Gravity Falls

Gravity Falls
Genre	Mystery Comedy Supernatural Drama Adventure Action
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	20 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Alex Hirsch
Producers	Tobias Conan Trost Rob Renzetti (supervising producer)
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 television series produced by Disney Television Animation for Disney Channel. The series was created by Alex Hirsch, a former writer for The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Fish Hooks. The first episode aired as a preview on June 15, 2012 and the series officially debuted on June 29, 2012. On July 29, 2013, the show was officially renewed for a second season by Disney Channel.

Plot

For their summer vacation, 12 year old twins Dipper and Mabel are dropped off to live with their Great Uncle (usually shortened to "Grunkle") Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon. Things are not what they seem in this small town, and with the help of a mysterious journal Dipper finds in the forest, they realize that their everyday lifestyle has changed. With appearances from Wendy, Dipper's crush; Soos, friend of Dipper and Mabel and handyman to Grunkle Stan; plus an assortment of other characters, Dipper and Mabel always have an intriguing day to look forward to.

Cast and characters

Main

• Dipper Pines (Jason Ritter), the 12-year-old twin brother of Mabel Pines. Intelligent, he is armed with the journal marked "3" he found in the woods which helps him with each mystery of the day. An adventurer, Dipper has trouble sitting still and is always looking for the next riddle to solve, leaving him restless in mundane situations. His attention to detail seems to be helpful when solving mysteries, but others question his credibility because of his zeal. He is considered to be wise beyond his years and cannot wait to grow up and become a man. Portrayed as goal-oriented and rooted in the facts, he sometimes over thinks possible scenarios and obsessively makes lists. It is revealed in one of the episodes that Dipper has a crush on Wendy. While he knows in his heart that he will never really be Wendy's boyfriend, that does not stop him from trying to do anything for her. In another episode it is revealed that he likes bubblegum pop music. He got his name 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 as well as skill at various arts and crafts. Her outgoing, curious personality often helps Dipper solve mysteries, though her silliness is often seen as a burden. Mabel enjoys pre-teen novels and seeks romance (especially in vampires). Despite what she sees as dating obscurity in Gravity Falls, Mabel stays optimistic. She once went out on a date with Lil' Gideon, but this did not continue after Lil' Gideon attempted to kill Dipper. In the episode "Irrational Treasure," she is made an official U.S. congresswoman by the 8 1/2 president, with a political platform of "legalizing everything." She wins a pet pig in the episode "The Time Traveler's Pig" and calls it Waddles. In the episode "The Deep End," she gets her first kiss from a merman who was unable to escape a community swimming pool. It is shown in "Boss Mabel" that when put under stress, she becomes a tyrannical figure similar to her Grunkle Stan.
• Stanford "Grunkle Stan" Pines (Alex Hirsch), the great uncle of Dipper and Mabel Pines. He runs and lives in The Mystery Shack, a tourist trap which is billed as "the world's most bizarre museum." Grunkle Stan is a salesman first and foremost, putting most of his effort into showmanship, and is eager to sell the Shack's knickknacks, trinkets and baubles for exorbitant prices. Because of his drive to make money, his methods of obtaining it are not always legal. 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 an eyepatch over his glasses — the latter of which is expressly for personal image. He frequently sends the twins on what they consider to be outrageous and unpredictable errands, but he is protective of them and loves them unconditionally. Behind his vending machine, he has a hidden staircase to an unknown location. In the season 1 finale, this location is revealed to contain a large hidden device which is powered by encrypted information in the three journals. Stan has the first journal, Lil' Gideon had the second, and Dipper had the third. It is unknown what the device is capable of doing.
• Soos (Alex Hirsch), the handyman at the Mystery Shack. A friend of Dipper and Mabel, Soos is a portly, hamster-like, lovable man-child whose desire to be where the action is. He often drives the twins around town when they need. He's rather clumsy, not the brightest in the group, and is often making mistakes. Despite this, he has a wide variety of talents, including DJ-ing and pinball, and enjoys bonding with Dipper by 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, tomboyish, "cool" 15-year-old girl who is a part-time employee at The Mystery Shack. She is Dipper's crush, and several episodes focus on his misguided attempts to impress her. Wendy has stated that she had many boyfriends in the past — so many, in fact, that there is one ex-boyfriend with whom she cannot remember ever breaking up. Wendy is the oldest and tallest child in her family, and her father is Manly Dan, the lumberjack of Gravity Falls. Sociable and non-chalant, she has many friends who are around her age. Her most recent ex-boyfriend is Robbie, whom Dipper despises and sees as a rival. Wendy almost always stands up for Dipper in front of Robbie.

Recurring

• Waddles (Dee Bradley Baker), Mabel's pet pig. She won Waddles at the fair, and ever since then the two have been inseparable. It is shown that Waddles enjoys spending time with Mabel just as much as she enjoys spending time with him. In "Summerween", Waddles allows Mabel and her friends Grenda and Candy to dress him up as a businessman and take humorously captioned pictures of him in the style of "lolcat" internet memes.
• Old Man McGucket (Alex Hirsch), the "local kook" of Gravity Falls. Despite his apparent insanity and stereotypical hillbilly 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, which adds to McGucket's insanity and need for attention.
• 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 believes himself superior to all, and often looks down on the twins, which undermines their mystery solving abilities. His lazy personality seems to stem from the extremely low crime rate in Gravity Falls, which is demonstrated when Deputy Durland once comments on how unused their equipment is.
• Deputy Durland (Keith Ferguson), a police officer, Sheriff Blubs' partner and right-hand man. He is shown to be unintelligent and childlike — Mabel comments that she does not think he can read. Sheriff Blubs, however, 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 (trying to solve a maze in an activity book, etc.).
• Candy Chiu (Niki Yang) and Grenda (Carl Faruolo), Mabel's best friends whom she first met at a party hosted by the Mystery Shack. Candy and Grenda are both considered unpopular by Pacifica Northwest and the more social kids because they have flaws; Candy is shy, insecure and does some strange things, such as taping forks to her fingers as an "improvement of human being," and Grenda is quite large, likes lizards, and has a deep, masculine voice. Mabel sees these qualities as endearing and thus finds two kindred spirits in Gravity Falls. The two are big fans of Waddles, taking pictures of him on Candy's phone in the episode "Summerween." They 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 is somewhat jealous of them because Mabel spends more time with them than him.
• Gompers the Goat (Frank Welker), a goat who lives in the forest near the Mystery Shack. Gompers frequently enters the Mystery Shack uninvited and unannounced. He once ate all of the household's tin cans, as well as Grunkle Stan's fez.
• Manly Dan (John DiMaggio), the strong lumberjack and father of Wendy and three sons. Manly Dan is unstable and has serious anger issues, often punching or destroying objects when angry, but enjoys family bonding activities such as fishing on the lake. Manly Dan hangs out at Skull Fracture, a local biker joint in downtown Gravity Falls.
• 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 skilled. Her name is a pun on her lazy eye, as well as a kitchen device she was trying to fix. She has several cats, three of which are named Donald, Sandy, and Mr. Cat-Face. Grunkle Stan had a crush on her, and eventually worked up the nerve to win her over, but he later regretted it after she called him repeatedly leaving unusual voice messages. She is shown to be scatterbrained in the episode "Summerween," when she categorically failed to guess what Soos, Mabel, and Mabel's friends were dressed as.
• Toby Determined (Gregg Turkington), a journalist for the Gravity Falls Gossiper. He is a hard-hitting yet wimpy journalist, 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 an unrequited crush on local TV news reporter Shandra Jimenez which goes to such an extent that he has a cardboard-cutout of her in his closet and flirts with it when alone, as shown in the episode "Headhunters." His name is a pun on "to be determined," said when information in a news story is currently unavailable.
• Tyler the Cute Biker (Will Forte), a slim, well-groomed biker who seems to follow and admire Manly Dan. He appears to be rather childlike, and he is well known for showing up in crowd scenes saying his catchphrase, "Get 'em! Get 'em!". He tends to be indecisive, and is a frequent visitor of the Mystery Shack.

Antagonists

• Lil' Gideon (Thurop Van Orman), a young boy who owns the "Tent of Telepathy," a successful competitor of the Mystery Shack. He is the direct main antagonist of the series. He has a deep rivalry with Grunkle Stan that presumably started long before the twins arrived. His unhealthy obsession with Mabel, and his belief that Dipper and Stan are the only things keeping them apart, prevent him from seeing that Mabel doesn't like him at all. He previously owned an amulet that endowed him with telekinesis, but it was destroyed by Mabel after he attempted to use it to kill Dipper. It is shown that he owns the journal marked 2, the previous volume of the journal Dipper owns. He seems to be one of the only residents who is fully aware of the mysteries and secrets of Gravity Falls. Lil' Gideon's mission is to gain possession of the Mystery Shack, saying that it has 'a secret you couldn't possibly begin to imagine.' In the Season 1 finale, Stan successfully reveals to the townspeople that Lil' Gideon's psychic ability is a ruse and that Lil' Gideon is a fraud. Lil' Gideon is arrested shortly thereafter.
• Bill Cipher (Alex Hirsch), a powerful demon that can be summoned and released into a person's mind. He is a one-eyed, yellow, triangular pyramid with a top hat and a bow tie, superficially similar to the Eye of Providence. He is the hidden and true main antagonist of the series. Bill first appeared physically in "Dreamscaperers;" however, many references to him had been hidden in previous episodes as images or sentences that flashed across the screen. He has a snappy sense of humor but loses his temper quite easily due to impatience. In "Dreamscaperers," Lil' Gideon summons Bill as an attempt to steal Stan's deed to the Mystery Shack. The two of them make a deal that if Bill goes into Stan's mind and steals the combination to the safe where the deed is hidden, Gideon will eventually have to help Bill with his mysterious plans. He seems to have the abilities to read people's minds and memories, shift forms, decipher codes, and shoot lasers from his eye and fingers. Bill claims he could use Soos, Dipper, and Mabel against the "darkness coming". His name may be either a pun on the Beale ciphers, or a reference to the Eye of Providence that appears on the dollar bill.
• Robbie V. (T.J. Miller), a local teenage rocker boy who is Dipper's primary rival for Wendy's affections. He has a cynical 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 genuinely care for Wendy. Robbie and Wendy were dating for a time, which annoyed Dipper. However, in the episode "Boyz Crazy," Dipper managed to break them up when he informed Wendy that the song Robbie wrote for her had a backmasked mind-controlling message, although Wendy was most upset that the song wasn't written for her. After the break up, Robbie seemed greatly upset about losing her.
• Pacifica Northwest (Jackie Buscarino), the most popular girl in Gravity Falls. She comes from a wealthy family, being the great-great-granddaughter of the supposed founder of Gravity Falls, Nathaniel Northwest — the real founder of Gravity Falls being Quentin Trembly (8 1/2th President of the United States). Pacifica is an unfriendly, sarcastic, and spoiled girl 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 against her. Her name is a pun on Pacific Northwest, the Northwest region of the United States where the town of Gravity Falls is located.
• Buddy Gleeful (Stephen Root), Lil' Gideon's polite and well-meaning father. Despite having a nervous wife and a manipulative child, Buddy seems to always find ways to make money, even to the point of becoming allies with Grunkle Stan--Lil' Gideon's mortal enemy--for a business deal. Besides working at Lil' Gideon's "Tent of Telepathy", Buddy also sells used cars.
• The Gnomes (Alex Hirsch) appear in the first episode, where they capture Mabel Pines to try to make her their queen, saved by Dipper. They appear as garden gnomes with pointed red caps and white beards, although they often run on all fours. The leader, Jeff, has sworn vengeance on the twins, but has yet to wreak it. The twins call on the gnomes later in the series to help take down a common enemy, but failed as Gideon forces them to carry them away.

Minor

• Lee (Michael Rianda) and Nate (Scott Menville), Wendy's friends. The two of them are usually seen together. Lee has blonde hair and wears a red shirt, while Nate wears a cap and a black shirt. They both act like stereotypical, sarcastic, care-free teenagers.
• Tambry (Jessica DiCicco) is one of Wendy's friends. She has dyed hair and 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 shoot a jelly bean into his navel.
• Reginald (Will Friedle) and Rosanna (Grey DeLisle), a proposed couple who are commonly seen background characters in the show. They appear to be currently going out, as they are often seen together.
• The Free Pizza Guy (aka That Fat Guy) is a background character in Gravity Falls. He is usually seen eating pizza and is disappointed when Stan breaks his promise of free pizza in "Head Hunters", recognizable by his red 'free pizza' shirt.
• Shandra Jimenez (Kari Wahlgren) is a news reporter in Gravity Falls, Oregon and Toby Determined's secret crush. It appears she takes her job seriously when she refers to herself as "a real reporter."
• Pacifica's friends (Ariel Hirsch, the magenta-haired one) 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 three sons of Manly Dan and the younger brothers of Wendy. 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 then in "Gideon Rises." She appears to be traumatized and stressed out.
• 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, which is the method by which he originally discovered Gravity Falls in the 19th century.
• Mr. Poolcheck (Michael Rianda) is the head lifeguard at the Gravity Falls Pool, although he acts more like a drill instructor. 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.
• Shmipper and Smabble are two very 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. His eyes are always hidden under his hat.
• 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 that Mabel and Dipper assume they started. He makes a full appearance in 'Time Traveler's Pig', but has made cameo appearances in episodes 1, 2, 3, and 20, cleaning up the time anomalies.

Episodes

Main article: List of Gravity Falls episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired	Network
Pilot			—		—
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

Ciphers

At the end of every episode there is a ciphered text in one of three substitution ciphers:

• Caesar cipher which is hinted at by a voice in the opening sequence, which played backwards says "three letters back".
• Atbash cipher.
• A substitution cipher where each letter is substituted with an integer that corresponds to the letter's place in the alphabet from 1 to 26.

The season 1 finale encodes a message with all three of these ciphers.

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 reaction

The series has received positive reviews. As of August 2013, it holds an 8.9 rating on TV.com, and 7.7 rating from over 2,500 users on IMDb.com. From critics, the show has received critical acclaim. . 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".

External links

• Official US website
• Gravity Falls at IMDb