Dr. Clayton Forrester is the originator of the "Mystery Science Theater" experiment, which he began with his colleague, Dr. Laurence Erhardt, at the Gizmonic Institute. He engineered the kidnapping of janitor Joel Robinson, shooting him into space aboard the Satellite of Love, then later conspired with TV's Frank to kidnap temp worker Mike Nelson to replace Robinson.
Clayton's mother is Pearl Forrester and his daughter is Kinga Forrester, both of whom followed him in his experiments.
Background[]
Dr. Forrester (full name Clayton Deborah Susan Forrester) has been a mad scientist ever since his youth, when he was a member of Evilos (a mad scientist version of Webelos), where he grafted the rear end of a dog onto the rear end of a cat "and they all laughed". During his youth, he played the trombone.
Clayton has expressed a fixation with figure skating that he closely linked to his scientific ambitions. He referred to "Oslo...I was found drunk and woozy...scratching the name Toller Cranston into my thigh with a nail." Other pivotal moments in his early life include a 1956 visit to "Sun Valley...where I was found behind the soft-serve machine, drooling over a picture of Dick Button" and a visit to "the Ice Capades, [where] I was hot-riveting my kneecaps to Peggy Fleming's zamboni."
Forrester's high school career was typified by a series of humiliations, presumably contributing to his unstable personality. Frequently teased by classmates, he received a "shameful expulsion" from the Chess Club, suffered a "shameful shower incident" during his sophomore year, got rejected by the Swing Choir, was frequently victimized by book-dumpings after typing class, was forced to do power sit-ups in gym, and received "the revulsion, scorn, and rejection of all the pretty girls." At some point, he was struck by lightning, resulting in the white streak in his hair and mustache. This may have happened more than once.
While earning his unspecified doctorate, Forrester took some undergraduate courses in Super-Villainry, and at some point he joined the Fraternal Order of Mad Science. He was a frequent attendee of the Mad Scientist Convention, although he lost the convention's invention contest each year (on one occasion his entry "the More Painful Mouse Trap" was met only with laughter). In response to his rejections, he has blown up the convention center twice and once used incendiaries to not "actually make the building blow up, it just made it burn...really quickly. Oh it was beautiful."
Dr. Forrester has expressed happiness when the Seattle Mariners had won a baseball game, indicating that he had become a fan of that team at some point.[1]
According to Dr. Erhardt, Clayton had been in a relationship with Kim Cattrall at some time and fathered Kinga Forrester with her. Dr. Forrester attempted to recruit Kim into joining him in the field of Mad Science, but she refused. Kinga would grow up not knowing who her mother was.
The MST3K Years[]
While working at Gizmonic Institute, Forrester and Erhardt developed an experiment to see if cheesy movies could be used to drive people insane as a means to take over the world. For a test subject, they shot Gizmonic janitor Joel Robinson into space, depositing him on The Satellite of Love. In response, Joel built several robot friends to keep himself company. Joel, Crow T. Robot, and Tom Servo mocked each of the movies they were forced to watch as a means of surviving with their sanity intact.
Between the the end of the first phase of the MST3K experiment and Experiment #101, Dr. Forrester and Dr. Erhardt moved from Gizmonics Institute proper and down to Deep 13, "closer to the atomic pile".
Shortly following Experiment #113, Dr. Erhardt went missing, leading Dr. Forrester to hire TV's Frank from a local Arby's to replace him.[2]
When Gypsy, in coordination with temp worker Mike Nelson, orchestrated Joel's escape from the SOL and the experiment, Dr. Forrester shot Nelson up to the SOL in Joel's place. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Forrester cut ties with Gizmonic Institute.
During the events of Experiment #624, Frank was assumed into Second Banana Heaven by the angel Torgo the White. Shortly thereafter, Pearl Forrester joined her son Clayton to "help".
Just before Dr. Forrester's final experiment, #706, Dr. Forrester shut down Deep 13 due to a lack of funding. He disconnected the Satellite of Love from its tether, sending it hurtling into space.
Then, in an eerily familiar event, Dr. Forrester was visited by a monolith-like giant videocassette labeled "The Worst Film Ever Made" before evolving into a star baby. Pearl then took possession of the now-infant Clayton, vowing to raise him right this time, to which the baby Clayton responded "Oh, poopie".
In the future year of 2525, Pearl (who had been cryogenically frozen centuries earlier and revived by intelligent Apes) revealed that although she had intended to do a better job raising Clayton the second time around, she "got busy and never got around to it", so she murdered him in his youth as his twisted personality manifested once again.
Circa 2008, an older Dr. Forrester appeared again alongside a once-again alive TV's Frank (with Joel and the 'Bots back on the SOL) to present a seminar on upgrading the MST3K Volume 10 Box Set to 10.2.
By 2018, Dr. Forrester's mortal remains were kept at Gizmonic Institute in a drawer, along with TV's Frank's. Dr. Erhardt, returning from a "journey of self discovery" and attempting to fulfill Dr. Forrester's final wishes, broke into Gizmonic and stole the remains with the intention of scattering their ashes while the song "Idiot Control Now" played. According to Kinga, this death had occurred 20 years previously.[3]
Relationships[]
Dr. Laurence Erhardt[]
Dr. Forrester's colleague, Dr. Erhardt often played a subservient role to Dr. Forrester, perhaps indicating the latter's seniority.
The two appeared to have a certain level of mutual respect, unlike Dr. Forrester's relationship with his later assistant, TV's Frank. This extended to after Dr. Forrester's death, when it was revealed that he had bequeathed a spaceship, The Pretty Lady, to Dr. Erhardt, with the understanding that Dr. Erhardt would fulfill Dr. Forrester's last wishes.
Joel Robinson[]
Although it has been expressed that Dr. Forrester "didn't like him", he typically treated Joel with at least a modest level of respect, due to Joel's ability as an inventor, as seen through their Invention Exchanges. Although sent into space against his will, Joel was, in turn, respectful to Dr. Forrester, typically addressing him as "sir" and often showing real interest in Dr. Forrester's inventions.
Despite this mutual respect, Dr. Forrester was not above attempting to steal Joel's inventions for his own personal gain.
The Bots[]
Dr. Forrester rarely treated the bots as individuals, usually referring to them as "the Bots". He had an antagonistic relationship with Crow T. Robot, who seemed to particularly enjoy aggravating Dr. Forrester.
TV's Frank[]
Not a scientist himself, TV's Frank was frequently the target of abuse by his boss. Despite this, Frank was surprisingly friendly toward Dr. Forrester and displayed some moments of genuine affection toward him. Frank worked for five years with Dr. Forrester, apparently dying and being revived by Dr. Forrester several times. When Frank eventually suffered his final death, Dr. Forrester was despondent at the loss of his sidekick.
Mike Nelson[]
Unlike Joel, Mike was not an inventor or in any way technically knowledgeable. This added to the higher level of antagonism between them, compared to the earlier dynamic, including the discontinuation of the Invention Exchanges. Mike rarely showed any kind of respect for Dr. Forrester, openly mocking him and refusing to help Dr. Forrester with his various plans.
Pearl Forrester[]
Pearl was typically domineering, insulting and demeaning to Dr. Forrester, even though she claimed to have his best interests at heart. In return, Dr. Forrester was usually deferential to his mother, often eager to gain her affection, which was rarely forthcoming. He could, however, show a callousness to her, such as his lack of concern when she was ill, his willingness put her "in a home", and his eagerness to transform one of her suitors into the Chicken of Tomorrow. However, unlike his relationship with Frank, Dr. Forrester was extremely hesitant to inflict physical harm on his mother.
Kinga Forrester[]
The full nature of Dr. Forrester's relationship with his daughter Kinga has yet to be established. Kinga did not know who her mother was until a visit from Dr. Erhardt, who informed her that her mother was the actress Kim Cattrall. Although she appears to have had a relationship with her grandmother, it is still unclear how involved Clayton was in raising his daughter.
Behind-the-scenes[]
- Dr. Forrester and Dr. Erhardt were first created simply as a visual representation of the "bosses" mentioned in the original opening theme. They were shortly brought into the series proper.
- Dr. Forrester's timeline is somewhat convoluted by his first death, rebirth, second death and being alive again in 2008, despite canonically dying in 1998. This makes it difficult to square all the information given on the show with each other.
- The name "Dr. Clayton Forrester" was apparently inspired by the scientist character played by Gene Barry in the 1953 feature film adaptation of The War of the Worlds.
- Trace Beaulieu portrayed Dr. Forrester in all of his onscreen appearances, with the exception of scenes during the conclusion of his final regular appearance, #706 - Laserblast, where he is briefly portrayed by Jack Beaulieu (Trace's father) and a baby doll. He does speak Forrester's final line on the show, "Oh, poopie."
- During the Mads' ninth Night of Shorts, Trace Beaulieu mentioned that Dr. Forrester's translucent green eyeglass frames were from a pair of sunglasses that he purchased at a thrift store. He had also purchased an orange pair that were used by Mary Jo Pehl as Pearl.
References[]
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Principal | Dr. Clayton Forrester • Dr. Laurence Erhardt • TV's Frank • Pearl Forrester • Professor Bobo • Brain Guy • Kinga Forrester • Max | |||||
Secondary | Gerry and Sylvia • Dr. Peanut • The Observers • Synthia Forrester • Ardy • Skeleton Crew • Dr. Donna St. Phibes • Bonesy • Mega-Synthia • Dr. Kabahl • M. Waverly • Growler | |||||
Mirror Universe | Mike Nelson • Crow T. Robot • Tom Servo • Gypsy | |||||
Locations | Gizmonic Institute • Deep 13 • Deep Ape • The Widowmaker • Observer homeworld • Camping Planet • Ancient Rome • Castle Forrester • Moon 13 • Moon 1 • Deep Hurting | |||||