- “Uh, no refunds after the first two minutes.”
- ―P.T. Flea addressing a dissatisfied fly customer[src]
P.T. Flea, also known as "P.T." or "Mr. Flea", is a character in Disney•Pixar's 1998 animated feature film A Bug's Life. He is a greenish-brown flea who is the greedy ringmaster of his circus.
Background
Personality
P.T. is the short-tempered, boisterous, greedy ringmaster of the circus troupe who is totally unwilling to give refunds after his show has lasted only two minutes. He loves money and would do anything just to make it, including hire the lowest of low-lives and later even go as far as to have himself injured as a result. He starts off greedy, but he reforms into a more neutral businessman type in the end after he and his circus troupe help the ants defeat Hopper and his gang.
P.T.'s finale consists of an act called "Flaming Death", in which he was almost incinerated. This made him fire his entire troupe, until a foot-long line of flies lined up outside the circus tent wanting to see the Flaming Death act again.
Role in the film
During a "lion taming" act with Dim and Rosie, where the act does not perform well, the flies become very displeased as many of them leave the circus while an elderly fly demands a refund from P.T., to which he refuses to do because of his greed for money. Worried about the angry audience, P.T. tells Heimlich and Francis to perform immediately, to which Heimlich tells P.T. that he cannot perform with an empty stomach. P.T., however, harshly tells Heimlich to perform before eating. Slim then walks towards P.T. and complains that the flies will only laugh at him, thinking he is only an inanimate object. P.T., however, tells him he's a walking stick and that it's funny, to which the stick insect becomes offended by P.T.'s harshness. During a flower act, P.T. notices Francis arguing with the flies, believing his act is going wrong again.
P.T. talks to Gypsy, who tells him that her partner Manny, an elderly praying mantis, is concentrating patiently. P.T., however, becomes furious, telling the performers to do their act immediately. After the act with Heimlich, Francis, and Slim ends, P.T. begins Manny and Gypsy's act by ringing a gong (actually made of an Asian coin). When Manny and Gypsy's act begins, P.T. tells Rosie (who is trying to put a bandage on Dim's wound) and the whole troupe to be on stage again immediately along with Tuck and Roll, who do not understand what Rosie is saying. Frustrated that his circus act is not getting good compliments from the unhappy flies, P.T. performs a dangerous circus act known as the "Flaming Death".
P.T. explains to the flies about the demonstration of the Flaming Death act, where the act begins in less than fifteen seconds in which all the performers are blindfolded, while also giving advice that audiences sensitive to intense fire to leave the arena immediately, as the Flaming Death act is extremely dangerous. When the act goes wrong, due to Tuck and Roll causing a chain reaction while fighting, P.T. gets stuck on some flypaper. The Circus Bugs notice this and quickly try to find water to extinguish the flaming matches. However, before they could, the flypaper falls on the matches and on P.T. as it emits a big fire across the circus, nearly killing P.T. during the act. The Circus Bugs then find water for P.T., but he angrily fires them for their poor performance, causing P.T. Flea's circus to go out of business.
Later in the film, as his troupe and the ants celebrate the completion of their model bird to scare off the grasshoppers, P.T. comes to Ant Island searching for the troupe. He finds them hiding under a leaf and blows their cover of pretending to be "warrior bugs", stating to them that "Flaming Death" was a huge hit. When the ants find out the truth about the warriors, the Queen orders them to leave, and Princess Atta banishes Flik along with the troupe after learning about his lies.
As they are heading back to the circus, Dot (who had just learned to fly) flies to the troupe and asks them for help. She tells them about Hopper's plan to squish her mother when the ants finish collecting all the food on the island. Rosie traps P.T. in her web, and the troupe takes control of the carriage and heads back to Ant Island.
Back on the island, Flik tries to scare off the grasshoppers with the fake bird, but accidentally hits the circus carriage in the process, releasing P.T. from Rosie's web. He sees that some of his troupe members are pretending to be injured by the bird, so he uses his "Flaming Death" to set the bird on fire, not realizing it was merely a hoax to fool Hopper and his gang. He then realizes his mistake for helping Hopper and his gang when he sees Flik being beaten by Hopper and orders the troupe to get rid of Hopper.
In the end, P.T. becomes less greedy and more flexible, after he and his whole circus troupe help to rid the ants of Hopper when they finally overpower him. They then say goodbye to Flik, Atta (who is now the new queen), Dot (who's now a young princess), and the other ants. P.T. leaves Ant Island with new circus members: a group of acrobatic ants and a new strongman, the fully reformed Molt (under the nickname "Tiny"), with the promise that he and the circus will return next season.
Trivia
- P.T. appears during the end credits of Cars as a tiny hopping car.
- He also makes a cameo in the short Your Friend the Rat using recycled footage (he is only called "The Flea").
- P.T. is the smallest insect to appear in the film, alongside Aphie.
- P.T. is named after P.T. Barnum, the co-founder of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in the early 1800s.
- P.T. being a flea and the ringmaster of a bug circus is most likely a reference to a flea circus.
- P.T. is John Ratzenberger's favorite role.[1]
- P.T. is Ratzenberger's second Pixar character after Hamm.
- P.T. marks the first Pixar character to have a Napoleon complex.
- According to the audio commentary, John Ratzenberger made up the song that P.T. sings while he is driving the circus wagon.[2]
Gallery
Stock art
Concept art
Screenshots
Miscellaneous
References
- ↑ John Ratzenberger, Pixar's good luck charm, on Up, Bugs and Toys 3
- ↑ A Bug's Life audio commentary
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