Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Episode 3: Why Teen Scott Sounds So Familiar

Netflix's "Scott Pilgrim Takes Off" pretends for most of the first episode that it's an animated adaptation of "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," Universal's 2010 live-action take on Bryan Lee O'Malley's graphic novels. But just as the action is about to begin, Netflix's animated series takes off in its own direction. "Scott Pilgrim Takes Off" is its own thing with its own character development and its own purpose, which means that audiences are treated with new information about otherwise familiar faces. In Season 1, Episode 3, "Ramona Rents a Video," Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) reaches out to Kim Pine (Allison Pill) to learn more about Scott Pilgrim's (Michael Cera) past. In doing so, she hopes to find some clues as to who kidnapped her almost-boyfriend.

During their chat, Kim shares the story of how she and Scott became a thing, however briefly, back in high school. He draws a sheep for her, they hold hands beneath the stars, and he single-handedly wipes out an entire army of teenage minions to save her from a rival school's kidnapping scheme ... yeah, there's a lot of kidnapping going around. Attentive listeners will note that teen Scott doesn't sound like Cera. That's because teen Scott isn't voiced by the "Juno" star — he's voiced by Finn Wolfhard. Best known for starring in Netflix's "Stranger Things" as Mike Wheeler and Warner Brothers' "It"/"It Chapter Two" as Richie Tozier, the young actor's got quite a few notable voice credits on his resume. Here's where you've probably heard him before.

Fun fact! Not every animated project belongs to a major studio like DreamWorks or Disney. In 2016, Shout! Factory released its animated adaptation of Bruce Brown's graphic novel "Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom." In broad strokes, the story follows its titular character, the young Howard Lovecraft (Kiefer O'Reilly), as he delves into the eldritch mythos as popularized by his namesake. It must have done pretty well because Shout! Factory dropped "Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom" in 2017 and "Howard Lovecraft and the Kingdom of Madness" in 2018. All three projects feature household names like Mark Hamill, Christopher Plummer, and Ron Perlman. However, only the third installment brings Finn Wolfhard into the fold.

Wolfhard portrays Herbert West, a young mad scientist in the making. The character is pulled from H. P. Lovecraft's "Herbert West–Reanimator" short stories. Much like others in his field, and as the name of his short stories implies, Herbert is obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. It ... doesn't usually go well, not unless you count turning every single corpse into a violent monster. In which case, yeah, it goes really, really well. Another fun fact: Shout! Factory managed to get Jeffrey Combs, star of the old "Re-Animator" horror films, on board but he insisted on giving his old character a wide berth.

They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious, and spooky. They're all together ooky, they're going to be readapted every few years until the inevitable heat death of the universe. They're the Addams family! In 2019, Universal released "The Addams Family," an animated film that chronicles the adventures of Charles Addams' famous gothic creations as they move to Assimilation, New Jersey, to live their lives free from aesthetic oppression. 

If the name of their new hometown wasn't a dead giveaway, Gomez (Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) relocated their little family somewhere that's less than a perfect match. Jaded reality TV show host Margaux Needle (Allison Janney) stirs the population of Assimilation against them but, through the power of childhood friendship and the proper weaponization of social media, the citizens ultimately accept the Addams Family as they are.

Finn Wolfhard portrays Pugsley Addams — Gomez and Morticia's youngest child and only son. In "The Addams Family," little Pug must conquer a challenge set forth by his father, a challenge which all Addamses must face when they come of age. He fails spectacularly because it requires him to be someone he isn't, a truth that Gomez takes longer to internalize than maybe it should. Rather, Pugsley thrives when he's allowed to be his morbidly destructive, bomb-loving self. That's a trait that proves pretty darn useful when Margaux brings a literal trebuchet to the Addams Family manor. Wolfhard did not return to reprise his role in 2021 when Universal released "The Addams Family 2."

Yes, most of the projects on this list are Netflix properties. Turns out, starring in "Stranger Things" goes a long way to ensure financial stability. In 2019, the streaming studio released "Carmen Sandiego," an animated series based on the world and characters first seen in Broderbund's edutainment computer games. The story, which ultimately landed four seasons and a special, follows the titular Carmen Sandiego (Gina Rodriguez) as steals back everything that V.I.L.E. — The Villains International League of Evil — stole from various persons and sites. Carmen does this while A.C.M.E. — Agency to Classify & Monitor Evildoers — pursues her for her previous connection to the villainous society. It's a globe-trotting adventure worthy of the question, "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?"

Finn Wolfhard portrays Player, Carmen's Guy in the Chair. Although his real name is unknown, he infodumps on anything and everything that his more active coworker might need. During a 2019 interview with Collider, after the release of Season 1, Wolfhard spoke about his role and the journey he went on to make a stationary character internally compelling. "To see a hacker actually hacking is not the most interesting thing visually," admitted Wolfahrd. "And it's pretty boring as an actor ... So you have to focus on the hacker's relationships and why they are hacking in the first place ... I asked myself, 'Why does Player spend so much time inside on his computer, and why does he [seek] out Carmen in particular?'"

At the close of 2022, Guillermo del Toro reinvented the tale of Pinocchio, the little wooden boy who craved life, and he released his beautiful stop-motion picture on Netflix. "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" sees Gepetto (David Bradley) create Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) as part of his ongoing — and poorly managed — grief over the loss of his real son during World War I. Funnily enough, a magically vitalized, fully mobile, sentient creature with no life experience struggles to cope with the world around him. During the many confusing experiences that follow, Pinocchio dies. Actually, he dies a lot because, in del Toro's version of the story, he's functionally immortal. Whenever Pinocchio enters Death's (Tilda Swinton) realm, she kicks him back out. The characters surrounding him are less lucky, though, and Pinocchio witnesses several deaths as he learns how to live.

Finn Wolfhard portrays Candlewick, the bitter son of a fascist government official. Pinocchio first finds a foe — then a friend — in Candlewick during their shared time at a military training camp for children. In a 2022 interview with Screen Rant, Wolfhard cited "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" as the turning point in his relationship with voice acting. "I had such a good time doing this movie, especially because I actually got to work in a booth with Gregory [Mann] for one of the scenes," he said. "That just helps so much, because you get to bounce off someone. Usually, when it comes to voice acting, I get really frustrated ... I've always been very in my head because I feel like I work best when I'm around [other people]."