gimmee-Itchee-Owee." It's awkward because Sr. is an Egomaniac Hunter whereas Jr. is a male Granola Girl.
• Ax-Crazy: Professor Kindly from "The Day Rico Became Smart" kills for pragmatic reasons, but still takes maniacal joy in the act. The raison d'être of the Pumpkin Reaper from "The Good Old Days" is decapitating people so that it can magically replace their heads with pumpkins for its own amusement; after it acquires the weed whacker that Mo brought with him from the future, it goes from beheading one or two people a night to embarking on an outright rampage in which it claims as many victims as it can all at once, with Mo noting that it is acting like "a kid with a new toy."
• Bad Future: W2 (a.k.a. B.B. Boon) goes back fifty years to prevent one in "Don't touch that Dial." The alien that he accidentally helped get to Earth ripped Mo's head off in front of him, and managed to hatch an army that quickly overwhelmed the Earth.
• Badass Family: Mo's ancestor was a witch hunter, his Granny once tangled with a Pumpkin Person Headless Horseman, his father tried to catch "'Ol Whopper" and Mo himself gets mixed-up in abnormal phenomena every other week.
• Bad Liar: Milo. Everyone except the trio and his father still fall for all of his outlandish tales, however.
• Bazaar of the Bizarre: Lizzy's, an occult shop located in an old gas station.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The premise of "Curse of the Mommies." Three teenage girls wish on the passing "Three Sister Comets" that their mothers could be cool like them. Things are fun at first, but then the moms keep getting brattier and brattier...
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: Bosco's three henchmen in "Follow That Mo."
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • Martha from "The Moville Witch Project" claimed to be an innocent pilgrim girl who was falsely accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake after she rejected the advances of a brute named Caleb Moville. She shows her true colors as a Wicked Witch after Mo and Hitch bring her to Lizzy's.
  • Mountain Marge from "Something Fishy In Lake Gimmee-Gimmee-Itchee-Owee" is the friendly proprietor of the Welcome Inn, the guests of which she feeds to 'Ol Whopper and its brood.
  • In "Sold Your Soul For... What?", we learn that Rodney's gifted and charismatic sister Matilda sold her soul to Satan to become the #1 sibling, intentionally turning her brother Rodney into The Unfavorite. Not bad enough? When Satan came to claim her soul, she tried to trick him into taking Rodney's soul instead of hers. Luckily for Rodney, Satan wasn't fooled and Matilda got what was coming to her
• Blind Black Guy: Blind Louie Zee Bonsoir (real name Arnold Keswick) from "Sold Your Soul For... What?" He has the same odd pigmentation as everyone else, but his voice and the fact that he's based on Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, etc. indicates that he's supposed to be African-American.
• Blob Monster: The eponymous green slime in "Goo On You." It compulsively cleans everything, and when there's nothing left to clean, it sets its sights on the source of all of the garbage...
• Bloodless Carnage: People died, but it was almost always off-screen (they occasionally got away with showing bodies and parts of them, though). The only time blood was shown was when it was being sucked out by mosquitoes in "Swarm Enough For Ya?" and when it's revealed that the Devil has people who make deals with him sign contracts with it at the end of "Sold Your Soul For... What?"
• Born Unlucky: Brings Us Luck (it's all in the name; being a magnet for trouble kept it away from the rest of the tribe) and Alonzo from "Just My Luck." The latter finding the lucky penny that was made to commemorate the former creates a kind of luck whammy, with Alonzo's life becoming perfect while everyone else's becomes as miserable as his was.
• The Bully: The perpetually enraged Gizzard Gizersky, whose punches can dent traffic light poles.
• Celestial Bureaucracy: Guardian angels can put in for stress leave and transfers, and the Devil insists that anyone who makes a deal with him sign the appropriate paperwork (in their own blood, of course). There's also Time Keepers who fulfill an unspecified purpose, and unseen Time Makers who create and maintain the special wristwatches that the Time Keepers use.
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: The show zig-zagged between being goofy (the premiere involved a haunted jock strap that turned its wearer into a Jerk Jock) and surprisingly dark (episodes like "The Novelty Kid" and "Sold Your Soul For... What?").
• The Chosen One: The "magic doorknob" in "Follow That Mo" shows a person their desires and appears to grant them, but it also only seems to work when wielded by Mo, who isn't too keen on being "the Chosen One."
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Victor Corpus is never seen again after "The Creep Next Door." Maybe he moved?
• Conspiracy Theorist: Billy "B.B." Boon, who sees conspiracies everywhere (granted, he does live in Ouigee Falls) and believes that he is under constant surveillance for knowing too much.
• Cool Old Guy: The crusty old janitor Mr. Cistern was a globetrotting explorer with a PhD in archaeology who was knighted by the Queen.
• Cool Old Lady: Lizzy, the woman who runs the occult shop, is a member of "the Witch's Union."
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Hitch's new guardian angel in "Crushed By an Angel" becomes attracted to him, much to the annoyance of her ex-boyfriend angel, a viking named Olaf.
• Creepy Good: Mo is a big fan of the weird and supernatural, but he takes a dim view towards evil.
• Cult: Conman Luther Bosco forms one after getting a hold of the "magic doorknob" in "Follow That Mo." He doesn't believe in the trinket's powers, he just wants to use its reputation to swindle the people who are obsessed with it out of all of their valuables.
• A Day in the Limelight: A lot of episodes starred people outside of the main trio, who only appear as tertiary characters.
• Deal with the Devil: The plot of the episode "Sold Your Soul For ... What?", with a small reference to the urban legend that famous blues guitarist Robert Johnson had sold his soul to the Devil.
• Death by Materialism: Greed was the downfall of many a character, most notably in "The Novelty Kid" and "Scarin' O' The Green."
• Derelict Graveyard: The trio stumble onto one made up of thrashed school buses in "How Now Meowing Cow." The passengers are implied to have all been consumed by Daisy, the Tyrannosaurus Lamb.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: Blind Louie and Rodney are stalked by a shadowy figure throughout "Sold Your Soul For... What?" In the end, he turns out to be a lawyer hired by Louie's third ex-wife; the Devil is actually an apple-selling boy scout who had appeared briefly at the beginning of the episode.
• Dragged Off to Hell: The fate of Matilda at the conclusion of "Sold Your Soul For... What?"
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Coach Konkout's father was one, and Konkout himself becomes one in "Ghoooul!!"
• Egomaniac Hunter: Big Wally, the secondary antagonist of "Something Fishy In Lake Gimmee-Gimmee-Itchee-Owee", is a big game fisher who is willing to use a harpoon cannon, dynamite, and Mo's father as live bait.
• Eldritch Abomination: Polipotanaketl, a South Pacific lava demon that tried to manifest through a volcano that it made appear on the school grounds in "Big Toe, Big Evil."
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Mr. Royal from "Swarm Enough For Ya?" was raised by the vampiric Mosquito Queen. He outright refers to her as his mother, and freaks and Hulks Out when Mo attacks her with a crucifix.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Luther Bosco from "Follow That Mo" is a Snake Oil Salesman who will bilk anyone (including his own nephew) out of "everything but their pocket lint", but he won't resort to murder (making it look like he will to further endear his cultists to him, on the other hand...)
  Mimi: He's crazy!
  Hitch: I'm too young to be sacrificed!
  Mo: It's okay, guys. He's doing this "The Luther Way." He's not really going to hurt us.
  Luther: You're learning, kid. Showmanship is what it's all about!
  Mimi: Don't forget greed.
• Evil Chef: Boon was convinced that the school's lunch lady was an alien Quisling in "How Green Was My Lunch Meat." She was actually an Unwitting Pawn.
• Evil Hand: One of Mr. Cistern's big toes is revealed to have been possessed by Polipotanaketl's essence in "Big Toe, Big Evil." It cut itself off in an attempt to escape, but was captured and imprisoned in a jar.
• Evil, Inc.: The Ace Novelty Company from "The Novelty Kid."
  Operator: Thank you for dealing with the Ace Novelty Company. To hear the hideous, bloodcurdling laugh that signals the end of your transaction, press 1.
• Expy: B.B. Boon is a less anti-social (but still highly paranoid) version of Dib from Invader Zim.
• F--: Rico always scores an "X" on his tests, exams, etc. But he's an unbelievable sportsman who plays with adults despite being in high school, so no one cares.
• The Fair Folk: "Gnome Sweet Gnome" has thieving gnomes who tried to transfer their Taken for Granite curse to the townspeople, while the finale had a leprechaun who'd go to any length to protect his gold and enchanted valley.
• Fantasy Kitchen Sink: The first five episodes alone have a haunted jock strap, an animate recliner, a Deadly Doctor, aliens, and the ghost of a Wicked Witch.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: "The Day Rico Became Smart" is the only episode without any fantastic elements, while "Ghoooul!!" is the only one where the focus is entirely on an adult character, with even the main trio having only bit parts.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Mo’s dialogue with the audience implies that the audience is actually a character In-Universe, and a friend of Mo. Thus, several episodes implied that the audience was in danger from the Monster of the Week; the end of one episode even had the audience sleep over at Mo’s house to avoid being attacked by the monster.
• Free-Range Children: The children come and go as they please, with nary a peep from their parents outside of a single scene where Hitch's mother is heard complaining about him hanging out with Mo.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: B.B. is an unofficial "fourth" member of the trio as he shares a similar fascination with the paranormal, but his obnoxious behavior, manic paranoia, malfunctioning inventions, and iffy success rate when it comes to actually finding weird creatures or happenings make him impossible to tolerate outside of small doses.
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: The Corpus family from "The Creep Next Door" are quite affable, as long as the son, Victor, likes you and you aren't a takeout delivery person.
• Future Badass: The ray gun-wielding Man in Black from "Don't touch that Dial" is an older, wiser Boon.
• Frog Men: Mr. Pong from "Pet Shop Of No Return" is eventually revealed to be the reincarnation of Emil's very first pet, a frog named Ping Pong, who is now Back from the Dead as a humanoid frog with a thirst for revenge against his former owner.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: All of the non-humanoid villains, the only exceptions being the Mosquito Queen from "Swarm Enough For Ya?" and the alien from "Don't touch that Dial"; while neither spoke, they were both obviously sentient and malevolent, especially the latter, which came to Earth through a teleportation device that its kind or their collaborators posted the schematics to on the Internet as Schmuck Bait.
• Good Is Impotent: Lizzy. When asked if she can use her own witchcraft to deal with a Wicked Witch by forcibly transforming her into something else, she explains that good witches "don't do that sort of thing." The best she can offer is advice.
• Gory Discretion Shot: The camera pans down as Mr. Royal from "Swarm Enough For Ya?" is ripped apart and eaten by voracious frogs. It also suddenly cuts away as Mr. Cistern's possessed big toe is sliced off by a lawnmower in "Big Toe, Big Evil."
• Greater-Scope Villain: Satan himself shows up in "Sold Your Soul For... What?"
• Green-Eyed Monster: Rodney, the protagonist of "Sold Your Soul For... What?" is resentful and envious of his sister, who his father lavishes praise and attention on because she excels at polka.
• Good Luck Charm: The one of a kind Brings Us Luck penny from "Just My Luck." The fortune of whoever finds it reverses if they lose it, however, and a jinx getting a hold of it causes weird cosmic shenanigans in the form of misfortune raining down upon everyone but him.
• Gross-Up Close-Up: The show really liked zooming in on characters' veiny, bloodshot eyes.
• Guardian Angel: Straightforward angels never appeared on the show, but guardian ones did in "Crushed By an Angel." They protect their charges either covertly (Hitch had at least one that he was entirely unaware of) or overtly (Sharon and her replacement introduce themselves to Hitch right away). It's left unsaid if they were once people, but it's implied that these angels are created by Hitch himself, going by Mo's offhand assertion that angels are a reflection of one's self.
• Halloween Episode: "The Good Old Days."
• Headless Horseman: The Pumpkin Reaper is a Pumpkin Person example who Mo combats alongside his Granny when he's sent back in time in "The Good Old Days." The ending implies that it was All Just a Dream, but then we get an obligatory instance of Or Was It a Dream? when Mo notices that the weed whacker that he brought back with him is thrashed. Before the credits role, Mo and his Granny's scarecrow (which has a pumpkin for a head) also briefly spews flames while letting out an Evil Laugh.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Once he learns of the secret of the enchanted penny in "Just My Luck," Alonzo graciously decides to allow himself to become the town's jinx again to save it from a freak tornado even though the people in it did nothing but spurn him for his reputation. However, Mo and his friends make sure everybody knows about what Alonzo did and he becomes a celebrated hero of Ouigee Falls for shouldering so much misfortune.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": While snooping around Coach Konkout's office in "Ghoooul!!", Mo and Hitch find a diploma that shows his given name is "Coach."
• Horny Vikings: Olaf from "Crushed By an Angel." His refusal to show his soft side out of fear that the other vikings will make fun of him for it is the root cause of his and Sharon's relationship troubles.
• Horror Host: Mo, in the episodes where he acts as the Greek chorus.
• Inn of No Return: The guests of Mountain Marge's Welcome Inn from "Something Fishy In Lake Gimmee-Gimmee-Itchee-Owee" almost always end being eaten by 'Ol Whopper.
  Mountain Marge: SUPPER TIME!
  Mo: Supper time? Seems awfully late... unless you're big and slimy and with a really bad attitude...
• Invisible Parents: Mo's mother appeared in two episodes, his father starred in one, and his Granny made sporadic appearances. Hitch's mother is only ever heard yelling at him over the telephone, and Mimi's folks were never shown at all.
• Jerk Jock: Jimbo "Crazy Legs" Walker was the best athlete that Lone Pine High ever had, but he was prone to constant Unsportsmanlike Gloating and was such an obnoxious Jerkass that he ended up Dying Alone. Hitch becomes possessed by his "winning spirit" after digging up and donning his supposedly enchanted jockstrap in "Raiders of the Lost Jock Strap."
• Jerkass Has a Point: While he's clearly exploiting Rodney for free food and miscellaneous favors under the promise of guitar lessons, Blind Louie isn't wrong when he tells Rodney that he needs to earnestly want to learn the instrument.
• Karmic Transformation: "Pet Shop Of No Return" ends with Emil, a boy who abused and neglected all of his animals, being turned into a rat by the reincarnations of his dead pets.
• The Klutz: Hitch is so uncoordinated and foolhardy that one of his Guardian Angels had a nervous breakdown.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The show had a lot of EC Comics-style morality tales that centered around bad people either learning lessons or receiving supernatural comeuppance.
• Leprechaun: Earl McGee from "Scarin' O' The Green." He initially comes off as friendly, but quickly makes it clear that he will do anything to defend his treasure and secret valley.
• Limited Wardrobe: The characters almost never changed outfits, something which gets lampshaded by The Fashionista in "Mirror, Mirror Off The Wall."
• The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: Mr. Pong's exotic pet shop from "Pet Shop Of No Return" pops up when Emil is banned from every other store, and vanishes without a trace after Pong subjects Emil to a Karmic Transformation.
• Living Toys: The products sold by the Ace Novelty Company in "The Novelty Kid" include animate army men who come complete with My Little Panzers.
• Loophole Abuse: Acquiring definitive proof of a leprechaun's existence (in this case, by photographic it) turns out to have the same effect (the pot of gold appears and the leprechaun's magic is negated) as physically capturing one.
• Lovable Jock: Rico Caliente is kind to everyone, and willing to risk his own life to help others.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: At the end of "Follow That Mo" it's revealed the doorknob is part of a buried alien spacecraft. However, it's unknown whether or not it actually has any kind of power.
• The Men in Black:
  • "How Green Was My Lunch Meat" has the Men in Green and the Men in Teal. The former are the Soybean Growers Alliance, while the latter are the Simulated Beef Sawdust Company. But in a last minute twist it turns out that the S.G.A. actually are aliens when their vans are shown morphing into UFOs.
  • A straightforward example who goes by "W2" appears hunting an alien beast that B.B. had accidentally summoned in "Don't touch that Dial." He's an older B.B. who went back in time to prevent Mo's death and Earth's enslavement.
• Mirror Monster: Hannah from "Mirror, Mirror Off The Wall" inherits a hand mirror that provides her with endless ideas for popular new outfits, but when she begins to ignore it due to exhaustion it becomes enraged and traps her in a mirror world where she has to face down her own reflection.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Farmer Dell from "How Now Meowing Cow" is gene splicing animals to create the ultimate petting zoo. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite suppress the bloodlust of one of his "Tyrannosaurus Lambs."
• Monster of the Week: Every villain and artifact only appeared once, though aliens were used quite a bit.
• Mystery Meat: "How Green Was My Lunch Meat" was about the local Conspiracy Theorist dragging Mo into investigating what the deal is with the new Mystery Meat at the cafeteria... since it's really tasty, everyone keeps buying it and it glows in the dark. After hinting that it's of extraterrestrial origin, they find out it's actually made of tofu, which causes all of the schoolchildren to be disgusted that they've been eating something that's good for them. Since the students refuse to eat it anymore, the manufacturers cancel their deal with the cafeteria. Then Mo asks the lunch lady why the meat glowed in the dark, and she says that she didn't know that it did. Turns out the manufacturers were aliens after all.
• Mundanger: The villain of "The Day Rico Became Smart" is an entirely human Serial Killer with entirely human motives.
• Nightmare Fetishist: While heroic and friendly, Mo's obsession with the paranormal takes on darker dimensions when he acts as Greek chorus for certain episodes, showing a lack of alarm and a hint of morbid joy when unfortunate karmic fates befall their mostly deserving protagonists.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: *NSTINK, which was weird, since an earlier episode name dropped *NSYNC.
• No Hugging, No Kissing: There's nothing romantic between Mimi and the guys.
• Not Even Human: This is probably the only reason why they were able to kill Mr. Royal the way they did at the end of "Swarm Enough For Ya?"
• Nothing Is Scarier: Polipotanaketl from "Big Toe, Big Evil" and the alien from "Don't touch that Dial." We never see them in full, just silhouettes and tentacles.
• Offscreen Villainy: Martha from "The Moville Witch Project." While she's undoubtedly evil, they for some reason don't go into any detail at all about the past crimes that resulted in her being burned at the stake.
• Occult Detective: Mo combines this with Kid Detective, being an occult-obsessed high schooler.
• Once an Episode: They all end with Mo at his computer, discussing the themes of the story.
• Out-of-Character Alert: The one thing that tipped off Mo to Rico's boosted intelligence in "The Day Rico Became Smart" was when he said "indubitably", a word that he wouldn't normally be educated enough to know about.
• Or Was It a Dream?: Multiple episodes ostensibly show that the creepy supernatural events plaguing the characters were a bad dream, only for the ending to call that very strongly into question.
• Our Vampires Are Different:
  • Mr. Royal, the exterminator from "Swarm Enough for Ya?" is a Half-Human Hybrid who was raised by a vampiric Mosquito Queen that has all of the traditional habits and weaknesses of baseline vampires, recoiling at the sight of a cross and even sleeping in a coffin.
  • Victor Corpus from "The Creep Next Door" actually is a vampire, albeit one with a reflection who can go out in the sun, though only if it's cloudy, possibly because he is a Dhampyr.
• Pig Man: Farmer Dell's genetically-engineered farmhands in "How Now Meowing Cow."
• Power Trio:
  • Mo: idealistic, curious to the point of putting himself in danger (Superego)
  • Mimi: rational, the most common-sensed of the group (Ego)
  • Hitch: impulsive, adventure lover, naive (Id)
• Raising the Steaks: "The Pet Shop of No Return" talks about a boy who was really neglectful of his pets, to the point that his backyard looked like a miniature graveyard. A mysterious shop owner offers him three exotic animals who seem to remain healthy and loyal despite being just as neglectful to them. They end up causing him a nightmare where all his pets raise as zombies and chase him. He attempts to return the pets only to find out the shop owner is really the pet frog he let die years ago, who proceeds to turn him into a rat.
• Red Herring: The episode "Sold Your Soul For... What?" has Rodney, a boy who is envious of his sister Matilda due to her outstanding skills in polka and her being the favourite of the family's polka-loving father. At first, we're lead to believe it was Rodney who sold his soul to Satan in exchange for being an Instant Expert at the blues... that is, until the episode's climax shows that it was actually Matilda who sold her soul so that she could excel at polka and be the top sibling, and Rodney had simply been practicing.
• Resignations Not Accepted: Coach Konkout becomes the coach of a professional soccer team in "Ghoooul!!" When he tries to quit in disgust over the team's flagrant cheating, its captain reminds him that the contract that he signed included a perpetuity clause.
  Coach Konkout: All eternity... how can that be? But this program is from 1936, you guys should all... be...
• Revenant Zombie: El Muerto de Madrid from "Ghoooul!!" is a soccer team that didn't let a little thing like death break its winning streak.
• Sadist Teacher: Discussed:
  Mo: Question: What's the weirdest thing about high school? That's right, the teachers. Imagine spending your entire life in school. On purpose. But at least they don't have to worry about getting good marks. They can be good. Bad. Or evil incarnate. But who would know? Their classes are conducted behind closed doors.
• Satan: He pops up in the form of a boy scout in "Sold Your Soul For... What?" but is mainly referred to as "You Know Who." On a related note, the show avoids Devil, but No God, as angels (albeit guardian ones) appeared in the earlier episode "Crushed By an Angel."
• Scary Scarecrows: The Pumpkin Reaper from "The Good Old Day" was a scarecrow brought to life by a misdirected Voodoo curse.
• Sea Monster: 'Ol Whopper, the giant leech that lives in Lake Gimmee-Gimmee-Itchee-Owee. The Native Americans worshiped and feared it, and to them it was known as Eyeah Igotchawah.
• The Secret of Long Pork Pies: The Bait-and-Switch opening of "Scarin' O' The Green" makes it look like Mo and his Granny are harvesting corpses for Granny's recipes, but they're actually just collecting ginger root.
• Serial Killer: Professor Kindly, a profit-motivated example, from "The Day Rico Became Smart." He's notably the only completely "normal" antagonist to appear on the show.
• Shadow Discretion Shot: This was employed for every scene in which someone is Eaten Alive.
• Sudden Intelligence: The self-explanatory premise of "The Day Rico Became Smart."
• Sunglasses at Night: Parodied with Hitch, who is never seen without his 3-D glasses.
• Swamps Are Evil: Ouigee Falls appears to have been built on marshlands.
• Rain of Something Unusual: Squid in "Curse of the Mommies."
• Time Travel: Mo is sent back to the early 1900s in "The Good Old Days" while Hitch jumps all over time thanks to a special wristwatch in "A Hitch in Time." And W2 from "Don't touch that Dial" is an older Billy Boon whose time machine is a pair of shoes whose heels he clicks ala The Wizard of Oz.
• Transhuman Treachery: When Mo asks Mr. Royal if he was Raised by Wolves or apes, Royal responds with, "Luckily, no. I find the parenting skills of mammals to be very substandard."
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Hannah frantically crafts outfit after outfit at the insistence of an enchanted mirror in "Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall."
• Unlocking the Talent: A confluence of familial resentment, observing Blind Louie for days, the psychological boost of getting a beautiful custom guitar to play, and actual practice does this for Rodney.
• Vomit Chain Reaction: They're known as "Code Greens" at Lone Pine High.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The slime from "Goo On You" is harmed by Diet Soda.
• Weirdness Magnet: Ouigee Falls, of course. Nobody really seems to mind much, though.
• Whole-Plot Reference: "How Now Meowing Cow" to Jurassic Park.
  Mo: Poor Farmer Dell, what a weird way to go.
  Mimi: Well, he should have known monkeying around with dinosaur DNA would lead to trouble.
  Hitch: Yeah, hasn't he seen the movies?
• Wicked Witch: Martha from "The Moville Witch Project." The eponymous gnomes from "Gnome Sweet Gnome" were also cursed by a stereotypical-looking witch, though there was no real indication that she was evil.

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