Stretch (ghost)

Stretch is a fictional character from the Casper the Friendly Ghost series of comic books, (although he and The Ghostly Trio, his brothers, were also known as Fatso, Fusso and Lazo in the comics), cartoon shows, and films.

General

Stretch is the unofficial leader of the gang The Ghostly Trio, for which he and his brothers Fatso, and Stinkie are known as. He is presumably the eldest of the Trio, and almost always is the one to give orders or make smart remarks involving Casper or his brothers. In the film, Stretch has a "Joisey" loud accent, and a high evil-sounding laugh. This along with his elongated features, matches up equal to his personality, and ways of doing things. Out of the three Ghosts, Stretch is the most aggressively bad tempered one, and is the sort who won't take no for an answer, in a term of wanting something, or something done he almost always gets it, whether by asking or by force, Stretch has the upper hand.

The Film

In the film, while Casper has secretly hidden Dr. Harvey and his daughter, Kat, inside his house, Stretch and his brothers return from a day out scaring at the horse races. He, Stinkie and Fatso eventually find out about Casper hiding the humans, and quickly use every scare necessary to try and drive the two out, even resorting to possession, but unfortunately for the lanky ghost, he and his brothers fail at scaring them away.

Stretch hates 'fleshies', the term ghosts use for humans, and really dislikes Harvey's daughter, Kat. At first, Stretch dislikes Dr. Harvey as well, and he and his brothers form up embarrassing plans to try and get rid of him and his daughter. For instance, Stretch tells Dr. Harvey he knows his wife, Amelia, and that they will find her in the Afterlife and bring her to him, if he keeps Carrigan away from the house. He agrees to the deal, and Stretch tells Fatso to go find her; However, when Dr. Harvey goes to greet his wife, it turns out to be Fatso dressed in drag, implying that maybe the deal was a joke.

Eventually however, he and his brothers grow to like Dr. Harvey and while out drinking at a bar, Stretch sees that Dr. Harvey isn't as dry or as proper as he makes himself out to be. He and the other two concoct a plan to murder Harvey, so that he would become a ghost too. However, Dr. Harvey tells the Trio they are his best friends and he loves them, so the three ghosts change their mind. However, as he's backing out of the bar, dancing, the doc falls into an open trench and dies, becoming a ghost. He returns home to his daughter, and to Stretch's pleasure, he doesn't recognize Kat. But due to a gesture they shared as daughter and father, which happens to be a pinky swear, her father remembers who he is, and again Stretch's plan fails.

After the final battle with Dibs and a then-incorporeal Carrigan, Dr. Harvey had indeed kept his word and gotten rid of the greedy woman, so Stretch and his brothers shockingly keep their prior promise and bring his wife to see him. Amber, a classmate whom had antagonized Kat earlier in the film, tries to break into Whipstaff Manor with Vic while the party is taking place, and plan to ruin the party, but the Ghostly Trio scare her and Vic out of the house, but not before they panic and run through the party area, startling the guests a little bit, who then assume it was planned by Kat as part of the entertainment. After the party, Stretch and his brothers form a band to play the end credits song 'Casper the Friendly Ghost', with Stretch playing lead with an Electric Guitar.

Trivia

• In the third feature film of Casper, Casper Meets Wendy, Stretch falls in love with Wendy's aunt Fanny, a witch, who is also played by actress Cathy Moriarty, who played Carrigan Crittenden in the 1995 feature film.
• Stretch is voiced by Joe Nipote, who was picked by Steven Spielberg directly for the role of Stretch.
• In the film, each of the Trio has their names engraved upon the backboard of their beds. Stretch's is the longest bed in the room where the three uncles sleep.
• In the Playstation game Casper (based upon the film), a glimpse of a photograph of the Trio can be seen, showing what they looked like as humans.
• Stinkie and Fatso have both brown eyes in the film, while Stretch's eyes can easily be seen as being a light purple color rather than blue.
• It was Stretch's idea to try and 'kill' Dr. Harvey.
• In the film, Stretch says "I love the smell of fleshies in the morning", a reminder of the film Apocolypse Now, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning".