Ned's Newt - Plot and Themes

Plot and Themes

Each show made a habit of creating outrageous plots out of mundane tasks and settings. For example, after a joyful weekend of playing, Ned exclaims he cannot wait for the next one. Newton then comes up with the idea that, rather than wait for next weekend, they can build a time machine and travel back to Friday, and relive the weekend. After they build the time machine out of a bunch of household objects, they accidentally travel back to the age of the dinosaurs, and end up changing the future. In another episode, in an effort to raise money for charity, Ned's friend Doogle digs a hole and stumbles across a race of subterranean trolls secretly planning domination of the world's "metropolises-es".

Ned takes Newton with him everywhere, and makes sure to keep some Zippo food with him at all times, just in case he needs Newton's help. Newton's powers almost always make things worse, mostly due to the fact he has a poor understanding of society. Thus, when Ned explains to him that Newton has made a terrible mistake (such as giving 3.5 million dollars to some passersby), Newton and Ned must work together to put things right. And although they usually succeed in doing so, Newton invariably changes back to newt form just in time to avoid being seen, and just in time for Ned to get into trouble.

The series made extensive references to famous faces and popular culture at the time, relying heavily on Harland Williams's experience as a comedian and impressionist. Newton morphs into "newt-versions" of many famous personalities in each episode, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable for comic effect. Several running gags also span the episodes of all three seasons, such as Mrs. Flemkin finding a crow hiding in the kitchen, Newton's solution to various problems involving a rubber duck and bicycle pump (which he never gets to use), or the appearance of quahogs (usually in a barrel) which begin to sing M-O-T-H-E-R by Howard Johnson. Newton also frequently broke the fourth wall, especially in season three, even going so far as to comment upon how poorly his bellybutton was drawn, or whether newts should have bellybuttons at all.

For the final four episodes of season three, Harland Williams was replaced by Ron Pardo as the voice of Newton.

In Season 3, episode 8 ("Rear Bus Window") Newton proclaims that he is a member of the genus Triturus, which are crested or marbled newts native to Europe. Newton also mentions the species name vittercensis, which is not a catalogued member of the genus.