Jiminy Cricket

"I dub you Pinocchio's conscience, lord high keeper of the knowledge of right and wrong, counselor in moments of high temptation, and guide along the straight and narrow path. Arise, Sir Jiminy Cricket."

- The Blue Fairy.

Jiminy Cricket is a small cricket who first appeared in Disney's 1940 animated film, Pinocchio as the deuteragonist. Jiminy acts as a conscience and a good friend to the film's title character. He is clever, kind, caring and brave. He will do anything for a friend, even if it's life-threatening. He has appeared along with Mickey Mouse and Tinker Bell as a Disney company mascot.

He has been voiced by Cliff Edwards, Eddie Carroll and Phil Snyder.

Development
Jiminy is based off the Talking Cricket from the original Pinocchio book that Walt Disney's film is based on. In the book, the cricket tries to lecture Pinocchio about his bad behavior, only to be flattened with a hammer for his efforts, and then come back as an equally preachy ghost. However in the film, the cricket is named Jiminy and instead of being a cameo character, he was made into a major character and joins Pinocchio on his journey to becoming a real boy. According to Walt Disney and the filmmakers, Jiminy's role in the film was meant to develop the heart of the story in the friendship between him and Pinocchio. Jiminy was animated by one of Walt Disney's Nine Old Men, Ward Kimball. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Ward animated a soup eating scene. The scene was eventually dropped and Ward was devastated. Walt realized this and decided to give Ward the job of designing and animating Jiminy Cricket. Like every animated Disney character, Jiminy went through an evolution of designs. Some of the earliest ones resembled more of a realistic cricket. According to Ward, this was a disgusting sight, so he made the character more and more of a cartoonish and sweet-looking creature to the point that the audience only knows he's a cricket because the film tells them.

Jiminy's name also has an interesting backstory. "Jiminy Cricket(s)!" was originally a polite expletive euphemism for Jesus Christ. The name of the character is a play on the exclamation (which itself was uttered in Pinocchio's immediate predecessor, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). Another example occurs in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz when the group first enters the Wizard's chamber; they are startled by the Wizard's sudden thunder-and-lightning display, and cries, "Oh! Oh! Jiminy Crickets!" (Garland also says the expression in her 1938 film Listen, Darling). It had also been used as an exclamation by the Swedish father several times in the 1930 movie Anna Christie. Another time it is used is in the short 1938 cartoon starring Mickey Mouse The Brave Little Tailor. That expression is also Howard Cunningham's catchphrase on Happy Days.

Personality
Being an official conscience, Jiminy is rather wise and optimistic. He can be a bit aggressive when upset, but means well. Not only is he Pinocchio's conscience, but also his best friend, a relationship he apparently treasures. The two spend much of their time together to the point that Jiminy feels insulted and rejected when Pinocchio briefly called Lampwick his best friend. When first introduced, Jiminy was shown to be rather wise-cracking and humorous, often making jokes to amuse himself. Prior to meeting Pinocchio, Jiminy was sort of a realist and did not believe in fairy tales and wishes. Of course, after the adventure with him and the little wooden boy, Jiminy's view of the world changed greatly. The cricket holds an obvious crush on The Blue Fairy. He often gets dumbfounded upon the mere sight of her. In spite of his naturally diminutive states, Jiminy shows no fear in facing enemies thrice his size as seen when he tried to get Pinocchio away from Honest John and Gideon and when he wanted to scuffle with Lampwick, not to mention his efforts to get Monstro to swallow him in order to save his wooden friend (he even wraps on the whale's teeth with his umbrella and calls him "Blubbermouth"!). Jiminy is also naïve as he thinks some of Geppetto's toys are alive. For example Jiminy says "beg your pardon" to a female doll after resting his hand on her bottom.

Family
According to the 1956 TV special On Vacation with Mickey Mouse and Friends, Wilbur the Grasshopper, who made his first appearance in the 1939 Goofy short Goofy and Wilbur, is Jiminy Cricket's nephew. In The Giant Walt Disney Word Book (1972), Jiminy Cricket's family tree was published as a two-page illustration. This poster meant the first appearance of Jiminy's parents and siblings, as well as all the Cricket generations up and until Jiminy's great-great grandfather. Notably, all the members of the tree remained unnamed and Wilbur the Grasshopper didn't appear on the tree.

Pinocchio
The film Pinocchio marked Jiminy's debut. He is first seen singing When You Wish Upon A Star next to a book about Pinocchio. After a brief introduction to the viewers, he begins recounting the story of Pinocchio.

In the actual story, Jiminy is first seen in raggedy clothing, traveling through a village late one night. He eventually comes to Geppetto's Workshop, which was the only sign of life. He sneaks inside and warms himself by the fire, while admiring Geppetto's work. Jiminy then observes as Geppetto finishes the puppet he has been working on. Jiminy overhears Geppetto's wish for the puppet to be a real boy, but brushes it off as impractical, though lovely. Jiminy later watches in amazement as The Blue Fairy brings Pinocchio to life. After a conversation with the fairy, Jiminy is appointed to be Pinocchio's conscience, as Pinocchio must prove himself worthy of being made a real boy. Jiminy then teaches Pinocchio to whistle so that Pinocchio can call him.

The next day, Jiminy oversleeps and rushes to find Pinocchio, who has been sent off to school. However, Pinocchio is instead encouraged to become an actor by Honest John. Despite Jiminy's counseling to go to school, Pinocchio becomes part of the show of Stromboli. Jiminy becomes angry, but starts to second guess himself when Pinocchio becomes popular and decides to leave believing Pinocchio doesn't need him anymore. When Jiminy decides to wish Pinocchio good luck, he discovers that Stromboli has locked Pinocchio in a bird cage. Jiminy attempts to crack the lock to they can escape, but fails (evidently because, according to him, the lock is "one of the older models"). The Blue Fairy later comes along and frees them, after teaching Pinocchio a lesson on lying.

Before the pair can reach home, Pinocchio is convinced to travel to Pleasure Island, said to be a land for boys. Jiminy manages to sneak on the stagewagon, but ends up separated from Pinocchio. Jiminy eventually finds Pinocchio in a pool hall, where he is smoking and drinking with Lampwick. Jiminy attempts to get Pinocchio to leave, but is insulted by Lampwick. Jiminy leaves in a huff, and attempts to go home. He discovers that boys who come to Pleasure Island are transformed into donkeys, and runs off to warn Pinocchio.

The two are able to leave by jumping in the sea, but not before Pinocchio grows a tail and donkey ears. Finally at home, they learn via a message that Geppetto has gone searching for Pinocchio and trapped by Monstro. Despite Jiminy essentially being live bait, he follows Pinocchio into the sea to search for Geppetto. However he is separated from Pinocchio after Pinocchio is swallowed by Monstro. Jiminy is forced to find shelter in a bottle to avoid being eaten.

After Pinocchio and Geppetto escape, Jiminy is the one who discovers that Pinocchio has died as a result. At Geppetto's workshop, he is shown to be mourning. Like everyone else, he is overjoyed when Pinocchio is revived as a real boy. He manages to step away from the party, and thanks the Blue Fairy for helping them. As recognition of his own contributions, the Blue Fairy rewards him with a solid gold badge declaring him an official conscience.

Fun and Fancy Free
Jiminy essentially serves as the set-up for the two segments. He is shown exploring a house, and comes across a record player and record Bongo. After that, Jiminy sees a party invitation from Luanan Pattern, who lives in the house "across the way". Joining the party are ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummies, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. He goes to the house and listens to Bergen telling the story of Mickey and the Beanstalk. At the end, Jiminy leaves the house and watches Willie the Giant heading straight to Hollywood, looking for Mickey Mouse.

Walt Disney anthology series
Jiminy hosts many Disney television specials. Most of which included those heavily centered on the animated characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Some specials include On Vacation with Mickey Mouse and Friends, This is Your Life, Donald Duck, and From All of Us to All of You.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Jiminy Cricket appeared in two different series of educational films aimed at grade-school-aged audiences. In the "I'm No Fool" series, he advised children how to steer clear of dangerous traffic, sharp objects, strangers, exposed electrical lines, and so forth. In each short, he sang the refrain:

''I'm no fool, no sirree! I'm gonna live to be 33 (then 43, 53, etc., up to 103) I play safe for you and me 'Cause I'm no fool!''

Jiminy is shown making use of a chalkboard to illustrate his lessons. Figuring prominently was "You", an idealized boy meant to represent the audience and show the safe methods, and the Fool, who always demonstrated foolish and reckless methods.

The other series was called "You", which teaches about the human body with the refrain "You are a human animal...".

Mickey Mouse Club
Jiminy played a role in the series; appearing in the animated opening during the "Mickey Mouse March" musical number, alongside Dumbo and Timothy Mouse. Additionally, in a recurring segment, he taught a generation how to spell e-n-c-y-c-l-o-p-e-d-i-a.

Mickey's Christmas Carol
Jiminy appeared in Mickey's Christmas Carol as the Ghost of Christmas Past. (The badge given to him by the Blue Fairy at the end of Pinocchio marking him as an official conscience now declares him to be the Ghost of Christmas Past.) Scrooge is perplexed at his size, but Jiminy shoots back at him that if he were measured by his amount of kindness, "you'd be no bigger than a speck of dust!" Nevertheless, he shows Scrooge past Christmases of him: (Scrooge) while working at Fezziwig's and the horrid memory where Scrooge put his money before his love, which he never saw again. As Scrooge begs the minuscule ghost to take him away from these bad memories, Jiminy reminds Scrooge that "you fashioned these memories yourself". (It should be noted that Past was going to be portrayed by Merlin instead of him, as it was in the original audio recording that came out a few years prior to the special's release).

Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Jiminy made a brief cameo in Touchstone's 1988 hit feature Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He can be seen when Eddie Valiant first drives through Toontown.

House of Mouse
Jiminy was among the numerous Disney characters to appear in the television series House of Mouse and its direct-to-video compilation films. A running gag in the series involves Timon trying to eat him but getting rescued by Pumbaa, as one of the rules of the club is "No guests eating other guests".

Jiminy's most notable appearance is in the episode "Jiminy Cricket", where he quits being Pinocchio's conscience. At the beginning of the episode, Jiminy suggests that Pinoke should not sit with Pain and Panic, considering them a "bad influence". When Pain overhears this, he says a not-so-nice remark about Jiminy and involuntarily flicks him away. Later on backstage, when Jiminy explains that he wants to quit being Pinocchio's conscience, Mickey feels bad for him and wishes that he could help--this results in the Blue Fairy unexpectedly showing up to grant Mickey his wish by making him Jiminy's new client. Mickey becomes annoyed by all this and he and Minnie concoct a plan to get Jiminy to leave him and return to Pinocchio (as Jimmy was changing Mickey too much; even forces him to dress and act like Pinocchio). The plan worked and Jiminy got on stage to teach valuable life lessons to various other characters such as Simba, Aurora and Aladdin. In the end, Jiminy and Pinocchio were finally reunited.

In "Dining Goofy, he showed to be unamused with the fact that he was seated with Eeyore and fails to try cheering him up.

He also plays a prominent role in Mickey's Magical Christmas as he helps Mickey find the true meaning of Christmas through the help of wishing upon a star to lift Donald's spirits.

Once Upon a Time
Jiminy (Raphael Sbarge, Adam Young as a child) is the son of unscrupulous con artists in the ABC television series. Disapproving his parents' treachery, he desires to live an honest life, but was too weak-willed to leave his family. Eventually, he receives a potion from Rumplestiltskin that will free Jiminy from his parents. However, he inadvertently gives the potion to a young couple, transforming the pair into puppets. He wishes on a star in the hopes that the couple will be transformed back, but the Blue Fairy appears and tells him she cannot undo Rumplestiltskin's work. Instead, he wishes to make things right, and she transforms him into a cricket so that he can be free from his parents and guide the couple's son Geppetto for as long as the boy lives. He later helps the dwarves confront Snow White about her mean-spirited behavior after she drinks a potion and forgets about her true love Prince James. However, the confrontation drives her to want to kill the Evil Queen. He later tells James that the only way for her to remember James is if she remembers her true self. Much later, he is seen advising the residents of the Enchanted Forest against waging war with the Queen and urges them to find a more peaceful solution.

In Storybrooke, he is Dr. Archie Hopper, the town's psychotherapist. He owns a Dalmatian named Pongo and is frequently seen carrying an umbrella, like he does as a cricket in the Enchanted Forest. He is also good friends with Marco, who is actually Geppetto. Archie is asked by Regina (who is actually the Queen) to convince Henry that his ideas about the curse and the true identities of the Storybrooke residents is "crazy."He makes little progress, and Regina becomes impatient and asks him to take a more radical approach. Although it violates his conscience, he initially complies with her demands. Archie later confides to Henry that he wants to be free to do as he wants, and Henry tells him that Jiminy Cricket was a man who took a long time deciding what the right thing to do was. Archie then stands up to Regina and threatens to declare her an unfit mother if she continues to interfere with his sessions with Henry. Archie later puts David under hypnosis to help David remember his actions during his black-outs, causing David to remember some of his memories from the Enchanted Forest.

After the curse was broken, Archie reunites with the other characters and tries to help find out what to do. With Regina regaining her magic and the new curse of leaving Storybrooke, Archie becomes part of the group who attempt to leave Storybrooke and sacrifice his Fairytale memories to get away from Regina but David's speech encourages him and the others to stay. Regina later visits him, where he encourages Regina to allow her to help him. Regina tells him she has not used magic in two days and it has become a struggle. Archie then asks Regina if there is anything she is holding onto, and she confesses that she preserved her love Daniel's corpse upon his death in the hopes that he could be brought back to life. Archie then states Regina will not be able to move on until she lets go of the past. Regina storms off, but she later returns and confesses to Archie that she used magic that same day. Archie helps her into his office. Much later, Archie is kidnapped by Cora, Regina's mother, and holds him captive in Captain Hook's ship, while leaving the body of another in his place disguised to look like him so everyone else will think he is dead. Cora plans to use him to gain information of others in the town.

Disney's Villains' Revenge
Jiminy stars in the 1999 PC game Disney's Villains' Revenge. The Disney Villains change their respective stories giving them the upper hand. Jiminy travels through the stories to save the troubled heroes.

Kingdom Hearts series
Jiminy plays a generally minor role in the popular video game series. After his world was destroyed by the Heartless, Jiminy seeked refuge in Disney Castle, under the care of King Mickey and Queen Minnie. He later joins Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy to guide them throughout the journey and chronicle their adventures.

Throughout the series, Jiminy plays a few key roles. In the original Kingdom Hearts, he played a large role throughout the storyline following the adventures of the characters of lore of the film Pinocchio. He played a larger role, apparently more frequently, in the sequel, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

In Kingdom Hearts coded, Jiminy finds a mysterious entry within his journal, which he doesn't recall recording. Because of this, he immediately reports to King Mickey and explains his confusion. After a little investigation, however, it is revealed that the journal has been corrupt, and to restore it, a date version of Sora is created to enter the journal and eliminate the Bug Blocks.

Jiminy returns in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and plays his first role as a supporting character within his home world, as opposed to a character taking part in the story's overall plot. He appears in the world of Prankster's Paradise, frantically trying to retrieve and care for a mischievous Pinocchio.

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
Jiminy plays a major role in the spin-off to Epic Mickey, where he acts as Mickey's sidekick during his journey through the "illusions".

Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Jiminy is only mentioned by Pinocchio in this game, with the sentence going as followed: "If I get into trouble, I just whistle for Jiminy Cricket."

Disney INFINITY
Jiminy Cricket makes appearance in Disney INFINITY. In the 3DS version; he welcomes the user's team to Story Mode and the first game board.

Disney Parks
Jiminy Cricket appears as a meetable character and is seen in parades and shows. He is usually seen alone or with Gepetto or Pinocchio. Jiminy also appears as a safety mascot along with Pinocchio and Gepetto in the Disney Parks. He also acts as a mascot of Disney's environmental initiatives in the parks, appearing on recycling cans and often appearing at Rafiki's Planet Watch.

Pinocchio's Daring Journey
Jiminy appears in Pinocchio's Daring Journey, a dark ride themed to the movie from whence he originated, found at three of the Disney Parks worldwide (specifically in California, Japan, and France).

Fantasmic!
In the live show Fantasmic! in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, Jiminy makes an appearance. Jiminy is the protector of Mickey Mouse's dreams and he is imprisoned by the villains as they plan to turn Mickey's dreams into a deadly nightmare. Jiminy is later freed by Mickey and he joins the Disney characters as they passed the audience in Steamboat Willie or Mark Twain Riverboat (depending on the park destination).

Wishes
More recently, Cricket and the Blue Fairy are the hosts of the Wishes: A Magical Gathering of Disney Dreams fireworks display at the Magic Kingdom theme park. In the show, Jiminy and a cast of Disney characters host a series of magical fireworks and musical themes.

Trivia

 * In The Return of Jafar and Season 1 of the Aladdin TV series, Genie briefly morphed into Jiminy.
 * He is referenced in Scared Shrekless.
 * Jiminy served as an inspiration for most Disney sidekick characters, acting as a comedic guardian for the protagonists, such as Sebastian in The Little Mermaid and Ray in The Princess and the Frog.
 * He is the first and only sidekick to have a role as significant as the main protagonist.
 * He is one of the most popular Disney sidekicks and characters in Pinocchio.
 * While Jiminy has four fingers, he grew an extra finger in one animation.
 * He is the only Disney sidekick to appear independently in another Disney animated feature film without the main protagonist since he appeared in Fun and Fancy Free without Pinocchio.
 * Jiminy is the mascot of Gideon McDuck's newspaper, which was originally called 'Il Grillo Parlante' ('The speaking cricket').