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Billy Shoepack is an alligator tug, belonging to the Salvage Fleet. He speaks with a strong West Country accent.
Bio
In his first appearance, Trapped, he is described to be just as dangerous as a real alligator due to his personality and common occupation of transporting dynamite. However, after he helps The Star Tugs and Zug out of an unusual situation, the others learn better sense of the tug. In his second and final appearance, Up River, he helped Sunshine out of a pile of burning logs that he was trapped under. Unfortunately, Shoepack's help caused the logs to be washed downstream, out of control, so he got few thanks.
Behind the Scenes
Interestingly, Billy's wheelhouse did not move in Trapped, nor did his facial expression change unlike any of the other characters. In Up River, however, his wheelhouse does move and he has various different faces, like the other tugs.
Billy's facemasks were sculpted by modelmaker, Jeremy King, who formerly worked on TUGS' sister series Thomas & Friends.
Appearances
Television
Voice Actors
- Lee Cornes (TUGS)
- Terry Klassen (Salty's Lighthouse)
- Mitsuaki Madono (Japan; Trapped)
- Rokurō Naya (Japan; Up River)
Trivia
- His model was sold to The Star Tugs Company (formerly The Star Tugs Trust).
- At first, he was bought without his face mask. But he was then reunited with his face masks in 2014 when the owner came to one of the events with his face masks by complete surprise. This was also the case with the characters Big Mac and the Fire Tug. He now has had replicas of the face made using the original cast moulding.
Gallery
