“ | Ah yes. This scheme has the touch of genius, no doubt about it, I'm rotten to the core. | „ |
~ Raffish Ralph bragging about himself and one of his schemes. |
Raffish Ralph, known as Ralph Ripoff in the books, is the secondary antagonist of the Berenstain Bears 1985 cartoon and a supporting antagonist in the books. He is a swindler, always finding some way to con people out of their money, typically Papa Bear since he usually falls for his schemes. He often assists with Weasel McGreed with his evil plans. Ralph's schemes are often foiled by Brother Bear and Sister Bear, whom Ralph became one of their arch-nemesis.
He was voiced by Frank Welker, who also voiced Weasel McGreed from the same cartoon, Godzilla in the 1998 film of the same name, Thumper in A Bug's Life, The Dogs in Chicken Run, Stripe in Gremlins, M.E.L. in Super Ducktales, Little Sergei in The Secret Life of Pets 2, Krang Three in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, Constance in Monster House, the Spiny Mandrilla in The Croods: A New Age, Mor'du in Disney and Pixar's Brave, the Turbo Toilet 2000 in DreamWorks' Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, and Rudy in Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
Personality[]
Raffish Ralph is very greedy, arrogant, and enjoys coming up with evil schemes to where he'll fall into depression if he runs out schemes. He acts like a salesman, attorney, physician, and politician at the same time and many citizens of Bear Country, notably Brother Bear and Sister Bear, do not trust him. He is also shown to think highly of himself and considers himself a genius, and he often makes word swaps during his schemes to cover his true intentions.
Despite this he is shown to have standards as he'll never do anything that could actually endanger others. This is best shown in "The Berenstain Bears and the Hot Air Election" when he refuses to aid Weasel McGreed in his plan to shut off the hot air balloon in mid-air so that the Bear Family would fall from a great height, even saying that his plan was too evil, as it involved killing the Bear Family. Ralph is also shown to be somewhat afraid of Weasel McGreed who will constantly abuse him and lose his temper in front of him.
Villainous Acts[]
- In "The Terrible Termite", Brother and Sister Bear spot Raffish Ralph moping and decide to talk to him; however, he angrily states that he doesn't need their help before sending the two off and stating his disgust about how they might grow up to be upstanding citizens. Ralph continues on his way home and it is revealed that he is depressed because he is running out of ways to cheat and scam the citizens of Bear Country. Later, while reading his mail, he discovers a termite (nicknamed Terrible Termite) that can devour trees in seconds and tricks the creature into befriending him in order to help him with a new scheme. Later, Ralph arrives at the Berenstain Bear's house in order to sell them termite insurance, but when Papa Bear declines (as it is stated that Ralph regularly cheats him), Ralph walks off and secretly tells Terrible Termite to devour his furniture, causing Papa to hurriedly get the insurance. Later, Terrible Termite begins to question his actions and stops partnering with Ralph (as Ralph told him that he was running a protection racket) and Ralph retaliates by trapping the termite in his mailbox and deciding to leave him there until he got hungry again. Fortunately, Brother and Sister Bear (who were following Ralph) free Terrible Termite from his prison and he immediately starts to eat Ralph's house boat and he reluctantly gives Papa Bear's money back in order to save himself.
- In "The Trojan Pumpkin", Raffish Ralph is paid by Weasel McGreed to give Papa Bear a magic pumpkin seed that grows into a giant pumpkin which the Weasels use as a battle fortress in a plot to take over Bear Country. Brother and Sister Bear use a stick as a wedge to to tilt the pumpkin causing it to roll down a valley and crash, destroying the weasel's battle fortress.
- In "The Fly Away Pizza", Raffish Ralph notifies Weasel McGreed about Papa Bear entering a pizza-twirling contest and gives Papa Bear a magic pizza powder created by Weasel McGreed. When the pizza-twirling contest begins, Papa Bear puts some of the powder on his pizza dough which causes the dough to grow into a massive storm that begins destroying the fair and causing all the bears to panic and run away. When the Bear family discovers the pizza storm is being radio-controlled, Brother Bear grabs a remote and uses it to send the pizza back to Raffish Ralph and the weasels.
- In "The Giant Bat Cave", Raffish Ralph convinces Bear Country to build an amusement park out of Bat Cave in order to bring in tourists, but Brother and Sister Bear oppose his idea, claiming that it isn't fair to destroy the bat's home; however, they are blown off by the adults. Later, Brother and Sister try to convince Ralph that there is a giant bat in the cave in order to scare him off; however, he sees through their bluff and walks off. The next day, Brother and Sister Bear meet with Ralph and show him that the giant bat is real (actually a giant fake bat carried by the other bats), causing him to run off in terror and abandon his scheme.
- In "Kong for a Day", Raffish Ralph sees Weasel McGreed's advertisement in the newspaper asking for odd and unusual acts for his show-biz and spots Bigpaw strumming his banjo. He contacts Weasel McGreed and shows him Bigpaw, but doesn't have a plan to capture him. When they discover that Bigpaw wants to sing, Raffish Ralph and Weasel McGreed pose as talent managers and offer him a job as a singer, which he accepts. Raffish Ralph tells Bigpaw to stand on a stage and then the weasels tie him up so they can exhibit him. Their plan is foiled when several scissorbirds release Bigpaw, who then retaliates by throwing Raffish Ralph and Weasel McGreed into a swamp.
- In "The Dancing Bees", Raffish Ralph watches as Papa Bear fails to steal honey from Queen Nectar and laughs at his misfortune. Later, while reading Swindlers Weekly, he discovers an advertisement for a book detailing the secret to stealing natural honey, which is coincidentally custom made for Papa Bear. Ralph orders the book and sells it to Papa Bear and later watches when Papa attempts to perform the dance, but, to his surprise, the dance actually succeeds and Papa finally gets a taste of Queen Nectar's honey (although it was only because they were laughing too hard to stop him). Ralph, believing that he could use the technique to make millions, buys the book and bee costume back from Papa and attempts the dance; however, the bees don't find his attempt funny and drive him into the lake.
- In "The Wicked Weasel Spell", Raffish Ralph is summoned by Weasel McGreed to help him hypnotize Bigpaw into thinking all the Bears are mosquitoes so that he'll attack Bear Country. Their plan is foiled when Brother and Sister Bear break the spell by singing Bigpaw's song. Weasel McGreed and Raffish Ralph try to sing his song after the spell is broken but Bigpaw angrily roars at them causing them to flee.
- In "Save the Bees", Raffish Ralph is (forcibly) summoned by Weasel McGreed to help him spread a flower that eats bees all over Bear Country and destroy the Bears' economy. Soon after, Ralph tricks Mama Bear into growing the flowers by claiming that he began working for a gardening magazine and was tasked with handing out the flowers and Weasel's scheme begins to succeed. However, Brother and Sister Bear discover that a skunk's spray can destroy the flowers and they, along with Actual Factual and Mr. Skunk destroy all the flowers by using Factual's crop duster.
- In "The Bigpaw Problem", Raffish Ralph rallies the townsfolk against Bigpaw after his enormous strength ends up (unintentionally) destroying public property, although his real motivation is to get rid of Bigpaw in order to strengthen his relationship with Weasel McGreed. Ralph later meets with Grumpy Grizzly, Farmer Ben and several small animals and goads them into testifying against Bigpaw in his trial. During the trial, Ralph serves as the prosecution and, although he wins and convinces the town to exile Bigpaw who is allowed to stay after he saves Bear Country from an earthquake caused by Weasel McGreed.
- In "The Great Grizzly Comet", Brother and Sister Bear spot Raffish Ralph feeding pigeons, claiming that he didn't find a way to make money off of the arrival of the Great Grizzly Comet. Later, Ralph takes delight in watching the town's paranoia over alien bears warning about the Comet hitting Bear Country and convinces the townsfolk to sell their houses to the weasels before they leave town. However, when Actual Factual rechecks his calculations and shows the town that there is no need to be worried, Ralph walks off and contacts the weasels, telling them that the town needs more convincing. Soon enough, the alien bears make another appearance to warn the town about the comet and it is soon revealed that the aliens were really in disguise; however, Sister Bear, Brother Bear and Bigpaw manage to foil their scheme.
- In "The Raid on Fort Grizzly", Raffish Ralph tours Fort Grizzly with the Bear Family. During the tour, he takes notes which he covers up as a hobby when Brother Bear and Sister Bear become suspicious of him. When the tour is over, Raffish Ralph sends Weasel McGreed the map of the fort and the Weasels begin their plan to raid Fort Grizzly. Brother Bear poses as Raffish Ralph and asks Weasel McGreed to give him a copy of the map, which he does. Raffish Ralph is last seen being chased by the Weasels.
- In "The Hot Air Election", after Commissioner Jane refuses to make him town manager, Raffish Ralph convinces Papa Bear to run for commissioner despite the latter having no political experience and being full of hot air. During the campaign, Weasel McGreed appears and offers to "fix" the balloon by having it shut off in mid-air so that the Bear family will fall from a great height, but Raffish Ralph told him his plan was too evil even for him and refused to go along with his plan as it involved killing the Bear family.
- In "Save the Farm", Raffish Ralph tries to persuade Farmer Ben into buying his Weather Forecasting service and other products in order to get free food, but Farmer Ben doesn't fall for his scams and makes him pay with cash. He is then forcibly summoned by Weasel McGreed to buy him an above-ground headquarters. He offers to give him his own house but Weasel McGreed doesn't fall for it, loses his temper, and orders him to buy Farmer Ben's farm instead, but Farmer Ben refuses to sell his farm. After Farmer Ben's corn gets infected with corn blight, Raffish Ralph tries to buy his farm again but he still refuses and the cubs and Farmer Ben investigate the windmill. After discovering that Raffish Ralph and his secret investor (Weasel McGreed) have been blowing dust to infect all of Farmer Ben's crops, Farmer Ben pulls the emergency stop lever, shutting down and breaking the windmill. Raffish Ralph and Weasel McGreed are last seen being chased by Farmer Ben who is throwing fruit at them after the former attempted to buy some fruit one last time.
Quotes[]
“ | Terrible Termite: This sounds an awful lot like a protection racket. Raffish Ralph: What are you talking about? This is a protection racket! |
„ |
~ Raffish Ralph revealing his true nature to the Terrible Termite |
“ | Let's see you eat your way out of there. And as for working with me, you will when you get hungry enough. | „ |
~ Raffish Ralph locking up the Terrible Termite in his mailbox. |
“ | It's evil alright. It's TOO evil, even for me. | „ |
~ Raffish Ralph refusing to help Weasel McGreed killing the Bear family. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Raffish Ralph doesn't appear in the 2003 series, likely due to being in a different continuity.
- It's unknown what happened to Raffish Ralph and Weasel McGreed after the episode "Save the Farm". It's possible they got kicked out of Bear Country or were arrested and sent to prison.
External Links[]
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1985 TV Series: Weasel McGreed | Raffish Ralph | Henchweasels |