Gordon Tuzo Sisyphus Ranger, better known as Ranger Gord (Peter Keleghan), is a forest ranger who spends almost all of his time in his fire watchtower. While he firmly believes that he is working hard and sacrificing his life to protect the citizens of Possum Lake, in reality he has never once received a paycheck for his work. He is well aware of this fact, but he persists in his job anyway, believing that Smokey the Bear was talking specifically to him when he said "Only you can prevent forest fires." This initial event in his career caused him to skip going to medical school, a decision which Red points out may have in fact saved quite a few lives.
Whether by a sense of obligation or the kindness of his heart, Red frequently visits Gord at his watchtower to check up on him. It is through these segments that much of Gord's bizarre personality is revealed. For example, in the many years he's spent alone there, Gord has been struck by lightning multiple times and has gone pretty much insane though there's probably little connection between these two events. He is prone to unpredictable and extreme mood swings, often bursting into tears during Red's visits making Red very uncomfortable, and he has an extreme need for attention and companionship in the watchtower, to the point that he has invented quite a few imaginary friends and attempts to hibernate during the winter. Gord also alternates between having a primal and somewhat unsettling interest in women and acting as though he has never seen one before. Despite all of this, he usually refuses to leave the tower when Red offers to let him stay at the Lodge for a little while; one of the only times Gord does leave is when Red has a lady for him to meet.
Starting in the ninth season, Ranger Gord produces a series of educational safety cartoons, in which he portrays himself as a muscle-bound super-hero type and Red and Harold as a possum and beaver, respectively. Each film, which he produces, directs, animates and voices entirely on his own, further strokes his already enormous ego.
In Duct Tape Forever, Gord has a new job running an office at the end of an unfinished railroad line, continuing his theme of working unpaid, dead-end jobs.
- Debut: The Big Inboard[needs verification]
- Final Episode: Cyber Girl[needs verification]
- Complete Filmography
Gord's profile
- Sex: Not an option
- Eye Color: Distant
- Addreses: Firetower #13 [early], Firetower #3 [later]. He had chewed two of the legs off of fire tower #13, then spent a season in Possum Lake then returned to a different tower (to the relief of the townsfolk).
- Weight: Forever
- Date of Birth: Arbor Day 1961
- Hair Color: Bark brown
Key Segments
Production Notes
In the first two seasons of the show, the watchtower segments were filmed in a tree house that was located in the backyard of Steve Smith's house in Hamilton, Ontario. From seasons three to six, the segment was shot at a real fire watchtower in Port Carling, Ontario. In the seventh and eighth seasons, Ranger Gord appeared in Possum Lodge, saying that he had eaten the front two legs of his tower and caused it to collapse. From the ninth season on, the watchtower segments were filmed in-studio with a live audience (previous segments had to be pre-recorded and the audience's reactions added later), except in the movie Duct Tape Forever, where Gord lived in an incomplete railroad station after his tower is destroyed again.