Paula Shellbach (nee Hutchison) or Doctor Paula Hutchison, or Hutch for short, is a feline character voiced by Linda Wallem. Originally a dentist, Hutch has also been a cashier, surgeon, veterinarian, obstetrician, and pharmacist. She has a large smile and very upbeat outlook on life. She has a hook for a hand which does not hinder her normal activity in any way, since she lost her right hand in an unknown accident, giving a hook to replace her hand. She also used the hook to defeat the Giant Mutant Tooth. Hutch took a liking to Filburt and has encouraged him to do various things he's afraid of and eventually married him. Hutch's mother, the widow Hutchison, disallows the wedding between the two because of her belief that "cats and turtles don't mix", an obvious reference to interracial marriage. Her first appearance was in Season 1 episode Rinse & Spit.
While both Filburt and Hutch's families fight each other, it turns out that Hutch's father Frank Hutchison, who was thought to be dead, is actually a turtle, meaning that Widow Hutchison did not want her daughter to marry Filburt because she did not get along with her own turtle husband. Hutch's catchphrase is "'kay?", said while tilting her head. She was the prom queen of O-Town High School. Hutch also seems to have a number of odd quirks, including the fact that she claimed to keep a baboon heart under her pillow.
Development
The team created Hutchison after Joe Murray attended a press conference for networks to market new seasons of television shows to the press. A reporter asked Murray why the show did not have any "positive female role models." Murray responded by stating that he had no positive role models, that people do not use cartoon characters as role models, and that television shows should not teach lessons. After the conference some Nickelodeon executives told the reporter that they had plans to place female role models in the television show and asked Murray to place an unused character, Magdalane, as a female role model. Murray refused to use Magdalane. A female executive from Nickelodeon later requested "a professional woman, someone with a good hook." The executive intended for the "good hook" to be a personality trait that attracts viewers; Murray instead gave the doctor a literal hook. Murray and the directors "grew to love her."
Martin Olson, a writer, described the decision when Nickelodeon gave the "okay" for the marriage of Filburt and Paula Hutchison as one of the most memorable moments of the production. Olson said that the executives at first did not like the marriage idea which he came up with in his outline of The Big Question; linear character development did not exist in Nicktoons. Murray convinced the executives to allow for the marriage to occur.
Appearances
- Rinse & Spit
- Tickled Pinky
- Rocko's Modern Christmas
- Kiss Me I'm Foreign
- Bye, Bye Birdie
- Ed is Dead: A Thriller!
- Nothing To Sneeze At
- The Fatlands
- Dear John
- The Big Question
- The Big Answer
- Zanzibar!
- From Here to Maternity
- Closet Clown
- Turkey Time
Gallery
