|
“ | You took my chick... you took my job! Well enjoy it while you can, Petey boy, 'cause you're gonna pay! Somehow, someway, you're gonna pay! | „ |
~ A young Benedict swearing revenge on Prickly after he takes his place as Principal. |
“ | Dr. Philium Benedict: This time, Pete, I'm gonna humiliate you! This time, I'm gonna prove to the world that you were wrong and I was right! Principal Prickly: About what?! Dr. Phillium Benedict: ABOUT RECESS, ABOUT FREEDOM, ABOUT TEST SCORES!! I found a way to prove my theory. I'm gonna get rid of the biggest recess of them all: I AM GONNA GET RID OF SUMMER VACATION!!! |
„ |
~ Benedict ranting out his true plan to Prickly and T.J. |
Dr. Phillium Benedict is the main antagonist of the 2001 Disney animated film Recess: School's Out! based on the 1997 TV series Recess.
He was the former principal of Third Street School and former U.S. Secretary of Education. He was also the former best friend of current principal Peter Prickly, the ex-boyfriend of current groundskeeper Muriel Finster, and the founder and head of the Anti-Recess Legion. He is also the arch-nemesis of Prickly, Finster and T.J. Detweiler.
He was voiced by James Woods, who also played Hades in Hercules, Falcon in Stuart Little 2, Gloomius Maximus in Rolie Polie Olie: The Great Defender of Fun, Lex Luthor in Justice League Action, Captain Ahab in The Adventures of Moby Dick, Martin Walker in White House Down, Tom Hedden in Straw Dogs, Ned Trent in The Specialist, George Sheffield in Scarface: The World is Yours, Lester Diamond in Casino, Byron De La Beckwith in Ghosts of Mississippi, Maximilian "Max" Bercovicz in Once Upon a Time in America, and himself in Family Guy.
Appearance[]
As seen in a 1968 flashback, Phillium wore a brown biker jacket, blue jeans, black shoes, black aviator sunglasses, and an American flag helmet. He also had medium-length blonde hair.
In the first film's current timeline, he is now middle-aged with gray receding hair and a beard of the same color. He enjoys wearing suits, as seen when he wore a black suit, a blue shirt, a dark purple tie, and black leather shoes. Because of his vanity, he is very obsessed with keeping his clothes nice and clean. At one point, Prickly distracted him by thinking he had a spot on his tie before punching him in the face.
Personality[]
“ | Yeah, you always were more concerned about appearances than people, Phil. | „ |
~ Prickly angrily yet rightfully chewing out Benedict's true nature as a deluded narcissist with a selfish ego. |
Phillium Benedict is best described as a vengeful, deluded and insane narcissist with an selfish ego. As described by Prickly, Benedict despises the idea of kids having fun and wants to abolish recess, claiming that he wants to do this to raise test scores, even though he actually cares more about regaining his broken reputation which he refuses to move on from. Aside from this, Benedict maintains his habits of dressing himself to make himself look sophisticated compared to others; something which a furious Prickly snarks to him about at one point.
Benedict has proven to be highly intelligent in nature, as his plot involves stealing a tractor beam from a military base without causing casualties and using Third Street Elementary School as his main base of operations since it was closed for the summer. He even rigged the school's front door teleport anyone into the school in case they would try to investigate; as well as having Kojak to pose as Prickly and cutting off the school's phone lines to draw the authorities off their trail. He even got his scientists to bring up a back-up power generator in case the school auditorium's power would be shut down.
Benedict is also shown to be extremely argumentative, easily provoked, and highly abusive towards his subordinates. Whenever they bungle with his insane plan, he is quick to fly into a screaming rage. He also refuses to see the pointlessness of how insane and preposterous his plan to cancel summer vacation is, nor has he considered at any point that his plan would only result in the extinction of all lifeforms on Earth; he even deludes himself into his plan would make the American citizens be grateful for his actions and elect him as President, when in actuality, the citizens would despise him and have him tried as a criminal for such actions. He also proven himself to be a complete hypocrite in nature, as while he claims that he detests violence in general (given to his past history as a hippie teacher in the 60s), he has no qualms in having his men to hurt and/or kill anyone who is an obstacle to his plans; he doesn't even care letting his ninja henchmen use deadly weapons (such as nunchucks and shurikens) against anyone, especially innocent children.
Benedict also never considered that summer itself isn't the primary cause of summer vacation (at best those vacation days would be rearranged instead of cancelled). As it turns out, his entire plan was based on his belief that Canada, Iceland, and Norway had higher test scores because they did not have summer vacation due to the colder climate and that all of their students have no choice but to study all year round; even though it turns out that not only do those countries actually have summer vacation, but that their lower populations and different education systems are the true reasons why their test scores exceeded those of the U.S. in the first place. Also, while Benedict is aware that his plot would result in a new Ice Age (given to how he presented his plan to Prickly and T.J. in a hologram), it never occurred to him that it would endanger all lifeforms (including the human race) on Earth. Even when T.J. pointed these flaws out to Benedict, the latter refused to care about the pointlessness of his plan and went ahead with it, all just to spite Prickly, T.J. and the students.
Despite his villainous nature, Benedict once had a genuine love relationship with Finster, describing her as 'the only woman he ever loved' during their early days as teachers in the 60s; he was able to see past her elderly looks while begging her to give him a second chance to mend their relationship. However, this all went sour as Finster rightfully stated that she would never be with a man who is willing to endanger the Earth to satisfy his hatred of recess and summer vacation, prompting an angry Benedict to abandon whatever feelings he had for her.
Overall, Benedict has proven himself to be a despicable and dangerous man who threw away whatever good qualities he had in the past for his own need to fix his selfish ego, even at the cost of endangering the entire world, which proved to be his downfall.
History[]
Beginnings[]
Prickly, Finster and Benedict went through teacher training together during the 1950s, and they were very close to each other; even Finster entered into a love relationship with Benedict. Starting up in his first year as the youngest principal of Third Street Elementary during the spring of 1968, Benedict called Prickly to his office for a talk of changing the school routine. During their talk, Benedict states that at his first act of principal, he will be abolishing recess to keep kids in class. Prickly was shocked by this and pointed out that recess was created to give kids a brief time of freedom during their studies, but Benedict states that he's more interested in raising test scores to further his career. Predictably, the plan did not seem to work well to anyone in campus (including Prickly and Finster), as all of the students became miserable and unable to alleviate their stress over their studies after Benedict put his no-recess policy into action, dramatically resulting low test scores. However, Benedict stubbornly refused to believe that his no-recess policy is causing low test scores and continued enforcing it.
When it became clear that Benedict's policy is making the students miserable and causing low test scores, many of the parents laid down a protest against the school, demanding Benedict to reinstate recess. However, Benedict refused to do so by standing his ground against the parents, which forced Prickly to report to the Superintendent about the situation. Though the Superintendent calmly assured to the parents and teachers that Benedict's policy will never be carried out in the district, Benedict still refused to back down and became rude with the Superintendent for not agreeing to his beliefs. However, the Superintendent rightfully sensed that Benedict has become very deluded and power-hungry, so he demoted Benedict and promoted Prickly as the new principal, something which Prickly wasn't expecting.
Benedict then thought that Prickly had turned his back against him by turning to the Superintendent to get the job as principal, despite Prickly's insistence that he never intended anything of the sort. Prickly tried to truthfully explain that he only brought the Superintendent in an attempt to reason with Benedict, but Benedict angrily refused to listen and broke off his friendship with Prickly, looking to Finster to come along with him. However, a disgusted Finster promptly ended her relationship with Benedict for his hatred of recess and his rude and obnoxious behavior. Upset over these losses, Benedict ranted out against everyone before he tripped on the stairs (with his legs possibly getting damaged in his older years); even when a concerned Prickly and Finster tried to help him out, he angrily told them to back off. Benedict quitted teaching and left, but not before swearing revenge against Prickly for what happened.
Benedict spent the next thirty years going into politics, eventually being appointed U.S. Secretary of Education. However, he maintained his desire to get revenge on Prickly for costing him his job and driving Finster away from him, refusing to accept that it was his own fault for making them turn on him for his cruel behavior in the first place. Two years prior to the film's events, Benedict exploited his position in an attempt to abolish recess nationwide, but he was foiled by the President, who saw through Benedict's plan and fired him for this.
Having failed at his latest attempt to get rid of recess after being sacked from his job, Benedict created the Anti-Recess Legion, hiring his new lieutenant named Lieutenant Kojak, his advisor and right-hand man named Professor Fenwick, and his henchmen (composed of agents, ninjas and scientists). Using his own resources with the help from the Legion, Benedict formulated a plot to get rid of the biggest recess of them all: summer vacation.
Taking Over Third Street Elementary[]
Benedict starts off his plan by having the Legion to break into a U.S. military base, where they stole a tractor beam after tasering two military officers. In their next move, Benedict and the Legion took over Third Street Elementary School and used it as their base of operations, since it was closed for the summer and was the last place on Earth that the authorities would look for the stolen equipment. He also rigged the lock of the school to dematerialize and teleport anyone carrying the keys into the school in case someone would actually attempt to investigate. While claming Prickly's office as his main office, Benedict had Fenwick and the scientists conduct frequent tests at the school involving miniature tractor beams in the auditorium, one of which T.J. Detweiler (the protagonist of the film) accidentally witnessed while fuming about how his summer was going (since all his friends were at separate summer camps). T.J. tried to inform Prickly about this, but when Prickly attempts to enter the school to investigate, he ends up being dematerialized into the school with his shoes burned off, something which a horrified T.J. wasn't expecting. Following Prickly's capture, Benedict got his men to tie up Prickly inside the storage room while throwing away Prickly's golf pants into the dumpster, all nothing more than just to humiliate Prickly. He even gets Kojak to impersonate as Prickly outside the school property just to ensure no one gets suspicious about Prickly's disappearance. Benedict also had the auditorium altered to be the main control room for the tractor beam while cutting off all of the school's phone lines so that no one will ever contact the authorities.
Because of this, T.J. contacted his friends from their camps and explained the situation. As T.J. and his gang sneaked into the school to find out what's going on, they witnessed Benedict having Dr. Rosenthal detained after the latter's attempt at moving the moon shut down unexpectedly due to bugs in the system and promoted Rosenthal's assistant to that position. Shortly afterwards, T.J. and his gang ended up being forced to expose themselves due to Mikey having an unexpected and uncontrollable urge to belch, as well as the vents giving way to their weight. Benedict angrily orders his henchmen to seize the children, and though the gang manages to escape, T.J. is captured and imprisoned along with Prickly inside the storage room. Benedict introduces himself and falsely claims to both Prickly and T.J. that he is running a "night school" before locking them up, though they're not fooled as Prickly explains to T.J. about Benedict's past history. Benedict eventually learned that T.J. and Prickly had managed to sneak into the principal's office though the air vents and had Kojak capture them again, but not before T.J. alerted his friends through his walkie-talkie that Benedict's plan was to get rid of summer vacation after stumbling on a graffiti (presumably painted by Benedict himself and/or his men) depicting the end of summer vacation.
The next day, Benedict summoned Prickly and T.J. back into the office as their detention while confiscating T.J.'s walkie-talkie. Ranting out against Prickly about what happened in the past, Benedict stated he never forgot Prickly despite his past careers as a school principal and a politician. He then declares he intends to prove his point that recess is unnecessary and uses a hologram presentation to present how he will accomplish his goal: at Lunar Perigee (the time when the Moon's closest to the Earth in orbit, which happens to be 12:22 PM), he would fire the tractor beam at the Moon to alter its orbit that would disrupt the Earth's weather patterns, with the intention of causing the entire Earth to freeze over into a new Ice Age and eliminate summer, thus eliminating summer vacation. Disgusted with what Benedict was planning, T.J. told him that he won't get away with it, but Benedict retorts back that he can't be stopped even if anyone else knew about this, right before having both T.J. and Prickly locked up in a giant birdcage to prevent them from escaping again. However, fully anticipating this, Prickly swiped up the birdcage's keys from the office desk when Benedict wasn't looking, allowing himself and T.J. to escape and start their mission to save summer vacation.
Fighting Against the Students and Staff[]
Meanwhile, T.J.'s friends, with the help of T.J.'s older sister Becky, gathered up all of the students from the various camps to help rescue T.J. and Prickly and reclaim the school. Gus manages to formulate a successful plan for the students to distract and trap several of Benedict's men, allowing the students to reunite with Prickly and T.J.; even Gretchen takes the time to shut down the auditorium's power while locking up Fenwick and several of Benedict's scientists inside the electrical room. Evidently, under the pressure of time as well as the kids' resistance, Benedict slowly lost his cool and started barking orders at his remaining henchmen to make the necessary preparations, including getting a back-up power generator after the auditorium's power is shut down. Even when Prickly and the students managed to enter the auditorium to stop him, Benedict confidently had more guards arrive. He then explained to the students that his main motivation for his plan was because the top three countries in the world with the highest test scores - Canada, Iceland, and Norway all had cold climate, claiming that children there could not play ball, but only to stay inside and study so that they can never have fun; he also implied that he may potentially be elected President of the United States and be hailed as a hero should he succeed. However, T.J. rightfully counters this by stating that even if Benedict's plot could bring in a new Ice Age, kids around the world can do lots of fun on a cold climate, such as a snowball fight or camping in igloos. Despite this, Benedict still planned to eliminate summer vacation once and for all, much to everyone's horror.
However, before Benedict could get his scientists to fully activate the tractor beam, Finster arrives to the rescue, much to both Prickly and the students' delight. Witnessing this, Benedict was pleased to see Finster after thirty years and begged her to resume their relationship, but Finster rightfully refused by saying that she would rather eat playground dirt instead of letting him succeed in his plot. Enraged by Finster's rejection, Benedict angrily swears to literally make her eat playground dirt, only to see that Finster brought all of the teachers to help Prickly and the students stop Benedict and his men for good. Being at the end of his wits, Benedict furiously orders his men out to attack all the students and teachers, but the students and teachers manage to fight back against Benedict's men; even Finster manages to punch out Kojak in a fistfight to protect T.J. from harm. As the moon finally enters Lunar Perigee, Benedict angrily pushes his assistant scientist away as he personally attempts to fire up the tractor beam at the moon. Prickly attempts to stop him, but Benedict holds out his taser and threatens to shock him to sleep if he steps any closer. However, Prickly cleverly tricks Benedict into letting his guard down by saying there's a spot on his tie, and when Benedict looks at his tie, Prickly furiously punches him in the face. Despite this, Benedict still manages to activate the tractor beam at the moon after slumped by Prickly's punch and jams the mechanism so that Prickly can't reverse it. As Benedict gloated on his imminent success, T.J. tosses his baseball to Vince and had him aim it at the photon channeler, destroying the tractor beam and the machine and forcing everyone to evacuate to safety, much to Benedict's distraught. Gazing of what's left of the destroyed machine, Benedict yells out in defeat over the failure of his grand plot. The students and teachers all cheer in victory for defeating Benedict and saving summer vacation.
Defeat and Arrest[]
With Benedict's plot exposed and foiled, the students and teachers called in the media and authorities to the scene. As the media details the events of what just happened, the authorities arrest Benedict and his men for their crimes. Benedict is last seen being hauled into a police car as he furiously tried to protest that he was the former Secretary of Education, only for the policeman to furiously silence him by sarcastically responding that he was the "former Princess of Morocco". It can be implied that Benedict and his men of the Legion will be sent to prison for life as punishment for their crimes while the students and teachers of Third Street Elementary are declared heroes by the public for saving the Earth and summer vacation.
Quotes[]
“ | Look, Pete, the 60s are over. All that peace and love and freedom stuff.... sure, yeah, it was great for picking up chicks, but it's not gonna help my career! To do that, I gotta make test scores go up, and to make test scores go up, I gotta keep kids in class where they belong. That why, starting tomorrow, I'm tuning out recess...once and for all. | „ |
~ Benedict announcing his first act as Principal of Third Street Elementary in 1968 by outlawing recess. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Be cool, people. Be cool. You're bumming my mellowness here. Female Protestor: We'll be cool when you give our kids their recess back! Dr. Phillium Benedict: Hey, baby, I'll do what I want, 'cause I'm the principal of the school, and there's nothing anyone can do about it! Dig? |
„ |
~ Benedict standing up to the people in the protest by refusing to back down. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Hey, man, you just DON'T GET IT!! Superintendent: Of course, I do, Benedict! That's why I'm replacing you! Dr. Phillium Benedict: WHAT?! |
„ |
~ Benedict ranting out against the Superintendent for declaring his anti-recess policy void, the very same words that drove the angry Superintendent to strip him of his job as principal. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Oh, I see what's going down here: you tricked me! Went around my back to the man to GET MY JOB!! Prickly: No, Phil, it's not like that at all! Dr. Phillium Benedict: Yeah, right! C'mon, Muriel, baby, let's blow this scene. Miss Finster: No, Phil! It's over. I can never be with a man who doesn't love recess. Dr. Phillium Benedict: So, you're against me, too. Well, fine..... I DON'T NEED YOU!! I DON'T NEED ANYONE!!! (Benedict attempts to walk away, but trips on the stairs) Miss Finster: Phil! Prickly: You okay, man? Dr. Phillium Benedict: DON'T TOUCH ME!! |
„ |
~ Benedict breaking up his friendship with Prickly and Finster. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Neatly done, Fernwick. Fenwick: It's Fenwick, sir. Dr. Phillium Benedict: Uh-huh. Are they dead? Fenwick: No, sir. Merely unconscious. Dr. Phillium Benedict: Good, good. You know how much I hate violence. Mmm... nice shine. Fenwick: Uh, what next, sir? Dr. Phillium Benedict: Well, obviously we establish our base. Fenwick: And where will that be? Dr. Phillium Benedict: The last place on Earth they'd look: A place called... Third Street School. |
„ |
~ Benedict as he initiates his plan by stealing a military tractor beam. |
“ | Fenwick: Well, here we are, sir. But it's just an old principal's office. Why is it so important? Dr. Phillium Benedict: Because, my academically challenged young friend, it used to be mine. |
„ |
~ Benedict as he and Fenwick approach Prickly's office. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: We have a thing called the 'window of opportunity'. If we miss the window of opportunity, then the project fails! And if the project fails, then I get very... very... ANGRY!! Fenwick: But they may have a point, sir. It seems the logistical problems are a bit more complicated than Dr. Steinheimer thought! Dr. Steinheimer: Yes, it would be a lot easier if we could move the laser to a more appropriate location. Dr. Phillium Benedict: This operation will be executed as planned from RIGHT HERE!! Have I made myself clear?! Dr. Lazenby: But, sir... Dr. Phillium Benedict: NO BUTS!! It started at Third Street, it is going to END at Third Street! |
„ |
~ Benedict impatiently ordering his scientists to fix the satellite. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Dr. Rosenthal, why did the beam suddenly... oh, what's the technical word for it, umm... stop?! Dr. Rosenthal: Well... as I believe you were told before... Dr. Phillium Benedict: Told before? Do you think I care what I was told before? Dr. Rosenthal: Please, sir! I-I-I'll do better next time. Dr. Phillium Benedict: "Next time"? Isn't that cute? Rosenthal, let me ask you something. Say you were a teacher—or even better say... the principal of a school, and you had to deal with a delinquent student, a naughty child who didn't know his place, who kept telling you over and over that he'd do better next time... but he never did. What would you do? Dr. Rosenthal: Oh, no... not detention! Not DETENTION!! Dr. Phillium Benedict: TAKE HIM AWAY!! Dr. Rosenthal: No, please! I can fix it! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!! |
„ |
~ Benedict punishing Rosenthal after the laser suddenly shuts down due to glitches in the system. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Alright, who's second in command? (all the other scientists take a step back, pointing to Rosenthal’s assistant with the thick glasses) Thick Glasses Scientist: Uh, I am, sir. Dr. Phillium Benedict: Well, good, now you're in charge. Okay? And if I were you, I'd make sure I had this machine working at full power by tomorrow morning. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!!! Thick Glasses Scientist: Y-Y-Yes, sir! Dr. Phillium Benedict: Awww dear, I got spittle on my lapel. |
„ |
~ Benedict promoting Rosenthal's assistant as the new lead scientist and demanding to remove all the glitches out of the laser by tomorrow morning. |
“ | Fenwick: What was that? Dr. Phillium Benedict: Someone had better say "excuse me". (T.J. and his friends accidentally exposed themselves by their weight from the air vent they sneaked) Dr. Phillium Benedict: Fenwick, who let the children into the school? Fenwick: Uh, not me, sir. Dr. Phillium Benedict: WELL, GET THEM!!! T.J.: RUN!!! |
„ |
~ Benedict ordering his guards to seize T.J. and his friends, after Mikey burps loudly from the air vent. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Hello, Pete. Remember me? Principal Prickly: Well, well, if it isn't Phillium Benedict. I should've known you'd be the one behind this! T.J.: Principal Prickly, you know this guy? Dr. Phillium Benedict: Pete and I are old pals. Although the last time we saw each other, Pete was the one ruining my life. By the way, Pete, you like this suit? It's Italian. Raw silk. Nice, huh? Principal Prickly: Yeah, you always were more concerned about appearances than people, Phil. Dr. Phillium Benedict: Oh, Pete, come on. There's no need to be rude. Not after I instructed my men to take such special care of you. Principal Prickly: Special care?! That's what you call gagging me, tying me up and taking away my pants?! Dr. Phillium Benedict: Had to, Pete. Otherwise, you might run off and betray me, like you did the last time! But, hey, look at the bright side. At least you've got company now. Principal Prickly: Let the boy go, Phil. He can't do anything to you. Dr. Phillium Benedict: Same old noble Pete, always standing up for the rights of children. T.J.: You? Principal Prickly: Well... Dr. Phillium Benedict: But, unfortunately, I can't let anybody go right now. You see, this experimental night school that I'm running is kind of a secret. I'm trying to show that my adult students can be trained to be capable and productive members of society. T.J.: Oh, yeah?! Well, if you're just running a night school, then what's that giant laser gun doing in the auditorium?! Dr. Phillium Benedict: What a rude and badly dressed little boy you are. You know, you should teach your pupils a little respect for their superiors, Pete. But that would mean that you'd have to know how to teach them anything at all, wouldn't it?! |
„ |
~ Benedict as he tries to cover up his plan. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: A confiscated walkie-talkie. Why do you do those things to me, Pete? Do you enjoy tormenting me? Do you hate me? Principal Prickly: I don't hate you, Phil. I just think you're insane!! Dr. Phillium Benedict: [chuckles evilly] Insane... well, there you go again, Pete: insulting me, hurting my feelings, just like 30 years ago. Only this time, Petey, I'm ready. You see, all those years, no matter how big I got, no matter how successful...I always thought about you.... HOW YOU EMBARRASSED ME!! HOW YOU HUMILIATED ME!! HOW YOU DESTROYED MY RELATIONSHIP WITH MURIEL FINSTER, THE ONLY WOMAN I EVER LOVED!! |
„ |
~ Benedict still blaming Prickly for destroying his life, even though it was his own fault for trying to ban recess. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: [presses a button and a holographic globe and moon rise up from the floor] You see, all I have to do is modify the moon's orbit ever so slightly... and tide levels on the Eastern Seaboard rise eight feet! Move the moon over here, and the currents that warm California suddenly become ICE COLD! Summer, as we know it, will become a thing of the past, and without summer... [the globe diagram grows icicles and TJ and Prickly gasp in horror] ...no summer vacation. T.J.: You'll never get away with this, Benedict! Dr. Phillium Benedict: Oh, yeah? Well, who's gonna stop me? |
„ |
~ Benedict revealing his plan of creating a new Ice Age to end summer vacation. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Uh, Fenwick? Why is the power off? Fenwick: Uh, perhaps we blew a fuse, sir? Dr. Phillium Benedict: WELL, GO FIX IT!! |
„ |
~ Benedict ordering Fenwick and the guards to fix the power after it is shut down by Gretchen. |
“ | Thick Glasses Scientist: Emergency power system is in place. Dr. Phillium Benedict: Switch on the global electrode. Power up the photon channeler. Activate the tractor beam, quickly! We've only got four minutes left! Principal Prickly: You've got no minutes left, Phil. This is my school and I want it back. Dr. Phillium Benedict: Sorry, Pete. You're just gonna have to wait until I finish making the world a better place. |
„ |
~ Benedict to the scientists as he prepares to activate the laser. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Now let's get this show on the road. Gretchen: Don't do it, Dr. Benedict! Dr. Phillium Benedict: Don't do it? You think after all this planning, all this work, you can get me to stop just by saying "don't do it"? Mikey: What if we add "please"? Dr. Phillium Benedict: You kids just don't get it, do you? Well let me explain this in a way your uneducated brains will understand. The American public thinks test scores are too low. But if a person, say me, could make test scores go up, why, everybody would feel better. They might even elect that person president of the United States. Now, do you have any idea which countries have the highest test scores? Gretchen: Uh, Japan? Vince: Germany? Mikey: Tierra del Fuego? Dr. Phillium Benedict: CANADA!! ICELAND!! NORWAY!! And why? Because it's snowing up there all the time! Kids don't waste their summers playing ball! They're inside studying. And that is why I'm getting rid of summer vacation, once and for all. |
„ |
~ Benedict explaining his motivation. |
“ | T.J: You got it all wrong, old man, your plan will never work! Sure, maybe your crazy laser beam can move the moon, maybe it can make it snow all summer. Maybe you can get rid of long afternoons playing baseball, or sunny days down by the lake or warm nights camping out under the stars. But that won't stop us: we'll ride our bikes through the snow, we'll play kickball in the slush, we're camp out in iglooes. You may take away summer, but you'll never take away summer vacation!! Dr. Phillium Benedict: Well, I can try. DO IT!!! NOW!! |
„ |
~ Benedict being told about the flaws of his plan by an angry T.J., but refusing to care as he orders his men to proceed with it. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Muriel... it's you.... you're still a vision of loveliness. Miss Finster: Yeah? And you're still a two-bit recess-hating pretty boy! Dr. Phillium Benedict: That hurt, Muriel, but I'll forgive you if you'll just come back to me. Miss Finster: HA!! I'd rather eat playground dirt! Dr. Phillium Benedict: THAT can be arranged, my dear! Miss Finster: Not before I take you down. Dr. Phillium Benedict: Take me down?! Yeah, right! You and what army?! Miss Finster: Me and THIS ARMY!! Gus: The teachers! |
„ |
~ Benedict being rejected after meeting with Finster after years before learning that she brought the teachers to help Prickly and the students in stopping his plot for good. |
“ | GET THEM!!!! | „ |
~ Benedict ordering his men to attack both the students and teachers from foiling his plot. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Hurry, there's still time. [the thick-glasses scientist sets the machine to mid-power to power up the beam] Dr. Phillium Benedict: [pushes the thick-glasses scientist away from the controls as he prepares to personally set the beam to full power] FASTER, YOU IDIOT!! FASTER!! Principal Prickly: Hold it right there, Phillium! The semester's over for you, pal!! Dr. Phillium Benedict: [holds out his taser] Not so fast, Pete! You might fall asleep and MISS THE FESTIVITIES!! Principal Prickly: Hey, Phillium, there's a spot in your tie. Dr. Phillium Benedict: Where? [gets punched in the face by Prickly] OOOF!! |
„ |
~ Benedict about to taser Prickly, who punches him in the face. |
“ | You're too late, Pete! THIS TIME, I WIN!!! | „ |
~ Benedict gloats to Prickly after activating the tractor beam and jamming the mechanism to ensure his victory. |
“ | All my plans, my hopes and dreams..... ruined! RUINED!!!! | „ |
~ Benedict crying out in defeat after the tractor beam is destroyed. |
“ | Dr. Phillium Benedict: Get your hands off the suit, you CLASSLESS FEEB!! I am the former SECRETARY OF EDUCATION!! Cop: Yeah, yeah, and I'm the former Princess of Morocco. Get in the car! |
„ |
~ Benedict's last words as he is being arrested by the police. |
Trivia[]
- Despite his high intelligence and former reputation as an educator, Benedict is very deluded and has a lack of common sense, as he did not see that Principal Prickly never intended to steal his job or betray him. He also does not realize that his plan to bring in permanent winter will only endanger billions of lives as opposed to raising test scores.
- In fact, he seemed to think SUMMER was what gave the time off. While its true that it would be incredibly inhospitable for children and teachers in older schools with no central air conditioning, the time off is more for the educators. They need time to prep for the following autumn.
- Benedict's plan to remove recess was tested by the government in one episode "Recess is Cancelled". However, as the kids had no way to alleviate their stress without recess, their scores went down, and the government decided to reinstate recess in order for their scores to go back up for good. This proves that Benedict's theory was wrong, but either Benedict was not aware of the event by that time or he did not care as he still wanted to get rid of recess.
- Dr. Benedict could be considered a dark parallel to both Principal Prickly and Miss Finster, symbolizing what they might become if they hadn't learned to appreciate recess and children.
- Dr. Benedict seems to hate violence, as he doesn't want most of his henchmen to use any machine guns as part of his evil plans. This was mostly to make the movie kid-friendly, as Benedict didn't want to set up a bad example for kids. However, he is hypocritical on the fact that he doesn't even mind letting his ninja henchmen use deadly weapons on those who oppose him, especially innocent kids.
External links[]
- Dr. Phillium Benedict on the Recess Wiki
- Dr. Phillium Benedict on the Disney Wiki
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Villains | ||
Anti-Recess Legion Other |