Mr. Smee is the secondary antagonist of Disney's 1953 animated feature film Peter Pan. He is Captain Hook's loyal bo'sun, though his bumbling behavior often prevents him from being much help. In contrast to his megalomaniacal captain, Smee is soft-spoken and genial. He nevertheless enjoys piracy, and longs to abandon Neverland in favor of returning to a life of plunder along the seven seas.
Background
Development
Unlike previous villain sidekicks, the filmmakers felt that Smee was the first sidekick to have a truly memorable part in the story. Animator Ollie Johnston was given the job to animate. Johnston once noted that Smee was one of his favorite characters to animate, as he wasn't just the villain's lackey, but a fully realized personality of his own in the story.
Personality
- “Smee has that bumbling way about him. He's always trying to keep up and wants to try to make everybody happy—like the Mom who wants everybody to stop fighting and be friends and make nice and for the world to be every color of the rainbow. But every once in a while, you'll hear—and I try not to do it too often—that little edge of "Boy, this job is really hard and I am a little tired of it."”
- ―Jeff Bennett, the current voice actor of Smee
In spite of serving a feared captain and being part of a crew of brutal pirates, Mr. Smee is, ultimately, a kind-hearted character. Even though he makes attempts to perform villainous acts, his gentle nature often gets in the way of this; his ultimate agenda usually focusing around keeping peace and some form of stability within Captain Hook's life.
Overly eager to please, Smee can easily be described as a chronic bumbler and appears to have minimal intelligence, overall. Because of this, he often annoys Hook and often finds himself facing the latter's wrath. While Smee clearly fears Hook, mostly as a result of his dangerous temper, he has shown to be outrageously loyal, to the point of unabashedly jumping into action to protect the captain, specifically from the jaws of the crocodile, who is surprisingly docile when dealing with Smee.
Aside from his loyalty and relationship with Hook, Smee was shown to have his own agendas throughout the original film, such as convincing Hook to leave Never Land as he, and the rest of the crew, long for the days of plundering the seven seas, which has been put to a halt as a result of Hook's obsession with killing Peter Pan. Notably, however, this stemmed from the harassment and threats from the crew, who saw Smee as a means to communicate with the captain, as the latter is far more tolerable of his bo'sun. Even so, Smee has shown to support the idea, for the "health and happiness" of the captain.
Physical appearance
Smee is a diminutive, portly gentleman with an odd, hourglass-shaped head. He has shoulder-length, white hair (though the top of his head is bald) and thick, black eyebrows. His eyes are black and close-set, and they are often half-closed. His nose is round, large, and pink, and the rest of his skin is slightly pink as well. In terms of attire, Smee wears what seem to be very simple, brown sandals, a short-sleeved shirt with alternating blue and white horizontal stripes, and blue shorts. He also wears half-moon glasses and a red stocking cap with a red pom-pom ornament on top. In one moment of the original film, he is shown to have a chest tattoo of a heart with a paper cloth over it that reads "Mother".
Appearances
Peter Pan
Smee's first appearance was in the original Peter Pan movie. He is Captain Hook's bo'sun and henchman. However, he initially doesn't seem to be much liked by the rest of the crew (though this may be solely due to their boredom from the captain's obsessive hunt for Peter Pan over actual pirating and that bullying Smee is simply to pressure him into personally convincing Hook to give up the search). At the beginning of the film, as Smee comes out of the cabin, avoiding two daggers speeding past him, he wishes the Crew a good morning, but they grab him by the shirt and furiously tell him that there's nothing good about the morning since they're stuck on the island of Neverland and not pirating. Wishing to give up the quest for Peter Pan, they bully Smee into trying to persuade their Captain to comply with their demands to go back out to sea again (even though Smee himself was also wanting to give up the quest for the same reasons). When Tick-Tock the Crocodile appears, a terrified Captain Hook begs Smee to save him from the creature. Smee shoos off the animal and decides to soothe Hook with a shave. As he unknowingly shaves the feathers off a gull, Smee tries to convince Hook to forget about his obsession with Peter Pan so that the crew can go to sea like they wish, but Hook either doesn't hear Smee or does hear him but disregards his words. Soon, Peter appears with the Darling children, and Hook orders Smee to gather the crew for an attack.
Smee is later seen rowing a rowboat with Captain Hook and a captive Tiger Lily past the Mermaid Lagoon as they make their way to Skull Rock. Smee is fooled by Peter's imitation of Hook and begins to free the Indian Princess, before being corrected by the real Hook. As Hook uncovers Peter's identity, Peter offers Smee a pistol with the dare of trying to hit him. He misses, and instead, Smee apparently hits Hook, who turns out to be alive, much to Smee's joy, but Smee is forced to rescue Hook when he is being attacked by the crocodile. Captain Hook jumps onto Smee's rowboat and orders Smee to row for the ship before falling back into the water. Smee rows back to Jolly Roger himself, leaving Hook to frantically swim away from the pursuing crocodile.
At some point, Smee learns of Tinker Bell's banishment through the talk from the crew and suggests to a now despondent Hook that they leave. His reasoning is that "an island with women trouble is no place for a respectable pirate". This gives Hook the idea to play on Tinker Bell's jealousy of Wendy. Smee captures Tinker Bell, and Hook is able to convince the fairy to reveal Peter Pan's hiding place (with help from a drunken Smee). Smee then accompanies Hook and assists in the capture of the children, especially after crying a bit with the other pirates, except Hook, over missing their mothers upon hearing Wendy singing Your Mother and Mine to the boys. During the final battle, Smee quietly attempts to escape by going aboard a rowboat. As he lowers himself and the rowboat onto the sea, the rest of the pirate crew fall on the rowboat. He is last seen calling for Captain Hook, who swims past them as he tries to flee from the crocodile.
Return to Never Land
Smee in Return to Never Land.
Smee is first seen reluctantly joining Hook and the pirates to London. There, they kidnap who they believe is Wendy, but is actually her daughter Jane, and rushes back to Never Land. Once there, Smee pulls out a bucket of chum to lure a giant octopus to devour "Wendy". The entire plan was to lure Peter Pan, which it does. Peter battles the octopus and is believed dead. Unlike Hook, Smee is saddened by the sight of Peter's apparent death. Right after, Peter returns and Captain Hook is attacked by the octopus, Smee attempts to save the captain, but the captain escapes himself and orders Smee to fix the plank so he can make him walk it.
Later on, Smee is giving Hook a massage to calm his nerves, but mentions of Peter taking his treasure and a run in with the octopus prevents this. Smee successfully shoos the creature away (though with more difficulty than with the crocodile) and calms the captain. Smee then joins Hook to Never Land to find Peter. Smee openly complains and admits he's tired of searching the island but silenced by the menacing Hook. Later on, Smee and Hook advise a plan to capture Peter and reclaim their treasure.
At the final battle, Smee battles Tinker Bell to save Hook, catching both in his hat and attempting to take the former out with an oar, only to knock the latter unconscious in the process. In a panic, he checked the captain to see if he's alright, when Tinkerbell flies out of his hat. He tries to catch her with it again and succeeds, but she drags him overboard and onto the rowboat into the sea. Smee and the pirates watch as Hook and the Jolly Rodger with the octopus sink into the ocean, with Smee noticing Hook get launched by the octopus out of the water and into the rowboat where he and Bill Jukes help the captain get up, then swim away in fear when the octopus envisions them as fish.
House of Mouse
Smee and Hook in House of Mouse.
Smee has received numerous cameos alongside Captain Hook in the television series House of Mouse.
In "Ask Von Drake" Smee is shown placing the Captain's hook onto his arm.
In the episode "Donald Wants to Fly", Smee can be seen witnessing Donald's (with Hook cowering behind him) flight and cheering for the latter when he finally gains the ability through Peter Pan's help.
In the episode "Super Goof", Smee stole Scuttle's telescope and gave it to Hook to observe Super Goof flying.
In "Pluto vs. Figaro", Hook feared he was under attack, causing himself and Smee to launch a cannon, which landed in Goofy's mouth.
In "Goofy's Menu Magic", when the club was flooded with stew, Hook and Smee can be seen rowing a boat through the waves of stew.
Smee made a cameo in Mickey's House of Villains, as he helped the other villains take over the House of Mouse.
Jake and the Never Land Pirates
Smee as he appears in Jake and the Never Land Pirates.
Smee appears in the series as a secondary antagonist. In the show, Smee is bumbling, but a tad more clever and sensible.
Smee partakes in all of the Captain's schemes and, like Hook is foiled every time. Also despite being loyal, it is shown several times he does not actually enjoy his work. Aside from being Captain Hook's sidekick and best friend, he is also the Captain's cook as in the film and usually the cause of his ultimate failures. However, there was one occasion where Smee actually showed excitement in his work, the episode "The Sword and the Stone".
In spite of being on the villain side, Smee and the young pirates are on good terms ever since Smee teamed up with the "sea pups" to find Captain Hook. It is unknown how Hook feels about the alliance though when Smee thanked the pirates, Hook shouted: "Whose side are you on, Smee?!"
Despite their different views of the "sea pups", Smee and Hook seem to be much closer, with a strong bond of both friendship and trust. Smee is always at Hook's side to offer both comfort and a voice of reason to his hot-headed captain.
In the episode "Mr. Smee's Pet", he has a chameleon named Blinky.
Mr. Smee plays a larger role in the episode "Ahoy, Captain Smee!" where he is left in command of the Jolly Roger after Captain Hook gave up his title of captain and abandoned ship with Sharky and Bones, leaving Smee to deal with the sinking ship. Luckily, Jake and his crew were sailing nearby and decided to help. Izzy used her pixie dust to lift the Jolly Roger from the Never Sea allowing Smee to patch the hole. With the danger over, Hook, Sharky, and Bones returned aboard the Jolly Roger. Hook orders Smee to return his title as captain, but Mr. Smee shocks Captain Hook by deciding to remain as captain for a while. It wasn't until Hook saved Smee's life during a treasure hunt that he decided to return Hook to commands.
Smee was also the center of the episode "Smee-erella", which introduced First-Mate Mollie, Smee's love interest.
The Pirate Fairy
Smee in The Pirate Fairy.
Smee makes a cameo at the end of the film set before the events of the original Peter Pan, after James (the younger version of Captain Hook) meets his defeat at the hands of Tinker Bell and her Pixie Hollow friends. Smee is seen sailing on a ship where he spots James stranded in the middle of the NeverSea. After spotting the washed up captain, Smee compliments the hook he's carrying around (alluding the iconic hook he'll one day gain), to which James replies by furiously demanding Smee to rescue him.
LEGO Disney Princess: The Castle Quest
Smee makes a minor appearance in the special, serving aboard a brig of pirates commanded by Captain Iago. While tending to the deck, the brig is infiltrated by Ariel and Moana, the latter of whom faces off with the pirates. Moana briefly interacts with Smee, using his mop to battle the pirates and inadvertently swabbing the deck in the process—much to Smee's delight. Smee is eventually caught up in the battle between Moana and the pirates, however, nearly being struck by the brig's runaway cannons. He eventually abandons the ship with the rest of the crew after Ariel uses one of the cannons to blast a whole into the vessel.
Other appearances
Smee appeared in a cameo with Captain Hook at the end of the second episode of Raw Toonage, after Hook defeats Don Karnage in a sword duel to get his treasure. Smee is shown rowing the boat out to sea with Hook and the treasure.
Mr. Smee appears in Once Upon a Studio, joining other characters to take a group photo to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Disney. Smee watches Goofy falling off the ladder and accidentally breaking the camera. However, during "When You Wish Upon a Star", He, Hook and everyone are able to successfully take the group photo.
Video games
Kingdom Hearts series
Mr. Smee appears in Kingdom Hearts as an inhabitant of Neverland, and often plays a minor role.
In the first Kingdom Hearts, Captain Hook and Smee are recruited by Maleficent to assist her in capturing the seven Princesses of Heart in her quest for world domination. As such, Hook and Smee, with a legion of Heartless at their command, capture Wendy. Peter hears of this and travels to the Jolly Roger for her rescue, allying himself with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. When Smee learns of their escape, he informs the Captain. While Peter and Wendy manage to escape, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Tinker Bell are captured and ordered to walk the plank, as Smee watches. Peter returns and frees his friends, prompting Smee to flee the scene.
In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Smee is seen in Neverland, once again, being ordered by the captain to dig up various sites in order to find supposed treasure, and though he does so diligently, the treasure is nowhere to be found.
Smee reappears in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep in Neverland, where he antagonizes Terra, Aqua, and Ventus alongside Hook. Quite notably, Smee's role is vastly larger in this game, compared to his original debut in the series.
Epic Mickey series
Smee talking with Mickey and Gus in Epic Mickey.
A rejected version of Smee lives in The Wasteland and is a recurring character in the series. Like his real world counterpart was (once) the right-hand man of Wasteland's Captain Hook, this Smee is first seen crying in the hub-world of Ventureland. He explains that he and the other pirates have left Skull Island because of a machine that turns pirates into Beetleworx. He will give Mickey Mouse the mission to go to Skull Island and stop the machine. If Mickey manages to either destroy or reverse the machine, Smee and the other pirates will leave Ventureland to return to Skull Island. If it's left alone or if the pumps get filled with Paint and Thinner for each one, they will remain in Ventureland. Either way, Smee is lastly seen on Mean Street at the game's finale, celebrating Wasteland's renewal with the rest of its citizens.
The version of Smee featured here is a rejected design based on concept art. The stripes on his shirt and the color of his hat are reversed. The Smee from the film had blue stripes and a red hat.
Smee returns in Epic Mickey 2, seen, once again, in Ventureland.
Smee also reappears in the third Epic Mickey game, Power of Illusion. At one point of the game, Mickey is asked by Captain Hook to find Smee. Smee is found by Mickey on the Jolly Roger and was brought to his boss at the fortress.
Kinect: Disneyland Adventures
Smee in Kinect: Disneyland Adventures.
Smee plays a minor role during the Peter Pan's Flight mini-game. Smee is first seen watching the helpless Cubby nearly meet his end until Pan shows up. Smee is last seen diving into the sea to rescue Hook after he was defeated and thrown overboard. The duo are then seen swimming away from the Crocodile.
Disney Sorcerer's Arena
Smee is an unlockable Oceanic Villain and Support character, added for the Neverland event. Smee specializes in summoning Jolly Roger Pirates as teammates, stunning opponents by whacking them with an oar, and healing his teammates whenever a summoned teammate is defeated, as well as having some unique synergy with Captain Hook. Smee is normally only unlockable during the seasonal Neverland event, requiring the player to upgrade Captain Hook and Tinker Bell and fight in various battles with them in order to earn tokens for Smee, and then is required for the rest of the event to earn tokens for Wendy, Peter Pan, and the Peter Pan's Shadow spell.
| Ability Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Clumsy Service | Smee's Basic Ability. Smee walks towards the target opponent balancing a tray of various objects before tripping and accidentally tossing the tray towards them, dealing damage. There is an 80% chance to inflict Offense Down on the target opponent for 1 turn. |
| Row for the Ship! | Smee's first Special Ability, costing 4 Magic. Smee dashes towards a target opponent and whacks them over the head with an oar, dealing heavy damage and inflicting Stun for 1 turn. If Captain Hook is a teammate, he is granted 1 Magic for each of his Abilities. On Offense in Club Conquest, Row for the Ship! will also decrease the target opponent's Speed Meter by 80%. |
| All Hands on Deck! | Smee's second Special Ability, costing 4 Magic. Smee blows a whistle and summons a Jolly Roger Pirate (with a 60% chance for them to gain Defense Up for 2 turns upon summon). Then, all Jolly Roger Pirates on the team will go and attack a random opponent. As a summonable unit, Jolly Roger Pirates have 3 Abilities:
On Offense in Club Conquest, Smee summons an additional 2 Jolly Roger Pirates upon using All Hands on Deck!. |
| A Pirate's Life is a Wonderful Life! | Smee's Passive Ability, costing 1 Magic. When a summoned or cloned teammate is defeated, Smee restores health to the most injured teammate by giving them a good shave, preferring non-summon / non-clone teammates. Initially, A Pirate's Life is a Wonderful Life! only has a 50% chance to activate, but as it is upgraded, the Ability will eventually rise to a 75% chance, and then guaranteed activation. |
Other games
In Disney's Villains' Revenge, Smee makes a vocal cameo during the introduction of Captain Hook's stage, where he tells the captain Peter Pan always wins, responding to Hook's desires to challenge the boy to a sword duel.
In 2012, a costume of Smee was added to Disney Universe as part of the add-on Never Land Pack.
In Disney Emoji Blitz, Smee was added in May 2020 as a Diamond Box Emoji, only available during certain events, such as the Peter Pan-themed Survival Event. The description for Smee's Emoji Power states "The poor Cap'n has a splitting headache! Tap fast to pour hot water into Hook's foot bath."
Disney Parks
Mr. Smee poses for a photo at Disneyland Paris.
Smee makes frequent appearances throughout the Disney theme parks around the world, most often featured alongside Captain Hook.
Disneyland Resort
An animatronic version of Smee can be seen constantly throughout the dark attraction Peter Pan's Flight.
Smee appears in the original Disneyland version of Fantasmic!, in the scene with Peter Pan and Captain Hook's duel. During the battle, Smee shouts famous quotes from the movie such as "Give it to him, Cap'n! Cleave him to the brisket!"
Walt Disney World
Smee appeared in the former Dream Along With Mickey show in the Magic Kingdom park. Here, Smee and Captain Hook are working for Maleficent, dreams are dying out and the three villains plot to take over the Magic Kingdom. Once Mickey and Donald defeat Maleficent with the power of dreams, Hook flees, having Smee scream, "Wait for me!"
Smee can also be found in the parade, Festival of Fantasy and commonly seen during Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.
He also appeared in the Disney's Hollywood Studios version of Fantasmic!, riding Steamboat Willie during the finale from 1998 to 2002 and again in 2014.
Tokyo Disney Resort
In One Man's Dream II: The Magic Lives On!, Smee appears as Hook's sidekick yet again in the live stage show in Tokyo Disneyland. He also makes appearances in the World Bazaar.
Smee also accompanies Hook in the annual Tokyo DisneySea harbor show, Villans' World, during the Halloween season.
Disneyland Paris
Smee accompanied Hook in the Disneyland Paris show Disney's Maleficious Halloween Party. For meet-and-greets, he can often be found in Adventureland and Fantasyland.
Disney Cruise Line
In Villains Tonight, aboard the Disney Magic, Smee is seen during Hook's segment. Later on, Smee and Hook are seen during Jafar and Iago's performance of Wind Beneath My Wings. Smee is lastly seen during the finale song Villains Tonight.
Aboard the Disney Magic cruise ship, Hook and his pirates invade the ship during Mickey's Pirates In The Caribbean. While Hook makes his entrance on the main deck, Smee breaks into the captain's quarters where he holds the ship's crew captive. After Mickey defeats Hook in a Captains Challenge, the crew members are freed and chase Hook and Smee off the ship.
Smee is also available for meet-and-greets aboard select ships.
Gallery
Trivia
- Smee is the polar opposite of his boss; he is actually cheerful and kind while Hook is hot-tempered and cruel.
- In the original story of Peter Pan, Smee was depicted with an Irish accent. Thompson's interpretation of the character has a slight Irish brogue that is inconsistent. When Jeff Bennett took over the character, an Irish accent was not even attempted.
- Though commonly seen as the first mate, Smee serves as ship's bo'sun, as in the original book. The position of the first mate was held by Gentleman Starkey, who was also assumed to be the butler in the original.
- Mr. Smee's appearance in the first two Epic Mickey games was later used on the Jake and the Never Land Pirates episode "Captain Scrooge".
- In the original novella, Smee named his cutlass "Johnny Corkscrew" because he wiggled it in the wound.
- Also in the original novel, Smee and Gentleman Starkey are the only two pirates to not be killed or tossed into the sea by the Lost Boys. Smee retired from piracy, becoming a sea-side merchant.
See also
External links
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