Sergeant Tibbs is a tabby cat and a supporting character from 101 Dalmatians. He is the sidekick of the Colonel and also an ally to Pongo and Perdita, as he helps the couple rescue their fifteen puppies as well as eighty-four other puppies who join their family.
Background[]
Tibbs is considerably the Colonel's most loyal rank member (and most likely best friend). As a sergeant, whenever he is given an order by a superior officer, he will always be quick to follow that instruction. Tibbs is also shown to be easily startled when he is awakened by the Captain's loud neighing. However, like the Captain and the Colonel, Tibbs has been shown to be courageous and resourceful in rescuing the puppies from Cruella.
Appearances[]
One Hundred and One Dalmatians[]
One night, Sergeant Tibbs is sleeping when he is awakened by the Captain with an urgent message from London. Sergeant Tibbs and his friend the Colonel learn about the fifteen missing Dalmatian Puppies. Tibbs recalls about remembering hearing puppies barking over at Hell Hall (the Old De Vil Place). He and the Colonel travel to the manor. Sergeant Tibbs enters investigating the area and soon finds 99 Dalmatian puppies (Pongo and Perdita's fifteen puppies Cruella De Vil had stolen from the Radcliffes and eighty-four other puppies whom Cruella got from pet stores through legitimate means). Once Tibbs counts the 15 puppies and discovers them to be missing ones, Cruella De Vil's henchmen, Jasper and Horace, find the tabby cat (Jasper sees him first when he mistakenly grabs him instead of a bottle of wine) and begins to attack.
Thankfully, Sergeant Tibbs escapes the Baduns. He reports the finding of the puppies to the Colonel, who sends the message back to London through the barking chain and the message is received by the Great Dane. Later on, Sergeant Tibbs and the Colonel try to make contact with Pongo and Perdita, the parents of the missing fifteen pups, but to no avail. Out of nowhere, a car makes its way to the De Vil Place, resulting in Sergeant Tibbs and the Colonel going to investigate yet again. This time around, Tibbs learns the diabolical plan of Cruella De Vil: to make dog-skin fur coats. Sergeant Tibbs successfully sneaks the puppies out of the main living room, but their disappearance is discovered by Jasper and Horace, and a chase follows. Sergeant Tibbs and the puppies are soon cornered and nearly killed until Pongo and Perdita burst in and battle the Baduns.
Sergeant Tibbs and the puppies escape with the Colonel back to the barn. There, Sergeant Tibbs and the Colonel watch the happy reunion, but it all takes a turn for the worst when Jasper and Horace appear once again. The Dalmatians escape, leaving Tibbs, the Colonel, and the Captain to battle the Baduns. However, their battle leads to Jasper and Horace finding paw prints of the Dalmatians, continuing the chase.
101 Dalmatians[]
Tibbs made a brief and minor appearance in the live-action 101 Dalmatians film and like all the other animals he doesn't talk. He is first seen when Kipper comes into the barn and demonstrates to the other animals what happened to the puppies. Tibbs is then seen again later during the climax of the film when Cruella falls into a vat of molasses and then emerges looking like some sort of monster and Tibbs and the other animals are freaked out.
101 Dalmatians: The Series[]
Sergeant Tibbs is a cat who works directly for the Colonel, though due to his long and loyal service towards the elderly canine, he has found himself a high rank in the Bark Brigade, where he often performs administrative duties in order to keep things working as smoothly as possible. Whether it involves him helping the Colonel perform first aid on an injured cadet, or keeping clock during assigned races and events, Sergeant Tibbs has proven himself time and time again that he is a capable officer who has performed many accomplishments for the Bark Brigade. Despite this, however, Sergeant Tibbs finds himself hated by Lieutenant Pug, who considers him to be a spy in the feline army who is secretly trying to bring forth the Great Cat Invasion, though Sergeant Tibbs tends to ignore Lieutenant Pug's remarks whenever they are made. However, there are instances where Sergeant Tibbs loses his composure and he has said several things to Lieutenant Pug about his derogative remarks, though Lieutenant Pug seldom speaks back to Sergeant Tibbs because he realizes that he has the Colonel's blessing. Despite the fact that he is a cat, a vast majority of the dogs in the Bark Brigade welcome his assistance, and the Dearly Dalmatians realize that he's always got their back, as if Lieutenant Pug ever does anything that truly abuses his power, Sergeant Tibbs will keep Colonel well informed, so that the situation can be resolved without conflict.
According to the series bible, Sgt. Tibbs was originally planned to be a female cat, much like their novel counterpart. This may suggest why Sgt. Tibbs has a different, more feminine sounding, voice in Home is Where the Bark Is. The series bible also describes how Tibbs takes pleasure in listening to idle chatter and knows gossip about everyone on the barking chain. This can result in Tibbs staying up for much of the night, listening in, leading to them feeling tired the next day, to the point of sometimes dozing off.
101 Dalmatians Plantation[]
In a cancelled series pitch called 101 Dalmatians Plantation, Tibbs would have appeared, having been promoted to the rank of Captain since the events of the film. He would have joined the Radcliffe family on the Dalmatian Plantation, with him and the Colonel keeping an eye on both the pups and Bobby, Roger & Anita's son / nephew. The series' antagonist, Nastia De Vil (Cruella's niece), would have had a black cat called Slink, who becomes love-struck with Captain Tibbs and would constantly try to flirt with him in order to get him to notice her. Tibbs, of course, pays no attention and avoids her at all costs, which just makes Slink try even harder.
102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue[]
Tibbs appears in the video game 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue, and is voiced by Michael Gough. In the game, Tibbs greets either Domino or Oddball in two levels. One of which is in the toy store, where he tells the player how to operate shooting devices and also the train and elevator. He later appears in "DeVil Manor," where he sabotages a clock to wake up Horace Badun. Domino/Oddball then leads Horace underneath a chandelier, where Sergeant Tibbs causes it to drop on top of him.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the original book by Dodie Smith, Sergeant Tibbs is a female cat named "Pussy Willow". She is also known as "Mrs. Willow", "Lieutenant Willow", "Lieutenant", "Lieutenant Tib", or simply "Tib".
- In the 1981 Disney's Wonderful World of Reading adaptation of 101 Dalmatians and Lucky Puppy, Sgt. Tibbs' fur is gray instead of brown.
- In Star Search, it is shown that he has a sister who lives in London with Lucky. It is also explained in My Side of the Story that a cousin of Sgt. Tibbs lives on the farm, which the Dalmatians, Roger, Anita, and Nanny find to live on themselves.
- He is one of the few Disney characters to say the word "hell" (though he does so in conversation, referring to Cruella's manor's name, rather than as a curse word).
- His voice in "Home is Where the Bark Is" sounds different than it does for other episodes of 101 Dalmatians: The Series.
- Tabby, Donald Duck's temperamental and sarcastic pet cat in the 1960s comics, is similar to Sergeant Tibbs and appears to have been at least partially inspired by him.
- One comic shows him to have a sister and several nephews and nieces living in London.
- The scene where Jasper tries to throw darts at him was recycled animation of Lucifer from Cinderella.
