Pet Alien

Synopsis

Characters

Main characters

• Tommy Cadle and Hippolyte de Poucques - He was once a normal kid who had no cares in the world and did well in school, at least until the aliens came along. Tommy is often bullied by some of the other kids at school because of the aliens' actions and is annoyed by them, but generally accepts them as part of his life and sees Dinko as his best friend. Dinko always refers to him as "Tommy of Earth". He likes to watch TV and eat taffy.
• Dinko - A moody, upbeat, welcoming, strongly energetic and charismatic green Pterodactylus-like alien that is the leader and brains of the alien gang, and Tommy's self-proclaimed best friend, whom he adores and does everything for to remain such. He and Gumpers always try to help Tommy, but they always muck things up, often because they misunderstand Tommy's words to the point of insanity. Dinko is the most mesmerized by the ways of planet Earth's ways, words and rituals, and is naturally the most eager and curious of them all. However, even though he is the most innocent and friendly of the group, he will also often go to extreme, obsessive measures to solve his curiosity, causing no small amount of trouble and pestering for Tommy in the process. This all leads to Tommy getting punished and/or blamed for everything and the aliens getting off scot-free with their conflicting attitudes and unmanageable misbehavior. He is very sensitive and often on the verge of bursting into tears, but also knowledgeable about different planets. Dinko apparently also fears cats, so much so there's an episode about it.
• Gumpers - A big, strong, gluttonous, but easily scared pink gorilla-like alien with a big appetite who doesn't know his own strength. He appears to be extremely dumb most of the time, but he is capable of flashes of intelligent thoughts if he strains his brain hard enough. He and Dinko try to help Tommy with his problems, but they always mess things up and cause a bigger issue. Sometimes, Gumpers will point out the flaws in Dinko's plans, but Dinko never listens to him and does what he wants instead. He has a sentient sweet tooth, an affinity for farting and burping, and a talent at playing the accordion.
• Swanky - A British-accented blue insect-like alien that is the most refined and sophisticated of the gang. As his name suggests, he is rude, egotistical, lazy, quasi-elegant, very self-centered, arrogant, pretentious and greedy. He is also the one who is the most disinterested in everyone else in the group, and rarely accompanies Tommy and the aliens on their wacky adventures. He enjoys fancy things, massages and drinking tea, and wants to steal Tommy's room all for himself. It seems that his favorite food, caviar, is responsible for his snobbishness, as potato chips give him a jovial air. Oddly, his parents are the opposite of him. His catchphrase is "Nincompoops".
• Flip - An energetic, hyperactive dark-purple parrot-like alien with afro-esque red hair. The biggest troublemaker of the alien gang, his speech is often unintelligible, incoherent, incomprehensible babbling gibberish, and he is often used for comedic relief and slapstick, as he loves to play tricks on the others, especially Swanky. In season 2, he begins to talk normally.
• Scruffy - Dinko's light-purple, green-nosed, friendly pet who functions like and resembles a loosely-classifiable dog, jumps like a hare, exhibits weird behavior, and whose tongue supposedly is long, muscular, able to remove germs from aliens and smarter than himself. The audience doesn't know much about him, as he doesn't speak and the viewers often don't see him onscreen for long.

  Major characters

• Gabby - A Mexican girl who is extremely obsessed with and in love with Tommy, often to the extent of being a stalker and a nuisance, but unfortunately he doesn't feel the same way. In several episodes, it is revealed that she can smell when Tommy is in trouble. In season 2, she mellows out significantly and befriends Tommy and the aliens, and Tommy is more willing to hang around her.
• Granville DeSpray - A pompous eccentric and the British direct descendant of DeSpray Bay's founders, and as such he values old English traditions like teatime. Oddly, all the characters think he is Norwegian. Granville is hopelessly in love with Melba and has numerous times, to no avail, attempted to win her heart and/or impress her, sometimes via acting street and displaying "hip-and-hop". He despises Tommy and always hatefully blames him for anything bad that happens. His only friends are the numerous animal statues he owns, such as Admiral Puff and Jean Claude. He is also the one who ends being the butt of jokes in episodes he appears in, often humiliating himself. He lives in the mansion overlooking DeSpray Bay.
• Clinton Fillmore Jefferson XIII - Clinton competes in any kind of sports available and usually wins. He is also a strong bully who likes to annoy, hurt, scapegoat and make fun of others, including Tommy, on a constant basis. He has a Canadian accent and his catchphrase is "Losah!", which he refers to people as.
• Melba Manners - A spoiled, bratty, authoritarian, possessive girl next-door who is the arch-enemy of Tommy. She enjoys forcing him to do tedious or tiresome tasks thanks to her terrifying temperament, shouts his name whenever something goes wrong and has a loud and shrill voice. She is also an exceptionally clever opponent in staring competitions. Like the other humans, she is too stupid to tell that the aliens are aliens. She just calls them Tommy's "things".
• Cap'n Spangley - A quick-rambling old sailor who is a little crazy and greedy. His experience as a captain was a traumatic one, however, as he is apparently afraid of water and crustaceans. He runs the local taffy shop which Tommy visits often and sometimes works at.

  Minor/recurring characters

• Tommy's Mom - A nagging woman who lives in a house located near to Tommy's lighthouse. The viewers never get to see her, as she keeps contact with her son solely through PA loudspeakers installed in Tommy's lighthouse bedroom. She isn't all too intrusive and seems to have been left at the wayside in later episodes, only making a single appearance in season 2 for the episode "She Came from Conforma!", more just out of plot convenience from anything.
• Old Man Bitters - Cap'n Spangley's angry archenemy who enjoys fishing.
• Emperor Breet - An evil, terrifyingly demonic, yellow-eyed emperor who journeys to Earth to kidnap the aliens living with Tommy now and then. Unfortunately, he always loses the right to take them in a game he isn't very clever at, and therefore despises: musical chairs. He is an alien from the planet Rootsmell, inhabited by Rootsmellians. In the episode "Evil Emperor", he pretends to be an innocent six-year-old boy by the name of Peabo and attempts to conquer Earth, but fails. In the episode "The Day of Judgement", he offers Swanky, annoyed by the others, to become the ambassador of the Rootsmellians, and, of course, he accepted. At the end, we see Swanky being beaten up by two Rootsmellians wielding clubs.
• Doctor Daffodil - An octopus-like alien that Dinko and his friends consult whenever Tommy needs a doctor. Unfortunately, his methods can be highly dangerous and Tommy therefore tries to evade him as much as possible.
• Tommy's Teacher - She usually appears in some episodes that revolve around school. In one episode, she gave Tommy his first B− for his inflated hand and degraded it to a C+ when the hand shrunk and to a C− when his leg inflated.
• Mom-sicle and Pop-sicle - Swanky's redneck parents.
• The Mime - A mime that tries to enter the lighthouse, but is always stopped by Flip.
• The Frog - A banjo-playing frog that appears in some episodes, often as intermission for a new scene or a gag.

  Plot and themes