Gravity Falls

Gravity Falls
Genre	Comedy Fantasy
Created by	Alex Hirsch
Directed by	John Aoshima Aaron Springer Joe Pitt
Creative director	Michael Rianda
Voices of	Jason Ritter Kristen Schaal Alex Hirsch Linda Cardellini
Opening theme	"Made Me Realize" by Brad Breeck
Composer	Brad Breeck
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	18 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Alex Hirsch
Producer	Rob Renzetti
Running time	22 minutes
Production company	Disney Television Animation
Original release
Network	Disney Channel
Release	June 15, 2012 – present

Gravity Falls is an American animated Disney Channel Original Series created by Alex Hirsch, former writer for The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Fish Hooks, for Disney Channel. The first episode aired as a preview on June 15, 2012 and the series officially debuted on June 29, 2012. On March 12, 2013, the show was renewed for a second season at Disney Channel upfront.

Plot

The show follows the adventures of 12-year old twin brother and sister Dipper and Mabel Pines, whose parents send them off to their Great-Uncle Stan in the town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. "Grunkle" Stan lives in and runs The Mystery Shack, a tourist trap which charges visitors for a glimpse at the world's most bizarre museum; but little do Dipper and Mabel know that there really is something very strange going on and they must rely on one another to find their way in this unfamiliar town.

Cast and characters

Main

• Dipper Pines (Jason Ritter), the 12-year-old twin brother of Mabel Pines. Intelligent, he is armed with the book marked "3" he found in the woods which helps him with the mystery of the day. An adventurer, Dipper has trouble sitting still and is always looking for the next riddle to solve. His attention to detail seems to be helpful when solving mysteries, but others question his credibility because of his over-zealousness. He is considered to be intelligent beyond his years and cannot wait to grow up and become a man. His refusal to sit still when there are puzzles to be solved leaves him restless in everyday situations. As someone who is portrayed as goal-oriented and rooted in the details, he sometimes over thinks situations and obsessively makes lists. It is revealed in one of the episodes that Dipper has a crush on Wendy. He knows in his heart that he will never really be Wendy's boyfriend, but that does not stop him from trying to do anything for her. It is also revealed that he likes bubblegum pop music. He got his nickname from a birthmark on his forehead that is shaped like the Big Dipper. He secretly wishes he had the name "Tyrone."
• Mabel Pines (Kristen Schaal), the 12-year-old twin sister of Dipper Pines. Mabel is an eccentric, buoyant and energetic optimist, who expresses herself through an assortment of extremely colorful knitted sweaters. Her outgoing, curious personality often helps Dipper solve mysteries, though her acts of silliness are often seen as a burden. Mabel enjoys pre-teen novels and seeks romance (especially in vampires). Despite what she sees as obscurity in Gravity Falls, Mabel stays optimistic. She once went out on a date with Lil' Gideon. It is revealed in "Headhunters" that Mabel has a hobby of doing arts and crafts, and is actually very good at it. In the episode "Irrational Treasure" she is made an official U.S. congresswoman by the 8 1/2 president, her political platform being "legalizing everything." She acquires a pet pig in the episode "The Time Traveler's Pig" and calls it Waddles. In the episode,"The Deep End", it is revealed she gets her first kiss from the merman that was knocked into the pool, and wants to go back to the sea to see his family. In "Boss Mabel", it is revealed that when put under stress, she becomes a tyrant figure much like her uncle, Grunkle Stan.
• Grunkle Stan (Alex Hirsch), the great uncle of Dipper and Mabel Pines. He runs and lives in The Mystery Shack, which is called "the world's most bizarre museum". Grunkle Stan is a salesman who has set up a successful shop in town to sell his knickknacks. He puts effort into showmanship, and is able to make money by peddling the trinkets and baubles in his store. He has a drive to make money, and sometimes counterfeits and steals money. When he is not making money, he is at home watching television. Stan usually wears a fez (the symbol on which has changed over the episodes) and speaks of the "boys from the lodge", who he claims do not "like" or "trust" him. He sends the twins on what they consider to be outrageous and unpredictable errands, but it is shown that he is protective of them and loves them unconditionally. He has a hidden staircase to an unknown location hidden behind his vending machine.
• Soos (Alex Hirsch), the handyman at the Mystery Shack. A friend of Dipper and Mabel Pines, Soos is a portly and lovable man-child whose desire to be where the action is makes him an excellent resource for the twins when they need a ride about town. He seems to have a wide variety of talents, specifically DJing, and enjoys bonding with Dipper, doing "boy stuff" such as heating hot dogs in a microwave until they explode. He says "dude" after almost every sentence.
• Wendy Corduroy (Linda Cardellini), a mellow, "cool" 15-year-old girl who is a part-time employee at The Mystery Shack. She is also Dipper's crush, who tries to impress Wendy in several of the episodes. It was revealed that Wendy has had many boyfriends in the past. She has had so many that there is one ex-boyfriend she can not remember if she even broke up with or not. Wendy is the oldest child in her family, and her father is Manly Dan, the lumberjack of Gravity Falls. She is sociable, with many friends who are around her age, and is somewhat tomboyish. Her ex-boyfriend is Robbie, whom Dipper despises for his pursuit of Wendy. She almost always stands up for Dipper in front of Robbie.

Recurring

• Waddles (Dee Bradley Baker), is Mabel's pet pig. She won Waddles at the fair and ever since then, the two are inseparable. It is shown that Waddles enjoys spending time with Mabel just as much as she enjoys spending time with him. In a Halloween or Summerween themed episode, Waddles allows Mabel and her friends Grenda and Candy to dress him up as a business man and take humorous pictures of him in the "I can has cheezburger" internet meme style.
• Gompers the Goat (Frank Welker), a goat who lives in a forest near the Mystery Shack. Gompers frequently enters the Mystery Shack and once ate all of the household's tin cans, as well as Grunkle Stan's fez.
• Old Man McGucket (Alex Hirsch), the "local kook" of Gravity Falls. Despite his apparent insanity and stereotypically hill-billy demeanor, Old Man McGucket is a technical mastermind, capable of creating massive, complex animatronics (such as a robotic sea monster or a homicidal robot dinosaur). His son works at the lake, but the two seem to have a strained relationship, adding to McGucket's insanity and need for attention.
• Robbie V. (T.J. Miller), a local teenage goth boy, who is Dipper's primary rival for Wendy's affections. He has a bad attitude and it is not unusual for him to mock others, especially Dipper. He has been shown to be skilled in playing guitar, a quality that Wendy finds attractive. Despite his hostile attitude toward most characters and his neglect to listen to Wendy while playing a video game in the episode "Fight Fighters", he has been shown to be genuinely caring for Wendy. Robbie and Wendy were dating,causing annoyance for Dipper.However, in the episode "Boyz Crazy" Dipper manages to break them up when he informs Wendy that the song Robbie wrote for her had a hidden mind-controlling message. After the break up Robbie seemed upset about losing her.
• Lil' Gideon (Thurop Van Orman), a young boy who owns the "Tent of Telepathy", a successful competitor of the Mystery Shack. He has an unhealthy obsession with Mabel, and thinks Dipper and Grunkle Stan are the only things keeping them apart, when in actuality she has no interest in him. He previously had an amulet that gave him telekinesis, but it was destroyed by Mabel after he attempted to use it to kill Dipper. It is shown that he owns the book marked 2, the previous volume of the book Dipper owns marked 3. His new mission is to gain possession of the Mystery Shack, saying that it had 'a secret you couldn't possibly begin to imagine'.
• Sheriff Blubs (Kevin Michael Richardson), the Gravity Falls sheriff. He is shown to be rather lazy, often choosing to sit around and drink coffee instead of pursuing a case. Despite his apparent lack of police skills, he has a superiority complex, and often looks down on the kids, undermining their mystery solving abilities. This lazy personality seems to stem from the extremely low amount of crime in Gravity Falls, which is evidenced when Deputy Durland once comments on how unused their equipment is.
• Deputy Durland (Keith Ferguson), a policeman who is also Sheriff Blubs' partner and right-hand man. He is shown to be very unintelligent and childlike, shown when Mabel comments that she does not even think he can read. Sheriff Blubs seems to find these qualities endearing, and refers to him as a "diamond in the rough". Instead of "doing their duties," he and Sheriff Blubs like to joke around (taking their shirts off and running around fire hydrants, etc.).
• Manly Dan (John DiMaggio), the strong lumberjack and Wendy's father. He also has three sons. Manly Dan is unstable and has serious anger issues, often punching or destroying random objects when angry. Manly Dan hangs out at Skull Fracture, a local biker joint at Gravity Falls.
• Tyler the Cute Biker (Will Forte), a scatterbrained biker, who seems to follow and admire Manly Dan. He often shows up at random occasions saying his catchphrase, "Get 'em! Get 'em!" in a weird voice.
• Lazy Susan (Jennifer Coolidge), the sluggish woman who works as a waitress in the local diner. She is shown to love fixing things, despite not being at all good at it. She has a lazy eye, and has at least three cats, which are named Donald, Sandy, and Mr. Cat-Face. Grunkle Stan had a crush on her and later gets the guts to win her over, although he later regrets it after she calls him repeatedly, leaving unusual voice messages. Her name is a pun on her lazy eye, as well as the kitchen device she was trying to fix. She is shown to be scatterbrained in the Summerween episode when she tries to guess what Soos, Mabel, and her friends are dressed as. Her guesses were very far off (for example, she guesses that Mabel's friend Candy was dressed in a squeegee costume when she was obviously dressed as a peppermint candy).
• Pacifica Northwest (Jackie Buscarino), the most popular girl in Gravity Falls. She comes from a wealthy family, and is the great-great-granddaughter of the supposed founder of Gravity Falls, Nathaniel Northwest (the real founder of Gravity Falls is Quentin Trembly). Pacifica is an unfriendly, sarcastic, spoiled brat and is Mabel's primary rival. Pacifica looks down on Mabel and thinks her eccentric personality is annoying and immature. She uses people's insecurities to manipulate them into doing whatever she wants and despises Mabel for standing up to her. Her name is a pun on Pacific Northwest, the region of the United States, comprised mostly of Washington, Northern California, and Oregon, where the town of Gravity Falls is located.
• Toby Determined (Gregg Turkington), a journalist for the Gravity Falls Gossiper. He is a stereotypical, hard-hitting journalist, but is shown to be terrible at his job (an example is that in one episode, he tried to use a turkey baster as a microphone). He has a huge crush on local news reporter Shandra Jimenez to the extent that he has a cardboard-cutout of her in his closet and flirts with it when alone as shown in the episode "Headhunters."
• Buddy Gleeful (Stephen Root), Lil' Gideon's polite and well-meaning father. Despite having a neurotic wife and a manipulative child, Bud seems to always look at the brighter side of things, even getting to the point of becoming allies with Grunkle Stan, Gideon's mortal enemy. Besides working at Gideon's "Tent of Telepathy", Bud also sells used cars.
• Candy Chiu (Niki Yang) and Grenda (Carl Faruolo), Mabel's best friends whom she first met during a party at the Mystery Shack. Candy and Grenda are both considered unpopular by Pacifica Northwest and the more social kids, but they have flaws that Mabel overlooks; Candy is shy and insecure as well as doing some strange things,such as taping forks to her fingers as an "improvement of human being", and Grenda is quite large and has a deep, masculine voice. The two are big fans of Waddles, taking pictures of him on Candy's phone, as seen in Summerween. They also have many things in common with Mabel, such as their love of paranormal romance novels, pre-teen magazines, and the 1990s style boy band Sev'ral Timez. As shown in the episodes "Carpet Diem" and "Boyz Crazy", Dipper appears to really loathe them. (Especially Candy)
• Sir Quentin Trembley Esquire. (Alex Hirsch) The 8 1/2th President of the United States. He appears in the episode "Irrational Treasure", frozen in peanut brittle since he was kicked out of office after being marked as the silliest President the US had ever seen. Being freed by the twins, he gave Dipper his President's Key (which can open any lock in America) and made Mabel a US congressman. He was last seen riding a horse backwards off a cliff.

Minor

• Tambry (Jessica DiCicco) is one of Wendy's friends. She rarely looks up from her phone, either texting or updating her status.
• Thompson (Michael Rianda) is one of Wendy's friends. He is usually seen participating in the games the guys play, such as putting ice in his pants and trying to get a jellybean in his belly button.
• Nate (Scott Menville) is one of Wendy's friends and Lee's best friend, and is usually seen with him.
• Lee (Michael Rianda) is a friend of Wendy and best friends with Nate.
• Pacifica's friends (Ariel Hirsch) are the cronies of Pacifica Northwest, who are usually seen following their dominant counterpart around and obliging to her every whim.
• The Corduroy boys are the sons of Manly Dan, and are Wendy's younger brothers. Their names have not yet been revealed. The three are often seen with their father, destroying things.
• Mr. and Mrs. Northwest are Pacifica Northwest's wealthy and apparently snobby parents.
• Mrs. Gleeful (Grey DeLisle) is the mother of Gideon Gleeful and wife of Bud Gleeful. She is first seen in "Little Dipper", and appears to be traumatized and stressed out.
• The Free Pizza Guy (aka That Fat Guy) is a background character in Gravity Falls. He is usually seen eating pizza and is often disappointed, recognizable by his 'free pizza' shirt.
• The Gnomes (Alex Hirsch) appear in the first episode, where they capture Mabel Pines to try to make her their queen. Dipper saves her from them. The leader, Jeff, has sworn vengeance on the twins, but has yet to wreak it.
• Wax Groucho Marx (Michael Gough) is a member of the.wax figures who was defeated by Dipper.
• Mr. Poolcheck (Michael Rianda) is the head lifeguard at the Gravity Falls Pool. He was Wendy's boss at the Gravity Falls Pool and later agrees to hire Dipper. At first he takes a liking to Dipper, but comes to realize both Wendy and Dipper do not take the job of lifeguard seriously enough. Near the conclusion of the episode, he fires both Wendy and Dipper.
• Donald, Sandy, and Mr. Cat Face are the pet cats of Lazy Susan.
• The Mabel and Dipper Lookalikes are two really young characters (one male and one female) who are sometimes used as complete opposites of Mabel and Dipper. They have a grandpa who shows his loving affection towards them, in contrast towards Grunkle Stan.
• Lake Gravity Falls Ranger McGucket (Conrad Vernon) is a stoic worker at Lake Gravity Falls, And is the son of Old Man McGucket.
• Blendin Blandin (Justin Roiland) is a time traveler from the year 207̃012 (pronounced twenty-sñeventy-twelve) who was sent back in time to Gravity Falls to remove a set of time anomalies.
• Shandra Jimenez (Kari Wahlgren) is a news reporter in Gravity Falls, Oregon and Toby Determined's secret crush.

Episodes

Main article: List of Gravity Falls episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired	Network
Pilot			August 3, 2016 (2016-08-03)		—
1	20		June 15, 2012 (2012-06-15)	August 2, 2013 (2013-08-02)	Disney Channel
2	20		August 1, 2014 (2014-08-01)	February 15, 2016 (2016-02-15)	Disney XD

At the end of every episode, there is a strange phrase of either letters or numbers. These are secret messages hidden in code, solvable in three known ways:

• The 'three letters back' code. If you take each letter of the code and put them three letters back, you get a message, usually pertaining to a previous joke in the episode (known because of a voice in the opening sequence - played backwards, it says 'three letters back').
• The 'Atbash' code. If you take the alphabet and write it backwards underneath the normal alphabet and use this as a code breaker, the phrase is revealed.
• The numbers code. When you take each letter in the alphabet and put it with its numerical order number, use this as the third code breaker. Also, there are many symbols that portray a triangle shaped figure with a top-hat on, dubbed by fans as The Watcher, or Mr. Pyramid, among other symbols associated with various conspiracy theories. He recently appeared in a promo for an upcoming episode.

Alex Hirsch has stated on his Twitter that the symbols are all part of the plot, but where and how they will be included has yet to be revealed.

Reception

Ratings

A special preview of the series following the Disney Channel Original Movie Let It Shine was watched by 3.4 million viewers. The series garnered high views on its fifth episode, which aired on July 13, 2012, and attracted 3.6 million viewers. On March 15, 2013, the episode "The Deep End " was watched by 4.5 million viewers after the premiere of Wizards of Waverly Place's The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex becoming its highest rated episode for the series so far.

Critical reception

The series has received universal acclaim. It currently holds a 8.8 rating on TV.com, and 7.8 rating from over 2,127 users on IMDb.com. From critics, the show has received generally positive reviews. Brian Lowry of Variety stated, "The show has a breezy quality that should play to kids, and tickle some twinges of nostalgia among their parents." While the Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd referred to the program as "..gently twisted, with some Disneyfied action and heart-warming folded in". In his review, David Hinckley of New York Daily News called Gravity Falls, "quirky and endearing", and offered praise for the character of Mabel Pines. Matt Blum, writing for Wired, favorably compared the show to Cartoon Network's animated program Regular Show and Disney Channel's animated program Phineas and Ferb, hailing Gravity Falls as "clever, strange, and somewhat poignant".

International release

Country / Region	Channel	Series premiere	Title in country	Source
United States	Disney Channel	June 15, 2012 (Preview) June 29, 2012 (Premiere)	Gravity Falls
	Disney XD	August 5, 2012 (Premiere)
Canada	Family	June 15, 2012 (Preview) July 6, 2012 (Premiere)
	Disney XD (Canada)	July 20, 2012
United Kingdom Ireland	Disney XD (UK & Ireland)	July 19, 2012 (Preview) September 6, 2012 (Premiere)
Australia New Zealand	Disney Channel (Australia)	August 17, 2012 (Preview) September 24, 2012 (Premiere)
France	Disney Channel France	August 29, 2012 (Preview) September 5, 2012 (Premiere)	Souvenirs de Gravity Falls (Memories from Gravity Falls)
Brazil	Disney Channel Brazil	September 30(preview) October 6, 2012 (Premiere)	Gravity Falls: Um Verão de Mistérios (Gravity Falls: A Summer of Mysteries)
Chile Argentina Mexico Colombia Peru Ecuador Venezuela Honduras Panama	Disney Channel Latin America		Gravity Falls: Un Verano de Misterios (Gravity Falls: A Summer of Mysteries)
Poland	Disney Channel Poland	October 20 (Preview) November 10, 2012 (Premiere)	Wodogrzmoty Małe (Small Falls)
Hungary	Disney Channel Hungary		Rejtélyek városkája (Town of Mysteries)
Czech Republic	Disney Channel Czech Republic		Městečko záhad (Town of Mysteries)
Romania	Disney Channel (Romania)		Ciudăţeni (Strangetown)
Bulgaria	Disney Channel Bulgaria		Тайните на Гравити Фолс (The Mysteries of Gravity Falls)
Ukraine	Disney Channel Ukraine		Таємниці Гравіті Фолз (The Mysteries of Gravity Falls)
South Africa	Disney Channel South Africa	October 19, 2012	Gravity Falls
Arab World	Disney Channel Middle East	October 19 (Preview) November 10, 2012 (Premiere)
Japan	Disney Channel Japan	October 26, 2012	怪奇ゾーン グラビティフォールズ (Mystery Zone Gravity Falls)
Singapore Philippines Indonesia Vietnam Thailand Malaysia	Disney Channel Asia	October 27, 2012	Gravity Falls
Sweden Norway Denmark Finland	Disney Channel Scandinavia	October 26, 2012 (Preview) November 9, 2012 (Premiere)
Taiwan	Disney Channel Taiwan	October 31, 2012	神秘小鎮大冒險 (A Big Adventure in a Mysterious Town)
Israel	Disney Channel Israel	November 1, 2012	גרוויטי פולס (Gravity Falls)
Germany	Disney Channel Germany	January 7, 2013	Willkommen in Gravity Falls (Welcome to Gravity Falls)
Spain	Disney Channel Spain	June 7, 2013	Gravity Falls
Portugal	Disney Channel Portugal
Italy	Disney Channel Italy	2013		TBA
Russia	Disney Channel Russia

External links

• Official US website
• Gravity Falls at IMDb