- “The AquaScum 2003 is an all-purpose, self-cleaning maintenance free salt water purifier that is guaranteed to even extend the life of your aquarium fish. The AquaScum is programmed to scan your tank environment every five minutes?”
- ―Peach, reading the manual of the AquaScum 2003
- “Temperature: 82 Degrees. pH Balance: Normal.”
- ―-AquaScum 2003
- “Barbara? I don’t understand it. Here this thing has a lifetime guarantee and it breaks!”
- ―Dr. Sherman as he looks over the AquaScum 2003 after it stops working
The AquaScum 2003 is a talking filter bought by Dr. Sherman for his office fish tank after he enters his office one day to find the tank very dirty (caused by Nemo, who managed to successfully jam the filter).
Role in the film[]
The AquaScum 2003 is designed to automatically scan the tank for any filth to remove with its laser beam. It includes a talking voice to check the status, such as the temperature and potential of hydrogen (pH) balance. Rather than taking his fish out and putting them into bags so that the dentist cleans the tank like Gill expected him to do as a part of his escape plan, Dr. Sherman instead installs the device, thus sabotaging any chance of his fish, especially Nemo, from escaping the office.
However, at the end of the film, the device stops working, despite having a maintenance free, lifetime guarantee and the tank gets filthy again, much to the chagrin of Dr. Sherman, who is finally forced to clean the tank himself by taking the fish out and putting them into bags like Gill expected him to do before. Thus, the fish finally escape his office.
Trivia[]
- 2003 may be a reference to the year in which Finding Nemo was released.
- There is a hidden commercial of the AquaScum 2003 located on the second disc of the 2003 Collector's Edition DVD of Finding Nemo. It can be selected by highlighting the return arrow and pressing down on the remote. A hidden fish will appear and it will lead to the commercial.
- It's possible that after Nemo escaped the dentist office, the Tank Gang somehow managed to sabotage the AquaScum 2003 through unknown means, which may explain why it stopped working.
