Judge Doom

Judge Doom (formerly known as Baron von Rotten) is a fictional character who appears as the main antagonist in the 1988 film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', portrayed by Christopher Lloyd. He is depicted as the much-feared, cruel, and evil judge of Toontown, who is later to be revealed as the mastermind for the framing of the titular character and the murder of protagonist Eddie Valiant's brother within the film.

Judge Doom is an original character from the script of the film created by screenwriters Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. Many actors, such as Tim Curry and Christopher Lee, were considered for the role before Lloyd was cast as the character. Judge Doom later appeared in ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' media, becoming the final boss of video game adaptations of the film and in a graphic novel sequel explaining his backstory and revival. The merchandise of the character was also sold.

Judge Doom has had many comparisons with characters from other fictional media, and his motives and actions have drawn parallels with real-world historical events.

Christopher Lloyd's role as Judge Doom has been praised as a film villain, with the character appearing as one of the greatest film villains of all time by '' Wizard'' magazine and appearing in other related film villain media lists. The character and his plot twist reveal as a toon are commonly rated as some of the scariest moments in a family-oriented non-horror film.

The character has been widely acknowledged in popular culture, being referenced in a song, a documentary and a 2021 viral Twitter joke regarding NFL player Tom Brady.

Creation and concept

Writing

During the writing process in Summer 1986, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman were unsure of whom to include as the villain in the plot of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. They wrote scripts that had either Jessica Rabbit or Baby Herman as the villain, but they made their final decision with the newly created character Judge Doom. Price and Seaman based the scheme of Judge Doom of destroying Toontown for a freeway by a planned unproduced sequel of ''Chinatown'' entitled ''Cloverleaf'' which would be the name of Judge Doom's company in the film. Doom was supposed to have an animated vulture sit on his shoulder, but this was deleted due to the technical challenges this posed. Doom would also have a suitcase of twelve small toon kangaroos that act as a jury, by having their joeys pop out of their pouches, each with letters, when put together would spell "You are guilty". This was also cut.Who Shot Roger Rabbit, 1986 script by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman Doom was originally intended in the script as revealed as the offscreen anonymous hunter who killed Bambi's mother (referred to as "man" in ''Bambi'' and also named as such by the American Film Institute).

Casting

Tim Curry originally auditioned for the role of Judge Doom in September, 1986, but after his audition, the producers found him too terrifying for the role. Christopher Lee was also considered for the role, but Lee turned it down. Several other actors were also considered for the role of Judge Doom, including John Cleese, Roddy McDowall, Eddie Deezen, and Sting.

Christopher Lloyd was cast because he previously worked with Robert Zemeckis and Amblin Entertainment on ''Back to the Future'' in his most famous role as Emmett Brown. Lloyd shaved his hair for the role and also avoided blinking his eyes while on camera to perfectly portray the character.Robert Zemeckis, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, Ken Ralston, Frank Marshall, Steve Starkey, DVD audio commentary, 2003, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
According to Lloyd:

"I just felt a toon doesn't have to blink their eyes to remoisten their eyeballs. They're not human, so I just felt Judge Doom should never blink. It makes him even more ominous, scarier if he's just looking like that. It wasn't really difficult, I'd just keep my eyes open as long as I could, try to time it out with the next take and all that. It was cool. I just like to find little things that make him even eviler, and that was that.

Lloyd used the black-colored spy in '' Mad'' magazine's animated strip, ''Spy vs. Spy'', as the prose of what his appearance would look like during development.

Depiction

Character overview

In ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' (as depicted by Christopher Lloyd) he is the much-feared Judge of Toontown. Despite presiding over a city of Toons, Doom is totally without mirth or redeeming qualities and passes capital punishment on Toons who break the law, placing them in a chemical vat of turpentine, acetone and benzene which he dubs "the Dip" to kill them permanently.

Doom wears a black ensemble which includes a caped overcoat (which is always being blown by a gust of wind), a fedora, gloves, and rimless yellow-tinted glasses; he also carries a pocket watch, as well as a cane which is revealed to be a sabre in disguise, for use in emergency situations. This appearance is reminiscent of agents of the real-life Gestapo, the secret police of Nazi Germany.

Doom employs his toon weasel henchmen (the "Toon Patrol") to assist him in hunting down Roger Rabbit for the murder of Marvin Acme.

Role in film

When Judge Doom is introduced, Lt. Santino confides to Eddie Valiant that Doom bought the election as judge of Toontown. Doom threatens himself as executioner to Roger Rabbit once he catches him with a mixture of turpentine, acetone, and benzene he dubs "the Dip". Doom showcases the chemical's purpose by killing a toon shoe in front of Eddie. Roger realizes he is in trouble with Doom after him, and begs Eddie to hide him. Later, at the Terminal Bar, Doom uses the "Shave and a Haircut" trick to lure Roger out, then prepares to execute him. After a brief scuffle inside the bar, the Judge orders the weasels to capture Roger and Eddie Valiant. When Eddie learns that studio head R.K. Maroon is connected to the plot to frame Roger, Eddie interrogates him, but Maroon pleads that he is "a dead man" if he confesses. Just as Maroon is about to do so, he is killed by an unseen assailant who nearly shoots Eddie as well.

Upon chasing the assailant to Toontown, Eddie catches Jessica Rabbit, thinking she is the murderer, but Jessica reveals that Judge Doom was the one who killed Acme and Maroon. At the film's climax, Doom traps Eddie, Jessica, and Roger in the Acme Factory to explain his scheme to destroy Toontown using a giant, mobile vat of Dip linked to a high-pressure water cannon, and then build a freeway in its place. Doom then plans to retire from being a judge and control all the profits from the new road system. Doom also reveals that he is the sole shareholder of Cloverleaf Industries, and confesses that he bought the trolley network for the sole purpose of putting it out of production. He then orders Jessica and Roger to be tied up and raised into the air via skyhook to be sprayed by the Dip cannon.

Valiant distracts the weasels using hilarious antics to make them laugh themselves to death, then attempts to rescue Roger and Jessica when he is interrupted by Doom. The two men then square off, dueling with various Acme props. During the fight, Judge Doom is run over by a steamroller but does not die as expected. As the steamroller crushes him, Doom's body is flattened into a flimsy paper-thin shape, revealing himself to be a toon wearing an assortment of fake props such as fake eyeballs, false teeth, and a rubber mask in order to disguise his toon body. Doom reinflates himself at an oxygen tank revealing his red toon eyes and his high-pitched voice to Eddie who remembered a character of that distinction as the bank robber in Toontown long ago, thus explaining how Doom managed to buy the judicial election and the trolley network, and the one who murdered his brother, Teddy Valiant, by dropping a piano on his head.

Doom attempts to use his toon abilities to finish off Eddie but Eddie eventually defeats him by dissolving Doom to death in his own Dip concoction and leaving behind his human disguise. A crowd of various toons then surround the remnants of his disguise and wonder what kind of toon he was. It is never revealed what type of toon he was, or if he was one specific type of toon at all. The toons seem to agree that they do not need to know and decide to live happily ever after when the will of Marvin Acme suddenly appears in Roger's possession, granting full ownership to the citizens of Toontown.

Role in graphic novel

Judge Doom appears in the graphic novel: '' Roger Rabbit: The Resurrection of Doom'', which takes place after the first film and establishes his origin.

In the graphic novel, Roger and Jessica Rabbit watch a documentary which explains that Doom was originally a toon named Baron von Rotten who took up the role of playing the antagonist in movies until suffering a concussion in an accident, from which he awakened believing he was a real villain. Von Rotten thus began his criminal career by robbing the First National Bank of Toontown, followed by killing Theodore 'Teddy' Valiant by dropping a piano on his head, and then spreading the stolen money all over the town in order to buy the election for Judge of Toontown, where he then assumed the new name of Judge Doom.

The spin-off graphic novel also reveals that three cartoon weasels who happen to be connected with the "Toon Patrol", the weasel henchmen from ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', revive the villain using old model drawings and cartoon cels after watching the documentary for inspiration. When revived, Doom plans to avenge himself of Roger Rabbit by ruining his professional life. He does this by disguising himself as CB Maroon and being responsible for slandering the newspaper of the character. Eddie Valiant traces this scheme to CB Maroon. Doom reveals his grand scheme to acquire and close down Maroon Cartoons entirely, and then kill the rabbit. The weasel henchmen then capture Valiant and he is thrown in a vault revealing the real CB Maroon, who was being kept out of the way until the sale went through. Roger and Jessica eventually free both Valiant and Maroon. Despite this, the heroes found they were too late to stop Doom from acquiring Maroon Cartoons. Panicking, Valiant pulled a gun on Doom which was believed to be a water gun at first but turns out to be Dip which melts both Doom (and the weasels) once again.

Other media and merchandise

Judge Doom appears as the final boss in the 1988 video game adaption, the 1989 video game adaption, and the 1991 video game adaption of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' within the franchise of the same name.

LJN released film merchandise of the character with the pet vulture that was scrapped during production. Doom and Eddie Valiant were both playable characters in the action board game ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Dip Flip''. In the game, one player plays Judge Doom to dip as many toons as they can while another player plays Eddie Valiant trying to save the toons. A Funko action figure of Judge Doom with his animated eyes along with him holding the anthropomorphic shoe that he dips in ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' was released by The Walt Disney Company as part of the Roger Rabbit lineup.

Themes and analysis

Scheme metaphor

Judge Doom's scheme is ultimately based on the development of the existing Southern California freeways. The film is set in 1947 where Judge Doom plans to destroy Toontown over building a freeway and buy off the Pacific Electric railway to dismantle it. According to him it will boost automotive businesses. The motivation is a nod to a conspiracy theory that the many companies conspired to push an automobile future for Greater Los Angeles which ultimately helped bring down Pacific Electric. The scheme within the film has been cited as a metaphor behind the history of automobiles and the economy of the technological age by various authors such as James Howard Kunstler in the book ''The Geography of Nowhere''. Dave Kehr of the ''Chicago Tribune'' compared Judge Doom's evil scheme as related to the plot of ''Chinatown''. As did film critic, Emily St. James, who added ''L.A. Confidential'' in her mix of comparisons as well.

Actor analysis

Christopher Lloyd likened his part as Doom to his previous role as the Klingon commander Kruge in '' Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'', both being overly evil characters which he considered being "fun to play". Scenes like the Evil Queen as the witch in ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' and ''Bambi'' are labeled as examples of scary childhood moments for Lloyd. Because of that, Lloyd admitted that the tragic shoe scene was his favorite scene to perform within the film, calling it payback from the original Disney films that he was "traumatized” or terrified of. Lloyd added:

Doom was such a dark character. I've had so many people come up to me over the years to tell me that when they were kids that movie scared the hell out of them — really kind of terrified them. But I remember as a kid watching those original Walt Disney animated films that terrified me, and I think that is part of what makes those films so appealing. So it's fun and a bit of sweet revenge to be the villain — the fun, dark part of the movie. Also, Judge Doom turns out to be a toon, so I don't think you can get too upset with a toon — since they're entertaining and fun.

The Dip and demise comparison

Turpentine, acetone and benzene combine Judge Doom's fictional ingredient that he refers to as "the Dip" that kills toons and which ultimately kills himself. In real life they are combination of paint thinners. Jenna Stoeber of ''Polygon'' felt that the Dip was a scary part of many childhoods She opined "the Dip is just paint thinner, able to instantly dissolve a painted Toon into nothingness. For a child, that is a fundamental threat". She added, "the horror of the Dip is uniquely adolescent, threatening to obliterate all of a child’s favorite creatures" and further described it for that reason as "pure terror". Film director, Robert Zemeckis, compared Judge Doom's invention of the Dip, that intended to eliminate all toons, to Adolf Hitler's Final Solution. According to film critic, Jonathan Rosenbaum, the filmmakers originally intended to name the Dip as the Final Solution.

Judge Doom's demise where he melts from the Dip is often referenced as an allusion to the death of the Wicked Witch of the West in '' The Wizard of Oz''. Film critic Jay Botar of the ''Orlando Sentinel'' acknowledged it as the greatest meltdown since the Wicked Witch of the West.

Reception

Christopher Lloyd's portrayal of Judge Doom has received overall positive reception with some authors comparing his role as a "brilliant" or "scary" villain.
'' Wizard'' magazine rated Doom as the 60th Greatest Villain of All Time. Other lists include ''Digital Spy'' placing him as one of the most “batshit” film villains of all time, ''Fandango'' placing him number one on their list of "the most nefarious live-action Disney villains" and Livingly Media's ''Zimbio'' placing Doom as one of the scariest non-horror film villains. Additionally ''BuzzFeed'' ranked him second in scariest film characters in films that are not scary. The character is usually ranked along with characters such as Large Marge from '' Pee-wee's Big Adventure'' and the Child Catcher from ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang''. Aly Semigran of Nerdist Industries ranked Doom as one of cinema's scariest old people.

The debut of his character where he murdered the shoe from the Dip was commonly cited as one of the scenes that made him terrifying. Along with the film's climactic plot twist of him being flattened by a steamroller and the reveal as a toon with the burning red eyes and high squeaky voice was commonly ranked as the scariest of scenes for "kids films" as well. His reveal as a toon character was placed as one of the most traumatizing reveals for kids from the 1980s by ''BuzzFeed''. ''Rolling Stone'' placed it as one of the top twelve of scariest moments in a "kids" film. Neal Justin of the ''Star Tribune'' jokingly described Judge Doom as making Freddy Krueger "look like Fred Rogers" in reference with the squeaky voice reveal. YouTuber ''Nostalgia Critic'' placed the toon reveal scene as number three of his "Top 11 Scariest Nostalgic Moments".

In popular culture

'' The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'' indirectly references Doom's biological weapon, the Dip, after Fearless Leader says there has never been a way to kill a toon before, The Mole says "what about in the movie Roger Rabbit?". The Fearless Leader responds by saying that was different. Rappers MC Lars and Kool Keith wrote a song about Roger Rabbit and Judge Doom on Lars's 2015 album, " The Zombie Dinosaur LP" called "the Dip". Lars cited Doom as a favorite villain of his. Christopher Lloyd guest starred on and gave insight of his character on an episode of the Disney+ original documentary series ''Prop Culture''.

In May 2021, the quarterback of the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tom Brady, was compared in Twitter as looking like Judge Doom (along with other fictional villains) in a fashion outfit of his when attending the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The noted comparison resulted in viral phenomenon jokes in regards to Brady being the character.

See also

* List of Disney villain characters

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doom, Judge
Animated human characters
Fictional judges
Fictional mass murderers
Male film villains
Fictional shapeshifters
Video game bosses
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Film characters introduced in 1988
Disney characters originating in film