Characters who appear in the Gaither's Pond videos.
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The Pond as a Whole
- Adam Westing: The Gaithers and co. almost all poke fun at themselves and each other through their fishonas.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Depending on what pun works the best, they're all either this or Species Surname.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The characters in the first video have simpler designs and don't try as hard to put their VA's faces on the body, so they look less Uncanny Valley but also less expressive. The designs most memed on the internet begin in the second video.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Almost all of them are voiced by and modeled after a Gaither member. More prominent in the latter three videos, but still present in the first one.
- Pals with Jesus: The show exists within an evangelical and Baptist theological framework, so being Christian means that one has a direct, personal line to God/Christ. A good number of the songs are about this friendship, like "God Takes Good Care of Me" and "On My Way to Heaven". God also directly intervenes in the plot on their behalf.
- Perpetual Frowner: Due to the constraints on animation, almost all the models in the first video look dour even when they're supposed to be happy.
- Punny Name: Almost all have for a name a pun combining their voice actor with a pond animal.
- Real Men Love Jesus: A given, due to them being in a Religious Edutainment show.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Most of the male denizens of the pond have badass deep voices and act like masculine southern gentlemen; but they also love singing and openly express emotions and love to one another.
- Southern Gentleman: Almost all of the male characters have Deep South accents and are very polite.
- Species Surname: All either this or A Dog Named "Dog".
- You Don't Look Like You: Everybody introduced in "The Lure Depths" who shows up later has a completely different design.
Introduced in "The Lure Depths"
Big Bass Bill
"Uhhhhhh...
- Voiced by: Bill Gaither
The Mayor at the pond, somewhat bumbling and grumpy.
- Adam Westing: Bill Gaither plays himself as a rant-prone Grumpy Old Man with No Social Skills.
- Adults Are Useless: Is of no help to the young Guppie in "The Lure Depths".
- Grumpy Old Man: Rants about how much the younger generation pisses him off.
- Hypocrite: Yells at Guppie for being in the "bad part" of the pond... when he himself is also there.
- No Social Skills: Ironically for a Mayor; his introduction has him stop, look at the audience mouth agape, before letting out a confused "Uhhh...", and continue swimming.
- Skewed Priorities: Sees a young fish in a dangerous part of the pond. Rather than guide him out, he berates him for being there, tells him to get a haircut, and lets him swim off.
Carp Lowrey
"But NOOOOO, I've gotta run a RETRAAAACTIIIOON!"
- Voiced by: Mark Lowrey
An impulsive fish with a flare for the dramatic.
- Ascended Extra: Only has one line in the first video, but becomes a main character later on.
- Blatant Lies: His newsletter starts printing these.
- Camp: In contrast with the deep-voiced southern gentlemen who make up most of the cast, Carp takes after his voice actor's flamboyant comedy style.
- Effeminate Voice: Like Lowrey in real life.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's sometimes a bit of a jerk, but always learns his lesson in the end.
- Large Ham: Being voiced by Mark Lowrey, who's known for Chewing the Scenery, it's a given.
- No Indoor Voice: HEY, BULLFROG!
- Those Two Guys: With Swanette in the first video, being introduced together with her.
Bullfrog Younce
- Voiced by: Bill Younce
A bullfrog who mentors the young fish of the pond.
- Baritone of Strength: Younce uses his deep baritone to play a commanding but gentle authority at the pond.
- Carnivore Confusion: In his introduction, he eats a fly that's buzzing around; but later lists Buddy Greenfly as one of his close friends.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Even though he's supposed to be a wise mentor figure, he has his moments; like when he goes on a rant that's just variations of "what I was going to say..." or when he sees Guppie flapping around on land and has to be asked to toss him back into the water.
- Friendly Enemy: Compliments Little Benji's perfect cast and speaks fondly of him, but warns the fish of the pond against biting his lure.
- The Mentor: To Guppie.
- The Narrator: For the first video.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Meant by the creators to be seen as one. To his credit, he actually explains the dangers of fishing hooks to Guppie instead of going on incomprehensible rants like Big Bass Bill.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: He and Crawdad Sumner have shades of this.
- Southern Gentleman: Shares his actor's charming deep voice and Deep South accent, and exchanges friendly greetings with everybody.
Guppie Pinrod
- Voiced by: Guy Pinrod
A young fish who's danger-prone.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: His story is supposed to be a metaphor for doing this with sin.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Lured by a female frog with a "pretty" face into taking a bite of a worm on a hook.
- Keet: It's hard to tell because of the voice-acting and animation; but Bullfrog's narration indicates he's supposed to be a hyperactive kid/teen.
- Large Ham: His over-the-top reactions.
- Motor Mouth: When panickedly describing his experience to Bullfrog.
Vestal Gooseman
- Voiced by: Vestal Goodman
- Happily Married: Implied:"I'm just out tryna find Howard an' me some breakfast."
Swanette Paschal
Craw Dad "C.D." Sumner
- Voiced by: JD Sumner
A crawdad with a deep voice.
- Basso Prufundo: Even his speaking voice is unbelievably deep.
- Informed Attractiveness: Described by Bullfrog as "the ugliest crawdad I ever seen". Given the animation, he looks no more ugly than the other characters. Though this may have just been banter.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: He responds to Bullfrog's crack at his looks by saying, "You ain't gon' win no beauty contests neither. You still tryna sing bass?"
Ben Spearfish
- Voiced by: Ben Speer
The fish who organizes the singing rehearsals.
- Serious Business: He takes being on-time for singin' rehearsals very seriously.
Hovie Hister
- Voiced by: Hovie Lister
A snake.
"Snappy" Jake Hess
- Voiced by: Jake Hess
A somewhat grouchy, but good-hearted turtle with a beautiful singing voice.
- Misplaced Wildlife" He looks more like a sea turtle than anything you'd find in a southeastern freshwater pond.
- Pals with Jesus: While all the main characters are this (see above), he gets a specific focus; in the "Lure Depths" he gets the solo in "On My Way to Heaven" that directly references talking to Jesus, and closes the video out with "God Takes Good Care of Me", where he claims "I can call on Jesus any time".
Buddy Greenfly
- Voiced by: Buddy Green
A fly and general Nice Guy.
- Carnivore Confusion: Friends with Bullfrog, who eats his kind.
Jessy Frogman
The Muskrat
- Voiced by: N/A
A mysterious creature Guppie encounters in the deep part of the pond.
- Ambiguously Evil: It's unclear whether it's intentionally leading Guppie to the fishing lure; or if it was trying to help him find his way home but they got separated. Given that it's seen playing piano in some of the musical numbers, it's probably the latter.
- Nonstandard Character Design: The only non-human mammal in the first video, and he has no mouth and never speaks.
- The Voiceless: Only communicates in signals and nods.
Little Benji
- Voiced by: N/A
The little boy who lives either at or near the pond, and frequently fishes there.
- Author Avatar: Named after Bill Gaither's son Benji, who created the show.
- Humans Are Cthulhu: Mostly averted; while his fishing hook poses a threat to the denizens of the pond, Bullfrog knows him by name and is able to explain exactly how fishing works.
- Nothing Personal: Though the hook is understandably horrifying to them, the fish and frogs at the pond don't actually seem to dislike Benji. Bullfrog compliments his "perfect cast" and speaks on him affectionately.
- Obliviously Evil: A kid going fishing, who probably doesn't know that the fish are sentient and have a redemptive relationship with Jesus Christ.
Temptress Frog
- Voiced by: N/A
A female frog (or frog-like creature) who for some unexplained reason, wants Guppie to bite a hooked worm.
- Ambiguously Amphibian: She's supposedly a frog, but unlike Bullfrog is The Voiceless and tempts Guppie into almost getting himself killed, despite the fact that him being caught by a fisher would benefit her in no way. She may be a force of the Devil himself, but it's unclear.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: A feminine-coded "pretty face" tempting a God-fearing fish into taking a bite of something he shouldn't... hmmmm.
- Femme Fatale: A "pretty face" who tempts Guppie to bite the worm.
- Informed Attractiveness: Guppie claims her "face is so pretty". To most viewers, she looks just as bizarre as the other characters.
- No Name Given: The writer of this article had to make something up.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Thick, long eyelashes to signify that she's a woman.
- The Voiceless: Never speaks, just gestures.
The Martins
- Voiced by: Joyce, Jonathan, and Judy Martin
Three birds who sometimes perform at the pond. Voiced by real-life brother-sisters group The Martins.
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The Danza: Named after the real band. - Odd Name Out: Most of the characters have Punny Names on their voice actors', but the Martins are just The Martins.
- The Power of Love: Their song "Out of His Great Love" describes Jesus's love saving a wayward soul.
The Cornfield 4
- Voiced by: The Fairfield 4
Another group of bird singers; a quartet voiced by the acclaimed Gospel group the Fairfield 4.
- Gospel Revival Number: It's in quartet form rather than a choir, but there's a lot of soul in the singing and the deranged animation seems to be attempting to convey passion.
- The Power of Love: They sing the Gospel classic, "Dig A Little Deeper in God's Love" (a staple of the real-life Fairfield 4).
