Pink, pink, hooray!note
Pinkalicious & Peterrific is a PBS Kids series that serves as an Animated Adaptation of the Pinkalicious books by Victoria Kann. Dorothea Gillim is an executive producer for the show, and the show is produced by WGBH Boston.
The show follows Pinkalicious Pinkerton, a Girly Girl with a love for all things pink, and her little brother Peter. Pinkalicious is an artist at heart who sees the world in a different way, finding creative inspiration everywhere she looks. She knows what she likes and she’s not afraid to express herself, though sometimes she needs help from her brother, Peter, and their neighborhood friends including Jasmine, Rafael, and the Perky Goth Kendra.
Focusing all disciplines of the arts (including dance, theater, music, the visual arts, creative writing, media, culinary arts, here is what Pinkalicious & Peterrific aims to do:
- Deepen understanding of the arts and model the skills needed to tackle real-world creative challenges for kids ages 3 to 8
- Highlight themes of creative problem solving, everyday/everywhere art, community through art, and communicating through art
- Enourage social-emotional skills like self-awareness and individuality, social awareness and relationship skills, and resilience and perseverance
The show premiered on TV on February 19, 2018. PBS Kids announced
that before the show premieres, they will be releasing full 11-minute episodes of the show on their video app every Friday until February 9. PBS did a similar thing back in January 2016 with Ready Jet Go!, where they released several episodes online before the show's official premiere in February 2016. A sneak peek of Pinkalicious & Peterrific aired after the premiere of the Odd Squad TV movie World Turned Odd on January 15, 2018.
Pinkatropes:
- A Cappella: In "Invisible Band", the Pinkville marching band gets sick, so Pinkalicious, Peter, Rafael, Jasmine, and Kendra form their own marching band with invisible instruments. They make the instrument sounds with their mouths.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- In the original books, Pinkalicious was a bit of a brat, especially in the first book. Here, she is much nicer and not bratty in the slightest.
- Peter was somewhat of an Annoying Younger Sibling in the books. Here, he is a good brother to Pinkalicious.
- Kendra was a bully to Pinkalicious in the book Purplicious. In this show, she's much nicer albeit a bit of a snarker.
- A Day in the Limelight: Lila is usually just another of Pinkalicious' friends and sometimes doesn't appear in episodes at all, but "Lila Gets Glasses" is centered on her.
- Kendra is a frequent side-character, but "A Party For Kendra" puts the focus squarely on her.
- Aerith and Bob: We have Peter, Rafael, Jasmine, etc, and then we have Pinkalicious.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In "Pinkabotta & Peterbotta", Peter and Pinkalicious make a robot to help them clean their rooms. However, the robot rebels against them and ends up trashing the house.
- Alliterative Name:
- Pinkalicious and Peter's last name is Pinkerton.
- We also have Penelope the Painting Pixie.
- In "Dream Salon", Mrs. Pinkerton's first name is revealed to be Pearl, making her Pearl Pinkerton.
- In "Pink Peepers," Mr. Pinkerton's first name is revealed to be Perry, making him Perry Pinkerton.
- Alliterative Title: Multiple cases:
- The show itself: "Pinkalicious & Peterrific"
- Episodes:
- Painting Pixie
- Pinkabotta & Peterbotta
- All There in the Manual: Information about characters, such as Lila being shy, Coach Mario being an immigrant, and Rafael and Frida being siblings, were not mentioned in the show itself, but were revealed in character bios that can be found on the show's various social media.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The duck family from "The Duck Stops Here" are pink. The titular frogs from "Pink Peepers" are pink and the "pinka bear" from "A Pinka Bear is Born" is a panda, but pink.
- Ambiguously Brown: Penelope from Painting Pixie.
- Animated Adaptation: Of the Pinkalicious books by Victoria Kann.
- Anime Hair: Penelope the Painting Pixie has a protruding hairstyle that resembles a paintbrush. Basically, her hair resembles Ilana's from Sym-Bionic Titan.
- Awkward First Sleepover: Jasmine at first feels homesick at her first Slumber Party in the episode of the same name because it was the first time she has been to one.
- Badass Boast: In "Berry Scary", Peter delivers one after seeming to have scared away some birds from the raspberry bushes.Peter: What can I say? It's scary how scary I am. Those birds don't stand a chance. Not with Petrifying Peter in town!
- Beach Episode: "Sand Palace"
- Berserk Button: Edna the Garden Gnome's is "flower squashers".
- Birthday Episode: "Best Pink Present" is one for Pinkalicious and Peter's dad.
- And the "A Pinkaperfect Birthday" special is one for Pinkalicious.
- Black Bead Eyes: All the characters have these eyes.
- Blowing a Raspberry: Pink Raspberry is built on the trope. Baby Saffron likes to blow raspberries, which inspires Pinkalicious and Peter to host a silly sound contest.
- Blush Sticker: All the characters have permanent blush stickers.
- Brick Joke: In "Fairy House", Kendra calls Peter and Pinkalicious' fairy house a dollhouse. Later in the episode, when the fairy house gets destroyed, Pinkalicious lets the springtime fairies stay in her actual dollhouse.
- Brother–Sister Team: None other than Peter and Pinkalicious.
- Brutal Honesty: In "The Celebrator", Kendra openly tells Pinkalicious that her constant celebrating of every little thing is getting both boring and annoying.
- Canon Foreigner: Characters like Rafael, Lila, and Jasmine weren't seen in the original books, and are exclusive to this series
- Catchphrase:
- Pinkalicious has one: "Pinkatastic!"
- Chekhov's Skill: In "Cha-Cha-Licious", Mr. and Mrs. Plum demonstrate the cha-cha. It later proves to be useful when the Pinkertons do the cha-cha in order to keep up with the constant ice-cream demand.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
- Pinkalicious - pink (obviously)
- Peter - purple, or blue/green
- Kendra - black/gray
- Jasmine - yellow
- Companion Cube: As shown in "Zoo Day", Pinkalicious and Peter talk to their teddy bears and treat them as if they were real people.
- Cool Big Sis: Pinkalicious is this to Peter.
- Cranky Neighbor: Subverted with Mr. Crunk.
- Cute Machines: Robotta, the robot that Pinkalicious and Peter build in "Pinkabotta & Peterbotta"
- Deadpan Snarker: Kendra, as shown in "Plantastically Pink" and many other episodes.
- Delightful Dragon: Gertie the Dragon, who appeared in the episode "Slumber Party".
- Department of Redundancy Department: Pinkalicious referring to her kite as a "rainbowlicious rainbow" in "Above the Clouds".
- Determinator: Pinkalicious, as shown in the episode "Plantastically Pink", where she keeps on singing to the Pinkabloom plant to make it grow, even when she starts to lose her voice.
- Dinosaur Doggie Bone: At the natural history museum, Rusty takes a dinosaur bone and runs around with it.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: In To Catch a Leaf, Pinkalicious uses pillows to make her shoulders bigger. Sounds like a Y-rated version of bra-stuffing.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The show's theme song is sung by Pinkalicious and Peter.
- Drama Queen: Mayor Martinez. She considers shutting down Pinkville over a broken pencil in "Peter's Blues".
- Ear Worm: In "Catchy Song", a song Pinkalicious makes turns out to be this. She then makes up another song to try to forget the previous one, but it gets as catchy as the other one, too.
- Edutainment Show: Being a PBS Kids show and all.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: Kendra has this sort of reaction in "Cha-Cha-Licious" when she finds gummy worms on her ice cream sundae. Pinkalicious's dad has the same reaction when the flutterbugs invaded the Pinkerton House.
- Episode Title Card: All the episodes have a decorative title card that credits the writers and director.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: This happens at the end of "The Opera-Matic" and "Invasion of the Flutterbugs".
- Expressive Hair: Pinkalicious' pigtails often change with intense emotions.
- Family Theme Naming: The sweet pea pixies all have names beginning with the letter "P".
- First-World Problems: Peter's Blues has Peter play the blues on the harmonica and cause people to get super depressed over trivial matters, such as breaking a pencil or a contraption not working.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: In "Switcheridoo", Pinkalicious and Peter switch bodies with their parents. The parents enjoy having youthful energy again, but the kids hate it and want to be kids again.
- French Maid Outfit: Andrea, who works at the Dream Salon, wears one, but given the show's target audience, this was obviously not for fanservice.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Pinkalicious' mom. She is always making inventions, such as the titular device of the episode "Glitterizer".
- Girlish Pigtails: Pinkalicious wears her hair like this.
- Girly Girl: Pinkalicious, obviously.
- Given Name Reveal: "Dream Salon" reveals that Mrs. Pinkerton's first name is Pearl. Mr. Pinkerton says her name when she comes out of the salon with blonde hair.Mr. Pinkerton: Pearl, is that you?
- And in "Pinkapolka Dotty", when she calls the rest of the family one by one by their names, Mr. Pinkerton's name is revealed to be Harry.
- Glass-Shattering Sound: When Mrs. Plum uses the Opera-Matic near the end of the episode of the same name, a glass jar with some paintbrushes shatters.
- Hair Flip: Kendra does this in To Catch a Leaf while explaining to the rest of the clique that leaves are "tree litter".
- Halloween Episode: "Pink or Treat", where Pinkalicious has to save Halloween following the power lines in Pinkville being knocked over. Pinkalicious dresses as a superhero, Peter dresses as a pirate, their parents dresses as witches, Rafael dresses as a chef, Jasmine dresses as a bumblebee, Kendra dresses as a cat, Frida dresses as a robot, Lila dresses as a princess, Mr. Crunk dresses as a wizard, Coach Mario dresses as a bear, Ms. Penny dresses as a queen, Mayor Martinez dresses as the Statue of Liberty, and the Plums dress up as pumpkins.
- Happily Married: Mr. and Mrs. Plum. They're almost always flirting with each other.
- Happy Birthday to You!: The show actually got away with Peter singing it to his dad in "Best Pink Present". Justified since the show was in production by the time the song entered the public domain.
- Here We Go Again!: In the adaptation of the first Pinkalicious book, Pinkalicious eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink. She eats green foods to make herself normal again. At the end of the episode, Peter eats a pink cupcake and now he turns pink.
- Hidden Depths: Kendra is revealed to have a secret spot in the forest in "Fairy House". She even lets the springtime fairies live there.
- Mr. Crunk seems like a grumpy old vice principal at first, but episodes like Pink Raspberry and All Tangled Up reveal he has some talents, like making silly sounds and knitting, and he's not as grumpy as he seems.
- Hilarity in Zoos: The episode "Zoo Day" is built on this trope. Pinkalicious and her family are going to the zoo for a teddy bear picnic, however, Hilarity Ensues when a monkey keeps switching the signs around.
- Hime Cut: Kendra wears her hair like this.
- Imagine Spot: This happens at least Once an Episode.
- Imprinting: In "The Duck Stops Here", a duckling named Lucky imprints on Peter after he hatches, which results in Pinkalicious and Peter trying to take care of the duckling.
- Invisibility Ink: Peter spills invisible ink on himself and becomes invisible in one episode. He becomes visible again after taking a bath.
- Involuntary Dance: In "Dancing Shoes", Pinkalicious' mom accidentally buys her a pair of magical dance shoes. Pinkalicious puts them on, and she is rendered unable to stop tap-dancing. However, her tap dancing made her soccer team win the game. She eventually got them off by putting them back in their box.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While Kendra does have a tendency to make scathing remarks, she ultimately has a good heart (for example, she lets the springtime fairies live in her secret spot in the woods in "Fairy House"), which is why Pinkalicious, Peter, Jasmine, and Rafael still hang out with her.
- Latino Is Brown: Rafael, Frida, Mayor Martinez, and Coach Mario all have brown skin.
- Limited Wardrobe: Zig-zagged. While the characters' wardrobe is nowhere near unlimited, they have outfits for certain situations, such as swimsuits, winter coats, and pajamas. Pinkalicious also wears her iconic fairy outfit from the first book in the episode "Pinkalicious" and in the opening credits. Peter also has two standard outfits: one in blue-green and one in purple.
- Lost Voice Plot: Pinkalicious loses her voice in "Lost Voice".
- Make a Wish: In "To Catch a Leaf", Rafael tells Pinkalicious a story of how if a leaf falls on your shoulder, you get a wish. So, Pinkalicious spends the entire episode trying to get a leaf to land on her shoulder. In the end, it is revealed that her wish was just that: for a leaf to land on her shoulder.
- Mascots Love Sugar: In "Frost Fairy", Pinkalicious and Peter befriend a fairy and expose her to human food — which causes her to develop such a sweet tooth that she ends up destroying a gingerbread house they built.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Mrs. Pinkerton likes inventing, while Mr. Pinkerton likes cooking and gardening.
- Meaningful Name: The monkey who kept causing mischief in "Zoo Day" is revealed to be named Rascal by a zookeeper at the end of the episode, and for good reason.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Pinkalicious has this sort of reaction when she unintentionally ruins Rafael's painting and Rafael tells her off for it in "Glitterizer".
- Pinkalicious also has this sort of reaction in "Cha-Cha-Licious", after she accidentally squirts syrup on Mr. Crunk, and realized the mess she made. She nearly sounds on the verge of tears.
- Mythology Gag: In the opening credits, Pinkalicious wears the fairy outfit that she wore in the first ever Pinkalicious book. There are also lyrics about "climbing on blocks to the moon up above", which is what Peter did in the book Peterrific.
- Name and Name
- Nice Girl: Andrea, who works at the Dream Salon. She is always kind-hearted and never gets annoyed by the amount of times that Pinkalicious goes there.
- Not Now, Kiddo: In "No Honking", Peter makes a song with his scooter horn, but everyone else won't listen to the song and dismisses it as "noise". However, when the other characters actually listen to it, they realize that noise can be music, and they apologize for not listening.
- Our Fairies Are Different:
- In "Fairy House", Pinkalicious and Peter construct a fairy house to attract the springtime fairies. They do come and stay with the Pinkertons, but they turn out to be noisy neighbors and end up waking up the entire neighborhood with their singing. They eventually go to live in the forest.
- In "Painting Pixie", Penelope is introduced. She says she's a pixie, but she really looks more like a fairy.
- "Sweet Pea Pixie" has the sweet pea pixies, who immediately have the ability to speak and fly after they emerge from their pods.
- Perky Goth: Kendra. She dresses all in black, and when she's not being a deadpan snarker, she's fairly amiable, given the target audience.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Pinkalicious and Peter (one of his two standard outfits is a blue/green shirt and cap)
- Pink Means Feminine: Really? Who would've guessed?
- Premiseville: The show takes place in Pinkville, where everyone loves pink, even the males. Pink peonies grow in the park, and the local soccer team and marching band both wear pink uniforms.
- Purple Is Powerful: Purple is a standard outfit color in the show. Peter, Mrs. Pinkerton, and Lila all wear purple.
- Rapid Hair Growth: Pinkalicious instantly gets longer hair in "Dream Salon" by using a hair gel that makes hair grow longer.
- Running Gag: In All Tangled Up, the delivery service truck keeps bringing tons of yarn instead of flowers.
- In Garden Gnome Party, there's Edna constantly calling Pinkalicious and Peter "flower squashers".
- Real Men Wear Pink: Rafael is on Pinkalicious' soccer team as shown in "Dancing Shoes". Their uniforms are pink. Rafael doesn't seem to have a problem with it.
- Road-Sign Reversal: One of the monkeys at the zoo does this with the signs to the Teddy Bear Picnic in "Zoo Day"
- Satellite Character: So far, Jasmine and Rafael. While Peter has his own character outside of being Pinkalicious' brother, and Kendra has some Hidden Depths, Jasmine and Rafael don't have that much personality.
- Scary Scarecrow: "Berry Scary" involves Pinkalicious, Rafael, Peter, and Frida make a scarecrow to scare some birds away. However, once they make it scary enough, they end up being utterly terrified by it and at one point, an evil laugh can be heard offscreen.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In "The Flutterbugs", after the titular bugs crash the tea party even after Pinkalicious promised they wouldn't, Kendra, Jasmine, and Lila just up and leave.
- Ship Tease: Even though this is a kids' show on PBS, Pinkalicious and Rafael get some in "Glitterizer". Especially towards the end when Pinkalicious puts her arm around him.
- There's even some in "Show and Smell", where Peter makes a "stripy" perfume to impress his friend Frida.
- Edna and Norman have some in "Garden Gnome Party".
- Shout-Out:
- In Pinkabotta & Peterbotta, Peter wants to name the robot B2-Z3, which sounds similar to either R2-D2 or C3PO.
- The title of To Catch a Leaf is a parody of To Catch a Thief.
- The title of "The Duck Stops Here" is a pun of a phrase popularized by Harry S. Truman, "the buck stops here".
- The Show of the Books: The cartoon of Pinkalicious.
- Shrinking Violet: Lila.
Word of God says that she's shy, which might explain why she doesn't hang out with the other kids as much. Bonus points for her actually wearing purple. - Slice of Life: Albeit with some fantasy elements, such as a plant that magically grows by singing.
- Smurfing: Pinkalicious tends to stick "Pinka-" onto almost any word (or adjective) like "Pinkaperfect" or "Pinkamazing".
- Somethingitis: In "Pinkalicious", the eponymous character eats too many pink cupcakes and her skin turns pink. The doctor diagnoses her with "Pinkititis"
- Special Guest: The episode "Slumber Party" has Marlo Thomas guest star as Gertie the dragon.
- Edna the garden gnome is voiced by Carol Kane.
- Stealth Pun: Peter making a pig kite in "Above the Clouds" because he always wanted to see one fly.
- Stock Ness Monster: "The Pink Ness Monster" has the kids looking for a monster in the pond at the local park.
- Sucks at Dancing: Norman the Garden Gnome, initially, in the episode "Garden Gnome Party", where he recalls a time where he tripped everyone up at a party while trying to dance. Since then, he refused to show his face at a gnome party since. In the episode, Pinkalicious and Peter help Norman learn how to dance.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: In the original books, Pinkalicious had a black friend named Molly. In the series, Pinkalicious has a friend named Jasmine who is basically a copy of Molly.
- In the original books, Pinkalicious had another friend named Rose. In the series, Rose is replaced by recurring character Lila. They even look similar.
- Talking to Plants: In "Plantastically Pink", the characters decide to not just talk, but sing to the Pinkabloom to make it grow. And it works!
- Textile Work Is Feminine: Averted. As shown in All Tangled Up, the only person in Pinkville who knows how to knit is Mr. Crunk.
- Token Minority:
- Rafael, Frida, Mayor Martinez, and Coach Mario are all Latinos.
- Mr. Plum is African-American, and Mrs. Plum is a Latina, and they're a interracial married couple.
- Mr. Yip and his daughter Saffron are Asian.
- Jasmine and Andrea are both African-American.
- Two Shorts: Just like almost every other show on PBS Kids currently, the show apparently follows the ABAB format, with live action segments sandwiched in between stories.
- Unicorn: Pinkalicious has a pet unicorn named Goldie, who can only appear if she is imagined.
- Valentine's Day Episode: "Cupid Calls It Quits" has Pinkalicious and Peter filling in for Cupid.
- Visible Odor: The scent of the perfumes are visible in "Show and Smell".
- Younger Than They Look: Pinkalicious, Jasmine, Rafael, Kendra, and Lila are all very tall for their age. They're all in second grade.
