Q: What is Bushroot?
A: Well, he's... a mutant plant-duck. In other words, he's half duck, and half plant. The term "mutant plant-duck" seems pretty straight-forward to me. As for what kind of plant he is, it's been stated that his scientific name is Lyceum Nycanthropus. I don't know exactly what this means but it's interesting to note the similarity to the word "lycanthropy", that is, the 'disease' which causes people to become werewolves. The root (no pun intended) of the second word is "-anthropos" which involves (I think) people... is it humans? As in "misanthropic" or "anthropomorphic". This definitely would imply a shape-shifting base to his scientific name. Cute, eh?

Q: Okay, so he's a mutant-plant duck. Got it. How did this happen?
A: Ah, good question, and tragic story. Well, you see, this is all told in Bushroot's origin episode, "Beauty and the Beet"- I'll synopsize here in my usual way. Reginald Bushroot was a research scientist (apparently going prematurely bald, because he's never acted all that old but he has about as much hair as Homer Simpson) at a University. He was an outcast, teased and tormented by his rival scientists, Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson, and misunderstood by his boss Dean Tightbill. Only the beautiful Dr. Rhoda Dendron seemed to like him, although it also seemed more based in pity than anything else. Reggie didn't notice the pity part, though, and just reveled in the attention he was getting from his heart's desire.

Working harder and faster than he should have, Reggie rushed to complete an experiment that would allow ducks to live the same way plants do- off the sun. He hooked himself up to a plant and transferred its life force into himself. It seemed to have had no effect at first, but when he went outside he was rapidly transformed into the half-plant, half-duck we see today! He also discovered that he had a rapport with plants. Delighted with his new powers, he returned to the university and took revenge on those who had tormented him, then kidnapped Rhoda to perform the same experiment on her in the hopes that she would then marry him. She wasn't too keen on the idea and in the end, Darkwing rescued her and made a lifelong enemy out of Bushroot. The end.

Q: You said it was tragic.
A: You mean you're not cryin'? Think about it! Bushroot is different from many of Darkwing's other bad guy types- particularly the Fearsome Five- in that he not only is really not a very mean-spirited guy, but he never even wanted to be a criminal- his intentions were good! Circumstances drove him from society and made him what he is today. Many of Darkwing's other enemies are just greedy or crazy, but Bushroot started out normal and actually rather nice. It was his accident that caused his life to take a turn for the worse, and resulted in him being shunned from the public. Even the Liquidator, who also was in an accident that resulted in his mutating into a more-than-normal form, was a crook and a liar before his transformation. Bushroot on the other hand had only good intentions - and bad luck.

Q: Oh, okay. Now I see what you mean. So what is Bushroot like, underneath all this? Now that he's a villain, is he really evil?
A: I certainly don't think so. If you watch his episodes, he's usually not very big on hand-to-hand combat. He stays outside of it wherever he can, drafting larger plants to fight for him, or playing "cheerleader" - even when the rest of the Fearsome Five had decided to jump Negaduck. On the other hand, if he is dragged into a fight he usually takes quite a pummeling. Sadly, for someone who is so easily beaten in a real fight, Bushroot often gets beaten in some of the most painful (or at least original) ways in the series. There was "put out the Bushroot", and there was the time he was pretty much shaken into submission. And of course, he's been mown on at least two separate occasions. No wonder the guy avoids fighting if he possibly can!

Q: What are his other motivations?
A: As I said, circumstances made him what he is, and they keep him where he is. Bushroot is usually driven not by greed or malice, but by his own loneliness. When he's working on his own his motivation is, most often, to make himself a friend of some kind. Before his accident, Reggie was already a bit of an outcast and a geek, but heck, at least he could get a few pity friends and the like. But with his new appearance, people don't ignore him... they scream and run! He went from outcast to freak in a matter of minutes, and anyone who isn't terrified by his looks is put off by his criminal tendencies. Of course, those tendencies are probably the result of his isolation and treatment by the public, but who's counting? So Bushroot is lonely. And he has begun to turn increasingly to the plant kingdom for friends, since the main population seems to be unreceptive. Unfortunately, his attempts to create another plant-mutant are usually ill-fated; they often end up far below his intelligence level, and with some very unfortunate destructive tendencies. Of course, Hedgey wasn't actually evil, but Posey, Bushroot's giant vampire potato wife, was... well, a vampire potato. Not only that, but she was a Russet, and they's just plain mean. 'Nuff said.

The extent of Bushroot's desperation for friends is not as obvious at first glance, but there are some episodes where you really notice it; in particular is "Slime Okay, You're Okay", in which Bushroot first teams up with Darkwing and then starts treating him like a best friend. Darkwing finds this mildly (perhaps more than mildly) pathetic, and shoos Bushroot off... but turns his back and lets Bushroot get away with his past crimes of the night. On the other hand, when Bushroot is with the Fearsome Five his need for companionship is fulfilled. Sure, he's usually the butt of their jokes, but at least he has friends and people to talk to. Interestingly, around the Fearsome Five Bushroot seems to really feel the pull of peer pressure- he's a lot more evil when he's with them. Of course, if he weren't, he'd certainly be laughed out of the group.

Q: Poor guy! Doesn't he have any friends at all?
A: Well, kind of. As Darkwing has pointed out, the irony of Bushroot's loneliness is the fact that he has a true friend already, in Spike. Spike is his giant flytrap with the tendency to act more like a dog than a vegetable, and he does everything that Bushroot asks in the hopes of winning his master's favour. Does he? Nope; Bushroot apparently considers him less than sentient and usually just orders him around. It's kind of sad in a way.

Q: One gets the impression that you're fond of Bushroot.
A: Can I deny it? *g* I feel sorry for the guy, but I also like him because I really don't think he's bad. He's a victim of society, durn it! *laughs* No, that's not really what I'm thinking; nothing so corny. I just think that, under other circumstances, he could definitely be a good guy, and I like that potential. Bushroot became one of my favourite characters right away, since the first episode I ever saw had him in it. He tries to do what he thinks will help him, and it seems like he often just doesn't think about the difference between legal and illegal. I have a feeling that if he could just settle down with a good wife and maybe raise a family, he'd calm down a lot and maybe even help Darkwing a few times. After all, he has the distinction of having teamed up with Darkwing not once, not twice, but thrice!

Q: Where did the term "mutant plant-duck" come from? Was it used on the show? I've never heard it there.
A: Well, it's true, they didn't actually call him that on the show all that often. The only episode that comes to mind is "Twin Beaks"... It's kind of a "blink and you might miss it" kind of thing for some. But it *did* actually come from the show and is not just a fan creation. *g*

Q: If Bushroot was bald before he became a "mutant plant duck", why does he have that "purple flower stuff" on his head? (submitted by anonymous)
A: Well, heck, he's healthy. He's part plant. Healthy plants grow. ^_^ If he'd had the power to make his hair grow back when he was all duck, Reggie probably would have; once he did reach a state where he had power over his body that way, it makes sense that he'd replace his "hair" - even unconsciously, just causing things to grow. Also, from a design standpoint, it probably has to do with the role he played prior to his transformation. The pre-plant Reginald Bushroot was a wimpy, picked-on man, and after all, hair is still a status symbol in our culture despite all our changing standards. Giving him thinning hair was probably a way of emphasizing his powerlessness in that form and at that point in his life.

Q: If bushroot is so lonely and has no friends how come he hasn't gone mean and bitter or insane because i heard that happens to a lot of people who are alone all the time. (submitted by negaduck.mistress@Megavolt.zzn.com)
A: Well - first of all, how sane can you really consider a guy who tries to grow his own friends, and is known to be one of the most dangerous criminals in St. Canard? I mean, one can honestly say that sane people don't turn to an ostentatious life of crime. And in some episodes Bushroot does seem to have a hate-on for the "normal people" who shun him - for example, his "killing Christmas" in "It's a Wonderful Leaf". As for the bitter and mean part, well - he does have the Fearsome Five, somewhat; and he has Spike, who despite the way Bushy treats him, provides him with company whenever he needs it. And not to dis the Bushster at all, but what with the way he sometimes treats Spike, can we really say that he's not "mean"? ^_~

Q: Could Bushroot and Darkwing Duck every become friends? (submitted by anonymous)
A: It would probably be more up to DW than to Bushroot. Reggie has shown signs of willingness to reform, if a friend pushes him to; DW is a bit too much on the judgmental side, though, and not really prone to believing that a former criminal can change, so he doesn't seem likely to put enough faith into Bushroot to become his friend. If he could overcome that, though, and have some motivation to believe that Bushroot could go to the side of good, then who knows?

Q: Not a question but I looked up 'lyceum nycanthropus' with my handy dandy book, 'Dictionary of word roots and combining forms' (everyone should have one...) and, anyhow, lyc means 'wolf', eum is 'a place where', nyc is 'night' and anthrop(us) is 'man'. So it could make reference to a man at night and a place where wolves are, or a man who was changed into a wolf at night... This only made a little bit of sense, so I checked the 'net. In ancient Greece, the original Lyceum was the name of a grove of trees at Athens ... near the temple of Apollo ... So my conclusions are it means 'a man was changed/mutated in a grove of trees at night'... seems to fit. (submitted by beetlebite191@hotmail.com)
A: Wow! Excellent research and it answers a question I've wondered about for some time. Thanks for writing in!

Q: Did Bushroot actually kill Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson? If so, it's rather ironic that the most innocuous and seemingly harmless villain on the show is the only individual to have commited murder, isn't it? (FOWL has commited murder but it seems to have been as an organization, without a particular agent being given credit for a particular killing.) (submitted by cartoon6@hotmail.com)
A: I think that was sort of deliberately left ambiguous... Something we would sort of overlook, but which could still be viewed as pretty harsh when you noticed it. Something which little kids wouldn't pick up on. *G* The only other out-and-out murders I have recollection of are those you mention, the ones by FOWL; those are in the same vein, almost creepy for being such outrageous ways to die (made into chocolate bars?!) but are only distinguished from the Bushroot case by the fact that they are verbally acknowledged as DEAD. And it's interesting to point that out; I don't think there's any reason to assume that Drs. Gary and Larson are NOT dead, but for all the violence that Negaduck embraces, we've never seen evidence of a single corpse produced by him. I suppose it was a way of showing how his treatment, and transformation, affected even the nicest, most unassuming person. After all, "It's always the quiet ones." ;)

Q: Was Bushroot ever called "Ugly" "Monster" or any other insults? (submitted by shiningrockstar@comcast.net)
A: He has been called "Monster" on various occasions, though I can't list them here (due to my lack of memory). I don't recall anyone calling him "ugly", but they usually call him either "mutant" or "monster", and both of those are kind of insult enough on their own.

Q: I don't really remember the episode but it was something about spacecows? And I remember that Bushroot looked dried up. What happend? (submitted by double_s_nl@hotmail.com)
A: That was "Twin Beaks", which itself was a parody of the bizarre cult drama of the late '80s/early 90's, "Twin Peaks". This episode was nearly as bizarre itself as the series it parodied; in the course of it, Darkwing is summoned to Bushroot's jail cell to find that only a dried-up husk remains. He first proclaims that Bushroot is dead, but then Launchpad finds evidence that Bushroot actually grew himself out of the window and left a husk behind, thus escaping jail. Meanwhile, all of the Muddlefoots except for Honker go missing, and the clues point to everyone being in a small town called Twin Beaks. Darkwing and co travel there and find not just another Bushroot husk, but also some strangely large cabbages, the Muddlefoots acting more peculiar than ever, and some giant Space Cows who have come to save the galaxy. I won't spoil the ending for you just in case you get a chance to see it, but I bet you could find a good summary someplace else with some good details. :)

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