Lisa Raccoon

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Lisa Raccoon, voiced by Canadian singer Lisa Lougheed, was a somewhat prominent character in the animated series The Raccoons, and in contrast to Bert, Ralph, and Melissa is tall, like Troy Malone. She is Ralph's niece, and is athletic, with a particular passion for basketball and despises slimy things such as worms. Lisa's first appearance in the series was in the episode Spring Fever, where she visits the Evergreen Forest with her younger brother Bentley Raccoon. Bert, in this episode, is instantaneously smitten by her beauty and develops a crush on her. [1]. In the process, Bert later eschews fishing, because it's something Lisa doesn't like, while he tries to be a suave gentleman which befuddles Cedric and Bentley. After Bert manifests his feelings for Lisa, toward the end of the episode, she says she's flattered, but tells Bert she only likes him as a friend. At this time, Bert is heartbroken because he doesn't think that Lisa will return to the Evergreen Forest, and that she hates him. Nevertheless, Bert's concerns were dispelled, in the episode Moving In [2], as her father, George Raccoon, obtains a job as a television chef for Mr. Knox's TV station, aptly named KNOX. Oddly enough, since the show is Canadian, many have made the assumption that the Evergreen Forest is in Canada. This is interesting because Canadian TV and radio stations all begin with C in their call letters, while those beginning with K are only found in the United States west of the Mississippi River. [3]. Anyway, Lisa is saddened, because no one in the Forest seems to care about basketball, and she misses her old friends. Notwithstanding Bert's efforts, she just doesn't feel like she belongs. Acceptance is something Lisa always seems to be striving for, as in the episode Join the Club [4], she tries to fit in with cool kids from her old school who smoke. After she lies to Bert and her dad, she finally musters up the courage to quit. This wins her the admiration of Cyril Sneer who tells her not to worry about what her peers think as he has become a success by using some unconventional if not maverick methods. The Raccoons is also revolutionary as a cartoon in the sense that many animated series of the 1980s explored smoking, but there were only a few that depicted a character quitting the addictive habit. Lisa's last appearance, incidentally was in the last episode of the series Going For Gold. [5], wherein her competitive fire is exhibited as she seeks to vanquish Bert and thus win the Evergreen triathlon. While Bert and Lisa's relationship is strained amid the competitive fire Lisa possesses, they are reconciled at the end of the episode. Supposedly, a Raccoons movie is in the works and fans of the series often wonder if a marriage between Lisa and Bert is imminent.