In “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, a black-robed Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) frames Roger Rabbit, and tries to kill almost EVERYbody. Who was this character’s original identity before he became the Judge?
To be more specific, “Roger Rabbit” was the first movie to feature both Warner Brothers AND Disney characters together, (perhaps because they are owned by the same corporation now). I got the impression that all the cartoon personalities remained absolutely true to their historical characters. Most of the cartoon environments were also faithfully portrayed as they originally appeared.
With this in mind… I think the film’s writers had a specific cartoon villain in mind when they created Judge Doom. There are clues given by Doom and Eddie Valiant; the character had Red Eyes and a high-pitched squeaky voice. Whoever it was, (and whatever species it was) he obviously had a sizable criminal record which must have included murder. In his undisguised form, he had a bearing so terrifying that Eddie Valiant recoiled in horror.
Reminds me of Pulp Heros like “The Shadow” who were actually reformed murderers trying to redeem themselves, but Judge Doom remained evil whereas Lamont Cranston left the dark side.
WHO was this cartoon? Who REALLY framed Roger Rabbit??? It is far too clever a piece of film for Judge Doom not to have an incredibe backstory.
An excllent plot synopsis can be found here. http://www.filmsite.org/whof2.html