Who is your favorite character voiced by John Ratzenberger and why?
Hamm/Hamm Truck
P.T. Flea/P.T. Flea Car
Yeti/Abominable Snowplow
Fish School
Underminer
Mack
Mustafa
John
Construction Foreman Tom
Gordon
Harland
0voters
Hi guys! Well, just to spice things up, I thought I’d start a poll in honor of John Ratzenberger’s fabulous voice-over work in the Pixar films. Please select one option and if you don’t mind, explain why you like him as that particular character. Also, even though you are only allowed one option, you are allowed to change your vote if you’d like.
Also feel free to discuss any of his characters whose roles you didn’t really like or wish you could have seen more of.
So what do you guys think? If this turns out nicely, I have another poll in mind. Enjoy!
EDIT: Okay, so I changed it so that you can vote for as many characters as you’d like, but I also encourage diversity which could be interesting. And don’t be afraid to say why each character he voices is equally as great as the others. I personally think I probably won’t have a favorite. I’m just curious to know what you guys think of the characters he plays.
Oh, thanks so much guys! I thought nobody was going to see this thread!
I have to say my favorite is Hamm. In a lot of cases, the first is the best, and it’s kind of true for me here. Hamm is just so sarcastic but charming. He seems careless but you can tell he’s a great friend and ready to show any knowledge he has. I love Hamm and he does have the best lines out of any of the characters. My other favorites are all the ones he voiced up to Mack. Still though, John’s the reason Pixar’s luck hasn’t actually run out yet!
One thing my family likes is when he says, “Eeeehhh…” in place of something like “um,” or “well,”. It’s like a funny placeholder he uses when he’s transitioning his thoughts, but it’s classic John and used for a couple of characters like Hamm and Fish School. I just laugh when he makes that little noise.
Meanwhile, thought I’d share who John Ratzenberger votes for. He once actually explained which character was his favorite Pixar role and why. It’s P.T. Flea from A Bug’s Life! He says:
“…in real life I always get a kick out of those kinds of characters, people who just go into a rage for [no] explicable reason. He was always on edge. His blood pressure was always way over the top, and everything that he did was done in a panicked state. So it was a lot of fun to play him.”
I find that they’re all favorites of mine. Of course, you guys know by now that I can’t play favorites with Pixar… But when I think about some of his best roles, Hamm, Yeti, and Mack most often come to mind, so we could just say that they’re my top faves.
^He’s the unfortunate guard who got slammed in the door when all the clans came in. His accent does make it trickier, but I knew it was him when he made this all-too-familar shout of pain… XD
Btw, he got a voice in Planes!! He part got to say more than I would’ve guessed! Apparently Mr. Ratzenberg ran into Mr. Lasseter at DisneyToon and thus, he’s an awesome pitty now
He has one line. (It’s not truly a spoiler as the whole thing takes about 30 seconds long. I’m just covering it for the sake of other members): [spoil]Dusty asks him for directions, and he (Harland) gives this long description of how to get there, only for another plane to sum up his line in just a few words, I believe.[/spoil] You’ll know it’s him, it’s about 20 minutes into the movie. Perhaps you could say he’s one of the highlights of the movie (El Chupacabra’s parts definitely are)?
By the way, I just added Harland to the poll! Just note that he is the only non-Pixar character, but hey, why not include him?
EDIT: Oh no! I just deleted everyone’s votes when I added Harland!
I’m sorry about that. You can re-vote if you want, or you don’t have to. That was my bad, and I apologize.
I had heard ahead of time that he was going to have a voice in Planes, and I once I heard his voice, I had the geekiest, happiest look on my face I thought he did an awesome job playing Harland… it’d be great if he’d make a return appearance of some sort in Planes 2, but either way, we now can look forward to hearing him as Hamm again!