- "Bow-Chicka-Honk-Honk!"
- —Junior in Tucker Knows Best
Blarggity Blarg-Tucker, or Junior, is Tucker's alien son. He was created when the Alien infected his father with a parasitic embryo. Despite this, Tucker chose to care and raise Junior. He became vital to Omega's plan in Season 5 and has been mentioned various times by his father afterwards. Now a grown adult, Junior is currently an ambassador for the Sangheili Embassy.
Role in Plot[]
Birth[]
Junior with Doc and Church after his birth at Blood Gulch
Junior made no physical appearances in season four but played an important role nonetheless. During Tucker, Caboose, Andy, the Alien, and Tex's trip on "the Great Journey," Tucker complains that the Alien is constantly standing over him while he sleeps. Tex writes it off as safeguarding the sword, while Caboose concludes that the alien is either stealing the humans' sleeping technology to use against them or just stealing Tucker's breath. Upon returning to Blood Gulch, Tucker begins throwing up and becoming moody, much to Blue Team and Andy's irritation.
After a while, Church decides to call Doc/O'Malley to find out what's wrong. Upon investigating, Doc claims that Tucker is pregnant. This causes a lot of hysteria among Blue Team as Tucker claims it isn't his, Church claims it to be impossible, and Caboose is worried about it being contagious. Tucker finally begins to give birth and while dealing with Red Team, Church finds out from Andy that aliens can impregnate humans with a parasitic embryo, though Church still believes the pregnancy to be impossible. Junior finally appears at the end of season four (though only in voice) saying "Honk, honk, Blarg!" in a high pitch voice similar to Tucker's.
Life at Blood Gulch[]
"Honk!"
In Episode 78, it again appeared in voice only while it was wrecking the base after Doc fed it half a gallon of Caboose's own blood, shouting high pitched Honks and Blarghs. Its first visual appearance was in Episode 80 as a mini version of an Elite with teal and blue armor. Church frequently tells himself that he will kill Junior but never does anything aggressive to it. He also frequently talks about it being gross, despite it never having done anything remotely disgusting. Tucker only reacts to either of these tendencies once and quickly blames it on hormones when he does.
Junior with his father at Blue Base
Junior, who has grown larger, appears in Episode 91 with Tucker while Doc was "examining" Sister in Blue Base. As Tucker tries to sneak a view of Sister without her armor on, Junior continues to blarg and honk, slightly irritating Tucker. In Episode 94, Church, listening to a suggestion from Vic Jr., decides to launch an attack on Red Base. Church decides to send Junior, Doc, and Sister through the caves (again, per Vic Jr.'s suggestion), but Tucker decides to prepare Junior for the rest of his life. After giving Junior some "advice," Tucker finishes by telling Junior to "mix it up a little" with the girls. He then says Tex needs him and Church to back her up, following which Junior says "Bow-Chicka-Honk-Honk," a twist on Tucker's infamous catch phrase. Tucker says it's been handed down to Junior via genetics.
Junior is captured by Tex, Omega, and a Green Alien.
While in the caves, Junior, Doc, and Sister are captured by a Green Alien and Flowers, who is possessed by Omega, before the Green Alien takes Junior to the ship during the final battle. In Episode 99, it's revealed that Junior is the "Alien race savior," who the antagonists planned to have controlled by O'Malley to take control of the Aliens and win The Great War. After Tex beats up Tucker and takes his sword, she ushers the two aliens into the crashed pelican. After infecting herself with Omega, Tex takes the ship to complete Omega's plan, but Andy detonates and blows up the ship, "[scoring] two for Red Team."
Later Adventures[]
Tucker's picture of Junior on a basketball team
During Sheila's playback of her crash during Reconstruction: Chapter 5, Sheila notes that a hatch is opening, and Tex screams "Where are they going!?!" likely referring to Junior and the other alien, as no alien bodies were found near the crashed ship. It is revealed in Called Up that Junior did survive, and was with Tucker negotiating situations between aliens and humans but makes no appearance in the season. Much later, in No Fighting in the War Room, Tucker reveals that he carries a picture of Junior with him wherever he goes, with Junior having apparently played basketball during the fifth grade as he grew up.
In The End is Near, Junior is seen at a Sangheili Embassy along with several other aliens, watching Epsilon's transmission revealing that Charon Industries' CEO Malcolm Hargrove is a criminal, as well as revealing to Junior's surprise that Tucker was still alive. Ten months later, in Nightmare on Planet Evil, Tucker reveals that Junior received a basketball scholarship.
Relationships[]
Because he has minimal appearances, Junior has only developed a few relationships with characters in the series.
Church[]
After his birth, Church showed a great dislike and disgust in Junior. Despite Church's constant insults and threats to kill Junior (which he never follows through on), Junior remains mostly passive towards Church, doing nothing but blarging and honking in his presence.
Tucker[]
Father and Son
As father and son, Tucker and Junior share a bond. Despite not knowing how to raise a kid at first, Tucker later found himself looking at minivans and generally "getting into the whole parenting thing." Junior seems to show happiness in being around and talking to Tucker, but was generally too young to show any real signs of family love. It should also be noted that after Junior's apparent death, Tucker simply walked away, saying "Yeah, fuck this!" though oddly, he became aggressive towards Wyoming when he revealed that his plans involved Junior, and in their last father-son meeting, Tucker bestowed 'words of wisdom' upon his son. He also hinted in a deleted scene that he didn't really believe Junior was dead, noting that "they don't treat death the same way we do." Tucker later shows pride in Junior, and keeps a picture of him in his wallet. It also hints that between seasons, Tucker and Junior were able to build a fruitful relationship with each other, especially during their times as ambassadors between humans and aliens.
Caboose[]
In return for a cookie and a glass of orange juice, Caboose willingly let Junior drink half a gallon of his blood. After being told to feed Junior again, Caboose timidly said "please no." In general, despite Caboose's stated hate for babies, his relationship with Junior is mostly positive. He even expressed desire to scrapbook after Junior began growing up so fast.
Doc[]
Doc babysits Junior
Doc was the one who aided Tucker in delivering the alien successfully. Junior's first feeding, first words ("honk-honk", or purple), and first walk were all a direct result of Doc. Doc clearly was very fond of Junior, spending time with him and praising him happily and Junior most likely feels the same. He even decided to send back Church's shower gift as punishment during Church's first attempt to kill Junior. Tucker even considered Doc his first choice as a babysitter.
Sister[]
Sister's first meeting with Junior was less than flattering for the little alien, as she mistook him for a dog but quickly corrected herself by describing him as a "kid that looks like a dog." During her trip through the caves, she was quite supportive of Junior, cheerfully calling attention to him as he fell behind and always making sure he was near them.
Behind the Scenes[]
Production[]
Junior's DVD bio
Junior was created using an unorthodox technique called forced perspective. According to the series creators in the extras of the Season 5 DVD set, Junior was filmed by having the Covenant player stand further away while aiming the camera in such a way as to obscure the feet or pull focus away from ground. This causes the illusion that the alien and other characters (typically Tucker) were standing closer than they were, eliminating depth perception. While this technique worked most of the time, some shots were impossible without some digital editing.
Trivia[]
- A Season 5 deleted scene shows Sister babysitting Junior, where the relationship was shown to be much less positive, as she constantly screamed at him, locked him in a closet, and complained about having to feed him.
- Junior possibly gets his name from an Arnold Schwarzenegger film of the same name. The movie is about a male scientist who is pregnant with a child he names Junior, very similar to Tucker’s situation.
- How Junior obtained his armor is unknown, as he would (logically) be born nude. This is most likely due to limitations in the game engine as it is impossible to play as a nude Sangheili in Halo 2.
- Junior's armor color is a combination of his parents' armor colors: aqua (Tucker) and blue (Alien).
- Junior is mentioned by Tucker as being an ambassador in Called Up, proving that Junior survived the Pelican crash. This is further cemented when he appears in The End is Near, showing surprise that his father is still alive.
- Revealed in Red vs. Blue: The Ultimate Fan Guide, Junior was 2 years old around the time the Reds and Blues were pardoned, just prior to their ill-fated trip on the UNSC Hand of Merope that wound up crash landing on Chorus.
- In Nightmare on Planet Evil, it is revealed that Junior apparently obtained a basketball scholarship.
References[]
| Blue Team |
|---|
| Blood Gulch: Leonard L. Church · Epsilon · Lavernius Tucker (ε) · Michael J. Caboose (ε) · Tex (ε) Washington · Sheila · Butch Flowers · Andrew D. Kaboom (ε) · Junior · Kaikaina Grif · Freckles |
| Desert Gulch: Mark Temple · Buckey · Loco |
| Coloblind: Wynn · Squatch · Deuce |
| Other: Jimmy · Jacob J. Jenkins · Mickey · Miller · Jones · Blue Grunt Leader · Phil (Falcon) |
| Vehicles: M808V Main Battle Tank · Chopper |
| Aliens |
|---|
| Alien · Junior · Great Retriever · Smith · Religious Aliens · Huragok · Santa · Cherry Guardian · Black Lotus |