Audrey II

Audrey II FEED ME! Gender: Genderless Type: The 'Mean Green Mother' from Outer Space Age: Unknown Species: Man-eating Alien Plant Portrayed by: Levi Stubbs (of the Four Tops) Status: Alive Deceased (Theatrcial Cut) Media of origin: 'Unknown'

Audrey II also nicknamed Twoey, is a man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors.

Audrey II was bought by Seymour from an old Chinese man by the name of Chang, a florist that sold other exotic plants, for just "a dolla' ninety-five!" At first, Seymour just thought of Audrey II as a sort of Venus Flytrap, yet all the different types of food and care he gave it didn't work and caused it to grow weaker. Eventually, Audrey II grew larger into a hideous beast that gained the ability to talk and soon began to beg Seymour for more food, upgrading from blood to human meat as well. Audrey II played with Seymour's emotions to convince Seymour to kill Orin Scrivello, a sadistic evil dentist who abuses Audrey, Seymour's love interest, and also took advantage of Seymour nearly getting arrested to kill Mr. Mushnik, his boss (who later adopts him before dying) for food.

Audrey II would later call Audrey on the payphone, and convinced her to come over to the shop only to eat her. Seymour did not save Audrey in time and unwillingly, yet on her dying wishes, fed her to the blood-hungry plant. Audrey II then consumed Seymour after destroying the shop, and shortly after, its leaves were sold all across America which resulted in similar situations that happened to Seymour (tricking innocent people into feeding their plants people) and eventually, the plants (after reaching a massive size) attacked and are seen destroying cities and eating people whole all over the world. The ending shows the United States Army fighting the plants and the Statue of Liberty being ascended by the Audrey II plants. It is heavily implied that Audrey II's managed to eat everyone in the world, including the audience watching the film.

However, in the theatrical ending, Seymour saves Audrey in time before he challenges the monstrous plant in a final showdown, and barely escapes death by electrocuting it. With Audrey II and its newly blossomed buds (who work as back-up singers during Audrey II's song in the show-down, "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space") being fried alive from the electrical wires, the plant exclaimed a surprised "Oh shit!" before exploding into green-blue atoms that are presumed to be seeds or re-generating plant spores. This is presumed on account of the ending of the movie where hidden in the happy, little garden in the front lawn of Seymour and Audrey's new home, is a new, baby-like version of Audrey II that gives a wicked, "I'll be back" smile to the audience before the credits roll.

Why It's Mean and Green!

1. Its puppetry is one of the greatest examples of practical effects!
2. Its voice is one of the best singing voices in musical films! Nearly impossible to replicate! It's worth mentioning that the voice actor, Levi Stubbs, was a Motown legend. His song "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" is downright enjoyable to watch, and Audrey contributes to the best parts of the song with his singing.
3. It has a ton of personality, having a hammy tone of voice that's entertaining to listen to, and it has an unpredictable tone to its personality that is quite fun to watch.
4. It is a man-eater with a corrupting influence and plans for global domination, and is also a wise-cracking over-the-top hammy character to boot his villainy.
5. Despite it being a sassy villain, it has a ton of humorous (sometimes to the point of hilarious) moments to place out its more intimidating moments.
6. Its plan for world conquest is rather cunning.
7. It can hypnotize people into coming to the shop and making Seymour successful.
   • It plays on Seymour's inner desires in order to convince him to obey him. It's very effective actually.

Bad Qualities

1. The plant suffers a pathetic death in the theatrical cut, which was being electrocuted to death. At least it had one of the best death lines, "OH SHIT!"
2. It is portrayed as mostly benevolent and a "likable troublemaker" in the Fox Kids adaption of itself aside from eating Seymour's piano teacher, who is voiced by Buddy Lewis. Which feels somewhat unfaithful and still nonsensical to the plant's personality overall.

Trivia

• According to its designer, Lyle Conway, it took 15,000 leaves, 2,000 feet of vines, used several hundred gallons of KY jelly, and 11 miles of cable in order to bring the character to life.
  In most scenes (including the Mean Green Mother form), the puppet was so heavy, that they had to film the scenes in 16 frames per second, and have the actors move slowly.
• Audrey II is named after a woman and calls itself a "mean green mother" in the film (though it's the derogatory slang "mother", as in the swear word 'motherf****er'). Yet in most productions, Audrey II is played by a man. Some versions have a woman playing the plant, which further muddies the issue of what gender Audrey is.

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