Fillmore!
| Fillmore! | |
|---|---|
| File:FIL HOTDOG.jpg Cornelius Fillmore and Ingrid Third | |
| Created by | Scott Gimple |
| Starring | Orlando Brown Tara Strong Horatio Sanz Lauren Tom Danny Tamberelli Kyle Sullivan Wendie Malick Jeff Probst Don Lafontaine |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes approx. |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | September 14, 2002 – January 23, 2004 |
Fillmore! was a Disney cartoon, created by Scott Gimple. Loosely based on popular cop shows of the 1970s, such as The Mod Squad, Fillmore was centered on a reformed delinquent teenager, Cornelius Fillmore, and his partner, Ingrid Third, working as part of the Safety Patrol at his middle school, the eloquently named "X Middle School". Together, Fillmore and Ingrid solve crimes and make X Middle School a better place, one solved case at a time.
The series was cancelled by Disney in 2003, with several episodes of the second season still unaired in the US (although The Disney Channel in the United Kingdom showed the series in its entirety). Airings continued on the ABC Kids network as of 2004. All the unaired episodes aired later on Toon Disney.
Characters
- Cornelius Fillmore - The star of the show. He is in seventh grade at X, like the other characters on the Safety Patrol. A former delinquent teenager, his life was turned around when he was caught by patroller Wayne Liggit and was given a choice: spend the rest of middle school in detention, or join the Safety Patrol. He chose the latter, and after that, he had been clean, and proud to be working for the good of justice. His former partner on the Safety Patrol was Liggit, until he moved; since then, he worked with his current partner, Ingrid Third. Fillmore is voiced by Orlando Brown.
- Ingrid Third - Fillmore's partner in combating the crimes perpetrated against the inhabitants of X Middle School. Third is the new girl (the originally produced first episode, Ingrid Third, Public Enemy #1, chronicled Ingrid's arrival and subsequent partnership with Fillmore), another former delinquent and a certified genius. Ingrid has an photographic memory, a skill which often proves useful in piecing together the complicated strands of a crime. Ingrid uses her intelligence and quick thinking to help catch the crooks. Ingrid dresses like that of a typical goth girl. She also seems to resemble the protagonist Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction because of her general appearance and sayings, such as "Crackers". Third is voiced by Tara Strong.
- Vallejo - Junior Commissioner of the Safety Patrol and Fillmore's immediate superior. His character is based on the 'put-upon captain' typically seen in the genre the cartoon depicts. His first name has never been revealed. He is voiced by Horatio Sanz.
- Karen Tehama - Tehama is the equivalent of a crime scene investigator on the Patrol, with a keen interest in forensics. She is voiced by Lauren Tom.
- Joseph Anza - He is partnered with Karen Tehama. Though he does not have a specialization on the force, he frequently appears in the series. He is voiced by Danny Tamberelli.
- Danny O'Farrell - The scene photographer for the Patrol, O'Farrell is often seen with Tehama as the first on the scene of any investigation. Oddly quirky, he has a tendency to get on other people's nerves. He is usually the source of gags. He is voiced by Kyle Sullivan.
- Wayne Liggit - Fillmore's former partner. Liggit was the patrolman who originally caught Fillmore, and persuaded him to turn his life around. Liggit's family moved to Tennessee shortly before the series began, although the character did reappear in two episodes. The first episode which he appeared on was Ingrid Third: Public Enemy #1, where he only appeared for a short while reading a letter from Fillmore, while in the second, South of Friendship, North of Honor, the episode was set in Liggit's new school, where Fillmore travels over there during Spring Break. He is voiced by Lukas Behnken.
- Principal Dawn Folsom - The X Middle School principal. She is voiced by Wendie Malick.
- Vice Principal Donald Raycliff - The vice principal of X Middle School. He is voiced by Jeff Probst.
Trivia
- All of the main characters are named after real streets in San Francisco.
- The theme music was written and performed by flik band Ookla the Mok and appears on their album Super Secret as the intro to the song "Das Über Tüber, or the Mystery of Mr. P.," which is about a showdown between Mr. Potato Head and Hugo, Man of a Thousand Faces.
- The episode, Of Slain Kings on Checkered Fields is the only episode in the series with flirting and romantic references (though quite minimal).
- Some fans believe that Ingrid secretly has romantic feelings for Fillmore, and/or vice-versa. This most likely stems from them being best friends, a factor that usually leads to romance in Disney television shows. Ingrid and Fillmore were never shown becoming a couple on the series itself; therefore, this is a case of shipping.
- The entire episode, To Mar A Stall (in which the officers track a graffiti vandal) is based on the Thomas Harris novel The Silence of the Lambs. To catch the perpetrator, Ingrid and Fillmore visit a genius art student named Randal Julian (an obvious Hannibal Lecter analogue) who was once the dreaded vandal 'Flava Sava', a.k.a Randal the Vandal (similar to Lecter's nickname - Hannibal the Cannibal). Like Lecter, he manages to escape in the episode, causing destruction as he left. Like Lecter, he is also capable of noticing key facts with incredible ease. For example, when shown a picture of the first tag, he can instantly detect that the vandal writes from right to left.
- The announcer of the show, appearing at the beginning of each of the three acts of episodes, is voiced by longtime voiceover actor Don Lafontaine.
This show had an ironic moment because the vice principal mentioned a get of school pass as "An immunity idol." This is ironic because, the vice principal is Jeff Probst.