Leonard Helperman

Leonard Helperman
Appeances
Films	Teacher's Pet: The Movie
TV Shows	Teacher's Pet
Character Information
Full Name	Leonard Amadeus Helperman
Aka	Bunky (by Spot) Doodlebug (by his mother)
Age	10
Status	Alive
Personality	Kind-hearted, pessimistic, caring, cynical, loyal
Gender	Male
Race	Human
Affiliation	Good
Family	Mary Helperman (mother) Grandma Rose
Friends	Spot Helperman/Scott Leadready II, Mr. Jolly, Pretty Boy
Enemies	Dr. Ivan Krank, Dennis and Adele
Likes	His pets, being a scout, Leslie, having fun
Dislikes	Being picked on, his mom being the teacher
Behind the Scnes
Voice Actor	Shaun Flemming

Leonard Amadeus Helperman (voiced by Shaun Flemming) is one of the four main characters in Teacher's Pet. 

Official Description

"When your mom's the teacher and your dog is the kid in the next desk, forget about being normal! Leonard is a good scout, a lousy ball player, and in love with the girl next door, but is paralyzed to say more than, "Hi" to her. Life's a constant challenge, but Scott's gonna drag Leonard on all sorts of adventures." 

History

Teacher's Pet

Leonard wants to be a normal kid and is embarrassed that his mom is his teacher. As a result, he gets a lot of grief for it, since the other kids think having his mother as the teacher would give him an unfair advantage. At school, he meets Scott Leadready II and becomes jealous of him. He soon finds out that Scott is really his dog, Spot and reluctantly agrees to let Scott stay by the end of the first episode, just as long as he doesn't do anything suspicious. He has a large crush on his next-door neighbor and classmate, Leslie. He and Spot often clash against each other, but always make up in the end and are best friends.

Teacher's Pet: The Movie

At the end of the school year, Leonard's mom has received a nomination for the Teacher of the Year Award. Leonard follows his mother to the awards ceremony in Florida, leaving his pets at home. Later, Spot follows Leonard to Florida to meet Dr. Ivan Krank. When they get there, Spot isn't turned into a child, but instead a man (which is Spot's age in dog years). After escaping from a cage, they earn $500 and spend it on cool stuff.

When they meet Mary back at the RV park, she starts to fall for Scott which makes Leonard furious at the prospect of having his former dog be his stepfather. He wants Spot to get out of his life, and they both agree that they never want to see each other again, and wishing that they never knew of each other in the first place.

The next day, Leonard, with a clearer head, meets his other pets when they arrive and decides to turn into a dog to be with Spot. But, when he gets there, he realizes he has been tricked and he's going to be used as bait to lure Spot and then Krank will have the man and the dog and they'll be two media freaks for the price of one. At the lab, Spot saves Leonard and the machine blows up and turns Spot into a pile of dust.

Angry and crying, Leonard kicks the machine and it zaps Spot again turning him back into a dog. At the end, he gives Spot back his collar making him his dog again.

Personality

Leonard is also known to be very insecure of himself, due to his mom being the teacher of his class and he often feels that no one likes him. Leonard is generally kind and caring but can also be negative, over-analyze most of the time while partaking part in Spot's risky plans, and complains a lot. Leonard is almost always punished or ridiculed when he gets involved in Spot's "amazing plans", often taking the flack for Spot's doings (to keep Spot from getting exposed). He gets really annoyed by Spot/Scott's actions and sometimes resents him for it, but in the end the two reconcile and remember how much they mean to each other.

Physical Appearance

Leonard is a slightly robust ten year old boy with very pale white skin and orange hair. His outfit consists of a navy blue sweater with a red stripe in the middle, yellow slacks, and blue formal shoes.

Family

Leonard is the son of Mary Helperman, his fourth grade teacher. He is sometimes overwhelmed by his mother's love for him, but does appreciate her deep down. His grandmother, Rose, usually visits Leonard every Thanksgiving, which he always regrets due to her kissing Leonard repeatedly and playing "I've got your nose" with him.

Prior to adopting Spot, he owned two other dogs: Fluffy Bear and Cuddly Buns. Spot is upset to learn he wasn't Leonard's first dog, and feels betrayed, but finds comfort in the fact the other dogs weren't as smart as him.

As his mother mentions in "Tallulahpalooza", his great-great grandparents immigrated from Dublin to the United States, which means Leonard is of Irish heritage, although his last name is Jewish. 

Relationships

Spot Helperman/Scott Leadready II

Spot is Leonard's pet dog, best friend, and his social/academic rival. In the first episode, Leonard didn't want Spot to go to school because he was already embarrassed and stressed that his mother was teaching the class, and did not want his own dog to be there as well. After much convincing from Spot, Leonard relents and lets him continue going to school, on the condition that no one finds out about it. Eventually, Leonard grew to genuinely accept Spot's double life and embraced it.

Leonard is very loyal to his dog even if it means dressing up as his mother, taping an air show, and giving him up to live his dream. At school, Leonard and Scott can become arch-rivals and can get very competitive with each other when there is a test or a game to play. But, whether it's helping Leonard impress Leslie or helping Scott deal with one of his burdens, they always stick by each other and help each other when they need each other the most.

In the movie, their friendship is put to the test when Spot/Scott is turned into a man and he decides to marry his mom and be his step-dad. Leonard loses his patience and mutually want to cut ties. Later though, Leonard misses Spot and feels bad for the fight they had. When Spot is changed back to normal, they make up and become friends again.

Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly

Leonard and Spot always turns to Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly for help when they need them the most. He often comes to them for advice regarding his and Spot's friendship. Leonard tries his best to help when they're in danger, such as when Tallulah was trying to hurt them and eat Pretty Boy, or when Pretty Boy ventures into the wild and worried he would hurt himself. Whenever he is not hanging out with Spot/Scott, he is playing with or talking to Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly.

However, Leonard has a tendency to release his anger on them. For instance, in the movie, when Leonard missed having Spot and was still upset about their falling out earlier, Jolly and Pretty Boy arrived to help, with Leonard rudely saying "Oh it's you." Pretty Boy was mad about this and they decided to leave. Leonard quickly apologized for his ungrateful comment and was glad that they were in Florida, stating that he needed their help. Overall, Leonard has a great friendship with his three pets.

Mrs. Helperman 

Mrs. Helperman is Leonard's mother, and also his fourth grade teacher. This fact embarrasses him, and he is often called the "teacher's pet" in class because of it. Leonard repeatedly tells his mother not to call him "Doodlebug" (her nickname for him) or express affection towards him at school.

Although he has a hard time of showing it, Leonard loves his mother very much, and always feels horrible if he disobeys her. For example, in "The Tale of the Tell Tale Taffy", after Leonard broke his mother's promise of only trick-or-treating on their block, he felt increasing guilt throughout the night, before confessing what he did. They contrast heavily in terms of personality (with Mary Lou being boisterous, energetic and excitable, while Leonard is anxious, introverted and quiet), but overall they have a pretty standard mother-son relationship.

Leslie Dunkling

Leslie is Leonard's classmate and crush. They have close friends since they were apparently in diapers. Their close friendship continued until 4th grade came, when Leslie decided to not hang out with him as much and hang out more with the girls. However, they remained good friends. Although it is not clear if Leslie feels the same way as Leonard does about her, she once admitted she thinks he is cute, but other than that, she seems to only see him as a friend.Leonard tries to talk to Leslie but becomes nervous when attempting to do so.

Trivia

• He owns a sock puppet named Lamont ("One Dog's Junk").
• He is the second Disney character to be voiced by Shaun Fleming, with Max Goof's Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas incarnation being the first. Following this role, he would play Jim and Tim Possible from Kim Possible and Keoni Jameson in Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
• Leonard and Spot are the only characters to be in all the episodes.

Gallery

For more pictures and screenshots of Leonard click here