Johnny Maxwell Trilogy: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license)
 
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* [[Expospeak Gag]]: The Captain's food order, which includes such delights as "pressed wheat extractions treated with sucrose". {{spoiler|Breakfast cereal.}}
* [[Expospeak Gag]]: The Captain's food order, which includes such delights as "pressed wheat extractions treated with sucrose". {{spoiler|Breakfast cereal.}}
* [[Extraverted Nerd]]: Yo-less.
* [[Extraverted Nerd]]: Yo-less.
* [[Five Man Band]]:
* [[Five-Man Band]]:
** [[The Hero]]: Johnny
** [[The Hero]]: Johnny
** [[The Lancer]]: Kirsty
** [[The Lancer]]: Kirsty
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* [[Old School Dogfighting]]: Though the spaceships in ''Only You Can Save Mankind'' have a few missiles, most of the work has to be done by guns.
* [[Old School Dogfighting]]: Though the spaceships in ''Only You Can Save Mankind'' have a few missiles, most of the work has to be done by guns.
* [[Only Known By Their Nickname]]: Bigmac, Wobbler, and Yo-less. Though we do eventually find out Wobbler and Bigmac's names.
* [[Only Known By Their Nickname]]: Bigmac, Wobbler, and Yo-less. Though we do eventually find out Wobbler and Bigmac's names.
* [[Or Was It a Dream]]: It seems Johnny's adventures are taking place in between his own imagination and the real world. Although Kirsty and her {{spoiler|pickled onion}} point towards the latter.
* [[Or Was It a Dream?]]: It seems Johnny's adventures are taking place in between his own imagination and the real world. Although Kirsty and her {{spoiler|pickled onion}} point towards the latter.
** [[Word of God]] [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/johnny-and-the-bomb.html sums it up]: "Is what happens in the books real? Yes. Does it all happen in Johnny's head? Yes."
** [[Word of God]] [http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/johnny-and-the-bomb.html sums it up]: "Is what happens in the books real? Yes. Does it all happen in Johnny's head? Yes."
* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]]: Kirsty can pronounce ''italics'' [and brackets].
* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]]: Kirsty can pronounce ''italics'' [and brackets].
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* [[Reality Warper]]: Johnny when in a state of extreme stress.
* [[Reality Warper]]: Johnny when in a state of extreme stress.
* [[Resigned to The Call]]: Johnny. As contrasted with Kirsty, who tends to [[Jumped At the Call|Jump At The Call]].
* [[Resigned to The Call]]: Johnny. As contrasted with Kirsty, who tends to [[Jumped At the Call|Jump At The Call]].
* [[Ripped From the Headlines]]: The plot of ''Johnny and the Dead'' comes straight from a contemporary scandal when Westminster Council sold three cemetaries for 5p each.
* [[Ripped from the Headlines]]: The plot of ''Johnny and the Dead'' comes straight from a contemporary scandal when Westminster Council sold three cemetaries for 5p each.
* [[Schrodingers Butterfly]]: At one point in ''Only You Can Save Mankind'', Johnny briefly becomes uncertain whether he's a boy who's having recurring dreams about being a space pilot or a space pilot who's having recurring dreams about being a boy.
* [[Schrodinger's Butterfly]]: At one point in ''Only You Can Save Mankind'', Johnny briefly becomes uncertain whether he's a boy who's having recurring dreams about being a space pilot or a space pilot who's having recurring dreams about being a boy.
* [[Serious Business]]: The entire series revolves around Johnny taking a serious look at things other people dismiss as unimportant. Also, Kirsty takes ''everything'' seriously.
* [[Serious Business]]: The entire series revolves around Johnny taking a serious look at things other people dismiss as unimportant. Also, Kirsty takes ''everything'' seriously.
* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: The Captain trying to talk about Earth food. "Pressed wheat extractions treated with sucrose" indeed. {{spoiler|Breakfast cereal.}}
* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: The Captain trying to talk about Earth food. "Pressed wheat extractions treated with sucrose" indeed. {{spoiler|Breakfast cereal.}}
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* [[Time Travel]]:
* [[Time Travel]]:
** Both [[For Want of a Nail]] and [[In Spite of a Nail]].
** Both [[For Want of a Nail]] and [[In Spite of a Nail]].
** [[Hitlers Time Travel Exemption Act]]: After giving it some thought, they decide not to kill Hitler after all
** [[Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act]]: After giving it some thought, they decide not to kill Hitler after all
** [[I'm Mr. Future Pop Culture Reference]]: Yo-less is Prince Sega all the way from Nintendo.
** [[I'm Mr. Future Pop Culture Reference]]: Yo-less is Prince Sega all the way from Nintendo.
** [[Newspaper Dating]]
** [[Newspaper Dating]]
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* [[Weirdness Censor]]: People find it difficult to notice anything amiss, even when it's staring them right in the face. Johnny's complete lack of one is a major factor in the books.
* [[Weirdness Censor]]: People find it difficult to notice anything amiss, even when it's staring them right in the face. Johnny's complete lack of one is a major factor in the books.
* [[Weirdness Magnet]]: Johnny.
* [[Weirdness Magnet]]: Johnny.
* [[Well Intentioned Extremist]]: The Gunnery Captain is initially this, before turning [[Ax Crazy]]. Kirsty can sometimes get carried away as well.
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: The Gunnery Captain is initially this, before turning [[Ax Crazy]]. Kirsty can sometimes get carried away as well.
* [[What Measure Is a Non Human]]: Perhaps the entire point of ''Only You Can Save Mankind''
* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: Perhaps the entire point of ''Only You Can Save Mankind''
* [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]: An accusation leveled at Kirsty by Johnny.
* [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]: An accusation leveled at Kirsty by Johnny.
* [[Win to Exit]]: More accurately, "Exit To Win". The 'Border' that the Screewee must cross is revealed to be {{spoiler|a giant screen with the words "GAME OVER" on it.}}
* [[Win to Exit]]: More accurately, "Exit To Win". The 'Border' that the Screewee must cross is revealed to be {{spoiler|a giant screen with the words "GAME OVER" on it.}}
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* [[You Fail Nuclear Physics Forever]]: Yo-less and his "fridge molecules". The former trope name is pretty much Kirsty's reaction to this.
* [[You Fail Nuclear Physics Forever]]: Yo-less and his "fridge molecules". The former trope name is pretty much Kirsty's reaction to this.
* [[Your Mind Makes It Real]]: averted.
* [[Your Mind Makes It Real]]: averted.
** Though hinted at, in the [[Schrodingers Butterfly]] scene.
** Though hinted at, in the [[Schrodinger's Butterfly]] scene.


The TV adaptations additionally contains examples of the following tropes:
The TV adaptations additionally contains examples of the following tropes:

Revision as of 11:58, 9 January 2014

To look at him, you'd think that Johnny Maxwell is just an ordinary twelve-year-old. But weird stuff keeps happening to him. Of course, you could blame these Trying Times -- his parents are in the middle of an acrimonious divorce -- but really, the kinds of things we're talking about aren't part of a normal kid's routine. I mean, what would you do if...

...the aliens in your favorite video game surrendered instead of shooting back? At first, Johnny and his friends think it's part of the programming. But this scenario isn't in the manual. Then Johnny starts having incredibly lifelike dreams -- where he's at the controls of a starfighter, and the alien fleet, hanging in space before him, is waiting for him to lead them safely home. As hard as it was trying to save Mankind from the Galactic Hordes, it's even harder trying to save the Galactic Hordes from Mankind. But hey, it's only a game, isn't it?

...Or if you started seeing the dead -- just as their cemetery was about to be demolished? Not many people can see the dead (not many would want to). But Johnny can, and he's got bad news for them: the town council wants to sell the cemetery and put up an office complex. But the dead have learned a thing or two from Johnny, and they're not going to take it lying down, especially since tomorrow is Halloween...

...And what if your local bag lady turned out to be a time traveler? Johnny and his friends discover Mrs. Tachyon semi-conscious in an alley. It seems there's more to Mrs. Tachyon than a squeaky wire cart and a bunch of mysterious black bags. Somehow this wizened little woman holds the key to different times and different eras-including the Blitz of 1941. Suddenly now isn't the safe place Johnny thought it was as he finds himself bound up more and more with then...

The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy is a series of three books comprising Only You Can Save Mankind, Johnny and the Dead and Johnny and the Bomb, written by Terry Pratchett. It concerns the adventures of Johnny Maxwell and his friends, Wobbler, Bigmac, Yo-less, and Kirsty, as they deal with whatever weird thing the Universe throws at them this week. Only You Can Save Mankind has been adapted for radio, the other two for TV (The Dead for ITV in 1995 and The Bomb for The BBC in 2006). There's also been a stage musical of Only You Can Save Mankind, with accompanying soundtrack CD.

Johnny Maxwell Trilogy contains examples of the following tropes:

 Wobbler: What are you, a gay ghost?

 Kirsty: Do you know, there was an African tribe once whose nearest word for 'enemy' was 'a friend we haven't met yet'?

Johnny: Right. That's how...

Kirsty: But they were all killed and eaten in eighteen hundred and two. Except for those who were sold as slaves. The last one died in Mississippi in eighteen sixty-four, and he was very upset.

The TV adaptations additionally contains examples of the following tropes:

  • Accidental Kiss: Kirsty gets overexcited and kisses Johnny.
  • Weenalized: In the Johnny and the Bomb Kirsty is sweet on Johnny, though the book never explicitly stated such a thing.
  • Wet Sari Scene: Happens to Kirsty in Johnny And The Bomb. As if she wasn't upset enough about having to wear a frock.
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