| Judge Doom | |
|---|---|
| Who Framed Roger Rabbit character | |
 Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom inWho Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) | |
| First appearance | Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) |
| Created by | Jeffrey Price Peter S. Seaman |
| Portrayed by | Christopher Lloyd |
| Voiced by | Corey Burton (Who Framed Roger Rabbit Read-Along Storybook) |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | Baron Von Rotten |
| Species | Toon disguised as ahuman |
| Occupation | Judge |
Judge Doom is a fictional character and the mainantagonist in the 1988 filmWho Framed Roger Rabbit, portrayed byChristopher Lloyd. He is depicted as the much-feared, cruel and evil judge of Toontown, who later in the film is revealed as the mastermind behind the framing ofthe titular character and the murder of protagonistEddie Valiant's brother.
Judge Doom is an original character from the script of the film created by screenwritersJeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. Many actors, such asTim Curry andChristopher Lee, were considered for the role before Lloyd was cast as the character. Judge Doom later appeared inWho Framed Roger Rabbit media, becoming thefinal boss of video game adaptations of the film and in agraphic novel sequel explaining his backstory and revival. 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 byWizard magazine and appearing in other related film villain media lists. The character and hisplot twist reveal as atoon 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 viralTwitter joke regardingNFL playerTom Brady.
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 ofWho Framed Roger Rabbit. They wrote scripts that had eitherJessica Rabbit orBaby 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 on a planned unproduced sequel ofChinatown entitledCloverleaf, which would be the name of Judge Doom's company in the film.[1] Doom was supposed to have an animated vulture sit on his shoulder, but this was deleted due to the technical challenges this posed.[2] Doom would also have a suitcase of twelve small toon kangaroos thatact as a jury, by having theirjoeys pop out of their pouches, each with letters, which when put together would spell "You are guilty". This was also cut.[3] Doom was originally intended in the script to be revealed as the offscreen anonymous hunter who killedBambi's mother (referred to as "man" inBambi and also named as such by theAmerican Film Institute) but everyone at Disney rejected the idea.[3][4]
Tim Curry originally auditioned for the role of Judge Doom in August, 1986, but while during his audition, the producers found him too terrifying for the role.[5]Christopher Lee was also considered for the role, but Lee turned it down.[6] Several other actors were also considered for the role of Judge Doom, includingJohn Cleese,Roddy McDowall,Eddie Deezen, andSting.[6]
Christopher Lloyd was cast because he previously worked withRobert Zemeckis andAmblin Entertainment onBack to the Future in his most famous role asEmmett Brown. Lloyd shaved his hair for the role and also avoided blinking his eyes while on camera to perfectly portray the character.[2]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.[7]
Lloyd used the black-colored spy inMad magazine's comic stripSpy vs. Spy as a rough guide of what the character would look like during development.[7]
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InWho Framed Roger Rabbit, Doom is the much-feared Judge of Toontown. Despite presiding over a city of Toons, Doom is totally without mirth or redeeming qualities and passescapital punishment on Toons who break the law, placing them in a chemical vat ofturpentine,acetone andbenzene which he dubs "the Dip" to kill them permanently.[9]
Doom wears a black ensemble which includes a caped overcoat,fedora, gloves, and rimless yellow-tinted glasses; he also carries apocket watch, as well as acane which is revealed to be asabre in disguise, for use in emergency situations. This appearance is reminiscent of agents of the real-lifeGestapo, the secret police ofNazi Germany.[9]
Doom employs his toon weasel henchmen, the Toon Patrol, to assist him in hunting downRoger Rabbit for the murder of Marvin Acme.[9][10]
When Judge Doom is introduced, Lt. Santino confides toEddie Valiant that Doom bought the election as judge of Toontown. Doom threatens to act as executioner toRoger Rabbit 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.[9]
Upon chasing the assailant to Toontown, Eddie catchesJessica 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-pressurewater cannon, and then build afreeway 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.[9]
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 variousAcme props. During the fight, Judge Doom is run over by asteamroller but does not die as expected, being flattened into a flimsy paper-thin shape and revealing him to be a toon wearing an assortment of fake props to disguise himself. Doom reinflates himself at an oxygen tank revealing his red toon eyes and his high-pitched voice to Eddie, who recognizes Doom as an escaped bank robber from Toontown long ago, thus explaining how Doom managed to buy the judicial election and the trolley network. Eddie also recognizes Doom as the toon who murdered his brother, Teddy Valiant, by dropping a piano on his head.[9]
Doom attempts to use his toon abilities to finish off Eddie, but the latter manages to defeat him by dissolving him to death in his own Dip concoction. A crowd of various toons then surround the remnants of his disguise and wonder what kind of toon he was. The toons seem to agree that they do not need to know and decide to live happily ever after when Marvin Acme's will suddenly appears in Roger's possession, granting full ownership to the citizens of Toontown.[9]
Judge Doom appears in thegraphic novelRoger Rabbit: The Resurrection of Doom, which takes place after the film and establishes his origin.[11]
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 theantagonist 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.[11]
The spin-off graphic novel also reveals that three cartoon weasels who happen to be connected with the "Toon Patrol", the weasel henchmen fromWho 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 awater gun at first but turns out to be Dip which melts both Doom (and the weasels) once again.[12]
Judge Doom appears as thefinal boss in the1988 video game adaption,[13]the 1989 video game adaption,[14] and the1991 video game adaption ofWho Framed Roger Rabbit within the franchiseof the same name.[15]
LJN released film merchandise of the character with the pet vulture that was scrapped during production.[1] Doom andEddie Valiant were both playable characters in the actionboard gameWho 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.[16] AFunko action figure of Judge Doom with his animated eyes along with him holding theanthropomorphic shoe that he dips inWho Framed Roger Rabbit was released byThe Walt Disney Company as part of the Roger Rabbit lineup.[17]
Judge Doom's scheme is ultimately based on the development of the existingSouthern California freeways.[19] The film is set in1947 where Judge Doom plans to destroy Toontown over building a freeway and buy off thePacific Electric railway to dismantle it. According to him it will boost automotive businesses.[20] The motivation is a nod to aconspiracy theory that the many companies conspired to push an automobile future forGreater Los Angeles which ultimately helped bring downPacific Electric.[21] The scheme within the film has been cited as a metaphor behind thehistory of automobiles and the economy of the technological age by various authors such asJames Howard Kunstler in the bookThe Geography of Nowhere.[22][23][24]Dave Kehr of theChicago Tribune compared Judge Doom's evil scheme to the plot ofChinatown,[25] as did film criticEmily St. James, who addedL.A. Confidential to her mix of comparisons as well.[18]
Christopher Lloyd likened his part as Doom to his previous role as theKlingon commanderKruge inStar Trek III: The Search for Spock, both being overly evil characters which he considered being "fun to play".[26] Scenes like theEvil Queen as the witch inSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs andBambi are labeled as examples of scary childhood moments for Lloyd.[27][28] 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.[29][30] 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 originalWalt 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.[31]
Turpentine,acetone andbenzene combined form Judge Doom's fictional liquid that he refers to as "the Dip" that kills toons and which ultimately kills himself. In real life they arepaint thinners.[32] Jenna Stoeber ofPolygon 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".[32] Film director,Robert Zemeckis, compared Judge Doom's invention of the Dip, that intended to eliminate all toons, toAdolf Hitler'sFinal Solution. It's possible that Judge Doom hides as ahuman, becauseToons have zero power in his world, making him sort of afakeÜbermensch, cravingpower andauthority. According to film criticJonathan Rosenbaum, the filmmakers originally intended to name the Dip the Final Solution.[33]
Judge Doom's demise where he melts from the Dip is often referenced as an allusion to the death of theWicked Witch of the West inThe Wizard of Oz.[34][35][36] Film critic Jay Botar of theOrlando Sentinel acknowledged it as the greatest meltdown since the Wicked Witch of the West.[37]
Christopher Lloyd's portrayal of Judge Doom has received overall positive reception with some authors comparing his role as a "brilliant" or "scary" villain.[41][42][43]Wizard magazine rated Doom as the 60th Greatest Villain of All Time.[44] Other lists includeDigital 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'sZimbio placing Doom as one of the scariest non-horror film villains.[45][46][47] The character is usually ranked along with characters such as Large Marge fromPee-wee's Big Adventure and theChild Catcher fromChitty Chitty Bang Bang.[48][49] Aly Semigran ofNerdist Industries ranked Doom as one of cinema's scariest old people.[50]
The debut of his character where he murdered the shoe using the Dip was commonly cited as one of the scenes that made him terrifying.[32][51] Along with the film'sclimacticplot twist of him being flattened by asteamroller and the reveal as atoon with the burning red eyes and high squeaky voice was commonly ranked as the scariest of scenes for "kids films" as well.[52][53][54] His reveal as a toon character was placed as one of the most traumatizing reveals for kids from the 1980s byBuzzFeed.[39]Rolling Stone placed it as one of the top twelve of scariest moments in a "kids" film.[38] Neal Justin of theStar Tribune jokingly described Judge Doom as makingFreddy Krueger "look likeFred Rogers" in reference with the squeaky voice reveal.[55]YouTuberNostalgia Critic placed the toon reveal scene as number three of his "Top 11 Scariest Nostalgic Moments".[56]
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle indirectly references Doom's biological weapon, the Dip. AfterFearless 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.[57] RappersMC Lars andKool Keith wrote a song aboutRoger 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.[58]Christopher Lloyd guest starred on and gave insight into his character on an episode of theDisney+ original documentary seriesProp Culture.[59][8]
In May 2021, the quarterback of theNational Football League'sTampa Bay Buccaneers,[60]Tom Brady, was compared onTwitter as looking like Judge Doom (along with other fictional villains) in a fashion outfit of his when attending the2021 Kentucky Derby.[61][62][63] The noted comparison resulted inviral phenomenon jokes in regards to Brady being the character.[64][65][66]
In August 2023, it was announced that Judge Doom would appear as a character at the Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party at Disney’s California Adventure.
judge doom freeway.
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