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AFAIK, the excellent imdb.com does not credit animal actors, nor their trainers etc., and there is next to no way to search for a minor character in a short cartoon by genre, description, image thumbnail, etc. There is a whole mine of trivia/ephemera here that is in danger of being buried by time and
apathy. We need an online database to remedy this.
Big Cartoon Database
http://www.bcdb.com/
Seems to be the closest thing available for cartoons at least, with detailed information on individual episodes of many popular shows. [kropotkin, Oct 04 2004]
[link]
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There are probably agents that specialize in this. But seems like a good idea+ |
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I like the idea, but I'm not sure. Animals I can completely
see, because they are a unique entity that cannot be
changed or transformed at a whim. IMDB should consider
this, I propose, rather than creating an entirely new
IMDB. |
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Cartoon characters, on the other hand, are a different
story. Would we search "Steamboat Willie" or "Mickey
Mouse" ? Where the line is drawn and how it's drawn
seems a little curious. Also, what about robots and
animatronic characters ? What about non-cartoon "clay"
characters? Usually the voice is credited. |
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I was asked 'what was that fat cat called in a cartoon some years ago, like a balloon, mostly body, no head, black and white?' The reason was they wanted to name their new pet after this particular icon. An internet search revealed millions of "fat cat" references, mostly for Garfield and a character called "Fat Cat" etc. Impossible task.
Clay, computer generated and other types of animation are also valid genres for this type of database. Anime is hugely popular globally, and for all I know, there are Japanese anime character databases already.
Not all characters have names, and can only be defined by description and the role they play in a particular movie or scene. But they have identities, and those have influenced later characterisations or have become different characters in later works and should not be lost to posterity. The database should be able to identify the evolutionary path to "Mickey Mouse" via "Mortimer Mouse" and "Steamboat Willie". The great thing about databases is that you bring together the relationships rather than draw the line.
Character voices are part of the character, but the same actor's voice may do all of the characters in a film or a series. The voice may be done over a period of years by different voice actors. Moreover many characters do not have voices. |
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The Big Cartoon Database (see link) does this for cartoons. There are episode-by-episode listings for shows from Scooby-Doo to Daria with crew, lists of characters appearing, synopses, casts, etc. |
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As you can guess by the name, it doesn't cover live action shows with animal stars. |
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Thank you kropotkin, for this useful link |
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