# Mad Science!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2010, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383 "2010-04-26T08:55:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/1 "2010-04-26T08:55:32Z")
If I was Skald I could write this up really interestingly, but at the moment I can hardly type so… What are your favorite scenes of mad science? From Mystery Men: We don’t see the set-up, but Captain Amazing is hooked up to the psychofrakulator. And it is cool. Like seriously bad-ass - big ol’ ray gun from the ceiling, he’s strapped into a chair, the awesome old fashioned knife switches on the wall. And then he basically instructs the heroes to fry him, by being a jackass. I kinda lost my point there, but, yeah. Mad Science! Inspire me! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/2 "2010-04-26T11:00:37Z")
There are fun mad science moments in **Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog**. I love the throwaway gag about Dr. Horrible having stolen a bunch of gold from out of a locked vault via a transporter. He’s pretty pleased just for having been able to commit such a crime, but the joke is that it didn’t exactly re-assemble itself properly on his end. It left him with a big Ziploc bag full of a weird goldish liquid. Not to mention the scene with him assembling a remote control and controller unit to hijack a van full of Wonderflonium. When he tries to use it, the girl he has a crush on talks to him during the attempt, then she nearly gets run down by the van and thinks that she was saved by the main superhero of the city (who’s also a real jerk). Cue “meet cute” moment while Dr. Horrible seethes. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/3 "2010-04-26T11:15:53Z")
The Kenneth Strickfaden machinery with added Colin Clive histrionics in the creation scene of Karloff’s FRANKENSTEIN, and again with added Ernest Theisiger goodness in BRIDE OF. Same machinery used to good effect in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. On the FRANKENSTEIN theme… the two creation scenes in F… THE TRUE STORY (NBC-TV 1973) in which solar-powered mill-blades whir to generate the electricity for the first monster and later a vat of multi-colored chemicals brew life into the near-nekkid body of Jane Seymour (woohoo!); and the Coppola-Branaugh creation scene where Bobby DeNiro is cooked in an electric eel, acupuncture needle, amniotic fluid stew. IT’S ALIVE!!! ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/4 "2010-04-26T11:30:50Z")
> [@Silver Tyger Girl](#): > > Mad Science! Inspire me! Any scene with Evil Genius (David Warner) from [Time Bandits](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081633/)! > [@](#): > > Evil: If I were creating the world I wouldn’t mess about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers, eight o’clock, Day One! > [zaps one of his minions accidentally, minion screams] > Evil: Sorry. > [@](#): > > Evil: God isn’t interested in technology. He cares nothing for the microchip or the silicon revolution. Look how he spends his time, forty-three species of parrots! Nipples for men! > Robert: Slugs. > Evil: Slugs! HE created slugs! They can’t hear. They can’t speak. They can’t operate machinery. Are we not in the hands of a lunatic? > [@](#): > > Evil: Now Benson, I’m going to have to turn you into a dog for a while. > [@](#): > > Evil: When I have the map, I will be free, and the world will be different, because I have understanding. > Robert: Uh, understanding of what, Master? > Evil: Digital watches. And soon I shall have understanding of video cassette recorders and car telephones. And when I have understanding of them, I shall have understanding of computers. And when I have understanding of computers, I shall be the Supreme Being! ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/5 "2010-04-26T11:36:38Z")
The [Orgazmorator](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcA-SJlD2-Y) from Orgazmo is definitely Science Gone Mad. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/6 "2010-04-26T11:50:51Z")
The “Mariafication” scene where Rotwang’s robot is made to resemble the heroine in Fritz Lang’s _Metropolis_\*. It’s the original “Mad Scientist’s Laboratory” scene, predating and inspiring the 1931 lab in “Frankenstein”. (The 1910 Edison company “Frankenstein” gets a nod for its own creation scene, accomplished by destroying a dummy of the monster and running the scene backwards. But Metropolis has infinitely better effects, and blows it out of the water.) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/7 "2010-04-26T13:19:11Z")
Girl Genius has more than a few I like. Some examples: [Spooky girl’s all yours, pal](http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090828). [The big fight](http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061225); several pages of the Baron and his troops against the circus that Agatha’s rebuilt into a robot army. [The Seneshcal communes with the castle.](http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071008) [Gil zaps the war clanks.](http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071126) And [here](http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060306), where Gil demonstrates how to properly make a mad scientist “I’ll destroy you all!” rant. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/8 "2010-04-26T13:45:45Z")
I’m having a hard time remembering specifics because I haven’t sen the movie in quite a long time, but [Jeffery Combs](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001062/) plays a pretty memorable mad scientist in the classic [Re-animator](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001062/). There’s also an interesting movie currently in production called [House of Re-Animator](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804493/) with Combs, William H. Macy, and George Wendt! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/9 "2010-04-26T13:48:36Z")
One word: Solaranite. And if you disagree, it’s due to your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid! ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/10 "2010-04-26T15:56:07Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Not to mention the scene with him assembling a remote control and controller unit to hijack a van full of Wonderflonium. When he tries to use it, the girl he has a crush on talks to him during the attempt, then she nearly gets run down by the van and thinks that she was saved by the main superhero of the city (who’s also a real jerk). Cue “meet cute” moment while Dr. Horrible seethes. :smack: Definitely. The graphic for the remote control software (definitely running on an Iphone) is funny, though I don’t remember the details > [@Billy](#): > > Are you kidding > What heist were you watching > Stop looking at her like that > Did you notice that he threw you in the garbage? > I stopped the van… > The remote control was in my hand! ---
**Author:** ![slitterst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@slitterst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slitterst)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/11 "2010-04-26T16:48:32Z")
I’d have to include the brain-washing scene from _The Muppet Movie._ Mel Brooks as the mad scientist who will be turning Kermit’s brain to mush – [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdre4FzIAFk) ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/12 "2010-04-26T21:13:11Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Any scene with Evil Genius (David Warner) from [Time Bandits](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081633/)! OMG, I have to see that! That sounds awesome! ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/13 "2010-04-27T18:52:59Z")
Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/14 "2010-04-27T19:12:22Z")
Plenty of them –Doctor Doom’s laboratory, especially as drawn by Jack Kirby –Reed Richard’s Lab, for that matter. Also by Kirby –Bela Lugosi’s lab in _Bride of the Monster_, with its painted-on stone walls, and the victim strapped down with a colander on his head, menaced by a phot-enlarger on a microphone stand (thanks to _It Came From Hollywood_ for that description) –Charles Laughton’s lab with its gamma-ray machine in _The Island of Lost Souls_. –Any of the labs in _The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai_. And, the best of all ----The Krell Laboratory in **Forbidden Planet** (along with the view of the reactor and the Cube Twenty Miles on a Side, bristling with Klystron Relays) [http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3DForbidden%2BPlanet%2BKrell%2BLaboratory%2Bpicture&w=500&h=263&imgurl=farm3.static.flickr.com%2F2614%2F4111889439\_ca31d8d42c.jpg&size=108.4kB&name=4111889439+ca31d8d42c+jpg&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Ftigerluxe%2F4111889439%2F&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Ftigerluxe%2F4111889439%2F&p=forbidden+planet+krell+laboratory&type=jpeg&no=1&tt=2&oid=39aa3983b3fbe8fe&fusr=tigerluxe&hurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Ftigerluxe%2F&tit=4111889439+ca31d8d42c+jpg&sigr=11isqinvo&sigi=11m3hr062&sigb=12jrqbges&sigh=117uc6k4v&fr=yfp-t-701](http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3DForbidden%2BPlanet%2BKrell%2BLaboratory%2Bpicture&w=500&h=263&imgurl=farm3.static.flickr.com%2F2614%2F4111889439_ca31d8d42c.jpg&size=108.4kB&name=4111889439+ca31d8d42c+jpg&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Ftigerluxe%2F4111889439%2F&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Ftigerluxe%2F4111889439%2F&p=forbidden+planet+krell+laboratory&type=jpeg&no=1&tt=2&oid=39aa3983b3fbe8fe&fusr=tigerluxe&hurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Ftigerluxe%2F&tit=4111889439+ca31d8d42c+jpg&sigr=11isqinvo&sigi=11m3hr062&sigb=12jrqbges&sigh=117uc6k4v&fr=yfp-t-701) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/15 "2010-04-27T22:52:53Z")
The Banzai Watermelon Lab. Truly classic, & with a purpose. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/16 "2010-04-27T22:57:29Z")
_Weird Science_. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/17 "2010-04-28T02:44:17Z")
Doctor Strangelove laying out the mine-shaft plan. The reveal of the Diablos in _Kim Possible: So The Drama_ ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/18 "2010-04-28T16:22:37Z")
Dexter’s Lab (Mandark’s too). Although Rotwang’s will always be the _nes plus ultra_ of this, I think. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-science/537383/19 "2010-04-28T16:26:54Z")
the scene from Metropolis, with Giorgio Moroder score (and coloring): [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6ZpVwFAlFg)