List of characters in 3rd Rock from the Sun

Below is a list of characters in 3rd Rock from the Sun:

Mamie Dubcek

Mrs. Mamie Dubcek (usually just referred to as 'Dubcek' by the Solomon family) is a fictional character in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. She is portrayed by Elmarie Wendel and is a landlord, whose old-fashioned attic apartment the Solomon family rent.

Personality and relationship with the Solomons

Mrs. Dubcek lives below the Solomon family and is portrayed as a loose and carefree woman who is prone to having many sexual partners. For this reason, she often acts as a bizarre and unlikely guide for the Solomons in handling problems in their love lives; for example, in the episode Dick and the Other Guy, Sally believes that Don is cheating on her and Mrs. Dubcek advises her to disguise herself and follow him around.^[1] Alternatively, in the episode Same Old Song and Dick she attempts to help Dick and Mary put the spice back into their relationship by introducing new ways of lovemaking.^[2]

Harry Solomon once referred to Mrs. Dubcek and her daughter Vicki as nymphomaniacs and, in the same episode, Dick Solomon referred to their house as a 'gin-joint'.^[3]

Family

Mrs. Dubcek has a daughter, Vicki, who is introduced in the Thanksgiving episode, Gobble, Gobble, Dick, Dick.^[4] During this episode, Vicki is established as a love interest for Harry, and as the series progresses, the pair consider having a baby together, before the Big Giant Head intervenes and impregnates Vicki himself.^[5] Mrs. Dubcek also has an unnamed son, as mentioned in the Season 2 episode, My Mother the Alien. She apparently has an illegitimate granddaughter named Melanie, possibly from her aforementioned unnamed son, in the Season 2 episode, Will Work for Dick.^[6]

Also, although Mrs. Dubcek is unmarried throughout the course of the series, she often makes reference to having had a number of husbands in the past. In the episode Dick Like Me she describes her ethnicity as "a little Czech, a little Romanian; I'm your basic Slavic mutt."^[7]

Cultural Influences

It is frequently rumored that Elmarie Wendel's character was the source of inspiration in naming The Dubceks, a cult surf band, though the band was formed in the 1960s and Will Martin (lead guitar) claimed in 1987 that the band's name came about after reading an article about Alexander Dubček. Though it's not possible for The Dubceks to have been a tribute to Mamie Dubcek, a New England musical group appeared in 2008 calling themselves The Wendels and used a caricature of Mamie Dubcek--complete with martini and cigarette in hand--as the band's logo.

An undergroud group of artists known as Flab Goat have attempted to immortalize Mrs. Dubcek in several projects, including a series of watercolors and a musical collaboration with several poets and musicians that resulted in a song entitled "Oh Mamie".

Nina Campbell

Nina Campbell is a fictional character who was played by Simbi Khali in the American situation comedy 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Work

She is the professional assistant of Dr. Mary Albright and Dr. Dick Solomon at the fictional Pendelton State University; at times, she and Dr. Albright are friends, while at others they seem to dislike each other. She stated in the episode "Dick, Who's Coming To Dinner" that she is a student of Pendelton.^[8]

Relationships with other characters

Nina does not usually get on with Dick but eventually he grows on her. She quits working for him in the episode "Will Work for Dick", which causes him great deal of angst and resulting in him hiring and firing Harry. He convinces her to return to him in the end of the episode.^[6]

Sally tends to regard Nina and Vicki Dubcek as her two best friends and are often seen getting advice from them and discussing her problems. In one episode, she moves in with Nina and they share an Odd Couple-like relationship until Sally moves back to the loft.^[9]

Nina tends to be very sarcastic in dealing with both Mary and Dick and was particularly angry when Mary's promotion left her with just Dick to manage. Despite this, Nina can be quite kind to both of them, particularly Mary who she encourages to be more firm with Dick. Ironically, it was Nina who encouraged Mary to stop tormenting Dick and go out with him in the episode "See Dick Run".^[10]

Alternate Universe

In the Alternate Universe, Dick (as a lawyer) runs into Nina, who is a judicial court judge.

Dr. Judith Draper

Judith Draper is a fictional character in 3rd Rock from the Sun, played by Ileen Getz.

Work

Judith is the professor of Women's Studies at the fictional Pendelton State University. She appeared in a promotional video for Pendelton, alongside Dick's son Tommy (who played a teenager saying he is applying for Pendelton) after Dick and Mary, the original stars of the video, sabotaged the entire production.^[11]

Personality

Little is shown about Judith's life, as she is usually seen in purely academic situations, such as in the office or at Pendleton staff meetings or parties. She is known for her husky laugh (and the throwing back of her head) after she makes a joke, although nobody else laughs at her jokes. She generally speaks in monotone.

Judith was shown to be neurotic, cynical, and possibly homosexual. She had apparently claimed to have a boyfriend called Trent, but Mary believes that he is imaginary.^[12] She openly admitted that she once believed there was a hidden camera in the ladies restroom at Pendleton, and even went as far as to dismantle the ceiling tiles in her search for it.^[13]

August Leffler

August Leffler is a fictional character who was played by Shay Astar on the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. She was sometimes called "Augie", a nickname which she despised ("Lonely Dick", "Body & Soul & Dick").

August was Tommy's steady girlfriend. However, Tommy broke up with her a couple of times to pursue other women (e.g. one of which is his music teacher in the episode "Fourth and Dick" in Season Two). They continue to hang out with each other until she decides to move on (third-season episode "Moby Dick"). She confirms in fourth-season episode "Citizen Solomon" when confronted by Tommy. This was part of a story arc that involved all the aliens breaking up with their significant others. However, while the other broken relationships (Dick and Mary, Sally and Don, etc.) were ultimately resolved, Tommy and August's was not. In the fourth season, Tommy began dating Alissa Strudwick, who soon took August's place on the show.

In the episode "Just Your Average Dick", August says that she is of Dutch ancestry. Her family emigrated to the United States on a schooner in 1852^[14].

Portrayal

August was generally portrayed as an icy and disdainful female. She was a very studious high schooler who was especially contemptuous of girls whom she regarded as shallow and unintelligent. She was known for being able to easily manipulate Tommy and was clearly the one in charge of their relationship. For instance, in her first episode "Lonely Dick", she told Tommy, who was unsure when it would be appropriate to be physically intimate with her, that she would "decide that as we go along".

August was often shown to have more highbrow interests than Tommy and her perceived intellectual superiority over him (and the "shallow" girls whom she disliked) seemed to give her a degree of elitism. She was also known for her rather quaint neo-feminist views, such as her belief, stated in "I Brake for Dick", that cosmetics are a way for men to "decorate the women they own and turn them into vacuous playthings". She seemed to also have similarly unusual opinions about other topics (according to Tommy in "I Enjoy Being a Dick", August got out of the Girl Scouts because she thought the cookie selling verged on racketeering).

Break up with Tommy

August eventually left Tommy due to her annoyance with what she regarded as his immaturity. August appeared in two fourth-season episodes after Tommy began dating Alissa, the first of which was "Citizen Solomon". In the following episode, "Alien Hunter", she appeared as a guest at Dick's birthday party, but didn't have any lines. Her appearance in this episode (as well as Alissa's absence) wasn't explained.

Vincent Strudwick

Vincent Strudwick is a fictional character in the American sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, played by Ron West. He is first a friend, and later the arch-enemy of Dick Solomon.

Relationship with Dick

Seasons 2 - 4

In the first seasons of the show, Dick and Strudwick appeared to be friends, and were seen playing physics-related games together in the second season episode Dick Behaving Badly.^[15] Also, in the fourth season episode Power Mad Dick, Mary is made Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and Dick believes that this gives him her authority, and one of the changes he makes is giving Strudwick a pay raise.^[16]

Seasons 4 - 6

Strudwick's rivalry with Dick came into play after he released a bestselling book about physics, and Dick, as another physics teacher, became extremely jealous of his achievement and from then on appeared to detest him.^[17] In the season five episode Dick For Tat it was revealed that Mary had a fling with Strudwick. Their rivalry continued until the very last episode of the series, in which the aliens held an alien-themed farewell party, that Dick misled Strudwick into arriving at dressed for a masquerade ball recreating the court of King Louis XIV.^[18]

Alternate universe

In Dick'll Take Manhattan, a two-part episode in which the Solomon family visit a parallel universe, Strudwick turned out to be working as a priest, which Dick found highly amusing.^[19].

Cultural Influence

Mysterious author Dorian Strudwick (real name unknown) has stated that his pseudonym was created "out of an intense desire to somehow bring part of this fantastic character [Vincent W. Strudwick] to life, and since 'Vincent' would have been too obvious, I spent the better part of a week trying to decide what [name] would go best with 'Strudwick' and still result in an intriguing nom de plume."

Alissa Strudwick

Alissa Strudwick is a fictional character from the American sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, portrayed by Larisa Oleynik. She becomes Tommy's long-time girlfriend after he breaks up with August. She's the daughter of Vincent Strudwick, a colleague of Dick, at Pendelton State University.

Relationship with Tommy

Alissa first appears in "Indecent Dick", sitting next to Tommy during their science class. Alissa and Tommy both really like each other, but are too shy to do anything about it. After Alissa catches a cold, Tommy brings her some chicken soup and Alissa asks if Tommy always gives chicken soup to girls he likes, to which Tommy replies, with a "macho" attitude: "I don't like you"^[20]. However, in "Sally Forth" Tommy gets himself in detention class so he can ask Alissa out on a date^[3]. When Tommy refers to Alissa as his girlfriend, Harry calls him crazy, so Tommy decides to prove it by joining Alissa babysitting at the Wheelers' house. This all turns out to be a huge disaster, because Harry and Vicki come in, having a huge argument about having a baby together. But after this, Tommy and Alissa become boyfriend and girlfriend^[21].

First time

During their relationship, on a Valentine's Day, Tommy suggests that it would be a great time for him and Alissa to rent a hotel room. Intimidated by learning Alissa has already had sex before, Tommy decides to have sex with Albright's niece Tiffany (played by Lindsey McKeon) because he wants to impress Alissa with the things he might learn. When he notifies Alissa about this, she walks away angrily.^[22].

Break-up

When Tommy becomes class valedictorian, he and Alissa discuss what he should say in his end speech. Sally accidentally overhears Alissa suggesting something about moving on and saying goodbye to friends and because of this she thinks that Alissa wants to break up with Tommy. After some thinking Sally decides that she should dump Alissa, for Tommy, before Alissa dumps Tommy^[23]. Tommy gets mad at Sally after she tell him that she broke up with Alissa for him because she was going to dump him. When Tommy tries to talk to Alissa she tells him to get lost^[24]. Tommy eventually tries to get back with Alissa, saying that Alissa still has the beer tap they rented for the senior party and he needs to return it, as an excuse to see her again. He gets Alissa to watch a scary movie with him, hoping that the movie would be so scary that she needed a big strong man to hold on to. This plan is ruined by Harry and Sally trying to make the movie scarier and by Dick, Strudwick and Albright who thought that Tommy and Alissa ran away from home together^[25].

References

1. ^ "Dick and the Other Guy". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1998-04-28. No. 23, season 3.
2. ^ "Same Old Song and Dick". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1997-03-09. No. 17, season 2.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Sally Forth". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1999-02-09. No. 13, season 4.
4. ^ "Gobble, Gobble, Dick, Dick". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1996-11-24. No. 10, season 2.
5. ^ "Dick's Big Giant Headache - Part II". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1999-05-29. No. 24, season 4.
6. ^ ^{a b} "Will Work for Dick". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1997-05-04. No. 22, season 2.
7. ^ "Dick Like Me". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1996-04-23. No. 16, season 1.
8. ^ "Dick, Who's Coming to Dinner". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1999-11-23. No. 6, season 5.
9. ^ "Dick-In-Law". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1997-10-15. No. 4, season 3.
10. ^ "See Dick Run". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1996-05-21. No. 20, season 1.
11. ^ "The Tooth Harry". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1998-05-20. No. 26, season 3.
12. ^ "Gwen, Larry, Dick and Mary". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 2000-01-25. No. 10, season 5.
13. ^ "Sally and Don's First Kiss"
14. ^ "Just Your Average Dick". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1998-04-28. No. 22, season 3.
15. ^ "Dick Behaving Badly". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1996-03-23. No. 19, season 2.
16. ^ "Power Mad Dick". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1998-10-07. No. 2, season 4.
17. ^ "Dick v. Strudwick". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1999-05-11. No. 21, season 4.
18. ^ "The Thing That Wouldn't Die". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 2001-05-22. No. 20, season 6.
19. ^ "Dick'll Take Manhattan (Pt. 1)". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 2000-11-21. No. 4, season 6.
20. ^ "Indecent Dick". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1998-12-09. No. 8, season 4.
21. ^ "The House that Dick Build". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 1999-02-23. No. 15, season 4.
22. ^ "Dick Puts the Id in Cupid". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 2000-02-08. No. 11, season 5.
23. ^ "The Big Giant Head Returns Again: Pt. 1". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 2000-05-23. No. 21, season 5.
24. ^ "The Big Giant Head Returns Again: Pt. 2". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 2000-05-23. No. 22, season 5.
25. ^ "Fear and Loathing in Rutherford". 3rd Rock from the Sun. NBC. 2000-09-31. No. 2, season 6.