Dougal (The Magic Roundabout)

Dougal "It's what any incredibly heroic dog would do." Gender: Male Type: Grumpy Heroic and Mischievous Dog Species: Dog Portrayed by: Robbie Williams (2005 film; UK) Daniel Tay (US dub) David Holt (2007 revival series) Status: Alive Media of origin: The Magic Roundabout

Dougal (Pollux in French) is the main character from The Magic Roundabout. He is a loveable dog owned by a young girl called Florence, with whom he loves dearly, and lives with Zebedee and his friends in the Enchanted Gardens.

Why He's an Incredibly Heroic Dog

1. His personality in the English version portrays Dougal to be disparaging and had similarities with Tony Hancock. Following his debut in "Florence Wins a Surprise", he become the show's most famous character in both France and the United Kingdom.
2. Despite his usual grumpiness, Dougal genuinely cares for his young owner Florence and loves her very much and their relationship between two is very heartwarming. He is never shown to be rude to her like he usually does with his friends.
   • In some episodes in the CGI revival series with "Dougal Bakes a Cake" and "The Blue Ermintrude" being two examples, Dougal would try to do something for her to show his gratitude and thoughtfulness.
3. His defining trademark trait of eating sugar lumps.
4. His design as a drop-eared variety of the Skye Terrier is great and adorable. His modified design in the 2005 CGI film and the 2007 revival series is also remarkable.
5. He manages to save his owner Florence on most occasions in the films and the 2007 revival series.
   • In "Dougal and the Blue Cat", he rescues her as well as his friends from Buxton's dungeons after defeating Buxton.
   • In the 2005 film, he manages to bring her back fully conscious when she was comatose due to the freezing temperature of the frozen Magic Roundabout. Dougal does this by licking her face until she wakes up.
   • In the episode "Read All About It", he rides in the cart of Mr. Grimsdale's motorbike to rescue Florence who is holding on for dear life in Train, who is speeding out of control after her planned dramatic situation to help Dougal to get an interesting story in the newspaper went horribly wrong. Dougal manages to leap into Train's cab and apply the brakes, not only did he save Florence, but it earns him an interesting and heroic story in the newspaper.
   • In the episode "Dougal the Helpful Helper", he promptly responds to Florence's calls for help as she was being pestered and attacked by an enchanted mop, a vacuum cleaner and a duster. He defends her from the three aforementioned enchanted cleaning equipment and fends them off.
6. He has some funny moments both in the original series and the revival series such as when he flies away while holding onto Ermintrude's kite in "Ermintrude's Folly".
7. He actually looks out and cares for his friends from time to time and does what he can to try and help them in any situation.
   • In "Parcel Force", he courageously defends Ermintrude from the enchanted hair curling tongs (which were sent to Soldier Sam by his uncle) and places them in the dustbin before Ermintrude shows her gratitude and praises him for saving her.
   • In "Doctor Dougal", he saw Brian crashing when he rolls down the hill on a skateboard, Dougal was rightfully concerned for the snail and came to see if he was alright by checking if he has injuries that he may have sustained before informing Brian to be more careful and to get plenty of rest. Dougal then spends the rest of the episode checking his friends' health and injuries as a doctor.
8. He is brave enough to take on the main villains in the respective feature films.
   • In "Dougal and the Blue Cat", in order to rescue Florence, Zebedee, and his friends, Dougal dyes himself blue to hide his true identity by calling himself Blue Peter as his alter-ego in order to thwart Buxton's plans. He manages to resist sugar where gains the title of Prime Minister and was sent with Buxton to the moon for conquest. Although he accidentally exposes his true identity when falling into a crater of water, Dougal fights with the infuriated Buxton before he escapes the spacecraft via parachute and lands back to Earth safely before he rescues those who are imprisoned in the dungeons.
   • In the climax of the 2005 film, to reverse what he had done at the beginning of the film when he accidentally released Zeebad, Dougal courageously chases after the third diamond while avoiding Zeebad's attacks and head-butts the third diamond into its slot on the roundabout which in turn, activates the magic from the roundabout and the diamonds to thaw the world back to normal and to re-imprison Zeebad back in his lava-filled cavern prison.
9. He is forgiving at times, like when he forgave Buxton for imprisoning Florence, Zebedee and the rest of his friends in the dungeons at the factory.
10. He does learn from his selfish actions in episodes that centre around him in the 2007 revival series where he realises that he has caused trouble for others or when Florence has to get him to consider otherwise. Other times, he would get his comeuppance from his selfish and devious actions.
11. Although he insults Brian on a daily basis, Dougal genuinely considers him as his best friend, especially when he and his friends are mourning for his presumed death at the end of "Dougal and the Blue Cat", until he returned alive and well.
12. Robbie Williams did a great job voicing the character in the 2005 film. David Holt (who also voiced Brian) did a great job voicing him in the 2007 revival series.

Doofus Rabbit Qualities

1. There are times that Dougal can be a bit unlikeable in both the original and the revival series.
   • He is shown to be mean-spirited and he sometimes doesn't show any sympathy to his friends at times whenever they are agitated or sad.
   • Nearly most of the time he can be very rude to his friends.
   • He is sometimes devious towards Brian and often insults him on a daily basis.
   • In Nigel Planer's re-narration of "Dylan Plays the Bagpipes", Dougal says "Come on, you retarded rabbit!" at one point which is considered very inappropriate for children and offensive to others, which thankfully got cut in the UK and the US arings.
2. He can be rather bland at times in the 2005 film.
   • He, unfortunately, was flanderized as a fat cowardly idiot in the infamous American version of the 2005 film and Daniel Tay, who voiced the character in the US dub, didn't sound anything like Robbie Williams from the original UK version of the film.
3. His greed for sugar can sometimes lead him into trouble, such as when he accidentally releases Zeebad from his prison inside the Magic Roundabout at the start of the 2005 film.
4. He unwittingly spills the beans about the map directly to Zeebad when being interrogated in the ice fortress. This is what gets Zeebad to take the map from the gang in order to find the second diamond.
5. He can be rather lazy in some episodes of the 2007 revival series where he slacks off chores or anything much to Florence's disapproval.
   • This is displayed in "Mr. Grimsdale's Holiday" when Dougal unwittingly volunteers himself to do all the deliveries in the cart much to his chagrin. When delivering the pizza to Dylan, Dougal decides to let Dylan do the rest of the deliveries for him. When realizing his pie is in the cart, Dougal sets out to find Dylan and the cart before getting found out by Ermintrude and Florence.

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