Another week, another evil scheme for Beanie to foil.
My Goldfish is Evil is an extremely obscure Canadian animated series created by Nicolas J. Boisvert and produced by the Montreal-based animation studio Sardine Productions (later known for ToonMarty and the Chop Chop Ninja franchise) for CBC Television and Télévision de Radio-Canada. It ran for 2 seasons for a total of 26 episodes from 2006-2008, with reruns continuing to air on CBC until April 9, 2016.
11-year-old Beanie is just your average kid, except for one thing - his pet goldfish, Admiral Bubbles, is in fact a highly intelligent and utterly megalomaniacal criminal mastermind bent on spreading terror throughout the city and taking over the world! As absurd as this sounds to even Beanie's own mother, Beanie knows all too well that Admiral Bubbles is capable of building all manner of diabolical weaponry and gadgetry out of everyday devices in order to fulfill his dreams of power and conquest. Not content with remaining in his owner's fishbowl, Admiral Bubbles sneaks out every week with a new plan for global domination in mind. Knowing that he's the sole thing standing between Admiral Bubbles and his goals, Beanie is the only one able to face Admiral Bubbles and foil his plans - something that villainous little fishie knows all too well himself.
Will Admiral Bubbles succeed in his evil plans? Will young Beanie manage to stay one step ahead of him? The future of the planet depends on the answer!
This series provides examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: Since he's a goldfish, Admiral Bubbles' need for water is a constant problem for him in his schemes.
- Adults Are Useless: Because they never believe in Beanie's stories.
- All Just a Dream: "Jetstream Adventures" where Beanie imagines himself in his favorite movie series while falling asleep watching a marathon of them at a sleepover with Elwood.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Beanie's mom comes off as this in "Icing In The Cake" where she decorates for her son's birthday with kiddie bunny decorations, despite him being a pre-teen.
- Artistic License – Animal Care: Admiral Bubbles is kept in a goldfish bowl. Goldfish should not be kept in bowls as it does not allow them adequate space to move around.
- At the beginning of "The Ice Roaches Cometh" Beanie's mom taps on Bubbles' bowl. NEVER tap on the glass of a fish tank or bowl, fish hate it and it actually scares them.
- In "Golfish Teriyaki" after the incident where the family's oven is destroyed by Bubbles, Beanie puts him in a cardboard box, puts a blanket over that, and ties it up with rope. Doing this in real life to a goldfish would either kill it or make it extremely stressed out (but since Bubbles is an evil genius who escapes the contraption, it doesn't matter anyway.)
- In the same episode, one of the pets entered in the pet talent show is an ostrich. These are illegal to have as pets in Quebec (where this show takes place)
- In "BasketBOOM!" Admiral Bubbles eats popcorn, which is deadly to goldfish.
- In "The Great Outdoors" Beanie brings Admiral Bubbles to summer camp with him. Not only would he not be allowed to do this in real life (his mom isn't happy when she finds out) but this would probably end up being a stressful experience for a fish.
- In "School Trip To Aquaworld!" Admiral Bubbles jumps into the aquarium water. He's lucky he survives this, as pet goldfish should NOT go in public aquariums, not only because the water temperature is different, but there's also the danger of him being eaten by much larger fish.
- Bait-and-Switch: In "Stinker" we think Beanie's mother is going to be horrified at the gross breakfast her son made for her and the mess he made of the kitchen...but she's happy he made her breakfast!
- Betty and Veronica: Nia is the Betty to Desmona's Veronica.
- Birthday Episode: "Icing On The Cake" is about Beanie's birthday.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Admiral Bubbles proudly refers to himself as an evil genius.
- Cassandra Truth: Beanie is the only person who knows Admiral Bubbles is an evil genius because all his friends and family find the idea too ludicrous to believe.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Scoop believes in many bizarre stories, which makes him the only adult Beanie can always count on to help him thwart Admiral Bubbles (even if he also doesn't believe the goldfish is behind any of the show's weird happenings).
- Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: Admiral Bubbles has noticeable black rims around his eyes to emphasize his sinister nature.
- Dead Pet Sketch: In "Sewer Adventure" Admiral Bubbles fakes his death to reunite with a goldfish Beanie's mom had as a kid that got flushed. She thinks he actually died and replaces him with an identical goldfish.
- Disappeared Dad: Apparently, Beanie's father was in a plane crash after he got Admiral Bubbles.
- Earthquakes Cause Fissures: In "Forgetful Fish" as a result of Admiral Bubbles' earthquake machine.
- Endearingly Dorky: Beanie is the hero and the one who stops Admiral Bubbles in every episode, but that doesn't make him less of a lovable dork. Desmona and Nia frequently lampshade this.
- Evil Genius: Admiral Bubbles can create all manner of doomsday weaponry from ordinary household appliances and everyday devices.
- Faux Affably Evil: Admiral Bubbles speaks and behaves in a polite manner, but it's pretty clear he's also a very sinister little fish.
- Feather Fingers: Admiral Bubbles is able to use his fins like human hands.
- Fiendish Fish: Admiral Bubbles. A tiny goldfish with the mind of an evil genius who terrifies mundane animals with his mere presence.
- Fluffy the Terrible: Admiral Bubbles doesn't exactly sound like a menacing figure, but as Beanie knows all too well, that's not true at all.
- Formally-Named Pet: Admiral Bubbles.
- Fun with Flushing: In "Sewer Adventure!" Admiral Bubbles flushes Beanie's "Sewer Avengers" action figure down the toilet. Of course it causes plumbing issues and Beanie's mom, obviously not believing Bubbles did it, plugs up all the drains to make sure nothing else goes down the toilet.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Unfortunately for Beanie, Admiral Bubbles is this.
- Glamorous Single Mother: Beanie's mom is very pretty and is sometimes shown trying to find dates.
- Girl Next Door: Nia serves as the more approachable and friendly of Beanie's two potential love interests.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: In "Stinker" Beanie's mother uses various excuses not to eat the gross breakfast her son made for her, including saying she's allergic to the ingredients and that they should go out for breakfast instead.
- Intergenerational Friendship: 11-year-old Beanie is friends with local newsstand manager and Conspiracy Theorist Scoop.
- Just Eat Gilligan: While one could argue that simply flushing Admiral Bubbles or feeding him to predators wouldn't work since he is an evil genius who could probably find his way back, and normal animals are shown to be terrified of him,note it's hard enough keeping a goldfish alive deliberately, so you'd think Beanie could find a way to take Bubbles out somehow.
- Killer Rabbit: Who would have thought that a goldfish was among the world's most deadly supervillains?
- Lethal Chef: Beanie's attempt at cooking breakfast for his mother turns into a discolored, inedible mess, For one thing, he uses mayonnaise as a substitute for pancake mix.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Beanie and his mom are each other's best friend and wouldn't give each other up for the world. When they are separated from each other for a while, they both take a picture of the other so they won't forget.
- Love Triangle: Beanie and his two love interests, the sweet-natured Girl Next Door Nia and his Loving Bully Desmona.
- Loving Bully: Desmona is this for Beanie, with her rudeness towards him being frequently punctuated by slips of the tongue making it clear she has a crush on him.
- Mama's Boy: Beanie and his mom are very close and are each other's rock.
- Man-Eating Plant: In "The Great Outdoors" Admiral Bubbles' plan is to create an army of man-eating poison ivy.
- Needle in a Stack of Needles: In the episode "School Trip To Aquaworld" Admiral Bubbles jumps into a pond of identical looking goldfish to him and Beanie has to find him among them.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Bubbles sounds a lot like Tim Curry, doesn't he?
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Nana (Beanie's dad's mom) comes off as this at Beanie's birthday party.
- Old Superhero: The star of Beanie's favorite show plays a big, strong superhero. When Beanie finally meets him in person, he finds out that the actor is getting on in years, as the show was made in the 1970s and nobody will hire him, due to his age.
- Only One Name: Beanie and his mom's last names are never revealed. In "Icing On The Cake" it looks like their family name will be revealed, but Nana cuts Beanie's mom off before she can say it.
- Parental Obliviousness: Beanie's mom is totally unaware of the death-defying exploits Beanie must perform every week to save the world from Admiral Bubbles' mad schemes and never believes in her son's insistence that his pet goldfish is a supervillain hellbent on enslaving humankind.
- Pest Episode: "The Ice Roaches Cometh" is about a cockroach finding its way into Beanie's apartment, and Admiral Bubbles wanting to create an army of cockroaches to melt the Polar Ice Caps destroying the world.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Admiral Bubbles is shown to be very strong for a tiny goldfish, performing impressive acrobatic feats and managing to fight off much larger creatures.
- Properly Paranoid: Beanie is dismissed as a paranoid conspiracy theorist by his mother and almost everyone else in the city, but only he stands between Admiral Bubbles' and his plans for world domination.
- Recycled Soundtrack: In "Icing On The Cake" a music cue from Arthur is used when Beanie threatens Bubbles if he doesn't unfreeze his friends, mom and grandmother. Another music cue from the show is in "The Great Outdoors" when Beanie and Admiral Bubbles are about to go over a waterfall.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Admiral Bubbles has dark red pupils, underlining his evilness.
- Redheaded Hero: Beanie has red hair and is the one thing standing between Admiral Bubbles and world domination.
- Replacement Goldfish: A literal example in the episode "Sewer Adventure". (Bubbles faked his death to reunite with a previous goldfish Beanie's mom had a kid)
- Scare the Dog: Normal animals are terrified of Admiral Bubbles and flee or hide in his presence, even natural predators many hundreds of times his own size.
- Sea Aping: One episode featured "Sea Dudes", which despite promises of being fun and educational were an absolute bore for Beanie. Admiral Bubbles later uses a transmogrifier on them to create an army of giant sapient shrimp to assist him in taking over the world, only for them to overthrow him.
- Sensory Abuse: Towards the end of "Goldfish Teriyaki" Admiral Bubbles zaps the Sushi Master with his device and it flashes black and white for about 4 seconds.
- Tailfin Walking: Admiral Bubbles engages in this when getting around on land.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Although easily capable of killing Admiral Bubbles by any number of simple methods, and though the former has tried to kill him a few times, Beanie chooses not to do so for moral reasons, in imitation of his favorite superhero and because Bubbles is the last thing he and his mom have of his father. Admiral Bubbles taunts him for this a few times.
- Title Theme Tune: The only words to the theme are the title.
- Token Black Friend: Elwood is this for Beanie, being the only person who actually believes in Beanie's claims.
- The Unreveal: In "Icing On The Cake" it sounds like Beanie and his mom's family name will be revealed, but Nana cuts Beanie's mom off before she can say it (apparently it's something that begins with an O)
- Vocal Dissonance: Admiral Bubbles has a deep sinister voice for a tiny goldfish.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"??: What kind of name is "Beanie?"
- Would Hurt a Child: Admiral Bubbles has no problem with trying to kill Beanie.
