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Trailer Park Boys

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Trailer Park Boys is a popular Canadian mockumentary television series focusing on the misadventures of ex-convicts living in fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park, which is located near Halifax, Nova Scotia. It premiered in April 2001. The show's creator and director is Mike Clattenburg.

Shot COPS-style (Cameraman's point of view), the low-budget program became something of a rarity in English Canada: a homegrown phenomenon. Characters, particularly "Bubbles", appear on novelty tee-shirts, the show's lead trio toured with Our Lady Peace, they appeared in a video with The Tragically Hip, and have been presenters at numerous award shows - always in character.

The show has been a great success for Showcase, where it is the network's highest rated Canadian series. It airs in the United Kingdom on Paramount Comedy, in Australia on the Comedy Channel and in New Zealand on TV 2. In the United States, BBC America formerly aired a censored version of the show, but it no longer is part of their lineup.

Contents

Background

The show was born out of three short films (all directed by Mike Clattenburg). The shorts are: The Cart Boy (1995), One Last Shot (1998), and Trailer Park Boys (1999). The show was filmed in real trailer parks in the Halifax area. During the first season, they shot at a park in Sackville, second season at a park in Dartmouth, third season at a park in Timberlea and the fourth season at a park back in Dartmouth. Since then, the show (including the Christmas special and feature film), has been filmed at a closed set near Dartmouth. Mike Smith (Bubbles), a musician formerly of the band Sandbox, was the sound man during the pilot movie and season one, but became a full time actor when Bubbles became more popular during the second season. Barry Dunn (who is a producer on the show and plays Ray), saw the original production at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax and thought it would be great on television. Showcase agreed to air the show and the rest is history.

Cast and characters

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Main Characters

Ricky
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Ricky

Ricky

Ricky (played by Robb Wells) — Bears a striking resembalence to Peter Reveen, enjoys marijuana, hash, alcohol, and is Julian's best friend. He's not too bright, partly due to poor education (he just recently received his grade 10), and partly due to drinking and dope smoking. He's frequently shot or injured under embarrassing circumstances. He has a penchant for moral relativism and malapropisms.

In spite of his intellectual and linguistic failings, Ricky is a master horticulturist ,even though he calls it 'horviculture', having grown and sold large crops of marijuana. He's also an expert at talking his way out of out of trouble with the law, often tricking police and his victims into helping him physically carry the things he plans to steal.

He's fond of knock-knock jokes that don't usually have a punchline so much as a stream of profanity and he frequently wears track pants and a very loud shirt that generally never gets changed for an entire season. He has a severe addiction to smoking cigarettes, causing him to smoke wherever he goes, sometimes even where smoking is prohibited as he often complains whenever he can't smoke. His diet consists mainly of alcohol, chocolate milk, chicken fingers, chicken chips, pepperoni, cereal and donairs (from King of Donair). He also likes jalapeño potato chips (which he pronounces "ja-LAP-an-o"), all dressed potato chips (which he calls "Dressed All Over") and zesty cheese tortilla chips (which he calls "Zesty Mordant," a send-up of bilingual packaging in Canada, where the French term for 'Zesty' is 'Mordant' and is displayed side by side on the packaging).

His family consists of his father Ray, his girlfriend Lucy, and their daughter Trinity. Ricky was set on marrying Lucy until the wedding was interrupted by the police. Most of the time Ricky lives in an old Chrysler New Yorker, known as the Shit-mobile which is missing its passenger-side front door.

Ricky has also been notorious for kidnapping Canadian musicians Alex Lifeson of Rush (after he refused to sell them tickets to the concert and Ricky insisted on a private concert at the trailer park), and Rita MacNeil (whom he kidnapped, along with her band, forcing them to harvest his marijuana crop at gunpoint).

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Julian

Julian (played by John Paul Tremblay) — The "brains" of the outfit, he is smarter of the pair and the leader of the group. His main goal in life is to get rich quick (usually from drug related activities and stealing items of value under $1000) and retire. He is never seen without a drink (always rum and Coke, and mouth wash in jail) in his hand, and always wears jeans and a sexy black t-shirt. The sound of ice clinking against glass follows him everywhere. Likewise, he refuses to put down the rum and coke even when he is partaking in heists, having the drink in one hand, and a firearm (his 9mm) in another. Julian has emerged from rollover car crashes with his rum and coke completely intact. Julian is generally more sensible than Ricky, and sometimes thinks of getting a legitimate job, but "Freedom 35", the plan to get enough money through crime to retire early, always lures him back in. He shared a mutual attraction with police officer Erica Miller, but wouldn't give up his career of crime.

Julian was raised by Levi and Desiree after they found him abandoned in the trailer park. Julian does not know who his biological parents are, and has no other blood relatives that he knows about, although he has 'adopted' an elderly woman in the trailer park as his grandmother. She occasionally buys him presents, for which in return Julian baby-sits her dog. This occasionally has disastrous consequences, namely whenever Julian has to deal with Ricky while also taking care of the dog.

Bubbles and Conky
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Bubbles and Conky

Bubbles

Bubbles (played by Mike Smith) — Julian and Ricky's best friend and conscience, known for his hoarse voice and coke-bottle glasses. Abandoned as a child, Bubbles lived in a shed for 18 years of his life with his cats, who are his only family. He makes a living by stealing shopping carts, fixing them, and reselling (he calls it remarketing). The scheme entails the theft of the carts from numerous local malls by tossing them into a ravine, which he later comes back for. He then takes the carts home, fixes them up, and resells them to other malls. He has each of the malls playing off each other, and does not consider what he does a crime. His justification is in that he returns a majority of the profit to those same malls, when he purchases cat food and treats.

An animal lover, Bubbles makes the ballooning population of stray cats his own responsibility, feeding and looking after them.

His name comes from his childhood love of blowing bubbles. His parents abandoned him on Christmas Eve, leaving an explanatory note and an antique bubblemaking machine (a "1967 Electro-bubble"), which for a time Bubbles used to entertain his cats. Sadly, the machine was destroyed when his shed caught fire (the result of a poor wiring job by Ricky, Cory, and Trevor, who were trying to use it as a temporary home for Ricky's grow-op). Bubbles was abandoned by his parents and raised by Julian's foster parents for his own safety due to his parents being hunted down for his father's gambling debts.

Bubbles' evil alter-ego is a ventriloquist dummy named Conky. The pair bear a striking resemblance.

Bubbles loves professional wrestling and even dresses up as his own character, "The Green Bastard." He also drives a go-cart while wearing a Cooper hockey helmet and makes expert use of the word cocksucker.

Bubbles has been said to be the moral centre of the group, in that he represents the purity and innocence that the other characters seem to lack. His perspectives are often rooted in the ideals of staying out of trouble, and helping the meek, illustrated by his love for kitties. In spite of sometimes appearing slightly retarded to some people at first glance, he is really not that dim at all and often he is the very first to really understand what is going on. Surprisingly, whenever the cops swoop into the trailer park to bust one of the boys' operations, Bubbles usually manages to avoid getting arrested or nailed by the police, at least until he was arrested at the end of Season Four by Officer George Green.

Jim Lahey

Jim Lahey (played by John Dunsworth) — A police officer, who was wrongfully dismissed as a result of a prank by Julian, Ricky and Bubbles on Halloween 1977. He's formerly an alcoholic, but has quit drinking as of season 6 and has switched to dope thanks to Ricky. Mr. Lahey ran Sunnyvale Trailer Park at the behest of his ex-wife, the owner of the Park. He is rarely seen without Randy and the two have had a sexual relationship together as revealed to Julian in Season 1 and the rest of the park in Season 3. He develops a drinking problem between seasons 1 and 2 (after Randy leaves him for Lucy), and lets the trailer park decline into chaos. He keeps trying to catch Julian and Ricky at their illegal activities but is fairly ineffective. Has a tendency to use bizarre, rambling extended metaphors involving the word "shit"(see Laheyisms). On the Season 6 finale, he asks Randy to be his character witness at the police board, under the condition that Randy receive tapes of the boys committing crimes, so Randy can personally bust them. Randy refuses. Lahey instead goes to Bubbles, who agrees under the condition that if Lahey becomes a cop, he won't arrest the boys for anything. Lahey agrees, and with the help of Bubbles, is reinstated as a cop.

Lahey often tries to expose Ricky and Julian's latest schemes by calling in his old police coworkers when he thinks they'll be caught in the act, but this frequently backfires and makes him look even worse in their eyes.

Randy

Randy (played by Patrick Roach) — Mr. Lahey's devoted assistant and "longtime companion". In the Christmas Special episode, it is explained that Lahey's wife Barbara found Randy working as a male prostitute in 1997, and, out of her Christian charity, invited him to stay with them for a while. He has an insatiable hunger for cheeseburgers, which has contributed to his large round pot belly and he never wears a shirt, except for once in season 2 (Never Trust a Man With No Shirt On), when he used a shirt to cover a microphone wire in an attempt to catch Ricky and Julian doing something illegal, and once in season 4 (The Green Bastard), when Mr. Lahey was receiving the "Trailer Park Supervisor of the Year" award. Throughout season 6 he is required to wear a shirt if he rides along in police vehicles. Randy was the one who insisted on coming out to the rest of the park after he and Mr. Lahey are caught in a compromising situation. He went out with Lucy for a short while during Ricky's stay in prison between seasons 1 and 2.

Randy was once a male prostitute who went by the handle "Smokey". He will sometimes fall back on this job whenever he doesn't have any money for cheeseburgers. Smokey can be found in front of the King of Donair, or Dairy Queen, where he prostitutes himself for either cheeseburgers, or dairy queen coupons. Randy, it seems has the most physical prowess of anyone in the park. He frenquently shoves people when he is trying to get his way. When a real fight seems to be on it's way Randy takes off his pants for fear of ripping them. In season 4 he beats up cyrus(pantless) when no one else is willing to fight him and in season 6 when he is evicting J-Roc all he needs to do is un-buckle his belt to scare j-roc into leaving, other characters seem to also be intimidated when randy takes off his pants.

It is revealed during season 6, that Randy is in fact a bisexual, when he states he is attracted to both men and women.

Recurring characters

Lucy

Lucy (played by Lucy DeCoutere) — Ricky's on-again, off-again girlfriend and mother to his child, Trinity. Lucy and Julian had a relationship in Junior High, and Lucy still expresses feelings for Julian from time to time. Gets a boob job in Season 5, which Ricky does not notice at first.

Sarah

Sarah (played by Sarah E. Dunsworth) — Lucy's best friend. She moved in with Lucy and Trinity while Ricky was in prison at the beginning of season 1. She dated Ricky for a while and encouraged him to focus on school. However this didn't last long. As soon as Ricky got rich, she was instrumental in getting Lucy to file a child support suit against Ricky. In seasons 4 and 5, she dated both Cory & Trevor (as one entity) and they asked her to marry both of them. She is the co-owner of a hair salon in the park.

In the first season, Sarah was mainly used for commentary and to inform the audience about the other characters on the show, although starting in Season 2 she began to play a larger role by dating Ricky. Sarah is also the real life daughter of John Dunsworth (Mr. Lahey).

J-Roc

Tyrone, J-Roc and DVS
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Tyrone, J-Roc and DVS

J-Roc (played by Jonathan Torrens) — A rapper who lives with his mother at the trailer park. Often mistaken as an Eminem wanna-be. He speaks in ebonics and very frequently asks "gnome sane'?" (Know what I'm saying?) He often helps Ricky and Julian out. He also occasionally makes forays into the amateur international porn market (his titles to date are the low-budget movies, "From Russia With the Love Bone", "The Bare Pimp Project" and "J-Roc's Greasy Trailer Park Girls Gone Wild"). His real name is Jamie.

In the episode Who's the Microphone Assassin? viewers are reminded that J-Roc, and even people around him, forget that he's white. In the same episode, J-Roc was caught masturbating. In Dear Santa Claus. Go Fuck Yourself, which takes place in 1997, J-Roc speaks very plainly and professes that he had never smoked marijuana up to that point in time.

Has come up with all sorts of nicknames for Randy, including: Rico Suave looking mafucker, Roch Voisine with a gut, Randy Bobandy, Inflatable Elvis, Gut Cassidy and the Sundance Cheeseburger, Cheesburger Depot, Rocky and Bullmafucker, and Starsky and Gut (both Lahey & Randy). He is also the soon to be father of two children and has decided to soon step out of the rap game as of the newest season. He refers to the two mothers as his "babies mamas".

Cory and Trevor

Cory and Trevor (played by Cory Bowles and Michael Jackson) — Trevor and Cory are two rather stupid young adults who are often used as lackeys by Ricky and Julian, but it's rarely worth the effort because they have a tendency to screw up everything. Invariably, the pair are used by Ricky as scapegoats whenever something illegal doesn't go according to plan. Julian manages them with dog training techniques. Trevor is constantly being harassed for cigarettes by Ricky, who snaps his fingers and says "Smokes - Let's go!". Everyone treats them as effectively one person - one entity. Cory and Trevor share several traits with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, given the pair's few distinguishing characteristics as well as their roles as (rarely successful) lapdogs of Ricky and Julian.

Others

"Trin" has an addiction to cigarettes and sometimes gets drunk, which usually ends up with Lucy being angry at Ricky. She has eaten weed brownies made by Ricky (unbeknownst to him) in the episode "Mrs. Peterson's Dog Gets Fucked Up", with her exclaiming, "These brownies taste funny.". She has occassionally been cast as a particpant with the Bottle Kids.

Celebrity appearances

Alex Lifeson and Bubbles
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Alex Lifeson and Bubbles




Money-making schemes

Over the seasons the Boys have undertaken many schemes to make money.  These inevitably fail due to stupidity, violence, or interference by Mr. Lahey and Randy and/or the police.


















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Episodes


Season One (2001)

([Summary])

  1. Take Your Little Gun and Get Out of My Trailer Park
  2. Fuck Community College, Let's Get Drunk and Eat Chicken Fingers
  3. Mr. Lahey's Got My Porno Tape!
  4. Mrs. Peterson's Dog Gets Fucked Up
  5. I'm Not Gay, I Love Lucy... Wait a Second, Maybe I am Gay
  6. Who the Hell Invited These Idiots to My Wedding?

Main Characters Who Went To Jail:  Ricky and Julian (Episode 1 and Episode 6)



Season Two (2002)


  1. What in the Fuck Happened to Our Trailer Park? [(Summary)]
  2. Jim Lahey Is a Drunk Bastard [(Summary)]
  3. I've Met Cats and Dogs Smarter Than Trevor and Cory! [(Summary)]
  4. A Dope Trailer Is No Place for a Kitty [(Summary)]
  5. The Bible Pimp [(Summary)]
  6. Never Trust a Man with No Shirt On [(Summary)]
  7. The Bare Pimp Project [(Summary)]

Main Characters Who Went To Jail:  Ricky and Julian (Episode 7)



Season Three (2003)


  1. Kiss of Freedom [(Summary)]
  2. Temporary Relief Assistant Trailer Park Supervisor [(Summary)]
  3. If I Can't Smoke and Swear I'm Fucked [(Summary)]
  4. Who's the Microphone Assassin? [(Summary)]
  5. Closer to the Heart [(Summary)]
  6. Where in the Fuck is Randy's Barbeque? [(Summary)]
  7. The Delusions of Officer Jim Lahey [(Summary)]
  8. A Shit Leopard Can't Change Its Spots [(Summary)]

Main Characters Who Went To Jail:  Julian, Mr. Lahey, and Randy  (Episode 8.  Ricky was suppose going to jail instead of them.)



Season Four (2004)


  1. Never Cry Shitwolf [(Summary)]
  2. A Man's Gotta Eat [(Summary)]
  3. Rub'n Tiz'zub [(Summary)]
  4. The Green Bastard [(Summary)]
  5. Conky [(Summary)]
  6. If You Love Something, Set It Free [(Summary)]
  7. Propane, Propane [(Summary)]
  8. Working Man [(Summary)]

Main Characters Who Went To Jail:  Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles



Christmas Special 2004


  1. Dear Santa Claus. Go Fuck Yourself [(Summary)]


Season Five (2005)


  1. Give Peace a Chance [(Summary)]
  2. The Shit Puppets [(Summary)]
  3. The Fuckin' Way She Goes [(Summary)]
  4. You Got to Blame the Thing Up Here [(Summary)]
  5. Jim Lahey Is a Fuckin' Drunk And He Always Will Be [(Summary)]
  6. Don't Cross the Shitline [(Summary)]
  7. The Winds Of Shit [(Summary)]
  8. Dressed All Over & Zesty Mordant [(Summary)]
  9. I Am The Liquor [(Summary)]
  10. The Shit Blizzard [(Summary)]

Main Characters Who Went To Jail:  J-Roc, Tyrone, and Ray (Episode 6) Trinity (Episode 7) Ricky, Julian, Cory, and Trevor (Episode 10)



Season Six (2006)



  1. Way of the Road [(Summary)]
  2. The Cheeseburger Picnic [(Summary)]
  3. High Definition Piss Jugs [(Summary)]
  4. Where in the Fuck is Oscar Goldman? [(Summary)]
  5. Halloween 1977 [(Summary)]
  6. Gimme My Fuckin' Money or Randy's Dead [(Summary)]

Main Characters Who Went To Jail:  None



The Movie

There is currently another Trailer Park Boys movie in production (The first being the original black and white production that sparked the series.) According to the promotional posters and the movie website, Trailer Park Boys: The Big Dirty (Tagline: Baked on a True Story) is scheduled to be released on October 6th, 2006.   Ivan Reitman is a producer of the project, but Clattenburg is directing.



Trivia



East Coast Music Awards

The Trailer Park Boys hosted the 2006 East Coast Music Awards as Ricky, Julian and Bubbles (Playing the roles). Bubbles performed his single "Liquor and Whores".



Critical reviews



External links





Movie links












 





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