Chuck the Plant is a named plant found in the library of the Mansion. It appears as an ordinary plant but the cursor shows that it is named Chuck.
Chuck reappears in the sequel Day of the Tentacle as a large, and presumably mutated, cactus. Bernard says that it is a horticultural horror. Otherwise it's just an useless red herring.
According to Gilbert, the LucasFilm general manager Steve Arnold had a long running joke in which he continually requested game designers to add a character named Chuck to their game. Gilbert and Winnick were the first to humor Steve's request in Maniac Mansion. Because the developers were unable to fit an extra character name in the game, they named an existing in-game plant.[1]
In popular culture[]
"Chuck the Plant" reappeared in other Lucas adventure titles like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In the demo version of the game, it is called LeChuck the Plant.
In Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, there is an object labeled "the Plant", but it is found on a screen that was cut from the final game. It is visible only with SCUMM reverse-engineering programs such as SCUMM Revisited.
Chuck also appears in Chapter I of Tales of Monkey Island, "Launch of the Screaming Narwhal". It is on the back of Elaine Marley's ship in the beginning of the game.
- It appears in The Cave in the Twin's area. The game was made by Ron Gilbert, creator of Maniac Mansion and Monkey island.
- It appears again in Thimbleweed Park, a game by Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, creators of Maniac Mansion.
Appearance in non-Lucas games[]
- In homage to LucasArts, the adventure game Enclosure also contains a plant named Chuck.
- In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Charles the Plant can be found in 'Jobasha's Rare Books'. Like many plants in Morrowind, it can provide alchemy ingredients; in this case, a unique ingredient "Meteor Slime", another homage to Maniac Mansion.
- The Chuck Plant also appears in the Housemarque point-and-click adventure Alien Incident.
- Chuck the Plant appears in a LucasFan Games production "The new Adventures of Zak Mc Kracken"
- In the Nintendo DS game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Mia Fey keeps a plant named Charley in her office. The plant has since appeared in all four Ace Attorney games, having been taken care of during the series' course by Phoenix Wright and his assistant Maya Fey.
- Chuck can be found in the game Shadowgrounds: Survivor in a secret area.
- A plant called Chuck also appears in the Rabbit Tell point-and-click adventure Trapped Part Three: The Labyrinth.[2] The Rabbit Tell games contain many references to LucasArts.
- The Telltale Games adventure series Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People features a plant named Charlemagne as an homage to LucasArts' Chuck. Telltale was formed by the company's former employees.
- Chuck can also be found in the Telltale Games episodic game series, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures. In episode one, there is a plant in the corner of the living room. If the player attempts to use an inventory item on the plant, it says "Chuck the Plant" in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
- Chuck also appears in realmforge studios game Ceville, in the dwarven mine's office.
- Potted plants named Chuck can also be found in Psychonauts. Psychonauts and the sequel to Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, were both designed by Wikipedia:Tim Schafer.
- A plant named Chuck can be found right outside the flat of the protagonist of 2012 indie survival horror game Lone Survivor.
- Chuck the Plant appears in Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok, on a shelf in the Adventurers' Guild. Looking at the plant gives the message: "Oh look, it's Chuck the Plant! He does get around, doesn't he?"
- Chuck the plant appears in Chronicles of Innsmouth, in the YMCA.
- In "Darkside Detective: Fumble in the Dark", the Irish gardener mentions that there's Chuck the Plant growing in the greenhouse amongst other things.