MY 4TH FAVORITE DISNEY VILLAIN

JUDGE DOOM



FROM "WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT"

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

Yes, this film does in fact count as a Disney film, despite being released under Disney's owned "Touchstone Pictures". The film is flooded with more Disney cartoon characters, as opposed to other classic cartoon characters; and Disney markets the characters of Roger, Jessica, and so forth as their own by selling toys based on them at their parks, made Roger Rabbit a walk-around character for a few years (as evidenced in the Disney Sing Along Song Video "Disneyland Fun"), and even having a ride dedicated towards the film at "Disneyland" that's still in operation. Much like how Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" became an official Disney film even though it was released as a "Touchstone" film when it came out, the same applies to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", only difference is Disney decided to market it as their Disney brand faster than they did with the other film. And that's great, because I can't think of any other Disney villain to fill the 4th spot on my list better than the scariest aspect of the whole entire movie.

We never hear about Judge Doom or see him, until we're near the end of the half hour mark, and when we do, his appearance comes as a complete surprise. When Eddie reaches down to pick up an electric buzzer that the dead corpse of the murder victim Marvin Acme has dropped, he is prevented from doing so when he is suddenly stabbed by the sharp-tip of a long pointy cane. Wondering who the wise-guy is, the camera pans up revealing an angry and ominous tall pale faced man dressed completely in black from his fedora hat down to his shoes, complete with a dark cape, wearing yellow tinted glasses, and having an evil skull attached to the top of his cane, while we hear such grim music playing in the background. And the first words that come out of his mouth when we meet him are "is this man removing the evidence from the scene of the crime".

Now before I talk about one of his infamous scenes that follows after his introduction, I must talk about more about this guy's appearance and the actor they got to play him! Many actors were considered for the role such as Christopher Lee, Roddy McDowall, and even Robin Williams. The one who came very close to playing Doom was the great Tim Curry, but was deemed to be too scary for younger audiences where the role would eventually go to Doc Brown himself Christopher Lloyd, and choosing him for the role for all we know didn't make the character any less scary! Before this film, everybody would mainly know Lloyd as the crazy comic relief actor, and seeing him go onto a role as scary as this before he would play villains in other films was shocking for many! I can't tell you how big of a mind blow that it was for me as a kid that Doc Brown, the Pagemaster, Uncle Fester, and the Angel Al played the villain who I dreaded and feared every single time that he appears on-screen. And I still can't get over how frightening and intimidating he is. His wardrobe of being all covered with black as he slowly walks around and stares at people with those giant cold dead eyes through his glasses with a face as sinister as a deadly vulture, and as nasty as a gargoyle while his theme music plays all makes you feel scared stiff by his presence. Not to mention that this guy is supposed to resemble the infamous Nazi, Judge Roland Freisler.

Speaking of Nazis, doesn't he look like Toht from "Raiders of the Lost Ark"?



Also is it just me but does he kind of look like Slug Worth from "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory"?



Jeez, no wonder why Judge Doom looked so familiar to me as a kid, and so Nazi like when I learned more about them during a tragic part of history as I got older.

What I admire most about Christopher Lloyd's performance as Doom is how he can make everything he says sound so menacing, instead of just looking it. His voice is calm and yet so serious and demanding that it never sounds like he's playing up the characters villainy in a way for us to have fun with it. Even when he smiles, mocks Eddie, and acts eccentric (like when he tells Eddie about his plan) it still comes across as absolute terror, rather than watching Lloyd pull off a wild performance that's similar to the previous characters that he's played. I'm not saying that's it's not over the top because it is, but not over the top to the point where he loses his edge, or having you feel unfazed by his presence and the things he says and does. It's the perfect balance of knowing how much the character should be over the top, and how much he should remain intimidating. He does have like two moments that I found to be funny, but they still have a grim edge to them, which I will gladly point out later. Much, much later.

During his introduction we learn that this heartless man is the Judge of the town where all cartoon characters live together, who bought the election by spreading millions of dollars, and hates Toons just as much as Eddie does, only worse! Unlike how Eddie just chooses not to work for Toons, and just keep his life separate from them, Doom carries out the law against guilty Toons (or so he claims) by dipping them in a barrel full of three paint thinners that he calls the Dip that will erase any Toon from existence. And he demonstrates this method, by putting on a rubber glove, and picking up a cute little squeaky red shoe that cuddles up against his shoes, where we then watch the poor thing cry and sizzle as he's being dipped. After seeing him melt away, we cut to the smoke from the dip rising up on Doom's emotionless face, and see his rubber glove covered with the gooey red paint left over from the Toon, that looks more like blood than it does paint. The reason why the scene is disturbing for many is we're not seeing someone who is good, or goofy getting axed off for no real reason. We're seeing something completely innocent and cute being killed in a very harsh and gruesome matter from this empty hearted man, that's still just as hard to watch as it was for many of us growing-up as kids.

Though the scene of him killing the shoe is indeed his most disturbing scene before the climactic battle at the end of the film. His most suspenseful scene is when he goes to the bar looking for Roger to dip him for his supposed murder. Roger's powerful speech of the power of laughter gets interrupted when Eddie sees a flashing red light signal in a secret room that they’re hiding in, indicating that Judge Doom is near. He starts off scaring and harassing the patrons as he asks where the rabbit is while also describing what he looks like, and getting their attention to get an answer by writing a 5,000 dollar reward on the chalkboard so hard that it hurts their ears, while also changing the lunch special from "French Dip" to "Rabbit Dip". One of the bar patrons jokes about a rabbit in the bar that causes everybody to laugh, and understanding that nobody is going to tell him, he just gives a fumed smile to silence everybody, instead of yelling or doing something violent, and tries to search the bar for clues of the rabbits presence. He finds a record of the song used for the opening of the Looney Tunes cartoons "Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", noticing how out of place it is to have it in a bar full of drunks; and smells the record and picks up the scent that a Toon has touched it recently. He out of nowhere tosses the record that accidentally hits one of his weasel henchmen which causes them to laugh, and he uses violence to silence them and reminds them that they'll laugh themselves to death if they don't stop laughing. Instead of tearing the bar apart, he uses a method to lure a Toon to him by constantly tapping the famous "Shave and Haircut" rhythm around the bar since no Toon can resist it, which is the moment where I get the most suspense from him in this scene, because of how he calmly searches the place by constantly tapping this silly tune as Roger is having trouble resisting it. After seeing the movie so many times, I know exactly when Roger gives in, but I still find myself caught in the suspense for how he moves closer and closer to Roger's hiding place as he’s tapping. And if say Eddie prevented Roger from popping out, I bet Doom would find Roger since he seems to have notice the peep-holes, hence why he slowly taps against the wall, while reciting those words to that beat. 

When Roger pops-out, Doom grabs him by the neck without warning and is ready to throw him into the dip! Aside from the tension that constantly builds in the scene, and with the exception of the climax, this is my favorite scene with Judge Doom, because we get to see how he does his job. When searching for a Toon wanted for a crime, we see how observant he is about the surroundings, and how knowledgeable he is with Toons that he uses to his advantage. And when he has the Toon in his grasp, he goes straight to the execution. No trial, no jury, hell he doesn't even allow him to say any last words before dipping him, it's just death because your guilty cause he says so, which makes him to be a dark and sadistic version of Eddie the more I think about it. Though I do find it a bit odd that he'd be willing to give him a last request despite being so merciless, and eager to finish him off, especially from the guy who's trying to protect him. This is also the first time when we see him yell, and use physical force to shut people up and keep them in line, which is just as threatening as his overall presence.

Despite having a violent hatred towards Toons that's a million times worse than Eddie’s since he has authority over them, he does have Toons working for him. Originally Doom was going to have a pet vulture named Voltaire on his shoulder, but was eventually dropped, but can be seen as part of Doom's action figure. Doom was also going to have a group of Kangaroos that jump out of his brief case holding signs reading "You are guilty" when he gives Roger a small trial at the request of the bar-patrons, but was cut as well. Seven weasels designed after the weasels in "The Wind in the Willows" from “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” with each distinctive personality like the seven dwarfs were originally going to accompany, but the number was dropped to 5 but they all still had their own distinctive characteristics. One is childishly goofy, another is a heavy smoker, there's a weasel so insane that he wears an unbuckled straight-jacket, the one wearing a green-suit has a Puerto Rican accent, and the leader of the gang is smart and less kooky than the others, who talks and acts like a wise guy. They're funny for their wild behaviors and contagious laughter, but they're just as violent and sick as their boss is, who as Toons seem to be not upset by the fact their master is planning to slaughter innocent Toons left and right whether it's justified or not. If anything they enjoy it and get a good laugh out of it. Doom doesn't seem to show any care for them since he's always shown to be abusing them and never complementing or praising their work or loyalty to him, but he still does see them as good use to him, especially from the leader of the pack who keeps the rest of the gang in line, and appears to be almost as smart as he is.

Many of you who seen the movie are probably guessing that I'm going to talk about his overall plan next, but I feel like now would be the perfect time for me to talk about a scene involving Judge Doom that didn't make it into the final cut. After when Eddie leaves Roger at the bar, he sneaks into Jessica's (Roger's wife) dressing room at the "Ink & Paint Club" to see if Acme's Will is in her possession, but discovers that someone else is in there but couldn't see who it is. Eddie starts to chase the mysterious figure, until he runs into the giant Gorilla who threw him out of the club from the previous night, and gets knocked out. Eddie awakens to see an angry Judge Doom standing above him, asking him what he was doing in the dressing room, with Jessica and the Gorilla present. Eddie tells him about what happened and blames Jessica to be part of the murder which offends her, and causes Doom to take him to Downtown Towntoon and have his weasels torture him. Eddie is thrown out of the tunnel leading to Toontown the next morning, and discovers that the weasels have painted a cartoon pig head around his face. Eddie rushes home in terror and embarrassment, and washes it off with paint thinner, and after walking out of the shower, he sees Jessica in his office.

There are a couple things that I admire about this scene. First off, the effects for the painted-pig head around Eddie's face are phenomenal, it totally looks like that its really stuck to his face for how it’s animated and how he interacts it. And when we see him wash it off, we see the head melt away through Eddie's silhouette behind the curtains. Judge Doom's presence just like in the rest of movie is as eerie as you can imagine (especially when we first see him), and I like seeing him work with the Gorilla who hates Eddie, and having his Weasels actually do something wicked to Eddie, since all we've seen them do is threaten Eddie and chase him and Roger. On top of it, this scene is pretty disturbing, since Eddie seems to be in pain with this cartoon figure around his face when he touches it, as if it is now a part of him. And even worse, when he washes it off, we see a splatter of red paint (that looks more like blood) with the eyes from the pig blinking (indicating that this thing was alive) and gets pulled down the drain along with its snout. The shoe's death is depressing, but this is way more disturbing in comparison if not as sad. But as good as the scene is and as impressive as the effects are, I can see why it was cut-out. I know it was cut for breaking the pace, or adding not much to the plot (aside from giving Jessica a reason why she thinks Eddie suspects her, and why Eddie left using the toilet without a shirt). But those aren't the reasons why I personally felt that it should be cut from the movie, not to say that they aren’t already good reasons. The real reason why I agree with it being cut is because Eddie was already taken to Toontown by the weasels, and when he goes back to chase Jessica later on, while his fear based on TWO bad experiences there is understandable, it doesn't feel as emotionally gripping as him going back ever since his Brother died there after so long. Giving him two reasons for him being afraid to go, instead of one, just didn't feel necessary since his first one is not only perfect, but beautifully ties into his character and hatred towards Toons. Furthermore, I know that Toontown isn't shown, but we still see the entrance and sign in that deleted scene, and when we see it again when Eddie goes back, it doesn't feel as intense or leaving you with much wonder of what it all looks like, since the scene that was deleted already showed that, and now we have to wait even longer after seeing it a second time as he gets ready. So the choice of cutting out this impressive sequence is sad, but justified giving that it would be more of a struggle for Eddie to return after so many years as we eagerly wait to go in after hearing so much about Toontown. But the omission of the scene isn't a huge loss since you can now view it on the DVD. Well most of it, the scene of him looking in the mirror screaming in his office that was shown in the trailer (that had many people on the internet questioning about) is excluded for some reason.

When Eddie finds out through Jessica that Doom's the one who killed Marvin Acme, and his most recent victim R.K. Maroon (head of "Maroon Cartoons"), he escapes and waits at the entrance of the Toontown tunnel with a barrel of dip to blow out the tires of the cartoon talking taxi cab, Benny. He then takes them to the "Acme Factory" where the murder of Marvin Acme took place, and we find out about his motivation. It turns out that Doom killed Marvin Acme so he can get his hands on Toontown since he owns it, as well as killing R.K. Maroon for knowing too much about his scheme and his attempt to protect the Toons if he finds Acme's Will after selling his studio to "Cloverleaf Industries" that Doom owns. And to blame for the murder of Marvin Acme, he framed Roger by putting paint that's similar to his glove onto the rope of the safe that was dropped on Acme. If the Will doesn't turn-up by midnight, he'll use a Dip Mobile that he created that will erase Toontown off the map, to make-way for a freeway that he'll be creating. But with the Red Car Trolley system being the best means of transportation in Hollywood, Doom bought it so that he can dismantle it, that way people will have no choice but to drive and go on his freeway route, as the others working at the station for the Red Car Trolley are put out of work. As crazy as his plan may seem, this scheme was indeed a problem for Hollywood back during the time of where the film takes place. There was a conspiracy with Private Corporations to eliminate public transit in order to demand people to drive so that automobile industries can keep on making money, as well as demolishing poor neighborhoods (mainly people of color) to create a freeway. And the fact that Doom is using this strategy against Toons who are supposed to represent people of color is a clever scheme for the villain to do based on the period that the film takes place in, and who the Toons represent. And a part of me doesn't think that he's just going to destroy Toontown, but also any Toon that's either still living there refusing to leave, or try to flee for their lives given how empty he feels and thinks of Toons. As for the mystery aspect leading up to Doom being the villain, it is way too obvious where even a kid can claim that he's the bad-guy just by his appearance in the film. But with that said, the mystery still leads up to questions that we're curious to see get answered, such as what he's going to do to Toontown, and if R.K. Maroon or Jessica are allied with him since they seem so suspicious. And when we do have our answers, we're still left with more questions about Doom's character, which I’ll get into a little later.

Doom ties up Jessica and Roger on a crane with escape-proof Toon rope, and orders his weasels to dip them and kill Eddie. Eddie puts on a show causing the weasels to laugh themselves to death as Toon angels, as the leader gets kicked into a vat of dip who doesn't go to Toon heaven since he's been completely erased, now leaving Eddie to fight against Doom, resulting with in my opinion the best fight to combine live action and cartoon animation. Eddie has to use Toon props like a singing sword, a giant magnet that has electric hands to grab metal objects, and a hole to help him break free for when he's trapped, while Doom on the other hand uses real-life weapons. His cane appears to really be a sword that he points at Eddie when the magnet takes grip of his sword, and when Eddie is trapped he decides to flatten-him with a steamroller, as opposed to just stabbing him. Furthermore, Doom is proven to be a heavy hitter since the sound of his punches come across as highly painful. Not as violent as say Ratigan's punches, but still painful. And as we're watching this fight, we find ourselves worrying about the dip spray cannon heading towards Roger and Jessica to give the fight plenty of suspense, where it's not just Eddie's life that we're worrying about but also the cartoon characters that we've became so attached too.

When Doom falls during the fight, he doesn't get knocked out by a cartoon gag as you think he would, he accidentally gets his foot and hand attached to a moving steamroller after making physical contact with "Acme Glue" during the fight where he's about to be crushed. And we don't see a part of him getting mulled by the steamroller, as in we see it about to crush him and cut to the characters reactions to prevent us from seeing it. No, we actually see the steamroller crush his whole entire body, as he screams in such cartoony fashion which is funny (being the first of 2 funny moments that I mentioned earlier) but still gruesome by all accounts.

That is until we realize that his blood and guts aren't splattered all over the floor and the steamroller.



We discover that is body is as flat as a pancake, and see him spring back up and move as if he's made of rubber. In a shocking twist we discover that this man isn't just a villain, but a Toon in disguise that's funny for some at first due to this reveal, but still freaky for how he moves around with a flat life-less human-like face. Pause the moments when we see his human face turn around as he's flatten and tell me that it's not the least bit creepy. When he inflates himself back up like a balloon by sucking the helium out a tank close by, as the music indicates that something drastic is going to happen when he's back on his feet, he still looks just as uncanny as he did before, where we see his face and arms blow-up, his hat pop-right off him as he stands there looking lifeless, and loses his two false eyes, where a bit more of his true form that has frightened many kids, and still scares many people today is revealed.



Those eyes, those horrible red hot "burning eyes"! And that evil grin and "high-pitch squeaky voice"! Oh how I dread that final form he takes!

As if his human form wasn't scary enough, now we have to look at his half Toon form, as he laughs and tries to kill Eddie, by chasing after him with yellow springs attached his shoes, and taking off one of his gloves where his cartoon hand turns into yellow cartoon weapons that seem funny when they're used on Toons but highly deadly to humans, such as a giant anvil, and a long and large buzzsaw! And what makes his appearance even more horrifying is that "he's not just any Toon" that looks scary as hell, but the fact that he's the same Toon who killed Eddie's brother Teddy, which makes this villain a higher threat than we realized. All we hear about what the Toon are his red eyes and squeaky voice that sound menacing, and when we see him along with Eddie being paralyzed by this (from such powerful acting from Bob Hoskins) we too feel the same since his image is worse than we have ever imagined it to be. Originally they were going to reveal Doom's Toon mouth and red hands with long nails, and in theory I think it would probably be just as traumatizing as looking at his cartoon eyes, since we'd be looking at a cartoon mouth attach to Christopher Lloyd's large dead eyes.

After all Lloyd still looks scary without the cartoon features added onto him, and even without the hat and glasses. Just take a look at a rare of picture of him as cartoon Doom before they animated the eyes on to him.



That still screams out as the face of a demented killer.

What I find so amusing about his transformation is, we only see him take that form for like 2 or 3 minutes, which isn't long at all. But as short as those few minutes are, he still scares the daylights out of us in every single frame he's in for how insane and hideous he looks and acts. Throw in a tragic connection that Eddie has with him as he looks at him in fear, a few deadly weapons, and put Jessica and Roger at risk again with time being a factor, and you get one of the ultimate final forms that a Disney villain has ever took.

And if you're curious to know what imagine of Doom has scared me the most as a kid, it's this!



His eyes swirling to the blade of the buzzsaw as he gets closer and closer to Eddie, with an urge to kill look on his face...oh how I'd always look away from that scene as a kid for how sadistic it looks.



Now when I think about this twist, while it is obvious that he's the film's villain, there are many subtle hints and clues that he is a Toon, much like the hints and clues to King Candy being Turbo in "Wreck It Ralph" for example. The most notable one is how he dresses. Every human in the film is dressed in appropriate clothes that match the film’s time period and their work positions. Doom on the other hand dresses how a cartoon badguy would dress, complete with a skull topped cane, there's no way that any normal person would dress themselves in that kind of clothing unless they're playing the part of a villain. And since cartoons are not subtle when they dress like villains, it would make sense why Doom would dress that way. You may also notice a few things off about him. I mean doesn't his face look as rubbery as a mask? Can anyone remember a time where he ever blinks his eyes since he's always shown to be staring? Don’t his teeth look a little phony? And why the hell does his cape and clothes keep blowing backwards even when there's no gust of wind blowing at him? His movements aren't quite natural either for how exaggeratedly stiff they are, not to mention that it takes Doom awhile for him fall when he trips on fake eye-balls, and when he collapses he's covering one of his eyes, not because of it being damaged but to prevent the others from seeing his Toon eye. If him not falling down immediately like a normal human being would, he seems to not be harmed by the bullet that's fired at him by Jessica, if anything he runs off acting as if he wasn't even hit. If he can't be harmed by a bullet, then you may notice him in earlier scenes in the movie acting a bit hesitant towards the dip. When he first demonstrates of what the dip can do, he puts on a rubber glove. At first we think it's to prevent him from getting his hand all dirty when the Toon is dead, but why doesn't he take off his other glove instead of putting the rubber glove over his other one, because he'll reveal his Toon hand. Not to mention that he always backs away from the dip when it drips towards him, or when he decides to kick it rather than pushing it as he clears away from it. Lastly, when we get to the climax, rather than just killing the characters right then and there, he tells them all about his plan, and uses slow and inefficient death-traps to finish them off, and unless if he's a bond villain, he has to be a Toon since that's something that mainly a Toon would do. And as a bonus hint that leads to him being the same Toon that killed Eddie's Brother is when we find out that he killed Marvin Acme, he killed him by dropping a safe on his head which is the same method he used to kill Teddy and injure Eddie, the only difference is he used a piano.

When Doom finally gets killed once and for all its just as grim as we saw him get run over by a steamroller. As soon as Eddie releases the dip from the Dip Mobile, it comes bursting out at him like a fire hose. And rather than just dying right there and then, he slowly melts as we watch him melt to the bottom of the dip. His reactions and how he quotes the Wicked Witch in "The Wizard of OZ" are funny, but his death is still horrible, especially when being killed from the very weapon that he created to kill Toons, which now makes his hate against Toons even more messed-up considering that he is one. And when it's all over we see his suit, false teeth, and rubber mask with red paint where the eyes are, and yellow paint surrounding the body that looks as gory as the remains of the other victims we've seen that been dip. On top of it, believe it or not his death summons all the cartoon character in the film as they gather around his corpse to cheer and wonder who he really is. Oh isn't that sweet! Actually it kind of reminds me how all the cute Munchkins from "The Wizard of OZ" came out from hiding to look at the witches’ corpse and joyfully sing about her demise. There is a song during this scene!

There's been some debate on who Judge Doom really is since we never see his full cartoon form under the mask.

There's a comic-book called "The Resurrection of Doom" that reveals his full form.



Which doesn't look scary for how Dr. Seuss like it looks.


But given that the comic came out much later, I'm only judging who he could be by what's evidenced in the film. At first I thought he was a weasel, or else why would he have weasels follow him and take orders from him. But then I read a small theory of who Judge Doom could really be which is this cartoon figure that is seen in Maroon's office...

Really think about it. He has the same "burning red eyes" and devilish grin as Doom. They both wear a dark suit, gloves, and a fedora hat. And Doom's gun reflecting on the poster is the same exact gun that he has, which looks like the character on the poster is aiming his gun right at Maroon. The evidence is there, if not crystal clear and could be untrue, but I find it a bit too coincidental. My personal theory of Doom’s past based on this poster, disguise, and motivation is, it seems that he starred in one cartoon that was popular enough for Maroon to put a picture of it in his office. But since we never see any other posters of him because they're mostly related to the Roger and Baby Herman cartoons, frustrated for not making it big as Roger and the other successful Toons, who has probably been in cartoons that pale to the one that he was best known for, he hated Toons for being upstaged by his own kind and decided to seek a way to take vengeance upon them and make a living off of it, while also putting up the best act that no Toon has ever taken which is playing a live human while hiding his identity since people are very prejudice towards them, and doesn't want to be known as one. But before gaining a business and position as Judge of Toontown, he pulled off the heist to use the stolen money to gain his position and own a business, and after stumbling across the plans of the freeway, he felt like that it was time to completely erase Toons all together rather than killing individual Toons that have committed a somewhat crime. And the reason why he framed Roger for the murder is because he hated Roger most of all since he is the Maroon cartoon favorite and figured he might as well start with him before Toontown. As for his size, maybe he's a little bigger in real-life since Roger looks smaller in a few of the posters. But he could have used stilts, hence why he walks so weird. Keep in mind that this is a theory and I could be wrong, but the ambiguity of what this Toon is still keeps him to be a fascinating villain. This is just my personal two cents on one of the famous topics regarding the film.

There are few Disney villains that scare me all the way through a Disney film, and Judge Doom was one of those Disney villains who I feared as a kid. He looks and acts scary beyond belief in both his human form, and Toon form. His pure hatred towards Toons by killing them without even trying them to eventually wiping them out all together with a weapon that he's created is insane and sadistic, especially when being one himself! His motivation is ingenious giving the film's setting and subtle social commentary of the time. His weasel henchmen are fun, but just as crazy and nasty as he is. And leaving the viewers with many questions after he's killed makes him more of a fascinating villain, thus being my favorite live action Disney villain of all time, despite his character really being a Toon. But hey he's mostly shown being played by a live actor, so it counts! 

"Remember me Eddie? When I killed your Brother, I talked...JUST...LIKE...THIIIIIIS!"  
-Judge Doom