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March 3, 2009 1:00 PM

[MadScientistFilter]: Help me identify movies with evil doctor/mad scientist -type characters. Bonus points for weirdness. Dramatic or comedic, doesn't matter. Examples from television, books or plays also helpful. No suggestion too obvious (e.g. please recommend your favorite Dr. Frankenstein portrayal, even if you're just SURE we already thought of it). Bring on the evil genius!

A friend of mine has been cast as the 'mad scientist' character in a local play. He's looking for examples of memorable mad scientists in the movies, so he can both look for great ideas *and* avoid stereotypical movements/voices, etc.

FWIW, my friend is 6'3" and bald. So, no Einstein hair here. :)

Please, hivemind, help me help my friend!

posted by CitizenD to media & arts (53 comments total)

Dr. Horrible hits all of the stereotypes.
posted by saffry at 1:02 PM on March 3 [5 favorites]

+1 on Dr. Horrible.
posted by markblasco at 1:03 PM on March 3

I always wondered if the scientist from the The Thing From Another World was the ur-mad scientist for subsequent film depections.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:04 PM on March 3

Dr. Forrester.
posted by Bernt Pancreas at 1:04 PM on March 3

Dr. Strangelove
Young Frankenstein
Dr. Evil (Austin Powers)
posted by chrisamiller at 1:05 PM on March 3

The Black Hole.
posted by Ironmouth at 1:05 PM on March 3

Back to the Future - not evil... but Doc's got a cool look.
posted by cranberrymonger at 1:07 PM on March 3

Mr. Show's Dr. X Doomsday Telethon.
posted by scody at 1:07 PM on March 3

The Invisible Man (1933, Claude Rains version)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 1:07 PM on March 3

Dr. Horrible is to ... human.

For weirdness, see the Robot Chicken intros (after the wild-haired guy straps the chicken down to watch TV). I'm blanking on the name, but his assistant is Steve. As with most of Robot Chicken, it's pretty weird.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:11 PM on March 3

The original version of The Fly. I guess the Goldblum remake would be okay, too.
posted by scarykarrey at 1:12 PM on March 3

The bad guy in The Incredibles
posted by delmoi at 1:13 PM on March 3

Professor Jerry Hathaway from Real Genius.
posted by Seppaku at 1:15 PM on March 3

I always wondered if the scientist from the The Thing From Another World was the ur-mad scientist for subsequent film depections.

Rotwang in Metropolis pre-dates that by nearly a quarter-century.

And as always, TV Tropes provides many examples.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:16 PM on March 3

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
High Anxiety
Hollow Man. Other invisible Man movies also work.
Spiderman 2 (and maybe 1 too)
Does The Fly fit your definition?
Various Frankenstein films.
Some Bond films, depending on where you judge scientist ends and industrialist begins.
posted by biffa at 1:16 PM on March 3

Professor Farnsworth! He's bumbling and lovable, but seems to have no qualms about creating killer robots and monstrous creatures, and thinks of his underlings as wholly expendable. He also ruefully commiserates with an NRA representative about the difficulties of obtaining doomsday devices: ("Today the mad scientist can't get a doomsday device, tomorrow it's the mad grad student"). He's essentially an evil mad scientist portrayed as a kindly grandfather.
posted by Greg Nog at 1:17 PM on March 3

Professor Frink?
posted by Bernt Pancreas at 1:20 PM on March 3

Dr. Weird from Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Dr. Praetorius from From Beyond
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:21 PM on March 3

(ok, i know it's kinda weird to answer my own question, but your comments have just triggered 2 other memories that i don't want to forget:

-the 'bad guy' in "Time Bandits" (who turned his underling into a pig, etc)
-Jekyll and Hyde: Together Again)


This is FABULOUS, mefites! Thank you SO MUCH. And, keep 'em coming!
posted by CitizenD at 1:24 PM on March 3

What, no mention of The Mekon?
posted by Grrlscout at 1:24 PM on March 3

Dr. Herbert West of the ReAnimator films (and Lovecraft short story) would do nicely.
posted by bookwo3107 at 1:34 PM on March 3

The always entertaining anime Bleach has the awesomely bizarre and just effing creepy Mayuri Kurotsuchi. A Google image search for that name might give you some very unorthodox ideas as far as the "mad scientist look" could go.
posted by Iosephus at 1:36 PM on March 3

Dr. Giggles (I just re-watched this one and it is great!)
Dr. From Re-Animator
Psychologist Dr. Decker from Nightbreed
Dr. Ted Fisher from Day of the Dead
Doogie Houser M.D. was pretty weird too.
Dr. Spaceman from 30 Rock is kind of funny/weird.
posted by sharkhunt at 1:39 PM on March 3

All my favorite examples were taken. So I feel I should point out that most "mad scientists" are actually just mad engineers. (via cowbirdsinlove)
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 1:41 PM on March 3

duh, professor Hubert J. Farnsworth from Futurama
and the crazy doc from Cannonball Run
posted by sharkhunt at 1:46 PM on March 3

You can't get many more bonus points for weirdness than with Dr. Frank N. Furter
posted by tdismukes at 1:48 PM on March 3

Rotwang in Metropolis pre-dates that by nearly a quarter-century.

There's also Dr. Caligari, who predates Rotwang by a few years. (Don't know if his thinning pate puts him in or out of the "no Einstein hair" category, however. He does usually wear a stovepipe hat, if that helps.)
posted by scody at 1:49 PM on March 3

Although already listed (deeply) in the TVTropes link above, webcomic Girl Genius has pretty much nothing but mad scientists, including the titular character.
posted by elendil71 at 2:07 PM on March 3

All three of the "Spy Kids" movies.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:13 PM on March 3

Bald? Sounds like Dr. Cyclops to me.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 2:19 PM on March 3

Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove
Clyde Crashcup from The Alvin Show
posted by lampoil at 2:24 PM on March 3

My hands-down favorite mad scientist is Randy Quaid as Elijah C. Skuggs in Freaked. He's comedic, but scary.
posted by mattybonez at 2:29 PM on March 3

Professor Chromedome, from The Tick animated series.
posted by mogget at 2:41 PM on March 3

Real Genius was already mentioned, but apart from Professor Hathaway (who was not a very inspiring character) there are plenty of comedic mad scientist performances. I love this movie!
posted by sararah at 2:43 PM on March 3

Wikipedia has an overwhelming list, but here's ones I brainstormed up.

Dr. Crane from Batman Begins
Both Count Rugen and Miracle Max from the Princess Bride would count and are an example of Mad Science in a fantasy setting.
Dr. Drakken from Kim Possible is a nice distillation of spy-themed affably evil mad science types
The scientists from 12 Monkeys are some of my favorites
Actually, speaking of Gilliam, there's got to be stuff that's useful in Brazil
The scientist in City of Lost Children
Absolutely Dr. Finkelstein from Nightmare Before Christmas
Dr. Membrane and to a lesser degree most sciency characters in Invader Zim
Professor Utonium and maybe Mojo Jojo from Power Puff Girls
Dexter and Mandrake from Dexter's Lab
Dr. Venture from the Venture Brothers
Vincent Price in any role that is listed as Dr. Somebody
Bill Nye and Beakman for eccentric real-science tv show personas
Troy Hurtubise, the inventor of anti-bear protective armor among other things, can be seen in a few interviews and documentaries and is fairly eccentric.
Nikolai Tesla
Dr. Hoenikker from Cat's Cradle is too good a literary example not to mention

I'd be remiss not to mention some video game ones too, even if they're not as helpful:
Dr. Robotnic from Sonic
Dr. Wily and Dr. Light from Megaman
Dr. Fluke Hawkins from MDK
Dr. Cortex from Crash Bandicoot
Obscure, but Dr. Cranium from Quest For Glory 4 is a very amusing Frankenstein knock-off
The scientists in the Half-Life series tend to enthusiastically abuse Science! but aren't exactly mad.
Stretching the definition a bit, but the System Shock/Bioshock series are full of mad science, particularly Shodan.

Finally, anime in general is teeming with mad science, but the only ones I'd feel remiss not to mention are Washu from Tenchi Muyo! and Desty Nova from Battle Angel Alita. On further consideration, the scientists in Akira too for being particularly unethical/irresponsible.
posted by CheshireCat at 2:47 PM on March 3

Just for variety, I like the 'We're scientists and everyone else is mad' theme to be found with Bernard Quatermass especially in Quatermass And The Pit, aka Five Million Years To Earth
posted by lumpenprole at 2:57 PM on March 3

Gene Wilder in The Fearless Vampire Killers- full of wacky, demented evil.
posted by Piscean at 3:04 PM on March 3

The trio of nerds (Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew) from Buffy.
posted by natabat at 3:26 PM on March 3

Dr. No
The Nazi dentist from Running Man
Several characters from Bioshock (VG)

And in Star Wars IV, the guy who messes with Luke in the cantina scene, and gets his arm chopped off in the process, is technically a scientist who performs...experiments. The "Death sentences on twelve systems" is because of that.
posted by world b free at 3:29 PM on March 3

Conan Doyle's Professor James Moriarty. Not so much the freaky mad scientist, but pretty much the consummate evil genius.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 3:38 PM on March 3

The Nazi dentist from Running Man

I think you mean Laurence Olivier's role in Marathon Man.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:53 PM on March 3

The icy calm of Jeremy Irons (playing identical twin gynecologists) in David Cronenbergs 1988 "Dead Ringers" might work.
posted by glasskey at 4:01 PM on March 3

"Mystery Men" has bizarre, wacky, demented evil and great fun.
posted by JimN2TAW at 4:08 PM on March 3

Couldn't resist adding one more suggestion, which is that Christopher Walken is great mad scientist material. He specifically plays one in Blast from the Past, and in the remake of the Stepford Wives (which is terrible), but even roles like the con-artist father in Catch Me If You Can or the music producer Bruce Dickinson from the Blue Oyster Cult SNL skit have that borderline-genius quality to them that could be easily mined for ideas.
posted by CheshireCat at 4:33 PM on March 3

Rotti Largo from Repo! The Genetic Opera
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:03 PM on March 3

Prison-A-Go-Go! has a mad scientist, a porcupine, a women's prison, borscht, and ninjas. The funniest/best intentionally-bad movie I've ever seen.
posted by knile at 5:19 PM on March 3

Vincent Price has played many a fine mad man. Just go to his IMDB page and put in "doctor" for mad men genius. I am a fan of his Dr. Phibes.
posted by jadepearl at 5:34 PM on March 3

The only one I can think of that hasn't yet been mentioned is The Brain, from Pinky and the Brain.
posted by keep it under cover at 7:28 PM on March 3

Dr Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), and to a lesser extent both Dr Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Dr Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), from Ghost Busters. Perhaps less 'evil mad AHA AHAHAHAHAHA!' scientists, as 'random and unexpected' scientists, but still wonderful portrayals nonetheless.
posted by planetthoughtful at 10:13 PM on March 3

A miracle of science has mad science as a memetic disease. If it is applicable to the play, it could give more depth to the character's struggles.
posted by Tobu at 3:39 AM on March 4

Mel Brooks' character in the original The Muppet Movie.
posted by parabola01 at 5:17 AM on March 4

As a great homage to 50's-era B-movies, with both good and evil scientists, you should definitely check out The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

Also, the book Soon I will be Invincible is told from the Super Vililan/Mad Genius perspective.
posted by FreezBoy at 5:53 AM on March 4

the Dr. in the Brain that Wouldn't die was good and cliche'. and the weirdo guy who sucked out the pus from Baron Harkonen in Dune was amusingly psycho.... small part though
posted by Redhush at 1:04 PM on March 4