Penguin

Aptenodytes

Penguins in popular culture

Penguins are popular around the world primarily for their unusually upright, waddling pace and (compared to other birds) lack of fear towards humans. Their striking black and white plumage is often likened to a tuxedo suit and generates humourous remarks about the bird being "well dressed".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Perhaps in reaction to this cutesy stereotype, fictional penguins are occasionally presented as grouchy or even sinister.The popular Sanrio character Badtz Maru is an example, being cute yet somewhat surly. Feathers McGraw is a wanted criminal. The 1960s television cartoon character Tennessee Tuxedo would often escape the confines of his zoo with his partner, Chumley the walrus. Also, the webcomic Fluble features an enormous penguin conspiracy run by numerous diabolical, if often inept, penguins.

Related Topics:
Sanrio - Badtz Maru - Feathers McGraw - 1960s - Cartoon - Tennessee Tuxedo - Walrus - Fluble

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Computing

• Sega's 1982 video-game Pengo stars a penguin.
• A penguin is a main character in a number of 1980s Konami games, and shows up as a mascot in others.
• Penguins are featured in the computer game Pingus, similar to the classic computer game Lemmings.
• Penguins feature prominently in the popular Yetisports series of Flash games.
• The Linux mascot Tux is a penguin, and is featured in several computer games, such as Tux Racer.
• The Gentoo Linux distribution is named after the Gentoo Penguin.
• The Nintendo 64 game "Mario 64" features a level in which a mother and baby penguin are prominent characters.
• The website War Of The Penguins.com is one of several sites that talk about "evil penguins." The website concentrates on the military invasion of the world by a hypothetical Penguin Army.

Politics

• The penguin is an unofficial symbol of the United States Libertarian Party.
• Penguin Vic was a character created to promote tourism in Victoria

Comics

• Opus the penguin was a main character in Berke Breathed's comic strips Bloom County, Outland, and Opus.
• Sparky is a main character in the weekly cartoon This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow.
• Pokey the Penguin is a popular webcomic.
• Chilly Willy is another web comic, based on the (penguin) character from the Commodore 64 game Chilly Willy, a clone of Pengo. These only coincidentally share the same name as the theatrical cartoon character.
• Frobisher is a penguin (actually, a shape-shifting alien who liked the penguin shape) who appeared in the Doctor Who Monthly comic strips in the 1980s. Despite not being strictly canon, he is considered an important part of the Doctor Who mythos.
• DC Comics' Batman contains a villain named the Penguin, who has also appeared in movies and live-action television programs as well as cartoons.
• Ted the penguin is a penguin of unknown age which inhabits the home of Ethan, Lucas and Scott in the Ctrl Alt Del (webcomic), ostensibly as the pet of Scott, the web-comic's Linux guru.

Film

• Chilly Willy is the name of an animated character in Walter Lantz's series of theatrical shorts. (http://www.toonopedia.com/chilly.htm)
• The animated film ' features a ruthless criminal penguin named Feathers McGraw.
• The protagonist of the dialogue-less Swiss animation Pingu, which has been running since 1982, is a penguin.
• There were 4 penguins featured as prominent (although not the main) characters in Dreamworks' 2005 animated film Madagascar.
• One of the main villains of the movie Batman Returns was the Penguin who, in the film, was raised by penguins. In this movie he also formed an army of penguins to attack Gotham city. Their equipment included back mounted rockets and laser eye sights.
• The anime series featured Pen-Pen, a pet/mascot.
• The documentary March of the Penguins (2005) details a year in the life of a family of Emperor Penguins. http://wip.warnerbros.com/marchofthepenguins/
• The movie Billy Madison featured a penguin that was a friend of Adam Sandler's character.
• There was a penguin character named Wheezy in Disney's Toy Story 2. He would later make a cameo appearance at the beginning of the direct-to-video .
• Martini the penguin is a major supporting character in the Christmas television special Olive, the Other Reindeer.
• Mr Forbush and And The Penguins ({{imdb_title|title=Mr Forbush and And The Penguins|id=0066961}})
• The penguin is Jack's power animal in Fight Club.

Literature

• The children's book Mr. Popper's Penguins details Mr. Popper and his 12 performing penguins.
• Three children's books by Janet Perlman--Cinderella Penguin, The Emperor Penguin's New Clothes, and The Penguin and the Pea--retell classic children's stories with a penguin twist.

Sports mascots

• Penguins are the namesake of the Pittsburgh Penguins (mascot's name: "Iceberg") of the National Hockey League and the sports teams of Youngstown State University (mascot's name: "Pete").
• The school mascot of New England Conservatory of Music (Boston, MA) is the Fighting Penguin.

Places

Penguin, Tasmania is a town in Tasmania, Australia, located at {{coor dms|41|7|0|S|146|4|15|E|region:AU_type:city(2,876)}} (Map Quest).

Related Topics:
Penguin, Tasmania - Tasmania - Australia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Audio CDs

• Frobisher, the talking alien penguin from the DWM comics, has appeared in several of the licensed Doctor Who audio plays produced by Big Finish, including The Holy Terror and The Maltese Penguin.
• Sack Trick's second album, Penguins on the Moon, is the tale of four heroic penguins who journeyed to the moon in search of a more habitable climate.
• dredg's fifth album "El Cielo" features a song called "Triangle" with repetitious lyrics asking "We live like Penguins in the desert, why can't we live like tribes?"