''The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue'' is a 1997 American
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
. Unlike other novellas in "The Brave Little Toaster" lineup, it is the first film not to be based on the novella of the same name by
Thomas M. Disch
Thomas Michael Disch (February 2, 1940 – July 4, 2008) was an American science fiction author and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book – previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book" – in 1999, and he had two other Hugo nomination ...
. It is the sequel to ''
The Brave Little Toaster
''The Brave Little Toaster'' is a 1987 American animated musical film directed by Jerry Rees. It is based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Thomas M. Disch. The film stars Deanna Oliver, Timothy E. Day, Jon Lovitz, Tim Stack, and Thu ...
'' (1987). The film was released
direct-to-video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
on May 20, 1997, in the United Kingdom and on May 25, 1999, in the United States by
Walt Disney Home Video
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...
.
A sequel, ''
The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars
''The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars'' is a 1998 American animated musical film. It is based on the 1988 novella of the same name by Thomas M. Disch. It is the sequel to ''The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue'' (1997). The film was released ...
'', was released in 1998, which was strangely released first as the film took place after ''To the Rescue'' when Rob McGoarty became a father.
Plot
Rob McGoarty, the owner of the appliances, and the one referred to as "The Master", is in his last days of college while simultaneously working at a veterinary clinic. One night, while finishing his
thesis
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
, his computer crashes due to a
computer virus
A computer virus is a type of computer program that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code. If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected" with a compu ...
. The appliances, along with a rat named Ratso, seek to help Rob by finding and reversing the effects of his computer virus. Meanwhile, Mack, Rob's lab assistant, plots to sell the injured animals Rob had been tending to a
Santa Clarita
Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17t ...
laboratory named "Tartarus Laboratories". The appliances discover an abandoned, old prototype TLW-728 supercomputer named Wittgenstein in the basement. Wittgenstein reveals that he is living on one rare vacuum tube, a WFC-11-12-55, due to being infected by a computer virus. The appliances learn that unless they find a replacement quickly, Wittgenstein's vacuum tube will blow and lead to his death.
In an attempt to return Wittgenstein to his full capacity, Radio and Ratso go to the storage building of the college to find the WFC-11-12-55 tube. However, when Radio and Ratso return with the tube, they accidentally break it during an argument. Wittgenstein does his best to survive, but the virus causes him to blow his remaining tube and he dies. Guilt-ridden over condemning the animals to their doom at Tartarus Laboratories, Radio gives up his own tube, sacrificing himself. The appliances install Radio's tube in Wittgenstein and he wakes up with boosted power that regenerates all of his other tubes and destroys all the viruses within him. The appliances and Wittgenstein alert Rob and his girlfriend, Chris, to Mack's scheme. The appliances create a makeshift vehicle out of a modem, an office cart, and a car battery and pursue Mack's truck with Rob, Chris, and some guard dogs sent by Wittgenstein following them. They manage to lure the police to the front of the truck (causing the appliances to crash into the back) and have Mack arrested. After discovering the appliances in the truck, Rob and Chris assume that Mack had also planned to sell Rob's stuff, but Rob wonders where Radio is. Later, they discover Wittgenstein and Radio in the basement, but Rob is dismayed that Radio's tube is missing. Rob proposes to Chris and she replaces Radio's tube with a new one she found in
Nome, reviving him. Wittgenstein restores Rob's thesis and is later sold to a museum to be upgraded with modern technology. In the end, all of the animals are adopted by new owners except Ratso, who Rob and Chris decide to keep as their pet. They leave college with their appliances and Ratso, planning to start a new and happy life together.
Voice cast
*
Deanna Oliver
Deanna Oliver (born September 27, 1952) is an American actress and writer. She hails from Spokane, Washington. Oliver performed the voice of Toaster in the film ''The Brave Little Toaster'' (1987) and its sequels. In addition, she was a writer o ...
as Toaster, an inspiring pop-up two-slice
toaster
A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast.
Types
Pop-up toaster
In pop-up or automatic toasters, a single vertical piece of bread is dropped into a slot on the top of the toaster. ...
who is the leader of the clan of small appliances. Toaster is courageous, intelligent, kind, thoughtful, and warmhearted.
*
Timothy Stack
Timothy Clifton Stack (born November 21, 1954) is an American actor, producer and screenwriter.
Life and career Education
Timothy was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the son of Joan and Tom Stack. He graduated from the Philadelphia-area Unive ...
as Lampy, an easily impressed yet slightly irascible desktop
gooseneck lamp
A gooseneck lamp is a type of light fixture in which a lamp or lightbulb is attached to a flexible, adjustable shaft known as a " gooseneck" to allow the user to position the light source without moving the fixture or item to be illuminated. Goo ...
. He is bright but tends to be ironically dimwitted, though he has a couple of good points.
*
Roger Kabler
Roger Kabler is an American actor.
Career
In early 1990s ads, Kabler was known as the fedora-wearing " Zima guy". Aside from the fedora, his gimmick involved replacing "S" sounds with "Z" sounds, reinforcing the slogan "Zomething different."
On ...
as Radio, a wisecracking dial A.M.
radio alarm clock whose personality parodies loud and pretentious announcers.
*
Eric Lloyd
Eric Lloyd (born David Eric Lloyd Morelli; May 19, 1986) is an American actor, musician, and producer. Lloyd is best known for work as a child actor in such roles as Charlie Calvin in Disney's ''The Santa Clause'' film trilogy and the follow-u ...
as Blanky, an
electric blanket
An electric blanket is a blanket that contains integrated electrical heating wires. Types include underblankets, overblankets, throws, and duvets. An electric ''underblanket'' is placed above the mattress and below the bottom bed sheet. This is ...
with an innocent demeanor.
*
Thurl Ravenscroft
Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft (; February 6, 1914May 22, 2005) was an American actor and bass singer. He was known as one of the booming voices behind Kellogg's Frosted Flakes animated spokesman Tony the Tiger for more than five decades. He was al ...
as the Kirby, a very deep-voiced, individualistic upright
vacuum cleaner
A vacuum cleaner, also known simply as a vacuum or a hoover, is a device that causes suction in order to remove dirt from floors, upholstery, draperies, and other surfaces. It is generally electrically driven.
The dirt is collected by either a ...
who dons a cynical, cantankerous attitude towards the other appliances.
*
Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Murray (born October 31, 1945), known professionally by his stage name as Brian Doyle-Murray, is an American actor, voice-actor and screenwriter. He has appeared with his younger brother, actor/comedian Bill Murray, in several movies, i ...
as Wittgenstein, a prototype vacuum-tube-based
supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
. He is powered by a very rare cathode radio tube called the WFC-11-12-55. He was outmoded when transistors were invented. By the start of the film, he is infected with a computer virus, causing him to function improperly.
*
Chris Young as Master Rob McGroarty, a university student, and the original human owner of the five appliances.
*
Jessica Tuck
Jessica Tuck is an American actress, best known for her performances on television as Megan Gordon Harrison on the ABC soap opera ''One Life to Live'', Gillian Gray in the CBS drama series ''Judging Amy,'' and as Nan Flanagan on the HBO series ...
as Chris, Rob's tomboyish, supportive girlfriend.
*
Alfre Woodard
Alfre Woodard (; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards (tying the record for the most acting Emmys won by an African-American performer, along with Regina King), ...
as Maisie, she is a sweet
cat
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
and protective of her three kittens. Though she initially did not like Ratso because of his rude behavior, by the end of the film, they become good friends.
*
Andy Milder
Andy Milder (born August 16, 1969) is an American actor.
Career
He has appeared in such films as ''Apollo 13'', ''Armageddon'', ''Rumor Has It…'', '' Frost/Nixon'', ''Transformers'', and '' Domino''. He was a series regular on ''Fame L.A.'' ...
as Ratso, a
rat who is initially angry about being kept as a
pet
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...
by Rob. He is rude to almost everyone, but as the movie progresses, Ratso's heart begins to warm to others.
*
Jonathan Benair as Jim Bob, the assistant of Mack McCro. He and Mack plan to take the animals to Tartarus Laboratory.
*
Eddie Bracken
Edward Vincent Bracken (February 7, 1915 – November 14, 2002) was an American actor. Bracken became a Hollywood comedy legend with lead performances in the films '' Hail the Conquering Hero'' and '' The Miracle of Morgan's Creek'' both from ...
as Sebastian the Monkey, an old
monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
who was the victim of the cruel experiments of Tartarus Laboratories and as a result has a mutilated and bandaged hand.
*
Andrew Daly
Andrew J. Daly (born April 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred as Forrest MacNeil on the Comedy Central series ''Review'', and had a supporting role in the HBO comedy series '' Eastbound & Down'' as Terrence Cutler. ...
as Murgatroid, a friendly
snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...
who speaks with a heavy
sibilance
Sibilants are fricative consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words ''sip'', ''zip'', ''ship'', and ...
.
*
Eddie Deezen
Edward Harry Deezen (born March 6, 1957) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his roles as "nerd" characters in films including '' Grease'', ''Grease 2'', '' Midnight Madness'', ''I Wanna Hold Your Hand'', ''1941'', and ''WarGames''. ...
as Charlie
*
Paddi Edwards
Paddi Edwards (December 9, 1931 – October 18, 1999) was a British-American actress. She worked steadily in film and television.
Career
She found a niche in television movies, and toward the end of her life, doing voice work in projects fo ...
as Lab Computer
* Marc Allen Lewis as Security Guard
* Ross Mapletoft as Modem
*
Kevin Meaney
Kevin Gerard Meaney (April 23, 1956 – October 21, 2016) was an American stand-up comedian and actor.
Early life
Meaney graduated from Valhalla High School in Westchester County, New York, and attended State University of New York at Mor ...
as Computer, a
home computer who lives in Rob's house.
*
Victoria Jackson
Victoria Jackson (born August 2, 1959) is an American actress, comedian, and singer who was a cast member of the NBC television sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (SNL) from 1986 to 1992.
Early life
Jackson was born in Miami, Florida ...
as Mouse, a
mouse
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
.
*
Jay Mohr
Jon Ferguson "Jay" Mohr (born August 23, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and radio host. He is known for his roles as film producer Peter Dragon in the TV comedy series '' Action'', Professor Rick Payne in the TV series ''Ghost Whisperer'' ...
as Mack McCro, the former assistant of Rob McGroarty. Unlike the latter, he doesn't care about animals' feelings. He only cares about making money and intends to sell the animals (which Rob has been taking care of) to Tartarus Laboratories.
*
Danny Nucci
Daniel Nucci (born September 15, 1968) is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles in blockbuster films, including his roles as Danny Rivetti in ''Crimson Tide'' (1995), Lieutenant Shepard in ''The Rock'' (1996), Deputy Monr ...
as Alberto, a
Chihuahua with a broken leg who speaks with a
Mexican accent.
* Laurel Green as Campus Student
*
Neil Ross
Neil David Ross is a British-American voice actor and announcer. Noted for his Trans-Atlantic accent, he has provided voices in many American cartoons, most notably ''Voltron'', '' G.I. Joe'', and ''Transformers'', as well as video games, incl ...
as Security Camera and Police Man
*
B.J. Ward as Police Lady
*
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...
as the
Doberman
The Dobermann (; ), or Doberman Pinscher in the United States and Canada, is a medium-large breed of domestic dog that was originally developed around 1890 by Louis Dobermann, a tax collector from Germany.[Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress. She is the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', for which she has received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Perform ...]
as Virus
*
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...
as Homebuilt Computer
Songs
Alexander Janko composed the film's score. In addition to the original songs, "
I'm Into Something Good
"I'm into Something Good" is a song composed by Gerry Goffin (lyrics) and Carole King (music) and made famous by Herman's Hermits. The song was originally recorded (as "I'm into Somethin' Good") by Cookies member Earl-Jean on Colpix Records ...
" by
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat, rock and pop group formed in 1964 in Manchester, originally called Herman and His Hermits and featuring lead singer Peter Noone. Produced by Mickie Most, the Hermits charted with number ones in the UK a ...
is played at the film's opening.
Notes
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue, The
1997 animated films
1997 direct-to-video films
1997 films
1990s American animated films
1990s fantasy adventure films
1990s musical films
American sequel films
American children's animated adventure films
American children's animated comedy films
American children's animated fantasy films
American direct-to-video films
American children's animated musical films
American fantasy adventure films
Direct-to-video animated films
Direct-to-video interquel films
Direct-to-video sequel films
Films set in the 1980s
Buena Vista Home Entertainment direct-to-video films
Hyperion Pictures films
Animated films about rats
Films with screenplays by Willard Carroll
1990s children's animated films
The Brave Little Toaster
Films produced by Donald Kushner
The Kushner-Locke Company films
1990s English-language films