Great Characters: Toaster (“The Brave Little Toaster”)
Before there was Toy Story, there was a wondrous little animated movie called The Brave Little Toaster. Released in 1987, here is an IMDB summary of the story:
A toaster, a blanket, a lamp, a radio, and a vacuum cleaner journey to the city to find their master after being abandoned in their cabin in the woods.
The Protagonist and lead character in the story is Toaster:
Being a toaster, he is a warm-hearted little fellow. And of all the appliances, he is the most committed to finding The Master, the boy of the family who they had seen grow up since a child and now heading off to college (if the plot sounds strangely reminiscent to Toy Story 3, you are not the first person to make that connection).
With a screenplay by Jerry Rees & Joe Ranft, based on a screen story by Rees, Ranft, and Brian McEntee and the Thomas M. Disch novella “The Brave Little Toaster: A Bedtime Story for Small Appliances,” and music by David Newman and songs by Van Dyke Parks, this represents the little animated movie that could.
The appliances, led by Toaster, go on a classic hero’s journey with plenty of twists and turns, obstacles and roadblocks, leading to quite a Final Struggle:
I had the opportunity to work on a project with the director and co-writer of the movie Jerry Rees and he shared some great stories about the making of the movie, as the filmmakers had to go on their own hero’s journey to see the thing through to the end, money and time was so tight.
There’s some tragedy attached to the movie. Phil Hartman, who provided the voice for two characters, was killed in 1998. And Joe Ranft, who later went on to work on many movies at Pixar, died in a car crash in 2005.
There are so many great moments in this gem of a movie, but one of my favorites is a conversation between Toaster and Lampy:
Lampy: So… uh… what’s this thing with you and the Blanket?
Toaster: What thing?
Lampy: You know. All of a sudden, you’re being so darned NICE to him all of a sudden.
Toaster: Oh, that. I was just thinking, and I got this feeling I should be nicer to him for a change, you know? And now I feel better.
Lampy: Wow, that’s weird.
Toaster: What’s weird about it?
Lampy: I don’t know. I mean, you were never this nice to him before, and all of a sudden now you’re nice to him all the time, and I don’t know. I’m, uh, I’m just trying to understand, trying to figure out, what it all means.
Toaster: Well, it’s kind of hard to describe. It’s like being next to a new loaf of bread.
Lampy looks puzzled.
Toaster: Hmmm. It’s, um, let’s see… it’s like a warm, toasty feeling inside.
Lampy scratches his head.
Toaster: It’s like a glow…
Lampy: A glow!
Toaster: Yeah.
Lampy: I think I know what you’re talking about! It’s like the feeling I get when I think about the Master.
Each of the character’s core essence is tied directly to what type of appliance they are. That is how they see the world and the writers did a great job of developing the characters accordingly.
Here’s a toast to Toaster, our first animated member of the Great Character series… and certainly not the last.
Any fans of The Brave Little Toaster?
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