List of Madagascar (franchise) characters

This is a list of characters that have appeared in the Madagascar films and the television series The Penguins of Madagascar.

Concept and creation

Tom McGrath explained in an interview that the intention of Madagascar wasn't to take a political stance on whether "zoos are bad and the wild is better, or that the wild is bad", but to show "the most extreme "fish out of water" story that [they] could do". McGrath stated that "the basic irony to the story is that, you think animals do belong in the wild, but if they're so accustomed to civility, they wouldn't know where food even came from", and that the animals were meant to "love the zoo and to love where they are because they've got 5,000 square feet right off Fifth Avenue".

McGrath also described that during the research of Madagascar, they "found these crazy, weird animals that were already cartoons in their own right."

Main characters

Alex

Alakay "Alex" is a lion and the protagonist of the films. He is voiced by Ben Stiller in the film series and by Wally Wingert in the games. Alex is head strong, the defacto leader of his friends and is best friends with Marty. He is used to the life of comfort in the zoo but learns to adapt to the wild. He's smart, quick thinking and fast on his feet. He is a dancer by nature, often impressing others with his aerobatic feats. He does tend to be a little self absorbed, often not seeing the problems of others above his own.

Alex enjoys his life at the zoo, and is surprised when hearing Marty's wish to leave and live in the wild. Alex, as the main attraction, is featured heavily on merchandise, and gives an "Alex the Lion" snow globe to Marty for his birthday. He also shows an infatuation with steak, though later remarks that sushi tastes better. As a cub, Alex was born on an African wildlife reserve and named Alakay. He was the son of the alpha lion, Zuba, and was constantly given lessons on hunting, though he displayed no interest in the activity. During one of the sessions, Alex was captured by poachers, but the crate he was contained in fell into a river and eventually floated to New York. He is found by humans and taken to the Central Park Zoo. In Madagascar, after Marty (Alex's best friend) leaves in an effort to take a train to the wild, Alex, Gloria, and Melman pursue him and are shot with tranquilizer darts by humans. Animal-rights activist pressure the zoo into releasing them back into the wild, but on the ship to the preserve, Alex and his friends fall into the ocean. They wash ashore on Madagascar, and, while Marty is excited to be free, Alex wishes to go home. He grows very hungry after days of being unable to eat, not realizing that steak is animal flesh. Hunger drives Alex into a crazed state, and after almost killing Marty in hunger he, in a moment of lucidiy, goes into self-imposed exile, barricading himself in the predator area of the island . Marty pursues him, unwilling to leave his friend, but is attacked by the fossa, the native predators of Madagascar.

Alex works to defend Marty, and is later given sushi by the Penguins to satiate his hunger. In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Alex encounters his parents, Zuba and Florrie, who are overjoyed to see their son and in the end, becomes alpha lion.

Zuba assumes that Alex is strong after hearing that he is the "king" of New York and arranges a rite of passage into the pride. Makunga, Zuba's rival, persuades Alex to challenge Teetsi during the Alex's rite of passage. Teetsi was revealed to be a bulky, strong lion and Alex quickly loses. In order to keep from banishing Alex, Zuba transfers his control to Makunga, and in turn he, Florrie, and Alex are banished. Zuba soon grows unaccepting of Alex after realizing that he is not a fierce warrior. The next day, the watering hole is shown to be dried up and Alex leaves with Marty to find out the cause. They leave the safety of the reserve, prompting Zuba to follow Alex and bring him back. Alex discovers that stranded New Yorkers had created a dam, and through use of dancing, he is recognized by the attacking New Yorkers. With the help of others, the dam is destroyed and they return to the preserve. His father learns to respect his habits, and they remain in Africa instead of flying home with the penguins. In The Penguins of Madagascar in a Christmas Caper, a stuffed animal Alex is seen briefly and its head is quickly dismembered by Nana's Poodle Mr. Chew. Alex has small cameos with his friend celebrating Christmas and singing a version of "Jingle Bells".

The fact that Alex loses the challenge to Teetsi and spanked by Nana in Madagascar given to him the impression that he is a horrible fighter, but this is not true, because (in the Nana case), she only gets Alex by surprise, but was more visible when in Madagascar 2 he has a short, but equilibrated fight against Nana. Alex is shown to have a superhuman level of interior physical strength, seeing that he broke the zoo's public telephone, and lifts Melman, Marty and Gloria with relative ease.

Marty

Marty is a zebra which lived at the Central Park Zoo, and a good friend of Alex, and the deuteragonist of the films. Marty is also voiced by Chris Rock in the film series and by Phil LaMarr in the games. He once had an iPod before Alex accidentally broke it. Marty likes seaweed on a stick.

Marty is a hopeless optimist he usually sees the brighter side of many things, taking every situation in stride. He strives to be unique, which proves difficult when he meets his kind in Africa. Marty is best friends with Alex and the pair are rarely at odds. His carefree lifestyle tends to get on the nerves of his friends, but mostly serves to impress them, he is the one who helps hold the group together when things seem to get down.

In the beginning, Marty lived a life of comfort in the zoo, but comfort led to boredom and Marty soon saw that his tenth birthday came and went and with that, his life was halfway in. Marty decided, then, that he must travel to the wild, for at least a short time, never having seen the wild.

At one point in the movie, Alex says he's black with white stripes, as he has 30 black, and only 29 white, but this was partly because Alex had to give an explanation as to why he was licking Marty, as he thought he was the steak in his dream.

The film begins on Marty’s 10th birthday (middle-aged for a zebra). His friends try to give him a great birthday, but somehow, Marty wants more. He escapes the Central Park Zoo, in which he lives, and makes a dash for the wild. His friends, Alex the Lion, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippopotamus flag him down, but as they're about to take him back to the zoo, police officers appear in all directions, tranquilize the animals, and send them on a ship to Kenya. However, the penguins take over the ship and the four friends are washed up on the shores of Madagascar.

Once on the island, the animals begin to panic except for Marty, who has had his dream fulfilled. Marty sets up a "bar" on the island, known as Casa del Wild (in English Home of the Wild). Alex is mad at Marty for getting them shipped to the wild, but he later apologizes to Marty and actually begins to enjoy himself on the island. Unfortunately, his enjoyment brings on his killer instincts, causing him to attack the resident lemurs and his friends, including Marty. Alex doesn't "go savage" for long, and is later able to rejoin his friends as they head back to the zoo.

Marty, along with his friends has only a few small cameos in The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper. He, Alex, and Gloria are seen at the beginning decorating Melman's neck with Christmas lights. At the end, he, his friends, and almost all the other zoo animals are seen singing their own version of "Jingle Bells".

In "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," Marty (along with the other animals) finds himself stranded in Africa. There, he joins a herd of zebra that all look and sound exactly like him. While he enjoys this new lifestyle at first, he quickly becomes depressed when it becomes evident that he has no individuality in a herd. Marty also becomes upset when Alex is unable to tell him apart from the other zebras. Ultimately, Alex is able to make amends by picking Marty out of the herd (later revealed to be due to the bite mark left on his backside from the previous film) and Marty accompanies his friend to unblock a dam set by stranded New Yorkers in the jungle (which causes the watering hole to dry up). When Alex is caught, Marty gets the other animals to help rescue him.

Melman

Melman is a half-anthropomorphic giraffe, who is the tritagonist of the DreamWorks film, Madagascar. He is somewhat of a hypochondriac, having doses of medicine for meals and doctor's appointments frequently. He even complains about having brown spots on his neck. He is voiced by David Schwimmer in the film series and by Stephen Stanton in the games. He is skiddish most of the time, but often has moments of profound clarity or information. His experience to being medicated on has given him a good insight to how to treat injured or sickened animals who would just otherwise dig a hole and die in it. His love for Gloria is deep, and is always a gentleman to her though to Marty and Alex he's just another one of the "awkward" guys.

Melman had a residence at the Central Park Zoo, where he would receive constant medical treatment for problems that, oddly enough, were all a figment of his imagination. Melman would undergo MRIs, CAT scans, injections, flu shots, and be put into braces and crutches for no particular purpose at all. In the Central Park Zoo, Melman received treatment, and was so used to his cushy life taking pills and undergoing treatments. One night, however, Marty the Zebra escaped and Melman immediately informed Alex of this.

In a flashback in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, there is a hint that he had a crush on Gloria as a child (as he seems uncomfortable when she comments that Alex is cute). When the animals nearly die trying to fly back to New York in a salvaged air plane, he screams that he is in love with Gloria, however she is asleep and does not hear this. In Africa, Melman is horrified to learn that once a giraffe becomes sick, it has no way to survive and therefore must simply wait in a hole to die. He takes the position of Witch Doctor (but introduces them to Western medicine) to cure sick animals, giving them longer and better lives. While he proves to be very good at this job, he is informed by another giraffe that Melman has a brown spot on his shoulder, one which the previous Witch Doctor seemed to have gotten and "was gone" two days later. Thinking he only has days to live, Melman initially waits in a hole but then takes King Julien's advice and goes to declare his love to Gloria. He finds her on a date and simply tells her date what a wonderful girl Gloria is and to treat her right. When the watering hole dries up and King Julien decides to sacrifice an animal for the water gods, Melman offers himself. He is saved at the last moment, when Gloria tells him that she loves him back, it becomes apparent that the "brown spot" was not fatal (the previous Witch Doctor is found alive and well, the brown spot in fact being a natural giraffe spot), and that Melman is in need of rescue.

Melman's personality in the sequel is very similar to Schwimmer's character Ross Geller in Friends. Ross was in love with friend Rachel Green for many years and finally told her after Rachel's many love interests came to an end. The synopsis is similar for Melman and Gloria.

Gloria

Gloria is a female hippopotamus, who resided in the Central Park Zoo as an attraction, all the while being good friends with Alex, Marty, and Melman. She acts as the older sister to the gang, often putting her foot down when the boys start to lose control. Gloria is voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith in the film series and by Bettina Bush in the games.

As a hippopotamus, Gloria had a passive nature when it came to most problems, and served as the voice of reason for her friends. At the time of Marty the zebra's birthday, Gloria is another animal in the Central Park Zoo and was one of the many attractions, drawing crowds that enjoyed seeing her swim about in her water tank. She would also receive the star treatment as one of the zoo's main attractions and attend Marty’s birthday party. At this party, Marty announced his wish upon blowing out the candles on his cake: to go to the wild. Gloria, Alex and Melman tried to have Marty come to his senses by telling him that life out in the wilds was savage and difficult, whereas life in the zoos was adequate. Marty was unhappy at hearing this and Gloria told Alex to go and console Marty. Later that night, however, Marty acted out his wish and headed straight for the Terminal Station so as to take a train and go to Connecticut, where Marty heard that wide open spaces were found. Gloria urged both Alex and Melman to come with her so as to find Marty and bring him back before any people would notice. They were found, regardless, alongside Mason and Phil, the two chimps; and a troupe of secretive penguins, all ending up tranquilized with darts.

When they all came to, they found themselves in crates bound for Africa. When the penguins hijack the ship, the crates fall into the ocean and wash up on the island of Madagascar. After some confusion, they start to set up their own society and attract the attention of a lemur colony.

In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Gloria expresses a desire to join in the zoo breeding program, in the hopes of finding a boyfriend. When the animals crash land in Africa, she attracts the attention of a hippo named Moto Moto.Though she thinks he is the ideal boyfriend at first, she realizes that he only loves her for her large,"plumpy" body, whereas Melman loves her for who she is. Realizing that she loves Melman back, she convinces him not to sacrifice himself into the volcano and Gloria grabs him by the horn and says, "It's crazy to think that I had to go half way around the world to find the perfect guy was right next door..." and then joins the other animals in rescuing Alex from Nana.

King Julien XIII

King Julien XIII is a conceited, fun-loving ring-tailed lemur.

In the movies, he is voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen, who has improvised many of Julien's lines throughout the movies, many of which had to be reduced or completely cut off due to time issues. In The Penguins of Madagascar and Merry Madagascar, he is voiced by Danny Jacobs. In the video game of the first film, he is voiced by Keith Ferguson.

Self-proclaimed lord of the lemurs, Julien ruled over a great colony of lemurs in Madagascar with charisma and certainly little ability to lead. It's a goof for Julien to be a king since male ringtails are not leaders (although in the movie Maurice said he was "self-proclaimed" lord of the lemurs) But then, he's not really a very good king. His main skill lies in delegating; telling other people what they should do. Nevertheless, he shows remarkably more intelligence and calm compared to the other lemurs (aside from Maurice), which is shown when the very word "Foosa" drives all of them, except himself and Maurice, into a state of panic.

Julien had parties for his people on Madagascar with much frequency, the likes of which were interrupted constantly by the fossa, which trespassed onto the lemur villages, devouring all that they could catch.

The day Alex and his friends came to Madagascar, King Julien and his subjects were enjoying one of their parties when it was invaded by fossa. When the fossa were scared off by Alex, Julien and his people were hiding in the trees and saw this scene, thinking Alex and his friends were giants from some faraway land, with Julien coming forward and presenting himself as the king of the lemurs.

When asked where the people were, Julien pointed to a skeleton of a man caught in a parachute hanging from a tree. Later that night, Julien had a meeting of the lemurs and other creatures of the jungle in the plane. Julien insisted that if they could make friends with Alex and his friends, the fossa would be scared away for good. Maurice was skeptical about this plan but Julien insisted that, being king, his ideas were the best. Julien's plan failed when Alex started to get out of control and try to kill the lemurs and his friends. Although Alex then turned back to normal and the fossa were scared away with only the actions of the four main characters and the penguins, Julien took the credits for its success.

When Alex and his friends were ready to go back to New York, Julien gifted them his crown; however he had already made himself a bigger, better one.

In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Julien, along with Maurice and Mort, accompany Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman to New York on the plane built by the penguins. He is in the first class, ordering constant refreshments, and amusing himself with plane crash videos. As the plane crashes down to Africa after running out of fuel and momentum, Julien takes utter pleasure in the feeling of weightlessness caused by the high speed descent. By being in first class, he escapes the crash with a parachute.

Upon arriving in Africa, Julien at first believes they are in New York, and makes himself a new crown. He manages to gain some power while in Africa, although very few characters actually pay attention to him, getting to ride a flock of flamingos with Maurice, then moving on to riding ostriches and finally an elephant. Later, when the reserve watering hole dries up, Julien suggests to the animals that they make a sacrifice to "his good friends, the water gods" at the volcano to replenish the water. At first Julien suggests Melman as the sacrifice, who believed he was going to die soon anyway. But after Melman realized he was going to live, he gave up on being a sacrifice, leaving Julien disappointed at his plan's failure. However, Mort arrives soon after, followed by a persistent shark that had been attempting to eat him. This shark then falls into the volcano, and as Julien comes out of the volcano, he sees the water coming back to the reserve (due, in fact, to a dam constructed by Nana being destroyed by Alex and Zuba), and is convinced of his plan's success.

Julien appears in The Penguins of Madagascar regularly, often noisily and unintentionally annoying Skipper and pretty much everyone. He is the self-proclaimed "King of the Zoo" no doubt due to his former king status on Madagascar. Only Mort and Maurice truly believe and respect him as their king, the rest just show up to his "proclamation of royal decrees." Julien is proven to be a worthy ally in most episodes, since it is he who sometimes saves the day for the penguins (like in "Dr. Blowhole's Revenge"). Julien hates having anyone touch his feet, such as passing a royal decree that anyone who touches his feet would be banished from his kingdom (the zoo). When the sewer rats went to the zoo and tricked the Penguins out of their home, Julien decided to play for the Penguins in a game of Hockey to try and win their home back. They were losing until one of the rats touched his feet, after that he lost it and beat all of them on his own. In the episode "Crown Fools", Julien panics when he loses his crown and obsessively longs for it until it is revealed that he had a spare crown all along (prompting Marlene, who was trying to make him new crowns all day, to chase him with a crowbar). Despite his desire for everyone to listen and do what he wants, he hates and ignores Mort, his most loyal follower, who treats him like a god. Mort responds to everything Julien tells him to do as "I like..." followed by whatever Julien said. In the episode "Haunted Habitat" he mentioned that he had a dream that he was "The last mammal on Earth". Mort was just happy to be in the dream despite that he was "road kill" in it.

A recurring gag in The Penguins of Madagascar series is that Julien's behavior and believing in supernatural beings, a belief that annoys the other animals. In the episode Misfortune Cookie, Rico gets a fortune cookie that reads "You will soon meet a fowl end." The penguins deny that fortune cookies have any power, despite receiving three accurate fortunes, and dismiss it as superstition. Julien exclaims "these stitions are super," and tries to get the penguins to believe in the supernatural. King Julien actively plots to make a "foul end" fortune come true - by his own doing. It is also known that his believing in spirits can be used against him, seeing that Mason and Phil tricks Julien believe that the "sky spirits" are angry with the Julien self-centrism, thing that change Julien's personality. But when Skipper notices that kind Julien is annoying than the narcissist Julien, Skipper makes him come back to his original self.

It is also shown that Julien gains a super-lemur level of strength if he gets mad. Visible when in "Miracle on Ice", Julien spanked and humiliated the Rat King, after one of his henchmen touched Julien's feet; In Happy King Julien Day, Maurice claims that Julien violently used a cane to spank everyone who forgot his self-proclaimed holiday.

Maurice

Maurice is an overweight Aye-Aye (even though he is missing the Aye-Aye's famous long skinny middle finger).

He is voiced by Cedric the Entertainer in the movies, by Kevin Michael Richardson in the television series, and by John Cothran, Jr. in the video games.

Maurice is King Julien's advisor - not that Julien ever listens to him - and is highly skeptical of his ruler's mad plans. He has a long squirrel-like bushy tail. He lived alongside a tribe of other lemurs and witnessed newcomers to their home: a quartet of zoo animals. Maurice was suspicious of Alex, a lion among them, thinking him to be somewhat dangerous. Maurice expressed this concern during a meeting of the other lemurs and animals of the jungle, but was ignored by Julien. The next day, Maurice took part in the festival in the honor of the newcomers, and shortly after explained the trouble with having Alex the lion around. He knew that Alex was a meat-eater and that he would need to eat steak. It was then that he opted for Alex to leave and go to the carnivore side of the island.

Shortly after, Maurice witnessed Gloria, Melman, and Marty working with a group of penguins overtaking the fossa that were attacking the lemur tribe. Maurice had to concur that King Julien's plan had worked and that fossa would no longer be of any worry. Maurice saw the newcomers out when they decided to leave and was obligated to wave King Julien's arm for him, as the king was tired of waving it.

In the sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa", Maurice does not have much of a prominent role, basically agreeing to whatever King Julien says. He acts like a strict big brother to Mort and knows him so well that in "The Penguin Stays in the Picture" he is shocked to find that Mort only ate half of his popsicle, prompting Skipper to go find him because he suspected Mort went missing, which was correct.

In the show it is shown that he paints well, and in "The Hidden," it is shown that he can speak chameleon. It is also shown in "The Lost Treasure of the Golden Squirrel" that his greatest desire is to control an army of Julien manservants. Despite being overweight, however, he was still able hold his own when he got into a physical fight with Kowalski and Rico in "The Lost Treasure of the Golden Squirrel."

Mort

Mort, voiced by Andy Richter in the films and television series and by Dee Bradley Baker in the games, is a small cute and cuddly mouse lemur.

Though quite timid, Mort can also be shrill and vocal in confrontations. Julien finds Mort incredibly annoying, and does not hesitate in proclaiming so. Despite this, Mort does not show any lasting unhappiness, and his expression changes within the same scene. Mort has an obsession with Julien's feet for reasons never stated, although in the episode "Sting Operation" when the penguins turn into idiots, they had the same obsession for feet just like him which could be the reason why he loves feet so much, which Julien despises. In his anger, Julien once banished Mort from their habitat at the zoo, forcing Mort to seek a "cure". Mort makes his first appearance in Madagascar, wherein he lives among the other native lemurs under Julien. Julien uses him as a test to see if Alex and the others eat lemurs, and Mort quickly decides that he likes them, as he is later shown to have a tendency to like everything. Later, Julien notes that if Alex does not like fish and still hungers for steak, Mort is "Plan B". Mort is last seen in the film with the other lemurs wishing the zoo animals farewell, and Julien uses him as a make-shift footrest. The film's DVD commentary reveals that Mort is very well-loved in Japan.

In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Mort attempts to follow Julien and Maurice on the penguins' plane, but Julien goes to extremes to keep him out of the plane, declaring that Mort had "scissors and hand cream" (he did in fact, have a pair of scissors). Mort, however, succeeds in attaching himself to the outside of the plane, and promptly falls into the ocean shortly before it crashed. After reaching a shore at Africa, Mort is pursued by a persistent shark, which follows him onto the African preserve. Mort (still followed by the shark) finds Julien at a volcano where Melman had just decided that he would not sacrifice himself to return the preserve's water. The shark accidentally falls into the volcano just as Alex and Zuba destroy the dam blocking the river, thus leading Julien to believe that his plan to give a sacrifice to bring back the water was successful.

Mort makes appearances through The Penguins of Madagascar, along with Julien and Maurice. At one point, stuffed "Mort" dolls became very popular, and out of jealousy Julien throws them into the skunk habitat. Mort is accidentally shipped back to the factory with the dolls, and must be rescued. In the episode, King Julien also reveals that the only reason he allows Mort to stay with them is so he can express his dislike for Mort in front of him, and keep himself entertained. Mort is also shown to be unhappy with his past self after growing in size and muscle mass due to an invention from Kowalski. However, after being turned back into his regular self, Mort expresses that he is happy with who he is. In the television series, whenever an animal or object is falling it almost always lands on Mort. Despite the fact that Mort is often treated poorly by King Julien, the other characters show concern for him as Maurice tries to (if with limited success) make saving Mort when he may be in danger to be King Julien's biggest concern, and Skipper, who refers to Mort as "sad-eyes", dived in the way of the mutant rat overlord to save Mort.

Skipper

Skipper is the leader of a band of penguins bent on a secret agenda of escaping the confines of the zoo and being free in Antarctica. He is voiced by Tom McGrath in all his appearances, making McGrath the only actor to have appeared in every Madagascar franchise. He has dark, sapphire-blue eyes. It is revealed that he, as well as the others, have no idea what is expected of the penguin species by humans aside from "smile and wave." It comes to the point where Private needs a bird biology book to tell the others how to act, even though it's not addressed how he, nor Kowalski, has been able to read the English language and yet still need Phil and Mason to translate in most instances.

As leader, Skipper was the mastermind behind a plot to escape the confines of the zoo and leave for Antarctica with Kowalski, Rico, and Private as his accomplices. Skipper and his troupe dug under their enclosure until they reached the enclosure of Marty the zebra, thinking it to be the South Pole. Skipper explained to Marty that they would escape the zoo on the grounds that penguins don't belong in captivity and with that, ordered his accomplices to continue tunneling. Late that night, Skipper and the other penguins were caught by a SWAT team, as were six other animals found outside the zoo. The penguins were tranquilized and put into a crate to be transferred.

When they awoke, Skipper was confused at the lettering on the crate where they were held and ordered a nearby chimpanzee named Mason to read it, with Mason's companion Phil reading it: they were all bound for a wildlife preserve in Africa. Skipper ordered Rico to pick the lock on the crate where they were held, whereupon the four penguins knocked out the crew and took command of the ship, commandeering it to reach Antarctica. Skipper and his mates finally reached Antarctica and were sorely disappointed by the barren, desolate terrain (as evidenced by Private's exclamation, "Well, this sucks...").

Skipper had the ship return quickly from the South Pole, where it crashed into the beaches of Madagascar and a much warmer climate. Upon arriving, he and the other three encountered Gloria and Melman, and saw that Alex and Marty (known as their "monochromatic friend") were gone. Skipper decided to help rescue Marty from the grim fate of being eaten by the native fossa (possibly as gratitude for his silence regarding the escape). It was Skipper who helped to distract the fossa while Marty was recovered and then helped fight off a number of them.

Skipper noticed later on that Alex was still hungry, not being able to eat steak, and had Rico prepare sushi for Alex. Skipper then relinquished control of the ship to Alex, as he no longer needed it, and proceeded to sunbathe on the tropical beaches in comfort. Skipper was asked by Private if they should tell Alex and his friends that the ship was out of gas. Skipper declined, telling his troupe to "Just smile and wave, boys, smile and wave."

In the sequel, Skipper leads the penguins in first salvaging a crashed airplane to fly back to New York, then fixing the plane when it crashes at Africa with the help of "more thumbs" (Mason and Phil, who also escaped). At the end of the movie, he marries a bobble head. In The Penguins of Madagascar, the bobble head is nowhere to be seen.

In "Tangled in the Web" and "Crown Fools" it is shown that Skipper knows karate and is an exceptionally capable fighter, he's also very strong as seen in "Launchtime" and in "Crown Fools" he said that he had taken down an angry walrus with "a wing and a prayer and another wing", but was revealed that he is terrified of needles, in the episode, "Needle Point." In "Eclipsed" he mentioned that he has a Dolphin enemy named "Dr. Blowhole", he apparently had a plan to extinguish the Sun, as when Private told him that the sun went dark. Skipper believed that Dr. Blowhole had succeeded in his plan. Skipper's plans and theories serve a lot as jokes (however sometimes his most out there theories are proven true, since the Blowhole existence is the most extreme example of this.), such as to him there are aren't 7 but "8" continents as he counts Atlantis, (and appears to believe it's off the coast of Brazil), once telling Maurice that if he had Skipper's security clearance he would to, as well as thinking the new arrivals to the zoo could be flying piranha (likely a reference to Piranha 2: The Spawning, which featured flying piranha). He takes his missions very seriously and is highly skilled in hand to hand combat. In the episode "Launchtime" when he asked Kowalski to search for a place where nearly no lemurs can be found, he stated that he cannot set foot in Denmark and instead chose the moon; when Private questioned him on this, he replied by saying "well that's private, Private, between me and the Danes." Skipper has mentioned that there used to be two more penguins in addition to himself and the other three; this has been unconfirmed, as these claims have been and never fully explained. In "The Hidden," he mentioned that they supposedly died during a mission when they were attacked by "flying piranhas," as he said "we had to bury what was left of them with a tea spoon". Later, in "Roger Dodger," he told Rico that he would take him out if he had to and told him "just ask Manfredi and Johnson". He told of them in "An Elephant Never Forgets" while he was training Private that they "fell for the exploding elephant foot". They are also mentioned by Private, who claims that they mistook the hind end of a beluga whale for an escape tunnel. (Manfredi and Johnson are two ill-fated characters in the World War II prisoner-of-war saga Stalag17.) although Skiper tends to try to show no emotion most of the time, whenever Private or any other member of his team is in danger or thought to be dead He becomes very upset (although he once told Private he was always bait because "is naive and expendable" but then became upset when he was eaten.) In The Penguins of Madagascar he uses some Italian words such as "Sempre all'erta" (in "Haunted Habitat"), "Bravissimo" (in "The Hidden"), "Attenzione" (in "Crown Fools"), "Eccellente" (in "Kingdom Come"), "Finito!" (in "Popcorn Panic") and "Perfetto" (in "An Elephant Never Forgets"). Sometimes, his Italian pronunciation is not perfect. In "The Falcon and the Snow Job," Skipper fell for a female falcon named Kitka and she felt the same way about him, so they dated for a while. However, Skipper broke up with her after it was revealed that she had swallowed Fred.

In "Huffin and Puffin," it is revealed Skipper can't go to Denmark because a little incident with his arch enemy Hans, a puffin, made him public enemy number one.

Kowalski

The tallest of the penguins, Kowalski forms plans for the group and usually takes notes for Skipper. Being the smartest, he may be the team's medic. He has blue eyes and tends to over-analyze situations. He is voiced by Chris Miller in the movies/games and Jeff Bennett in the series.

Kowalski was part of a cadre of devious penguins who had made it their goal to escape captivity in the Central Park Zoo and leave for Antarctica. Often formulating plans for the group, Kowalski was a loyal supporter of his leader, Skipper. Kowalski had escaped the zoo with the other penguins, but was promptly captured and put into a crate for transferring with his comrades. The crates were all placed on a ship bound for Africa, where all the creatures from the zoo would be kept in a wildlife preserve. While in the crate, Kowalski confessed that he could not read (he said the words on the side of the box were an "older code", in slight reference to Star Wars VI) and asked another transferee, a chimpanzee named Phil, to read the words on the crate. As soon as this was done, the four penguins headed to the ship's bridge, knocked out the crew and captain, bound them up, and Kowalski plotted the ship's course to Antarctica. He is the technical one of the group and always has his notepad. While being able to formulate plans and invent things (such as a rocket ship out of a trashcan and fireworks, a rotary saw blade made of energy and multiple random objects, or a knowledge sucking machine from just a cardboard box, a magnet, and a vacuum) he is shown to have a bit of difficulty deducing simpler machines. At the end of "Needle Point", it is revealed that he has an irrational fear of dentists, which is peculiar in that, as Private soon states after Kowalski runs off, penguins don't have teeth. He seems to also spout nearly or completely nonsensical words, such as, "The moo cow may have a chocolate marshmallow", or "I'll be a bicycle cream cone", whenever either hit incredibly hard (case in point is being body checked by the rat), shocked severely (by Officer X), or pricked (when he got his injection). He also loves candy, But not as mutch as Private. In the series he is shown to be intelligent but it is not as apparent in the films (e.g. in Madagascar he does not know how to read and in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa he states that the paper plane would help them fly back to NY and he does not understand that the fuel indicator was indicating that fuel is finished). He is in love with a dolphin called Doris and recorded a poem for her on DVD which highlighted her apparent non-interest in him in the "Hot Ice" episode. (She was first mentioned in "Gone in a Flash.") He is the acting leader when Skipper is unavailable. His rank is Lieutenant.

Private

Private is the youngest and shortest of the penguins. He is voiced by Christopher Knights in the movies/games and by James Patrick Stuart in the series. He has light blue eyes and speaks with a British accent. Private has been known to be a rather curious penguin. He was overprotective of the egg in the episode "Paternal Egg-Stinct", though given how his team mates were treating it (Skipper put it through a dangerous obstacle course, Kowalski tried to use a machine to increase its intelligence with a painful shock, and Rico was flying it with a hang glider), this was (somewhat) rational. Private is very good at deciphering code. Private is also the shyest and least experienced in the group. Private also has a sugar addiction, as seen on the episode Skorka, where he ate the whole box of Peanut Butter Winkeys.

Private has been known to give life lessons like in "Mort Unbound" when he told Mort "There is a natural order of things" but then he was thrown all the way to the penguins HQ and became giant and in "Two Feet High and Rising" "They are just feet not love". Private is emotionally sensitive. Private has been known to say "Um, Skipper?", "Is it safe?", "Goodbye, telly old chum," and "Oh, dear!" Despite his sensitive nature, he is often portrayed as more observant or down to earth than the others (noticing that Skipper's ankle tag hadn't been taken off, indicating that he didn't get a shot or suggesting that Maurice had stumbled back because of being blinded by a camera flash, which Skipper quickly labeled as preposterous though he nevertheless told Kowalski to run a scenario) as well as having fighting skills slightly below or at least on par with Rico and Skipper, as he was able to block rapid strikes from Skipper and disarm him with his feet while spinning on his head, all while blindfolded. On the wall of the Penguin's house is a stuffed fish with a sign "Private's First Prize", which hiding behind it (as well as a bunch of other electronic precautions) is his most prized possession: a butterscotch lollipop. Like Kowalski, he loves candy, but eating too much of it causes him to hallucinate. He has an abnormal fear of badgers and cockroaches, as shown in the "Badger Pride" and "Stop Bugging Me" episodes respectively. When Private is the last available penguin to fix a situation (such as when it's revealed that the penguins had spied on the rest of the zoo occupants or during 'Untouchable'), he is able to rise up to the occasion and reach an end that benefits everyone.

In the "Concrete Jungle Survival" episode, Private received the rank of Private First Class after successfully passing a test in the city. He had been just a Private beforehand.

In the Christmas special "Merry Madagascar" Private finds himself falling in love with Cupid, one of Santa's reindeer. The relationship is short lived however, as Cupid must return and work with Santa... Private reminded her that they would "Always have Madagascar!" as she flew off.

Rico

Rico, voiced by John DiMaggio, doesn't really talk much. He originally was like the other penguins in Skipper's group (except for blue-green eyes), but the creators later gave him a Mohawk and a scar on his left cheek. Skipper describes him as a "world-class psychopath." He mostly communicates with various grunts, squeals, and gibberish, and has displayed a fondness for a plastic doll toy. He's the team's weapons expert and his main function is to regurgitate any necessary tools that Skipper may need for a mission. He's very fond of explosives, and his answer to problems would always be "Kaboom!", if Skipper didn't hinder him to blow up a stick of dynamite. In one notable episode, "All Choked Up", the penguins attempt to destroy a robotic zoo guide that has recently been installed. Assuming that they will be replaced by robotic animals. Rico eventually regurgitates a time bomb that Skipper then activates. Meanwhile, Alice, upon noticing that Rico is constantly regurgitating, forces him to drink a liquid medicine as a remedy. The penguins then must try to get him to regurgitate the bomb before it explodes inside Rico. Among the many substances Rico ingests to induce vomiting is a combination of monkey feces, raw eggs, and other undesirable substances, which causes a loud rumbling in his abdomen which helps, in the end, Rico finally regurgitating Mort and the bomb. Mort is uninjured but the bomb lands in the robotic zookeeper's hands, and explodes, destroying the robot.

It is revealed that Rico has little tolerance for "mushy" stuff, and often becomes sick when Private gets overly emotional and "lovey-dovey" about something. Another characteristic of Rico is that he might be incredibly superstitious, as, after receiving a rather dismal sounding fortune in a fortune cookie, Rico was a victim of pranks by King Julien who was trying to prove he was right. Even after revealing that Julien was behind the accidents, Rico still needed to have him "take away the curse." He is also insanely skilled with knives and bladed objects, able to make sushi in a matter of seconds and destroy bowling pins with a chainsaw while blindfolded.

Rico appears to have outstanding opera voice when excited (as seen in episode "Rodger Dodger").

Marlene

Marlene, voiced by Nicole Sullivan, is the Central Park Zoo's only resident otter and is exclusive to The Penguins of Madagascar. She has primarily brown fur, with a white chest, face, and right foot. Marlene is shown to be both playful and kind towards others, which often conflicts with Skipper's serious and safety-cautious attitude. She attempts to find and bring out the best in others through kindness, though is not immune to feeling anger towards Rhonda, a rude walrus apathetic to others, and works to have her transferred (however, she does regret the decision after learning Rhonda would be sent to a polar bear reserve, and works doggedly to send her elsewhere). Despite having doubts on the penguins' ways of dealing with issues, Marlene still believes that they can accomplish very difficult tasks. Marlene is known to snore while asleep, which invokes fear in an alligator residing in the sewer system beneath her enclosure. Like other residents at the zoo, Marlene is shown to love both popcorn and candy. In order to get candy, she is bribed by Maurice to celebrate King Julien Day and participate in several tasks to keep Julien content. Marlene has also revealed that she won the Internet popularity contest at her past zoo three years in a row (though was unable to compete at the Central Park Zoo due to a scandal) and that she considers Christmas in July "the biggest holiday of the year". In "Otter Gone Wild," it is revealed that she was born in captivity. When she sets foot in the outside world, (literally) she becomes wild. During this state, she is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. Also, in her primal state, she becomes infatuated with King Julien. In "Otter Things Have Happened", the penguins invented a machine that is able to locate anyone's true love at a moment’s notice; the birds misread the signal her saliva sample gave and present her with Fred the squirrel, upsetting Julien who kidnaps the little guy (who Marlene has actually started to like). When she realizes that both Fred and Julien are not good for her, she dumps Fred and goes back to her single lifestyle. Kowalski, upset that his invention is faulty, throws it out. In the trash the machine begins to show the results of Marlene's test again; we see Fred in the area it was picking up, but then are treated to the introduction of a brand new character, Antonio or the "Otter Bachelor of Central Park", a buff, Latino male otter who has a fancy to frequently playing his Spanish guitar. It is not finalized, but seems pretty obvious that Antonio was the individual who Marlene's test picked up, not Fred. It is not known as of now if the penguins know of Antonio's existence or if Marlene will get to meet him in future episodes but in "The Lost Treasure of the Golden Squirel" it is shown that Marlene dreams of being in a spacious room surrounded by many otters very similar (if not exactly like) Antonio all playing Spanish Guitars. In "Dr. Blowhole's Revenge," it's shown that she believes Dr. Blowhole is only a fantasy, invented by the penguins to make themselves look cool but in reality, Dr. Blowhole is a real entity, and it is unknown how long this fact will stay secret from Marlene

Mason and Phil

Mason and Phil are the sophisticated chimpanzees at the Central Park Zoo, who prefer to drink cups of coffee and "read" the newspaper in the morning. Mason is voiced by Conrad Vernon and speaks with a stereo-typical British accent, while Phil communicates through American Sign Language. While Mason is unable to read, Phil can and is used to decipher writing while Mason translates the ASL. Both escape the zoo after Gloria breaks through its outer wall; Mason mentions Tom Wolfe giving a lecture, and they plan to attend to "throw poo at him." Along with other characters, Phil and Mason are captured and sent to a wildlife reserve. However, their crates are not thrown off the boat, and they are not seen until a final scene, in which they are still in crates waving farewell to the Madagascar natives. In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, the chimps call upon chimpanzees living in Africa to help rebuild the wrecked plane that was supposed to fly them back to New York. They later go on strike, asking for maternity leaves and breaks; eventually, they blackmail Skipper into agreeing. In The Penguins of Madagascar, Mason and Phil have sporadic appearances throughout the series, and are shown to be annoyed by Julien's partying. They attempt to rid him of his ways by tricking Julien into thinking a solar eclipse was a sign that the "sky spirits" disapproved of his behavior. They also frequently mention throwing poo and are used to read the English language. Phil may be the most temperamental or "potty mouthed" of the two, as after being told there is no checkmate in checkers, he makes several signs which Mason responds with "You groom your mother with those hands?!" Phil and Mason may also sometimes lose things in the translation of what they are made to read. An instance of this is when the zoo occupants were ordered to make a cake for King Julien, and Mason mistakes "sugar" for "booger". This does not mean that Phil is unable to communicate well however, in fact, even though he is unable to truly speak, he was still able to win over the heart of Lulu, a female chimp visiting from the Hoboken Zoo in New Jersey for a weekend, it is unknown if Lulu is going to return in future episodes of the television series or if she and Phil keep in touch while they are apart.

McGrath explained that originally their "first scene was just deciphering the code on the shipping label". The crew "got this girl who knew American Sign Language" to give them hand gestures. They wanted gestures to be "really frenetic", and "she signed out, 'Tell the tiny pea-brained birds that the sign reads: Ship to ...'". Afterward, the crew returned to the scene where Mason notes Tom Wolfe's lecture, and she signed "Can we throw our poo at his stupid white suit?" Mason is named after James Mason, who his voice is styled after.

Secondary characters

Zuba

Zuba is Alex's father. Voiced by performer Bernie Mac, for whom ‘’Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa’’ was one of his last films, Zuba was the Alpha Lion of a pride in the reserve where Alex was born. At first he gets the impression that he has come to take over, but luckily his mate, Florrie, notices that they both have the same birth mark and realizes that Alex is their son Alakay. Zuba is a proud father, but he is somewhat confused as to why his son is interested in dancing. After many events in the movie, including Alex failing the rite of passage and shaming his family, Zuba finally accepts Alex for what he is, and even uses one of Alex's acts on him in the last scene of the movie.

Despite Bernie Mac's death, DreamWorks Animation states that "Zuba will still be in Madagascar 3"; it is currently unknown who will replace him.

Florrie

Florrie is Alex's mother and Zuba's mate. The alpha lioness of the pride, she is voiced by Sherri Shepherd. Florrie, unlike Zuba, accepts Alex for what he is. She isn't disturbed at all by the fact that Alex prefers to dance instead of fight. Due to this, she acts as the voice of reason and tries to encourage Zuba that it is better that Alex came back to them, dancer or not, as a king. Florrie is never addressed by her name in the film and in the movie's end credits, she is credited as "Mom".

Moto Moto

Moto Moto is a big-bellied, handsome, muscular hippopotamus with a deep voice whose main hobby is flirting with anything of the female species. Moto Moto is kind, hunky, and charming. He is voiced by will.i.am and is described by him as being "aggressive but friendly," and is the way the standard male hippo should look. In Madagascar 2, he falls for Gloria as a major plot boost. However, when they are dancing in a lake, Gloria realizes that Moto Moto only loves her because of her body. Gloria accepts this until Melman shows up and tells him everything Gloria likes and hates. Gloria is still friends with Moto Moto even though she no longer has any romantic interest in him. Moto Moto means "Hot Hot" in Swahili.

Antagonists

Nana

Nana, voiced by Elisa Gabrielli, is the archenemy of Alex the lion.

Nana's personality changes over her appearances. In the first movie, she appears as an eccentric and aggressive old lady. In The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper, she is shown to be aggressive with anyone, independent of the person's courtesy. But in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, she appears to be kinder than before, even at one point leading the New Yorkers when she notices that they are in panic, only being aggressive with wild animals; which she sees as no different than domestic animals.

Nana seems to be incredibly resistant to injury, as she was able to have a short fight with Alex right after being tugged out of the back of a speeding tour jeep as well as being thrown out of it a second time by the penguins, who reversed over her in the jeep after noticing that she didn't die. However, despite this evident resilience, she is still portrayed as a 'little old lady'; she has a waddling gait and is knocked onto her back when firing a rifle.

In the first movie, Nana is an elderly human female who encounters Alex the Lion in Grand Central Station, where she assaults him and calls him a "bad kitty." She also whacks Melman with her hand bag, causing his head to get stuck in the Grand Central Station Clock. When the animals are surrounded by police, she somehow gets passed and kicks Alex in "the batteries". She was quickly taken away by police. As shown in the sequel, she was not arrested, as she was interviewed as a witness.

Nana is featured as a supporting villain in The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper.

Nana returns in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. She becomes the leader of an army of tourists left stranded by the penguins' schemes. She gets into another fight with Alex, and wins again, although Alex puts up much more of a fight this time (although Alex confess to his friends that he actually only did it to distract her to get her bag, making Nana's victory unofficial.). She often hits Alex and loves her handbag. At the end of the film, Alex the Lion gives Makunga Nana's handbag. When she sees Makunga holding it she starts kicking/stepping/hand whacking/wet willing/arm burning/spanking him before taking him away. It has been said that she took Makunga back to New York with her in a kitty cage.

Nana's assault on Alex at Grand Central Station is mentioned in The Penguins of Madagascar episode "Zoo Tube".

The fossa

The fossa are the main antagonists in Madagascar, voiced by Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell. They appear as medium-sized weasel-like creatures, closely related to mongoose, and rarely speak, instead usually growling and yelping. Throughout Madagascar, they are shown to terrorize the lemurs and attempt to eat them. According to Julien, "they're always annoying us [the lemurs] by trespassing, interrupting our parties, and ripping our limbs off." However, the fossa are fearful of Alex, and run away when they suspect an attack from him, as well as allow him to take their prey. The fossa are defeated by Alex, Marty, Gloria, Melman, and the penguins and driven into their territory.

Mister Chew

Mister Chew, voiced by Frank Welker, is a small, white poodle, fond of chewing and tearing various items apart. Chew is owned by Nana, and lives in her apartment on the 13th floor in an apartment complex. Mister Chew is the main antagonist in "The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper". Nana purchased Private, mistaking him for a squeaky toy, while he was attempting to find a gift for Ted, and reveals him to be a Christmas present for Mister Chew. Chew nearly mauled Private, while Nana was watching a football game on the TV, but was defeated by Skipper, Kowalski and Rico, who had set out to rescue Private. However, Nana didn't hear the fight, but after she sees the damage, she blames Mr. Chew for destroying her apartment and tells him he's on a big time out.

Makunga

Makunga is a male lion with a large, black, and hairdo-style mane (similar to Elvis Presley's hair) and green eyes. He is Zuba's rival and wants to take his place as alpha lion. He is the main antagonist of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and is portrayed by Alec Baldwin. He also calls Alex, Zuba's son, a 'pathetic excuse of a son'. When asked why he wants to become alpha lion, he replies 'I'm better looking, I have better hair, I'm deceivingly smart; and I want everyone else to do what I say." He is also very similar to Scar from The Lion King.

Makunga would often challenge Zuba to fights over the alpha lion position, but would be easily beaten. One of those fights led to Zuba being unaware of Alex being captured by poachers. Makunga then used Alex, years later, to finally reach the rank of alpha lion. However, he is not a very good leader, saying the only solution to the fact that the local water hole was nearly dry was that they all would "Have to fight for it." This causes doubt about his role as alpha lion, and almost every animal on the reserve wants Zuba back. After the water was back, he refuses at Zuba and Alex that they were still banished.

Makunga eventually meets his downfall when being tricked into angering “Nana” (who was originally mad at Alex), who attacks Makunga and drags him off the reserve. The DVD commentary reveals that "Nana brought Makunga to New York in a kitty cage".

Other characters exclusive to The Penguins of Madagascar

Alice

Alice, voiced by Mary Scheer is a zookeeper exclusive to The Penguins of Madagascar. She seems to dislike aspects of her job, and is happy to have a voice-automated robot guide give directions so she can avoid "annoying tour group questions". She also doesn't understand what people enjoy about watching animals on their computer, saying that they don't do anything interesting. Alice is involved in several aspects of the animal's well-being. It's hinted that deep down Alice cares for the zoo animals and only wants what's best for them as she hates it when people feed the animals Popcorn, and posts several signs throughout the zoo after catching a child feeding Marlene a kernel. Alice is also in charge of gathering the penguins for visits to the veterinarian, and later remarks that they have a dentist appointment (Private then confusedly states that they don't have teeth). Alice and the penguins have a mutual dislike for each other, and she believes that they are scheming (though she is actually correct in this assumption). Though another zookeeper can be heard over her walkie-talkie, voiced by John DiMaggio, Alice is usually the only one ever seen on-screen but occasionally an un-named zoo worker appears sporadically, though his face is always hidden. Unintentionally, Alice won the zoo's internet popularity contest when a camera documenting the animals was accidentally pushed toward her dancing and slapping her butt in the kitchen. In "Miss Understanding", she remarked to a know-it-all kid that the zoo had three male penguins and one female, which turned out to be false (not that she knew or cared).

Rat King

The Rat King, voiced by Diedrich Bader, is a genetically enhanced, muscular lab rat who resides in the sewer. He is a common antagonist of the penguins. He constantly torments the penguins and never learns his lesson when he's defeated each time. He even tries to take over their home, but he is defeated by King Julien.

Sewer rats

Several small sewer rats, led by their large mutated king rat, make appearances, on the occasion. They are voiced by Jeff Bennett and Kevin Michael Richardson.

Officer X

Officer X, voiced by Cedric Yarbrough, is a New York animal control officer who has a single-minded focus on removing stray animals from the streets. He first tangles with the penguins when they interfere with his pursuit of a stray cat, the penguins' friend, Max, in the episode "Cat's Cradle." X returns in the episode "What Goes Around" when he tries to capture the penguins when they are found out of the zoo on the streets of New York. When asked by Alice what his real name was in "Cat's Cradle," X responds that his mother never told him his real name, instead telling him that it was "classified." He was arrested on vandalism charges at the end of "What Goes Around" for creating the mess resulting from his and the penguins' encounter. Officer X is shown to have a superhuman level of strength, crushing a small metal cage with his bare hands and defeating Joey, who even the penguins couldn't easily beat, head on, leading Skipper to say Officer X can't be human. Despite the previous, Officer X was soundly beaten by a wild cat.

Joey

Joey, voiced by James Patrick Stuart, is a bad tempered kangaroo who loves beating people up, especially Skipper and Julien. He first appeared in the "Assault and Batteries" and later on in "Cats Cradle" when he tried to beat up Officer X but was badly hurt instead.

Dr. Blowhole

Dr. Blowhole, voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, is a mad scientist dolphin who plans to take revenge on the human race, who forced him to perform tricks at Coney Island for their amusement. He is described by Skipper and Private as being "pure evil, with skin that's surprisingly pleasant to the touch," which Blowhole claims is because he always moisturizes. He appears to love rubbing it in that he has far superior technology than the penguins do, which usually gets on Kowalski's nerves. Since he is a dolphin, he gets around by the use of a Segway-type vehicle while on land, which also projects a glass dome around it and Blowhole to turn into an escape vehicle. He also has a habit of referring to the penguins as "peng-you-ens. He appears to have a robotic eye, which slightly hides a scar, and has a habit of having his deep-voiced computer announce the names of his creations in a dramatic voice (provided by Jim Cummings) instead of saying them himself (i.e. Chrome Claw). Unlike most cartoon villains, instead of simply leaving his enemies to die in a deathtrap, he typically stays to oversee their destruction personally, well aware they'll likely escape somehow (telling Julian as much when asked), unless he'd be killed as well if he stays (such as locking them in his base as it self destructs). In the special, he also proved able to hold his own with the combat-trained Skipper in a short physical fight.

In "Eclipsed", he is mentioned as Skipper's dolphin archenemy. Blowhole apparently had a plan to extinguish the Sun, as when Private told him that the sun went dark, Skipper believed that Dr. Blowhole had succeeded in his plan.

In "Roomies", Blowhole sends a walrus spy, named Rhonda, to steal Kowalski's "plasma cutter" invention, which acts as a chain saw.

Doctor Blowhole is the main antagonist of The Penguins of Madagascar special "Dr. Blowhole's Revenge," which also acts as his debut. Dr. Blowhole kidnaps King Julien, believing him to be Skipper's best friend, in an effort to lure the flightless force into a trap so that he can annihilate them once and for all. However, Julian and Blowhole join forces and captures the "pen-gu-ins". After Blowhole reveals his plan to activate a 'Ring of Fire' that he built in the North Pole to flood the world (saying it was inspired by a ring of fire he was forced to jump through when he was in captivity), Mort appears from the lair's skylight and frees the penguins after crashing into a control panel. Blowhole then activates the Ring of Fire after throwing Mort from the control panel. He then sends a giant mutated lobster he devised earlier in the episode called Chrome Claw after Skipper and the penguins (which he'd mentioned he was planning to create during their previous encounter) but they manage to defeat it. After a short battle with Skipper, Blowhole is betrayed by Julien, who claims to have been a double agent the entire time, and the 'Ring of Fire' (which the media has dubbed the 'Hoop of Heat', much to Blowhole's anger) is deactivated. Blowhole escapes, promising revenge.

Doctor Blowhole was referenced in Invention Intervention, where Skipper assumed that Kowalski's out-of-control invisible invisibility ray was actually created by Blowhole, commenting that his arch-nemesis had become far more intelligent- if harder to follow given the lack of motive behind such an attack- since their last confrontation.

Bada and Bing

Bada and Bing, voiced by John DiMaggio and Kevin Michael Richardson, are giant gorillas who speak with Brooklyn accents. First shown in the "Kingdom Come" episode when they served as thuggish bodyguards for Maurice, they have been seen displaying softer sides upon other occasions, such as when they looked after Mort in "The Penguin Stays in the Picture" while a photographer was there as an unrequested favor to Private, who wanted to be on the cover of the zoo brochure. The two are attacked by a super-enlarged Mort in the episode "Mort Unbound" in order for him to get King Julien's stolen mango back.

Burt

Burt, voiced by John DiMaggio in the series and by Fred Tatasciore in the games, is an elephant who was just an extra zoo animal during the beginning of the series, but then evolved into a character of greater focus as the series evolved. He was central to the episode "An Elephant Never Forgets," in which he leaves the zoo to locate a man who had irritated him as a boy by playing his kazoo at the zoo. In the 2005 videogame version of Madagascar, Burt was called Darnell. Burt is shown to be obsessed with peanuts, and when he doesn't eat them, he goes insane, as shown in "Jungle Law." He nearly eats Julien when he mistakes him for a peanut.

Roger

Roger, voiced by Richard Kind, is the penguins' alligator friend who lives in the sewer. They meet him in the episode "Haunted Habitat" when Skipper and Marlene go to investigate in the sewer under Marlene's habitat because of a strange sound. Roger tells the penguins that he is from Florida. He appears again in "Roger Dodger" when the sewer rats terrorize him. Following the "Gator Watch" episode, he now lives in the zoo after several failed attempts by the penguins to find him a new home outside the sewer.

Max

Max, voiced by Wayne Knight, is the penguins' stray cat friend. He first meets the four penguins in the episode "Launchtime" when the penguins end up on a rooftop across the street from the zoo instead of on the moon. At first, the penguins thought he was a "mooncat," but at the end they figure out he was just a stray cat. Max is skinny and hopes to catch a bird in his life. He at first wanted to eat the penguins, but was so touched when he was given a can of fish by them that he became their friend instead. He has a small cameo in "The Helmet" and tried to escape Officer X in "Cats Cradle."

Fred

Fred, voiced by Fred Stoller, is a dimwitted squirrel that lives in Central Park and takes everything said literally and has a slow monotone speech pattern. Kowalski met Fred briefly in the "Otter Gone Wild" episode, while the full penguin group met him in "Mask of the Raccoon." He dated Marlene in "Otter Things Have Happened," but she broke up with him because what she had thought was him being funny turned out to be just Fred’s ignorance. He has had minor appearances in several other series episodes and was part of a treasure hunt in the episode "The Lost Treasure of the Golden Squirrel."

Roy

Roy, voiced by Danny Jacobs, is a short-tempered rhinoceros, appearing predominantly as an extra zoo animal for the majority of the series. When given more of a role, he often appears to have little patience for any animal that provokes him, usually responding with threats, such as when a truth-telling Private nearly revealed a secret about him in the "Truth Ache" episode. He plays a pivotal role in the "April Fools" episode when he threatens Julien with retaliation for drawing on his backside with a permanent marker. In the end however, it's revealed that he was working with the penguins to teach Julien a lesson for his constant April Fools' Day pranks on everyone in August.

Reception

Sean Axmaker of Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised the characters, noting the "marvelous character animation" and "the palpable camaraderie between animal buddies" kept Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa "rolling". Axmaker also commended the voice of Zuba, played by Bernie Mac, saying "his vocal makeover is so complete that you may not recognize his voice, but you will appreciate the warmth and vivid personality of his creation."