| “ | Come on, everyone, to the roundabout! | „ |
| ~ Florence |
Florence/Margote is Dougal's young owner and the deuteragonist of The Magic Roundabout/ Le Manège enchanté franchise.
She appears as the deuteragonist in almost every piece of media in relation to the series with the exception of Pathe's 2005 film adaptation and its subsequent US redub Doogal where she is a supporting character.
In the English dub of the original series, as with every other character she was voiced by the late Eric Thompson whilst in the original French release she was voiced by Patricia Danot, the daughter of the show's creator Serge Danot.
She was voiced by Vanessa Paradis in the original French release of the 2005 film and in both the English dub and Doogal she was voiced by Kylie Minogue.
She was voiced by Sue Elliot Nicholls in the English dub of the 2007 series and by Karine Foviau in the French dub of the 2007 series.
Personality[]
Florence is a well-mannered, inquisitive and kind-hearted young girl who always spends her time meeting with her friends, especially Dougal, at the Magic Roundabout or in the gardens. She is level-headed and mature in most situations where she tries to calm everyone down whenever they don't get along due to conflicts, as well as trying to keep everyone's spirits up when they are depressed or scared, particularly when she, along with Mr. Rusty, Basil and Coral are trapped in the frozen roundabout.
Florence always helps her friends whenever they need of some assistance and while she loves Dougal very much, there are times when she shows a stern side with him whenever he is extremely rude or deceitful to his friends. Unlike Dougal, Florence is very respectful to her friends and always takes interest into their hobbies and interests to try and avoid upsetting their feelings and making sure that they are still happy.
Physical Appearance[]
Florence is a slender young girl who is fair skinned with a light dusting of freckles, rosy cheeks, brown shoulder-length hair and blue eyes (black in the original series). She wears a blue sweater with a white collar (orange in the original series), a orange skirt with a white petticoat underneath, white socks and beige laced ankle boots (white in the original series) with tan soles that connect with the heel blocks at the back of her boots. On top of her head, she has a large blue hair bow. In the original series, she wears white gloves.
Appearances[]
The original series[]
Florence usually meets Mr. Rusty or Zebedee at the Magic Roundabout before she goes to the garden. She meets up with all of her friends in the garden, especially Dougal, who he loves her the most and she would sometimes feed him with a lump of sugar. Florence would be seen with Dougal in most episodes where they encounter strange and different one-time characters or to solve any situation that Dougal or any of his friends are having.
Dougal and the Blue Cat[]
Florence is first seen in her house, singing to herself before she greets Mr. Rusty and the other children at the Magic Roundabout where she meets Buxton, the blue cat. She is informed by Zebedee about Dougal's dilemma at the beginning of the film and finds Dougal where she introduces Buxton to him. Unfortunately for Florence, who is really interested in Buxton and wondering where he came from, she is unaware that Buxton is secretly plotting to take over the magic garden.
Florence is one of the characters who doesn't believe Dougal's claims that Buxton is evil until she is later captured by Buxton's army and imprisoned in the dungeon. After being imprisoned, Florence sings a sad song which everyone cries with her. Fortunately, Dougal manages to defeat Buxton and rescue her and everyone from the dungeon. Unfortunately, Brian went back into the factory to get something and was seemingly killed with the factory collapsed, leaving Florence, Dougal and everyone completely saddened and they mourn for him. After Brian returned alive and well with Zebedee's magic mustache, Florence is one of the people who forgives a tearfully remorseful Buxton when he begs for forgiveness after all that had happened. She then goes for a ride with everyone on the Magic Roundabout.
2005 film[]
Florence is seen at the bandstand ready to listen to Ermintrude's concert. She spots Dougal, who is planning on get his paws on some sugar, and requests him to stay for the concert which he does so. However, with her back turned and enjoying the concert which was suddenly turned into a rock concert, Dougal sneaks away to try and get some the sugar from the cart outside the village before Florence soon realises that Dougal has disappeared out of sight much to her disappointment.
Shortly afterwards, Dougal comes speeding in on the sugar cart which was out of control, causing Florence, along with Basil and Coral to run onto the Magic Roundabout for safety before the cart crashes into the roundabout and makes it spin out of control, releasing Zeebad who freezes the roundabout, trapping Florence, along with Basil and Coral, and Mr. Rusty (who got on to try to stop the roundabout). Before Dougal and his friends set out to get the diamonds to rescue Florence, Mr. Rusty and the children, she tells Dougal that he shouldn't blame himself and then spends the rest of the movie trying to keep the spirits up with her captives, as seen as a vision from the first diamond when Dougal and the gang finds it in the volcano area. Throughout the film, Dougal would worry about her and she is only seen twice in his dream about hanging out with her and his nightmare where he meets Florence and multiple copies of her in a sugar paradise.
Due to the freezing temperature in the roundabout, Florence lost consciousness, much to Dougal's grief when he sees her unconscious in the frozen roundabout upon returning to the village. After Zeebad is defeated and re-imprisoned back in his prison, Dougal sees that Florence is still comatose and anxiously begs for her to wake up, before licking her face, which she begins to move. Out of relief, Dougal manages to wake Florence fully conscious and she thanks Dougal for saving her life and everyone else's who were trapped on the roundabout. She wants to reward Dougal, but he declines, saying that he learnt his lesson. After Zebedee returned and having the roundabout to function again, Florence rides on the roundabout with Dougal and has the lump of sugar in her hand as she still wants to reward him for saving the world. Dougal was hesitant at first, but he jumps up and eats the lump of sugar, much to her amusement.
The 2007 series[]
Florence appears in the 2007 series of the same name which takes place after the events of the 2005 film. She still serves as the level-headed meditator of the gang where she tries to persuade them to get along. In her spare time, Florence would plant flowers in her garden as one of her hobbies, keeping house and read stories.
Being Dougal's owner, Florence will have to reprimand him if he is rude to his friends or his devious schemes which can upset or annoy others. Whilst she still calls for Zebedee to help solve problems, Florence would show her disapproval with Zebedee's mischief where she admonishes him for playing pranks on the others or getting into mischief. Florence still tries to keep everyone's spirits up when they are depressed or unhappy, and is always a helping hand in their need.
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
Trivia[]
- For the American dub of the 2005 film, Kylie Minogue redubbed her lines in an American accent.
- She is known as Margote in the French version of The Magic Roundabout.