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The Brave Little Toaster
Directed by	Jerry Rees
Produced by	Willard Carroll Donald Kushner Thomas L. Wilhite
Written by	Thomas M. Disch (book and story) Brian McEntee (story) Joe Ranft (story)
Starring	Jon Lovitz Tim Stack Timothy E. Day Thurl Ravenscroft Deanna Oliver
Music by	David Newman Van Dyke Parks
Cinematography	20th Century Fox
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures Walt Disney Home Video
Release date(s)	July 10, 1987
Running time	90 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$2.3 million[1]
Followed by	The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Brave Little Toaster is an animated film from 1987, directed by Jerry Rees, written by Thomas M. Disch, and produced by Hyperion Pictures. The story followed five household appliances—Lampy (a lamp), Blanky (an electric blanket), Radio (a radio), Kirby (a vacuum cleaner), and the Toaster (a toaster)—on their quest to find their owner, Rob (also referred to as "The Master").

The film was based on the novel of the same name, written by Disch, which first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1980. Although appearing in a general circulation magazine, the story was written in the style of a children's fable. It was one of the most popular science fiction and fantasy stories of the early 1980s, and was nominated for both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award for Best Novel. In 1988, it was the first animated film to be exhibited at the Sundance Film Festival, and the only one for 10 years until 1998's I Married a Strange Person.

Two of the voice actors, Jon Lovitz (Radio) and Phil Hartman (several characters), were then-current cast members of Saturday Night Live. Another, Thurl Ravenscroft (Kirby), was best remembered as the voice of Tony the Tiger.

Many members of Pixar Studios were involved with this film, including John Lasseter, whose trademark A113 appears on Master's door, and Joe Ranft. Lampy is the predecessor to the desk lamps found in Luxo Jr..

Also, the music of the movie had a more contemporary sound than many traditional musicals.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Production 4 Release 5 Comparisons to Book 6 See also 7 References 8 Sources 9 External links

The film opens with a slow pan into a seemingly abandoned cabin in the woods. A radio activates and begins to give the news as the other appliances (a lamp, an electric blanket, a vacuum cleaner, an air conditioner, and a toaster) wake up. Viewers learn that they have been left in the woods for many years by their master, a young child. Every time a car passes, they swarm to an overlooking window, hoping that he has returned. This is to the great amusement of the Air Conditioner, who was always jealous that the master played more with the others than himself. When the others confront him, he becomes furious and blows a fuse.

After the five appliances find out that the cabin is for sale, implying the coming of a new master, the Toaster announces that they must go out to find their own master. Using an office chair pulled by Kirby, the vacuum cleaner, the group sets out into the world, heading for the "City of Light". The Radio acts as a navigator.

That night, the appliances enact the first of many fights, having found themselves slightly off-course. The Toaster suggests that they sleep until morning. Blanky (the electric blanket) crawls around the others, wanting to sleep with someone as is his habit, but is refused by all, even the Toaster. He finally falls asleep hugging a picture of the master that he brought along.

In the morning, the group finds themselves in a colorful meadow that is home to many curious animals who have presumably never seen appliances before. When their attention becomes too much for Toaster, he hides in the forest, only to find a lonely flower. The flower sees its reflection on the Toaster's metal surface and embraces it. The Toaster flees in confusion, only to look back to find the flower has wilted. Afterwards, he decides to be nicer to Blanky because of this.

Leaving the meadow, the group camps out in the woods. Lampy, feeling awkward, asks the Toaster the reason for which he (Toaster) is being kind to Blanky. After several failed attempts to explain by making similar the emotion of compassion to warmth, the Toaster describes the feeling he has as a glow. Lampy, understanding, recalls feeling the same way when he thinks about the master.

The Toaster has a nightmare about being reunited with the master only to have him taken away by a puff of smoke. A demonic evil clown (dressed as a firefighter) then emerges and attacks the appliance with a stream of water in the form of flying forks. The Toaster wakes up as he falls into a bathtub, to find that a storm is brewing in reality. Blanky is swept up by a gust of wind and disappears into the night. The others try to follow him, but their batteries cease to support them. Remembering the description of compassion, Lampy risks his life by acting as a lightning rod to conduct electricity.

The next morning, Lampy is revived and Kirby helps Blanky out of a tree, into which he had been blown by the wind. However, although the others are friends now, the long-aloof Kirby still distances himself from them. When they reach a waterfall, Kirby almost swallows his own power cord. After calming him down, the group attempts to cross by climbing across via their cords. Unfortunately, they slip and fall, leaving only Kirby on the cliffs as he watches the others plunge towards the water. The vacuum finally shows his love for his friends by saving them. When they come to shore, they realize that, although safe, they are completely lost.

After the waterfall peril, the group finds themselves sinking in mud. Radio is the last to submerge; he therefore plays a final song ("Mammy"). A rotund man, Elmo St. Peters, overhears this and pulls the appliances out. They are taken to a junk shop, where they are told by the many appliances there that life is a precarious, frightening situation for them (like a "B-Movie"), largely because Elmo is prone to dismantle any appliance on which he lays his hands and sell its components.

A customer comes in and asks for radio tubes, putting Radio in danger. As Elmo begins to cheerfully take him apart, the other four decide to break the unwritten appliance code of never coming to life in the presence of a human. They dress as a ghost to scare Elmo away. The plan works; the group (along with every other appliance in the shop) escapes. Traveling through the night, they finally make it to the city.

Meanwhile, we find the master, Rob, who is now much older, being eighteen and getting ready to leave for college. Because he needs appliances for his dormitory, he returns to the cabin in search of the protagonists.

As Rob and his laconic girlfriend, Chris, leave, the appliances find their way to his apartment. The "Cutting Edge" appliances inside decide to dump the newcomers into a wastebin assuming Rob will take them to college instead because of their greater technological sophistication.

Rob finds the cabin empty, fixes the Air Conditioner, and goes home in dejection. Hope is not lost; the Black and White TV, a good friend of the protagonistic appliances, broadcasts advertisements for the dump where the appliances have been taken, advertising it as an attractive store.

The appliances, meanwhile, find themselves being stalked through the junkyard full of "Worthless" cars by a Giant Magnetic Crane, who intends stubbornly to drop them into a Trash Compactor. As the Crane grabs car after car, the cars recite their histories to the dismayed protagonists. Rob arrives in time to save the appliances (aside from the Toaster, whom he does not see). As he is leaving, the Magnet comes down and grabs them all, including Rob, and drops them on a conveyor belt delivering objects for the Trash Compactor. The Toaster jumps into the Compactor's gears and manages to stop the machine from destroying his friends.

Rob fixes the Toaster and loads the appliances into his car. The group is finally reunited with their master; all drive into the distance for a happy ending.

Toaster (voiced by Deanna Oliver), is the main character. He is brave despite his fear of water, which is common to any appliance. He is the leader of the group, often breaking up fights between Lampy and Radio, and trying his best to cheer up Blanky when he is depressed. Toaster's gender is unclear, even though the character was masculine in the novel.

Lampy (voiced by Tim Stack), is an orange and yellow desktop lamp. Whenever Lampy is annoyed by Radio, which is often, the two always wind up fighting. Lampy can lose patience when his light bulb burns out or breaks. Lampy is said to be the most useful of all of the appliances to "the Master." He is the only appliance who is clearly literate, as he was seen reading an address book, and in The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, he writes a list of items to take on the trip. He has no arms, but can use his electric cord and his plug as hands. His moment of glory came when he electrocuted himself during a lightning storm to get more power for the group's battery. He tends to repeat himself, as in sentences such as "All of a sudden you're being so nice to him all of a sudden".

Radio (voiced by Jon Lovitz) is a tube-based radio (the rare WFC-11-12-55). Radio and Lampy spend much of their time on screen fighting. He is the only appliance character without an anthropmophic face. He speaks through a certain radio channel; when the station is changed, he becomes mute, though he can easily change the station. He loves to narrate his own adventures, frequently making them over-dramatic. Radio sounds like an early 20th century news reporter, making repeated references to that era, such as Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Cab Calloway, the Brooklyn Dodgers and World War II.

Blanky (voiced by Timothy E. Day) is a fuzzy heating blanket. He speaks with the voice of a small child, though he is no younger than any of the others. He has a very simple, childlike mind, and the others treat him much as elder brothers treat their younger brothers; whereas Lampy, Radio, and Kirby tease him mercilessly, Toaster is much more affectionate to him.

Kirby (voiced by Thurl Ravenscroft) is a vacuum cleaner. Although he is heavy, he can float on water. He does not clean up after cats because he is "allergic" to kitty litter, as this is revealed in The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue. Seemingly cantankerous and bossy toward the others, he actually cares very much about them and risks his life to save them several times. His catch phrase is "I just know I'm gonna regret this." Kirby experiences moments of glory, but still denies any affection for them. He has a change of heart by the end of the story.

Air Conditioner (voiced by Phil Hartman) is an appliance that appears at the beginning of the movie. He has lost faith that the master is coming back, and taunts the others for hoping. They say he is only jealous, which sends him into a rage. He overheats and blows himself up. Near the end of the film, he is fixed by the master. Rumor has it that the character of the Air Conditioner is based on Jack Nicholson.

Elmo St. Peters (voiced by Joe Ranft) is the owner of an appliance shop. He has a pet dog named Quadruped, and drives a truck with abnormally large wheels. His habit is to acquire appliances, dismantle them, and sell their component parts, which he misrepresents as the last he had in supply. He could easily be called a villain for the threat he poses to the characters.

Hanging Lamp (voiced by Phil Hartman) The hanging lamp character of Elmo's workshop bears a strong resemblance, both physically and audibly, to Peter Lorre. He is also somewhat physically akin to the Giant Magnet. Although apparently sinister, he is never shown physically harming the protagonists and even gives Lampy a new bulb.

Other Parts Shop Appliances (voiced by The Disney Chorus) include a television, a pencil sharpener, a fan, a megaphone, a lamp (with no shade), a waffle iron, a cassette player, a tape recorder, a popcorn popper, a record player, a coffee pot (which could be considered a "mish-mash"), a stove, and a refridgerator. Although insane, they are by no means evil.

Mish-Mash (voiced by Judy Toll) A "deformed" appliance at the Parts Shop. She is part can opener, part lamp, and part shaver. She cries bloodily "Oh God! I'm a Mish-Mash!"

T.V. (voiced by Jonathan Benair) is an old black and white television that the master brought with him when he first moved out of the cottage and into the city with his family. T.V. is a very friendly fellow, who is overjoyed to see Toaster, Blanky, Lampy, Radio, and Kirby when they arrive at the master's apartment. His anthropomorphic traits differ from those of the other characters; similar to Radio, he communicates via a certain TV channel, on which he displays a newscaster-like man. Like Radio, changing the channel away from this character seems to immobilize him. Later in the story he uses this character to advertise Ernie's Disposal (where the master's jealous new appliances sent the main characters) as a cheap appliance store in an attempt to get the master to go there and hopefully recover the five missing appliances.

Plugsy (voiced by Jim Jackman) is a purple lamp who is one of the Master's jealous appliances responsible for sending Toaster and friends to Ernie's Disposal. Plugsy has a deep voice and a large, round bottom lip. Plugsy from the start agrees with his cutting-edge colleagues to throw away Toaster and his companions. But later, Plugsy learns that the Master still has his love for the five. Plugsy learns from this is that either one way or another, the Master would never take him or any of the other cutting-edge appliances, and Plugsy has a big sad frown on his face.

Other Jealous Cutting Edge Appliances include an entertainment system, a personal computer, a sewing machine, a food processor, a vacuum cleaner, an egg beater, a toaster oven, a telephone, and a boom box. All of them are considerable as "cutting-edge" only according to the standards of that generation wherein the film was made. Their song "Cutting Edge" contrasts strongly with the later "Worthless." Plugsy is the only named character in this group, despite not being hi-tech like the rest.

The Giant Magnet appears near the end of the film at Ernie's Disposal. He happily feeds the Car Crusher by using his magnetic, circular underside to grab anything metallic. When Toaster and the others escape him for the first time, he seems to become very keen on catching them. Although merely performing a job (not unlike Elmo St. Peters) when viewers are first introduced to him, he becomes a true villain, persistently stalking the appliances to ensure their destruction. Silent but deadly; he never utters a word. The Magnet glows golden-yellow when he gets very angry.

Cars (voiced by The Disney Chorus) populate the junkyard where the appliances are taken. They sing "Worthless" as the Giant Magnet lowers them to their destruction. Despite this, (one might say that) the Junkyard Cars are hardly characters in the film at all.

Rob (voiced by Wayne Kaatz), better known as "The Master" is the owner of the appliances, and has an unusually strong attachment to them.

Chris (voiced by Colette Savage) Rob's girlfriend, who doesn't quite understand his attachment to his old "junk" or his insistence in purchasing used appliances instead of taking the offering of his mother's more up-to-date appliances.

The film rights to The Brave Little Toaster, the original novel, were bought by the Disney Studios in 1982 two years after its original print appearance. At first, Disney planned the adaptation as an $18 million project, but it was then transferred to the new Hyperion Pictures, the creation of former Disney employees Tom Wilhite and Willard Carroll, who took the production along with them.^[2]

With Disney backing the project, Toaster soon turned into an independent effort; the electronics company TDK and video distributor CBS-Fox soon joined in. In 1986, Hyperion began to work on the story and characters, with Taiwan's Wang Film Productions for the overseas unit.^[2] The cost was reduced to $2.3 million as production began.

Jerry Rees, a crew member on two previous Disney films, The Fox and the Hound and Tron, was chosen to direct the movie, and was also a writer on the screenplay along with Joe Ranft. Rees' inspiration for voice casting came from the Groundlings improvisational group, some of whose members (Jon Lovitz, Phil Hartman, Timothy Stack and Mindy Sterling) voiced characters in the film. Lovitz and Hartman were stars of Saturday Night Live at the time. The color stylist was veteran Disney animator Ken O'Connor, a member of Disney's feature animation department from its establishment.^[2]

The Brave Little Toaster was initially released on July 10, 1987, and made its way to the Sundance Film Festival the following year. Despite being a favorite with festival audiences, it failed to find a distributor. Disney, who held the video and TV rights, withheld its official theatrical distribution, intending it to be shown on its new premium cable service instead. The buzz it generated at Sundance dissipated, and it only received limited theatrical airings through Hyperion, mainly at arthouse facilities across the U.S., and most notably at the Film Forum in New York City, in June 1989. The movie premiered on home video in 1991, then was re-issued in 1994, and was released on DVD in 2003.

There were a slight controversy for the film, as this was thought over by people as being too scary for younger children, as the film featured a nightmare sequence, a scene where a blender's motor gets pulled out, and the climax as Toaster sacrifices himself to save Rob (The Master) from a trash compactor. A number of living cars were also destroyed in the trash compactor throughout a song. Nevertheless, The film was a cult favourite with audiences, The original film has garnered a 73% rating on the reviews website, Rotten Tomatoes,^[3] and a 7.0 rating on Internet Movie Database.

The Brave Little Toaster received an Emmy nomination for Best Animated Program in 1988. It was followed by two sequels, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998) and The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue (1999). The two sequels were released out of order; "To the Rescue" took place before "Goes to Mars", but "To the Rescue" was released afterwards.

• In the book by Thomas S. Disch, the character of the Air Conditioner is only mentioned by one of the characters. It mentions that the air conditioner died when it passed its expiration date.
• The appliances are not depicted as either male or female (to be exact they have no names) in the book. They are individually called "it". In the Disney version, Toaster, Blanky, Lampy, Radio, Kirby, the Air Conditioner, and all the other appliance characters are depicted as males and females, having names.
• In the book, Blanky is more of a fully-grown type, juding by the book's illustrations of him. In the Disney version, Blanky is depicted as a young child.
• In the book, Radio is actually a clock-radio and has a face.
• In the book, when Blanky is stuck in a tree after being blown away, Toaster and the others ask two squirrels living in the tree for their help.
• In the book, Kirby is said to be the leader of the group.

• List of animated feature-length films

The references in this article would be clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.

4. <http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/bravelittletoastertrilogy.htm>
5. <http://www.myfconline.com/boards/?do=view&type=messages&master_id=995>

• Datlow, Ellen and Windling, Terri (2001). The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. ISBN 0-312-04450-X. St. Martin's Press. Retrieved March 29, 2007.
• Beck, Jerry (2005). The Animated Movie Guide. ISBN 1-55652-591-5. Chicago Reader Press. Retrieved March 29, 2007.

• The Brave Little Toaster at the Internet Movie Database
• The Brave Little Toaster at All Movie Guide
• The Brave Little Toaster at the Big Cartoon DataBase