Basil Circus

Basil Circus is the main antagonist of Blinky Bill Season 3. He is the ringmaster of the Circus and older brother of Cyril Circus. He wears a black top hat, a black coat, a white shirt, purple trousers, also pink underwear with polka-dots exposed in some comedic situations. He has black hair with a ponytail and a moustache. He is the leader of the circus and tries to bring back his circus and catch Blinky Bill. He misuses his brother Cyril and his toucan Tico, who is a member of Blinky's group but in fact works for the Circus brothers until 'Tico's Choice' where he switches to Blinky's side. Basil follows Blinky and he sets a bunch of traps and tries to catch Blinky Bill. In the end of season 3 he starts fires in the bush, and he catches Blinky. Blinky says to Basil, that the performance according to them following him is only an accident. Basil goes crazy and takes himself to an ambulance.

Bio[]

At first glance Basil was seen as an ordinary ringmaster, but underneath his façade his a cruel demeanour. When Tico had alerted him that Blinky, Nutsy and Flap had snuck into the circus Basil promptly threw them out, then imprisoned them after catching them trying to liberate his slaves. Blinky though managed to persuade him to let them join the show (which was actually a distraction to free the circus-animals) and upon seeing Blinky's so called 'performance' Basil grew obsessed over the koala, believing that he could make the human filthy rich. When the animals were escaping Basil managed to catch Penelope, threatening to possibly murder her and Yoyo (who was caught by Cyril) if the rest don't stay, until Nutsy attacked him. When Blinky was escaping on a blimp-wagon Basil followed on foot, until Cyril fell on him.

In the next episode 'Bushwhacked' he managed to manipulate Splodge, Marcia and Shifty Dingo into drawing everyone in Greenpatch into the school where he then trapped them, planning to lure Blinky over for capture with them, but Blinky outsmarted the humans and freed his friends and family, then left with Nutsy, Flap and the former circus-animals making it his mission to bring them back to their homes.

In the next episode 'Antarctic Adventure' he and Cyril ally with Skipper the Scurvy (a fishermen who had caught Slippery and supposedly delivered him to the bros) in order to follow the main-characters to Antarctica, but were later ditched after Slippery reached his home.

In 'Polar Peril' they once tried riding an orca only to be dragged around, and later the duo fell into a frozen pool and freeze-solid, but were found by Antarctic scientists and eventually thawed out. By now, Blinky may have figured out Basil's obsession (and assuming Cyril was too) since both humans were chasing him only (Nutsy was completely ignored at first), however the young koala was able to take advantage of it to by time for his flying-caravan to escape, and escapes himself, while the two humans were pursued by another orca, possibly the same one.

In 'Flap's New Family' they kidnapped The Penguin Colony that have a missing child, but Blinky and Flap come to their aid, returning the missing chick to its mother in the process. The penguins later got revenge by luring them into the water.

In 'A Stitch in Time' Basil was getting anxious to catch Blinky in a slow-moving sailboat. Cyril attempted to pass the time with an I-spy game, much to Basil's irritation, which got worse when Cyril ripped the sail off the boat. They then got onto a passing ship, only to discover it's heading for Shanghai, China. They resorted to stealing the ship's helicopter until it ran out of fuel and plunged into the sea. They were picked up by their sailboat, only to abandon-ship when Blinky's self-built fan came flying after them.

In 'Leo Leads the Way' they finally reach Africa and while looking for the main characters got chased by a lioness into a poacher's net. The Poachers who arrive were not pleased to see them, though Basil bargained to get them a lion cub so they would be let off the hook. During the truck ride (in a cage) Tico arrives to secretly guide them to their target. The poachers managed to catch Leo's grandson Claude and plan on luring Rex (and if lucky Blinky) into a trap. The plan worked, but Leo had outsmarted them and drew them into one of their own traps. Tico then frees them, but the poachers, furious at the brother's incompetence, chase them across the Serengeti.

In 'Monkey Business' they had managed to getaway from the poachers and got themselves a truck of their own. During the ride they swerved to avoid crashing into Tico only to get stuck in mud. Cyril steps on the peddle while Basil pushed from behind and though it worked Cyril then crashed into a tree. While Cyril was working on the truck Tico returned and formed a plan for Basil: to pretend to redeem to Yoyo to draw the rest of the animals for rescue. They managed to lure Yoyo in but Ling Ling, Nutsy and Blinky created a distraction while Flap came to Yoyo's aid. The brothers had captured Nutsy and Ling Ling and intercepted Yoyo and Flap from escaping, but the chimpanzees that Yoyo had mistaken for his family arrive (thanks to being alerted by Penelope) and drove the bros off.

In 'Diamonds Are Forever' they at some point stripped feathers off of ostriches. Tico then delivers Penelope's diamond necklace so they could get a new truck (as the one they already had temporarily broke down), but Basil decided to cancel doing a circus (and hunting Blinky) since the necklace was more than enough for him. Once again their truck broke down, and Penelope had rushed in to retrieve the necklace only to get caught herself. However her friends and the ostriches were in hot pursuit, and despite gaining speed Blinky and Ling Ling had climbed aboard. They almost crashed into a tree again, only to be crushed by a branch. Ling Ling then snatched the necklace and she and Blinky make a break for it, only to be trapped at a gorge. Ling Ling then tricked them into thinking she had thrown the necklace into the stream and both brothers went after it, hanging onto a branch. Tico checks on them and it was back to the drawing board for all three of them. Eventually the branch breaks and the brothers plunge into the stream.

In 'Blinky's Birthday Surprise' they somehow repaired the truck, and while hunting stumble upon a pair of zoologists and a giraffe named Twigger who was being set up for release. They steal their tracking beacon and have Tico give it to Blinky, which worked. They managed to catch Blinky in a snare, but Twigger intervenes and the two flee, but since Blinky had the tracking beacon the bros. would know where to look. When Blinky found out he tossed the beacon into a creek where the brothers fallow, where it was found by a crocodile that chases the brothers off.

In 'Baby Elephant Walk they had set a trap with some firewood as bait, Tico attempted to draw everyone in, but Blinky saw through the deception much to the human's dismay. They had also set another net, but became victims themselves. They were saved by expert game trackers who then arrested them, but Basil managed get themselves released by lying he was from a university (in Greenpatch) and saying that they were trying to recapture escaped animals, and they form an alliance. When Kiku's mother set up a roadblock out of a giant boulder, they swerved to avoid crashing only to get stuck in a ditch and lose a wheel (which bounced onto Basil's head). At night he and Cyril attempted to continue pursuit despite being warned that venturing into the Serengeti at night was dangerous, only to run back after hearing lion sounds (much to Tico's amusement). While they were asleep Blinky had filled Basil's pants with honey and ants despite Tico's attempts to wake them up. The next day when they woke up Basil puts his pants on and gets bitten, all the way to the truck, unaware that it had its bolts removed and during the drive fell apart. Despite this set back they eventually arrive at the now unstable bridge the gang had crossed, though upon crossing it themselves the bridge broke in two, the brothers hanging onto the half on the right side of the gorge. They eventually climbed up and managed to hitch a ride on the caravan once it lifted off. Basil himself catches Blinky but released him once Kiku's mother came charging. They both were then sent into the river where the game trackers arrest them again.

In 'Operation Free Flap' they somehow escaped the game trackers and stowed aboard a cargo ship to China in a box full of tiki masks. At a Chinese restaurant they see Flap on TV and head out to find him. While riding a bike they crash into the news van that showed Flap, and after getting directions head for where Hugh and his mother live. Upon arriving they attempted to interrogate Flap until Blinky, Yoyo and Penelope barge in and a squabble ensues. In a last ditch attempt they jumped onto an ox only to be bucked around.

In 'Crouching Dragon, Hidden Koala' they get a new bike and head up to Hawk's peak, though Cyril made the mistake of stopping up on the slope without anchoring the bike and as a result both the bike and Basil tumbled back down. Basil suffered a broken arm and leg (at least for a few minutes) and the bike was banged up, but they managed to make it to the top of the mountain, only for Cyril to repeat his mistake in the opposite direction, and Cyril follows. Tico arrives to inform them that the main characters were heading to a human village to find a panda and all head their themselves. Like the main characters (except Ling Ling) they too freak out from a dragon costume, but then took one themselves and managed to catch Penelope, Nutsy, Flap and Yoyo; locking them all in a shed full of firecrackers. While hunting Blinky and Ling Ling they got trampled by multiple parade dragons and when they caught a brake the two youngsters and The Master make their escape. They catch Ling Ling and put her with the rest of their captives, but the master lures them away and upon returning they find Blinky rescuing the others, and the master slipped them into the shed. When Cyril lit a match the whole shed blew up, leaving the two humans smouldering.

In 'Panda Pandemonium' they were at some point found by a weasel named Ah-Phat who shares their personalities (mostly Basil's) and nursed them back to health. In gratitude Basil recruits Arthat as their new animal sidekick (much to Tico's dismay) and together they head to the village of The Panda Colony. Upon arriving Arthat proposes to use a bunch of puppets to scare their quarry into a trap: which is a truck they had at some point also gotten. The plan worked, though they were less than pleased to discover that their main target Blinky along with Ling Ling were M.I.A. (to which Basil snaps at Arthat for), when Flap accidentally revealed they were away the trio decided to lie and wait. Tico however tricks them into leaving their post and upon discovering this they all race back, Basil threatens to fire Arthat if the animals escape. They give chase on their bike until they came upon the dragon statue and Basil fires Arthat. Tico returns and ties a rope from the good guy's makeshift zeppelin onto the bro's bike and is taken with it, all the way to South America.

They remain on the bike into the next episode 'Jungle Bungles', enduring extreme heat, cold, rain and a bolt of lightning (which destroyed their bike except for the handle bars), along with getting dragged through trees until getting stuck on one (anchoring the caravan in the process), that is until Cyril's pants rip and he lets go by accident, then both fall out of the tree onto some lower branches, and again after finding a tarantula with them, and flee from it. They then find leeches on the back of their necks. They then arrive at an overflowing river and ride on a log to the caravan, then jumping onto its sail. Eventually the main characters notice the duo's presence much to their disbelief. Once the humans got aboard the caravan they brake in to find their targets, only to get wrapped by the anaconda Anna who had hitched a ride to avoid the water. Basil had offered to form a truce to propel the wagon to shore and while the animals were uneasy about accepting it they do, but the second Anna releases them they go back to chasing. Anna had flung Cyril out but Basil was able to drag Blinky with him before falling overboard himself, but lost his grip in the water. They again ride a log on the prowl, only to go over a waterfall.

In 'Double Trouble' they stumble upon Leafpatch: the South American equivalent of Greenpatch. They both managed to catch Nutsy and Sophia, hoping that Blinky would come. Blinky does but his Amazonian equivalent Coco Phil comes too: the former catching Basil's attention, leading him into the koala's trap where he along with Cyril were both catapulted into a river, where they fall off a waterfall again.

In 'Tico's Choice' they were catching Amazonian animals for collectors, until Tico returns and they set a trap again. However unknown to all of them the main-characters had caught them plotting together and discover their allegiance to the toucan, much to their horror. After Tico found this out he informed the humans, much to Basil's rage. As compensation they instead capture The Toucans from his backstory (aside from Raol, who had bumped into a tree and saw what had happened). Out of guilt Tico offered to catch the good guys to replace the toucans, to which Basil accepts: they had disguised him as Peppo and set him off pretending to be in distress and succeeded. However Basil isn't meaning the deal as he still wants the toucans to get rich. Tico was officially done being Basil's punching bag and rebels: freeing the captives while the humans try to recapture them (or at least Blinky), but the pier they were all standing on collapsed and the bros were left drifting away on a piece of it on the river.

In 'Poisoned Penelope' they somehow got ashore, upon seeing the caravan aloft they chase it, falling into mud puddles along the way and stop at a fast flowing river. They built a raft to cross, but were instead dragged downstream by rapids and fell over yet another waterfall. Basil passes out while Cyril sings. Eventually Basil wakes up and shuts Cyril up, who then spotted The Environmentalists. Upon arriving at their camp they find Penelope and take her prisoner (lying to the environmentalists that she belonged to them), but Blinky lures them into a Purple Devil bush, not taking his warning seriously they press through only to be covered in toxic thorns and pass out. They were later revived by the environmentalist and upon seeing the zeppelin flying away they once again chase it.

In 'All at Sea' they ally with The Captain who owes a debt to them (but wasn't entirely thrilled since he had an appointment to attend). Given an hour the bros use his helicopter to fly to the zeppelin and Basil tilts the chopper to get Cyril on it. Cyril successfully climbs aboard and attempts to break in with an ax only to lose it in the ocean. Basil returns to the island where Cyril and the animals would meet him and the captain. When it was taking longer than it should Basil attempted to contact Cyril on the radio, only to get zapped by lightning that struck at Cyril's helmet. Just when the captain was at the end of his rope the caravan arrives, but travels inland and Basil fallows with the helicopter. He finds Cyril and takes him on board the helicopter and pursues Blinky. He tells Cyril to lasso the koala but Cyril hesitates and instead lassoed a tree stump on purpose, which caused them to crash. When the captain found them he angrily chases them.

In 'Tico Takes Charge' they somehow escaped the captain and got a plane ride to India. During the ride Basil fought the pilot over the controls and both brothers fall out of the plane. Luckily Cyril had grabbed a parachute, and though they didn't use it right they survive the fall, though Basil suffered a broken leg. Cyril attempted to make him comfy but did more harm than good. Basil wasn't allowed to leave the hospital so soon so Cyril sneaked him out in a wheelchair (nearly getting run over by a bus only for Basil to be sent down a flight of stairs into a pond). Despite Basil's injury both bros didn't let it stop them and eventually found where The Jugglers are performing along with their prey. Cyril climbed a ladder after Penelope only for her to fling them both back while Tico pulled Basil's hat over his eyes (and later trips over his broken leg much to the crowd's enjoyment). Cyril was also taken in by Magid the bear for a dance. However the pilot and doctor arrive in anger and both brothers flee.

In 'Tiger Taming' they had gotten away from their pursuers and got themselves a motorised tricycle, and during the drive find the zeppelin, though upon breaking in they find that it was deserted. They decided to wait in it for the main characters, particularly Blinky, to return: Basil decided to pass the time by taking a nap on the bed, that is until Cyril pulled stuff from the shelf above onto him (and found his teddy bear). While Basil went back to sleep (on the other bed) Cyril had a tea party with his plush and lit a fire in the stove, not knowing it would puff up the sail and fly them away, and when he did notice he attempted to wake Basil but failed. When Basil did wake up (courtesy of the zeppelin bumping a tree) he began walking to the door and nearly fell out, but Cyril saved him, though he snaps at Cyril for getting them airborne. After landing when Basil opened the door he found Sondeya's mother angrily roaring at them, making him close the door. They then see Blinky drawing the she tiger away from the caravan (mainly so Flap could rescue her cub Sondeya). In order to catch the koala Basil bribed Cyril into going outside with a chair to use as a shield (much like he had done with Leo in the first episode) by threatening to sit on his teddy bear and Cyril reluctantly accepts. During the face off Cyril lost his nerve and took off but Basil had caught Blinky (Cyril later makes it back inside the caravan). While prepping the zeppelin for liftoff the mother tiger, now that her cub was safe, had allied herself with Blinky's friends and tried to break in to save him, but it was futile. Blinky had almost escaped but got knocked back in by the mother tiger by accident. As a bonus they threw a net at the rest of them except Penelope who got away, and later scared them off by roaring into her boombox.

In 'Monkey See, Monkey Do' he at some point sent Cyril to look for a mode of transportation, eventually Cyril returned with the elephant Rami and though Basil wasn't completely happy about it he made do with it (temporarily getting bucked off too). Upon arriving in Chanipaa they find Penelope who had gotten separated from Flap and Yoyo and take her prisoner, then disguise themselves with the exact same clothing as everyone else in the town was wearing, but this backfired when the duo got separated and they had to look for each other, coincidentally passing through the same paths as each other and the main characters had passed previously, but they eventually found each other. Upon finding out that neither had been successful they resorted to luring them by setting Penelope as bait. Yoyo was the first to wander into the trap and Basil placed him with Penelope, who berated him for coming. Nusty though had somehow hypnotised Cyril with a snake flute and managed to distract Basil while Blinky and Flap went to free Yoyo and Penelope. Basil though managed to find Nutsy and destroys the flute, freeing Cyril from his trance, though Blinky and Flap had already freed Penelope and Yoyo and another chase broke out. They managed to catch Flap and Nutsy, but the former stuffed hot peppers into their mouths and all the animals fled into the Forbidden Temple. After cooling themselves off the brothers went looking for the animals and upon finding some peppers on the ground they deduce the animals had gone into the temple and enter themselves. They eventually find the animals and corner them, but The Temple Guardians attack them with fruits and drive them out, where they're later chased out of town by Rulmi.

In 'A Dog's Best Friend' they somehow got transport to Paris France, where they were at the Eiffel Tower. Upon seeing the zeppelin they race down the tower toward their moped, not knowing that they had parked it illegally and had a bumper installed, which got destroyed when they started driving away. While they did reach the hill the zeppelin had landed they were too late, though they did see a sack of eucalyptus-leaves (dropped by Blinky) on the ground plus tire tracks, and Cyril drove themselves into the canal the tracks lead to and while in the water nearly got plowed by a boat. They return to the tower to look for their target. They find them in the park and head there themselves to catch them, but Penelope's Mistress intervenes and stops them, only for Basil to bribe her by threatening to kidnap Fifi. The mistress tried trading her money in exchange but Basil wouldn't budge, though Penelope offers her necklace and for once Basil was meaningful in a promise: he accepted the necklace but released Fifi, though Cyril returned it in exchange for his teddy bear, and when Basil found this out he was furious and started chasing Cyril, tripping onto Maurice in the process.

In 'Blinky Bill Superstar', now that they no longer had Penelope's necklace they clearly went back to hunting Blinky even while his mission was officially over, chasing them through an ally until they bumped into The Police man. They follow the Australian animals into a clothing warehouse, eventually finding Nutsy and Flap and chased them into a fashion show. Upon seeing Blinky on stage Basil dressed up like a girl to grab him, but both brothers were arrested and sent to prison. They began breaking out (which took a week) and ended up doing so right in front of the policeman. They successfully escaped on another attempt even though it didn't go according to plan. They lie and wait at the hotel Blinky was currently staying and once Blinky along with Phoebe did arrive the brothers got trampled by Paparazzi, but later caught Flap and Nutsy in the hopes to draw Blinky into a trap, not knowing that Blinky was neglecting them now, but Blinky does return to their aid and draws in paparazzi and policemen where they're sent running.

In 'Paris Au-Go-Go' Basil at some point stole a blue moped (possibly to replace the one they lost two episodes ago) and after avoiding the cops went back to the Eiffel Tower to find their target (though Cyril was ready to call it quits). Upon seeing a long line in front of the tower they took the stairs (or more specifically Cyril took the stairs while Basil was piggyback riding him). Basil almost got aboard the zeppelin when it came inches toward the tower and nearly fell off and again when the caravan itself fell. They pursue the Australian animals all the way down to the bottom of the tower, but the trio escape on the brother's moped. They follow them into the subway and take a train to the station the animals were at and found the moped, but the animals escape again on a train heading to the airport. They themselves arrive at the airport and surprisingly Blinky decided to surrender himself and his friends in the hopes to return to Australia since the caravan was destroyed, but of course Basil wasn't serious in the deal one bit: he planned on taking them to New York City. However while on the plane bound for the U.S. they see that the Australian animals had escaped and were heading for the plane scheduled to fly to Sydney. They leave their plane to follow and climbed aboard the Australian bound one, but The Plane Stewardess, who was aware of the animal's intentions brought two security guards who throw the brothers out (but letting Blinky, Nusty & Flap stay aboard) and at least one of the guards continued pursuit.

In 'How Green Is My Greenpatch they somehow still got back to Australia, where it all began. They return to Greenpatch and upon finding Blinky yet again grab hold of him, to his complete disbelief. Nutsy though saved him and both warned the town, who were also in disbelief especially Flap. All animals began pelting them with food and while running Basil took Mrs Koala with him, but Shifty along with Daisy, Meatball and even Danny go after them, managing to save Mrs. Koala and drive the bros into the stream. Despite this Basil still refuses to let it go and decided to start a wildfire to drive Blinky out despite Cyril's protests, at the same time Blinky felt he was being a danger to his home, family and friends as he knew he was the target and chose to runaway and surrender himself to the bros: all for Greenpatch's well being. He finds them plotting and desperately pleaded Basil not to burn the bush by letting them have him, and though Basil accepts he once again wasn't keeping it and let the fires continue to burn, which also sparked a sibling rivalry between the two humans as Cyril didn't want to cause anymore damage than they already had, but Basil as usual turned away from it and officially left Cyril whom Blinky begged to put out the fire (possibly knowing there was good in him sort of like in 'All at Sea'). As Basil was driving away in their truck Nutsy flattened a tire and while he wasn't looking she saves Blinky and both escape. Basil went back to Cyril and offered him another chance, but Cyril was sick of it and was done with Basil, who accepted it and drove back to Greenpatch. Upon seeing Blinky he confronts him for the last time, even ignoring the inferno that encircled them, though when Blinky admitted his stunt in the first episode was never on purpose Basil was so shocked and devastated that he began going insane on himself. After Cyril returns with firefighters (and is one himself) he took Basil to an ambulance and was officially out of Blinky's hair for good.

Personality[]

Basil is usually depicted as greedy and cruel, and his treatment of the circus animals are more attributable to slavery, as a result all of the circus animals are miserable under his custody (with the exception of Tico who shared Basil's personality at first and put up with the abuse) and expresses no remorse for mostly ruining their lives after Blinky successfully rescues and returns them back to their rightful homes. He is also obsessive, willing to disregard losing his original animals in favour of Blinky and Blinky alone (or at the very least Penelope's necklace which could fetch a hefty profit), however it was also a weakness as Blinky would sometimes create a diversion out of it. Like many villains Basil is not above faking promises: this is evident in the episodes 'Tico's Choice' and 'How Green is my Greenpatch' where Tico and Blinky each bargain with Basil that they both would be Basil's slaves in exchange for the safety of the innocent (Tico's being other toucans and Blinky's being his hometown, family and friends), in both cases it was in vain: Basil only pretended to accept the deals but was never meaning it in the slightest. In the former episode Tico finally had enough of Basil's abusive streak and rebelled to Blinky's side, and in the latter even Cyril has had it and abandons Basil. He is also shown to be cowardly at times, which is often taken advantage by Blinky and co.