A Look at Disney Investigates: Villains Profile: Judge Doom

Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney as we continue our investigation here with the first of two Villains Profile for this event as we enter a week of Roger Rabbit related material as we look at Judge Doom.   As always, this will include Actor,  First Appearance,  Personality,  Grand Desire, Lackeys, Most Evil Deed,   Demise,  & finally Is Judge Doom A Good Villain.    With that out of the way, let's begin.  

Actor

Christopher Lloyd 

If anyone knows me, you know that I'm a huge Back To The Future fan.  My BTTF retrospective from last year probably made that pretty clear.  I bring this up because I was more familiar with Doc Brown before I ever saw Roger Rabbit.

 So, I knew Lloyd as this loveable eccentric scientist.   So yeah, I was little thrown off seeing Christopher Lloyd playing a villain as I had never seen that before.  And he was a horrifying villain at that.  Interesting fact, Tim Curry auditioned for the role of Doom but his audition was deemed too frightening.   

First Appearance

From Doom's first appearance, we see how cold and ruthless and coldhearted he truly is.   From the moment, he steps foot in the movie,  he evokes fear and dread.  From being dressed in all black to the way, he talks as he is deadly serious.   Oh, and perhaps the thing that solidifies  his scare factor  is the scene of him killing the Toon shoe with his concoction, The Dip.

That traumatized many a child that saw this movie.  

Personality

Throughout the movie, Doom is presented as a calm, cold and calculating human.  He seems to hold himself above toons and imagine himself to be their superior.  And when it is assumed that he is human, that is creepy enough but during the final climax, when he is revealed to be a Toon.

Doom is revealed to be psychotic deranged and unhinged.  He takes pleasure in seeing others suffer, and the toon reveal just makes him all the creepier. You know, that he just isn't right in the head.

Grand Desire

Doom's plan is quite elaborate.  He became judge of Toontown just to trick the Toons and instill order.  And also became the sole shareholder in the Cloverleaf trolley company, just so that he could destroy them and demolish Toontown with his Dip and replace it with a freeway.  This really goes to show his hatred of Toons. 

Most Evil Deed

This one is a bit tricky to place but I honestly think that Doom's most evil deed actually takes place before the events of the movie even started. Being that he is the Toon that killed Eddie's brother.   And that is what changed Eddie so much from the man that he was.    And set Eddie down on the path of self-destruction.   Sidenote, his voice when he reveals it is just so eerie. 

Lackeys

Toon Patrol

I'll be honest and say that I'm not the biggest fan of the Toon Patrol.   They're alright as lackeys for Doom and I do like that any Disney fan can see the influence of the Weasels that worked for Mr. Winkie In Wind In The Willows.  Even, if I think the Weasels that inspired the Toon Patrol are more entertaining.   

I dunno, they're not bad but I do find them to be a bit over-the-top for my liking but then again, I had that same problem with Roger Rabbit.  They're a bit entertaining but really, they are characters that I could take or leave from the movie.

Demise

It seems that all is over for Doom, when he is run over with a steamroller but...

This is when it's revealed that Doom is a Toon and we do get a pretty good battle between Eddie and Doom.   Eddie proving to be rather clever figures out to use the Dip on Doom and that melts and he melts aways as he quotes The Wicked Witch.  And as he melts away,   all is left is his human disguise.  And the citizens of Toontown surround the hollowed corpse of human costume and the Toons wonder what kind of Toon he could be but decide that they are better off not knowing.

The death for Doom is great as you see his own creation turned on him and that leads to his downfall.

Is Judge Doom A Good Villain?

Absolutely,  he is one of the creepiest villains that we've covered on Villains Profile.  He is just so horrifying.   I'd rank him alongside Shere Khan and Man as one of the best Villains that we've covered on Villains Profile.  Speaking of,  it was originally planned in the script to be revealed that Doom was Man but that was ultimately cut.   That would've just made him all the creepier.  Even as it stands,  Doom is perhaps one of the most frightening villains to ever grace Villains Profile.  Join me next time as we look at...