Gopher (Winnie the Pooh)

Gopher is a character from Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise. Gopher's voice was originally provided by Howard Morris. Michael Gough took over the role after Morris retired.

Development
Gopher was the only character in the original shorts that was not based on someone from the A.A. Milne books. Instead, he was initially developed by Disney as a replacement for Piglet. Apparently, the proposed character of Gopher was thought to have a more "folksy, all-American, grass-roots image" than Piglet. While American audiences loved the character, British audiences were less than pleased.

Gopher is also known for his unique voice characterization. He tends to whistle his consonants, particularly his S's. This is lampshaded in his debut; when Pooh mimics Gopher while asking for honey, Gopher tells Pooh he should do something about his speech impediment.

Personality
Gopher has a very plain personality; he is rarely seen outside of his burrow so not much is known about him socially. He is generally a hard-worker, especially in his tunnels and spends most of his time tediously working on them. Despite his low social life, Gopher is not a silent character, while talking to the other animals he has a habit of whistling out his sibilant constants.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Gopher first appears in the featurette, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. When Owl discovers that Pooh has become stuck in Rabbit's door, he asks Gopher, who is a self-proclaimed expert in excavation, to assist in removing Pooh. Gopher introduces himself, explaining that he "is not in the book." Gopher notes that the project is dangerous, and could take a few days. He offers to use dynamite but is refused, and so Gopher leaves, but falls down his own hole.

Later on that night, Gopher reappears, intent on eating his midnight snack. Gopher notes that he goes home for lunch, and produces his lunch box. He reveals that the contents include summer squash, salmon salad, spiced custard, and finally, honey. Pooh asks Gopher for a taste of the honey, to which Gopher agrees. But before Pooh can help himself, Rabbit interferes and confiscates the honey. Gopher goes angry, and leaves in a huff, resulting in him falling down his own hole again.

When Pooh finally gets thin enough to be pulled out, Gopher joins all the other characters on helping to pull Pooh out, but he pulls Roo (who was in front of him) too much, causing Eeyore's tale (which Roo was pulling on) to fall off, resulting in Gopher falling down his own hole for the third time. He later emerges again, noting that Pooh, who was finally shot out from Rabbit's role, is about to fly out of the book, and urges the book to turn the page, which it does, resulting in Pooh landing in the Honey Tree's hole.

In Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, Gopher makes a minor appearance at the beginning. He notes to Pooh that it is "Winds-Day", inspiring Pooh to go and wish all his friends a Happy Winds-Day. He appears again at the end, when the main characters are cheering for Pooh and Piglet by bouncing them up and down with a sheet, above Gopher's hole. Gopher pops out, wondering what the commotion was about, when Pooh and Piglet accidentally land on him, sending him down his hole (again).

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Gopher's character has a very prominent role, appearing in over half the episodes. He is shown to be a bit of a workaholic, and is obsessed with dynamite. His various conflicts often Rabbit, as Gopher's various plans often take place underneath Rabbit's garden.

In the episode Fish out of Water, Gopher is forced to move in with Rabbit temporarily after a fish migration takes over his tunnels.

In the episode "Lights Out", Rabbit secretly borrows Gopher's helmet. Gopher becomes scared of the dark, and whenever someone says 'Dark', he freaks out, but he soon conquers his fear and helps Piglet find the others in the tunnel.

The episode "To Dream the Impossible Scheme" introduced Gopher's Grandpappy, who, unlike Gopher, prefers to dream about things rather than do them.

Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too
Gopher once again makes a minor appearance. In the special, Gopher helps Rabbit, Tigger, and Eeyore in choosing a Christmas Tree. He does so reluctantly, as he apparently hibernates during the winter.

Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie
Gopher makes a minor appearance, only appearing in the "Boo to You" sequence. To date, this is Gopher's last appearance in the Winnie the Pooh media line.

House of Mouse
Gopher has sometimes made cameo appearances as one of the guests at the club. He helps Mickey by stopping Goofy ruining Max's date in the episode Max's Embarrassing Date.

Kingdom Hearts II
Gopher is a resident of the 100 Acre Wood and a friend of Pooh. Though the 100 Acre Wood appears in previous games, Gopher does not appear until Kingdom Hearts II. (This makes him one of only two Pooh characters in Kingdom Hearts II that does not appear in the first Kingdom Hearts game, the other being Kanga.)

Gopher has a minor role in the 100 Acre Wood's storyline. He appears three times, the first at Piglet's House warning Pooh of "Windsday" (as he did in Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day). His second appearance is at the Spooky Cave helping Sora search for Pooh. His final appearance is at Starry Hill saying goodbye to Sora.

He is also part of the Hunny Slider mini game, serving as a buffer between Pooh and various obstacles.

Disney Parks
Gopher can be seen in nearly all Pooh related attractions in some way, shape or form. At Walt Disney World Gopher can be seen in Rabbit's garden popping out of his holes in front of the attraction.

Gopher has a spell card known as "Gopher's Demolition Dynamite" in the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Gopher appears as an audio animatronic in the dark attraction. He can be seen during the Blustery Day section telling Pooh that it's Windsday.

Pooh's Hunny Hunt
In the popular attraction at Tokyo Disneyland, Gopher is seen in the storybook pages along with Pooh and the others.

Winnie the Pooh and Friends, too!
Gopher appears live popping out of his hole to warn Pooh of the blustery day ahead of him and his friends right before they go on an adventure.

Trivia

 * Gopher is the only major animal character not once seen as a stuffed toy in Christopher Robin's room.
 * In My Friends Tigger and Pooh, Tigger asked Beaver to guess a password believing he wouldn't know. He guessed it correctly and Tigger responded by sadly saying "I miss Gopher".