The Angry Beavers
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| The Angry Beavers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Animated series |
| Running time | 22 minutes (11 minutes per segment) (approx. per episode) |
| Creator(s) | Mitch Schauer |
| Starring | Richard Steven Horvitz (voice) Nick Bakay (voice) |
| Country of origin | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| Original channel | Nickelodeon |
| Original run | April 19, 1997–November 11, 2001 |
| No. of episodes | 63 |
| IMDb profile | |
The Angry Beavers is a Nickelodeon American animated television series about Daggett and Norbert Beaver, two brothers who are beavers who have left their parents and home to become bachelors in the forest. Their many adventures spark them to release their ugly sides very often, drawing in the name Angry Beavers. The show premiered in 1997 after the 1997 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and was cancelled amid controversy in 2001 (with a handful of unaired episodes remaining). It was created by Mitch Schauer. The series has, so far, not yet come to DVD, despite its large fan base. The show continues re-run on NickToons Network and Nickelodeon as part of Nick Rewind.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
- Daggett Beaver: Dag is the younger twin brother of Norbert (by four minutes). He is very crazy, extremely hyper, and always hilarious. He says an assortment of strange phrases and likes calling people names. His trademark phrase is "That was nuts!" and is also known for adding 'eh' at the end of sentences (which Invader Zim did as well in the episode Door to Door, in homage to Daggett). He is generally considered the less intelligent of the two. He has dark brown fur and a red nose. Voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz.
- Norbert Beaver: Norb is Dag's laid back older twin brother (by four minutes). He uptakes many hobbies (including playing the French Horn in a Baroque chamber ensemble) and frequently (and intentionally) mispronounces words for humorous effect. He comes off as the smarter of the two and is more down-to-earth and sarcastic than his brother. His trademark phrase is "Biiiiig hug!" (often accompanied by him hugging Dag). He has yellowish-tan fur and a purple nose. Voiced by Nick Bakay.
- Stump: Stump is a tree stump whom Norb met and introduced to the other creatures of the forest, who often moves on his own off-screen. - Introduced in ep. Guess Who's Stumping to Dinner. In Brothers...To The End? he can actually be seen drinking the punch along with the others, marking the first time he actually moved to some extent on screen.
- Barry Bear: Daggett and Norbert's disco loving friend; obviously based on Barry White. He is a famous singer, whom Norb and Dag try to exploit. Whenever he sees a clown he flashbacks to his days as a circus bear and cowers, saying: "Oh, the baaaaad times!". He is voiced by actor John Garry, who provided the narration for the pilot episode of Invader Zim and also provided the voice of the host of "Mysterious Mysteries", a show-within-a-show seen on Invader Zim. - Introduced in ep. Enter The Daggett.
- Treeflower: The love of Norbert's life whom he met at a hippie concert. Once a hippie beaver, she successfully works in versatile jobs, e.g. as elevator-music composer (Tree of Hearts) and firefighter (A Little Dad'll Do You). She was voiced by Cynthia Mann - Introduced in ep. Bummer of Love.
(NOTE: Before Treeflower's official introduction she appears in Long in the Teath. She was also seen shortly in the background of the Good-bye-Bing-party in The Bing That Wouldn't Leave.) - Bing: An annoying lizard who hangs around Norb and Dag. Bing speaks extremely fast and often in circles. Victor Wilson provided Bing's hyperactive voice. - Introduced in ep. The Bing That Wouldn't Leave.
- Truckee: A trucker shrew who thinks only about trucks and shrews. Hates Daggett, and Daggett hates him. Briefly dated Treeflower, causing animosity between him and Norbert. - Introduced in ep. Tree of Hearts.
(NOTE: Before Truckee's official introduction there was a shrew in Enter the Daggett who looked, sounded and acted similar to Truckee. This might be Truckee or the character he is based on.) - Oxnard Montalvo: Norb and Dag's favorite B-movie actor. Norb and Dag often watch black and white horror movies (these are very seriously drawn, contrary to the regular style of the show). An obvious homage to 1950's horror movies. The name seems to be a parody of Ricardo Montalban, if not the character's look. His name is a homage to the California towns of Oxnard and Ventura, California. Most likely, the creators of this character were driving north along the US 101 and saw the exit signs for Oxnard and Montalvo, an area in Ventura. - Introduced in ep. Up All Night.
- Toluca Lake: Another B-movie actor who often accompanies Oxnard Montalvo as the damsel in distress. The name plays on the eponymous California city Toluca Lake. Also a reference to 1940's actress Veronica Lake. - Introduced in ep. Up All Night.
- El Grapadura: The beavers (Especially Daggett's) favorite vale tudo/lucha libre wrestler. His name is Spanish for "The Stapler". Daggett has an autographed copy of his board game, "El Grapadura and Ladders" (an obvious reference to Snakes and Ladders). - Introduced in ep. Kandid Kreatures.
- Scientist #1 and Pete: They are scientists, because they wear fancy white coats. They call the beavers "pointy weasels" and try to use them for very strange experiments. Scientist No.1 has a distinctive cleft chin and always wears sunglasses. He is just as arrogant as he is incapable. Since season 3 he has a name plate with a "1" on his coat. It is revealed in one episode that he never even went to college. Pete greatly resembles Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, and speaks only in an unintelligible mutter that Scientist No.1 apparently understands just fine. At one point, they wore green coats, making them environmentalists. - Introduced in ep. Stinky Toe.
- Bill Licking: Presenter of TV shows - and prototype of a touting salesman. He wears an impressive black wig. - Introduced in ep. Born to Be Beavers.
- Stacy and Chelsea: The twin younger sisters of Norbert and Daggett, their birth lead to their eviction from their family's home. Chelsea bears a resemblance to and acts much like Daggett in her hyperactivity and speech patterns, while Stacy apparently takes after Norbert in appearance and personality. They are much more familiar and united than their brothers. Both dress like stereotypical preteens. They are named after and voiced by creator Mitch Schauer's daughters. - Introduced in ep. If You In-sisters.
(NOTE: Before their official introduction they are shortly shown in Born To Be Beavers as newborns without their names or even their sexes identified, though the sound of a baby girl crying is heard.) - "Mum" and "Dad": The parents of Norb and Dag. The mother's name was never revealed, but the father's name was said to be "Leonard" in the episode If You In-Sisters. Mrs. Beaver has the same fur colour as Dag (although her color was the same as Norbs in Born to Be Beavers), but in her intelligence she is more similar to Norb. Mr. Beaver reflects these attributes vice-versa.
- Laverta Lutz: She's an overweight, red-neck woman and the "Lady of the Lanes". She first appeared in Alley-Oops as a repairwoman in a bowling alley before she was shot out through the alley's wiring. She has magic powers and usually tries to help out Daggett when he's in argument with Norb. She's notable for having a very loud and annoying cough. She only had three appearances.
[edit] Current status
The Angry Beavers was brought back to NickToons Network on June 20, 2005.
[edit] Controversy
The controversy involving Angry Beavers first started in 1998, when Alley Oops!, a story in the series' 24th episode (seen during their 2nd season), contained the following lines, Dag: "You stink!" Norb: "Oh, shut up, Dag!".
Apparently, someone complained about the phrase "shut up" in a Nick program. So the second time this episode was aired, the "Shut" in "Shut up." was bleeped out. This bleep generated more controversy surrounding the show, as some mistakenly thought that it had vulgar language in the dialog. However, between airings, Nickelodeon has changed Norberts' line to "Shush up, stupid!" It was the first time any Nicktoon had a line changed between airings.
The final straw was when the people working on the show came up with its' final episode, titled Bye Bye Beavers. The plot was Norbert is told that he's part of a TV series that has been cancelled, and has to convince Daggett that they're not real, only cartoon characters.
According to Micah Wright, a staffer who wrote some the episodes for the show, said that Nickelodeon hated this episode, as it ridiculed their practice of not making new episodes of their Nicktoons and, instead, making money on the constant barrage of repeats instead. This episode also disobeyed a rule Nickelodeon has with its' shows, if the show is ending, never point it out.
Bye Bye Beavers was never aired, and Nickelodeon cancelled the show soon after they watched the episode.
[edit] In-jokes
There were several in-jokes throughout The Angry Beavers entire run. One particular one involves Richard Steven Horvitz, the voice of Dag, being mentioned.
- Norb: [reading mail] Hey, Dag! Check it out! [reading letter] "Richard Horvitz had a little baby boy, April 11th! 'Jake Elliot Horvitz'.
- Dag: Really? that's something!
- Norb:Yeah, I think so.
- Dag: Who's Richard Horvitz?
- Norb: Eh... Nobody.
Another joke was using "spoot" in place of swear words, such as an exclamation ("Oh spoot!"), or a descriptor ("What a pile of spoot" or "You're a spoot-head"). Although this was used primarily by Daggett, it was also often used by Norbert.
Also, both beavers would often mispronounce common words in pseudo French or otherwise foreign pronunciation, such as calling a refrigerator a "re-FRIGE-er-A-twoah/re-FRIGE-er-IZE-or", mine as "MY-yun", me as "mee-ah", or speak as "spee-ack." Sometimes even saying beaver as bee-vwARE. As an augmentation to this, they would also elongate words, particularly each other's names, with superfluous syllables, such as "Norbie-orbie" and "Dag-a-lag-a-ding-dong." Sometimes Norbert would even replace a word in a common phrase with Daggett's name, e.g. "Quite right, pin-the-tail-on-the-Daggett!". On occasions, they would use actual foreign words, although mispronounce them, for example the French word "moi" pronounced phonetically "moy".
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Trivia
- The beavers' postal address is: Norbert & Daggett Beaver, RTE 4 BOX 413, Wayouttatown, Oregon (from episode Omega Beaver)
- A lot of the show's music is from or based off of the soundtrack for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
- In episode Beaver Fever the beavers created a disco/funk band, that was very popular until Dag casually said that they were "bigger than sliced bread" causing a very brief period where everyone hated them. This was a clear reference to The Beatles and their "Bigger than Jesus" controversy, where Lennon offhandedly remarked that they were more popular than Jesus. The beavers got over their problem when Dag explained what he meant was that they were literally larger than a slice of bread.
- The show's visual style is rather unique, and much humor is made of the fact that the main characters don't actually look much like beavers. They are often referred to by minor characters as weasels, ferrets, or "pointy birds".
- The character Barry, a large bear with a smooth, deep voice, may have been intended to reflect Barry White, a soul and disco singer.
- If you watch the credits carefully, various jokes are inserted into staff members names, usually in the center.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official Angry Beavers website
- The Angry Beavers at TV.com
- The Angry Beavers IMDb entry
- The Angry Beavers at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Sound clip from last episode that never aired-This is from Micah Wright's official website. These are the lines that slam Nick for "re-re-re-runs" of its Nicktoons as spoken by Daggett and Norbert. About 10-20 seconds of dialogue that basically ended the show early.
