Imaginary Friends from elsewhere

[Lynnie]

Imaginary friends have been around forever. And this obviously includes during the writing of books or producing of movies and other shows. So I was wondering what IF's everyone else has noticed in other forms of entertainment. As for what I've noticed-

Joey on Friends had an IF named Maurice, and he was imagined to be a space cowboy. Sounds like a perfect friend for him. He was mentioned only once during a game between the girls and the guys to see which gender knew the other better. And yes, Steve Miller Band fans, clearly he was a parody from the song "Joker".

Miguel on Maya and Miguel had an IF named Pepe when he was younger, although he still insists Pepe was real. He brought Pepe back in an episode where he's trying to get a girl who has a crush on him to stop liking him so much (hoping it will make her think he's weird). My personal favorite episode, it's just toooo funny! In a later episode where he dreams his sister Maya was never born, Pepe is brought up again when his family keep hearing him mention the name "Maya", and they think Miguel's replaced him with another imaginary friend.

D.W. in Arthur has an IF named Nadine. She's in a lot of episodes, but when she first shows up, "she" annoys the living daylights out of Arthur because their parents keep playing along with D.W. and her new "friend", seemingly ignoring Arthur and the rest of reality. D.W. regularly talks to Nadine and you can see that the other people around her are looking around as if thinking "Who is she talking to?", as is a very typical first reaction. In one of the newer episodes, their next door neighbor's IF (don't remember her name) noticed that Nadine isn't seen around much anymore, and some of D.W.'s friends are accused of kidnapping her. Nadine shows up at the end of the episode claiming she was on vacation because D.W. hasn't been playing with her much anymore, and someday soon, she may leave and never come home again. It was kind of sad since D.W. is suppose to only be 5 and she's already "getting too old to play with her imaginary friend". Boo! But the first time I saw the episode I couldn't help but yell at the TV "Nadine, I know where you can go!"

So does anyone else remember seeing or hearing of IFs in other TV shows, movies or books?

[Nathander]

This is an easy one for me, because when I think of imaginary friends, my mind quickly goes to one thing.

Hobbes, from Calvin and Hobbes. I think I don't really have to say anymore on that matter.

[Zeitgheist]

Imaginary Gary! Timmy Turner's IF from The Fairly OddParents

[jekylljuice]

Niles Crane from Frasier once mentioned something about having an "imaginary protege" named Sheldon as a kid, to whom Frasier referred as "that troubled little fellow who kept wetting your bed." So, definitely a Bendy type. (Episode: Dad Loves Sherry, the Boys Just Whine)

There is apparently an entire movie dedicated to the subject of imaginary friends called Drop Dead Fred, or something along those lines, but I've never seen it myself so I can't vouch for whether it's actually worth watching or not.

That's all I can think of for now, though there are probably a lot more. I'll let you know if they come back to me.

EDIT: Oh yes, how could I forget? Harvey, the original 6ft imaginary bunny (with no disrespect to Mr. H, who is a fantastic successor).

[pitbulllady]

There's "Drop Dead Fred", from the movie of the same name, who was the Imaginary Friend of Phoebe Cate's character. There are two songs I'm aware of that are about Imaginary Friends, "Puff the Magic Dragon", made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary, and "Shiloh", by Neil Diamond. There's also "Imaginary Lover" by the Atlanta Rhythm Section, though it doesn't so much deal with Imaginary FRIENDS, per se!

Uhm, and isn't Barney actually supposed to be an Imaginary Friend? I sorta hate to bring him up, but my neices are obsessed with him, and my sister hired a dude in a Barney costume to entertain at my youngest neice's recent birthday party, and they played that Barney theme song, and I was pretty sure it said something about only the kids being able to see him and so on.

pitbulllady

[montitech]

Harvey the 6th foor rabbit was not an Imaginary friend.

He was a Pooka, wich is very different. for those shy on there mythology, Pooka is basically a spirit of mischife typically taking the form of a Bunny. similar in behavour to the nores god Loki

Monty

[jekylljuice]

Originally Posted by montitech

Harvey the 6th foor rabbit was not an Imaginary friend.

He was a Pooka, wich is very different. for those shy on there mythology, Pooka is basically a spirit of mischife typically taking the form of a Bunny. similar in behavour to the nores god Loki

Monty

Really? Well, thanks for correcting me, Monty. It's been a long time since I saw that film so my memories surrounding it are very vague. Still, I'd find it hard to believe that Mr. Herriman's character conception wasn't in some tiny way influenced by Harvey. I thought exactly the same about mysterious 6ft bunny Frank in Donnie Darko (though he most certainly wasn't an imaginary friend...nor a pooka for that matter).

[montitech]

I am surprised nobody mentioned Winney the Poo and some of the gang at the Hundred acher woods.

they are definitly Imaginary friends, it is particularly clear at the begining of the episodes.

Wouldnt one consider Mr Rogers "neighborhood of Make-believe" a whole neighborhood of imaginary friends. including trolly.

It is no longer popular but It was when I was little: Raggady Ann and ANdy. they also are Imaginary friends. but they are currently in that phase of Fadding away .... .... ... .. . . .

Monty

[Mac-a-lacka]

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

There's "Drop Dead Fred", from the movie of the same name, who was the Imaginary Friend of Phoebe Cate's character. There are two songs I'm aware of that are about Imaginary Friends, "Puff the Magic Dragon", made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary, and "Shiloh", by Neil Diamond. There's also "Imaginary Lover" by the Atlanta Rhythm Section, though it doesn't so much deal with Imaginary FRIENDS, per se!

Uhm, and isn't Barney actually supposed to be an Imaginary Friend? I sorta hate to bring him up, but my neices are obsessed with him, and my sister hired a dude in a Barney costume to entertain at my youngest neice's recent birthday party, and they played that Barney theme song, and I was pretty sure it said something about only the kids being able to see him and so on.

pitbulllady

On an episode of Rugrats, Chuckie had an imagiary friend named "Barney".

[pitbulllady]

I just remembered this: a few years back, I read a blog by one of the Pixar writers that the original plotline for Monsters, Inc. was supposed to have been centered around the concept that the three main monsters-Sulley, Mike and Randall-were all Imaginary Friends of a now-adult guy who was working as an ad executive. His life as an adult was boring and uninteresting, and he was suffering from a bad case of writer's block that was threatening his career. To make things worse, his mother was in poor health and having to go live in a nursing facility, but before leaving what had been his childhood home, she cleaned out the attic, and sent him all the old things that had been his, including a box of toys. The toys included three toy monster action figures, which triggered the guy's memory. As a child, he'd imagine that the three monsters would come to life, and the four of them would have all sorts of adventures. As it turned out, this actually DID happen, and once again, the three start appearing to the guy, reminding him of their old adventures, which helps him regain his self-confidence and come up with new material, but causes some interesting moments because he's the only person who can see them, so everyone else thinks he's gone off the deep end. The folks at Pixar decided not to go with the "monster action figures become Imaginary Friends" scenario, and decided that having an adult as the main human character would lack appeal to children, so they changed the monsters to real monsters, in another dimension, and decided to change the human to a child-first a boy, then a nasty little girl(reminiscent of the little red-haired brat that wanted to adopt Bloo and name him "Tiffany" in the Foster's pilot), and finally, to a little girl toddler, and they thought it would be more interesting if the human came into the Monster World instead of the other way around.

pitbulllady