Mr. Spell is a character who appears in the Toy Story franchise, first introduced in the 1995 Disney/Pixar animated feature film Toy Story.
Background[]
Personality[]
A natural teacher built for educational purposes, Mr. Spell is capable of talking by spelling the words he says, revealing them on the screen. In the toys' perspective, he is shown to educate about critical issues such as "plastic corrosion awareness" . He is also even grateful at the time he attended Woody's staff meeting for sponsoring said issue for the toys. Despite his square-shaped size and wobbly movements, the other toys respect him for the vocabulary he gives them as well as his large memory thanks to a powerful computer chip inserted in his body with the other toys being tolerant of him and respectful of his capabilities.[1][2]
Physical appearance[]
Mr. Spell, as his name suggests, is a handheld educational toy resembling typical computer keyboard resembling Speak & Spell toys designed by Texas Instruments. He is depicted with letters of the alphabet in alphabetical order and has typically yellow coloration around his body and a red handle located on top of him.
Appearances[]
Toy Story[]
Mr. Spell is first seen amongst many of Andy's toys attending a staff meeting organized by Woody, announcing to them that they only have one week before Andy and his mother move to a new home. Woody thanks Mr. Spell for sponsoring the "plastic corrosion awareness" sponsor, which he replies to him "You're welcome", as the words he exactly said appear on his screen. However, Hamm alerts the other toys, causing Mr. Spell and the others to scatter upon seeing birthday guests coming to Andy's house but not before Andy receives a Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday.
Later when Buzz arrives, Mr. Spell then showed a like towards him. However, when Woody accidentally knocked Buzz off the window, many toys accused Woody for doing it on purpose - although Mr. Spell was one of the few toys who did not accuse him of doing it. He later appears at the end of the film at Andy's new house where he spells out the lyrics for "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" with Mr. Potato Head using Mr. Mike as a karaoke machine but not before getting their attention from Sarge about Andy and Molly present for Christmas.
Toy Story 2[]
Mr. Spell holds a seminar to what toys would do if they become swallowed (whether partially or fully), especially the case when Buster, Andy's dog, is in the house. However, after Buster arrived at the room, Mr. Spell displays 13.5 seconds for Buster to find Woody, giving the dog a new record. Later after Andy accidentally broke Woody's arm and is then captured by Al McWhiggin, Buzz uses Mr. Spell to find a hidden message (LZTYBRN) seen on the license plate, which turns out to be Al's Toy Barn and that Al, the man wearing a chicken costume, is the culprit. He then appears at the end of the film when Wheezy is singing "You've Got a Friend in Me" with Woody rescued and reunited with the other toys at home.
Other appearances[]
Mr. Spell also appears in the Forky Asks a Question episode "What is Reading?". He appears when he asks Forky if he wants to read, which he denies, causing Mr. Spell to sigh with a bored reaction while the Peas-in-a-Pod help him how to read and pronounce written text correctly. As Forky reads a cookbook in a section about grilled cheese and the Peas realize he can read, he asks Mr. Spell to look and reacts that he fooled them, explaining he can read but pretended he couldn't. As the Peas did not find Forky's joke amusing, Mr. Spell asks him that they didn't appreciate a joke from him and that there will be other days and opportunities to impress them. He then impresses them with colorful lights to give him and the Peas a sense of humor.
Mr. Spell also appears in the "You've Got a Friend in Me" episode in The Wonderful World of Songs, but is colored purple, has a rainbow handle and decorated with white clouds as well as having green sides around him, compared to his design in the films.
Video game appearances[]
Toy Story Mania![]
In the Wii version of Toy Story Mania!, Mr. Spell appears when the player starts the game, giving him a crucial part in the game. He appears right after the player selects how many players they would choose for the game and tells them to enter their name in order to play, depending on how many players are chosen. Once done so, the player will be able to play the game on Story Mode or on Free Play Mode.
If the player chooses to leave the game by returning to the Wii Menu, restarting the game, or turning off the Wii console while they are still in the game, they will need to select how many players they would choose for the game and then enter their name using Mr. Spell depending on how many players are chosen again. Thus, the player will still have to enter their name on Mr. Spell in order to play every time they play Toy Story Mania! on Wii.
Disney Parks[]
Pixar Place[]
Mr. Spell was placed in the former Pixar Place area outside the Toy Story Dept. area, entertaining guests exploring the former area.
Slinky Dog Dash[]
In Slinky Dog Dash, Mr. Spell appears in the area where Wheezy is singing "You've Got a Friend in Me" at the end of the rollercoaster ride. He is placed on top of a Rubik's cube.
Trivia[]
- In the first Toy Story film, the bottom of Mr. Spell's label has a narrow button with a name on it, while in Toy Story 2, it was replaced with two buttons containing the words "Space" and "Speak" respectively.
- Although Mr. Spell did not appear during the events of Toy Story 3 or Toy Story 4, somehow he appeared in Forky Asks a Question. According to Bob Peterson, Mr. Spell was donated between the events of the third and fourth film installments in the franchise, where Mrs. Anderson found him and give him to Bonnie.
References[]
- ↑ Pixar Character Encyclopedia (2022 edition, page 24)
- ↑ Pixarpedia (page 33)
