Peabodyverse Encyclopedia
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Mr. Peabody's Improbable History
A dog and his boy
Format Animated television series
Created by Jay Ward
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 5
No. of episodes 90
Production
Executive producer(s) Jay Ward
Bill Scott
Production companies Jay Ward Productions
Original Air Date November 19, 1959 – June 27, 1964
Chronology
Preceded by: The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show
Followed by: The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show

Peabody's Improbable History (commonly referred to as "Mr. Peabody and Sherman") is an animated television series that was used as a segment on The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. It aired from 1959-1965. There were new episodes aired in every other show. 

Premise[]

Mr. Peabody is the world's smartest being. But Peabody is also a beagle. One day, Peabody becomes lonely and decides to adopt a young boy as a pet and chooses a young boy named Sherman. Peabody builds Sherman a time machine for his own birthday gift. After a few modifications, Peabody turns the time machine into a "should have been machine".

Anachronisms are abound such as in a visit with Nero where he plays on a violin (unknown in the West until the 9th century) and Vasco Núñez de Balboa knows about Lake Erie. In another segment, Mr. Peabody and Sherman travel to Vienna, Austria in 1799 to inspire Beethoven to compose music, but when Beethoven wanders out into the street, it is full of modern-day automobiles. 

Also, many times historical figures are portrayed as not being too bright, such as the case with Peter Cooper and the Tom Thumb race, where in addition to having to deal with another train (the 502 from Denver) coming the other way they must overcome the obstacles of the 50% tunnel (so named because it's only half finished) and 50% bridge (so named because the plans are only half finished). Employing various strategies, Peabody, assisted by Sherman, always finds a way to fix the problems though not always in a manner true to the historical record.

Episodes[]

Main article: List of Mr. Peabody & Sherman episodes

Cast[]

Film[]

Main article: Mr. Peabody & Sherman (film)

In 2014, two years after DreamWorks purchased Classic Media (the company that owns Jay Ward's shows), a movie starring Mr. Peabody was released. It was about Sherman and Peabody's personal lives that accidentally cause the timeline to be all jumbled up. Unlike the series, Peabody treats Sherman like a son rather than a pet and underling and the WABAC machine has been upgraded to a space age esque machine. The movie stars Ty Burrel, Max Charles, and Ariel Winter.

Trivia[]

  • In the "Gallieo" episode, Sherman travels alone, due to Mr. Peabody being sick.
  • Back to the Future (part one to be exact) had a character named Otis Peabody and a son named Sherman, which was tribute to the animated characters. Unlike the famed duo, this Sherman and Mr. Peabody are hostile towards Marty and his time travel.
  • Mr. Peabody and Sherman appear alongside other classic cartoon characters in the MetLife commercial,"Everyone". 
  • In The Simpsons' fifth Halloween special ("Treehouse of Horror V"), in the Time and Punishment segment, Homer finds himself able to travel through time by means of a magic toaster and comes across Mr. Peabody and Sherman. The characters Kang and Kodos later take on Peabody's and Sherman's appearances due to Homer's meddling with the time stream.
  • In the Family Guy episode "The Kiss Seen Around the World", Peter and Brian travel back in time to see Christopher Columbus. The two don similar looks to Sherman and Mister Peabody; the flashback also parodies the format of the show, with the two going back in time and Brian (the dog) teaching Peter (the human).
  • There are some episodes where the show was wrong about the certain things in history. For example; In "Henry VIII", Mr. Peabody said that Catherine Parr is Henry's 5th wife. In real history, Catherine Parr is Henry's 6th wife. His 5th wife was Catherine Howard. In "Lucrezia Borgia", the episode said she is an infamous bar tender who is involved with poisons planning to poison the Lord of Pesaro, her second husband. In real history, the Lord of Pesaro, Giovanni Sforza, is her first husband. Her second husband was Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie.
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