(no subject)

[amanuensis1]

Okay, maybe this has already been pointed out and wanked over, but I just turned on the television and I see these three kids running about having time-travelling adventures and they look like this:



(The show's called Time Warp Trio.)

And the frizzy-haired girl's bossy and the red-haired boy's kind of the comic relief and the black-haired boy's trying to keep them all focused.

Um, this raised no eyebrows at the tv networks? Or is this one of those R.A.B. things--you only think it's obvious if you're deep in the fandom?

Comments

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

I can see what you mean, but I think they were just thinking in terms of stock children's characters--the smart-and-bossy-but-nice girl has been a staple of this kind of stuff since I was a kid decades ago, for instance.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

Also, Harry isn't quite on the ball enough to keep anyone focused on anything, so.... ;-)

[ellid.livejournal.com]

I think the execs were probably thrown off because the girl is black. OTOH, we don't know what Hermione's ethnicity is, so who knows? But no, you're not crazy.

And I suddenly have this urge to see if anyone's written something where Hermione has a Creole ancestor, or something.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Thing is, the girl has that sort of "let's change only her skin tone so she's not white" appearance, if you see what I mean. Which makes it easy to see her as Hermione only with darker skin.

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

Raises my eyebrows. Harry's even got messy hair and is wearing gryffindor red. The sidekick is a redhead, the girl is bossy ... I don't doubt they're aware of what they're doing - tapping into what they think is now imprinted in kid's heads.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, they may be tapping into what's imprinted in *their* heads, you know?

(Okay, I don't really believe that, but it's possible *g*)

[tinderblast.livejournal.com]

The boy is totally Harry. Okay, Harry on speed, what with the teensy pupils, but still.

Black!Hermione is bringing up all kinds of Blaise flashbacks.

Is faux-Ron blushing, or is his skin colour supposed to signify that he's white?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

*sings, "Whiiiite, we're whiiiite, we're really really whiiiiite..." from the MST3K Mr. B. Natural short...*

[lunulet.livejournal.com]

How is that not Harry? That is Harry. *pets the fanart*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

When I squint, I see the scar, I swear.

[theleapingmuse.livejournal.com]

HAHA!

I didn't know that this cartoon existed until two days ago, when my Linguistics professor put it on during class. Now I'm seeing it everywhere.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

The hivemind! It's everywhere!!

[avec-gloire815.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD. I just watched that show literally an hour ago. I am cool.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

And didja see it? Huh huh?

[yamapea.livejournal.com]

dkfjd that is so very much Harry. *_*

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Lookit him! Harry manifest.

[underlucius.livejournal.com]

It's a right royal rip off.

It's like UBOS, I don't know if you ever saw that cartoon over there.
http://www.bknkids.com/ubos.shtml

Three kids at a wizard school:

1. Boy (verne) comes to school after discovering at 11 that he's a wizard
1. Bossy clever witch
2. Half elf best friend

they ride flying scooters, and non magic people are called Morties. The headmistresses can morph into ... guess what? A Cat!

Wikipedia even mentions its similarity to Potter

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

That does raise some eyebrows, donnit!

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

There's also a Time Warp Trio from a series of books by Jon Scieszka; the first one was published in 1991. Jon Scieszka is a minor genius imo, mostly for his other wonderful children's books. Apparently the third boy in TWT was replaced by a girl for PC cartoon purposes. I think the other two boys were in the books as originally published, glasses and all.

So a little of both.

[datta.livejournal.com]

Sam and Joe and Fred! They were awesome. I loved those books when I was a kid.

[silverhielm.livejournal.com]

Eyebrows!! It looks to me like those "oddname and the strangeevent/thing/creature" books that are practically everywhere!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, go figure! ^_^

[glockgal.livejournal.com]

From the website bio of the Harry lookalike:
Boy Who Wishes He Was On CSPAN Instead Of The Jerry Springer Show.

AHAAHAHAH!! Harry would TOTALLY want to be on Jerry Springer!!!

Also for the Hermione:
"The salt air is totally squenching my hair."

I think Hermione might actually like that, fwaahahaha!

Also? The cover art for the books are hilarious.

Now I wanna read these!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Harry would be TERRIFIED on the Jerry Springer show! He'd think he was on the "Man or Woman? You Decide!" episode!

[jedilora.livejournal.com]

Ooh, they got a SHOW now? I remember those books-good stories, very silly 'messing with history' things. Read 'em a loooong time before Potter though.

[wikdsushi.livejournal.com]

Eek! The Ghost of Nancy Stouffer returns for revenge!

[sirjimmy.livejournal.com]

That's really kind of weird.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Coincidental at least!

[finmagik.livejournal.com]

That is freaky.

[khoumery.livejournal.com]

ROFLROFL I LOVE your icon. All hail Jeeves!!!! :D

[subliculous.livejournal.com]

good christ.

i swear i was flipping channels and saw a split second of the "harry" character, promptly computed "rip-off" in my head, and switched the channel in disgust. and lo!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yup, we are of the hivemind! XD

[lunarennui.livejournal.com]

naturally they have to allow it. the girl is black! that's supporting racial acceptance!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, lordy, I so don't wanna go there!

[pauraque]

I'm gonna dissent from the majority here and say yes, this is very reminiscent of HP. Simple reason, really -- kid has round glasses. That's become extremely iconic of Harry Potter, even if you're nowhere near the fandom.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Don't you see the scar? I mean, I keep seeing a phantom scar... ^_^

[lyricalnights.livejournal.com]

Well, the Time Warp Trio books are older than HP, so I think the structure is mostly just the same archetypes that JK herself used in building her series (though it was originally 3 boys, iirc). But the cartoon, yeah, not so subtle and subliminal advertsiing there. ;)

Then again, Harry is quite similar to Tim Hunter ala Books of Magic, also older than HP, and Neil Gaiman attributes that to archetypes as well, so it works both ways, I suppose.

[lyricalnights.livejournal.com]

Link to one of the original bookcovers, circa 1991-93:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0140346031/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-5929708-7714560#reader-link

So, the glasses were also biggish and roundish, but I'd say they've gotten a wee bit rounder and more "Harry" like. *shrugs* I don't suppose you can hold trademark on round specs. =)

[somnia-lustre.livejournal.com]

Someone got a bit carried away with their AU fanfic...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Ha, that explains it!

[jellybean-slash.livejournal.com]

Lmao. One step away from the 'Time Turner Trio'.

Now just one question remains... how did you find yourself watching children's programming? ;)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I had the tv on! I was going to put on a DVD! What the heck else is on on Saturday morning, I ask you? ^_^

[daisakura.livejournal.com]

When I saw those pics I honestly though this was one of those 'create-your-own-human' things that you'd done to get some HP characters.

My GOD.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

HEE! There, see, I am vindicated!

[dreamred.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, brilliant. I love it when I find parallels like that.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

It works one up into a state sometimes, hee!

[datta.livejournal.com]

Oh my God they made one of the Time Warp Trio a girl? Nooooo... They're supposed to be three boys, they're funny because they are such boys.

Those were awesome books when I was little. I have to go see if my sister still has them. "The Good, the Bad, and the Goofy" was my favorite.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Ha, well, if they were originally boys but they made one a girl to make it more accessible for children's tv, I see less likelihood of conscious copying. They were just messin'!

[amamiku.livejournal.com]

Actually, it seems there are six of them: the Time Warp Trio, who are three boys, and then another trio of three girls (with one token non-white character for each set of kids).

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh! It's Huey, Dewey, and Louie meet April, May, and June!