Dash and Dot's Wild Ride/Tropes/Nightmare Fuel

With a kidnapper as the main villain and moments depicting genuine terror and peril for the titular characters (who, mind you, are also the mascots of a children's programming block/network), Dash and Dot's Wild Ride could very well be the darkest PBS Kids movie of all time, if not the darkest piece of media from PBS Kids. Here's hoping the kiddies could still see their favorite childhood mascots the same way again...
* Throughout the film, there are a few moments where Dash and Dot come dangerously close to dying. Yes, you read that right, near-death experiences in a PBS Kids movie, and all of them happen to two kids, no less.
** During the scene where she and Dash are jumping across the tops of fast-moving vehicles in rush-hour traffic, Dot narrowly loses her footing and almost falls off to the road below, potentially becoming roadkill had Dash not caught her in time.
** During their time stranded in the forest, Dot and eventually Dash come across a vicious bear who actively tries to kill them, only to later be driven away when the former stops it from killing the latter, repaying Dash for saving her life.
** Near the end of the climax, Dash and Dot are ganging up on Mason in his van as payback for what he did to their parents when they suddenly notice they're heading straight towards a river. Seeing this as an opportunity to off the two kids, Mason jumps out to safety while the van crashes through the guardrail and plunges into the river below, taking Dash and Dot with it. Then, after Mason is knocked out by Denise, we are then treated to a shot of the van sinking into the water, seemingly implying Dash and Dot have died for real... until they are later revealed to have gotten out of the van before it sank.
* Mason, full stop. His crime of kidnapping Dash and Dot's parents and demanding $5,000 dollars in exchange for their release is definitely something a real-life kidnapper would do, and he's no better to Dash and Dot themselves as well, trying to prevent them from freeing his kidnapped victims and even leaving them to possibly die a watery death when he jumps out of his van to leave them to fall into a river while still in it.
** The darker color scheme of his clothing, prominent eyebrows and messy hair makes him much more untrustworthy-looking and sinister compared to the other characters' friendlier designs and brightly-colored clothes.
** To put into perspective how truly ruthless and no-nonsense Mason is, let's take a look at the Sleaze brothers from Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird and Huxley from The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, who are similarly villains in movies based off of PBS Kids shows. Sam and Sid Sleaze are shifty and greedy con artists whose worst acts involve scamming people out of their money and keeping Big Bird locked up in a cage to pass him off as "The Bluebird of Happiness", and Huxley is a thief who wants to claim everything in Grouchland as his property, flat-out gloats and hams about how bad he is and acts like an immature young child. But Mason? He is menacing, soft-spoken, cold and even potentially dangerous (most notably during the climax), and while he does have some comedic moments here and there, they are very few and far between and overshadowed by his unsettling qualities. All of that effectively makes him the most vile antagonist in a PBS Kids movie, let alone any PBS Kids media in general, and a jarring contrast to the film's otherwise family-friendly tone.
** Even worse, the audience never sees him kidnapping Dennis and Denise onscreen, but it is hinted at subtly by Dash and Dot waiting several minutes after school is over, expecting them to show up, but they don't at all. It is the first thing in the movie that clues into the viewers that something isn't right, and the fact that this happened while Dash and Dot were still attending school, it brings some paranoia into kids and teenagers, fearing that this could happen to their parents as well.
* After Dash and Dot lose control of their makeshift vehicle during a chase from two police officers and crash into a forest, Dot, who has survived the accident, finds Dash unscathed as well and asks if he is okay. However, Dash doesn't respond as he gets up, but rather takes a moment to address Dot bitterly before suddenly and abruptly turning around and loudly yelling to Dot, "YOU WRECKED OUR CAR!!!", which catches her with genuine surprise and shock as he then proceeds to violently tear her to shreds for ruining their chance to find their parents, feeling absolutely nothing but pure, blood-boiling fury which goes up as he continues to rant at his little sister before eventually disowning her and leaving her behind with the intent of finding Dennis and Denise all by himself. To see someone like Dash, a usually happy and friendly boy, raising his voice and acting like this is very horrifying and out-of-character for him, and the fact that Dot is visibly heartbroken and driven to tears by Dash's truly brutal words only makes this worse. Thankfully, he gets better, saves Dot from the bear mentioned below and even apologizes and reconciles with her, so all is forgiven.
* The bear that Dot encounters in the forest not long after being left behind by an angry Dash. Whereas real-life bears usually leave humans alone unless they are provoked and/or threatened, this one is a dangerous, monstrous beast by nature whose first instinct upon seeing Dot is to roar at her and chase her with the intent of trying to kill her, and then tries to kill Dash instead after the boy returns to save Dot from it. And compared to the stylized look of the characters in the film, the bear is drawn in a slightly more realistic style not unlike the panther from Garfield in the Rough, making it appear more threatening. Fortunately, the bear is more than willing to surrender and flee when Dot pelts it with stones and yells at it to make it release Dash.
Category:Tropes