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Tinga Tinga Tales is a 2010 Kenyan/British 52-episode children's series based on African folk tales and aimed at the preschool demographic. It was commissioned by The BBC for its CBeebies channel, and by Disney Channel for its Disney Junior block. Named after the Tingatinga art from Tanzania, it was made in Kenya by a studio of about 50 people.
Tropes include
- Ambiguously Gay: Zebra, Peacock and Chameleon.
- An Aesop
- Animal Stereotypes
- Big Good: Lion.
- Book Ends: Each episode ends with Monkey Red saying "And [event that was pivotal to episode but not the main focus of it]? Well, that's a whole other story!".
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Guinea Fowl does this at the end of the meerkat episode.
- Butt Monkey: Tortoise is always getting stepped on and mistaken for a rock by Elephant and Hippo.
- Catch Phrase: Lion: "It is Nature's way".
- Elephant: "Sorry. Big head, tiny brain."
- Cloudcuckoolander: Jackal, after the whole moon honey incident.
- The Coconut Effect: The ostrich and camel episodes.
- Cute Mute: Woodpecker and Parrot, until they learned how to speak.
- The Ditz: The wildebeest and, to a lesser extent, Elephant.
- Diurnal Nocturnal Animal: Bushbaby.
- Dumb Muscle: Elephant. Majitu the giant doesn't sound all that intelligent either.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Smelly fruit.
- Five-Man Band:
- The Hero: Lion
- The Lancer: Tortoise (also The Smart Guy)
- The Big Guy: Elephant
- The Chick: Hippo
- Tagalong Kid: Monkey
- Gentle Giant: Elephant
- Majitu the giant is implied to be this.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Hippo & Tickbird, as well as Crocodile & Lizard.
- The Hyena: Hyena, obviously.
- Insistent Terminology: "I'm not a monkey. I'm a baboon!"
- Its Pronounced Tropay: Elephant at the end of the camel episode.
- Jerkass: Many animals fit the bill: Hyena, Jackal, Crocodile, Vulture, Lizard even Lion can be a real Jerkass like in the Hippo episode but Warthog is by far the worst offender. He threw mud at the monkeys, Owl and Lion, insulted Hippo, Hyena and Tortoise and questioned Lion's authority as "king of Tinga Tinga". Lion was NOT pleased at all.
- Just-So Story: The show quite literally thrives on these.
- Keet: Chameleon, The Monkeys and Hare.
- The Klutz: Ostrich was this before she lost her feathers.
- Loads and Loads of Characters: 52 of them receive episode focus.
- Never Smile At a Crocodile: Crocodile, obviously.
- Once an Episode: Monkey talking with Lion at the end of the episode.
- Pungeon Master: The monkeys at the end of that episode.
- Real After All: Majitu the giant in the bushbaby episode.
- Running Gag: Elephant's brain.
- Sassy Black Woman: Hippo and Eagle
- Sea Monster: Whale
- Somewhere a Herpetologist Is Crying: Crocodile swims with motions of his feet, while Real Life crocodiles use their tails.
- Space Whale Aesop
- This Trope Is Bleep: The monkeys and Tortoise play with this when they're forbidden to say "run".
- Those Two Bad Guys: Lizard & Crocodile.
- Too Dumb to Live: Vulture. Seriously, trying to fly as high as the sun, getting burnt and then angering a bunch of bees to make her feathers pretty.
- Toothy Bird: Tortoise has teeth for some reason.