Gopher is a fictional grey anthropomorphicgopher character who first appeared in the 1966 Disneyanimated filmWinnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. He has a habit of whistling out his sibilant consonants, one of various traits he has in common with the beaver in Lady and the Tramp, by whom he may have been inspired. While he never made appearances in any episodes of Welcome to Pooh Corner, Gopher was fleshed out a bit further in the television seriesThe New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He is portrayed as generally hard-working, especially in his tunnels. He does not appear in the original books Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne. Gopher's voice was originally done by Howard Morris, who retired from the role and was replaced by Michael Gough. Gopher's more recent appearances were in A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving and Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You. He also made minor appearances in A Very Merry Pooh Year, House of Mouse, Kingdom Hearts II, and appeared in Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh, which was included as part of Pooh's HeffalumpHalloween Movie. This was Gopher's last appearance in any form of Winnie the Pooh-related media until the release of Kingdom Hearts III in January 2019 after nearly thirteen years of absence.
Character
Creation
Gopher was the only character in the original shorts that was an original character and not based on a character from the A.A. Milne books, a fact he notes in his first appearance when he says "I'm not in the book, you know!" Instead, he was initially developed by Disney as a replacement for Piglet, although it was ultimately decided to keep Piglet involved in the stories as well as use Gopher. Apparently, the proposed character of Gopher was thought to have a more "folksy, all-American, grass-roots image" than Piglet. While American audiences loved the character, British audiences were less than pleased. Like most Winnie the Pooh characters, Gopher is named after his own species. Gopher is also known for his unique voice characterization. He tends to whistle his consonants, particularly his S's. This is lampshaded in his debut; when Pooh mimics Gopher while asking for honey, Gopher tells Pooh he should do something about the speech impediment he himself has, before handing him the honey.
Personality
Gopher has a very plain personality; he is rarely seen outside of his burrow so not much is known about him socially. He is generally a hard-worker, especially in his mine shafts and spends most of his time tediously working on them. Despite his low social life, Gopher is not a silent character; while talking to the other animals, he has a habit of whistling out his sibilant consonants.
