Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Re: Jab's Builds! (Ariel! Ursula! Triton! Beauty and the Beast! Belle!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Interesting things in the commentary:
* The movie basically had the "Dream Team" of Disney people working on it from both ends- both the writers and animators would all go on to helm their own products. Most movies end up being made around the same time, and so the teams would get split- this one benefitted from having EVERYBODY.
* The film was completed in a mere two years, almost twice as fast as the usual Disney film.
* Most of the actors were brought from Broadway.
* Most of Beast's incarnations were of a man with an animal's head. Men with Baboon heads were common. The final designer then just started messing around (giving Insectoid & Fish Beasts a lot) until hitting on what is pretty close to what we ended up getting.
* Be Our Guest was originally sung to Maurice- they moved it because they needed to get the Beauty & Beast meeting sooner.
* Animators were told to "hit LeFou" as many times as possible.
* James Baxter studied ballet dancers to portray Belle's movements- they wanted her to look graceful with toes always pointed a certain way. You can actually see the Face Characters in the parks do this- if you watch carefully, you'll see Belles ALWAYS pose with their feet pointing off to the side, especially in the peasant dress.
* The Bearskin Rug in the tavern shifts from being away from Gaston's chair to directly under it at one point, as they gleefully point out. Then it DISAPPEARS.
* The argument about Belle not coming to dinner was storyboarded with The Honeymooners in mind. Beast's "Jackie Gleason Moment" is when he points with that hilarious "You SEE?" look.
* Various difficulties- what does a MAGIC MIRROR sound like, exactly? And animating fire is a bitch (I've heard this on every cartoon commentary ever), but a character who's a WALKING CANDLE? Yikes.
* Perverted minds think alike: "This is also the first time we see her with her hair down..." "... yes." "She's not bad looking..." "... that Belle." and then they all crack up. Hee.
* Tony Jay's audition as the asylum director Monsieur Dark was so good, they just used it for the movie and cut him a check.
* "Promises you don't intend to KEEP" was an ad-lib by David Ogden Stiers that caused the whole crew to hit the floor laughing.
* Nice bits about Howard Ashman listening in on the studio recordings during his final days, via phone. AIDS had robbed him of most of his voice, but he could still say "do it like STREISAND" to Paige O'Hara on the "a bit ALARMING" part of Something There.
* Angela Lansbury originally didn't want to sing Beauty and the Beast because she got the wrong "example" demo (the poppy version Celine Dion got). Once she found out it was a more "spoken" version, she agreed to do it. She nailed it in one take.
* There was gonna be a chime-talking Music Box character who was supposed to be the "Cute Kid Character", but they dumped it when the kid voicing Chip proved to be so good and got his part expanded. The animators conveniently skipped the part where Chip would have to be shovelling coal and igniting the fire in the Wood-Chopping Machine (which was actually created BEFORE they realized they needed a way to get Belle & Maurice out of the basement).
* Glen Keane shows up a lot in the Disney filmography, I've noticed. The man is an EXCELLENT animator- check out this biography of characters he's worked on: Bernard & Penny (Rescuers), Professor Ratigan, Ariel, Marahute the Eagle, The Beast, Aladdin & Rapunzel. This is in addition to being the animator of the Ballroom Dance Sequence in Beauty and the Beast.

-The Servants were excellent characters as well, especially considering how bad and annoying they COULD have been. I mean, this type of Comic Relief can be totally awful and distracting (just check out when Disney screws it up), but it turns out that all you have to do is get brilliant voice actors with actual motivation and real characterization. None are particularly tough, but they're rather expensive because of the nature of Animated Constructs.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Lumiere

Post by Jabroniville »

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Image

LUMIERE
Voiced by:
Jerry Orbach
Role: Advisor, Comic Relief, The Fun One
PL 2 (76), PL 3 (76) Defenses
STRENGTH
-4 STAMINA -- AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+2)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Singing & Dancing) 10 (+13)
Expertise (Maitre 'd) 10 (+12)
Insight 4 (+6)
Perception 2 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Close Attack 2

Powers:
"Small Size" Shrinking 8 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [17]
(-2 Strength & Speed, +4 Defenses, +8 Stealth, -4 Intimidation)
"Construct" Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]

"Super-Blast" Damage 4 (Flaws: Distracting, Unreliable- 5 Uses) (1) -- [2]
AE: "Fire" Damage 1 (1)

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (-4 Damage, DC 11)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +0, Fortitude --, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (The Beast)- The Servants still work for their master, however tempermental he can be. Despite his near-constant anger, they are loyal and appear to care for him.
Prejudice (Household Objects)- The Servants have all been transformed into tiny objects, and long to be "Human Again".
Relationship (Fifi)

Total: Abilities: 0 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 49 / Defenses: 7 (76)

-Lumiere bickers with Cogsworth incessantly (neither appears to be in charge of the other), but is the most charming character in the household, and the best at giving advice to his master. He plays a very important role in the picture, as he's the most outgoing and "Hey, let's have FUN!" guy in the household, contrasting Cogsworth's dutiful nature, and Mrs. Potts' kindliness. You need SOMEBODY to be the fun one. His song, Be Our Guest, is one of Disney's biggest, showiest show-stoppers, and is nearly ALWAYS used to advertise the picture- it's mind-blowing that Jerry Orbach managed to do that number while using an accent other than his own.

About the Performer: This one always stunned me- the guy from Law & Order was an all-star Broadway performer, who could sing like crazy? But yeah, Orbach was a bigger name in theatre than he ever was on television, despite playing Briscoe for years- he's started more iconic roles there than almost anybody (the original Billy Flynn in Chicago, among others), and when he died, they dimmed the lights all the way across Broadway- the highest honour in American Theatre.
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Arkrite
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Ariel! Ursula! Triton! Beauty and the Beast! Belle!)

Post by Arkrite »

Wait... the same guy that did Lenny Brisco did Lumiere?
Well, my mind is blown.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Cogsworth

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

COGSWORTH
Voiced by:
David Ogden Stiers
Role: Advisor, The Cynical One, Comic Relief
PL 2 (67), PL 3 (67) Defenses
STRENGTH
-4 STAMINA -- AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+2)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Majordomo) 10 (+12)
Insight 4 (+6)
Perception 2 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Close Attack 2

Powers:
"Small Size" Shrinking 8 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [17]
(-2 Strength & Speed, +4 Defenses, +8 Stealth, -4 Intimidation)
"Construct" Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (-4 Damage, DC 11)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +0, Fortitude --, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (The Beast)- The Servants still work for their master, however tempermental he can be. Despite his near-constant anger, they are loyal and appear to care for him.
Prejudice (Household Objects)- The Servants have all been transformed into tiny objects, and long to be "Human Again".

Total: Abilities: -2 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 47 / Defenses: 7 (67)

-Cogsworth is that omnipresent character in comedy works- the fussy straight-man whose job it is to get upset easily, complain frequently, and take some good ol' slapstick comedy. This of course makes him one of the funnier characters, and he works perfectly off of Lumiere, as the two bicker back and forth. As "majordomo", he is sort of in charge of all the other Servants, and he knows nothing of architecture (his explanation to Belle is mere technobabble that makes no sense to real architechts- "minimalist Roccoco" is an oxymoron). His role helps the movie from getting a little too sappy or sentimental.

About the Performer: Much to his chagrin, David Ogden Stiers is far more well known for playing Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H than any of his other work. This has led to some backlash from him, as he was annoyed that his career would be so overshadowed. But really... he appeared on the most-watched show on television for YEARS, having expertly replaced the Frank Burns character with a smarter stick-in-the-mud. He was really responsible for some of the best moments on that show's second half- he was adversarial to the main characters, but they all RESPECTED each other. There's great bits where Hawkeye's worried about his father's medical condition, and Charles responds in a very human way, being nicer to his foe, and even getting envious about the relationship Hawk enjoys with the man ("I have a FATHER- you have a DAD"). He also got Colonel Flagg booted from the army (and the show), outsmarting him in a big way.

-Stiers appeared in various things between M*A*S*H and his death in 2018, but is as close to a "company player" for Disney as anyone in the 1990s, in which he played Cogsworth, Gov. Ratcliffe & Wiggins (Pocahontas), the Archdeacon (Hunchback), Mr. Harcourt (Atlantis) and Jumba (Lilo & Stitch). He got the job as a villain in Pocahontas as a reward for playing Cogsworth so well- his most famous line, "Flowers... chocolates... promises you don't intend to KEEP" was an ad-lib that absolutely brought the house down in the acting booth.
RUSCHE
Posts: 373
Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2016 3:50 pm

Re: Cogsworth

Post by RUSCHE »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Sep 15, 2018 11:28 pm Image
Image

COGSWORTH
Voiced by:
David Ogden Stiers
Role: Advisor, The Cynical One, Comic Relief
PL 2 (67), PL 3 (67) Defenses
STRENGTH
-4 STAMINA -- AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+2)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Majordomo) 10 (+12)
Insight 4 (+6)
Perception 2 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Close Attack 2

Powers:
"Small Size" Shrinking 8 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [17]
(-2 Strength & Speed, +4 Defenses, +8 Stealth, -4 Intimidation)
"Construct" Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (-4 Damage, DC 11)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +0, Fortitude --, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (The Beast)- The Servants still work for their master, however tempermental he can be. Despite his near-constant anger, they are loyal and appear to care for him.
Prejudice (Household Objects)- The Servants have all been transformed into tiny objects, and long to be "Human Again".

Total: Abilities: -2 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 47 / Defenses: 7 (67)

-Cogsworth is that omnipresent character in comedy works- the fussy straight-man whose job it is to get upset easily, complain frequently, and take some good ol' slapstick comedy. This of course makes him one of the funnier characters, and he works perfectly off of Lumiere, as the two bicker back and forth. As "majordomo", he is sort of in charge of all the other Servants, and he knows nothing of architecture (his explanation to Belle is mere technobabble that makes no sense to real architechts- "minimalist Roccoco" is an oxymoron). His role helps the movie from getting a little too sappy or sentimental.

About the Performer: Much to his chagrin, David Ogden Stiers is far more well known for playing Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H than any of his other work. This has led to some backlash from him, as he was annoyed that his career would be so overshadowed. But really... he appeared on the most-watched show on television for YEARS, having expertly replaced the Frank Burns character with a smarter stick-in-the-mud. He was really responsible for some of the best moments on that show's second half- he was adversarial to the main characters, but they all RESPECTED each other. There's great bits where Hawkeye's worried about his father's medical condition, and Charles responds in a very human way, being nicer to his foe, and even getting envious about the relationship Hawk enjoys with the man ("I have a FATHER- you have a DAD"). He also got Colonel Flagg booted from the army (and the show), outsmarting him in a big way.

-Stiers appeared in various things between M*A*S*H and his death in 2018, but is as close to a "company player" for Disney as anyone in the 1990s, in which he played Cogsworth, Gov. Ratcliffe & Wiggins (Pocahontas), the Archdeacon (Hunchback), Mr. Harcourt (Atlantis) and Jumba (Lilo & Stitch). He got the job as a villain in Pocahontas as a reward for playing Cogsworth so well- his most famous line, "Flowers... chocolates... promises you don't intend to KEEP" was an ad-lib that absolutely brought the house down in the acting booth.
My favorite two moments from Chalres Winchester moments were his passion for teach a soldier he can still play the piano using left handed techniques and his speech that he(Charles) can play the notes but could never make others FEEL the music. The other is when he took the soldier who had a speech impediment and made him feel that he was not stupid, only at the end you her a recording of a message from his beloved sister and her stuttering.
Great moments of character building. David's love for music and art shown through his work on M*A*S*H*.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Mrs. Potts

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

MRS. POTTS
Voiced by:
Angela Lansbury
Role: Advisor, The Nice One
PL 2 (73), PL 3 (73) Defenses
STRENGTH
-4 STAMINA -- AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+2)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Singing & Dancing) 10 (+13)
Expertise (Head of the Kitchen) 8 (+10)
Insight 4 (+6)
Perception 2 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Close Attack 2

Powers:
"Small Size" Shrinking 8 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [17]
(-2 Strength & Speed, +4 Defenses, +8 Stealth, -4 Intimidation)
"Construct" Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30]

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (-4 Damage, DC 11)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +0, Fortitude --, Will +5

Complications:
Responsibility (The Beast)- The Servants still work for their master, however tempermental he can be. Despite his near-constant anger, they are loyal and appear to care for him.
Prejudice (Household Objects)- The Servants have all been transformed into tiny objects, and long to be "Human Again".

Total: Abilities: 0 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 47 / Defenses: 7 (73)

-Mrs. Potts was an odd choice on the surface- why have THREE servants, if two of them were set ot play off of each other? But it really worked well- she was the KINDLY one- the one who tried to cheer up poor sobbing Belle. She is the one most likely to tell The Beast to settle down, and is the first one to comfort Maurice or Belle in their darkest moments. You actually don't see characters like this anymore- usually the mentor figures now have to be funny, angry or otherwise silly- Mrs. Potts is really none of these things- she's just a friendly old lady. The character was notoriously hard to animate, thanks to the fact that she's nothing but a hopping head.

About the Performer: Mrs. Potts was placed with a calm, serene grace by Angela Lansbury, which turned out to be perfect- contrasting Lumiere's over-the-top exuberance and Cogsworth's fussinses. Lansbury is positively ancient, and a true icon of stage and screen. She's most famous to Americans these days for performing in Murder, She Wrote for twelve years, which made her more of an icon for old ladies than anything. But she's OLD-SCHOOL Hollywood, having appeared in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Gaslight, and other features. She was notable for playing many "Old Lady" roles, often acting as the mother of actors only a few years her junior- she just kind of had that sort of face- one of her biggest roles was as Auntie Mame on Broadway, which won her a Tony (her first of three- a rare honor). As Mrs. Potts, she nails one of the film's signature songs- the very low-key, romantic Beauty and the Beast, which really stands out amongst Disney's classics- most of which use way more instruments, background singers and more. This is JUST Angela, who nailed the song in one take.
MacynSnow
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Ariel! Ursula! Triton! Beauty and the Beast! Belle!)

Post by MacynSnow »

Dame Angela Lansbury also starred in Nanny McFhee, Bednobs&Broomsticks, The Manchurian Canidate, Death on The Nile, Gypsy, The King and I, National Velvet(alongside lifelong Friend Elizabeth Taylor), Till The Clouds Roll By, The Three Musketeers, Samson and Delilah and Mutiny.
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What? So i happen to like English Actresses in their prime....>_>
greycrusader
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 11:25 pm
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Re: Jab's Builds! (Ariel! Ursula! Triton! Beauty and the Beast! Belle!)

Post by greycrusader »

M*A*S*H was sort of weird in following the opposite series arc of most comedies/comedic-dramas, as the show got far LESS broad and farcical as it went on; the replacement characters (B.J., Col. Potter, Winchester) ALL being more fully-realized and believable than their predecessors (in fact, Larry Linville left precisely because he felt the character of Frank Burns had descended into simple-minded buffoonery). In addition, "Hot Lips" and Klinger both matured and grew beyond their initial one-joke status.

Oddly, David Ogden Stiers and Alan Alda were the ONLY actors whose careers seemed to have any real longevity past M*A*S*H, despite the monster hit status and critical acclaim of the show.

All my best.
FuzzyBoots
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Ariel! Ursula! Triton! Beauty and the Beast! Belle!)

Post by FuzzyBoots »

Eric Burns had a term for that, "Cerebus Syndrome", named after the popular comic book which took a joke about an aardvark Conan parody, and turned it into a serious work about religion, politics, and abuse of power. He used "First and Ten" for works that tried that route and failed.
Jabroniville
Posts: 24693
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

The Beast

Post by Jabroniville »

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"a buffalo head because there is a sadness to the way they look, the crest of a gorilla because their brows express so much emotion, the muzzle of a boar, the mane of a lion so he is soft if Belle hugs him, twisted horns, cow ears to make him seem friendlier, and human eyes since there is a prince trapped inside of Beast and his eyes are the window to his soul.
-Glen Keane, the Lead Animator of The Beast, explaining why some people are masters, and others are merely dabblers.


THE BEAST
Played by:
Robby Benson
Role: The Beast (to Belle's Beauty), Bad Boy-Turned-Good
PL 9 (107)
STRENGTH
6 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 7 (+13)
Expertise (Survival) 7 (+7)
Intimidation 11 (+13)
Perception 5 (+5)
Stealth 2 (+6)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Chokehold, Daze (Intimidation), Extraordinary Effort, Fascination (Intimidation), Fast Grab, Fearless, Improved Critical (Claws & Teeth), Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Move-By Action, Startle, Tracking

Powers:
"Beastly Size & Strength"
Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]
Movement 1 (Wall-Crawling) [2]
"Claws & Teeth" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Split) [3]
Senses 3 (Acute & Extended Scent, Low-Light Vision) [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+6 Damage, DC 21)
Claws & Teeth +10 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +6, Fortitude +8, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (The Enchantress' Curse)- After being cruel to an Enchantress in disguise, the Prince was turned into a horrible Beast, and told to love and be loved by a girl before the sun sets on his twenty-first birthday. This leads him to agree to jailing a girl in his castle, and his attempts to woo her- but who could ever love a beast?
Prejudice (A Beast)- The Beast's form is monstrous in scale and visage, leaving normal people frightened at the sight of him. People will believe any tale told about him, and treat him like a monster.
Responsibility (A Beast)- Not just physically, but mentally- his mind has slowly been going, and once his transformation becomes permanent, he will lose his humanity utterly. Over the years, he has even forgotten how to read.
Responsibility (Temper)- The Beast is quickly prone to anger, and frequently begins screaming the second his orders are questioned. By the end, his anger is a near-constant trait, hollering and frightening even his closest servants. His anger is really a mask for his despair, as he's long since given up his search for the perfect girl.
Relationship (Belle)- The Beast finds her beautiful immediately, but hates her argumentative nature. But he finds himself unable to let her die at the wolves' fangs, and risks his life to save hers. After another childish argument, the two come to terms and he finds himself falling in love with her. But love can be a frightening, unexpected emotion- his anger and frightening bearing give way to a nervous, unsure individual who tries to be kind and charming, but is clumsy about it.
Secret (The West Wing)- The western portion of his castle contains The Enchanted Rose, whose last petal will signify the permanence of his Beastly form. It also contains the carcasses of the animals he's hunted and consumed (check some of those silhouettes!). As such, he will not allow others to trespass there- Belle's doing so leads him to the closest he came to striking her, and him kicking her out of his castle, thus dooming himself.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 10 / Defenses: 12 (107)

Why The Beast Had To Work:
-You know how you can tell this is a brilliant movie? In the first twenty minutes, a guy is revealed as a general douchebag, a frightening monster, IMPRISONS AN INNOCENT PERSON, and forces a girl to be his prisoner for the rest of her life. AND THIS IS THE MOVIE'S HERO. And here's the best part... PEOPLE ACCEPT IT! Only a movie with INCREDIBLY good writing and acting (Robby Benson, as they say, was never at the top of the casting list, but he brought a warmth to Beast's voice that "showed the Prince beneath the fur") could ever have made such a Character Arc so believable in such little time. The Beast is an incredible achievement in design as well- not only does he look incredibly bad-ass (a mixture of lion, buffalo, wolf, gorilla, and man), but he goes through the full range of emotions, and is believable in every single one, all through acting and without changing the model. I can't understate the importance of nailing this character- if you F up the BEAST, you F up have the movie.

A Beast of Many Shades:
-When we first meet him, he's fierce and animalistic, creating a terrifying spectacle. Almost right away, we get the merest hint of his human nature, as he's shocked by Belle's sacrifice for her father's well-being ("You would... DO that?"). But it's a long time in coming- he shifts to being a thoughtlessly cruel and demanding jailer, hilariously attempting to be polite and failing utterly- "You will join me for dinner *literally twists his cape out of sheer rage* ... THAT'S NOT A REQUEST!!" It's like he WANTS to be a nice guy, but he's just SO BAD AT IT because he's spent years being bitter and jaded, and his mind is slowly going as his final form will soon be locked. The guys on the DVD commentary track imply that he may have fresh kills hidden in the West Wing.

-AND THE PATHOS. Though he looks like an inconsiderate monster, he has all these little moments where his anger breaks and reveals a soul-shattering depression: he KNOWS he's a monster, and he KNOWS he'll never get a girl this beautiful, so all he can do is lash out and roar every time he hits a roadblock. In that penultimate scene when he releases Belle from her jail and lets her free out of love, you see him break completely, roaring in sheer sorrow, and giving up entirely. This once-monstrous figure goes from a clumsy, loutish brute to a nervous kid, then a regal, kind friend, and is now a pathetic, suicidal wreck. Same design- but with simple changes to clothing and standing (he's now bipedal), they get a completely new character. Part of it's the eyes- they spent as much time designing his eyes as the rest of his body, knowing that they'd hold the key to recognizing his human face with that of The Beast's.

-They really, really pull of this mixture of grandeur and goofiness with him- he apes Jackie Gleason of all people in the argument outside Belle's room, and later on we see him bathed and pampered and made to look ridiculous... but there's all these scenes where he just looks so EPIC- when Belle spots him in the West Wing and he snorts out mist all animal-like, or when he leads her through the castle, forbidding her from entering the West Wing. And though he's not an abusive jailer, the moment when he LOSES HIS SHIT because she nearly touches the rose makes him look absolutely horrifying. And then he wipes out the Mandatory Disney Movie Auto-Aggro Wolves and you see that he's legitimately bad-ass at the same time.

The Beast- Actually Kind of a Nice Guy:
-His petulant argument with Belle is hilarious because you see him SLLLOOOOWLY changing, but all he can do is get whiny instead of enraged. But around here, he actually becomes kind and gentle... but again, sucks at it. His regal, forceful persona gives way to a shy, nervous little boy who stumbles through the opening blocks of a relationship and doesn't know how to handle it. He gets childishly-happy when Belle, in rapturous splendor with that gold dress, puts her head on his chest during their dance, and finally acts like a regal leader should. And I think this last little bit is what makes him so popular with women, and why he's forgiven for so much of his earlier behavior- he comes off more like a nervous little boy- his anger is often more childish than furious (but is furious when it needs to be). That's kind of an endearing thing for women- it reminds me of Doris Day's description of Clark Gable: "He was as masculine as any man I've ever known, and as much a little boy as a grown man could be – it was this combination that had such a devastating effect on women." In short- he's strong enough to shred anyone in a fight, brutally-powerful and has a deep, booming voice... but he's deep down an exciteable kid who just lacks control of his emotions.

-And Belle, of course, grounds him. She can be frightened of him, but when he acts shitty, she basically throws that attitude straight back in his face, all "Oh no- YOU settle down!" And of course, he finds this maddening, because he lives in a castle where everyone calls him "Master" and fears pissing him off. Belle's strength, courage and conviction all shame him, and he finally responds.

Beastly Stats:
-The Beast is one of the strongest of all Disney heroes, being a massive creature that's a merging of lion, bull, wolf and man. This gives him tremendous strength and speed, as well as some animalistic senses (justifying his ability to hunt) and raw fighting ability that easily makes him Gaston's superior in hand-to-hand combat, and allows him to fight off an entire pack of Wolves (PL 4 to 5), only collapsing at the fight's end.

About the Performer: Robby Benson is, sadly, an actor who really never took off. I've barely heard of ANYTHING in his body of work, most of which consists of bit parts or "Additional Voices"- I think his biggest role to nerds is as Marsh on EXO-Squad. But this movie really couldn't work without him- his voice has the gravelly quality required of a monster, but the deep and booming quality of a man... but lacking harshness and cruelty. He authentically comes off as kind in any scene where he's not trying to be scary, which can't really be understated as a requirement for this kind of role.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Sep 16, 2018 3:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Davies
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Beauty and the Beast! Belle! The Beast!)

Post by Davies »

Annoyingly, they've never given him a real name, even in post-film stories like the Descendants. Head canon? Jean, after Cocteau. Or possibly Robert, after Mr. Benson.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Beauty and the Beast! Belle! The Beast!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Davies wrote: Sun Sep 16, 2018 3:18 am Annoyingly, they've never given him a real name, even in post-film stories like the Descendants. Head canon? Jean, after Cocteau. Or possibly Robert, after Mr. Benson.
Adam seems to be accepted among Disneyphiles, I believe on the suggestion of the creators.

Here’s an article listing the writer’s fave Renaissance films. It’s pretty close to mine, actually: http://time.com/3590521/disney-renaissance/
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Ariel! Ursula! Triton! Beauty and the Beast! Belle!)

Post by Jabroniville »

greycrusader wrote: Sun Sep 16, 2018 2:49 am M*A*S*H was sort of weird in following the opposite series arc of most comedies/comedic-dramas, as the show got far LESS broad and farcical as it went on; the replacement characters (B.J., Col. Potter, Winchester) ALL being more fully-realized and believable than their predecessors (in fact, Larry Linville left precisely because he felt the character of Frank Burns had descended into simple-minded buffoonery). In addition, "Hot Lips" and Klinger both matured and grew beyond their initial one-joke status.

Oddly, David Ogden Stiers and Alan Alda were the ONLY actors whose careers seemed to have any real longevity past M*A*S*H, despite the monster hit status and critical acclaim of the show.

All my best.
It's kind of odd to watch the show and see that. Most of the actors who left the show early had infamously poor careers- some admit they'd have stuck around if they'd known it'd have gone on for another eight years!

I think Klinger & Radar's actors ran into the "typecast" problem- neither was leading man material. Mulcahey was a bit part. And Margaret was... well, as my old roommate said, "that was the last time a woman like THAT would be the Hot Chick of a show"- she was believable as "Army Hot", but she had no chance of getting a big role later on.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Beauty and the Beast! Belle! The Beast!)

Post by Jabroniville »

An interesting look at the "Disney Heroes" line of toys: http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_111405b.htm

While Disney Princesses raked in ALL OF THE MONEY (taking over the doll market and making billions of dollars each year), the "Disney Heroes" failed. Sticking Aladdin, Hercules and Peter Pan as Action Figures failed to take off with boys, who considered Disney "too girly" and would never really get behind the product. This is important to Disney history largely because it was SUCH a short-lived failure, that it proved to Disney that they couldn't manage a "Boys Line" on their own. Basically, Disney wasn't a name that had value to young boys, as it had to young girls. And we all saw just HOW they tried to rectify this little flaw in their intellectual property: they went out and BOUGHT SOME.

I would argue that Disney's buying of Marvel is directly tied to the "Disney Heroes" thing- since comics were about super-heroes, fighting and cool costumes, it had value to young boys in a way that, say, Peter Pan did not, and was thus an IDEAL IP to grab up- its credibility made boys far more likely to snap up a Disney-owned product. And then they went a step FURTHER, grabbing Star Wars as an IP, too! Now, Disney Stores were able to appeal to both Girls AND Boys in toy aisles. A brilliant plan... which they'd later muddle a bit, but they still put both in the "Boys Section" for the most part.
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HalloweenJack
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Ariel! Ursula! Triton! Beauty and the Beast! Belle!)

Post by HalloweenJack »

Arkrite wrote: Sat Sep 15, 2018 11:11 pm Wait... the same guy that did Lenny Brisco did Lumiere?
Well, my mind is blown.

Yeah, I was thinking it was Louis Jourdan or someone like that
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