Mister Peabody


Hector J. Peabody is an anthropomorphic cartoon dog who appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s television animated series The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, produced by Jay Ward. Peabody appeared in the "Peabody's Improbable History" segments created by Ted Key, and was voiced by Bill Scott. In 2014, he was featured in a computer-animated film, Mr. Peabody & Sherman. From 2015 to 2017, he appeared in a television series based on the film.
Mr. Peabody's first name is never given or referred to in the cartoons, but in an animated promotion for the Rocky & Bullwinkle Savings Stamp Club he tells Sherman that it is "Hector".

''Peabody's Improbable History''

Plot

The cartoons are about Peabody, who is the smartest being in existence, having graduated from Harvard at age 3. Peabody has accomplished many things in his life as a business magnate, inventor, scientist, Nobel laureate, gourmand, and two-time Olympic medalist. Peabody becomes sad and lonely and decides to adopt his own human as a son. In an alley, he meets Sherman, a bespectacled, red-haired boy. After saving Sherman from a group of bullies, Peabody discovers that Sherman is an orphan and decides to adopt him.
After a court appearance and a talk with the President and the government, Peabody becomes Sherman's new guardian. Mr. Peabody tells Sherman not to call him "Daddy" and to call him by his name, "Mr. Peabody", or, when speaking informally, "Peabody".
Believing that boys need running room, Peabody invents the WABAC machine as a birthday gift for Sherman. He and Sherman go back in time to see a Roman speaking in Latin; Peabody adds a translator circuit to the machine so that everyone seems to speak English. They see the Roman again and learn that he is a used-chariot salesman. Their next trip is to see Ben Franklin flying his kite that proved lightning was electricity, but Peabody and Sherman discover that they cannot interact with the past. Peabody makes some more adjustments, turning the WayBac into a "should-have-been machine". This causes past events to seem distorted and anachronistic and famous people to behave out of character. Each of the cartoons usually ends with Mr. Peabody making a bad pun.
Mr. Peabody's face and voice caricature Clifton Webb, whose role as Mr. Belvedere is a similarly pompous, authoritarian, know-it-all character.

Episodes

This is the list of 91 episodes which aired in 1959 and 1960:
  1. "Show Opening"
  2. "Napoleon"
  3. "Lord Nelson"
  4. "Wyatt Earp"
  5. "King Arthur"
  6. "Franz Schubert"
  7. "Lucrezia Borgia"
  8. "Sir Walter Raleigh"
  9. "Robert Fulton"
  10. "Annie Oakley"
  11. "Jesse James"
  12. "The Wright brothers"
  13. "George Armstrong Custer"
  14. "Alfred Nobel"
  15. "Marco Polo"
  16. "Richard the Lionhearted"
  17. "Don Juan"
  18. "William Tecumseh Sherman"
  19. "First Kentucky Derby"
  20. "P. T. Barnum"
  21. "Stanley and Livingstone"
  22. "Louis Pasteur"
  23. "Robin Hood"
  24. "Robinson Crusoe"
  25. "Ponce de León"
  26. "Leonardo da Vinci"
  27. "John L. Sullivan"
  28. "Paul Revere"
  29. "Confucius"
  30. "Nero"
  31. "Captain Matthew Clift"
  32. "Vasco Núñez de Balboa"
  33. "Peter Cooper"
  34. "The Battle of Bunker Hill"
  35. "The Pony Express"
  36. "Stephen Decatur"
  37. "Alexander Graham Bell"
  38. "Commander Peary"
  39. "Pancho Villa"
  40. "Lord Francis Douglas"
  41. "Sitting Bull"
  42. "Christopher Columbus"
  43. "The French Foreign Legion"
  44. "Guglielmo Marconi"
  45. "Scotland Yard"
  46. "John Holland"
  47. "Louis XVI"
  48. "Francisco Pizarro"
  49. "Daniel Boone"
  50. "William Shakespeare"
  51. "Zebulon Pike"
  52. "The First Golf Match"
  53. "William Tell"
  54. "James McNeill Whistler"
  55. "Ferdinand Magellan"
  56. "Ludwig van Beethoven"
  57. "Calamity Jane"
  58. "Cornwallis' Surrender"
  59. "The First Indian Nickel"
  60. "Jules Verne"
  61. "Casanova"
  62. "Lawrence of Arabia"
  63. "Bonnie Prince Charlie"
  64. "Paul Reuter"
  65. "Johannes Gutenberg"
  66. "Buffalo Bill"
  67. "Hans Christian Ørsted"
  68. "Leif Ericson"
  69. "John Sutter"
  70. "Sir Isaac Newton"
  71. "Kit Carson"
  72. "The First Caveman"
  73. "Geronimo"
  74. "The Great Wall of China"
  75. "The Marquis of Queensbury"
  76. "Jim Bowie"
  77. "Edgar Allan Poe"
  78. "Charge of the Light Brigade"
  79. "The Royal Mounted Police"
  80. "The First Bullfight"
  81. "The Building of The Great Pyramid"
  82. "John James Audubon"
  83. "Mata Hari"
  84. "Galileo"
  85. "Wellington At Waterloo"
  86. "Florence Nightingale"
  87. "Henry the VIII"
  88. "The First Indianapolis Auto Race"
  89. "Captain Kidd"
  90. "The Texas Rangers"
  91. "Cleopatra"

    Film

An animated feature film based on the characters of Mister Peabody and Sherman had been in development at DreamWorks Animation since 2007. The feature was directed by Rob Minkoff, who is known for co-directing The Lion King for Disney. In January 2011, it was announced that a 3-D computer animated film titled Mr. Peabody & Sherman would be released on March 14, 2014. Robert Downey Jr. was announced to voice Mr. Peabody, but in March 2012, was replaced by Ty Burrell. Max Charles, the actor who plays young Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man voiced Sherman. In June 2012, it was reported that Mr. Peabody & Sherman's release date had been moved up to November 8, 2013. Stephen Colbert voiced Paul Peterson, Penny's father; Leslie Mann voiced Peterson's wife, Patty, and Ariel Winter voiced their daughter Penny. Also joining the cast were Allison Janney and Stephen Tobolowsky. In September 2012, the release date was moved up for a week to November 1, 2013. It finally had an official release on March 7, 2014. The film was produced by Alex Schwartz and Denise Cascino, and written by Craig Wright.
The film focused much more on Mr. Peabody and Sherman's personal lives that prompt a series of time-traveling mishaps with the WABAC machine, forcing the pair to put things on track before the space-time continuum is irreparably destroyed.
Unlike the show, Mr. Peabody treats Sherman as a beloved son, whom he adopted as an infant rather than a pet and assistant, and the machine is more futuristic with an autonomous aircraft function. Also, a third member of the team is introduced, Penny, who is Sherman's rival and later, best friend and love interest.

''The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show''

An animated television series, starring Mr. Peabody and Sherman, premiered in October 2015, on Netflix. It takes the form of a talk show named The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show, with Mr. Peabody and Sherman hosting historical guests. The series is inspired by the 1960s short segments, including their hand-drawn animation and comedy, and it also integrates some elements from the 2014 film. Mr. Peabody is voiced by Chris Parnell, while Max Charles reprises his role as Sherman from the film. In this series, Peabody's family is further explored, with his foster parents appearing in the first season's episode nine, and his distant Uncle Duke appearing in a time travel adventure in the fourth season's episode six.

Appearances

Television shows