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Favorite Film Scientists?
theodp asks: "From Rotwang in Fritz Lang's Metropolis to Wallace the Engineer in last year's Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Slate notes that scientists have long been a staple of the movies. So who are some of the more memorable scientist characters from your movie-going?"
One of the wost movies ever made but he set a standard for chewing on the furniture performances.
Dr Frankenstein
Dr Evil
Dr Jeckyl
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
*NM*
..Cristopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy.
The gift of death metal does not smile on the good looking.
The guy from Back to the Future without a doubt. They can safely archive this discussion right now, I think.
"I thought Christmush only comesh onesh a yeaar." Oh wait. That's the wrong James Bond.
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
Dr. Strangelove of course
There, I've said it.
Doc Brown and his gigawatts!
You can't take the sky from me...
The Charles Laughton version, Island of Lost Souls. It scared me to death when I was a kid watching it on Creature Feature.
Is there anyone more memorable?
Dr Forrester.
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
Emmett Brown!!
Doc Brown:
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit."
Let's hear another scientist top that quote.
Quotes:
"Back off man!...... I'm a scientist".
or....
"Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are. "
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
A: Q.
Not only was he sexier than Bond, he was the inventor of all the cool gadgets we saw in the movies.
Tom Cruise... oh wait... Scientist. Nevermind.
Jeff Goldblum, no contest.
A blog about stuff.
Of course, the real heros are engineers.
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
Dr. Strangelove.
Truly a visionary. He's always been an inspiration to me.
-Donald Rumsfeld
Gotta go with Chris Knight...
-l
My only true hero - Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown.
In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep.
Martial artist, particle physicist, brilliant neurosurgeon, and hard rockin' pop star!
P.S. Yeah, I replied to my own comment about my other fave, hey, I love these characters : )
You can't take the sky from me...
Farscape: John Creighton, in the Indiana Jones of space cowboys sense.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
Immediately coming to mind is Dr. Carrington, the misguided scientist in the 1951 version of "The Thing." (AKA The Thing From Another World).
He was the prototype for the scientist who, in the face of mortal danger, insists -- "Don't harm it! It is of a higher intelligence than us! We must REASON with it!" Then gets skewered/dismembered/eaten/all of the above.
- Alaska Jack
Dr. Emmet Brown, THE film scientist nut.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 mph) = 30 757 874 newtons
I'd also like to suggest Val Kilmer's Chris Knight in Real Genius.
"Who are you today, Doc? Einstein?"
"Lord John Worfin. If there's one thing I hate, it's to be mistaken for somebody else."
Lump lingered last in line for brains, and the ones she got were sorta rotten and insane.
Don't remember his name...
Dr. Moreau
The insect egghead in the giant-ant invading movie THEM!
3 things about computers: they're alive, they're self-aware, and they hate your guts.
Frankinstien
:/
yes hes the scientist and not the monster, and no i dont know how to spell check
- http://www.milkme.co.uk
A yes, Real Genius, truly a classic, everyone should own at least two copies: One for your home, and one for your laser lab.
The top of my list is Baron von Frankenstein... as portrayed by Gene Wilder.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
In No Highway in the Sky . Very dated, very classic, but also very much worth the effort to watch. The book of nearly the same name ( No Highway ) was written by Nevil Shute, himself a real engineer and it very much worth the read.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Dr. Ian Malcolm: There. Look at this. See? See? I'm right again. Nobody could've predicted that Dr. Grant would suddenly, suddenly jump out of a moving vehicle.
Dr. Ellie Sattler: Alan? Alan!
[Jumps out of the vehicle]
Dr. Ian Malcolm: There's, another example. See, here I'm now by myself, uh, er, talking to myself. That's, that's chaos theory.
...from Forbidden Planet...of course.
Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
Dr Buckaroo Banzai and his arch nemesis Dr Emilio Lizardo
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
A subject matter expert in everything specializing in time travel. Picking up hot chicks Hey baby want to see my TARDIS? for companionship down the ages. How cool was that, sometimes even doubling up with the companions.
Dr. Peter Venkman
Dr. Raymond Stantz
Dr. Egon Spengler
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
Was it the one where you're dressed in sort of Sun God robes, and a thousand naked women are throwing little pickles at you?
Why am I the only one who has that dream?
Lump lingered last in line for brains, and the ones she got were sorta rotten and insane.
But I'm curious to know it Frank-N-Furter is going to appear in this article.
\u262D = \u5350
OK, TV not film, but a great effort: http://imdb.com/title/tt0078037/
He's only known as The Doctor.
The show has been running for nearly forty three years, and we've stll not been told the lead character's name.
RJG.
Doc Forbin, builds and subsequently fights his own "brilliant" operating system in "Colossus: The Forbin Project". Reminds me of every day in App Maintenance.
crazy dynamite monkey
Oh please - he's an anti-scientist and only takes roles that demonize scientists as dark, obscessive semi-evil men (like the Fly) or condescendingly lecture us about made-up evils of scientific research(Jurassic Park). He's one of the few actors I will actively NOT go to a movie specifically because he is in it.
Spiderman or Hulk are examples of scientists that were not even hinted here. Withouth even leaving the comics area, Batman could qualify as scientist too (bah, in last movie he delegated his scientist abilities to people that looked more like ones).
Science fiction and terror movies (good, old, bad or new) have also very good chances of having someone that enters in that category, so there are plenty of chars to choose on in that kind of fields.
If is to pick an actor think Jeff Goldblum could be it. He did good roles in some of scientific roles in The Fly, Jurassic Park or even Independence Day. But those are a few examples in the top of my head, i bet someone will put here better candidates.
Dr Bunsen's assistant. They must have appeared in at least one of the muppet movies.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Because your life is so disorganized. You should be more like me.
For example, this post is classified under "S" for "Toy".
barack to the future?
Dr. Eleanor Arroway from Contact.
Actual user of the scientific method and all-around skeptic.
Definitely John Lithgow as Lord John Whorfin aka Dr. Emilio Lizardo! It takes a dedicated mad scientist to attack aligator clips to his own tongue.
http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/gernsback/207 /front5a.jpg
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
Mark Blankfield .... Jekyll and Hyde
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084171/
You are all a bunch of idots.
While Data (ST:TNG) isn't a scientist, certainly Dr. Noonian Soong is. Another very memorable scientist Spiner protrayed was the Area 51 scientist from Independence Day, Dr. Okun: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/
But I always thought UNIT's scientific advisor, Dr. John Smith was pretty sharp.
Of course these days UNIT's star is waning with gung-ho unilateral organisations like Torchwood getting all the funding...
Matthew.
Definitely Kate Beckinsale as the brilliant nymphomaniac physicist who can't willingly keep her clothes on in... oh wait, that's my fantasy ... Probably make one hell of a movie though.
Okay then, I guess it's gotta be Doctor Emmett Brown and his sidekick, Dr. Delorian.
"09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0"
Okay, more than one there. But the scientists collectively provide a great illustration of the ethical dilemmas that scientists are faced with in their profession.
The moral of the movie (and the book) could probably be stated as, "We were so busy wondering if we could do it, we never stopped to ask if we should do it." But there were massive institutional problems in a few places as well: (1) the failure of the park designers to listen to certain employees, (2) over-confidence in procedure and technology, (3) a disgruntled employee sabotaging the park because he felt he was unappreciated and could make more money doing so, and (4) the park owner/manager deciding to place the park outside of the U.S. to avoid regulation and to protect intellectual property (IP).
There were also some problems managing risks: (1) not being able to see that "nature will find a way" and allow the all-female dinos to change gender (relatively common in fact in reptiles, amphibians and simple life forms), and (2) failure to see a need for a boat to get off of the island (!).
The movie is actually an example of everything that could possibly go wrong with a well-intentioned science project, with scientists playing the roles of both agonist and antagonist.
If I had to choose just one of the characters, though, my favorite would be Dr. Alan Grant, played by Sam Neill. He probably had the lead roll, and it is easy to identify with him.
Why? For one of my favorite lines in all of film: "Sorry, Venkman, I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought."
See, like a true scientist, even when a epic global disaster is about to take place in front of him and his death is imminent, he says something coherent and explanatory. He even apologizes!
mahlen
Pris: "Must get lonely in here".
...ok...gotta go watch it.
JF: "Not really. I make friends. They're toys. My friends are toys. I make them."
JF Sebastian the Genetic Designer from Blade Runner. He's kind of a sad guy who is banned from the Off-World Coloney because he suffers from accelerated decrepitude. He works for the Tyrell Corporation, specifically on the Nexxus 6, and lives in an abandonded hotel on Earth.
"1187 Huntervasser"
- "It's where I live"
"What?"
- "The hotel, it's where I live."
"Nice place?"
- "Yeah sure I guess".
Love it.
-- A cat is no trade for integrity!
Buckaroo Banzai in
"The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension"
of course.
The Inventor of Carbonated Beer
Badass Resumes
Doctor Who all the way. "Reverse the polarity" is one of the iconic phrases of a generation of SF fans.
Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further development.-- Frontinus, 1st cent. AD
Has everyone forgotten him?
Jennifer Love Hewitt as a government environmental researcher in The Tuxedo
She had a PhD anyway. And I had a crush on her. She wins!
Aura: "I've changed."
Prince Barin: "I've changed too, Aura"
Zarkoff: "Hah! I knew it was a prime number from the Zeiman series! I haven't changed..."
Cheers,
Ian
Silly. It should be favorite FICTIONAL scientist, not film scientist... then I could say:
Dexter,
Brain,
and
Professor Frink
Samantha Carter
[Insert pithy quote here]
For me, it's a tough call between Buckeroo Banzai and Chris Knight. For sheer brilliance, obviously it's Buckeroo, but for personality - Knight all the way.
For the person who mentioned Dr. Forbin - gimme a break! The guy got outsmarted by his own invention. That's never cool.
And pretty much the same goes for Professor Falken - it took the hacker kid to figure out how to defeat it. That WOPR didn't know the difference between a simulation and the real deal is a sad indictment of Falken's abilities. I mean really, flip a bit, bitch!
He strives for advancement.
"You know what this meteor could mean to science. It could mean actual advances in the field of science!"
Yet he knows in his scientist heart that there's more to the world around him.
"As a scientist I just wish I could appreciate more things like cabins... bicycles..."
UTF-8: There and Back Again
Janine Melnitz: You're very handy, I can tell. I bet you like to read a lot, too. Dr. Egon Spengler: Print is dead. Janine Melnitz: Oh, that's very fascinating to me. I read a lot myself. Some people think I'm too intellectual but I think it's a fabulous way to spend your spare time. I also play raquetball. Do you have any hobbies? Dr. Egon Spengler: I collect spores, molds, and fungus.
who knew archeology was so dramatic?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
...Captain Barrett Coldyron, in charge of the R.O.T.O.R. taskforce.
"Who are we who create such a thing?" he asks. "Heroes and villains?"
Mr. Spock, science officer of the USS Enterprise.
His objectivity, intellect, and curiosity made him the quintessential scientist.
(Okay, he's mostly a TV character, but he appeared in his share of movies.)
I know it's not the "favorite," but Gregory Peck's portrayal of Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele in The Boys From Brazil was a good portrayal of a nasty mad scientist in quite a disturbing film...
(It also has Sir Laurence Olivier as a Nazi hunter...)
$ touch
Favorite Mad Scientist?
Winner: Dr. Evil
Favorite Scientist?
Winner: Einstein
Is Dr. Spock. Or T'Pol.
My favorite movie scientists are both from "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra". Dr. Paul Armstrong is a close second, but Roger Fleming is cooler becuase he's evil. Some choice quotes to demonstrate their brilliance:
Dr. Paul Armstrong: Betty, you know what this meteor could mean to science. It could mean actual advances in the field of science.
Dr. Paul Armstrong: Dinner was delicious, honey. Keep cooking like that an I won't even be able to move, let alone do science.
Betty Armstrong: That'd suit me fine Mr. Meteor.
Dr. Paul Armstrong: Ouch, that hurt. Tomorrow let's say you and I go searching for our rocky glowing radioactive friend from space... together.
Dr. Roger Fleming: I've got to get that meteor but how? How? There must be a way inside that cabin. Think! Think! Cabin... cabin... cabin.
Dr. Roger Fleming: Ever since I was a child, I've been hated by skeletons!
And my favorite:
Ranger Brad: Oh, say...You don't believe those old legends about the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, do you?
Dr. Roger Fleming: Ranger Brad, I'm a scientist. I don't believe in anything.
www.lostskeleton.com !!
You know, the one pronounced Fronkensteen
Dr. Gaius Baltar from the new BSG has rapidly become a favorite of mine. He's such a weasel and so much fun (and exhausting) to watch!
The problem with the way scientists are depicted in movies is that they are Hollywood stereotypes. They know little or nothing about what science really is. An exception is Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) in Contact. I cannot think of any other movies that depict scientists as people who love science - real science, not the glamorous or nefarious hobby that it is for Hollywood.
This is one of my favorite engineer exchanges in movies, from "No Way Out," 1987, with Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, and Sean Young. A computer is crunching away at a bad photograph which when enhanced will incorrectly incriminate Costner in the death of Sean Young's character. He estimates that he has only a few hours to find the true killer before the photo is legible. The following exchange takes place. (Compare and contrast this with absolutely every other movie and TV show in which a photograph can be zoomed indefinitely by simply clicking on the interesting part, or can be immediately enhanced by the geek of the day with only a few key strokes (never a mouse) upon directions from a superior such as, "Can you make it clearer?")
- What do you want me to do?
- Slow up the resolution on that picture.
I need more time, Sam. I need more time to get this straightened out.
That's what I need.
I'm not satisfied with the way this is coming up. The eigenvalue is off.
Looks all right to me.
We're pulling away from our reference information. Program a Fourier transform.
- That seems like a waste of time.
- Just do what I want, OK?
What is it?
A penis-stretcher.
gone to 8 years of school so he could be Dr. Spock!
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Peter Sellers in Kubrik's dr. Strangelove.
-- No Sig is a Good Sig
Professor Farnsworth...
a crotchety old man with a taste for Teriyaki.
Dr. Acula is my favorite doctor.
She gave us all hope that cold fusion was possible and that there could be physicists who look like Elisabeth Shue.
"Well, I don't work alone. There's a lot of stuff in there I don't even understand. I'm really a systems management man. I farm bits and pieces out to guys who are much more brilliant than I am. I say 'Build me a laser this, design me a molecular analyzer that,' and they do, and I just stick 'em together. But none of them knows what the project really is. So..."
- The Fly
--- These are not words: wierd, genious, rediculous
No, not that one, this one:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046534/
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
... comes to mind. (FUTURAMA, "A big Ball of Garbage")
Have none of you been to the Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Dr. Emmett Brown
Great Scott!
"Flee at once, all is discovered."
The creator of the replicants was one of the most fascinating movie scientists ever shown on the bigscreen. He was utterly amoral and less human than his ceations.
With a line like "What great knockers!" how can you go wrong.
first place for me would be:
Dr. Daniel P. Schreber
(played by Keifer Sutherland in Dark City)
Honorable mentions would be:
Dr. Evil & Dr. Stranglove
Dr. Jean Grey from X-Men. If only real scientists looked like that *sigh*
Sarah Connor: Dyson listened while the Terminator laid it all down: Skynet, Judgment Day, the history of things to come. It's not everyday you hear that you're responsible for 3 billion deaths. He took it pretty well.
Miles Dyson: I feel like I'm gonna throw up.
Freeman Lowell, from Silent Running. And of course his assistants, Huey, Dewie and Louie.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Yes. TV.
Yes. Animated.
We all have our heroes.
Or Mr. Wizard...
Humorless sig goes here.
Doc Brown, but I'm a big Egon fan.
You are so boring that when I see you my feet go to sleep.
Come on, we all know it's David Levinson. Who else could possibly take over an alien mothership with an Apple laptop? I've tried. It's hard.
From 'The Incredibles'
"This is a hobo suit, darling. You can't be seen in this. I won't allow it. "
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
What!? Well, fair enough, but (althought the film wasn't, erm, the greatest), Dr. Chase Meridian certainly was.
:-)
Dark moody lighting, pale skin and red lipstick framed by her hair.. I'll better go turn the shower to the 'cold' setting...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misfits_of_Science
Although I suspose now that I think about it, technically they weren't 'scientists' but rather merely misfits.
Dr. Herbert West, from ReAnimator. He will rock your world. You have to dig back, though; the movie is over 20 years old!!
It takes one hell of an engineer/scientist to produce a virus for alien technology never seen before and create a mac to alien computer protocol in such short time
Does the said character have to have an advanced degree and be primarily employed as a "scientist" or just pursue scientific reasoning and methods in their approach to things?
If it's the latter, then I'd have to say Batman, despite Homer Simpson's surprise...
AND NOBODY ELSE !!!!
No one will best the scientist image that character presented forever !
Splendid character in all respects !
1 GIGAWATTS 1 GIGAWATTSS ??? OH MY GODDDD !!!!
Read radical news here
Far and away Dr. Bunsen.
Gyro Gearloose (Ok, he's an engineer, so what?)
The Brain
Lt. Col. Samantha Carter (they will do another Stargate movie, right?)
Dr. Frank-N-Furter
And purely for looks, Dr. Christmas Jones
Ray Milland from "X - The Man With the X-Ray Eyes". This is by far Roger Corman's best film, and Milland totally rules in it. It's the same old scientific conundrum - just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.
Also, Kurt Russell & Keith David in Carpenter's "The Thing". I guess they weren't really scientists, but they were stationed at a research facility, so I think they should count. Plus Russell gets to experiment on people, so that has to count for something. . .
I humbly submit:
Hell, you could probably take half a dozen other quotes from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
Of course, Real Genius had some great lines too.
http://www.godamongdirectors.com/scripts/young.sht ml
Dr. Cal Meacham played by Rex Reason in "This Island Earth". Without a doubt the model by which all cool and sophisticated scientists will be judged, and found wanting, 'till the end of time. Plus we get to see Gilligan's 'Professor' get blowed up in the movie. ...Coward
My vote goes to Lord John Whorfin, of Yoyodyne. I like him more than Chistopher Lloyd's BTTF Emmett Brown. The Brown character was just written a little too "nutty"... the "wild contraption" type.
With Whorfin, he was actually working with another scientist on something, which makes him seem less like a lone crackpot and more like he just "turned evil".
Professor Farnsworth is awesome, no matter what that hack Wernstrom says.
This Island Earth
Lots of plot!
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
KENT!
I do not accept czechs.
The professor from Gilligan's Island. When I was a kid, that's what a scientist was like.
He knew nearly everything except how to get them off the island. He was a social misfit, still everyone respected him because of his high intelligence.
Don't forget the guy from the "Blinded me with Science" video.
Bryce Lynch. The creator of my all time favorite 80's scifi chatacter, Max Headroom!
Hands down the illest ventriloquist this side of the Mississippi River, Hah!
Why it would most certainly have to be the diabolical Dr. Clayton Forrester. I mean the one from MST3K not his namesake from the original War of the Worlds film.
And if you make the argument that he was not a FILM scientist, I'll make the argument that you misread my second sentence where I clearly state it's the WotW Dr. Forrester I'm talking about.
Mr. T pitied this fool on 27 July 1992.
Dr. Stephen Falken*. :-)
* which Stephen Hawking was asked to play, but declined. Hence his character name anyway.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
From Disneys 20000 leagues under the sea. He got the character exactly right and he is an interesting character indeed. Driven by a hatred of mankind and a technical genius. I for one would like to buy that man a drink!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044876/
Alec Guinness as a geeky scientist who invents something that will ruin several industries and upset many worker's lives. Like many Scientists is is more concerned with the creation and problems to to be solved rather than the possible effects on society.
Runners up -the Kids in the Hall as scientists in Brain Candy
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116768/
From the Cartoon World I would have to say it's a 4-way tie between:
Professor Membrane (Invader Zim)
Doctor Venture (Venture Bros)
Dexter (Dexter's Laboratory)
Professor Utonium (PowerPuff girls)
-What's the speed of Dark?
Dr Frankenfuter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. ... What more can you sk for then Tim Curry in fishnets and high heels ?
Transvestite from Transexual Transylvania
I was scrolling down and was surprised that I was almost to the bottom before someone mentioned Dr. West.
Dr. West last appeared in Beyond Re-Animator in 2003.
the same thing we do every night, Pinky... try to take over the world!
henry -- the human evolution news relay
I like any movie in which Ann Heche, Bridget Fonda, or Laura Dern announces:
I'm the blonde scientist and I'm here to help!
I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Dish, especially since it was based on a true story... Hrm.
Hump? What hump?
...
...
Wow! What knockers!
So which brain did you get?
Abby.
Abby who?
Abby normal.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
Dr. Foot, in the movie HELP!
"With a ring like that I could, dare I say it, rule the world!"
Acutally, maybe I liked his side kick better...
Richard Dreyfuss as Matt Hooper; one of the most realistic scientists I've seen portrayed in film.
"I keep hoping for an epiphany... but all I seem to get are conundrums."
Dr. Strangelove! Possibly the maddest of all mad scientists and a brilliant character played by Peter Sellers.
Young Einstein, anyone?
Chris Knight:
"Moles and trolls, moles and trolls, work, work, work, work, work. We never see the light of day. We plan this thing for weeks and all they want to do is study. I'm disgusted. I'm sorry but it's not like me, I'm depressed. There was what, no one at the mutant hamster races and we had one entry into the Madame Curie look-alike contest and he was disqualified later. Why do I bother?"
and
"If you think that by threatening me you can get me to do what you want... Well, that's where you're right. But - and I am only saying that because I care - there's a lot of decaffeinated brands on the market that are just as tasty as the real thing."
Kevin Fox
I was going to eat that mummy!!!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068468/
from the muppets
The original 1920's Dr. Calligari is of course a classic and way ahead of his time as a Crazy Scientist:http://imdb.com/title/tt0010323/ It was also remade last year as: http://imdb.com/title/tt0441741/
The one that really takes the prize is his grandaughter though. The 1989 Dr. Calligari is WAY out (and up) there: http://imdb.com/title/tt0097228/
Mod parent up please, all the way to Vega, the local intergalactic hypertransport hub.
Milo O'Shea as Duran-Duran. Who could be really scientific or wicked with Jane Fonda wandering around in a see-through plastic bra?
I like her the most but that is probably from the series having been around for so long. Another good female character was Jodie Fosters in Contact. As far as men, certain the crazy doctor of the Back to The Future movies.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Lazlo Hollyfeld in Real Genius.
Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
Dr. Chistmas Jones (Denise Richards in The World is not Enough)
Dr. Who?
main mode of transportation: a british police box
favorite food: jelly babies
primary villian: can't manage stairs
has been known to hold a genuine argument/discussion with himself on several occasions
noted for knowing how to "think sideways"
only tool in his toolkit: sonic screwdriver
Doesn't that perfectly fit the bill?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Equal rights for animated characters! I nominate professor Utonium as he is the ultimate nice guy, if somewhat naive.
I notice that Rotwang's gloved fake hand seems reminiscent of Dr. Strangelove.
"sweet dreams are made of this..."
Anyone from the movie The Core, hands down
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298814/
The Man in the White Suit
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
In no particular order:
Seth Brundle (The Fly - newer version)
Ian Malcom (Jurassic Park)
Dr. Evil
Q
Professor Xavier
Otto Octavius
Rudy Welles (Six Million Dollar Man / Bionic Woman)
Dr. Frankenstein
and because this is Slashdot,
In Soviet Russia, favorite movie scientist picks you!
The prototypical brilliant scientist and the owner and inventor of Flash Gordon's spaceship, on which he and Dale Arden travelled the universe, and specifically to the planet Mongo, where they engaged in battle with Ming the Merciless.
http://flashgordon.ws/zarkov.htm
You can pick which one, too. The War of the Worlds one or the MST3K one. Both rock.
If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
I think you may be the first person to praise Keifer Sutherland in Dark City.
Reminds me of a monitoring program I found once that would hook up various indicators -- free memory, disk I/O, network access, CPU usage, website hits, etc. -- to different sounds and mix them together. IIRC they were mostly ambient nature sounds. Wind through trees, running water, etc. As each stat increased, the volume of the associated sound would increase, so if your server normally sounded like one of those desktop fountains you could pick up at Sharper Image, a Slashdotting would sound like Niagra Falls.
The one movie scientist who came up with the best idea ever
[Strangelove's plan for post-nuclear war survival involves living underground with a 10:1 female-to-male ratio]
General "Buck" Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?
Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious... service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.
Ambassador de Sadesky: I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.
The scientist in Stalker.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0079944/
Buckaroo Banzai is the all time best film "scientist" ever to grace the cult movie scene. Although "Mr. Wizard was a real scientist" too!
He forgot it was about the science, man.
Everyone knows its about walking up to tornadoes naked and chuckin' whiskey bottles at it.
I HAVE CUBIC WISDOM THAT TRANSCENDS AND CONTRADICTS ONE DAY GODS
By far Dr. Strangelove. Peter Sellers is an amazing actor (also the president & british officer in the movie) in "Dr. Strangelove or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb". Favorite Quote: "Deterrence is the art of producing in the enemy the fear of attack".
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Strangelove?
Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!
For me it's gotto be Ed Harris as Gene Kranz Apollo 13. There's the moment when they're trying to figure out how much fuel the ship has remaining and Kranz shouts "work the problem" and this bank of 10 engineers in mission control all whip out their slide rulers and start frantically calculating.
What I like it that it de-mythologizes the scientis/engineer, replacing crazy Alexander Lloyd with a buch of guys frantically doing math to solve a pressing problem.
In The World Is Not Enough, she happens to be a green-eyed nuclear scientist. Oops, wrong picture.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
He was so great. I forgot who played his part but I know that the same actor played several others in the same film :)
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
I'd have to agree with Doc Brown if i'm in a mood for coolness.
But if I'm in a human heterosexual male mood (typical), I may have to go with that blonde hotness scientist from Deep Blue Sea.
Don't know the character or actor's name since I only saw 15 minutes of the movie while in a waiting room lobby, but, damn.
I stole this sig from someone cleverer than me.
For me, it would have to be Professor Julius Sumner Miller.
Runner up: Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton in From Beyond)
Both Combs and Crampton were in both movies but Combs wasn't a Dr. in From Beyond where Crampton was and Crampton wasn't a Dr. in Re-Animator. I rate Combs top merely on the fact that I liked Re-Animator better, barely, than From Beyond, although Crampton was far better in Re-Animator :)
I'll have to go with either the original rock star physicist, Buckaroo Banzai, or perhaps Chris Knight, or Lazlo Hollyfield.
Okay, probably Chris Knight, I identify the most with him. "Another in a long series of distractions..." is a pretty good description of graduate student life!
Jim
The rappelling, renegade heating engineer from Brazil (1985).
Jeff Goldblum is my favorite movie psychic, not scientist. Although I would like to hire his Independence Day character to be in charge of our Mac installers at work.
As far as movie scientists are concerned, I always liked that group of scientists in Brainstorm (which I haven't seen in a long time). I've worked in real labs of several different sorts, and those guys still look like the real deal. Unlike most Hollywood "science" movies, which force their scientist characters into Frankenstein-inspired cliches, there were a few common mistakes that Brainstorm avoided with its scientist characters:
- No one scientist who works in isolation. This was a team of at least 3 scientists, like you'd find in real life. The two team leads who were the primary researchers shared credit equally as far as the film was concerned. The project was their baby.
- No "mad" scientist. Although one of them was played by Christopher Walken. Louise Fletcher's character I think was better written. She was the one who smoked if I'm remembering correctly. Movie scientists are usually too smart to smoke. They've done research or something and found that it's bad for you.
- Intense personal relationships. Walken's character was having marital problems. That's very strange for a movie scientist, who usually remains single to avoid confusing audiences who do not view scientists are normal human beings. (If he has any family members at all, their purpose in the script is to be props- they will be in close proximity to a volcano or bomb or something, so as to establish that the amoral movie scientist has "something to care about".) Not only does this guy use his machine to rejuvenate his marriage and make things better between him and his wife, people in the lab immediately discover the new technology's potential for porn. Good call on that one!
- Problems with upper management. They had a boss who was trying to militarize their whole project, and IIRC they had to cooperate to keep their funding. Most "movie scientists" either require no visible source of funding, or can just rely on their own personal wealth to buy all the Jacob's ladders and other mad-looking items they need for their lab. (Or they have the scientist running an entire company, like Eldon Tyrell. As a CEO scientist, Tyrell naturally has plenty of time to spend with local city policemen as they give Voight-Kampff tests to his employees.) As far as militarization of scientific work is concerned, most movie scientists are amoral and don't care. In the movies, scientists are completely amoral unless they are saving the world that day- and they're probably only doing it because their wife or kid is too close to a volcano or bomb.
Having said all that, I have to admit that in general the characters in Brainstorm are not very well developed because the movie is trying too hard to impress you with its technology. In 1983 it looked pretty impressive- these people had a system where you could dial in over an acoustic modem and have a tape robot play terabits of personal experience directly into your head! As far as text went, their terminal software looked like the setup I had in 1983. But even for 1983 they made reasonable guesses. I always remember that scene where they finally demo the technology and have some sort of hub with a dozen ribbon cables coming out of it connected to everyone's heads.
...from the original War of the Worlds .
He went fishing, saw aliens, flew a plane, killed an alien, watched the Army try to nuke the aliens, lost the girl, wound up in church. And he didn't even need to kill the rest of the aliens.
Also, the Professor on Felix the Cat. Much better then the Master Cylinder.
Joe Dougherty, Florida, USA
The words I thought I brought, I left behind. So, never mind.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
"Morbius! What is the id?"
... Even the Krell must have evolved from that beginning! ... All well and good, young man, except for one obvious fallacy!"
"Id, id, id, id, id! It's an obsolete term, I'm afraid, once used to describe the elementary basis of the subconscious mind
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
And his Clockwork Wizards!
Have we all forgotten the MAD SCIENTIST!
Ok, 2nd place: Hubert Farnsworth.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Anyone?
Batman
Probe
Wile E. Coyote ... Suuuuuuperrrr Geeeeniusssss!
-- Terry
I have always liked that Christopher Walken used his oddness to play a good guy who is odd because he's a genius, and he actually gets it right. The scene etched on my memory is where Walken is talking about what he's learned about the government black mirror program and says "They've taken my work ... and made it into something bad!" That could have been a Plan 9 groaner for sure, but Walken delivers it with the crestfallen betrayed earnestness that we know is the end result when you spend twenty years in a lab.
The technology is painfully dated, but they tried hard and it's educational to see how badly they missed some of the marks when you compare reality with what they projected. Kinda makes you wonder where our future will really lead.
Brainstorm also had to fight for its life after Natalie Wood died just to get finished and released (the studio wanted the no-completion insurance money baaaaad) and its director never worked again (which in turn killed John Varley's Millennium as it was originally conceived, directly resulting in the craptacular flick it eventually became with Cheryl Ladd).
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
Bob Cornthwaite, as Dr. Carrington, from The Thing (the good one from the 50's). He also played a scientist in The War of The Worlds (the good one from the 50's) but I can't remember the character's name, and you only really see him in the camping scene...
I see very few votes for Dr. Emmet "Doc" Brown.
What's up with that???
He was funny.
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
I'm not so sure about Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, but what about Beaker?
What about those two slackers from "My Science Project"?
OK it's TV, but "Mr. Whoopee" taught me a lot of science as a child, and the "3DBB" was way ahead of it's time.
From Wikipedia:
"Tennessee and Chumley regularly escaped from the zoo, only to find trouble in the outside world. When faced with more trouble than they could bear, the pair would turn to their friend, a college professor named Phineas J. Whoopee (voiced by Larry Storch, later seen on F Troop). "Mr Whoopee", as he was known, was extremely knowledgeable on all subjects, and would frequently lecture the pair on such diverse topics as the physics behind the hot air balloon, to how musicians become popular. His lectures were illustrated and animated on the Three Dimensional Blackboard (3DBB for short) he would retrieve out of an avalanche of junk from his overstuffed hallway closet. The pair would then attempt to use their newly-gained knowledge to get out of the trouble they had created, but would invariably end up in more trouble with Stanley Livingston, who typically punished them by making them scrub pots and pans for six months."
Be heard || Be herd
I kinda liked Dr. Goodhead.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Accountability on the heads of the powerful.
Power in the hands of the accountable.
Pronounced kah-nig-git.
Marge : There's a man here who says he can help you.
Homer : Is it Batman?
Marge : He's a scientist.
Homer : Batman's a scientist.
Marge : It's not Batman!
Despite what Marge says, Batman is my favorite scientist.
Peter Sellers, in
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
IMHO, a classic and brilliant portrayal of a mad scientist. Definitive.
Other roles in the same movie
Group Captain (G/C) Lionel Mandrake/President Merkin Muffley
There is no god; get over it already! Never exchange a walk on part in the war, for a lead role in a cage.
Seriously, though, how about Q from the 007 series?
Some others: Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow - "Where are we going? Planet Ten! When? Real soon!"), Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis - "Don't cross the streams"), Doctor Detroit (Dan Akroyd), and of course, Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder - "Frakensteen!")
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
...from Mystery Science Theatre 3000...
Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .
Graham Chapman, as the scientist with the ditzy blond in the blancmange sketch.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
IMDB saves the day again
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
I'm a large format photographer (still use film - 20 square inches of it at a time) and I got really excited for just a minute until I started to think: "Why the hell would Slashdot run an article so interesting to me?"
...J.F. Sebastian?
Come ON, guys - this guy made his own friends. His friends were toys. He made them.
Don't drag me into your petty squabbles.
Dudley Moore as Wylie Cooper in "Best Defense"; although that's more an engineer's role than a scientist's. Given the exaggerations and fantasies necessary for a movie plot, the portrayal was accurate.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
I liked Matthew Broderick as Richard Feynman in Infinity...
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
Chris Knight (Val Kilmer) from "Real Genius".
Too often, smart people are portraied as humorless drones, when a good sense of humor is usually a mark of intelligence.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
OK, so the fluff says she's a medical doctor, not a PhD. But while she wasn't a practicing researcher, she did approach her unusual job with a scientific mind, balancing Mulder's "willingness to believe" with a constant demand for evidence and scientific rigor. She also gets points for being spiritual (Catholic) but not mixing it up with her scientific viewpoint of the world.
Also, she could apparently do a Southern blot in about 7 hours, when it take us mere mortals 2 days... (though that was in the X-Files TV show, not the movie)
Freedom: "I won't!"
Dr. Bunsen Honeydoo
The box said I needed Windows XP or better so I bought a Mac.
And many great quotes from the TV serial:
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
The scientist-engineer-doctor hero of my youth! Always in a good mood and saving the world from evil aka Willi the terrible Fox, Professor Emerald, Charlie Rat, or Winnie Vinegar. Favorite gadget: The Getting Lost Machine
...but has everyone forgotten about Washu Hakubi?
I've always had a soft spot for the mad/obsessed scientist, and Jeffery Combs does a fantastic job as Herbert West in the Reanimiator films. Aside from being devoted enough to his work to kill (and reanimate) obstacles, he just can't pass up a "what if" experiment when it presents itself. From the very beginning, his curiosity is what killed the cat, reanimated it, and killed it again.
Sir Bedevere: There are ways of telling whether she is a witch. ...because they're made of... wood? ...Exactly. So, logically... ...A witch!
Peasant 1: Are there? Oh well, tell us.
Sir Bedevere: Tell me. What do you do with witches?
Peasant 1: Burn them.
Sir Bedevere: And what do you burn, apart from witches?
Peasant 1: More witches.
Peasant 2: Wood.
Sir Bedevere: Good. Now, why do witches burn?
Peasant 3:
Sir Bedevere: Good. So how do you tell whether she is made of wood?
Peasant 1: Build a bridge out of her.
Sir Bedevere: But can you not also build bridges out of stone?
Peasant 1: Oh yeah.
Sir Bedevere: Does wood sink in water?
Peasant 1: No, no, it floats!... It floats! Throw her into the pond!
Sir Bedevere: No, no. What else floats in water?
Peasant 1: Bread.
Peasant 2: Apples.
Peasant 3: Very small rocks.
Peasant 1: Cider.
Peasant 2: Gravy.
Peasant 3: Cherries.
Peasant 1: Mud.
Peasant 2: Churches.
Peasant 3: Lead! Lead!
King Arthur: A Duck.
Sir Bedevere:
Peasant 1: If she weighed the same as a duck... she's made of wood.
Sir Bedevere: And therefore...
Peasant 2:
licet differant, aequabitur
From Flesh Gordon.
Yahoo Serious in Young Einstein:
YE: "Dad, I don't want to stay on the farm and grow apples, I want to be a physicist!"
YE's Dad: "What do they grow son?".
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Happy Scientist: Jerry Lewis
Serious Scientist: Jody Foster
Paraspycologist: Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, and Harold Ramis
Nuclear Scientist: Dwight Schultz
Chaos Scientist: Jeff Goldblum
Marine Biologist: Richard Dryfuss
Palenotologist: Sam Neil
Computer Scientist: RM Stallman
I could go on all day. Pick One, hmm Jeff Goldblum, FLY,Jurassic Park Independence Day. Peter Sellers runs up there near the top too.
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
...and if you didn't get that one, your "I'm a Geek" badge is being repossessed.
Ur-nuclear physicist in "The World is Not Enough"
Dr. Rodney McKay
I know it's not a film, but that doesn't make him any less of an incredible role model!
"How's it coming, Rodney?"
"Slower than I expected, but faster than humanly possible."
Quatermass and the Pit where the Martians were our ancestors.
Plus it has some great one-liners http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089886/quotes One of my favorite 80's flicks.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
"Actual user of the scientific method and all-around skeptic."
Spencer Tracy as Edison.
OTOH: Jodie Foster is a great actress and Carl Sagan was a genius at communicating the philosophy and findings of science. Try reading his book "A Deamon Haunted World" (if you haven't already).
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Marge : There's a man here who says he can help you.
Homer : Is it Batman?
Marge : He's a scientist.
Homer : Batman's a scientist.
Marge : It's not Batman!
I'd nominate the scientists portrayed in Brainstorm. It did have the cliché subplot of the nefarious military who want to turn the discovery into a weapon, but the characters clearly loved what they were doing, and their scenes at work were far more convincing than the average Hollywood film.
Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot
The series featuring the late Jeremy Brett was excellent work. Still good TV to watch in today's hype driven drivel.
Where's the 0xBEEF
Dr. Herbert West from Re-Animator was a great mad scientist
Let's hear it for Alias's chief technical officer, Marshall Flinkman.
The scientist in Donovan's Brain. Viktor Frankenstein from the Boris Karloff movie.
You can get Metropolis on DVD for free in today's Times.
both movies are rather contemporary, but I just loved both Val Kilmer as "Chris Knight" in "Real Genius" and Christopher Lloyed as Emmett Brown from "Back to the future".
Ever wondered whats wrong with the world? http://www.ishmael.org/
Dr Emmett Brown
Join the Free Software Foundation
Frankenfurter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show: "It's not easy having a good time - even smiling makes my face ache"
Bill Murray from ghostbusters. Favorite line.
"Back off man, I'm a scientist"
evil is as evil does
what about Q from 007 with all his cool gadgets ?
a) be of German or Austrian descent (or occasionally British)
b) speak in a strange and funny foreign accent or
c) have some sort of nervous tic or handicap
Dr. Strangelove certainly fits the bill.
Beauty is in the beholder of the eye.
Well, it should be obvious to even the most dim-witted individual who holds an advanced degree in hyperbolic topology, Professor Johnathan Frink! While not technically a "film" scientist just yet, he will, I'm sure, appear in the upcoming Simpsons movie ...and then the thing, with the... mm-m person...
Oh boy, that monkey is going to pay.
I've got your sig, right here.
Doc: The total potential here must be nothing less than astronomical.
Morbius: Nothing less. The number 10 raised almost literally to the power of infinity.
@peetm
One of the best scientist this is neither mad nor a joke could be Dr. Falkin in War Games:
What he says is still so relevent, the nuclear threat is far from over, and with the climate changes, we may very well share the same fate as the dinosaurs, as well explained by Dr. Faken:
Stephen Falken: Now, children, come on over here. I'm going to tell you a bedtime story. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Once upon a time, there lived a magnificent race of animals that dominated the world through age after age. They ran, they swam, and they fought and they flew, until suddenly, quite recently, they disappeared. Nature just gave up and started again. We weren't even apes then. We were just these smart little rodents hiding in the rocks. And when we go, nature will start over. With the bees, probably. Nature knows when to give up, David.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/quotes
All those scientists were real scientists!
That movie was about as close as you can get. They all had flaws, they all had to work together to solve the problem, they all were only as strong as their weakest link, and they were stupified for the entire movie because what they were studying was completely alien to them.
Go back and look at this movie. It's a true classic.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
It's alive, IT'S ALIIIIVE!!!!
For the greatestest quote of all time (though Dr Strangelove has some corkers)
I tell you Sid, that one of these days we'll look in to our microscope and find ourselves staring right into God's eyes, and the first one who blinks is going to lose his testicles.
Because you can - or because you should?
I mean practically the whole script is mad scientist-y, a few of the classics...
Winston Zeddemore: Hey, wait a minute. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hold it. Now, are we actually gonna go before a federal judge, and tell him that some moldy Babylonian God is going to drop in on Central Park West, and start tearing up the city?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Sumerian, not Babylonian.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Yeah. Big difference.
Winston Zeddemore: No offense, guys, but I've gotta get my own lawyer.
Dr Ray Stantz: You know, it just occurred to me that we really haven't had a successful test of this equipment.
Dr. Egon Spengler: I blame myself.
Dr. Peter Venkman: So do I.
Dr Ray Stantz: Well, no sense in worrying about it now.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back.
Dana Barrett: You know, you don't act like a scientist.
Dr. Peter Venkman: They're usually pretty stiff.
Dana Barrett: You're more like a game show host.
Dana Barrett: Are you the Keymaster?
Dr. Peter Venkman: Not that I know of.
[She slams the door in his face. Venkman knocks again]
Dana Barrett: Are you the Keymaster?
Dr. Peter Venkman: Yes. Actually I'm a friend of his, he asked me to meet him here.
Dr. Peter Venkman: What do you think, Egon?
Dr. Egon Spengler: I think this building should be condemned. There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, it's completely inadequate for our power needs, and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone.
Dr Ray Stantz: Hey. Does this pole still work?
[slides down a fireman's pole]
Dr Ray Stantz: Wow. This place is great. When can we move in? You gotta try this pole. I'm gonna get my stuff. Hey. We should stay here. Tonight. Sleep here. You know, to try it out.
[Venkman looks at Spengler. Spengler slowly shakes his head. Venkman turns to the real estate agent]
Dr. Peter Venkman: I think we'll take it.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Ray has gone bye-bye, Egon... what've you got left?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Sorry, Venkman, I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought.
Dr. Egon Spengler: There's something very important I forgot to tell you.
Dr. Peter Venkman: What?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Don't cross the streams.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why?
Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad.
Dr. Peter Venkman: I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad?"
Dr. Egon Spengler: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Dr Ray Stantz: Total protonic reversal.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Right. That's bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.
Dr. Egon Spengler: Oh good, you're here!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Yeah, what have you got?
Dr. Egon Spengler: This is big, Peter, this is very big. There is definitely something here.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Egon, this reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head. Remember that one?
Dr. Egon Spengler: That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me.
What he can't kill, he has sex on. Trent.
"Flesh Gordon" :-P
Professor Eddie Jessup, portrayed by William Hurt in Ken Russell's "Altered States".
For those of you who haven't seen it, Jessup is a researcher at a Boston university who obtains some extremely powerful hallucinogens from southern Mexico and does massive doses while inside a sensory deprivation tank, when seven shades of hell breaks loose, with a strong whiff of Jeckyl and an australopithecine Hyde. Plus, the guy gets some pretty decent nooky throughout the film, including one of his super-hot students, so bonus points for that.
I'm also a bit partial to Doctor/Botanist Stephen Maturin, played by Paul Bettany in "Master and Commander", who almost beat Darwin to the punch by some 20 or 30 years.
Finally, psychologist Kris Kelvin in Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 epic "Solaris", is definitely up there with the greats.
Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
Moonraker :))
"Home? I have no home! The jungle is my home!"
Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood
Dr Charles Forbin. This is one of the only 'computer' movies I have ever liked. I remember seeing it in the 70s as a kid and it profoundly influenced me to go into IT.
A good computer movie where no systems were harmed in making the movie - quite the contrary.
Ask Me About... The 80's!
for his groundbreaking research into how frickin' retarded the French are.
Dr. Flexi Jerkoff, from Flesh Gordon
"Stand back! I've got these Power Pasties, and I know how
to use them!"
mark
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Sabnis
oh wait.. scientists IN films...
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Batman's a scientist!.
Member of the counsil, planet krypton.
From Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
expertly played by Anthony Geary, but he's closely followed by Dr Emmett Brown: "the way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine out of a car, you gotta do with style"
antipaucity
Prof. Gangreen in the Return of the Killer Tomatoes, which also features a young George Clooney...
On y va, qui mal y pense!
Spock.
Captain Nemo. Scientist, adventurer and captain. Probably influenced real life via the Nautilus more than any other fictional scientist.
Forty years of psychic manipulation. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Mabuse
The best film scientist was Edwin Land. Without him, homemade pr0n would have had to wait until the age of digital cameras.
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
Obvious choice. The best Kubrick movie ever. The monologue about how to repopulate the world after a few thousand years after living in large bunkers is the best argumentation against nuclear weapons....
Why even bother with all your other movie scientists? He is the original, the best, the smartest, the most creative, and his lab was filled with the coolest effects-laden gadgets. Why even bother discussing it? It's obviously Dr. Frankenstein.
Hrm. Or maybe Dr. Eldon Tyrell of the Tyrell corporation. Any guy who's not afraid to call security when his raving lunatic creation comes up for a quick game of chess--and oh yea to squish your fucking head to a pulp while poking his thumbs into your eyeball sockets, causing a veritable fountain of your own blood to gout ignominously onto the floor--is okay in my books.
Three words "Where's my truck?" Helen Hunt wins hands down. That's right up there with " You didn't sleep with it, did you Egon?" from Peter Venkman or "Yes sir this man has no dick". But for sheer evil I think Kevin Bacon wins hands down in the Invisible Man. I mean who else would think of sneaking in on a cute young thing and raping here as a viable experiment? EVIL.
Was Spock not the science officer who used logic and reason as a bludgeon amongst his emotional/irrational human crew-mates?
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Speaking of Jodie Foster, I found the bug guys as very compelling depictions of what scientists are really like. People who are very pasionate about what they do, often VERY dorky, and who have the same needs and desire as someone else including the desire to get into Jodie Foster's pants.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
The problem with the Drake equation is that it contains absoluetly NOTHING that is measureable. Conjecture * Conjecture = Conjecture!!!!!
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
I haven't watched many episodes with the later Doctors. I have, however, made it most of the way through the first, including reconstructions.
The first Doctor did indeed consider himself a scientist, and many of his excursions outside the TARDIS were due to scientific curiosity.
I shall have to watch the other regenerations after I finish with the Hartnell Era and see how they turned out.
I've read Grocklaw. BoycottNovell, you're no Grocklaw
Lithgow also did a good scientist portrayel in "The Manhatten Project".
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Dr. Lillian Reynolds, and Dr. Micheal Brace from Brainstorm.
As if there were EVER a better scientist than Dr. Emmett Brown.
Did Dr. Strangelove design a flux capacitor? Didn't think so. I bet he doesn't even know what a gigawatt is.
Without question...
The best science safety quote of all times has to be from Ghostbusters: "Crossing the streams is bad." "You know, I am little fuzz on the whole good - bad thing." "Imagine all the atoms in the universe flying apart at the speed of light." "Okay, thats bad. Important safety tip." The only real scientist that I have ever seen in a movie is Dr. Arroway in Contact. She is good with numbers - remember the scece where they first hear the prime number code. She also is good with technology. Those are the two critria that my profs in college always said were the hallmarks of a good scientist. The ability to see complex patterns, measure acurately, and adapt tools are really what scientists do. I hate Hollywood's protrail of scientists in movies. They always make it much to sexy. Really all they are good at is taking good books, comics included, and messing them up. To quote my favorite literary character Holden Caufield, "I hate the movies, don't even get me started." Wonder why there is no movie of that book...
Dr. Fran - n - furter of the Rocky Horror Picture Show
I wish that the topic allowed television guys like Mr. Wizard, Don Herbert.
Dr. Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) from Star Trek: First Contact. After 30 years of hero worship for Zefram Cochrane in the various series and movies, this Zefram Cochrane is finally not the typical Einstein-style geek scientist.
(No, I won't explain the plot. If you read slashdot without knowing that film, you must come from another planet. Welcome on earth.)
Tux2000
Denken hilft.
I have yet to see any portrait of scientists that captures how they think and actually operate.
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson in Madame Curie.
I forgot to mention the same of the movie with the realistic scientist: Eight Below.
Yep, that's what my PhD is like. At least once a week the janitor comes in to empty the trashcan in my closet/lab, and I think to myself what a wonderful social environment I get to work in as a scientist!
No "mad" scientistYou obviously have never had a PhD supervisor.
Intense personal relationships... That's very strange for a movie scientist, who usually remains single to avoid confusing audiences who do not view scientists are normal human beings.As opposed to real-life scientists, who remain single because of their total lack of socialization.
Problems with upper managementOf course, real-world scientists rarely stop fighting among themselves long enough to develop meaningful problems with outsiders.
yp.
...except it did it across any nearby FM radio. After a little training I could tell the difference, by ear, between an idle loop, high-memory access, general processing, and the periodic comport interrupt servicing that accompanied modem transfers. Handy for telling when the machine was just busy, or had locked up.
It came in strong enough to slightly distort the station the radio was tuned to, so if I had a long download to run, I'd turn off the monitor, kick back in the recliner, and relax to some music until the sound changed. Ditto with long Fractint runs.
Point being, it's a thoroughly useful way to monitor the behavior of even modern computers. As for analyzing the data from a radio telescope, maybe not so much, but humans are appallingly good at spotting patterns in data that computers would call noise. Can't hurt to try.
Although not fictional, Don Herbert (Mr. Wizard) remains one of my all-time favorite scientists in the public view. He, along with Carl Sagan, did more to inspire and educate than I think I can put into words.
As for fiction, the entire cast of Real Genius gets my vote. Between the college nuts, the shy freshmen, the stressed grad students, the selfish prick, the government's fingers in research, and the utter creativity for its own sake, this movie nailed almost everything it attempted. A few sloppy bits don't ruin the premise for me, and it remains a favorite. (Right up there with Sneakers. Accept the mulligan and enjoy the rest of the plot.)
Good Point!
..or sorcerors... or Akira .. or .. Betterman
Since I do not class Anime with western cartoons I did not even consider mentioning them, but they are legion.
Naturally, every mecha series has it's boffins who are sometimes at odds with the ops guys...or the janitor who has some special secret skill -or the kid who snuck on to the base...I think even bubblegum crisis had a boffin who designed and maintained the 'suits'
the best US -current airing anime in this vein I can think of is Ghost in the Shell:Standalone complex -they have a pretty good main scientist.
AZN runs a LOT of 90s Evangelion-like ones set in space. -I saw one last night that seemed to deal with Norse gods in outer space or something.....
In many animes the main character turns out to be some semi-natural construct created by some scientist -perhaps posing as a parent, teacher or other authority figure, such as many of the characters in Big O or Serial Experiment Lain or Soul taker.
Anytime fighting the paranormal or otherworldly is involved there are usually scientists (except in Fooley Cooley!)
and then there are animes such as Trigun where foreign science and technology has blighted a world and left its colonizers barely hanging on...
Actually, if I think on all the anime scientist-types I would say that ED from Bebop is one of the best -or at least the most entertaining.
-What's the speed of Dark?
John Lithgow's greatest role, in The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension
... and even fewer watch classic movies.
Well done matey.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
As many have said before, he knew how to build anything except a boat...
TWR
The Giant Claw: (Mitch MacAfee) "atomic spitballs"
Kronos: (Dr. Leslie Gaskell) "the scientific boner of the century"
"Can there be a Klein bottle that is an efficient and effective beer pitcher?"
100 billion == 100000000000
Divide that by a million, then again, then again.
You get 0.0000001.
What was the name of the professor who invented Flubber? I liked Robin Williams when he played that character.
"Politicians always tell the truth, when they're calling each other liars."
That's all folks. Nothing to see here.
Dr. Hfuhruhurr?
Sig Hansen?
Orin Scrivello, DDS
Sig Hansen?