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| “ | RUN FOR MY LIFE! | „ |
| ~ Smek's catchphrase. |
| “ | Shush! | „ |
| ~ Smek's second catchphrase. |
Smek, formerly known as Captain Smek, is the main antagonist of DreamWorks' 31st full-length animated feature film Home.
He is the arrogant, selfish, and cowardly leader of an hive-minded alien race called the Boov who are trying to find a place to hide from their enemy, the Gorg. Eventually, they settle on Earth, until one of them, a Boov named Oh, makes a mistake of sending an invitation for his housewarming party to the entire galaxy. Captain Smek sends an Alien Traffic Cop named Kyle to hunt down Oh to find his password and cancel the message. He was the one who stole the egg from the Gorg. He is also the former enemy of Oh, Tip Tucci, and Kyle.
In both the short and film, he was voiced by Steve Martin, who also played Hotep in The Prince of Egypt, Orin Scrivello in Little Shop of Horrors and Mr. Chairman in Looney Tunes: Back in Action. In the television series, he is voiced by Nolan North.
Personality[]
Smek is cowardly and arrogant, qualities celebrated by the Boov, who are "the best at running away". He is characterized as self-centered, devilish and manipulative, with a tendency to make decisions that benefit himself and his own interests rather than those of others.
Despite being mostly comedic and bumbling, he is also shown to be quite threatening at times, particularly towards the human characters in the film as he relocates them to another continent without their consent, causing chaos in the Earth during the Boov invasion. He also threatens to use force against anyone who opposes his plans, and is willing to resort to violence to get what he wants, such as using his Shusher to hit anyone who questions him.
However, despite his negative traits, Smek is not entirely unsympathetic. He genuinely believes that his actions are for the greater good and that he is helping his own race such as finding a new, habitable planet in order to hide from their enemy, the Gorg, even if it means sacrificing the well-being of others. At the end he redeems himself and develops empathy towards others.
Biography[]
Background[]
Not much is known about his life, other than after being invited to a peace meeting by the Gorg, he ran away and stole a rock that belonged to the Gorg that he named the Shusher, and he used it to hit people to shut them up, not knowing the rock is actually a Gorg egg. Ever since, the Gorg has been chasing have been tracking the Boov to get the egg back. Every time the Boov found a planet, the Gorg would find them and destroy it.
Almost Home[]
In the short film Almost Home, Captain Smek appears when getting out of his spaceship and announcing to his Boov on arriving at their foster new planet. However, after seeing a giant alien worm, they escaped, and went to search for a new planet. Not a single planet was best suited for them. Until they found the perfect planet, only for it to be destroyed by an asteroid. Smek was about to give up, until he got the idea to invade Earth.
Home[]
Prologue[]
| “ | Enjoy you the frozen, sweetened bovine secretion, as we take this short flight to Happy Humans Town. | „ |
| ~ Smek broadcasting his message to all humans while relocating them to Happy Humans Town. |
Smek tells all of the Boov that they are going to invade Earth as their new home to hide away from the Gorg. After conquering Earth and sending all humans to Australia, Oh accidentally sends an invitation to all of the Galaxy (including the Gorg himself), Smek then tells all of the Boov to find Oh and learn what his password is to stop sending the invitation to the Gorg. He sends a Boov cop named Kyle to find Oh and tell him what his password was.
Oh's password[]
Later, Smek goes to Paris and tells them if they found Oh, but one of them lies and gets Smek upset until Kyle tells him that Oh got away with Tip before getting his head hit by Smek, who uses his "Shusher" to hit Kyle's head. Smek then asks Kyle if he’s got any idea of what to do, Kyle suggests that they type in random buttons, which don't work since only Oh knows his own password, Smek likes the idea (he likes any idea despite that they are aliens) and tells the Boov to get to work.
Many Mistakes[]
Later, they find Oh and Tip, and Smek says that erasing Oh would be for the better, by explaining how he has made many mistakes and thinks that Oh will continue to make mistakes, causing Tip to turn the "gravity thingy" upside down to make herself and Oh to escape from the Boov. Smek later escapes in Kyle's flying pod.
New Captain[]
| “ | I saw who did that! I hold grudges, you know! | „ |
| ~ Smek's last words before starts crying in the Floor. |
After the Gorg attacks the Boov, Smek and the rest of the Boov ran away. But Oh ran to the ship, and planted the Gorg superchip, and escaped the Gorg. Smek did not know about the super chip that the Gorg had and Smek was the only one who thinks he's the super Boov and anyone who holds the "Shusher" is the captain which is what Smek is. Oh, however, tells all of the Boov about how bad of a captain Smek is by doing the wrong thing, unlike humans. Smek has finally had enough of Oh and, before he can hit Oh with his "Shusher", Kyle forces him to let Oh be captain but Smek refuses and gets hit in the head by Kyle. However, Oh tells Kyle that he would not know what to do and thinks that he would make more mistakes, but Kyle then still gives the "Shusher" to Oh with Smek getting run over by all of the rest of the other Boov and crying on the floor. Near the end, Smek redeems himself and becomes a DJ for the Boov with Oh being captain.
Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh[]
In the TV series sequel to the 2015 film, Smek made his first TV appearance, this time he is more sinister, villainous, cunning, manipulative, and greedy than he was in the film. He gets revenge for Oh taking his role as captain.
In his first TV episode "Little Kisses", he steals every kitty litter in Chicago when Oh and Tip buy some for Pig in revenge for Oh taking his role as captain of the Boov.
In "Boov Up and Drive", after Tip fails her first Boov driving test, hosted by Kyle, Smek steals Slushious, leaving it up to Oh, Tip and Kyle to retrieve it back.
In "Best Frenemies", Smek pretends to be Oh's friend so he can find out his fears and weaknesses, but then he realizes what true friendship is about.
Trivia[]
- The name "Smek" is a Swedish word that means "caressing".
- He is the fifth 3D computer-animated movie villain to be an alien, the first being King Goobot, the second being Gallaxhar, the third being General Grawl, and the fourth being Lena Thackleman. However, unlike all four of them, Smek isn't truly evil, and would do anything to protect the Boov from any certain threats.
- Despite Tip’s claiming of Oh not understanding family because he’s just a Boov, Smek acts as the dark reflection to Tip. Since they both doesn’t consider Oh as a friend because their race took her mom away and she foolishly accuses Oh for leaving them behind after he lied about finding her mother and Smek abuses his fellow Boov with The Shusher. However, she does eventually realize her mistake and while she does finally accepts Oh as her friend, Smek in case (despite his redemption in the movie and show) never learns anything about friendship. He serves as an example of what Tip would’ve become if she haven’t met Oh and learn to accept him of who he is and as her friend.