| Fred Figglehorn | |
|---|---|
| FЯED character | |
Fred Figglehorn in (from top left) Classic FRED, 2010, Fred: The Movie, and It's Fred! |
|
| First appearance | Fred on Halloween |
| Created by | Lucas Cruikshank |
| Portrayed by | Lucas Cruikshank |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Student |
| Family | Unnamed mother, father, and grandmother |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Nationality | American |
| Age | 6 years (internet series)[1] 15 years (film)[2] |
Fred Figglehorn (stylized on webpage and on T-shirts as FЯED) is a fictional character created and portrayed by American actor Lucas Cruikshank. Fred is a 6-year-old boy, with a high voice, and has a dysfunctional home life and "anger management issues".[3] Cruikshank, a teenager from Columbus, Nebraska, created the Fred video series for his channel on the video-sharing website YouTube, to center around the Fred character.[4] Although Cruikshank voices Fred, the audio is digitally altered to sound higher-pitched than Cruikshank's true voice.
Contents |
Cruikshank introduced the Fred character in a video on JKL Productions, a channel he started on YouTube with his cousins, Jon and Katie Smet. He and his cousins set up the JKL Productions channel on June 11, 2006, and Cruikshank uploaded several videos testing out different characters. His first Fred video was uploaded on October 30, 2006, and when this character started to become popular, Cruikshank made more videos featuring Fred.[5] On April 30, 2008, these videos were removed from JKL Productions, and added to the Fred channel. On May 1 the first official video of the series, titled "Fred on May Day" was released, explaining that Cruikshank asked YouTube for the Fred channel. Someone else previously owned the channel, which was later turned into one of Fred's enemies in the Fred series. By April 2009, the channel had over one million subscribers, making it the first YouTube channel to do so, and the most subscribed channel at the time.[6] However, in August 2009, YouTube celebrities Ryan Higa's and Sean Fujiyoshi's channel, Nigahiga, overtook Fred as the most subscribed channel. It was the third to reach two million, in September 2010, shortly after falling to third.
As of January 2012, the videos have received over 865 million views, and over 2.3 million are subscribed to the channel, it is listed as the number eight all-time most subscribed YouTube channel.[7] Cruikshank has made a few television appearances, both as himself, and as Fred.
In December 2009, Cruikshank filmed Fred: The Movie, which aired on Nickelodeon on September 18, 2010. Nickelodeon has created a franchise surrounding the character and began producing the sequel in March 2011.[8][9][10] Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred aired on October 22, 2011, also on Nickelodeon. In December 2011, it was announced that a Fred series would be produced, consisting of 20 11-minute episodes, and a third movie would air later in 2012.[11]
| Fred | |
|---|---|
Title card |
|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | Lucas Cruikshank |
| Written by | Lucas Cruikshank |
| Starring | Fred Figglehorn |
| Voices of | Lucas Cruikshank |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 (plus two unofficial) |
| No. of episodes | 48 (plus numerous unofficial) |
| Production | |
| Editor(s) | Lucas Cruikshank |
| Location(s) | Columbus, Nebraska |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | JKL Productions (pre-series) Fred (seasons 1-5) |
| Original run | October 30, 2006 – February 23, 2011 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Figgle Chat It's Fred |
| Related shows | Fred: The Movie Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| Production website | |
Fred (stylized on webpages as FЯED) is an internet video series centering around the dysfunctional 6-year-old Fred Figglehorn, created by Lucas Cruikshank.
Fred lives with his recovering drug-addicted and alcoholic mother, whose voice is often heard, and his grandmother. It is implied that Fred has been the victim of child abuse (for example being locked in a dog cage for three days), however he frequently speaks of his love for his mother, particularly after her stay at rehab. Fred's father is mentioned several times as being on death row in the state penitentiary. Fred has not met his father, as he left Mrs. Figglehorn while she was still pregnant with Fred. In seasons one through three, Fred communicates with all characters off-screen.
On screen characters are seen for the first time in a dream sequence, in "Fred: A Star In His Own Mind", Fred dreams of being a famous actor, meeting fan girls and other famous actors. Season four, as it was filmed after Fred: The Movie, marked a change in production style, it is filmed in a higher video quality, and shows other on-screen characters. The original production style was revived for a few episodes in 2010, introducing the Cladio character, after the movie was released in the UK, and ended when Cruikshank returned to movie filming. Leading up to the second movie's release, a new series, called Figgle Chat, was produced, and features internet and television stars. Following that, an animated series, It's Fred!, named after Fred's catchphrase, began being uploaded to the channel.
Cruikshank has described the channel as "programming for kids by kids".[4] The series is intended as a parody of people who, in Cruikshank's words, "think that everyone is so interested in them." Cruikshank believes that viewers either "automatically love Fred or automatically hate Fred, there is no in between".[12] The videos primarily consist of the character speaking to the audience about what is happening in his life. Fred has a high-pitched "chipmunk" voice, making him sound more like a 6-year-old. According to Cruikshank, this effect, and the hyperactive appearance of the character, are achieved by speeding up the audio.[5]
The first season follows Fred attempting to perform a number of activities during the summer, until his mother attends rehab. "Fred Goes Swimming" is the most watched video on the Fred channel, with over 55 million views.[13] The second season explores Fred's love for Judy, a girl in his class, and attending school. There Fred decides to run against class bully Kevin, for class president. The song "Watch How I Do This", by Kev Blaze, is featured in a number of the season 2 videos. Season three again follows the daily adventures of Fred, in school, and with classmates, and shows Fred's interest in singing. The fourth season, now with on-screen characters, shows Fred traveling around town trying out different occupations. Following this, Fred holds contests surrounding his two movies, gets a visit from a creeping character named Cladio, gets invited to host a talk show, dispels rumours of being owned by Nickelodeon, and becomes animated.
The series uses a floating timeline, that is, it is always taking place in the current year, meaning that Fred is perpetually 6 years old, and in kindergarten.
This is a list of videos uploaded to the Fred channel.[14][15] 60 videos are considered part of the original Fred series, however no official list exists. The YouTube show feature lists 49 episodes, numbered 1 to 47, spilt into four seasons,[16] while a playlist, linked to from the Fred channel, named Classic FRED!!!, contains 18 videos ranging from 2007 to 2010.[17] Since the apparent end of the Fred series in early 2011, two series' have been produced and uploaded, a six episode arc titled Figgle Chat, where Fred interviews internet and television stars,[18] and an animated series titled It's FRED!, which shows Fred attend school, and the previously off-screen characters.[19] Eight music videos are also listed here.
|
|
|
It's Hackin' Christmas with Fred is a four track EP released on November 10, 2009. The music videos for the singles "Christmas Cash" and "Christmas is Creepy" were also released on the Fred YouTube channel. The album was available online via iTunes.[20]
Who's Ready To Party? is an album released on September 21, 2010. The music videos for the singles Don't Forget to Brush, Who's Ready to Party?, The Babysitter's a Vampire, and Tater Haters, were also released on the Fred YouTube channel.
Fred: The Movie is a 2010 film based on the YouTube series about Fred Figglehorn. It features Lucas Cruikshank as Fred, Pixie Lott as Judy, Jennette McCurdy as Bertha, Jake Weary as Kevin, John Cena as Fred's dad, and Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Fred's mom. It follows the character as he tries to track down his crush, Judy (after she moves away). It is written by David A. Goodman, directed by Clay Weiner, and produced by Brian Robbins.[21] Filming began November 9, 2009, and wrapped up December 20, 2009.[22] The movie was released on Nickelodeon on September 18, 2010, and the DVD was released October 5, 2010[8] as well as streaming media such as Netflix.
Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred is a 2011 Halloween-themed sequel to Fred: The Movie. It first aired on October 22, 2011. After Fred has broken up with Judy, he becomes convinced that his new neighbor is a vampire. The Judy character was written out, and Bertha was replaced with Daniella Monet.
On December 1, 2011, a third Fred movie was announced. It will premiere in late 2012, after an 11-minute series (with 20 episodes) airs.[11]
Zipit Wireless Messenger (Z2) sponsored the first season of "Fred", which had several cameos in various videos posted to the Fred channel. Although the collaboration had originally been kept low-key, Fred has a separate website promoting the Zipit.[23] Walden Media hired Cruikshank to promote the film City of Ember, along with the sci-fi novel it was based on, and cameos from the film's star Tim Robbins in Fred episodes and a mock movie trailer.[24]
Cruikshank made a cameo appearance as both "Fred" and himself on Nickelodeon's iCarly in "iMeet Fred", which originally aired on February 16, 2009.[25] Also in 2009, in the episode "Fred Gets Dissed at Bible School", the comedy film Year One is quoted several times.
Cruikshank has launched a website to promote the Fred series, and sell Fred T-shirts and other merchandise. The merchandise is also available at Hot Topic, Justice, and Five Below stores. Fred has appeared at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards as well as the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards presenting awards to winners off-stage.
In October and November 2011 videos were uploaded to the Fred channel, as well as Cruikshank's personal channel, with Ari Gold as his character Power, from the film Adventures of Power.[26]
Cruikshank was originally a part of JKL Productions, a group comprising twins Jon and Katie Smet and Lucas Cruikshank, their cousin. Although Cruikshank formally left the group, JKL prefers to keep Lucas' "L" in its name. Cruikshank deleted all of his individual videos when he left JKL Productions, but he can still be seen in a few of their videos. In January 2009 he set up his own channel, called "lucas", in which he appears as himself. In the June 25, 2010, Annoying Orange episode, Cruikshank made a cameo as Fred, the first time Fred has officially appeared on a different YouTube channel.
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by unknown |
Most subscribed channel on YouTube ?—August 2009 |
Succeeded by Nigahiga |
| Preceded by collegehumor |
Top Subscribed Channel on YouTube Ranked eighth as of January 2012 |
Succeeded by realannoyingorange |