So what's up with Jeremy?

I dunno, I found him amusing as a kid... but I kinda wish they didn't overdo it with the J names. When I haven't watched it in a long while, I completely flake on who people are talking about, lol.

He plays a more important role in the book

Also, I really don't know what the point of the character was. He didn't even add anything to the plot.

I've always loved Jeremy. He's kind of supposed to be an annoying klutz, really; that's why Mrs Brisby gets rid of him to go and get string she knows they won't be using (I mean, the rats have rope. They don't need Jeremy's knitting).

In plot terms, he's basically the comic relief. But more broadly, with Jeremy, we get to see Mrs Brisby acting heroically at an early stage - instead of rushing home with the medicine, and even knowing that there's a cat nearby, she stops to help Jeremy when she sees him tangled up on the log. Essentially, he starts off as a damsel in distress for her to rescue.

It's the first sign the audience has of the dangerous world Mrs Brisby lives in; it introduces us to Dragon. It demonstrates her character and how much she's willing to go through for her kids.

Also, without him, there's no way she'd get to the owl.

And though it only now occurs to me, his reaction to the stone kind of mirrors Jenner's reaction and demonstrates the power it can have over people - just to see it seems to make people irrational and amplifies their greed. In Jeremy's case, it's greed for the girl he hasn't yet found; in Jenner's, it's lust for power. Other characters - Nicodemus, Justin, for example - aren't so ruled by their desires and so it doesn't have any hold on them. (Mrs Brisby's desire is simply to save her children, which with the stone's help, she does.)

I mean, no amount of plot function will change the fact that you find him irritating, obviously! But I do think he's necessary.

Oh, yes, if a pig comes by Castle Dracula on a Tuesday, playing a banjo…