Babe (1995)

Miriam Margolyes: Fly

Photos 

Quotes 

• Babe : Was Rex a champion?

  Fly : He had the makings of the greatest champion there ever was. But it wasn't to be.

  Babe : What happened?

  Fly : A while back, when Rex was in his prime, the winter rains brought a great flood to the valley. Rex and the Boss got most of the flock onto the high ground. Then Rex went back to look for the strays. He found them. They'd been stranded by the rising water. He tried to herd them across to safety, but they wouldn't budge. Too scared and too stupid to save their own skins. It was freezing cold and the water kept rising. Rex stayed with them right through the night. By morning, the sheep were drowned. And when they found Rex, he was barely alive.

  Babe : Oh, Mum.

  Fly : Two weeks' rest in front of the fire saw him back on his feet, but his *hearing* was never the same again. He'd never want anyone to know, but... he's almost totally deaf.

  Babe : Is that why he's so - you know - angry?

  Fly : That's not the half of it. All this was barely a month before the Grand National Challenge. He tried his best, but he couldn't hear the Boss's calls, and it slowed him up. The cold truth is that, but for the stupidity of sheep, Rex would've been the champion of champions.

• Rex : You and I are descended from the great sheepdogs. We carry the bloodline of the ancient Bahou. We stand for something! And today I watched in shame as all that was betrayed.

  Fly : Rex, dear. He's just a little pig.

  Rex : All the greater the insult!

• Fly : Rex? I know it was hard for you today, watching all that happening. But surely it's not worth all this misery. Please, dear. Not on such a beautiful night.

  Rex : You... put these ideas into his head, Two-faced traitorous WRETCH!

  [attacks Fly] 

• Narrator : Fly decided to speak very slowly, for it was a cold fact of nature that sheep were stupid, and there was nothing that could convince her otherwise.

  Fly : Please, someone tell me... what happened this morning.

  Narrator : The sheep decided to speak very slowly, for it was a cold fact of nature that wolves were ignorant, and there was nothing that could convince them otherwise.

  Sheep : Babe came. He saved us.

• Fly : All right - how did you do it?

  Babe : I asked them and they did it. I just asked them nicely.

  Fly : We don't ask sheep, dear; we tell them what to do.

  Babe : But I did, Mum. They were really friendly.

• Puppy : [as Fly and her puppies enter the barn and sees Babe]  It does look stupid, Mom.

  Fly : Not as stupid as sheep, mind you, But pigs are definitely stupid.

  Babe : [raises his head]  Excuse me... no, we're not!

• Puppy : [when Babe is first brought in]  What is it, Mom?

  Fly : That's a pig! They'll eat him when he's big enough.

  Puppy : Will they eat us when we're big enough?

  Fly : Oh, good heavens, no! The Bosses only eat stupid animals like sheep and ducks and chickens.

• [Babe's first attempt to herd sheep just got him laughed at] 

  Babe : This is ridiculous, Mum!

  Fly : Nonsense. It's only your first try. But you're treating them like equals. They're sheep; they're inferior.

  Babe : Oh, no, they're not.

  Fly : Of course they are. We are their masters, Babe. Let them doubt it for a second and they'll walk all over you!

  Rex : Fly! Get the pig out of there!

  Fly : Make them feel inferior - abuse them, insult them.

  Rex : Fly!

  Babe : They'll laugh at me.

  Fly : Then bite them! Be ruthless. Whatever it takes, bend them to your will.

  Rex : Enough!

  Fly : Go on, go!