Judge Doom
The toon who forgot he was a toon.
Last updated
He uses a chemical mixture called "the Dip" to destroy toons who break the law.[1] In the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Judge Doom is the feared Judge of Toontown.[1]
Making and release
During summer 1986, writers Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman created Judge Doom after earlier scripts had Jessica Rabbit or Baby Herman as the villain.[2] Price and Seaman based Doom's scheme on an unproduced Chinatown sequel titled Cloverleaf.[2][3] Lloyd shaved his head and avoided blinking on camera, explaining that a toon does not need to moisten its eyeballs.[4][5][6] He used the black-colored spy from Mad magazine's Spy vs. Spy as a visual guide.[5][6]
During an August 1986 audition, Tim Curry was considered for the part of Judge Doom, but the producers felt he was excessively frightening.[7][8] An early script had Doom unmasked as the unseen hunter who killed Bambi's mother, but Disney vetoed that concept.[9]
What the cited sources add
The ScreenCrush article notes that Doom's pet vulture and a jury of kangaroos were cut from the film but the vulture appeared in the toyline.[3] Christopher Lloyd told BuzzFeed that playing Doom was "sweet revenge" for being terrified by classic Disney films as a child.[10] Lloyd added that many people told him the movie "scared the hell out of them" when they were kids.[10][11] The Mental Floss article states that producers considered Tim Curry "too scary" and John Cleese "not scary enough" for the role.[8]
Stoeber characterized the Dip's horror as "uniquely adolescent," describing it as a menace that could wipe out every beloved creature of a child.[12][8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Judge Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", 1988 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Judge Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sara, "10 Things You Didn't Know About 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'", ScreenCrush, 11 March 2018; Robert Zemeckis, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, Ken Ralston, Frank Marshall, Steve Starkey, DVD audio commentary, 2003, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainme (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Sara, "10 Things You Didn't Know About 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'", ScreenCrush, 11 March 2018. facts only, no text reused. screencrush.com
- Wikipedia, "Judge Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Robert Zemeckis, Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, Ken Ralston, Frank Marshall, Steve Starkey, DVD audio commentary, 2003, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainme (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Judge Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Swann, "Why Christopher Lloyd Never Blinked While Playing His Who Framed Roger Rabbit Character", CinemaBlend, 3 May 2020 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Swann, "Why Christopher Lloyd Never Blinked While Playing His Who Framed Roger Rabbit Character", CinemaBlend, 3 May 2020. facts only, no text reused. cinemablend.com
- Wikipedia, "Judge Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Galindo, "20 Things You Didn't Know About "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"", BuzzFeed, 12 March 2013; Arbeiter, "15 Things You Might Not Know About Who Framed Roger Rabbit", Mental Floss, 10 April 2015; Arbeiter, "15 Things You Might Not Know About Who Framed Roger Rabbit", Mental Floss, 10 April 2015 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Arbeiter, "15 Things You Might Not Know About Who Framed Roger Rabbit", Mental Floss, 10 April 2015. facts only, no text reused. mentalfloss.com
- Wikipedia, "Judge Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Who Shot Roger Rabbit, 1986 script by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman; Who Shot Roger Rabbit, 1986 script by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman; "AFI's 100 YEARS…100 HEROES & VILLAINS", American Film Institute (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Christopher Lloyd Looks Back On The 5 Movie Roles That Made Him An Icon", BuzzFeed, 19 March 2015. facts only, no text reused. buzzfeed.com
- Wikipedia, "Judge Doom" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Christopher Lloyd Looks Back On The 5 Movie Roles That Made Him An Icon", BuzzFeed, 19 March 2015 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Stoeber, "The Dip scenes in Who Framed Roger Rabbit scare you straight back to childhood", Polygon, 15 October 2020. facts only, no text reused. polygon.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Judge Doom (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Film supervillains
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Judge Doom (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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