Ermintrude (Azalée in the French version) is a cheerful anthropomorphic cow and an opera singer. She is one of the main characters of The Magic Roundabout franchise.
Background[]
Personality[]
Ermintrude is a matronly and operatic cow that lives in the Enchanted Gardens who loves to sing opera at the sound of her own voice and being the main attraction, as well as like to eat flowers in the gardens. Although she likes her friends where she would call their "dearhearts", Ermintrude doesn't take kindly to rudeness, particularly from Dougal and would often get enraged where one instance shows that she nearly went after Dougal when he insults her whilst playing the piano in Zebedee's orchestra. As much as she likes to sing opera, Ermintrude would sing too hard and too loud and this would result in glass shattering, or in rare cares, cause icicles above to fall where this happened when the group are setting camp for the night prior to finding two diamonds.
Other than singing too loud, Ermintrude would scream so loud whenever she is pain or in fright where an example of this would be screaming at the sight of a pair of mice that Florence found when planting her strawberries. She is also very enthusiastic which can sometimes make her feel vain and want to show off.
In the original series, Ermintrude often loves being around the Train and watching it pass by. In Dougal and the Blue Cat, she is shown to be talented in painting. Compared to the reboot series, Ermintrude has more of a ditzy personality, especially in the French version where she would often mis-pronounce everyone's name, especially Dougal's. (Since this happens on a regular basis, the frustrated dog would only clarify her on occasion. The other characters don't mind and are used to this, although Brian has corrected her at least a few times in "Can You Play Cup and Ball".) She is also a big eater with a large appetite, but during series 3, she becomes sensitive about her weight and gets upset whenever she gains more pounds (this becomes the focus of two episodes, which Dougal tries to "help" her). Also, during season 3, she gains the power to glide (through Zebedee's magic), which she often does when she's excited or in a hurry.
Physical appearance[]
Ermintrude is a matronly peach cow with red spots on her body, red limbs and tail, hazel eyes, faint eye shadows, pink cheeks, white horns, brown hooves with peach soles, honey blonde hair and the end of her tail.
In the original series prior to AB Productions episodes of Series 4 and her 2005 redesign, Ermintrude was originally pink with her eyes and the end of her hair originally black.
She wears her blue brimmed hat on her head that has a pair of holes for her horns to stick out, and a red neckerchief with an emerald fastener. In the original series, Ermintrude is rarely seen without her hat off, but this happened on three occasions, twice in series 2 ("Ermintrude's Hat, Part 1" and "Ermintrude's Vocation"), and at least once in series 3 ("Traffic Block and Road Race"). Both seasons portray her with different hairstyles. (In series 2, she has short fancy hair with a bowtie, whereas in series 3, her hair is very long.) She is seen without her hat more often in the reboot series. In a few episodes, she sometimes wears a beige version of her hat and in one episode "Chilled-Out Brian", she wears a shower cap when she goes to sleep.
Relationships[]
Dougal[]
In the original series, Ermintrude somewhat harboured a somewhat subtle crush on Dougal, and has outsmarted him on several occasions. Also in the original series, Dougal was initially frightened of her, to the point of climbing up a tree and hiding in the train van during their first meetings. In the French version, Ermintrude is a frequent target to Dougal's insults, moreso than Brian. Nevertheless, the two are still good friends, and despite constantly making fun of her, Dougal has sometimes gone out of his way to do nice things for her (for example, putting on a fireworks show for her birthday).
Brian[]
In the 2007 reboot series, she has a bit of a crush on Brian (who had a crush on her himself in the 2005 film, which she didn't take notice until the end of the movie).
Dylan[]
She and Dylan also seem to share the same passion for music, despite liking different genres. Both of them also share similar artistic talents, particularly painting. In "Sugar Shortage", they both teamed up with Florence to stop Dougal from using a machine to turn Ermintrude's daisies and Dylan's carrots into sugar.
Florence[]
She is also friends with Florence where they are both generally pleasant. In episodes like "Let's Go Fly a Kite" and "It Came from Outer Space", they teamed up to find Dougal to see what he was up to or help him out from his situations. In "Read All About It", she comes over to Florence's house where they find interest of a newspaper article that Ermintrude found in her tower.
Digger[]
Ermintrude takes a liking to Dougal's Australian cousin, Digger, and laughs along with him with his jokes.
Auntie Primrose[]
Primrose is one of Dougal's relatives that Ermintrude doesn't get along with due to her rudeness. This is quite evident in Primrose's second appearance where Ermintrude and Primrose engage in a heated argument that ends with Ermintrude storming off and blowing a raspberry at Primrose. Things don't seem to improve between Ermintrude and Primrose when she returns to try and apologise.
Hobbies and interests[]
- Opera singing: Ermintrude is extremely fond of her singing as she usually sings opera whenever she does her washing, walking or anything to try and practice her singing.
Abilities and talents[]
- Singing: Being a good singer, she holds her high notes remarkably well. However, she sometimes sings her high note so loud that it causes nearby glass to shatter where this happened to one of the lights on the Magic Roundabout in "Litterbugs" and the overhead glaciers in a cave where the gang are making camp for the night in the 2005 film. This would come in handy to shatter the ice on the roundabout to rescue those who are trapped in there and to reveal the diamond slots before the final showdown with Zeebad.
- Dancing: As well as being a good opera singer, Ermintrude is shown to be dancing remarkably well to different styles of dance.
- Art: She is also particularly good at painting where in "Dougal and the Blue Cat", she paints a few portraits with different shades of blue upon the event of Buxton's arrival in the garden.
- Cooking: Like Florence, Ermintrude is also good at cooking where she sometimes makes her nettle soup to try and help those who are appear to be unwell. In "The Party", she is shown to be making a cake for a surprise thank-you party for Florence and in "The Pancake Party", she makes some very good pancakes where she invites all her friends to have a go at making their pancakes.
Appearances (original series)[]
Series 1[]
TBA
Series 2[]
Part 1[]
- Ermintrude's Dance
- The Rainbow, Part 3
- Flamenco
- Lost Ball
- Carrot Juice
- Zahara's Song - cameo (non-speaking in the French version)
- Glasses, Part 2 - cameo
- Plans for Rusty's House (cameo)
- Building Rusty's House
- Rusty's House
- Road Signs
- Brian and the Train Race
- Television Announcer
- Captured Storm
- Cow Railway
- Lost Boing
- Jumping Competition
- Florence's Party
- Dougal's Jam
Part 2[]
The * sign donates to having been made after Dougal and the Blue Cat
- Spaghetti Party
- Watch the Birdie
- Baking a Pie
- Let's Play at Cats
- Once Upon a Time
- Ermintrude's Vocation
- Le voyage extraordinaire - cameo appearance (English version unidentified)
- Dylan, Sculptor
- Tombola
- Flying Saucer
- Relay Race
- Ermintrude’s Hat, Part 1
- Ermintrude's Hat, Part 2
- Pancakes
- Happy Birthday, Dylan
- Ermintrude's Toothache
- Picnic
- Brian's Twilight
- At the Door Department
- The Exhibition
- The Mysterious Beast
- Ermintrude's Folly - Blue Cat model introduced
- Golf and Omelette
- Can You Play Cup and Ball?*
- Taste of Honey* (mentioned only, French version)
- Snowman's Scarf*
- Toffee River*
- The Orchestra*
Series 3[]
Pretty much every episode except for these:
- Dougal Cooks His Speciality
- Flying Carpet
- Dougal’s Gold Mine
- Dougal's Treasure (does appear in the episode, but not in the French comic-book adaptation for "Le Journal de Pollux")
- Soap Makes You Lovelier (does appear in the episode, but not in the French comic-book adaptation for "Le Journal de Pollux")
- Letter to Father Christmas
Dougal and the Blue Cat[]
In the film, Ermintrude first appears when Dougal is riding on the train to meet with Zebedee. The Train sees the cow on the line and is almost unable to stop, as Dougal panics. In the English version, the dog berates Ermintrude for interrupting his ride, which makes her gleeful to have caused such chaos. She explains that she simply likes watching trains, and suggests that Dougal should wave to cows, whenever he takes a train ride. In the French version, she explains that she read in a farmer's magazine that cows usually watch trains go by, and that she had decided this time, it would be the opposite. She then leaves to eat, what she claims to be "a third of a quarter of a half" of her meadow.
Ermintrude is then seen arriving with Brian and Dylan to meet Buxton for the first time, as they were excited to hear there was a cat in the Garden. In the French version, she had erroneously heard the cat was red. In the English version, she comments that "blue is beautiful", which reminds Dougal of the strange voices he heard at the factory. But nobody is interested in Dougal's worries, and invite Buxton to rest in the dog's bed, much to Dougal's shock. Ermintrude and Brian make the bed for the cat, while Dylan plays his guitar. Afterwards, Ermintrude leaves, as in the English version, she comments on how lucky they are to have a distinguished visitor. In the French version, she goes off to eat her meadow again, pulling a reversed version of a popular French quote ("He who sleeps forgets his hunger" or "Qui dort, dîne!"), instead remarking "He who eats forgets to be tired!" ("Qui dîne, dort!") Afterwards, Buxton wakes up and sneaks out to the blue factory, where he becomes crowed king by Madam Blue, and strikes up an army to invade the garden.
Except for Dougal, everyone is unaware of Buxton's true evil nature, as his presence in the garden even causes Florence and Ermintrude to obsess over the colour blue. Ermintrude begins painting blue abstract pieces, which, in the French version, is part of an exhibition in honor of their "new friend". Brian observes and reports that Buxton has disappeared. The gang then finds Dougal at the mechanical lift area, with Ermintrude being the third to arrive. Dougal tries to warm them about Buxton's evil plots, with Ermintrude voicing her wholehearted support. (In the English version, she even comments that she was even in the Women's Land Army.) However, to keep everyone from getting suspicious about his plans, Buxton pretends to cry, making them feel sorry for him. In the French version, Ermintrude is almost reduced to tears herself. The cow then invites Buxton to her exhibition.
Zebedee then reveals his mustache is missing, and as everyone goes to look for it, Buxton leaves for the factory. He orders his army to capture everyone and get rid of anything that isn't blue. Ermintrude ends up being the fifth to be captured by Buxton's army, except the whip soldier finds her too heavy to carry. She briefly tries to put up a gallant fight, but ends up being magically levitated, causing the soldier to carry her off. Afterwards, she's taken prisoner in the factory's dungeon and chained next to Zebedee on the right, with a chain lock around her neck. In the English version, she laments on having wasted her artistic talents on that cat, while in the French version, she sobs that Buxton's humour has gone from blue to black. She later cries with the others to Florence's sad song, before Dougal arrives, having come to rescue them, disguised as "Blue Peter". Buxton arrives, having crowed "Blue Peter" as Prime Minister, as the dog pretends to insult them. In the English version, Brian and Ermintrude proceed to insult Dougal back, calling him "Blue-Bag", while in the French version, they laugh at the dog's fake name ("Blue-Blue") while trying to keep each other from saying his real name. Madam Blue then sends Dougal and Buxton to conquer the moon, but there, the dog's true identity is eventually revealed.
Later, as an enraged Madam Blue strikes a lightning storm in the castle, Dougal goes back to free the others. He bites off Ermintrude's chain, making her the fourth member to be freed. She is the fifth character to run out of the gate, as the factory collapses. Back in the garden, Ermintrude is the first to notice Brian's disappearance and asks where he is. (In the French version, she and Florence both spot Buxton hiding and crying in remorse, with the cow somewhat still referring the cat as "their friend".) After finding out he went back to the factory, she cries over the snail's supposed death, but rejoices when the snail returns with Zebedee's mustache, which had been stolen by Buxton. Mr. McHenry then uses magic to make it snow around the garden, and everyone gets on the roundabout. Ermintrude tries to join them, but ends up slipping on the ice, with a now reformed Buxton joking that she'll feel quite blue.
Trivia[]
- In the original series, Ermintrude was the second animal character to debut after Dougal (the fifth major character overall, after Mr Rusty, Zebedee, Florence, and Dougal, not counting Florence's three friends). However, she didn't make a lot of appearances during the original black-and-white episodes of series 1, as she wasn't really considered a major character at the time (somewhat similar to how Serge Danot hadn't intended Dougal to end up being the star of the series). Because of this, there has been a lot of incorrect speculation (for example, the 2003 Timeshift documentary, The Magic Roundabout Story) that she and/or Dylan (who, ironically, appeared much more than her) first appeared in the colour episodes.
- In the original series, Ermintrude is hardly seen without her signature blue hat (apart from a few episodes), but in several episodes of the 2007 CGI series, she is shown without her hat on an occasional basis.
- In the US version of the movie, she was voiced by Whoopi Goldberg who also voiced Shenzi in The Lion King, Stretch in Toy Story 3, Tower in The Little Engine That Could, Darlin in Everyone's Hero, Margaret in The Rugrats Movie, Franny in Racing Stripes and Miss Clavell in My Fair Madeline. Also, her personality was retooled to fit with her voice actress.
- Coincidentally, Whoopi Goldberg and Joanna Lumley worked together on a CITV series called called "The Foxbusters".
- She makes a cameo in the cameo in the cancelled movie "Stupid Invaders" as one of the toys in the bedroom.
- While Ermintrude is seen with a flower in her mouth often in the original series, the flower appear less in the 2005 film and the revival series.