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Barkeep

The Barkeep as depicted in the Original Graphic Novel.

Mordecai Benmont Jiminy (known as "Barkeep") is a character in Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars, Tales of the Troubleshooters, and Cactoid Jim, King of the Martian Frontier.  

The Barkeep is played by Joshua Malina.  In Sparks Nevada's "I'm from Earth" Day Special and a few other episodes the Barkeep was played by Mark McConville. He was played by Chris Tallman in Malware Wars, and Hal Lublin in The Piano Has Been Thinking (M Bar 2007).

The Barkeep runs The Space Saloon on Mars, and he don't want no trouble in his place.

He is also sometimes accidentally called Jeremiah Benmont Jiminy.

The Barkeep lists his worst qualities as eavesdropping, feeling entirely welcome to join conversations that don't concern him, and loving too much.  He believes his tendency to keep trouble out of his place is among his best qualities.

His wife is The Troubleshooter, Harriett Alcott-Jiminy, whom the Barkeep describes as a worrywart. They enjoy taking second honeymoons together as often as possible.

While singing the Sparks Nevada theme with Sparks Nevada during Hypercattle Overdrive, the Barkeep claims to be from Earth.  He also says at another point to have inherited the Space Saloon from his father.

He religiously and/or culturally identifies as Space Jewish.

History[]

The Barkeep first appears in Do the Fight Thing, wherein his saloon is taken over by Technology Beings.  He is trapped there with Sparks Nevada, Rebecca Rose Rushmore, and The Red Plains Rider

In A Date with Destinos, he assists with Sparks and Rebecca Rose Rushmore's date by calling in Croach the Tracker to handle Los Banditos Mutantes.  In Showdown, You Move Too Fast, he says that although he doesn't like trouble in his place, he loves watching trouble outside of it.

During The Piano has Been Thinking, the Barkeep's saloon is taken over by Los Banditos Mutantes.  He also sings I Don't Want No Trouble in My Place as a duet with Felton, Poor Me (Pour Me Another) with Croach and his Saloon Doors AI, and also participates in the Broadway Style Medley Reprise.  At the end of the episode, his saloon grows arms and legs and leaves Mars after being romantically rejected by Croach.

The Barkeep then joins Sparks Nevada on a hypercattle drive in Hypercattle Overdrive and Mortified on Mars.  He is, at first, excited to be out on an adventure as he used to have adventures before taking over the Space Saloon. He is subsequently shot at several times, gets into a fight with Pembroke Cartwright, the hypercattle owner, and is stabbed by Highwayman Dan.  During the night, Sparks Nevada gets knocked out and the Barkeep is kidnapped along with the hypercattle he is there to protect by HIghwayman Dan's father, NiceMan Dan.  He is then tracked to be rescued by Sparks and the others.  

When NiceMan Dan removes the gravity in the area, Sparks, the Barkeep, and the Cartwrgihts begin to float into space.  It's the Barkeep who saves the day by suggesting using the pressure in Pembroke Cartwright's cans of edible foams to redirect their course back to the ground.  By the end of the hypercattle drive, it's clear the Barkeep is tired of adventures.

In One Night at O'Tooles, the Barkeep is itching for a fight, especially after O'Toole reminds him that his wife is away a lot for business.  He does not get into a brawl, but leaves O'Toole's at the end of the episode with Sparks, Red, and Croach, fleeing from Mercy Laredo.  He leaves their company at the beginning of Mercy Killing and heads home.

The Barkeep next appears in Murder In His Place.  He has built Mars' only Inn (therefore requesting people to refer to him as "Innkeep"), and is looking forward to hosting Rebecca Rose Rushmore and Chicky Sullivan, until there is a MurderMan invasion.  Sparks, Red, Felton, Rebecca, and Chicky are all MurderManned before the Barkeep's wife, Harriett Alcott-Jiminy aka the Troubleshooter, arrives and saves the day.  The two bicker over the trouble in his new place, and Harriet leaves.

In Personal Business, Harriet returns to Mordecai after receiving a paradigm shift from Croach the Tracker.  She apologizes to her husband and promises to stay so they can talk it out and be a real family for awhile. 

In Cactoid Jim, King of the Martian Frontier, Good Jim, the Barkeep is summoned by V’stalu of the Galaxium to help defeat Evil Cactoid Jim, who has been corrupted in his quest for perfection after being elected President of Earth in an alternate timeline.

V'stalu also summons Miles Kaward, an Ultra-Admiral in the USSA, and Pemily Stallwark, the most recent victor of Punishment Soccer.  V'stalu claims that Barkeep's constant desire for peace defines him as mighty. After being bestowed with The Force Galactic by V'stalu / Croach in order to defeat Evil Jim, he sucks Evil Jim out of Jim's body so that Good Jim can shoot and kill Evil Jim. The Barkeep then brings Pemily Stallwark, Chicky Sullivan, and Miles Kaward back to life, returns Sparks Nevada and The Red Plains Rider back to their proper place in the galaxy from the wormhole they had been trapped in, and restores his saloon to its former glory.

In Wanted Men, Sparks Nevada has the Barkeep attempt to expel The Force Galactic, as he doesn't trust having such a powerful thing neaby when he believes The Red Plains Rider is about to have his baby.  The Barkeep expels much of the force out of his chest into a wormhole, where it now rests in some other part of the galaxy.  However, it is later revealed in Free Kicks that he was unable expel all of the Force Galactic, probably because of its "limitless power".  The Barkeep still uses the force in small doses, mostly to see into the future and predict the results of the games he coaches for a youth league soccer team.

The Barkeep is invited to Croach's Surprise Event baby shower in Station Break, which Croach throws after Sparks becomes despondent and depressed after learning that The Red Plains Rider's baby is not his, but was actually a Jupiter Spy.  Croach had then announced that he, too, was fertilized and believed the fertilizer to be Sparks Nevada, who was not ready prepared for such an event.  The Barkeep helps Croach finish setting up for the party, encourages Sparks to appreciate Croach, and to fight back when Alloy Roy's gang of robot outlaws attacks the marshal station.

At a later unknown time, probably after Free Kicks and before Sheriff on Mars, the Barkeep was elected Mayor of Mars.  He ran on a platform of no trouble in his town.  He uses this authority to prevent Sparks Nevada and Croach from leaving town until a Sheriff can be appointed in their absence as they wish to help the Red Plains Rider pass her trials of B’at-mit zvah.  He creates a quick-draw competition and invites several people to participate, while in the end Bill Clover wins the competition and is declared Sheriff.  He also uses The Force Galactic resurrect Felton, who had been inadvertently shot and killed by The Widow Johnson.

In Dinner and a Groovy, Mordecai and Harriet invite The Red Plains Rider, Sparks Nevada and Croach the Tracker over for a dinner party with a three-fold purpose.  First, to celebrate Red completing her martian maturation ritual in Wild Wild Quest.  Second, to introduce Sparks to Ginny West, Harriet's new troubleshooter partner.  Third, to lure a Pleasure Being to the Jiminy home in order to infect the Pleasure Being with a cure to the Pleasure Being Virus.  Mordecai is allowed to use The Force Galactic in the house to communiate the plan to Sparks, Croach and Red telepathically after the Pleasure Being, Fondal, arrives.  After Harriet and Ginny save everyone from the Pleasure Being, Harriet gives Mordecai permission to use The Force Galactic to make burgers and ice cream to celebrate Red's accomplishments.

In Cosmic Sans, the Barkeep admits to sometimes using his space powers to set things in a "better" order, such as rearranging the light the stars gives over Mars into rows and columns, and nudging sentient live to evolve and become excellent gardeners. He also admits to creating parallel alternate universes where his friends make different choices, or have different genders, or are all friends in High School together, in order to help cure his writer's block. Because of this, The Galaxium sends a representative, Harold, to take Barkeep's powers and give them to another of Mars' heroes -- Sparks, Croach, Red or Ginny in order to avert another Force Galactic wielding being from eating all of Mars. In the end, while the heroes are arguing who should get the powers, The Barkeep speaks to Keith Gonzalez, the Worldivore, takes Keith's powers and sends him back to Earth. Harold takes both the Barkeep's powers and Keith's powers from the Barkeep before returning to the Galaxium, leaving him a normal human once again.

When Pemily Stallwark and The Red Plans Rider were temporarily sent to an alternate universe in Crisis on Infinite Marses part 1, they encountered a version of the Barkeep (played by Mark McConville), who didn't look quite the same and was not a gossip.

Appearances[]

Non-Canonical Appearances[]

Mentions[]

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