Background Characters

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nbriebrie

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When you watch an animated program, how much attention do you pay to these unsung heroes who fill in the scenes? I understand that background characters are more prevalent in some animated programs than others, but many background characters establish their own identity and some of them are even named in episodic credits. I thought a thread devoted to these characters could yield some interesting discussion, so I’d like to ask a few questions; two of which are based on opinions, but I have a general question as well.

Do you pay attention to background characters? If so, which background characters have you enjoyed and which animated program did they appear in?

(I understand that some of them don’t have names, or perhaps you aren’t aware of what a character’s name is. However, you’re more than welcome to describe the characters in question. For example, I’ve always liked the guy who screams "My leg!" in random scenes during SpongeBob SquarePants. I’m not sure if he has a name or has ever even appeared on camera, but that line always cracks me up and I’ve grown rather fond of the character.)

Also, has there ever been an episode of an animated program that took a background character and gave them a major role in a plot?

Edit: Apparently, the "My leg!" guy in SpongeBob SquarePants has a name. It just goes to show how background characters can actually have some depth.
 
Just thinking off hand, I'm hard pressed to think of strictly background characters that aren't there to fill a specific part of the underlying story structure. I recall them as either a running gag character that pops in to make the joke then disappears, or the support character that has only light contact with a main characters alter ego. These latter support characters are often a fun addition to the main story as they become involved to a point that it causes a sudden extra problem what would be a simple task for the hero. June's brother Dennis is the one that most often fits this role best in The World According to LARP. Having no idea what's actually going on, he dives in headlong and constantly gets the best of both June and over the top Maret.

In Code Lyoko, they can get away with this easier because of the Return to the Past feature. Though Emily was a favorite background even though all she ever became was a triangle love interest in Routine.
 
There was this one episode of Codename: Kids Next Door that took one of the characters that used to show up in the background and gave her a whole backstory. I forget which one, but the episode involved the Fountain of Youth.
 
I believe the character you're referring to is Liona, and the episode "Operation: Fountain." The only BG appearance I actually noticed was in "Operation: Pop." As far as a major supporting cast member is concerned, I believe she was purely a "one-shot."

Speaking of background characters, in the same series, there are constant references to a character called "Muffy Jenkins," whose face was never revealed (although in one episode they were pretty darn close to). Anyways, is there a term for faceless characters like these whose names are constantly being reffered to?
 
I can't let this thread go by without mention of the two most famous background/running gag characters from Avatar The Last Airbender: Crazy Foaming Guy and the Cabbage Vendor. They're the only two background characters I can think of who may have just as large a fanbase as the main characters.

-Kim
 
One of the more interesting examples of this is the character Noelle Sussman from As Told By Ginger, who was seen in glimpses (with no speaking parts) from time to time during the first and second seasons. It was not until episode 40, "And She Was Gone", that she was given a more prominent role as "the female Carl Foutley" and Carl's girlfriend. I'm sure there are other ones, but this might be the longest a character had to "wait" to become a major part of a series.
 
How about who says Yes from the simpsons would he count as a background character , also how about Mary Melody from tiny toons there have been many jokes and fics about her status as a background character
 
'Capt. Simian and the Space Monkeys' animated series was a treasure trove of Background Characters, mainly the Primate Avenger's holographic crew members referred to as the Holoboons (Baboon holograms), they were the typical cannon fodder in every dangerous situation, there was an episode that gave them prominence when they staged a mutiny against their 'organic' officers.
 
Courage the Cowardly Dog had a good number of background characters that were reused with varying degrees of importance as well as personality depending on the episode. For instance, the old bald man, the "Watch we're you goin', ya fool!" guy, the pig butcher, the female parachutist, the lady with a beehive hairdo, the news reporter, and the General and the Lieutenant, just to name a few.
 
The Yuppie Couple (Brandon and Margot) and Vinnie from Gargoyles come to mind. Background characters with bad luck, always running into the main characters and nothing ever turning out right for them. And now Margot is a key player in the Gargoyles Comic.
 
theres a girl in the background of fairy oddparents who looks like trixie tang's little sister she even had a fairy godparent in the cupid scavager hunt episode if I had a picture I'd upload it
 
In Futurama, there's a common appearance by a guy wearing a white robe with the number "9" plastered on it. He's referred to (rightly so) as the Number 9 guy.

Apparently there was meant to be some ranking system of the society in the future, similar to the whole bureaucracy idea, but they decided against it I believe.

But he's meant to be a big part of the last DTV movie to be released, if I recall correctly.
 
Invader ZIM had a good chunk of background characters that were named.

The ones that come to mind are the classmates:
Zita
Melvin
Old Guy (Or something like that)
That girl dressed in blue who looks like a nun of some kind
That kid who says "I'm gonna miss that dog..." in the episode Room with a Moose
And that blonde-haired girl. You know, the one who looks like she's the most popular kid in school. She calls ZIM a freak in Bestest Friend. Yeah, you knoooww.

There's also a bunch of staff cameos but that's a different story.

I don't pay as much attention to the BG characters as much as I happen to reconize them. But I really like Zita and that blonde-girl's design.
 
in Clone High, there some background characters who are clones of Julius Ceasar, Edison, Van Gogh, etc...

the other students of Wayside in Mrs. Jewls classroom, Stephen, Jenny, Sharie, the 3 Erics,.... are background characters.
 
This does not count, but it is somewhat similar to what you are talking about. In the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" cartoon show (the original "TMNT" cartoon series), there is an episode called: "Hot Rod Teenagers from Dimension X." There is a character, otherwise known as a rock soldier or a stone warrior. His body is gray and his helmet is blue. He is the second-in-command to General Traag (his body is reddish brown and his helmet is green). Unfortunately, this stone warrior was not given a name, which was somewhat weird, because he spoke once throughout the entire show, and it would be logical if he was named, considering they gave General Traag a name. However, the stone warrior did eventually have a name. In the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" comics, he was called Morph (or Morg, I do not know for sure), and in the instruction manual for the video game, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the Arcade Game" (Nintendo/arcade video game), he was called Lieutenant Granitor the Stone Warrior. In any event, he thankfully did have a name.

Looneytunes (Disneytoons)
 
Orite

South Park has a good chunk of "likeable background characters".

Tweek (Not including the time when he was the fourth boy), Craig, Clyde, Token, Bebe, Jimmy, Timmy, etc.

Most of the background classmate characters in South Park have been focused on at least at one point in time.

Tweek and Jimmy f-fuh-fo-f-fff-fooo' s-shh--sho'.
 
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