Cartoon inventors

[SWiT]

On my lunch I started compiling a list with images of all the cartoon inventor characters I can think of for an eventual art project.

Geppetto, Maurice (Beauty and the Beast), Gadget (Rescue Rangers), Gyro (Duck Tales), Donatello, Dexter, Wildcat (Tale spin), Virgil (Mighty Max), Honker and Megavolt (Darkwing Duck).  Beaker and Bunsen.   I feel like I'm missing some from the non-Disney end of things. Who am I missing?

[SWiT]

pinky and the brain via Amy. I can't believe forgot about them.

[Ryan Kather]

Two more easy ones, I'll keep thinking...
Hubert J. Farnsworth (Futurama), Professor John Nerdelbaum Frink, Jr. (Simpsons)

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 12:45 PM, SWiT <swit...@gmail.com> wrote:

pinky and the brain via Amy. I can't believe forgot about them.

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[SWiT]

Professor Farnsworth (futureama),  Professor Frink (Simpsons), Baxter Stockman and Krang (TMNT)

[SWiT]

you got them minutes before me.  Might as well add Dr. Ogden Wernstrom too.

[Edward L Platt]

The Mechanist from Avatar: The Last Airbender
--
Edward L. Platt
i3 Detroit: i3detroit.com
Cell: 248.320.5061

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 1:20 PM, SWiT <swit...@gmail.com> wrote:

you got them minutes before me.  Might as well add Dr. Ogden Wernstrom too.

[Paul Kerchen]

Wile E. Coyote

[Trevor]

Mechanicles (Aladdin TV show (you know you watched it, don't lie))
Wasn't Elroy Jetson a prolific inventor too?

On Mar 17, 1:01 pm, Ryan Kather <rkat...@missionpenguin.com> wrote:
> Two more easy ones, I'll keep thinking...

> Hubert J. *Farnsworth (Futurama), *Professor John Nerdelbaum Frink, Jr.
> (Simpsons)

[Edward L Platt]

Professor Membrane from Zim!

--
Edward L. Platt
i3 Detroit: i3detroit.com
Cell: 248.320.5061

[Roy, Richard]

The Professor from Felix the Cat.

Richard Roy
Digital Image Studios
23400 Commerce Drive
Farmington Hills MI 48335
o: 248 477 5600
f: 248 477 4322
c: 734 751 1857
t: @richr0302
w: www.dimage.com

[Cherish]

Does Inspector Gadget count?

[Matthew Switlik]

Who built him? Penny? Or was he Brain's hand work? ;)

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 1:45 PM, Cherish <clal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Does Inspector Gadget count?

[Aaron Dubin]

i know that the name of the scientist who installed his gadgets was mentioned in an episode, but i don't remember who it was. i know that it was not one of the main cast, however. many episodes are on hulu if you want to go digging! also, does the advent of the kindle and other e-readers mean we finally have penny's "computer book?" we do have her watch already in various forms! the future is weird...

[SWiT]

The Super Genius! Thanks a good one. I guess Marvin Martian did invent that earth shattering fire cracker.

[Ryan Kather]

Dr. Robotnik (Sonic Adventures cartoon), Brains (Thunderbirds), Jimmy Neutron (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius), Dr. Benton Quest (Johny Quest (actually a lot of characters in this show)), Bulma (Dragon Ball)

Still  Thinking

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 1:45 PM, Cherish <clal...@gmail.com> wrote:

Does Inspector Gadget count?

--

[SWiT]

I watched all the Disney tv cartoons from Gummy Bears to Aladdin.  After that, not so much.  I was looking for Mechanicles' name! Thanks.

[SWiT]

Wow, now we are REALLY getting out of my age range.  On the subject of anime, was there an iconic inventor character on Voltron? That would be out of my age range in the other direction.

[Roger S]

Jack from nightmare before Christmas.

[SWiT]

The Doctor or "Doctor Onishi" from Akira

[SWiT]

haha awesome.  I need to rewatch it and grab frames of him working on his gadgets from the DVD.  Images searches don't show him building stuff.

[Aaron Dubin]

does the scientist from the opening to robot chicken count?

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 2:10 PM, Roger S <surfer...@gmail.com> wrote:

Jack from nightmare before Christmas.

[Dustin White]

The brain from pinky and the brain

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[Ryan Kather]

Wheeljack (Transformers), Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters Cartoon)

I think I'm spent.  

[SWiT]

yes, cartoons, puppets, stop motion, anything but live actors.

[SWiT]

You mean Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz ;)  Peter was their smooth talking front man, and winston was the "everyman".

[Keith Mc]

Oh my goodness .. As a maker, I love cartoon inventors... <cracks fingers>

You may need to set some limits. For example:
... "They should be KNOWN as an inventor in that movie or series, not just
have an episode where they WERE an inventor"
Ex: Homer Simpson has had many episodes featuring his "inventions",
(such as when he invented his Battle Bot suit or created other art),
but he is not really considered "an inventor" in the show.

Of course you need:
- Batman (Hey, just look at the Bat Cave),
- Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius,
- Gyro Gearloose (of the Scrooge McDuck universe)
... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyro_Gearloose

Hmmm... Would Inspector Gadget or Wile E. Coyote, or "Bob the Builder" qualify?
- B-the-B is a construction type, but he does have to solve problems by making new things.
- I.G. is really the USER of the tech (who actually MADE it for him?).
- Wile E. Coyote mostly bought his SUPPLIES from Acme, but I'd argue he's
still a Maker as he regularly invents (backfiring) Roadrunner traps from those supplies.

For the previous generation, you have:
- Rube Goldberg - his many cartoon inventors are often shown wearing their inventions:
... http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/Rubenvent.jpg

How DEEP do you wish to go? Lead character? Include the "Sidekicks"?
MANY "ensemble" cartoon casts typically have at least ONE "inventor or
techie/maker" among them. Examples:
- Tecna of Winx Club
- Green Arrow of Justice League (regularly invents new arrows to do things)
Without SOME limits, it may make this list tough to nail down.

Others TV and Movie cartoon inventors to consider:
- Carl Fredricksen (the old man) in "UP" - invented a way to fly his house,
and solved other problems with inventions.
- Dr Tenma, the inventor of Astroboy (he invented AB, to replace his dead son)
- Rodney Copperbottom and Bigweld of "Robots" (definitely inventors...)
- Flint Lockwood, the inventor in "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"
- Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth ("The Professor") in Futurama

Marginal:
- Invader Zim (and GIR) - Constantly coming up with new gadgets to try to
take over Earth, but they also regularly attempt to use others' stuff too.

...and we haven't even SCRATCHED the surface of the various "evil" cartoon inventors...
- Megamind
- Various competing inventors in "Despicable Me" (Gru, Dr Nefario, Vector, et al)
- Dr. Cockroach of "Monsters Vs Aliens"
- Syndrome, from "The Incredibles" - Substitutes his inventions for super powers
- Igor, from "Igor (2008)" - one of MANY Evil Inventors, entering the Evil Science Fair
- Dr. Jumba Jookiba of "Lilo and Stitch" - invents new biological forms

Heck, various Super Villains that most comic Superheros face at one time or another
are often SOME kind of a Mad Scientist / Inventor type (Dr Strange, etc...)

Also, are you limiting yourself to only U.S. cartoon inventors, or do you wish
to include ALL cartoon inventors?
Samples:
- Wallace, the British inventor in the "Wallace and Gromit" Claymation adventures.
- "Chicken Run" characters, who invent escape devices and the Flying Chicken airplane
- Professor_Balthazar (not well known in US):
... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Balthazar
- The British "Super Marionation" puppet cartoon shows (Supercar, Fireball XL5,
Thunderbirds, etc...) have several inventor characters among them.
- There are also tons of inventors in Anime to consider (I'm not even going there... :-)

I'll stop here, as the list is long.

Suggestion: Go through these lists of animated feature films and TV series, for ideas:
... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animated_feature_films
... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animated_TV_series

- Keith Mc.

[Ryan Kather]

Nice suggestions, I'm liking your Lilo and Stitch call-out and definitely Flint Lockwood (surprisingly good movie).  Also, I miss Invader Zim!

[SWiT]

The dynamic between characters is what will get them included or excluded eventually.  example: I did not think about 70's puppet TV shows like Thunderbirds and at first was thinking no.  But they I thought of Thunderbirds "Brain" interacting with Geppetto (The son he wished he had made) or Inspector Gadgets "Brain" and Krang (get it, an argument between Brains...)

Right now I just want a master list of characters with any chance someone would recognize them.
Dr Jumba Jookiba, Mastermind and Gur, Flint Lockwood, and Wallace are good ones.  Bruce Wayne owns the company that invented most of his stuff. So as Bruce Wayne he'd be on the fence.  A definate no as Batman.

Basically leave out the uber fanboy anime characters (that list would be endless).

I have at least 1 image of every character mentioned so far.  The more scientist/inventor/mechanic-ish their actions in the image the better.

[John Sugg]

Clyde Crashcup from The Alvin Show. Late 60's?

John

--

[SWiT]

Thank you!  I loved the reruns of the old chipmunks so.  Wasn't Clyde's assistant Leonardo a mute?  I remember them being a scientific Penn and Teller of sorts.

[Ryan Kather]

Phineas and Ferb (from the show titled the same)

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 3:28 PM, SWiT <swit...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you!  I loved the reruns of the old chipmunks so.  Wasn't Clyde's assistant Leonardo a mute?  I remember them being a scientific Penn and Teller of sorts.

[Paul K]

Dr. Nefario from "Despicable Me".

[Keith Mc]

I see from the responses that you want to be "broad" in definition.

Well then, check out the entire area of Web Comics, like:
- Agatha, from Girl Genius - a Steampunk alternate universe, full of inventors
... (Adventure, Romance, Mad Science! - by Phil and Kaja Foglio... ;-)
... http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/

- Keith Mc.

[SWiT]

Thanks, I'll check out the webcomic. But for the artwork I want to
keep it to more iconic TV and movie characters.

But... you got me thinking. What workshop would be complete with out
an XKCD, SMBC, or Cyanide&Happiness print out somewhere on the
walls. :)

[Cherish]

If you hit up the comic world you have a new set, too.....almost too
many to name. Iron Man, Batman, Professor X...

[Ashe]

TV Tropes should be a huge help with this:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GadgeteerGenius
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BunglingInventor
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheProfessor
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AbsentMindedProfessor
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OmnidisciplinaryScientist
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MrFixit
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ReluctantMadScientist
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadScientist

Depending on which side of the science vs. mad science divide you're
trying to be, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mad_scientists#Cartoon

Ashe

[SWiT]

Tony Stark wouldn't be caught dead in a hackerspace.  He hates Linux and Open Technology.
 ;)

In fact there should be an "Anti-Stark Industries" poster on the walls some where in the artwork.

All those characters have been animated. Prof X. makes the list!

[Ryan Kather]

Hey if you're talking X-Men don't forget Beast (from the wikipedia);

"Despite his inhuman appearance, he is a brilliant man of the arts and sciences; he is a world authority on biochemistry and genetics, the X-Men's medical doctor, and the science and mathematics instructor at the Xavier Institute (the X-Men's headquarters and school for young mutants)."

[Jerry Bocci]

regarding Voltron (this is from the American anime "Voltron: Defender of the Universe", and not based on the original Japanese cartoons from which it was licensed; it is related to the upcoming "Voltron Force" cartoon through the production studio of V:DotU, World Events Production, which is also producing the Nicktoons anime):

 

Voltron was the sentient robot guardian of Planet Arus, created by King Alfor to defend the planet from King Zarkon of Planet Doom.  It was only after King Zarkon's witch, Haggar, zapped it, that it was split into the five lions, which from that point required (human) pilots to function.

 

Vehicle Voltron was created by a team of researches at Galaxy Garrison, who reverse-engineered the original Voltron.  (These guys are the true hackers!)

 

 

(The kids & I are watching the series on YouTube, one episode each day if their homework is done and there's time before bed.)

 

On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 2:06 PM, SWiT <swit...@gmail.com> wrote:

Wow, now we are REALLY getting out of my age range.  On the subject of anime, was there an iconic inventor character on Voltron? That would be out of my age range in the other direction.

[Becky]

they rock!!

Ryan Kather wrote:
> Phineas and Ferb (from the show titled the same)
>
> On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 3:28 PM, SWiT <swit...@gmail.com
> <mailto:swit...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Thank you! I loved the reruns of the old chipmunks so. Wasn't
> Clyde's assistant Leonardo a mute? I remember them being a
> scientific Penn and Teller of sorts.
>
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[Becky]

Professor Elm and Professor Oak, Pokemon old and new

[Dustin White]

Sandy the squirrel from spongebob squarepants

[John Sugg]

I think you are right but I haven't seen it in decades.

Did you already get Mr.Peabody? He built the wayback machine. You knew that dog was smart since he wore glasses. 

On Mar 17, 2011, at 3:28 PM, SWiT <swit...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you!  I loved the reruns of the old chipmunks so.  Wasn't Clyde's assistant Leonardo a mute?  I remember them being a scientific Penn and Teller of sorts.

--

[Roger S]

Mr Peabody? Don't recall if he had anything other than the Way Back machine or just really smart.

[Rocco Marras]

ATHF Dr Weird and Frylock

On Mar 17, 2:44 pm, SWiT <switl...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Keith Mc]

When you are all done collecting, I hope you make a giant composite pic
"puzzle" out of them, to see if everyone can "Name The Cartoon Inventors"!

Sort of like the "Name the Famous Robots" pic from the Chop Shop:
... http://supermarkethq.com/pictures/0015/1913/weRobot_black_hires.jpg
... http://q8life.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/famous-robots/
(or other Identify Them series):
... http://supermarkethq.com/designer/9869/products

Yea, you won't be able to sell others' photos without releases, but
it would be fun for US to try. (Maybe you can also silhouette them like
the above shirts, to get around the copyright issues?)

- Keith

[Matthew Switlik]

I had considered using the data in a trivia game of sorts. I'll
post a zip file of all the images, or put up a gallery of them at the
end of the weekend.

[Brad J. Tarratt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future:_The_Animated_Series

You can't forget Emmett L. Brown, even if his animated counterpart was
crap.

On Thu, 17 Mar 2011, SWiT wrote:

> On my lunch I started compiling a list with images of all the cartoon
> inventor characters I can think of for an eventual art project.
> Geppetto, Maurice (Beauty and the Beast), Gadget (Rescue Rangers), Gyro
> (Duck Tales), Donatello, Dexter, Wildcat (Tale spin), Virgil (Mighty Max),
> Honker and Megavolt (Darkwing Duck). Beaker and Bunsen. I feel like I'm
> missing some from the non-Disney end of things. Who am I missing?
>

[Matthew Switlik]

I thoight about animated Doc Brown but that crappy image on the
wikipedia page seems to be the only one in existence. That show must
have been really bad. The animation looks horrible from the still. I
don't think anyone would recognize him if crappily drawn Mc Fly wasn't
next to him. Good suggestion.

few from suggestion from my facebnook post include:
Stewie Griffin (*head slap*, how the hell had we missed that one)

[Matthew Switlik]

Whoops! I sent that accidentally before rereading and editing. that
"Good suggestion." sounded snarky and I didn't mean it that way. The
back to the future characters would be great. I just wish they had
been drawn better.

[Aaron Dubin]

that drawing looks less like marty and more like captain N. and that's not a good sign. don't forget there was a star trek animated series if you want to go down that road!

[Nate B]

<kitten> I love this thread, so much. </kitten>

Nothing to add, just wanted to say y'all have given me quite a chuckle
reading all this. Digest delivery means it wasn't an inbox onslaught,
just a trip down memory lane, google image search, wikipedia, and
tvtropes. (thanks Ashe! I was gonna post those but you beat me to
it.)

I predict that this thread is gonna get a bump every few weeks, when
one of us spots a cartoon scientist and goes "AAAagh, why didn't I
think to mention Prof. Stereotype?!"

-Nate-