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Roger Rabbit
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Roger Rabbit is the deuteragonist in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the main character in the short films and comics spun off from it. He is the titular anthropomorphic rabbit of the film, a frantic over-anxious type who often stutters (even while he's screaming). He was voiced by Charles Fleischer.
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Development
Edit
Before Richard Williams came aboard on the project, early animation tests for Roger gave him a simple and stylized look of a skinny white bunny with a purple nose. In these test animations, Roger was portrayed by Paul Reubens.
When the film went into full production, Roger was re-designed in a fashion to take elements from all the major cartoon studios of the period, the philosophy behind the new characters in general being a combination of Disney's elaborate animation style, similar characterization to Warner Brothers characters and capable of performing Tex Avery inspired gags.
PersonalityEdit
Roger is hyperactive, friendly, talkative, and not very bright at times.
In the film, the voice of Roger is performed by Charles Fleischer, who was known for electing to wear an actual rabbit costume on the set to get into the role. One of his famous traits is his voice, "P-b-b-b-b-bleeeease!". He is a white clownish rabbit with a gap between his front teeth, a voice that resonates of Huntz Hall in "The Bowery Boys", a blue Porky Pig-like bowtie with yellow polka dots, a Droopy-like hair, a Bugs Bunny-like head with blue eyes, a pink nose and round-tipped ears, red Oswald-like pants with a green patch behind and Mickey Mouse-like gloves (yellow ones).
He loves his wife Jessica who always makes her laugh.
Roger doesn't take well to alcoholic beverages; it's shown twice in the film that when he has consumed one, he changes color rapidly, at least one of his eyes swells, his head spins and he mumbles incoherently at a fast pace, before stretching up into the air and whistling like a steam train at a loud enough tone to shatter glass, all the while spinning around. Afterwards, his mood swings violently.
AppearancesEdit
Who Framed Roger RabbitEdit
In the film version, he is re-envisioned as a 1940's character in animated cartoons and a resident of the fictional Los Angeles enclave Toontown. He is framed for a murder of Toontown keeper Marvin Acme and seeks out Eddie Valiant to help clear his name.
Mickey's 60th BirthdayEdit
Roger notably played a significant role in the 1988 NBC special Mickey's 60th Birthday. At the beginning of the special, during the taping of Mickey's birthday show, he is told to bring Mickey's cake to him, but in the process, he mistakes a stick of dynamite for a candle and puts it on the cake. Upon noticing his mistake, he attempts to snuff out the dynamite, but fails. Due to the resulting explosion, Mickey uses Yen Sid's magic to fix the place up and then shows off some more magic to his audience, only to disappear and have the sorcerer cast his spell on him.
At the end of the special, after the curse is lifted, Roger Rabbit finds Mickey right outside Disneyland, and is hailed as a hero for finding him.
The shortsEdit
Roger Rabbit's ToontownEdit
Roger also starred in a comic book series from April 1990 to September 1991 and a spin-off series called Roger Rabbit's Toontown, published from June to October 1991, which featured Roger in the first story and supporting characters like Jessica Rabbit (Roger's human voluptuous humanoid wife), Baby Herman (his co-star in Maroon Cartoons), Benny the Cab (Roger's taxicab friend), and The Weasels (Roger's enemies).
Live appearancesEdit
Disney ParksEdit
Added by JeremyCreekRoger is a popular character at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, both of which contain identical versions of the Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin attraction, which opened in 1994 in a new Toon Town section of the park, inspired by the Who Framed Roger Rabbit film and included shops, character houses, and rides. As part of the ride queue, passengers walk through the dark streets of Toon Town and see the shadows of Jessica and the Weasels walk by windows and hear their plot to kidnap her. On this entirely dark-light ride, you board Lenny the Cab, Benny’s cousin, and race through streets, back alleys, and buildings.
Roger made frequent appearances as a walk-around character at the Disney theme parks in the years that followed the release of the film. He appeared prominently in the Disney Sing-Along Songs video Disneyland Fun, in which he is first shown helping Mickey and friends get Disneyland ready for its guests that day and singing "Whistle While You Work" along with them. Later in the video, he and Chip 'n' Dale bring a group of kids on some of the park's thrill rides. Roger could also be seen on the riverboat at the end of Fantasmic! in the early years of its performances.
To date, Roger still appears at Tokyo Disneyland as a meetable character. However, he's hardly heard of at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland.
Disney on IceEdit
Roger made guest-star appearances in two of the Disney on Ice shows in the early 1990s. His first appearance in these was in the 10th Anniversary show in 1991. After Gyro Gearloose's musical time machine explodes and separates Mickey and friends, Scrooge McDuck and Chip 'n' Dale find Roger as a mummy emerging from a tomb in ancient Egypt. After doing an Egyptian dance, Roger joins Scrooge and the chipmunks on their quest to reunite the rest of the gang, finding Mickey and Minnie in the jungle from The Jungle Book and Donald and Daisy on a tropical island from The Little Mermaid. When the group returns to Duckburg, Roger notices Scrooge is still upset about having not found Huey, Dewey and Louie (who'd disappeared at the beginning of the show) and, feeling sorry for him, brings him to Eddie's office. Roger and Eddie try to cheer Scrooge up by telling him jokes, but it doesn't quite work until Jessica joins in the act.
Roger appeared again in the next Disney on Ice show, Double Feature... Live!, in which he hosts the second act of the show with his "Super-Duper-Never-a-Blooper" Video Variety machine. With it, he presents a pair of vignettes, one starring Chip 'n' Dale as the Lone Chipmunks, and another in which Darkwing Duck rescues a dancer named Dazzles (played by Daisy Duck).
LegacyEdit
Roger made his footprints and handprints with his signature phrase "P-p-p-p-lease" in front of the Chinese theatre at Disney's Hollywood Studios on its opening day along with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy.
Added by HalfshellRoger is also the inspiration for a popular dance move in the early 1990s, called "the Roger Rabbit" due to the floppy movements of the character.
Disney and Amblin Entertainment attempted to resurrect Roger for a sequel, one of the storylines being a prequel set in World War II that would also feature Roger's search for his parents, with his father being revealed to be Bugs Bunny. However, a preliminary budget was deemed too large and the film never got past the script stage. Several 3D CGI tests and a 3D CGI rendering of Roger were completed, however, despite the fact that no actual footage was actually shot or completed. However, Frank Marshall, the producer of the first film, told MTV in late 2007 that he would be open to any plans to bring the Roger sequel back in the works.
TriviaEdit
- The character first appeared in the book, Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf, which was adapted into the 1988 Academy-Award winning film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Mixing both live action and animation to create a believable "tooniverse", Disney studios set up an animation studio in Camden Town, London, whilst the live action was shot at Elstree film studios. Both the animation and live-action were then composited by ILM fx studios in LA. In the book, Roger is a sidekick in a popular comic strip called "Baby Herman", his murder is being investigated by a detective named Eddie Valiant and a slowly evaporating stunt doppelganger of himself that he created hours before being shot.
- In the film, Roger briefly mentions at one point that Thumper is his uncle.
- Roger was listed #35 at Empire Magazine's 50 Best Animated Characters. Stating his stroke of genius as Roger's heartbroken reaction to the news that his wife, Jessica, is cheating on him.
- Charles Fleischer performed Roger's lines on set, off camera, while wearing a full costume including rabbit ears, overalls and gloves.
GalleryEdit
- For more pictures and screenshots of Roger Rabbit, click here.
External linksEdit
| Who Framed Roger Rabbit |
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 Characters: Roger Rabbit | Jessica Rabbit | Eddie Valiant | Dolores | Judge Doom | Smart Ass | Greasy | Wheezy | Psycho | Stupid | Baby Herman | Benny the Cab | R.K. Maroon | Marvin Acme | Lt. Santino | Bongo the Gorilla | Toons Objects: The Dip | Acme Disappearing/Reappearing Ink | Marvin Acme's will Locations: Toontown | Cloverleaf Industries Songs: Why Don't You Do Right | The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down Disney Parks: Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin |
