The Thornberry Family
Since I'm currently between jobs (Fall of '98) and have loads of time on my hands, I think the world needs an in-depth study of the Thornberry family. The pictures are all stolen directly from the Thornberry web site, or from the Nickelodeon TV show.
Now on the surface, they appear pretty dysfunctional; both parents are too
preoccupied with their work to have time to pay even minimal attention to the
children.
Eliza has as her only playmate and friend, a chimp, with whom she
claims to be able to converse. She is completely without supervision and if it
weren't for the chimp, she would be dead at least once in each episode.
Debbie is a typical 16 year old, except for the fact that she has no girlfriends, no
boyfriends, and very little in the way of normal teenage outlets, like malls,
telephones and music. The wild boy, Donnie, is given no training or education,
even though he has shown his willingness and interest in learning to speak
English. He also receives too little supervision; he eats some very
inappropriate things. Wife, Marianne, shows very distinct signs of sexual
frustration, which are aggravated by the complete lack of privacy for all of the
family members. Nigel operates at top speed on an adrenaline high and is
usually oblivious to the rest of his family's needs. His stress level must be
extremely high due to the insistence of the family members that he 'do
something' whenever any problem arises. The relationships in this family are far
from shallow; in fact, for a cartoon, their interactions are fascinating.
Nigel:
He is described as clueless. This is not so; he is very intelligent, inventive,
and even occasionally notices when some family member needs some attention, like
when he told Debbie that she should drive the Commvee at the end of the episode
in which she had let the vehicle go over a cliff. Unfortunately, this notice
doesn't include poor Marianne. He has the odd habit of losing track of a
conversation and just spacing off on his own thoughts. Disconcerting, but not to
be called exactly 'clueless.' He is a very attractive fellow, with an
interesting physique and brilliant red hair. His nose is so large that one
can't help but remember the axiom about men with large noses being well endowed
elsewhere. He is an Oxford man who was remembered by a former schoolmate as
being something of a terror.
He loves British dishes such as porridge and kippers.
He is not a stranger to the kitchen either. He is a goldmine of
esoteric information, like the boat built from twigs, called a cabildo, and can
put the information to practical usage, such as the case of the elaborate system
of ropes to gain access to the treetops to film the bird-eating spider. He has
done his homework, as shown by the knowledge that the bird-eating spider was
much more likely to eat caterpillars and rats.
He is a modest man, not given to bragging about his abilities. He is knowledgeable in chemistry, biology, mechanics, and engineering. Part of the frantic activity may be from sexual repression.
Marianne:
She is a competent professional at the technical as well as the artistic side of
her work, and appears to enjoy it very much. She tries very hard to be a good
sport about putting up with Nigel's inexhaustible good spirits, Debbie's teenage
attitude, and Eliza's constant wandering off. She eventually gets enough, and
puts her foot down. This can take the form of laying down the law to Eliza,
letting Debbie know her attitude is not helping the situation, or even shaking
her fist under Nigel's nose. 
She is in good physical condition, although the tiny waist plus thunder-thighs
give her an odd unbalanced look. She desperately
needs a new look, that scarf over her hair has GOT to go. The cuffed jeans are
not too shabby, but the sleeveless midriff baring shirt would look better on
Debbie. She and Nigel need some time together without the kids. Their marriage
could probably use a little romance put back into it. (Trust me, EVERY marriage
needs a renewal occasionally.) She appears to get a lot of satisfaction from
her work, but may be nearing that time when she needs to do a reappraisal of
herself. They NEED to work on their relationship before they get set into too
deep of a rut.
Debbie:
I like Debbie. She has a lot of spunk; in fact she is a chip off the old block.
Whenever she needs something, she follows her father's lead and attempts to do
it herself. She is not afraid to jump in and do whatever is needed, whether it
is saving Donnie or rescuing the Commvee from a mudhole. She is worried about
getting to college, and well she should, since she is nowhere near as
intelligent as Eliza is. She likes to wallow in her teenage angst, but will
jump out of it to take care of Donnie, whom she seems to care very much about.
The lack of privacy seems to be nearly as bad for her as for her Mother. She
needs to have people her own age to interact with, or she will be as odd an
adult as her Father is.
Eliza:
I don't particularly like Eliza. She has none of the charm all the other family
members have; in fact Darwin, the chimp, seems to have gotten her share. She
claims that she was given the ability to talk to animals by a native shaman who
discovered she was spying on him in the jungle. Her parents don't know of her
ability, and it only occasionally seems to help gain any positive result for the
rest of her family. Mostly it is a lone adventure, undertaken by Eliza, with
the help of the chimp, which results in some sort of good result. She doesn't
usually get any recognition for the good things that she accomplishes. She is
foolhardy rather than brave; getting into lethal situations that the chimp has
to rescue her from. She regularly rescues her sister, almost too often to be
believable. Perhaps it is a daydream of hers, instead of a real occurrence?
Donnie:
I didn't see the pilot yet, so don't know just where he came from, or how he
came to be 'wild.' He seems to be a loving, intelligent, adventurous creature,
but with the complete lack of common sense of a very young child. He does not
receive adequate supervision, yet seems to survive, so far. He has been hauled
away from lava pits and electric fences--only after trying to put his tongue on
the fence! So he does get some attention. He seems to understand some of what
is happening around him, even though he doesn't speak understandable. He has
helped both girls get out of trouble by providing a distraction for the parents
while the girls make a getaway.
The Thornberrys are preparing for Donnie's "birthday" party in Borneo (They don't know his real birthday, but celebrate the day they found him) when one crisis after another happens. Grandma Sophie decides to visit the same day Nigel and Marianne must capture a wild orangutan on film or the foundation will cut their funding. This is no easy task since poachers are lurking about and Marianne breaks her wrist climbing down a mountain. But to make matters even worse, Donnie runs off into the jungle after Eliza gets angry with him. As Eliza and Darwin search for Donnie in the rainforest, they run across a baby orangutan that needs to find her mother as Donnie is reunited with his "family", an orangutan and her son. Meanwhile, Debbie and Grandma Sophie get taken in by a native tribe and Nigel and Marianne scare off poachers. Finally, the Thornberrys reunite after a huge fire and find Donnie in a remote village and learn from the medicine woman there the terrible fate that befell Donnie's real parents.