Donald Michael "Donnie" Thornberry is a young, feral boy who was raised by orangutans. Donnie can't speak any language. Often, his energy and curiosity get him and even the family into far too much trouble.
In the 4-part TV movie, The Origin of Donnie was raised by orangutans after his biological parents, a pair of naturalists, were killed by poachers until the orangutan mother gives him up to the Thornberry family. He babbles wildly and makes animal sounds (but nothing Eliza can understand), occasionally spouting blurbs of English (e.g “oh, be quiet”, "be good me", etc.).
History[]
Donnie was born to naturalists Michael and Lisa in Borneo, who decided to stay in the country due to their love for nature, especially the orangutans. They also befriended local villagers who gifted them with a baby carrier for Donnie. The family eventually befriended an orangutan mother and her son and taught them sign language which Donnie learned as well, though only one sign was shown (family) and it is unknown how much he actually knows. Donnie's family lived an overall happy life until one night some poachers attempted to steal the same orangutan family that Donnie's family had befriended but they managed to free the mother and her baby son, but unfortunately the poachers killed Donnie's family as revenge.
The villagers gave Donnie's parents a great funeral, with Donnie standing by the river until he spotted the orangutan family and decided to leave with them. The orangutan mother eventually met another family of naturalists; The Thornberrys and decided that it was time to give Donnie up to the human family. After Marianne spotted Donnie swinging in a liana Nigel went to see what was going on and found the young child alone, with the orangutan mother watching and gesturing for Donnie to take Nigel's hand, and so the Thornberrys decided to take him in and named him Donnie. According to Debbie, Donnie's first act upon arriving to the RV was to throw all her CDs and magazines in a trash bin.
Years later, the Thornberrys return to Borneo in time for Donnie's "birthday", or rather the anniversary of the day they found him since the family doesn't know when he was born. Donnie spends some time with his former orangutan mother after running away due Eliza getting mad at him. After the entire family was reunited Nigel and Marianne discovered that they once met Donnie's biological parents, Michael and Lisa, when they were on their honeymoon and Nigel and Marianne believed they were destined to have Donnie with them. The family also discovers that Donnie still remembers his birth parents as he drew (as best as he could) a picture of Michael and Lisa when they compared the drawing to a photograph of them.
Upon finding out that Donnie's parents are deceased, Nigel and Marianne can finally adopt Donnie and they give him the middle name Michael in honor of his biological father, making his full name Donald Michael Thornberry.
Appearance[]
Donnie is a 5-year-old boy with fair skin and dark brown hair. He has an abnormally large mouth with large sets of excess teeth (from his birth father Michael), and his hair appears to be in the style of spaghetti strands (like his mother Lisa). He commonly wears a pair of leopard-spotted shorts with no shirt, socks or shoes and avoids them as much as he can, although his parents always make it a point to dress him up for special occasions, such as family gatherings.
Relationships[]
- Michael and Lisa: They are Donnie's birth parents. Despite not being able to spend enough time with his birth family due to them being killed when Donnie was a toddler, it is implied that Donnie still remembers and loves them and made a drawing of them as best as he could.
- Orangutan mother and son: They befriended Donnie and his birth parents shortly before their deaths. After Donnie's parents were killed, the orangutan mother took Donnie with her and took care of him along with her own son, leading him to become a "feral child", until she decided that Donnie needed a human family and left him with the Thornberrys, shedding a tear as they parted ways, having grown to really care about the boy. Years later, Donnie meets her again when the Thornberrys return to Borneo and he runs away after Eliza gets mad at him. The mother once again took him with her for awhile until she brought him back to his foster family. She was happy and relieved that she had found Donnie the perfect family for him. Donnie also gets along great with her son since they love to play together like two brothers could.
- Nigel and Marianne: They are Donnie's adoptive parents. They love and care about Donnie very much and Donnie loves them back and states (through sign language) that he considers them and the orangutans who raised him his family.
- Debbie: She is Donnie's oldest sister. She often gets annoyed by her adopted brother's antics and the fact that she is always the one left in charge of him while their parents work and Eliza runs off to help animals, which proves to be a very difficult task but deep down she does love him to the point where she tried to tell him so but ended up crying tears of joy once Donnie's adoption into the Thornberry family was official.
- Eliza: She is Donnie's middle sister. She is far more patient with Donnie than their sister Debbie is, most likely since Eliza often runs off to save animals and doesn't spend much time with her younger brother. She can get frustrated with him from time to time but she still loves her adopted brother very much.
- Darwin: Darwin is the family pet. Like Debbie, he has little patience with Donnie and the things he does to him like breaking rotten eggs on his head or putting worms on his nose but when Donnie goes missing he shows concern for the young boy and confesses that he cares about Donnie. When Eliza tells Darwin that Donnie is staying with them after all, Darwin is visibly relieved.
- Cordelia: She is Donnie's paternal grandmother. Oddly enough, she never really complaints about Donnie's "feral child" personality yet she criticizes her granddaughters any chance she gets.
- Radcliffe: He is Donnie's paternal grandfather. Like his wife, he doesn't seem to pay too much attention to Donnie's feral behavior and has shown that he cares about his adopted grandson and is more willing to join him in his antics such as dancing "The Wedgie Dance" when Donnie made the whole family dance with baboons.
Trivia[]
Donnie appears in every episode of The Wild Thornberrys (except "Gift of Gab"). His first appearance was in the series' pilot episode. His last was in "Eliza Unplugged". He also appeared on a few video games, including crossovers. Donnie occasionally shows random signs of sophisticated education, such as table place setting or properly drinking tea. He might also know French, as during a lesson he stated that an apple was a 'pomme', which is French for apple. Donnie turns five in The Origin of Donnie, although his family usually celebrate it on the anniversary of the day they found him since his actual birth date remains unknown. He loves "The Wedgie Dance" (i.e. pulling his pants up and dancing with baboons) and makes everyone around him dance as well by pulling up their pants. Both Donnie and his biological father share a name with Donnie's voice actor, Michael Balzary, a.k.a Flea.
External links[]
- Nickipedia
- The Wild Thornberrys wiki
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Thornberrys#Main
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