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Thanks.

Honestly, I didn't mean to make this topic sound that way originally - it just really was a bother, you know, to realize that the series was very male-oriented... and I guess being a female fan sorta made me feel like females were being... slighted? I mean, yeah, back then I'm sure males [characters or not] were rather traditional in things, so... I suppose the films did keep that in play [WQ pushed the ceiling there with Aleu becoming the leader and all, but it was a start, darn it]. I hope you understand that.

Also, I'll have responses later~

- Juuchan17

Honestly, I didn't mean to make this topic sound that way originally - it just really was a bother, you know, to realize that the series was very male-oriented... and I guess being a female fan sorta made me feel like females were being... slighted? I mean, yeah, back then I'm sure males [characters or not] were rather traditional in things, so... I suppose the films did keep that in play [WQ pushed the ceiling there with Aleu becoming the leader and all, but it was a start, darn it]. I hope you understand that.

Also, I'll have responses later~

- Juuchan17

Back to the topic at hand.

If I had to choose which character I thought was the most useless, I would probably have to choose between either the Dixie & Sylvie duo, or Dipsy. However I can't really decide on which one out of the two choices because all three of them seem equally useless as one another. XD

Reason being is because their roles primarily consisted of simply talking to the main characters and throwing in their "two cents" on the current situation. They did nothing to help resolve or alter any internal or external conflicts so the plot lines wouldn't have changed at all if they weren't in the movies at all. Compared to what these three did in the movies, all the other options (with the exception of Saba, which I also question why she's even on this list. Lol!) had way more important roles! Yes, many of the other characters only had what would be considered supporting roles or only contributed small things to the plot line, but hey, supporting roles and small contributions are way better than providing nothing at all!

I believe it was Jenna who was most helpful, because she was balto's one true love and she gave him the extra push to move on

The Spark of love, if you will

[NOTE: I have posted this in the Balto 1 section, though this clearly mentions characters in all three films. Please keep all conversation on-topic! Thanks~!]

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Hello there, Balto fans! I bring to you all a special topic that came up in the shoutbox recently [read: last night]... and it's an interesting topic of discussion that could work for a lot of animated films lately.

Is it just me or do any characters that are female are shown to be useless in the Balto-verse?

Yes, I understand that in these times, it was still a very male-oriented sort of world for everyone back in the 1920s, but you'd think that there'd be some girls in the time period that defied the order of things, right? [Aleu may have been the surprise entry here by being the closest gal to breaking this barrier, but I'll get to her soon enough...]

Also, Aniu [or the White Wolf - whichever term floats your boat] doesn't count as "being useless"; she's the most helpful of them all, if only because she probably knows how it'll all turn out in the end. You know, that whole "Great Spirit" thing makes her like the all-seeing, all-knowing deity since they probably can't use anything else, lest it start to get preachy.

But I digress.





Let me elaborate on our female characters, starting with the first movie.

Jenna: Our hero... and villain's love interest. Based on her appearance and her obviously-impossible physical condition, Jenna plays the role of the lead female in this picture. She's loyal to her mistress [good character trait], trusting of Balto [in time; I'm sure at the beginning she was just curious and feeling sorry for the crap he had to put up with, but obviously the curiosity grows quickly in a little over an hour...], and speaks true facts in the villain's face that most other dogs would never dare to say. Ballsy. So, so BALLSY, Jen.

And that's not all! Not only that, but she fights a BEAR. Yes. A bear. Sure, she's tossed like a rag-doll and eventually injures herself, but still... A BEAR! That, my friends, is the epitome of AWESOME. Now wonder Balto really starts to fall for her after she is revived from his icy swim!

Okay, so you're wondering: What's wrong with her here?

To be honest... not much. Compared to the other versions of her [I'm getting ahead of myself, you know], first-movie!Jenna is the best. She actually goes after Balto, is a big help [trust me, that thing about the one pass being blocked when time is of the essence, it's a big freaking deal! It probably helped save those sick people quicker.], and seems to be the only sign of hope in the entire town of Nome when everyone else gives up. At least she's not letting a hurt leg stop her from making the Northern Lights and stand up to Steele's silly tale of faux-hero. Way to go, you.... now tell me what happened to you in the sequels?


Rosy: Our catalyst and *SPOILER ALERT!* our beginning narrator...! Oh, Rosy, you are so ignored and yet you deserve so much credit. The only things we know she did was try to be friends with Balto [at least before her dad screwed that friendship up - nice going, Man! You're just aiding for our hero to be more likely to succeed because he cares for her!], getting sick, getting better, and telling his story to the next generation in her line. The cycle continues...

Naturally, she soon becomes the main suffering victim of diphtheria, making Balto and Jenna worry to high heaven... and BOTH risk their lives to save her. Jenna fails in the wild after being rather brave and awesome [all for the name of LOVE~<3], where Balto eventually succeeds after getting his life really REALLY close to being lost.

Basically, her only purpose was to be the catalyst and - eventually hinted at being [which she was] - the narrator. She does it well, and only gets a couple of mentions in WQ and a opening cameo in WoC, but... that's it. I wish she was more active in WoC actually... That would have been a great addition to the story instead of a certain other character that will not be named yet.


Rosy's Mom: Did nothing but be there for her daughter and husband. Typical mom stuff. Nothing really wrong with that since the focal point of the film is more on the canines [mainly around Balto, Jenna and Steele - the LUV Triangle] than the humans.


Dixie and Sylvie: Pointless, the both of them. What did they really do? Let's see... Dixie's crushing heavy on our bad guy, Sylvie's the gossip hound, and both of them are supposedly Jenna's friends. They didn't act like friends much as Balto started to enter into Jenna's life, but thankfully, we don't see them in the sequels so we don't care. Oh, and they ditch the dodo, Steele at the end too... Dixie's was extremely memorable and packed a freakin' PAWNCH~!


The White Wolf: Okay, this is a stretch... if only because it's hard to tell if the wolf is male or female. If it's really Aniu [which it's revealed by the director of WQ that they are supposed to be the same], then the wolf didn't do much but silently remind Balto of Boris's important words that there are things that wolves can do that dogs just can't... Yay, movie - differences are what make us eventual heroes! Apparently, it worked for Balto, thanks to a tag team of the White Wolf and a white Russian goose.

And then s/he was never seen or mentioned again... until the next movie.





Now, movie two - Wolf Quest:

Aleu: Our "hard-to-believe" focus of the first continuation of Balto's story. She is like her father in ways - part wolf, stubborn as HECK, and somehow... not even she can fight! Have you noticed that a thin wolf nearly pushed her off a cliff into the ocean? Pathetic... almost like Kiara from TLK2 and her hunting skills. Give her mother credit - at least she could fight a BEAR. [then again, Balto was a pathetic fighter in the movie too. Blame the animation crew for making him such a flailing FAIL against that bear.] But yeah, Aleu can't seem to really fend for herself. Balto saves her. Nava, the elder leader, tries to save her. She's nearly defeated by Niju... before her DAD saves her.

...And she's making the choice to lead a pack of wolves? Reckless much? Honestly, I would have preferred her staying with Nava while her dad goes off and leads the wolves. He is much more wolf than she is ["one who is wolf..."], and doesn't seem to remember too much of his own lupine skills anymore ["...and does not know"], but the writers chose to go the dramatic road, just enough to make us go "....Wait, what?"

Also, she's seen as annoying - the voice, her swiftness to blaming her dad for not finding a home, her whole "me-me-ME" search, etc. - but at least she matures for the better in the last... 15-20 minutes? Amazing how she went from "I hate you for making me part-wolf!" to "I'm destined to be the wolves' leader!" in a matter of... days? [Time is never really established during that time after Aleu leaves and Balto returns home - Fail, movie. Just... FAIL.] Was it the mouse's song that just suddenly changed her mind in a day's time? Wow, I wish those existed in real life.


Saba: She wasn't that important, thanks to the one line of dialogue a little kid got to do and the fact that we know she's adopted by some kid in Nome and never seen again except for a flashback in WoC. Again, useless. Loved by her parents - yes.... but it still doesn't make up for how pointless her role is. Ah, the fate of "never-will-be-developed" minor characters. To think Kodi was originally one of these.


Jenna: I know what you're thinking... "WTF, Juuchan - you're mentioning her AGAIN?" Well, different movie, different writers... yet we get the SAME PROBLEM. Jenna does NOTHING... but have Balto's kids, shed a tear or two, and eventually stay behind and worry, while the "hero" [now flawed, thank goodness] finds their daughter and goes on a journey of destiny to nearly fight with a wolf that look like big navy-blue cats.

Honestly, she was told to stay behind by Balto and Boris, but did she have to really follow what the guys say? I mean, Aleu was her daughter too... and she never really got a good-bye from her either. That's just... not cool. Sure, they wanted to focus on the ones with wolfish qualities in this adventure, but still... it would have made Jenna awesome again instead of completely boring as heck.


The Fox: First off, may her voice actress rest in peace. Secondly, let's just say that I'm more pleased with this minor spirit character than any of the females on this list so far. At least she's the only character in the entire movie that has the balls to push Balto around, even if it's in only one scene.

...Oh WAIT. She's actually Aniu in disguise. Oh, crud-muffins... so that's why she actually is a productive female! Totally makes sense.





And... sigh, movie three - Wings of Change.

Stella: Ugh. The most disliked, feather-boobed female in the whole series... and she was strangely - I can't believe I'm saying this - helpful near the beginning of the film's climatic rescue. Unfortunately, the only reasons why she was being helpful was... because she could fly and it was HER FAULT. If she hadn't been all seductive on Boris at first sight, I'm sure she would have slowly made me like her... but she had boobies. Large, visible ones... and loads of sexual overtones with things she said, gestures she made, and the way she dropped hints about what she wanted... You know, it's for kids!

I wish I knew what the writers [who were the original writers of the original film and now all of the Barbie films - were they making Stella a sexy goose Barbie then?] were thinking...

At least they made her lash out at Boris. He deserved it after lying to her like that. At least they made up in the end... but we all know that we would have preferred them staying separate and single.


Dipsy: I almost forgot about her - shows how important she was in my eyes. The only important things I saw her do was listen with her long, floppy ears about the rules of the plane vs. dogs race and act as the chill pill for Mel when he goes out of his mind with theories of what could happen. Other than that, she eats and steals jerky a lot. Gluttony in a canine form, I swear.


Dusty: Her only claims to fame are for being the only obvious female on Kodi's sled team, possibly being Kodi or Ralph's possible love match [I ship both, by the way.], and for... being easily mistaken as a husky version of Kodi's now-in-the-wild sister by many Balto-verse newbies. Well, she does howl like two or three times in the film.

The only thing of worth that she's even done other than running with the boys on the sled team has been... siding with Kodi when he realizes that the huskies don't give a crud about a pilot that could be dying in the cold. We don't know until later that she's probably convinced the rest of her trio to follow Kodi and help Balto with finding Duke. Whoo-hoo, she DID SOMETHING!


Jenna: ...Wait, AGAIN???? Well, she was encouraging to Balto [and she can SING LIKE ARIEL~!], and actually got upset with Kodi for NOT going out with Balto to find Duke and Boris and even said that she should have followed him herself.

So... why didn't she? [Or I'm sure many fans would have preferred, "Why didn't Steele go after him instead of the mail dogs?" Trust me, it would have been more EPIC that way.... but I digress again.] The story might have been different if she had. Other than that, she's not really too helpful, as she's either: a) in a scene with Mel and/or Dipsy; b) in a scene with Balto; or c) in a scene with Kodi. I will admit that she seems to also be the voice of sanity when around Mel, that darn crazy mail dog.





And that's it! Now it's your turn: What do you think about the females in the Balto-verse? Who do you think was the most useful female in the series, and who was the least? Please explain your reasons if you can - it would help add to the discussion!

Thank you so much for reading!

- Juuchan17

I just hope you understand that, through all my pointed references and statements, that I certainly wasn't belittling you at all. I am afraid you may be upset with me over this. And that would be a shame. I love your topics, and they are usually quite thought-provoking and capable of generating quite a bit of discussion. I just think that sometimes fans, out of desperation to talk about SOMETHING since no new material is forthcoming from either Universal or even Steven Spielberg (good or bad), that they'll come up with wild and fanciful (or sometimes hair-brained, though I don't think this topic fits that description) topics to just keep the thing rolling.

I love that any topic you don't agree with is a useless one. Which topics AREN'T useless to you? The ones with "fans" who love 100% of all three movies without a doubt? Please. Stop spamming perfectly decent topics with your "true fans don't blah blah de fricken blah" crap.

If you would read what others have to say on the subject, you might actually agree with something. And if you were paying attention, Juuchan said she is going to make a proper response to this topic, and while we've been patiently waiting for her, it'd be nice to have you not nagging people on every "useless" topic you come across.

And like it or not, the movies are unintentionally discriminating. I'm trying not to give more for Juu to respond to, but it's true. Considering the female cast, we have one who's a stuffy gossip, one who's a materialistic Jezebel, one who stays behind for every adventure put out there, one who constantly makes mistakes cuz she doesn't listen to her DADDY, one who's promiscuous and is disliked by a good majority of the fandom, one who eats her feelings and her weight is used as comic relief, and one who comes off as able to keep up with an all-male team but ends up being the only one to fumble and ends up with a guy anyway.

And as you see, I've listed every female stereotype presented in movies that is widely scorned at by the general public, and all of them suit each female character in Balto.

And like it or not, the movies are unintentionally discriminating. I'm trying not to give more for Juu to respond to, but it's true. Considering the female cast, we have one who's a stuffy gossip, one who's a materialistic Jezebel, one who stays behind for every adventure put out there, one who constantly makes mistakes cuz she doesn't listen to her DADDY, one who's promiscuous and is disliked by a good majority of the fandom, one who eats her feelings and her weight is used as comic relief, and one who comes off as able to keep up with an all-male team but ends up being the only one to fumble and ends up with a guy anyway.

And as you see, I've listed every female stereotype presented in movies that is widely scorned at by the general public, and all of them suit each female character in Balto.