Doug
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Doug is an animated series on Nickelodeon and is the first Nicktoon ever made, starring an 11-year-old named Doug as the main character. Originating with an unpublished book Doug Got a New Pair of Shoes by artist and series creator Jim Jinkins and writer Joe Aaron, it emerged on Nick from 1991 to 1994, where it remained until being picked up by Disney, where it aired on ABC from 1996 to 1999.
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The Series
The series takes place in the fictitious town of Bluffington (where Doug and his family had moved from Bloatsburg) and deals with the life and imagination of title character, grade-schooler and diarist Doug Funnie, his dog Porkchop, and good friends Skeeter Valentine and Patti Mayonnaise. Most episodes started with Doug writing in his journal about recent events in his life, with the main action of the episode being a flashback of the events as Doug narrated them.
Doug's older sister, Judy, is a constant source of conflict. She is a dramatic actor (arguably a beatnik) who always wears a purple beret and sunglasses.
A theme in the series is Doug's alternate comic book personality, Quailman. He has a belt worn around his head, and briefs over his pants, but is otherwise identical to Doug. Skeeter has an analogous character named the Silver Skeeter (a parody of Marvel's Silver Surfer).
Doug's imagination as he reacts to various situations in his life helps to provide premises for the stories, ala Walter Mitty. One episode dealing with a visit to his dentist, for example, contains homages to Goldfinger and Marathon Man.
Notable in the series' character design is the frequent use of unusual names and skin colors. Doug is of standard Caucasian tone, whereas Skeeter is blue, Patti is orange, and Roger is green.
Even though Nickelodeon stopped production of Doug in 1994, the original episodes are still shown on NickToons TV and sometimes on Nick.
Disney's Doug
In February 1996, Disney bought Jumbo Pictures, and ordered new episodes of Doug to be produced (re-named Brand Spanking New! Doug and then later Disney's Doug). The new episodes brought a new baby sister for Doug as well as a change in age to 12½ years old. It also brought a new haircut for Patti, more money for Roger, Connie lost weight, and much more including a change of clothes for everyone (not to mention a brand new middle school). These episodes aired on ABC's One Saturday Morning cartoon block from September 1996 to September 9, 2000. In 1999, after 65 additional episodes (and a feature-length movie), Disney's Doug went out of production. During the course of the show, Doug was nominated for 4 Daytime Emmy Awards. It can still be found on Toon Disney. Many fans feel that Disney's Doug was the moment when the show jumped the shark.
Characters
- Douglas "Doug" Yancy Funnie: performed by Billy West from 1991 to 1994, and Thomas McHugh from 1996 to 1999.
- Patricia "Patti" Mayonnaise: the girl on whom Doug has a crush.
- Mosquito "Skeeter" Valentine: Doug's best friend, who has a genius IQ, though does not act like it.
- Roger M. Klotz: Doug's rival, typical wrong side of the tracks bully.
- Porkchop: Doug's canine companion
- Beebe Bluff: A spoiled rich friend of Patti's.
- Mr. Phil Funnie: Doug's dad, a department store photographer.
- Judith "Judy" Anastasia Funnie: Doug's beatnik/wanna-be thespian/performance artist sister.
- Mrs. Theda Funnie: Doug's mom.
- Mr. Buddy "Bud" Dink: Doug's spend-thrify neighbor, whom Doug often turns to for advice. Known for his obnoxious laugh and frequent new purchases.
- Mrs. Tippi Dink: Mr. Dink's wife, and later Mayor of Bluffington. Known for her dead-pan reactions to her husband's stupidity.
- Cleopatra Dirtbike Funnie: Doug's baby sister, born on the Disney version.
- Ms. Wingo: Doug's elementary school teacher.
- Stinky: Roger's spoiled feline companion.
- Mr. William "Bill" Bluff III: The richest man in town, father of Beebe, and descendant of the town founder.
- Robert "Bob" White: The former mayor of Bluffington, who later becomes the middle school principal. Constantly asserting "Vote for Me!" even to elementary schoolers.
- William "Willie" White: the ex-mayor's son and member of Roger's gang.
- Albert "Al"/Moose "Moo" Sleech: Genius, yet socially inept twin brothers, father runs a bakery, have a dog named Cosmos.
- Lamar Bone: the elementary school vice-principal, later promoted to the same job at the middle school.
- The Beets: a Beatlesque rock-and-roll band that later break up and go solo in the Disney version.
- Mr. Buttsavage: the never-seen elementary school principal.
- Boomer Bledsoe: Member of Roger's gang
- Ned Cauphee: Member of Roger's gang, has 25 brothers.
- Larry: Leader of a group of audio-visual nerds.
- Skunky Beaumont: Often mentioned in the Nick version, but wasn't seen. He didn't really appear till the Disney version, where he is protrayed as a Jeff Spicolli-esque "dude."
- Chalky Studebaker: Doug's friend who is a jock.
- Connie Benge: Sweet, naive, overweight girl in Nick version, slimmer, obnoxious Courtney Love-esque singer/songwriter in Disney version. Seems to have a small crush on Doug.
- Fentruck: a foreign exchange student from Yakistonia.
Episodes
Doug is usually in the form of two 15-minute episodes, rather than one 30-minute episode. In total, there were 166 episodes (68 half-hour episodes, 98 fifteen-minute episodes), and 1 full-length movie (Doug's 1st Movie).
Popularity
The popularity of Doug spawned merchandise such as clothes, toys, and a number of books.
External links
- Doug (http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Other_Studios/J/Jumbo_Pictures/Doug/index.html) at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Episode Guide at TVTome.com (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/EpisodeGuideSummary/showid-1714/season-all)
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