Scrat

Scrat is a "saber-toothed squirrel" (a fictional species) that appears in the Ice Age film series, starting with the 2002 film Ice Age and its sequels Ice Age: The Meltdown and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. He is best known for being obsessed with acorns, constantly putting his life in danger to obtain and protect them. He usually has his own stories in the film, independent of the main plot, which are parallel with the journeys of the other main characters simply by chance, making the other characters meet him occasionally.

His character has proved enormously successful and many view him as a breakout character, the most popular character of the franchise. In a special feature in the second film's DVD, his name has been stated to be a mix of the words "squirrel" and "rat", his species being believed by fictional scientists to have been a common ancestor of the two. At several points in the Ice Age DVD commentary he is referred to as "The Scrat" by Directors Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha.

== Appearances ==

Feature films
In all Ice Age movies, as well as in the short films, Scrat is voiced by Chris Wedge. He only directly interacts with the story's main characters six times: in the first film, when he attacks Sid when the latter tries to eat his acorn and successfully gets it back, and later when Manny asks him for directions on where the baby's family is, in which Diego kicks him away before he could tell Manny and Sid about the passing of saber-toothed tigers; in the end of the second film, Scrat creates a hole in the valley and so releases all the melted ice, and later attacks Sid for saving his life (when he actually died and went to heaven and was about to eat a giant acorn); and in the third film, when he is stepped on by Manny and then falls into Sid's head while chasing his acorn and again when Sid's "children" were batting a ball around, that turned out to actually be Scrat.

While Scrat is constantly hunting for his acorn in order to either bury it or eat it, fate always seems to get in the way. Throughout the series he ends up in humorous and often painful situations, ranging from being struck by lightning, chased by avalanches, and repeatedly knocked unconscious to running afoul of various animal life and having to fight for his acorn. Being a glutton for punishment, Scrat never backs down or gives up no matter how reluctant he feels. Generally Scrat will lose out (except in two cases when he defeated a school of piranhas single-pawed and battled Sid for the acorn).

Scrat appears in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, with Chris Wedge reprising the role. During the film, he constantly interacts with a female saber-toothed squirrel named Scratte, being torn between his love for her and the acorn.

Scrat is supposedly the only character to survive the Ice Age, as the end of the first movie shows that he was frozen in ice for 20,000 years chasing his acorn, only to thaw on a tropical beach, and cause an eruption.

Scrat is never referred to by name by any of the characters in the films. He is only named in the credits.

Short films
Scrat was also the main character in two short films. In the first, entitled Gone Nutty, he loses his meticulously-organized collection of acorns in a catastrophic chain of events. By ramming his acorn into the hole in the exact middle of the collection, he shatters the pile and, incidentally, the continent and accidentally starts continental drift.

In the second, No Time for Nuts, he finds a time machine left by an unfortunate time-traveler, and visits a number of historical events. He is eventually trapped in a future when acorn trees have gone extinct, but somehow manages to return to the series' time period.

Scrat also had a cameo in the short film Surviving Sid that was significant to the plot.

Controversy
There is some dispute regarding the character. Scrat, from the movie Ice Age, was allegedly stolen from Ivy Silberstein after she pitched her character "Sqrat", a cross between a squirrel and a rat that she claims to have seen in Central Park, to 20th Century Fox movie executives. Ivy claims she created the character in 1999. A CNN report by Jeanie Moos of Ivy's discovery was aired in 2000, 2 years before Ice Age went into development.

Ivy Silberstein was offered a $300,000 settlement by Fox but turned it down, and subsequently lost the case. The case is currently in appeal (Case # 04401 Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, NYC). Ivy has continued her "Make Rupert Murdoch Pay" campaign in hopes of still receiving damages for her perceived infringement.[1]

In a reverse suit, Fox Film Corperation v. Ivy Silberstein, where Fox tried to prevent the registration of the trade mark "SQRAT", the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled a partial Summary Judgement for the Defendant [2]

Games
Scrat is the main character in Ice Age 2: The Meltdown video game. He's also playable in the other two games based on the series.

References in other media

 * Scrat appeared in a Family Guy episode (Sibling Rivalry, episode #72) as a gag.
 * In South Park episode 1004, "Cartoon Wars Part II", a creature that looks remarkably like Scrat can be seen on a spoof movie billboard for a movie called "Cold Age: The Smackdown", an obvious reference to Ice Age: The Meltdown
 * In an episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Retro turns a squirrel into a saber-toothed squirrel and Pleakley (suffering from Retro's power) makes reference to a saber-tooth squirrel, stating he has never heard of one before.
 * In the video game Whiplash, Spanx the Long-tailed Weasel is questioned by Raymond about what kind of animal he is, with Raymond later exclaiming "I know, you're a scrat!"
 * He also is featured in The Simpsons episode, "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind." Groundskeeper Willie kicked Scrat for taking his acorn (only to have more of his kind attack Willie).
 * In the video game, Crysis Warhead, an easter egg in an ice tunnel features Scrat reaching for his beloved acorn, frozen in an ice wall.