Supervising Animator / Contributor
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 6:32 AM
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Best Mothers in Animation
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Since Mother's Day is this month (May 11th), I figured I'd start a discussion about animated mothers. This thread is for discussing the best animated moms (a worst thread may follow later on). Some of my personal picks:
Marge Simpson (The Simpsons)- Anyone who can put up with Homer on a regular basis is deserving of some props.
Lois Griffin (Family Guy)- See above and substitute Homer with Peter.
Helen Parr, aka Elastigirl (The Incredibles)- A devoted wife to Bob, aka Mr. Incredible, a loving mother to Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack and a famous super heroine. Quite a combination.
Sarah Dubois (The Boondocks)- A successful lawyer who is very broad minded (after all, she married a black man), and also, Sarah is pretty much the only positive female character on The Boondocks. A pity she's appeared in so few episodes.
Maria Rivera (El Tigre)- She retired from her career as a famous singer so that she could spend more time with her son Manny. Now that's dedication!
Lila Test (Johnny Test)- While Lila is indeed, as the shows' opening theme song describes her, "a super busy mom", she's not so busy that she can't spend some time with her husband and kids, unlike some mothers that I won't mention (I'm looking at you, Charlotte Pickles!).
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I love humanity, it's people that I have issues with.
(This post was edited by SpaceDemon on May 1, 2008, 7:08 AM)
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Apprentice
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 7:12 AM
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Cab we also add non-animated mothers?
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Supervising Animator / Contributor
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 7:18 AM
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I'd rather you didn't, seeing as how this is the Big CARTOON Forum and all.
There's a Non-Animated Movies and TV Fourm here if you want to discuss non-animated characters.
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I love humanity, it's people that I have issues with.
(This post was edited by SpaceDemon on May 1, 2008, 7:21 AM)
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Directing Animator / Contributor
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 9:35 AM
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I nominate Mrs. Dr. Possible (Kim Possible), Kim's mom. She's fair of face, full of grace, she's OK with her daughter fighting supervillains (no secret identities here), she doesn't lose her cool when her twin sons are blowing things up around the house, and she's pulling in brain surgeon money. What's not to like?
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Fanboyism (noun): The belief that Batman would win every fight he could ever be put in.
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Key Animator
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 10:00 AM
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Can't think of any except for Cartman's mom...but she's not much of a good mother.
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Thank God for kids who love obscure things-Lee Hazelwood (1929-2007)
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Directing Animator / Contributor
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 11:07 AM
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Mrs. Brisby- "The Secret of NIMH"...trying to save her family from various threats.
Charlotte the spider- "Charlotte's Web"...helping Wilbur the Pig survive while laying her eggs. Entrusting Wilbur with her egg sack before she dies.
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"The Stones...I love The Stones...I can't believe they're still doing it all these years...I watch them whenever I can...Fred and Barney."- Steven Wright
(This post was edited by artytoons on May 1, 2008, 11:08 AM)
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Research Guru / Moderator
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 1:22 PM
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Mama/Ma Bear (voiced by Bea Benaderet) in Warner Bros.' Three Bears cartoons immediately comes to mind.
She's infinitely patient, not only with the ginormous Junyer Bear (Stan Freberg), but with hubby Henry Bear (Billy Bletcher)... who, when you come right down to it, is an even bigger baby than Junyer!
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"Oh boy." -- Allan Sherman
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Directing Animator / Contributor
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 3:26 PM
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Mrs. Jumbo, Dumbo's mom. No explanation necessary. 
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Fanboyism (noun): The belief that Batman would win every fight he could ever be put in.
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Directing Animator / Contributor
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 4:38 PM
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Bambi's mother. Telling her son to run hard...and not look back.
Hardly a dry eye in the theatre.
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"The Stones...I love The Stones...I can't believe they're still doing it all these years...I watch them whenever I can...Fred and Barney."- Steven Wright
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Supervising Animator
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 7:53 PM
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Perdita, The mother of the 101 dalmatians.
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Key Animator
Posted:
May 1, 2008, 8:39 PM
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Simba's mom. She protected Scar when Simba needed it.
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Thank God for kids who love obscure things-Lee Hazelwood (1929-2007)
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Supervising Animator
Posted:
May 2, 2008, 8:45 AM
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Coral-the short lived mother of Nemo from Finding Nemo. The first thing that came into her mind when the shark came was to protect her eggs. Sadly,only one survived-but if she hadn't have made that stand-no even that one would have made it.
Bunny Bravo-Johnny Bravo's mamma-Extremely loving and tolerant of her dim-witted adult son-not to mention a single mother. When Johnny needs her the most she never fails to come to his aid. Plus-she's really awesome at performing all kinds of neat stunts!
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Bugs Bunny cartoons are not supposed to feature a lisping Viking rabbit hunter enthusiastically professing his operatic love for a bunny in drag.
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Supervising Animator
Posted:
May 2, 2008, 10:07 PM
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There is also Madame Souza from Les Triplettes de Belleville. Although she was the boy's grandmother, she was a mother to him. She raised him and went out of her way to help him find his interest. And when he got kidnapped, she followed and rescued him.
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Inbetweener
Posted:
May 3, 2008, 5:32 AM
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I would add the following:
Wilma Flintstone
Jane Jetson
Dumbo's mother
Bambi's mother
Alice Mitchell (Dennis' mother)
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Lead Animator / Contributor
Posted:
May 3, 2008, 4:19 PM
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My favorite toon mom has to be the Mama Duck in Booby Hatched [WB, 1944, dir. Frank Tashlin], who goes through extraordinary lengths to keep her clutch of eggs warm in the dead of winter. When one of her brood wanders off only partly-hatched, she's a relentless icon of maternal instinct unleashed. Go, Mom, go!
http://www.bcdb.com/...4-Booby_Hatched.html
Robespierre! 
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Supervising Animator
Posted:
May 3, 2008, 4:58 PM
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My favorite toon mom has to be the Mama Duck in Booby Hatched [WB, 1944, dir. Frank Tashlin], who goes through extraordinary lengths to keep her clutch of eggs warm in the dead of winter. When one of her brood wanders off only partly-hatched, she's a relentless icon of maternal instinct unleashed. Go, Mom, go! http://www.bcdb.com/...4-Booby_Hatched.html Robespierre!
I agree-she was an amazing mom!
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Bugs Bunny cartoons are not supposed to feature a lisping Viking rabbit hunter enthusiastically professing his operatic love for a bunny in drag.
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Animator / Contributor
Posted:
May 6, 2008, 1:31 AM
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Allow me to nominate two more mothers:
1) The mother fox seen at the beginning of Disney's The Fox and the Hound. After a long flight through forest and fen, this desperate mother fox finds herself trapped between baying hounds and armed hunters. There is no hope that she will survive this devil's game. Caching her sole surviving kit in tall grass near a fencepost, she bestows a lifetime's worth of motherly affection in a scant three seconds, then resumes her flight alone. While running, she make the "mistake" of keeping her tail high; this is deliberate, to get the hounds' noses off the scent tail and give them a visible quarry. There follow two blasts from a shotgun, presumably a sloppy first shot followed by a fatal second shot. This unnamed mother fox sacrificed everything to spare her kit from certain doom.
2) The young human mother seen at the clifftop camp in Blue Sky's Ice Age. She has fled with her infant son from an attacking pack of sabretooth tigers. One tiger, called Diego, has trapped her at the top of a high waterfall. Fate has given her a choice: mauling by a tiger, or drowning in a lynn. She clutches her child tightly and makes the desperate leap into the falls. Later, Sid the sloth and Manfred the mammoth encounter this mother downriver, where she struggles with her last breaths to place her child on dry land. She, too, makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her child.
Here I go, getting all misty again; gotta learn to stop being such a softie.
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