Doug

Doug
Created by	Jim Jinkins Joe Aaron
Starring	Billy West Fred Newman Constance Shulman Becca Lish Alice Playten Doug Preis Greg Lee
Production
Running time	22 minutes (11 minutes per segment) (approx. per episode)
External links
IMDb page
TV.com page

This article is about the Nicktoon. For other uses, see Doug (disambiguation).

Doug is an American animated sitcom created by Jim Jinkins and co-produced by his studio, Jumbo Pictures, and the French studio Ellipse Programmé. The show centers on its title character, Douglas "Doug" Funnie (voiced by Billy West), who takes the role of the common child. The series lampoons several topics, including puppy love, bullying, and rumors. Many episodes center around Doug's attempts to woo fellow classmate Patti Mayonnaise.

Doug originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States. It, along with Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show, comprised the original three Nicktoons, premiering back-to-back on August 11, 1991. After the series originally ended in 1994, production moved to Disney after they acquired Jumbo Pictures, and the series continued on ABC as part of the Disney's One Saturday Morning programming block from 1996 to 1999, even spawning a feature film. However, the Disney series is not covered on this wiki.

Plot

File:Nickelodeon - Vintage Doug Station ID

The series takes place in the fictitious town of Bluffington and deals with the life and imagination of Doug, his dog Porkchop, and good friends Skeeter Valentine and Patti Mayonnaise. Doug has recently moved to Bluffington from Bloatsburg. Most episodes start 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 narrates them. Doug faces all sorts of problems, catching a nematoad, doing a biography on 2 eccentric, brainiac twins, having his sister host the Founder's Day parade, and running for class treasurer. In addition, all the normal responsibilities a teen has at this stage in their life (relationships, school, earning money, etc.)

Doug's older sister, Judy, is a constant source of conflict. She is a dramatic actor who always wears a purple beret and sunglasses, even in the house. Doug is the supposed bane of her existence, as his childlike interests annoy her very much.

A theme in the series is Doug's alternate comic book personality, Quailman. He has a belt worn around his head, and clean 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. One episode dealing with a visit to his dentist, for example, contains homages to Goldfinger and Marathon Man.

Another theme in the series regarded Doug's feelings for Patti, with whom he had fallen in love upon first setting eyes on her. Some episodes focused on this, and involved either Doug attempting to get closer to Patti, or his frantic attempts to stop her discovering his feelings . The story ends on an optimistic hope for the two when Patti asks Doug out on a date.

Notable in the series' character design is the frequent use of unusual names and skin colors. Doug is of standard Caucasian tone, whereas his mother is purple, Skeeter is blue, Patti is tan with blonde hair, and Roger is green.

Characters

Main characters

• Douglas "Doug" Yancy Funnie: Performed by Billy West from 1991 to 1994, and Thomas McHugh from 1996 to 1999. Often is writing his thoughts in his journal, which he lost in one episode. He does not like his journal being called a "diary", possibly finding it too feminine. Has many alter-egos. He hates his middle name, although Mr. Schilaki believed that Yancey is the "good Doug" in the episode where Doug was made to look like a troublemaker. Also, Judy referred to Doug as Yancey when she had her boyfriend over in one episode, casting Doug as her butler. Doug is left-handed but in the Disney series he is right-handed.

• Patricia "Patti" Mayonnaise: The girl on whom Doug has a crush. In some thought sequences, she is often depicted as older and/or single or married as Doug's future wife. She has orange skin and is apparently from the South, as she has a distinct Southern accent. She lives with her father, who is a paraplegic but is able to care for her like any other father (her mother was killed in the same accident that crippled her father). Patti is kind, good-natured, athletic, and a good student, although she has also been shown to have a strong competitive streak. Her best friends are Beebe Bluff and Connie Benge.
• Mosquito "Skeeter" Valentine: Doug's best friend who, despite having a very high IQ, does not show it. He lives with his parents and kid brother Dale and is famous for his "honk honk" sound. He has blue skin. He loves music and introduces Doug to the work of The Beets; in fact, he and Doug actually met the band on several occasions. In the final Nickelodeon season, Skeeter developed a crush on a transfer student named Loretta McQuigley.
• Roger M. Klotz: The bully in the series. He lives with his divorced mother and cat, Stinky in a trailer park, they became rich in the Disney version. His rival was Percy Femur, Lamar Bone's nephew. He has green skin. Doug has created many alter-egos for him, and he is the main antagonist in the Quailman comics. According to the final episode of the Nickelodeon series, Roger was in 6th grade for three straight years, indicating he was held back. Since the average 6th grader is 12, Roger is probably 14 in the series. This also indicates that in the Disney series, he is 15-17.
• Porkchop: Doug's anthropomorphic canine companion. He is fiercely loyal to his owner, although in one episode he fell in love with a girl dog and almost ran away for good.
• Beebe Bluff: A spoiled rich girl; friend of Patti's, Doug's, and Skeeter's. Beebe lives in a huge mansion, with her father and mother. Butlers/maids also tend to her every need. Beebe is very snobby and resembles Pebbles from The Flintstones. Doug once mistakenly thought Beebe had a crush on him, but it turned out it was Skeeter (who shows no interest in her) that she liked.
• Mr. Phil Funnie: Doug/Judy's dad, Theda's husband. Phil is a department store photographer. He is the head of the household, and is not afraid to put his foot down.
• Judith "Judy" Anastasia Funnie: Doug's artistic sister. She is a stereotypical "hippie/beatnik" who loves speaking in dramatic tones, and acting out her emotions. She has a extreme liking towards any Shakespearian work. Roger developed a brief crush on her, which she dealt with in typical "Judy style" - by being overly dramatic (causing Roger to think she was too weird for him). Judy is often in her room, preforming plays, or listening to soft jazz. She has directed several of Doug's school plays, including the Founder's day pageant, and her unconventional methods often draw the ire of parents. Judy attends the Moody School, a high school for artistically inclined teenagers. Eventually becomes more mellowed out and relaxed in Disney's Doug.
• Mrs. Theda Funnie: Phil's wife, Doug/Judy's mom. Theda works for the recycling center, she collects cans and seperate the recyclables. She has a soft, light voice, but she is not afraid to yell.
• Mr. Buddy "Bud" Dink: Doug's eccentric, spend-thrift neighbor, whom Doug often turns to for advice. Known for his obnoxious Goofy-esque laugh and frequent new purchases of strange devices, always commenting that they were "very expensive." Also was Doug's scoutmaster for many episodes. Bud also has a fear of heights, due to a tree climbing incident.
• Mrs. Tipping "Tippy" Dale Dink: Mr. Dink's wife, and later the mayor of Bluffington. Known for her deadpan reactions to her husband's stupidity.

Secondary characters

• Ms. Wingo: Doug's elementary school teacher.
• Stinky: Roger's spoiled female feline companion. Orignally thought to be male, but then had kittens.
• 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. He does not make major decisions, which often lead to others making it for him. Mayor White thinks his only responsibility is to "sit in his chair and be the mayor". He often consults his wife on what he should do. His son is Willy.
• William "Willie" White: Willy is the dark-skinned, blue hair, porky friend of Roger. He is a major ditz, and often starts talking by saying "Duuuh" followed by something ridiculous. Although he is the Mayor's son, he still follows around with Roger and his gang. Willy lost the class treasurer race against Doug, the same day his dad lost his Mayor position to Tippy Dink.
• Albert "Al"/Moose "Moo" Sleech: Genius, yet socially inept twin brothers. Their father runs a bakery in their own basement, and they have a dog named Cosmos. Al and Moo love to play video games, and are system hackers. They speak in monotonous tones, and are rarely seen apart.
• Lamarr Bone: The elementary school vice-principal, and later promoted to the same job at the middle school. Depicted as the stereotypical "mean principal" of both schools; he even comes across as physically abusive at times. Likes to yodel and clog-dance on occasion. Mr. Bone's nephew is Percy Femur, who attended their school for a few days. Sometimes breaks away from the stereotype that he has developed into a more caring nature, but it's very rare. Doug has created many alter-egos for him such as "Robobone" and "The Rulemeister". Mr. Bone speaks with a Don Knotts-esque voice.
• The Beets: A band from Liverpool, that Doug and Skeeter are big fans of. They are a parody of the Beatles, with their last album being Let It Beet, a reference to Let It Be. Members are Monroe Yodler, Wendy Nespalm, Flounder, and Chap Lipman. According to an interview with Chap Lipman, they used to practice on trash cans and any other things they could find to get a steady beat. After the initial beat they came up with the lyrics to "Killer Tofu". This fact inspired Doug and Skeeter to (briefly) form their own band. The boys even met the Beets themselves on at least one occasion.

Episodes

Main article: Doug episode list (does not include episodes from the Disney cartoon)

Home video releases

Main article: Doug videography (does not include home video releases from the Disney cartoon)

Trivia

• Doug and Porkchop first appeared in ID spots for USA Cartoon Express from the late '80s-early '90s. One of them features Doug putting a TV on a stackful of TVs that looks like the United States of America, and Porkchop pushes a button on the remote, and the USA logo appears on the TV version of the United States of America.

External links

• Doug at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Episode Guide at TV.com
• Doug at the Internet Movie Database

• Doug Wiki
• Disney Wiki: Doug (for information on Disney's continuation)

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The article or pieces of the original article was at Doug. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Nickipedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

This show has a wiki of its own: Doug Wiki.