Significant characters on Dans Une Galaxie Près De Chez Vous, and their associated tropes.
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Charles Patenaude
Played by: Guy Jodoin
"If you lose hope, get out of your houses and look up to the starry night and remember the crew of the Romano Fafard is there, looking for a new planet where we could all move, somewhere, in a galaxy near you. And amidst all the uncertainties that come with this mission, one fact is clear: we won't be back in time for supper." note
He is the ship’s captain and Valence’s love interest. Brave and fair, he always looks out for his crew. Famous for his bad speeches and proverbs.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When the crew is celebrating their fourth year together and Bob wonders what people on Earth are doing right now.Captain: They suffer, that's what they are doing, they hope and they are waiting for us. And we celebrate it.
- Badass Boast: When he's under the effect of a Truth Serum gas in the second movie and has had enough of Brad's threats and backstabbing, he lets one loose:Patenaude: Brad, if you try something, I'll cut you into pieces, put you in the blender, push "smoothie"... and drink you.
- Berserk Button: Threatening the mission or the crew's ability to perform the mission. Later by season 3, Petrolia inventing things becomes another one, as most of her (Non-Serge) inventions turn out terribly. The later reaches such a degree that it becomes the only thing that makes him snap towards Valence when he finds out she's been encouraging Petrolia to continue inventing behind his back.
- The Captain: He's the captain of the Romano Fafard.
- The Chains of Commanding: The responsibility of finding a new planet for the surviving humans weighs heavily on his shoulders, and he is well aware that every failure, every shenanigan, every Planet of Hats that the Romano Fafard goes by means that more people die back on Earth. The countless failures results in Sanity Slippage on his part over the course of the mission.
- Character Tic: He usually clicks his tongue when he notices a pungent smell.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: When Bob is infected with an alien virus and Flavien is dying of a flu he can't have cured or he'll get the virus too, Charles forces Serge to find a cure instead of getting rid of Bob. When both seemingly die, he sees himself as pretentious for trying to do more than what he could and is ready to resign until they turn out to be Not Quite Dead.
- Despair Event Horizon: He once crossed it in the episode "Le Fou" ("The Mad Man") after an umpteenth failure to find an habitable planet, which drove him mad with the possibility that there may be no other planet to colonize in the universe. He got over it, but it took some time. Even then later episodes show that he is still haunted by the fear he'll fail and has a Heroic BSoD when the crew tells him the mission has been going on for four years.
- Determinator: He'll find the perfect uninhabited planet for the remaining Earthlings even if he has to personally scour the entire galaxy. When it's revealed that there is no uninhabited planet, he resolves to pass through a space-time breach to warn the Earth of 2008. Unable to pass through the rift in time, he still sends a video - which quickly becomes a ridiculed Internet Meme used as an ad by a petrol company.
- A Father to His Men: On top of being Team Dad, the first movie shows he put the whole crew to bed and put their life above his even when it's Brad.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Brothers in his case. Being an only child, he is happy to find out he has a brother even if it's Brad and they spend a lot of the episode pranking and teasing each other (until Brad wants to kill him to not share inheritance). Even after they realize it was a misunderstanding and they go back at hating each other, Charles still indulges one last hug and prank with his fake brother in private.
- It Has Been an Honor: When the mission comes to an end at the end of the second movie, he says this to the rest of the crew before officially demobilizing them.
- Malaproper/Metaphorgotten: His speeches are rife with these. For example:Patenaude: "Slow and steady, we must start at Go, collect 200$ and buy Connecticut Avenue." notePatenaude: "Sow the wind and reap... corn and... potatoes." notePatenaude: "Never sell the bear's skin... especially if he's not OK with the price." note
- Men Don't Cry: Justified somewhat, as if he starts throwing Inelegant Blubbering in front of the crew, it will affect morale or worse have Brad pointing out he is too emotionally unstable to lead. No one however hold crying during a funeral or Tender Tears against him.
- Official Couple: With Valence.
- Only Sane Man: He has his quirks but he never forgets his mission is finding a new planet and time is of essence.
- Sanity Slippage: Because he is the Only Sane Man on the ship, the realization that, every time the Planet of Hats or some shenanigans happen, there are humans dying on Earth because of it hits him bad. The first time was in the Season 2 finale where he went completely mad with grief over one failure too many. After that, he has a few lesser breakdown over particularly rough obstacles.
- Signature Move: A right handed Karate chop to the shoulder delivered very casually, sometimes without even looking.
Usually to Brad, while calmly saying "No, Brad!" to whatever evil course of action Brad is suggesting. This invariably knocks Brad out cold instantly. Flavien and Bob eventually learn the move. So does Brad who manages to execute it on himself. So does the rest of the crew in the ending of the first movie. - Parental Neglect: Zig-Zagged, it's implied he wasn't close to his father, but he doesn't seem to realize this was the case. He considers his father telling him "it's raining" a very intimate moment.
- Performance Anxiety: Part of the reason for his bad issues with proverbs and metaphors, he seems to stress when giving speeches, with his voice quivering. He's less stressed when it's just his crew, but every time he broadcasts a message to all of Earth's population, he is clearly stressing out.Patenaude: "There's 6 billion of you listening... I will therefore not take attendances."
- Team Dad: He is the one who stops disputes, gives personal advices when needed and serves as a father figure for Flavien.
- The Insomniac: Since he became captain, Charles does not sleep anymore. This can cause problems, for example when the others have to anesthetize him.
- Pungeon Master: The captain wanted to become a comedian, but had to drop this idea since no one thinks his jokes are funny but himself.
- The Stoic: Remains calm and steady in the face of adversity. Also, when the ship rocks back and forth, he and Serge are the only ones who don't fall or stumble.
- Not So Stoic: However, he does lose his temper when annoyed, angry or experiences other strong emotions he tends to crack. His first sign of Sanity Slippage is when he starts crying right after his Rousing Speech over one too many failure.
Captain: I've been holding it in for weeks, I'm not a machine. - Surrounded by Idiots: Sometimes comes across as this, like when the crew tried swapping medicine specialties, resulting in Bob accidentally pulling the rope lever for the ship's emergency startup engine right off.Captain: OK, turn around! *the crew obeys* THERE'S NOTHING THAT WORKS IN THIS DAMN SHIP!!! Well, that's better.
Brad Spitfire
Played by: Stéphane Crête
"Why is it that every time someone says my last name, I always feel like I'm about to get hit?" note
He is the scientist and hated by everyone else on the ship. He was second officer until episode 58. Brad is a liar, a manipulator, a dirty bastard; he is pretentious, cowardly, selfish, lazy, lousy, etcnote . His only known good trait is that he’s very clean.
- Alternate Identity Amnesia: Develops one called Linda following Percussive Therapy. Linda is everything Brad is not: Friendly, trustworthy, supportive, sociable. She's also inept at science which means that, when a crisis happens, Linda is forced to perform a Heroic Sacrifice, sacrificing herself so the Brad personality can re-assert itself. Turns out it was a Senseless Sacrifice.
- Bad Liar: He always comes up with fake injuries when he wants to weasel his way out of a chore, but they are never even remotely believable. Those injuries include spraining his pancreas, stretching his kidney, and having a tooth with a bloody nose.
- Let's not forget his complaint that he must stop working because his wrist was heavily strained by Bob throwing a tissue at him.
- "He threw it hard!"
- Let's not forget his complaint that he must stop working because his wrist was heavily strained by Bob throwing a tissue at him.
- Berserk Button: He is proud of his bastardry but when an alien actually wanted to use it to make a horror movie, he goes berserk and, for the first time in his life, he made someone fear him in his anger.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: He's the engineer behind the construction of the ship and in charge of keeping it running, as well as the only scientist. Seeing how it was built on the cheap while cutting every corner, it's an amazing feat that the Romano-Fafard hasn't fallen apart yet. He is quite lazy and proud of this and chooses to coast his way through his assignments by doing the absolute minimum of work, however. His maintenance doesn't even rely on brilliance, his father is the one who made most of the ship in a way that's guaranteed to break after three years and Brad learned how to fix part of it as part of the family scam.Brad: It means it breaks in three years but takes three second to fix if you're from the family.
- Butt-Monkey: Everybody hates him, rightfully so considering his constant failed attempts to assume command or trying to sell out his friends to the monster of the week, thus the Captain approves of any physical violence upon his person, taking part in it on a regular basis.
- He's so unlikable that, according to him, his own Imaginary Friend as a kid, Stéphane, tried to strangle him.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Zig-Zagged, he bribed his way in and even took out the competition because he didn't feel the most qualified. He is only there because he is the sole scientist on board now, and that fact is mostly what keeps him from being left on a planet or tossed out the airlock as a scientist is necessary for the mission's completion. In fact the rulebook for the mission lists Brad as the 3rd most essential crewmember, behind Bob as the pilot and Mirabella as the doctor. Despite all his flaws, Brad is actually fairly competent as a scientist (if he can be coerced into doing his job that is).Captain: That Flavien kills Brad I'm fine with it but that he kills our only scientist kind of bothers me.
- Camp: On occasion, especially when being narcissistic.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He takes pride in his evil deeds, his laziness and his cowardice and makes no attempt to hide it at all.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He once defeated an alien who captured all the other crewmembers single-handedly because he thought it was a staged attack. If he stops being a selfish coward, he can save the day a lot.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Brad is the source of (and subject to) this often. He's so unrepentingly, gleefully vile that his evil deeds become hilarious, even when he's talking about murdering an alien mime and its egg. And on the other end, Brad's vileness allows the show to do all sorts of terrible things to him (He gets frequently beaten up by the crew and knocked unconscious by his superior officer) that this remains hilarious.
- Dirty Coward: His main trait after his unpleasantness.Brad: "Please! Don’t kill me! I have a ship full of friends you can kill, but don’t kill meeee!"
- Enfant Terrible: As a young child, he killed his grandfather in the winter while the snowblower was approaching, telling him that if he didn't give him five dollars, he'd push his wheelchair off the porch and into the snow pile.
- Entitled Bastard: He thinks simply being present should be enough for him to get all the laurels.
- Fantastic Racism: Once referred to Flavien as a half E.T bastard and in the second movie use the race card even more.
- Flanderization: Brad's evil, pettiness and cowardice go up as the series go on. Early in season 1, his actions tend to be more... understandable. For example, in the pilot, he's panicking over the mission (which has now lasted 6 months) taking them beyond Earth communication range. He's freaking out at the thought of being beyond the range for rescue and dying without anyone ever knowing what happened to him. In episode 6, he put Flavien in a coma through negligence rather than outright malice, and he freaks out upon realizing what's happening, and even shows worry for Flavien's ability to recover. Brad is never portrayed in a positive light, but early season 1 Brad is more shown as a (very) flawed person. Later episode have him more as a Card-Carrying Villain who revels in his evil.
- Foe Romance Subtext: While under the effects of the Truth Serum gas, he said... interesting things about what he thinks of Captain Patenaude.Brad: "You look cute when you cry." note
- Freudian Excuse:
- Brad's behavior is blamed by both him and Valence on the terrible upbringing his parents gave him, openly telling him they wanted a girl (And dressing him as one) rather than a boy yet denying him his desire to indulge in activities he wanted to do that they considered too "girly" - he dreamt of being a ballet dancer but his parents forced him to become a scientist. Brad's father is repeatedly described as a detached Corrupt Corporate Executive who will do anything for a dollar.
- Even his school teachers abused him and he was frequently bullied in school. In elementary school the kids organized a contest to see who could throw a rock at him the hardest during recess. His teacher won.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Since he is rarely willing to get along with the rest of the crew, they treat him this way. It's even said outright that the only reason he's kept around is because he's vital as the ship's scientist.
- Greed: He completely destroyed the treaty with the Barzots because he wanted a land with gigantic gold mine, drugged Bob so he could loot a planet made of diamonds and joined the mission solely for fame and the right to choose his land first, aiming for the richest.Brad: Please Captain, just a couple of diamonds, just enough to piss off the poor!
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: As seen under Freudian Excuse, his childhood was extremely abusive and it is always played as a joke.
- Hypocrite: He considers the mission worthy of all sacrifices except his well being of course, tries to have the Captain demoted using the rulebook even though he broke several rules already and tries to appeal to camaraderie only so he can stab people in the back.
- Ignored Epiphany: Feels remorse when he thinks the poison he gave the Captain killed him instead of just making him sick. Ony to think the Captain let himself die of jealousy since he didn't want to see Brad finding the planet.
- Insufferable Genius: He is the only scientist on board, and he likes to flaunt it when calculations are needed.
- It's All About Me: "Captain, if you die, can I have your desserts?"
- Jerkass: A deeply unpleasant, egotistical, cowardly, narcissistic person who never wastes a moment to sell out the rest of the crew for his own gain and overthrow the captain to get all the glory for himself. The only reason the crew keeps him around is because he is the only scientist that they have.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Brad is quick to Kick the Dog or demand the Captain to be demoted but sometime it is not unwarranted.
- When the captain is showing clear signs of mental distress, he urges Valence to sign the paper to declare him mentally unfit to lead. At first, it is self serving and Valence comment to herself that it is trading a madman for another as Brad will literally Put On The Reich and attack the Barzots but he is right that they have a mission to accomplish and Charles is too far gone to give orders.
- When Bob is sick with a deadly virus, forcing the rest of the crew to stay sick with the flu, Brad points out they have to throw him out of the ship as they will slowly die from the flu like Flavien is doing at the moment (he ends up coughing a lung out because his flu developped into pneumonia and they can't provide him aid otherwise he'll get the deadly virus). The captain ends up agreeing when both seemingly die as it was pretentious of him to think he could do more than he could.
- When the captain orders to go through twin stars in a maneuver that will kill the whole crew, Brad is the first to call it insane and asks others to commit mutiny. Flavien ends up having to both quell the crew from going along with the mutiny and disobey the captain.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Not necessarily gold but he does end up admitting he likes the crew a few times and his insults are mostly because that's literally the only way anyone communicated with him and so he has no idea how to express it. He is an on and off Vitriolic Best Buds with Flavien and Bob when he doesn't cross a line and did save the crew at least four times.
- Karma Houdini: Despite everything he's done, the worst thing that probably happened to him was getting demoted from his post as second officer. Note however that Brad initially considers that a worse punishment then death (He relents when the Captain, Flavien and Bob make it clear they are more than willing to show him "mercy" by killing him instead).
- Kick Them While They Are Down: Occasionally Brad does this while thinking he's helping, unaware of his own callousness or of what he's saying. Other times he sets out to do it on purpose. Even name dropping the trope once as a personal philosophy.
- Lean and Mean: His wiry frame is often lampshaded by the rest of the crew. This becomes a plot point in the episode La Fissure (The Tear), when he is the only one skinny enough to go through a small space-time tear to prevent the ship from going back to Adam and Eve's time (It Makes Sense in Context).
- The Load: Brad's cowardice, greed and unpleasantness makes him of little use and the times he saved the crew are outnumbered by the times he put them in danger or outright attempted to kill some of them. He avoids being The Millstone as he still intends on completing the mission and will complete his tasks when it comes down to it but it's lampshaded multiple times that he is more a danger to the mission than an asset and the Captain finally has enough in the first movie and tries to abandon him on a planet.
- Mama Bear: During the Maman Brad episode, where he is the mother of an alien, Brad becomes really defensive of the baby. To the point he tosses a grenade at the crew.
- Mister Seahorse: In the episode Maman Brad (Mommy Brad), Brad gets pregnant and has a baby alien. The baby, whom he named Jaqueline, was delivered though his nose.
- Narcissist: "Testing, one two, one two, I'm handsome".
- Never My Fault: Quick to shift blame for the problems he causes. To the point he seems to forget he is responsible.Brad: Flavien thinks I'm the one that got rid of the mime.
Captain: It WAS you, Brad! - Number Two: Up to episode 58, where he's replaced with Flavien.
- No-Respect Guy: When he's not antagonizing the crew and tries to save them, most of the time his heroics are ignored.Brad: "Hey! No fair! Why doesn't anyone believe me when I'm heroic?" note
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He is willing to take a planet by force or settle for a planet that's too small for everyone on Earth but big enough to conclude the mission a success but it has less to do with saving humanity and more for the money and fame that come with saving humanity.
- Pet the Dog: He participates in a few of the crew's festivities, gets caught in the same enthusiasm as them when they feel the mission is about to be completed and, when pushed enough, he'll admit he loves the crew. He also saved the whole crew a few times.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He is sexist (voiced terror when Valence would be the new captain as she is a woman), elitist (snobs the crew and admits he owned and plans on owning slaves) and racist (mocks Serge for being a machine and Flavien for being half-alien). He isn't racist toward Bob though, mocking his weight and stupidity instead.
- The Quisling: If unsavory people are advantageous to the mission or Brad's own benefit, he promptly sides with them.
- Real Men Wear Pink: His dream was to become a ballet dancer.
Oddly enough, his parents both wanted a girl and forced him to crossdress, but still wanted him to become a scientist instead. - Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Used his father's ties with the federation to get on board the Romano Fafard, bribing and drugging other applicants and, when discovered, having the president of the federation forcing the Captain to take him. It backfires as what should have been a simple yet glorious mission took longer and he can't use his connections anymore since they are too far from Earth to even communicate.
- The Sociopath: Brad will lie, cheat and manipulate others for his benefit and amusement with rarely any sign of empathy. Only his own cowardice keeps him from being (directly) violent. Some episodes like to give him a heart of gold, but in many others, he's squarely this. For example, as a child, he threatened to push his wheelchair-bound grandfather in front of an incoming snowblower unless the old man gave him money. Years later, he remembers this moment with pride.
- The Smart Guy: He's the science officer aboard the Romano Fafard, and although he's lazy, cowardly, egotistical, lousy, etc., he's still the expert in his field.
- The Starscream: Brad is constantly scheming to overthrow the Captain. However, Failure Is the Only Option.
- Team Killer: Either by callousness or outright malice, Brad almost killed everyone in the crew at least 15 times according to them and the second time Serge was destroyed was because Brad took an important part of his circuits to repair his walkman while Serge was operating on the reactor.Flavien: (Doing the funeral) The Lord said-
Brad: I would like to explai-
Flavien: The Lord said-
Brad: No but it's because Serge-
Flavien: The Lord said shut up.Bob, Pétrolia, Valence and the Captain: And we agree with him. - Token Evil Teammate: He is on the line between being this and a straight up villain, he endangered the crew and straight up attempted to murder some of them.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Flavien and Bob grow to have this relationship with Brad. Brad likes to annoy them and make them suffer, they like to annoy and make him suffer back. In the final episode, Brad gives them tearful goodbyes and they promise to call and annoy each other in the same tone two friends would use to promise they'll call each other and go to a movie.
Valence Leclerc
Played by: Isabelle Brossard (Season 1); Sylvie Moreau (Season 2 onwards)
"I feel like I'm assisting to a nightmare, and I have front row tickets!" note
She is the ship psychologist and the Love Interest to the Captain. She has a tendency to speak in overly complicated psychobabble before repeating it in Layman's terms.
- Achievements in Ignorance: She once managed to talk down to the Devil himself, simply by pointing out why he is so hated and miserable, when it turns out to have been the correct way to subdue him.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Although she keeps an air of professionalism, she's jealous of women who get close to the Captain. In the movie, she starts slapping a woman because the guys in the crew were awed by her beauty.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: No one likes her cooking, and for good reasons. Flavien once successfully blackmailed Brad into helping them by threatening to make him eat her recipe of potato pie, she made a soup out of Bob's jeans for some reason and the captain interrupted Serge's wake because she was the one making the sandwiches and there was no doctor on board at the moment.
- Gadgeteer Genius: She invented a machine that allows people to enter the dreams of others, and it works.
- The Heart: She tries keeping the crew harmonious despite the infighting and prefers nonviolent options. She is one of the only two who will defend Brad and the Captain does it solely because he can't get rid of the sole scientist while Valence does it out of kindness and sees Brad more as a troubled asshole than a punching bag that deserves it.
- Motor Mouth: Sometimes, she can make incredibly long statements without catching her breath.Valence: "Brad, will you please calm yourself down? You react like a capricious 6-year-old child going on a trip to Cape Cod with his parents who's whining to have some french fries even though the car is not even close to the border yet!" note
- Official Couple: With Charles.
- Only Sane Man: She tends to be the voice of reason, often even more so than the captain, and is less prone to zany schemes than the rest (unless her love for the captain is involved). She's also the only one smart enough to actually see through Mirabella's terrible lies.
- Secret-Keeper: For most of season 1, she is the only one who realizes Mirabella is not actually a doctor. She refuses to out her as she worries the crew morale will tank if they realize there's no actual doctor on the ship. When Charles learns the truth about her and Mirabella, he's positively pissed she kept that from him - one of the few times the two are seen arguing.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Has a tendency to speak like this occasionally, especially when diagnosing the other crewmembers. She generally has to repeat her diagnoses in Layman's terms when the crew doesn't understand.Valence: "Since that time, Pétrolia is victim of an extremely punitive superego, which is linked to the internalization of a sense of pathological apathy that can lead to Type 4 Catatonia... she thinks she sucks!" note
- Team Mom: She acts as this to the rest of the crew.
-
The Other Darrin: In the first season, Valence was played by Isabelle Brossard. From the second season onwards, Sylvie Moreau replaced her in the role. The replacement also came with a slight personality change. The first Valence was more professional and seductive towards the Captain, while the second had a more bubbly personality. - There Are No Therapists: Defied. She's the ship's psychologist, and often has therapies with the crew, which they try to avoid.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Toward Charles, although she'll verbally assault the person instead of physically attacking them most of he times. She won a duel with Brad by giving him a Breaking Speech when he tried to have the Captain demoted.
- Woman Child: She occasionally acts like a giddy teenager.
- Women Are Wiser: She tends to be the most grounded and reasonable of the crew.
Bob Dieudonné-Marcelin
Played by: Didier Lucien
"If the mission is over, that means... that the mission is over." note
The ship's pilot. He's a bit of a ditz who enjoys eating a lot, and he's the only pilot on Earth who can work the Romano Fafard's manual clutch.
- Abhorrent Admirer: He spends most of the first season as this to Mirabella, who finds him repulsive as Bob's hygiene is questionable at best, and he's an idiot. She does warm up to him towards the end of the season, but she's lost to the crew before they can get together.
- Ace Pilot: He has problems understanding directions (to him, degrees is to cook chicken) but is the best pilot on Earth, some episode's tension only works because he is in regenerescence and his replacement (either Flavien or Pétrolia) aren't as good.Flavien: Closer than that and I kiss their matriculation plate, I'm not Bob.
- Back from the Dead: He once died of a lethal alien virus, but he came back due to being too fat to ascend to Heaven. He brought back Flavien with him.
- Bash Brothers: With Flavien. They work so well together they sometimes give each other challenges when dodging asteroids.
- Berserk Button: Calling him fat is the quickest way to get a punch to the face.
- Beta Couple: With Petrolia, but only during the Series Finale.
- Big Eater: Bob will usually be the first of the crew to stop to eat. It gets him in trouble when he's captured and cloned.Bob: Hey, have you guys told the Captain about how if he dies, I get his desserts?
- Big Fun: The happiest of the group, episodes where he feels down are usually part of the focus.
- Book Dumb: He mentioned in the second movie that he never completed his high school.
- To wit, he has proven being incapable of spelling his own name ("B-a-u-b-e"), resigned himself from writing the word "Captain" with corndogs as a birthday gift to Patenaude because he was incapable of "making the H" with them, and somehow managed to misspell the personal pronoun "je" ("I" in English) using seven letters.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer:
- He can't tell left from right but he's still an excellent pilot, knows how to rebuild the engine and even found out how to drive out of limbo.
Bob: Well, if we spun that way, we are just gonna have to spin the other way.- The regulations manual lists Bob as the most valuable crew member (As he can pilot the ship and repair it if needs be), so he's literally last on the list to pick if anyone has to sacrifice their lives for the mission. This is again in spite of the fact that Bob is stupid in a manner that almost defies description.
- Did Not Get the Girl: From the movies, it's presumed he and Petrolia didn't work out that well, since she's back with Flavien. And then there's the governor's messenger from the "Moisturizing face cream relieves dry skin" planet that he thinks wrote him a love letter. Turns out it's to warn him that their governor made an attempted suicide to blame the nearby pacifist planet in order to portray them as terrorists. Ultimately subverted with the messenger, as they appear to be together again at the end of the second movie.
- Disability Superpower: His brain is so small that he can hide it from the probing mind of a Dark Jedi master. It's also so small that getting a piece of bread wedged into his forehead through the skull did no brain damage.
Brad: Amazing, you could fit an entire French baguette in his skull and still miss the brain.
- The Ditz: As the series progressed, his stupidity became his main trait. To the point where he can have a nosebleed if he uses his brain too hard (read: like a normal human being).
- Genius Ditz: Implied, as he helped Flavien rebuild Serge after the latter was destroyed for the 2nd time. He is also stated to be the most important member of the crew since he can pilot and repair the ship.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: A superpower of his. If he makes the same dream three times in a row, it is a prophetic dream. Of course, he sometimes forgets important details.Brad: One moment. It's not because this imbecile dreamed of this that this is going to happen!Charles: Brad! Bob dreamt three times that you'd break a rib! And....Bob, Flavien and Petrolia: (Cheerfully) It happened!Charles: Yeah... we had one hell of a party! And he also dreamed that all of the ship's toilets would back up at the same time and...Bob, Flavien and Petrolia: (Depressed) It happened...
- Heroic BSoD: He goes through one after seeing his parents' ghosts. There is also an episode where he suffers from Earth melancholia, where he just wants to go back to Earth be it by ship or on foot even if it kills him.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Flavien, who has been his friend since they were children.
- Insistent Terminology: In the first movie: "Bob with hair".
- Magic Realism: He is a Jedi, which is why he can dream about the future and resist mental torture.
- No Indoor Voice: At times.Bob: [barges in the room] Captain! Captain!! CAPTAAAAIN!!!Patenaude: You know, Bob, when you yell at less than ten centimeters from my face... I HEAR YOU JUST FINE!Bob: Sorry...
- Only Known by Their Nickname: It's offhandedly mentioned in one episode.Bob: Robert?
Alien: Well, you must be named Robert. Bob is a nickname, I suppose?
Bob: No, my real name is Gaétan, but uh, that's confidential. - Parents in Distress: His parents are still on Earth, and he's with the crew to help find a new planet for Earthlings before everyone dies. Sadly, they died before the mission's end.
- The Pig-Pen: He doesn't wash his clothes a lot and people refuses to go to the bathroom after him given his diet.
- Running Gag: A recurring joke is that Bob pilots the ship much like one would drive a car - entirely visually. He even turns and looks back when the ship is backing up - despite being on the bridge with nothing showing him what's behind the ship.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: When he's faced with imminent peril, he tends to make high-pitched shrieks.
- Stout Strength: He used to be one of the best football players at his school, lifts heavy rubble when desperate enough and once slammed Brad so hard against the ship it dislodged it from the rocks that trapped it.
- The Resenter: Bob has shown this kind of behavior towards Flavien on occasion, due to the latter's luck with girls.
- Token Minority: He's the only black on the ship.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: During the episode Misery of the Rich, he took many levels in bastardry when he sought Brad's mentorship in order to have a better chance at wooing Pétrolia, becoming a money-obsessed, backstabbing and womanizing sociopath along the way. This backfired immensely when he alienated everyone, including Flavien, and Pétrolia gave him a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech about his new behavior and his inability to accept that she doesn't love him. He reverted back to being a Nice Guy by the end of the episode.
- Trademark Favourite Food: Pogos, which is a Canadian brand of corndog.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Brad on a good day. On a bad day, their feud goes to attempted murder but on other occasions, Brad actually schedule being beaten by Bob and admits he and Flavien are the friendliest bullies he had while Bob and Flavien reply they never met someone they Love to Hate like Brad.
Flavien Bouchard
Played by: Claude Legault
"I read a book on self-esteem, it's called "When there's a will, another can"." note
The ship's radar operator, communications specialist and second officer after episode 58. In the final episodes, he was revealed to be a Half-Human Hybrid.
- Abusive Parents: His alien biological father abandoned him at birth. Plus, his foster families never loved him.
- The Ace: He excels at every sport or board games, even with the most ridiculous handicap (playing darts from two hallways downstairs and still hit the bullseye by throwing all the darts at the same time.)
- Ascended Extra: He's absent from the first 5 episodes, spends the 6th mostly unconscious, and doesn't do much for the rest of season 1, being there mostly as Bob's best friend, and his trademark meekness keeps him in the background. By season 3 and 4, he's arguably The Hero and has the most involvement in either side plots or main plots. The dividing point seems to have been Pétrolia's arrival, as his romance with her finally gave him something to do.
- Back from the Dead: At least three times.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The one thing he wants the most in life is finding out who his father is. It turns out his dad is an alien prince who left his mom after fathering Flavien out of wedlock as it would disqualify him of being the new king. Not only does Flavien hate him on instinct, his father wants him dead to hide his indiscretion.
- Beta Couple: Was on an on-again, off-again relationship with Pétrolia from her debut episode up until an episode from Season 3 focusing on their relationship where they decided in the end to be Just Friends. Goes back to being this trope with her in the movies.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He is a real Nice Guy, and he has a long fuse, but you reaaaaaally don't want to anger him. The crew found that out the hard way when Brad violently got rid of an alien mime that he took under his wing. As Bob ominously put it:Bob: "He went to his Dark Side." note
- Broken Ace: He's part alien, which gives him Super-Reflexes, sight and strength, but he has a low self-esteem. He occasionally finds himself on the receiving end of Fantastic Racism, which doesn't make it easier. He is also only slightly smarter than Bob in most areas which leads to him doing reckless things to prove himself.
- Chick Magnet: Both in space, and back when he was on Earth. This tends to cause problems for the crew, however.
- Determinator: When it comes to protecting the Captain or other crew members, he'll go to great lengths, even being willing to give up his youth to age a Captain turned into infancy or protect Brad from being victim of Murder the Hypotenuse, even if it means opposing his best friend and his mentor as Brad is innocent in this for once. It backfires when he'll rather die fighting a losing battle than give up in an extreme video game when he thinks the Captain is in danger when really, it's just Brad modding the virtual king for fun.
- Extreme Doormat: Early in the series, he has problems taking actions and has a really weak self-esteem due to his miserable childhood and being deemed the most expendable member of the crew.
- Grew a Spine: In the movies and the last season. Before that, he couldn't take decisions or stand up for himself.
- Half-Human Hybrid: He's part alien. Following his Heroic Sacrifice at the end of the first movie, his human half was destroyed, making him fully alien.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Bob, who has been his friend since they were children.
- Human Alien: Half alien, actually. Fully alien by the end of the first movie.
- Made of Iron: Due to Bizarre Alien Biology, what would normally be a fatal blow to a human doesn't kill him.
- Number Two: After episode 58, he replaces Brad as the second officer to Patenaude.
- Parental Abandonment: He has never met his father, who left before his birth, and his mother died of a broken heart. His series-long Character Arc culminated with him discovering that his father was an alien who abandoned him and his mother because his birth threatened his birthright to a throne.
- Remember the New Guy?: Flavien is neither seen nor mentioned till episode 6, appropriately titled The Awakening of Flavien. The excuse being that he was in regeneraissance till said episode. A good five minutes of the episode is spent explaining Flavien's qualities and relationship with Bob under an eulogy about his apparent death.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: When the crew is about to attack a planet to chase off its inhabitants, he refuses to participate and instead goes to the previous planet in search of their drone.
- Secret-Keeper: Midway through the second season, he accidentally learns about Patenaude and Valence being in a relationship together, but keeps it a secret as he doesn't mind at all the fact they're a couple.
- Super-Reflexes: Comes with being part alien.
- Token Nonhuman: He's only half-alien, but still. He fully becomes this trope by the end of the first movie.
- Undying Loyalty: Towards the Captain.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: He attaches himself to anything looking like a paternal figure with desperation. Except his biological father, who he instinctively hates.
Pétrolia Parenteau-Stanislavski
Played by: Mélanie Maynard
The ship's medical officer and mechanic, she was part of a Love Triangle with Flavien and Bob. She eventually chose Flavien over Bob, but managed to stay in good friendly terms with him. She is Serge's creator, having made him with lawnmower parts.
- Achievements in Ignorance: Some of her inventions come about simply because they were mistakes; she tried to repair the mini-oven's remote so that Bob can have his pizzas, only for it to become a teleporter device, then she later intended to make cake icing for Bob's birthday and wound up with superglue.
- Aerith and Bob: On the same ship as Charles, Brad and Bob is Pétrolia.
- Baby Of The Bunch: She is the youngest of the crew, being found on her parent's station.
- Back-Alley Doctor: Her credentials as doctor is... she wants to be one. She is a bit enthusiastic at the idea of treating people and drained most of Flavien's blood over a scratch.
- Beta Couple: Was on an on-again, off-again relationship with Flavien from her debut episode up until an episode from Season 3 focusing on their relationship where they decided in the end to be Just Friends. Goes back to being this trope with him in the movies.
- She was also this trope with Bob, but only during the Series Finale.
- But Not Too Foreign: Due to her half-Canadian parentage (and her Russian father lived in Canada for a while). Otherwise she's as Russian as a borscht.
- Fangirl: of Elvis Presley. When the crew took him on board (He didn't die, but was cryogenically frozen in space to escape his stardom and the ship happened upon his cryo pod), she suffered quite a few bruises and broken ribs from fainting so much.
- Gadgeteer Genius: She's the ship mechanic and created Serge from lawnmower parts. And whenever Serge gets destroyed, she repairs him with whatever she has on hand - which once included a toaster for his head.
- Bungling Inventor: Unfortunately, most of her other inventions either don't work very well or don't work the way they were intended to, to Charles' annoyance.
- The Medic: As well as being the ship mechanic, she also serves as the ship's medical officer. She replaced Serge after his second death and after his return, she kept the job.
- No Social Skills: Having no one but Serge growing up made her a bit blunt and haughty. For example, her first words to each crew member (Delivered in the midst of her explaining her backstory) are:
- To the Captain: "The top of your head is really flat, like a shelf."
- To Flavien: "Someday I'll really want to french kiss you."
- To Brad: "You look like a trout when you're listening to someone."
- To Bob: "You're really black, you!"
- Raised by Wolves: Raised by comets after her parents disappeared, meaning she lacked discipline growing up.
Serge
Played by: Réal Bossé
Created by Pétrolia, Serge is an android and is the ship's defender. Originally looking much more human, as time passed he took more damage and Petrolia was forced to repair him with what she had on hand.
- Accidental Misnaming: Patenaude never gets his name right, usually referring to Buffy Speak to speak with, to or about him. In a heartwarming example, he finally gets his name right at the end of the second movie as they are about to leave the ship for good, and Serge hugs him in return.
- Ambiguously Human: In his first appearance, he was physically unable to speak at the time and had wires coming out of him, so he came off as this to the crew, whom mistook him for a monster.
- Berserk Button: Being programmed to protect and make Pétrolia happy, he can go full murderous simply if he doesn't know where she is, as seen in his introduction where he is about to throw Flavien into space.Serge: I never was separated from Pétrolia for that long, but now I am, and I don't like it! And when I don't like something, I can start being not nice, I can break planets in two, I can make the milky way cry uncle.
- The Big Guy: He's the protector of the ship and the muscle of the crew.
- Jack of All Trades: His third iteration was built with 1001 different personalities and functions, which are accessed with a remote control.
- Ridiculously Human Robot: His first version had nothing apparently mechanic about him and was quite enthusiastic, even taking offense at being called a robot. When he was rebuilt, he has more wire and metal plating on him, with Valence programming him so he can release his emotions with valves when he wants too.
- Sacrificial Lion: Parodied, as he's the one crew member that's most likely to die, only to get rebuilt not too long afterwards.
- Super Doc: After his first time being rebuilt, the crew programmed in medical knowledge that rivals those of the best doctor on Earth. He is able to find a cure for an alien virus.
- They Killed Kenny Again: He's been killed and rebuilt 18 times over the series and movies.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: He isn't treated any different from the crew despite being a robot except by Brad but he treats human as disposable means to an end anyway, he is just less apologetic when it comes to Serge.
- Worf Effect: Gets incapacitated a lot throughout the series and movies to show the threat is great.
Falbo Gotta
Played by: Paul Ahmarani
Only appeared in the first season. He was the number one mercenary of the 21st century (and ex-high public school teacher) who served as security chief (and more or less a One-Man Army) on the ship. Was lost on a savage planet while chasing the fugitive Mirabella.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Falbo's credentials include mastery of several forms of combat, a long successful stint as a guerrilla fighter, and having spent a few year as a high school teacher in a public school.
- Badass Teacher: That he was able to teach in a public school is used as proof of badassery, as people don't survive the experience.
- Brains and Brawn: The brawn to Brad's brains, although they rarely get along together because Brad sees Falbo as a trigger-happy mercenary and Falbo sees Brad as an Insufferable Genius.
- Dumb Muscle: He is very excitable and prefers action over thinking. He is also able to sock Brad faster than the naked eye can see.
- Honor Before Reason: Exploited by Valence when he thinks the crew are aliens in disguise. Even if they are an invading alien force, Falbo won't shoot someone in the back so she orders the crew to turn around.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Played with, Falbo is so used to take a shot in extreme condition that an easy target stresses him too much. In the first episode, the crew had to simulate a fight and make him jump in a ring before he could do a Blasting It Out of Their Hands on Brad.
- Psychopathic Manchild: He acts like a teenager with too much energy on his hand. At one point, he cuts a deck of cards with a saber for a pun, which lead to Bob saying he should cut on chocolate milk instead.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Later in the series, an alien mentions he found him and Mirabella living in a bungalow made of bamboo.
Mirabella Romario
- Played by: Pascale Montpetit
Only appeared in the first season and the second season's first episode. She was the ship's first doctor, actually a con artist who snuck onto the ship to escape the authorities using false credentials. Valence found out her secret early on but kept it to herself for the sake of the mission. Was Bob's Love Interest, and fled the Romano Fafard after her duplicity was found out.
- All for Nothing: The captain points out that even though it's part of the rules, he would never had exiled Mirabella in space, making her escape pointless.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: At the end of season 1, it's shown that she really does like, perhaps even love, Bob. Unfortunately, she's outed as a Con Artist, flees the ship, and is never seen again.
- Bad Liar: She's terrible at pretending to be a doctor. Valence immediately realizes something is wrong, but refuses to out her, as she worries what the crew will do if they realize the ship has no doctor.
- Con Artist: She was one on Earth.
- The Cynic: The only one on the crew who truly believes that humanity will mess it all up once again after they settle on a new planet.
- Informed Ability: She says she is good at bluffing but her excuses aren't really good.
