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Revision as of 14:07, 12 July 2020
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This Villain was proposed and approved by Villains Wiki's Pure Evil Proposals Thread. Any act of removing this villain from the category without a Removal Proposal shall be considered vandalism (or a futile "heroic" attempt of redemption) and the user will have high chances of being | ||
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| “ | They are not kid gloves, Mr. Valiant. This is how we handle things down in Toontown. I'd think you of all people would appreciate that. | „ |
| ~ Doom to Eddie. |
| “ | Remember me, Eddie?! When I killed your brother, I talked.. JUST.. LIKE... THIIISS!!! | „ |
| ~ Judge Doom's most famous quote as he reveals his true identity to Eddie. |
Baron von Rotten, or better known as Judge Doom, is the main antagonist of the 1988 Disney/Touchstone live-action/animated film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He is the judge of Toontown, Eddie Valiant's arch-nemesis, and the boss of the Toon Patrol.
He was portrayed by Christopher Lloyd, who also played Grigori Rasputin in Don Bluth's Anastasia, The Hacker in Cyberchase, Merlock in DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, Lord Imaru in Golden Films' The Secret Treasure of Machu Picchu, Bill Crowley in I Am Not A Serial Killer, Dr. Heep in Baby Geniuses, Kruge in the Star Trek universe, and Master Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind. His high-pitched voice was provided by Corey Burton, who also played Captain Hook in Return to Never Land.
Personality
| “ | Since I've had Toontown under my jurisdiction my goal has been to rein in the insanity, and the only way to do that is to make Toons respect the law. | „ |
| ~ Judge Doom, to Eddie Valiant |
Judge Doom started off as a cold-blooded, manipulative, ruthless and brutal judge who holds a deep hatred towards Toons, even abusing his own Toon Patrol when they laugh at something funny. In fact, when first introduced, he crosses the Moral Event Horizon immediately, by dipping an innocent shoe in The Dip, killing it, he did this just to show how dangerous the Dip really is to Toons. Judge Doom seems to be also somewhat hypocritical by saying that Toons should respect the law while Doom himself continuously breaks the law, even committing a serious crime such as murder (but this could very likely be an act of manipulation). By his nature, even human citizen seem to dread him since Judge Doom is completely taken seriously in the movie. However when the movie goes on, we see the much darker side of Doom.
When capturing Eddie and Jessica, Doom is actually far worse. A cruel, genocidal, and insane person, Doom's hatred of Toons is so bad, that he plans to completely destroy Toontown by spraying Dip all over it with The Dipmobile so he could make a freeway for money which makes him greedy. However, Doom is also a highly intelligent mastermind since he can easily manipulate people and get away with many crimes. He's also difficult to beat since he's very strong and fast.
When Doom is falsely defeated, he shows his very true side. He is a sadistic, unsympathetic and horrific monster with
no redeeming qualities who commits crimes for pleasure and fun. In fact, his true reveal scene was so scary that it gave children a traumatizing or scary effect when the movie premiered. Doom is also immensely sadistic since he laughed when he killed Eddie's brother. What makes his ultimate goal so messed up now is that Doom himself is a Toon, making us question Why does he hate Toons? or How did he become a judge?, but he is a mysterious Toon in the film therefore we'll never know. Topping this all off, Doom doesn't even have any comedic traits at all. Speaking of him as a Toon, the movie does give us hints of him as a Toon in the beginning like why he put a glove on when he was about to dip the innocent shoe in The Dip.
Appearance
Judge Doom dresses ominously like most villains would; his attire consisted of a black coat, shady glasses, a white shirt, a black bow tie and a black hat that he pulls over his head a bit. He also walks with a cane, implying that he is older or wants to look sophisticated.
When he revealed his true identity, his hat and fake eyes were removed, revealing a pale white curly top and blood red cartoon eyes. His voice also became higher.
Biography
| “ | Judge Doom: A few weeks ago I had the good providence to stumble upon a plan of the city council. A construction plan of epic proportions. We're calling it a freeway. Eddie Valiant: Freeway? What the hell's a freeway? Judge Doom: Eight lanes of shimmering cement running from here to Pasadena. Smooth, safe, fast. Traffic jams will be a thing of the past. |
„ |
| ~ Judge Doom, revealing his evil plans to Eddie Valiant. |
For the majority of the film, Doom poses as a high-ranking judge. However, he employs tactics that are at odds with traditional views of justice, such as the employment of a treacherous mob of five toon weasel gangsters known as the Toon Patrol (whom he has hired as his new henchmen) and the execution of Toons through a ghastly green chemical paint thinner solution called the Dip, which is said to be the only way to truly kill a Toon forever.
During the start of the film, Toontown owner Marvin Acme was found dead as a large safe fell into his head at the Acme Factory. Suspicions points out to a Toon rabbit named Roger (due to pictures of Marvin playing "patty-cake" with Roger's human wife Jessica) and Eddie Valiant gets into hot water for provoking Roger with the pictures in the first place. Judge Doom arrives to the scene, as he swears to catch, convict, and execute Roger for the murder. Eddie was also told that Doom became a judge due to spending millions of dollars to buy the judicial election.
In desperation to prove his innocence, Roger seeks help and advice from Eddie, despite the latter's reluctance to get involved in another case involving a Toon, due to a bad case when a Toon robber murdered his brother Teddy while getting away with a zillion simoleans, which made Eddie extremely cynical of Toons.
However, Eddie soon learns of a hidden will that Acme has bestowed which will allow the Toons to have ownership of Toontown, and that a company called Cloverleaf Industries (which has already bought the local trolley company known as the Red Car) will buy Toontown unless Acme's will shows up by midnight. Eddie also learns that he was used as a patsy by studio head R.K. Maroon in an attempt to blackmail Acme into selling Toontown to Cloverleaf, so that Maroon could sell his studio to Cloverleaf for $3,000,000. Arriving at Maroon's office, Eddie confronts Maroon, who confessed that he only wanted to blackmail Acme with the pictures as Cloverleaf refused to buy the studio unless Acme sold Toontown to them first. However, before Maroon could explain further, he is murdered by an unknown gunman.
At first, Eddie believed the gunman to be Jessica as she was in the studio during the murder, but he soon learned that Doom was the real murderer after following Jessica into Toontown. However, anticipating that he would be followed, Doom traps Eddie, Roger and Jessica, and has the Toon Patrol to hold them captive at the Acme factory.
At the Acme factory, Doom confessed to be the true owner of Cloverleaf Industries as he explained his true plan: to destroy Toontown in order to build a freeway over the entire area. To that end, he has built a huge vehicle that can literally erase Toontown from existence via the use of high-pressured cannons filled with Dip. Doom also explained that he killed both Acme and Maroon and framed Roger to cover his tracks, and that he bought the Red Car to dismantle it so that he can retire as a jurist and take control of the profits of the new road system.
Doom orders the Toon Patrol to tie up both Roger and Jessica to have them sprayed with Dip, but Eddie foils this by making the weasels literally laugh themselves to death with crazy antics, much to Doom's strong annoyance. Deciding to take matters in his own hands, Doom fights Eddie, but ends up squashed flat by a steamroller.
However, Doom survives being squashed, revealing himself to be a Toon using fake props to hide his unknown true appearance. After inflating himself again with an oxygen tank, he reveals himself, much to Eddie's horror, as the same Toon who murdered Eddie's brother, Teddy Valiant, thus triggering his hatred towards Toons and explaining how Doom managed to buy the judicial election and the trolley car company in the first place.
His voice grew higher until it reaches a horrifyingly high pitch and his eyes turn to daggers, showing Doom's intent that he is now out to kill him as well.
With an evil grin, Doom sprouts a cartoon anvil and buzz-saw to kill Eddie, but the latter uses a Toon glove-loaded hammer to open the vehicle's Dip vat, leaving Doom doused in his own concoction. As he begins to melt, Doom shows more of his "Toony" nature as he cannot resist doing a direct spoof of the Wicked Witch of the West's death throes (screaming in pain that he is melting) in The Wizard of Oz.
He finally melts in a flood of Dip and fatally dissolves, leaving behind only his clothes, fake teeth, and rubber mask. Following the arrival of the police, Eddie exposed Doom's plan to clear Roger's name, and Roger found out that the will was in his love letter all along, as Acme used disappearing ink to hide the contents, thus leaving the Toons in ownership of Toontown for good. When the other Toons come to investigate, they all wonder what Doom really was and what he actually looked like under the mask; however, they soon realize that it does not matter what Doom was as they are now safe from his wrath forever and celebrate their victory. Thus, Doom died a sadist who used racism and greed as excuses to hide his true nature.
Killed Victims
- Teddy Valiant (dropped a piano on his head from 15 stories up)
- Marvin Acme (dropped a large safe on his head)
- A Toon Shoe (dipped in the Dip)
- R.K. Maroon (shot in the back)
Trivia
- Before Christopher Lloyd was cast in the role, Tim Curry auditioned for the role, but the producers Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Michael Eisner thought that his performance was too scary. However, this is ironic, as Christopher Lloyd's performance in the finished film was pretty scary after all, considering that Lloyd is best known for mostly playing comedic and good-hearted characters.
- John Cleese expressed interest in playing Doom, but both Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis refused, thinking that nobody would take a former member of Monty Python seriously as a sadistic villain.
- The late Christopher Lee turned down the role.
- The late Roddy McDowall, the late Robin Williams, Eddie Deezen, Sting, the late Jon Pertwee, John Lithgow, Willem Dafoe, John Malkovich, George Hearn, Gabriel Byrne, Tim Robbins, Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Richard Gere, Gene Hackman, Brad Garrett, Michael Richards, the late Dudley Moore, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, the late Richard Attenborough, Al Pacino, Ron Perlman, Tommy Lee Jones, Ray Liotta, Thomas F. Wilson, the late Alan Rickman, Kevin Spacey, Lance Henriksen,Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Donald Sutherland, the late Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, and Jeff Goldblum were all considered to play Judge Doom.
- Doom's death is an allusion to the Wicked Witch of the West's death in MGM's 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, as they both melt while shouting "I'm melting! Melting!".
- In addition, both have weaknesses to liquid. The Witch's demise comes from water while Judge Doom's demise is the Dip (a paint thinner).
- The character was originally going to have an animated pet vulture (one of the two that appeared in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) named Voltaire (after the French philosopher) that sat on his shoulder, but that idea was dropped in the interest of saving time. However, the vulture later resurfaced with Doom when a bendable action figure was produced.
- Christopher Lloyd correctly guessed Doom's true identity as a Toon when he was told not to blink in his script.
- Doom originally had seven weasels accompanying him, rather like the Seven Dwarfs, but he ultimately ended up only having five. He was also to have a jury of kangaroos, as in "Kangaroo Court". These elements were all dropped, because animating them would be too expensive.
- In a deleted scene, when Doom attempts to dip Roger at the bar, the patrons protest that Roger should at least have a proper trial. The judge agrees, then pulls out a suitcase from which jumps a group of kangaroos that hold out signs reading "Y-O-U A-R-E G-U-I-L-T-Y" (a literal Kangaroo Court, in other words).
- Originally, Doom was going to dip a Toon gopher instead of the cartoon shoe seen in the film. This was likely changed for the film to keep a PG rating.
- It is believed by a large group of spectators that Judge Doom is also the Toon who robbed the 1st National Bank of Toontown. This is never told is the film: they only say that it's a day they were searching the guilty party for a rob in this bank that Eddie and Teddy met Doom for the first time and that Doom killed Teddy. Also, they think that the money Doom gave to the Toons for being elected was the one he previously robbed in the bank.
- The ending scene was originally going to have Doom reveal his Toon mouth and red hands with long nails.
- In early drafts for the film, he was revealed to be Man from Bambi, as in the early drafts Eddie mentions offhand to Roger that the person who killed Teddy was probably the one who killed Bambi's mother. However, this dialogue was cut from the film for reasons yet unknown.
- In the Bonkers series, The Collector is the reverse of Judge Doom. He is a human disguised as a Toon, but shares a similar personality and glasses.
- Though Doom's real identity remains a mystery in the film, the yellow paint that remains of him following his death may hint that he was a Toon of a yellow or gold color, as evidenced from the yellow/gold-animated props (handles of his knife-like eyes, springs in his heels, anvil and buzzsaw) that sprouted from his black suit during his second fight with Eddie.
- Prior to the publication of The Resurrection of Doom, many fans speculated that Doom's real Toon form was the "Pistol Packin' Possum", a Toon seen on one of the posters in R.K. Maroon's office. This is mainly because the Possum has red eyes just like the Toon that killed Teddy Valiant as well as the exact same gun that Judge Doom had in the scene where he shot Maroon.
- Additionally, in the first scene where Valiant talks to Maroon about taking on the snoop job, behind Maroon are posters of cartoons on a rotating wall. The one on the right is a poster of the "Pistol Packin' Possum". When Valiant and Maroon walk over to the desk to discuss more business, the rotating wall is closed and the poster (along with the gun the possum is holding) is always pointed towards Maroon with his back turned to it.
- Even after the release of The Resurrection of Doom, this theory could still be somewhat valid, as "Baron Von Rotten" was known as "the toon with a thousand faces" and played many disguised roles, one of which might have been Pistol Packin' Possum.
- Additionally, in the first scene where Valiant talks to Maroon about taking on the snoop job, behind Maroon are posters of cartoons on a rotating wall. The one on the right is a poster of the "Pistol Packin' Possum". When Valiant and Maroon walk over to the desk to discuss more business, the rotating wall is closed and the poster (along with the gun the possum is holding) is always pointed towards Maroon with his back turned to it.
- The name "The Toon with a Thousand Faces" seems to be a reference of the late Mel Blanc (the man of a thousand voices), who was known to voice various Looney Tunes characters like Daffy Duck and Wile E. Coyote (who also appear in the film as cameos).
- There are many instances throughout the film that foreshadow the fact that Judge Doom is a Toon, or more precisely, that he isn't human at all:
- In the bar, he backs away from the spilled Dip, which is later shown not to affect regular people. Also, when he demonstrates the Dip's effectiveness for the first time by dunking a toon shoe in the chemical, he wears a rubber glove to protect himself (though one could argue that he used gloves to not get his hands stained with the toon shoe's remains). Also, when he decides to get Benny off the road so he can capture Eddie Valiant and Jessica Rabbit, he kicks the Dip and keeps a distance from it.
- When Doom was playing "Shave and a Haircut" to lure Roger Rabbit out of hiding, Eddie begins to wonder whose toonier, Roger Rabbit or Judge Doom ("I don't know who's toonier, you or Doom"), which is because the idea was somehow ridiculous for capturing a murderer.
- On several occasions, Doom is shown to detest laughter. Seeing as it is a Toon's role to be funny, too much laughter may have blown Doom's cover.
- Another instance that implies that Doom is a Toon is when he falls on fake eyeballs, he trips in a cartoonish way before falling down - he doesn't fall directly but slips a few times until he suddenly falls (normally, a human would fall directly after slipping once, as Eddie did), making the Toon Patrol laugh at him (which he once again ordered to stop). Also, when he gets back on his feet after falling, he hides one of his eyes, not because it is in pain, but so as to conceal his actual red toon eyes with the fake eyeballs that he's wearing. It is especially noticeable since Doom is always seen wearing glasses over his eyes. The fact that he had to cover one of the eyes, imply that the glasses are indeed fake, a fact hinted in the bar when all the glasses in the establishment broke from Roger Rabbit's loud screaming, but his glasses did not.
- His glasses glow with a white light that completely obscure his eyes during his talk about the freeway, the initial fight with Eddie, and slightly during a brief moment during his introduction. It is very noticeable because the majority of those incidents take in dim locations that do not have the light to generate that sort of light reflection. In fact, his glasses glow in a manner similar to animated bespectacled villains like Shou Tucker or Sosuke Aizen when talking about their sinister motives in an animated format that justifies that kind of lighting that is unnatural in the real world. This is hinted when a bespectacled cop earlier did not have that light obscuring effect on his glasses at any point in his screen time.
- Doom's face appears to be made out of rubber as he never blinks onscreen. This was foreshadowing to the fact that his face was actually revealed to be a mask and his eyes were fake and his teeth looked fake.
- Doom constantly performed an exaggerated toon-like turn whenever he turns his body.
- A gust of wind almost always blows on Doom's cape even when he's in an area where there's no wind (for an example, Eddie's house).
- Eddie states that Doom's "lamebrain freeway idea could only be cooked up by a Toon"; due to the plan being so absurdly simple for all the complicated planning underwent to make the plan a reality, how it was over-the-top in villainy due to the heinous actions leading up to it without a humane sense of guilt and the lack of foresight to the inherent flaws of the freeway system that a human with common sense would realize after properly thinking it over. This made it all the more obvious that Doom was a Toon who by nature, lacked common sense and was naive to how the world actually works, and possessed an over-the-top flair that he could not entirely suppress, despite his best efforts to do so.
- When Doom is run over by the steamroller in the ACME Factory, he is merely compressed and flattened. If he was a human, it would have been a lot messier.
- In Toontown, when Jessica shot Doom to save Eddie, Doom quickly recovered from the gunshot and continued running without injury from the shot.
- When Doom reveals his plans to Eddie about building the freeway, he suddenly gets very theatrical and over-the-top while he gushes about everything it would entail (as well as the fact that he would profit off of it all) to the point that it contrasted so much with the mostly cold and understated personality he had shown up until then, that it came off as somewhat out-of-character. This makes perfect sense once it's revealed he's a Toon; it's in the nature of many cartoon villains to be very flamboyant and over-the-top, so as much as he tried to disguise himself as a more normal, understated human being, he couldn't resist hamming it up like cartoon villains normally do when revealing their plans. To especially observant viewers, this is one of the biggest clues that he's not quite what he seems.
- A clue about his specific identity comes from his first scene: he assumes that Eddie is still working for Toons, and brushes off Eddie's rudeness as drunkenness, even though a) Eddie makes it perfectly clear that he's not working for Toons, and b) he had not been drinking at all that morning; both of these hint that Doom knows more about Eddie than he would be expected to know.
- If one pauses at the shot of Doom getting knocked by the spray of Dip, they will notice the dummy used for filming.
- According to the non-canonical graphic novel "The Resurrection of Doom", Doom's real name was "Baron Von Rotten", who worked as an actor until an accident resulted in him believing that he was a villain.
- Fittingly enough, Judge Doom is one of the most evil villains ever involved with Warner Brothers and Disney. He is said to be the "Enemy of All Toons", which is perfectly suitable since his plan threatened to exterminate them all, including other cartoon villains such as Pete and Yosemite Sam, who were also in the film. Furthermore, it's clear that he uses greed and racism to cover up his enjoyment of causing suffering towards others.
Template:Buena Vista Division Villains Template:Steven Spielberg Villains
