Pelswick
John Callahan's Pelswick is a animated comedy television series based on the comic books by John Callahan for CBC and Nickelodeon. It was co-produced by Nelvana Limited and Suzhou Hong Ying Animation Company Limited. Based on Callahan's comics, the series is about the title character, a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair, emphasizing that he lived a normal life. Callahan's dark humor was toned down somewhat, allowing the show to have a positive and life-affirming attitude appropriate for its audience. The series was groundbreaking for its portrayal of physically disabled people. In the United States, the series premiered on Nickelodeon and was billed as an original series on the network, despite not being part of Nicktoons.
Characters
- Pelswick Eggert – A 13-year-old boy who uses a wheelchair. How he became a paraplegic is not revealed in the series, but the series' creators imply through commentary that it was due to a car accident. He dislikes it when people treat him differently because of his disability. He dislikes following the crowd and he goes by his own rules.
- Ace Nakamura – Pelswick's best friend of Japanese descent. Ace is technologically smarter than any of his friends, and is often the thinker of the situation.
- Goon Gunderson – Pelswick's other best friend. Huge and slow-witted in his actions and thoughts, Goon is generally good-hearted but rather dangerous when angry. He does not know that wrestling is staged.
- Julie Smockford – A beautiful redhead and Pelswick's love interest. She dislikes all the cliques and popularity contests at school and seems to care mostly about her popularity and image. Julie is smart, dramatic, sometimes annoying, but cares a lot about Pelswick. Pelswick has a crush on her but she is fully oblivious about it. Julie believes in justice for all.
- Sandra Scoddle – Julie's snooty and arrogant best friend/rival and one of Pelswick's friends. She thinks she is better than everyone else and often disputes with Julie. She thinks she is cool, but she's not. She gets caught into the latest trends. Is of African-American ethnicity.
- Mr. Jimmy – Pelswick's guardian angel who often gives him advice that confuses him until the last moment, no matter what it is. Pelswick cannot stand it when his advice doesn’t make sense. He is also the comic relief of the series.
- Kate Eggert – Pelswick's precocious younger sister. She treats her reputation as a little sister like a business and usually blackmails Pelswick when butting into his business. She has dreams of owning a big corporation. She is 7 years old.
- Bobby Eggert – Pelswick's and Kate's baby brother. He rarely talks and admires Pelswick. Because their mother died in a car accident, Bobby doesn’t remember her.
- Quentin Eggert – Pelswick, Kate and Bobby's politically correct father who works as a college professor until he is fired in "The Case of the Filched Files." He later gets his job back. He wants to do everything by papers. His wife was killed in the same car accident that made Pelswick into a paraplegic.
- Priscilla "Gram-Gram" Eggert – Quentin's mother and Pelswick, Kate and Bobby's deranged grandmother. She often does "extreme" acts beyond that of a grandmother. Most of these acts results in her getting arrested.
- Boyd Scullarzo – The rival of Pelswick's school who likes bullying Pelswick, whom he names "Smellswick" and others, not physically, but with humiliation.
- Vice Principal Ziegler – The vice principal of Alcatraz Jr High, Pelswick’s school. Despite his title, he usually assumes the role of a principal. Throughout the show, there is no state of there being a principal at Alcatraz Jr High. During the second episode of the series, this issue was mentioned by Goon who questioned why their school had a vice principal but without a principal.