Junior

Junior is an alien, albeit a small one, created by the blue Alien who infected Tucker. It became vital to Omega's plot in Season 5. It is voiced by Jason Saldaña.Template:Character Infobox

Role in Plot

Birth

Junior did not make a physical experience in season four but played a key role nonetheless. During Tucker, Caboose, Andy, The Alien, and Tex's trip on "The Great Journey," Tucker whines that the Alien is constantly standing over him while he sleeps. Tex disregards it as safeguarding the sword, while Caboose claims that the alien is either stealing the humans' sleeping technology to use against them or just stealing Tucker's breath. Upon returning to Blood Gulch, Tucker begins throwing up and becoming moody, much to Blue Team's and Andy's irritation.

After a while, Church decides to call Doc/O'Malley to find out what's wrong with Tucker. Upon investigating, Doc claims that Tucker is pregnant. This causes a lot of discourse among the Blue Team as Tucker protests it isn't his, Church claims it to be impossible, and Caboose is concerned about it being contagious and spreading to him. Tucker finally goes into labor and while dealing with Red Team, Church finds out from Andy that aliens can infect and impregnate humans with a parasitic embryo, though Church still believes the pregnancy to be impossible. Junior finally appears at the end of season four (though only in voice) saying "Honk, honk, Blarg!" in a high pitch voice similar to Tucker's.

Life at Blood Gulch

In Episode 78, Junior again appeared in voice only while it was wrecking the base after Doc fed it half a gallon of Caboose's own blood, shouting high pitched Honks and Blarghs. It's first visual appearance was in Episode 80 as a mini version of an Elite with teal and blue armor. Church frequently tells himself that he will kill Junior but never does anything aggressive to it besides these threats. Church also frequently talks about it being gross, despite it never having done anything remotely disgusting. Tucker only reacts to either of these tendencies once and quickly blames it on hormones when he does.

Junior, who has grown larger, appears in Episode 91 with Tucker while Doc was "examining" Sister in Blue Base. As Tucker tries to sneak a view of Sister without her armor on, Junior continues to blarg and honk, slightly annoying Tucker. In Episode 94, Church, listening to a suggestion from Vic Jr. decides to launch an attack on Red Base. Church decides to send Junior, Doc, and Sister through the caves (again, per Vic Jr.'s suggestion), but Tucker decides to prepare Junior for the rest of his life. After giving Junior some "advice," Tucker finishes by telling Junior to "mix it up a little" with the girls. He then says Tex needs him and Church to back her up, following which Junior says "Bow-Chicka-Honk-Honk," a twist on Tucker's infamous catch phrase. Tucker says it's been handed down to Junior via genetics.

While in the caves, Junior, Doc, and Sister are captured by a Green Alien and Captain Flowers, previously thought dead but now possessed by Omega, before the Green Alien takes Junior to the ship during the final battle. In Episode 99, it's revealed that Junior is the "Alien race savior," who the antagonists planned to have controlled by O'Malley to take control of the Aliens and win the war. After Tex beats up Tucker and takes his sword, she ushers the two aliens into the crashed pelican. After infecting herself with Omega, Tex takes the ship to complete Omega's plan, but Andy detonates and blows up the ship, "scoring two for Red Team."

After the Crash

During Sheila's playback of her crash during Reconstruction: Chapter 5, Sheila notes that a hatch is opening, and Tex screams "Where are they going!?!" likely referring to Junior and the other alien, as no alien bodies were found near the crashed ship. It is revealed in Called Up that Junior did survive, and was with Tucker negotiating situations between aliens and humans but makes no appearance in the series. His status is currently unknown.

Behind the Scenes

Production

Junior was created using an unusual technique called forced perspective. According to the series creators in the extras of the Season 5 DVD set, Junior was filmed by having the Covenant player stand further away, while aiming the camera in such a way as to obscure the feet or pull focus away from ground. This causes the illusion that the alien and other characters (typically Tucker) were standing closer than they were, eliminating depth perception. While this technique worked most of the time, some shots were impossible without some digital editing.

Trivia

• A Season 5 deleted scene shows Sister babysitting Junior, where the relationship was shown to be much less positive, as she constantly screamed at him, locked him in a closet, and complained about having to feed him.
• How Junior obtained his armor is unknown, as he would (logically) be born nude. This is most likely due to limitations in the game engine as it is impossible to play as a nude Sangheili in Halo 2.
• Junior's armor color is a combination of his parents' color: teal (Tucker) with blue (Alien) trim.
• In the PSA, Let's All Go to the Movies, Junior attacks Simmons after the latter ordered him and Tucker to be quiet in an aggressive manner.
• Junior is mentioned by Tucker as being an ambassador in Called Up, proving that Junior survived the Pelican crash.
• Junior later appeared, along with Sister, in a Season 9 deleted scene, complaining about his exclusion from the season.