This week on Saturday Morning Cartoon we’re doing something a little different. Normally we’d focus on one episode of one particular show, but today I want to talk about someone behind the scenes. A few days ago news broke that the world of animation had lost someone, not only did this person voice some of my favorite cartoon characters, but she’s also a local native of Utah, born not too far from where I sit right now. So instead of highlighting one show in the world of animation, let’s highlight the contributions of an individual so that we may better remember how she touched our lives and influenced our childhoods. Without further ado, the many great works of Christine Cavanaugh, in no particular order.
Cavanaugh was a prolific actor and voice actor but I’m going to focus on the four things she did that meant the most to me, skipping the two episodes of “Salute Your Shorts” only because it wasn’t animated. Thinking about her work, I asked myself which of her characters was most well known, it ended in a battle between Chuckie Finster of “Rugrats” and Dexter of “Dexter’s Laboratory” which resulted in me thinking about a literal battle between a timid toddler and a tiny genius. Just hold on while I stop laughing.
Dexter
“Dexter’s Laboratory” was a favorite growing up, I still watch it sometimes. It appealed because of its seeming absurdity. Why did Dexter have that accent? How did his parents not know he had built a huge lab behind a bookcase? What was Dexter’s end game? Whatever was going on Dexter helped instill in me a love for science at a young age, because who doesn’t want a sweet lab behind a Batman style bookcase? Most importantly, Dexter taught me that every day, is a good day for science.
Chuckie Finster
What is there to say about “Rugrats” that you don’t already know. It was probably the most well known cartoon of its time period, everyone watched it. It was like “The Simpsons” for kids, not necessarily in content, but in its ability to permeate throughout culture. The character of Chuckie Finster was second only to Tommy Pickles and had more personality. While I always wanted to be a Tommy Pickles, the brave adventurer, the “Indiana Jones” of babies, I knew deep down that I was really Chuckie. He was terrified, constantly scared of the situations he was being thrown into but he persevered anyway, even though sometimes he went a little Hannibal Lector about his blocks.
Oblina
“Aaahh!!! Real Monsters” hit at a perfect time in my life, young enough to have not yet abandoned cartoons (before I said eff that, cartoons are awesome) but old enough to start being into darker fare. “Aaahh!!! Real Monsters was the perfect combination of funny, creepy, and bizarre for my adolescent mind. Cavanaugh provided the voice of Oblina, the terrifying candy cane with a heart of gold.
Gosalyn Mallard
Though Cavanaugh had a handful of credits prior to this, it seems like “Darkwing Duck” was her big break into the world of animation. She provided the voice for Darkwing’s nine year old adopted daughter and sometimes sidekick Gosalyn. The character provided the anchor for Darkwing, being both the thing that kept him attached to the real world but also provided him his greatest fear, losing her. Their relationship provided a humanizing aspect. Humanizing? Duckanizing? Whatever… and I think it provides a perfect end cap to our remembrance of Cavanaugh’s work.
Thank you Christine, for making growing up a little bit easier, a little brighter, and a hell of a lot more fun.
Cheers.