Frankenstein in popular culture

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Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster.
Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster.

Frankenstein in popular culture lists many ways the novel Frankenstein, and Frankenstein's monster, have influenced film, TV, games and popular culture in general and the many derivative works it has inspired.

Contents

[edit] Film derivatives

[edit] Silent Era

The first film adaptation of Frankenstein in 1910 by Edison Studios.
The first film adaptation of Frankenstein in 1910 by Edison Studios.

The first film adaptation of the tale, Frankenstein, was done by Edison Studios in 1910, written and directed by J. Searle Dawley, with Augustus Phillips as Frankenstein, Mary Fuller as Elizabeth, and Charles Ogle as the Monster. The brief (16 min.) story has Frankenstein chemically create his creature in a vat. The monster haunts the scientist until Frankenstein's wedding night, when true love causes the creature to vanish. For many years this film was believed lost until a collector announced in 1980 that he had acquired a print in the 1950s and had been unaware of its rarity.

The Edison version was followed soon after by another adaptation entitled Life Without Soul (1915), directed by Joseph W. Smiley, starring William A. Cohill as Dr. William Frawley, a modern-day Frankenstein who creates a soulless man, played to much critical praise by Percy Darrell Standing, who wore little make-up in the role. The film was shot at various locations around the United States, and reputedly featured much spectacle. In the end, it turns out that a young man has dreamed the events of the film after falling asleep reading Mary Shelley's novel.

There was also at least one European film version, the Italian Il Mostro di Frankenstein ("The Monster of Frankenstein") in 1920. The film's producer Luciano Albertini essayed the role of Frankenstein, with the creature being played by Umberto Guarracino. Eugenio Testa directed, from a screenplay by Giovanni Drivetti. The film is apparently lost.

[edit] Universal Pictures

See also Universal Horror and Universal Monsters

The most famous adaptation of the story, 1931's Frankenstein, was produced by Universal Pictures, directed by James Whale, and starred Boris Karloff as the monster. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Its sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), was also directed by Whale and is probably the most critically-acclaimed of all the Universal horror films. Son of Frankenstein followed in 1939 and its sequel The Ghost of Frankenstein in 1942. The latter film marked the series' descent into B-movie territory; later efforts by Universal combined two or more monsters, culminating in the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The Universal films in which The Monster appears (and the actors who played him) are:

  1. Frankenstein (1931 - Boris Karloff)
  2. Bride of Frankenstein (1935 - Karloff)
  3. Son of Frankenstein (1939 - Karloff)
  4. The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942 - Lon Chaney, Jr.)
  5. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943 - Bela Lugosi, with Eddie Parker, Gil Perkins and a possible third stuntman often doubling)
  6. House of Frankenstein (1944 - Glenn Strange)
  7. House of Dracula (1945 - Strange)
  8. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948 - Strange).

[edit] Hammer Films

In Great Britain, a long-running series by Hammer Films focused on the character of Dr. Frankenstein (usually played by Peter Cushing) rather than his monster. Peter Cushing played Dr. Frankenstein in all of the films except for Horror of Frankenstein in which the character was played by Ralph Bates. Cushing also played a creation in Revenge of Frankenstein. David Prowse played two different Monsters.

The Hammer films are a series in the loosest sense, since there is only tenuous continuity between the films after the first two (which are carefully connected). Starting with The Evil of Frankenstein, the films are stand-alone stories with occasional vague references to previous films, much the way the James Bond films form a series. In some of the films, the Baron is a kindly, even heroic figure, while in others he is ruthless and cruel, and clearly the villain of the piece.

The Hammer Films series (and the actor playing The Monster) consisted of:

  1. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957 - Christopher Lee)
  2. The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958 - two Monsters: Michael Gwynn and Peter Cushing)
  3. The Evil of Frankenstein (1964 - Kiwi Kingston)
  4. Frankenstein Created Woman (1967 - Susan Denberg)
  5. Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969 - Freddie Jones)
  6. The Horror of Frankenstein (1970 - David Prowse)
  7. Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974 - David Prowse)

In 1959, Hammer shot a half-hour pilot episode for a TV series to be called Tales of Frankenstein, in association with Columbia Pictures. Anton Diffring played the Baron, and Dan McGowan his creation. Curt Siodmak directed. The series was scrapped, largely because of the two companies' disagreement over what the basic thrust of the series would be. Hammer wanted to do a series about Baron Frankenstein involved in various misadventures, while Columbia wanted a series of science fiction stories loosely based around the idea of science gone wrong. Though unshown at the time of its production, the episode is available on DVD from several sources.

[edit] Other films

Depictions of The Monster have varied widely, from mindless killing machines (as in many of the Hammer films) to the depiction of The Monster as a kind of tragic hero (closest to the Shelley version in behavior) in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Bride and Van Helsing. Throughout the Universal series, he evolves from the latter to the former.

Three films have depicted the genesis of the Frankenstein story in 1816: Gothic directed by Ken Russell (1986), Haunted Summer directed by Ivan Passer (1988) and Remando al viento (English title: Rowing with the Wind) directed by Gonzalo Suárez (1988). The opening scene of Bride of Frankenstein also dealt with this event.

[edit] 1950s & 1960s

  • 1957: American International Pictures (AIP) released the low-budget I Was a Teenage Frankenstein in November of 1957, a few months after their wildly successful I Was a Teenage Werewolf. In a desperate and vain attempt to be viewed as a great scientist, an unscrupulous professor creates a monster out of parts of teenagers killed in a car crash, then later directs his creation to rip the head off a good-looking teenager to replace the monster's disfigured one. Whit Bissell stars as Prof. Frankenstein, Gary Conway plays the creature.
  • 1958: Another wildly differing adaptation is the 1958 film Frankenstein 1970, which focuses on the themes of nuclear power, impotence, and the film industry. Boris Karloff stars as Dr. Frankenstein, who harvests the bodies of actors to create a clone of himself using his nuclear-powered laboratory. His intention is to have this clone carry on his genes into future generations.
  • 1958: This year also brought the bizarre Frankenstein's Daughter, in which modern descendant of Frankenstein Donald Murphy experiments with a Jekyll/Hyde type of serum before stitching together a grotesque female creature. John Ashley and Sandra Knight co-starred.
  • 1962: The House on Bare Mountain (USA), directed by R.L. Frost, starring Warren Ames and Jeffrey Smithers. Frankenstein encounters nudists.
  • 1965: An extremely tangential adaptation is Ishiro Honda's 1965 tokusatsu kaiju film Frankenstein Conquers the World (Furankenshutain tai Chitei Kaijû Baragon), produced by Toho Company Ltd. The film's prologue is set in World War II, the monster's heart is stolen by Nazis from the laboratory of Dr. Reisendorf in war-torn Frankfurt, and taken to Imperial Japan. Immortal, the heart survives the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and is eaten by a savage child survivor, and after discovered by scientists in Present Day Japan, he feeds on protein, eventually growing into a giant humanoid monster that breaks loose and battles the subterranean monster Baragon, which was destroying villages and devouring people and animals. There was also a sequel to this film (see below).
  • 1965: Frankenstein Meets the Spacemonster. Martians come to Earth to steal our women, with the goal of repopulating their planet. When they cause a NASA space craft to crash, the pilot (Captain Frank Saunders) becomes horribly disfigured. Becoming a "Frankenstein" like monster, it's up to him to save the women of Earth.
  • 1966: War of the Gargantuas (Furankenshutain no Kaijû: Sanda tai Gaira), also directed by Honda, is a sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World (although this is obscured in the US version), with the Frankenstein Monster's severed cells growing into two giant humanoid brother monsters: Sanda (the Brown Gargantua), the strong and gentle monster raised by scientists in his youth, and Gaira (the Green Gargantua), the violent and savage monster who devours humans. The two monsters eventually battle each other in Tokyo.

[edit] 1970s & 1980s

  • 1971: Dracula vs. Frankenstein by Al Adamson is an extremely low-budget horror thriller, starring aged film stars J. Carroll Naish and Lon Chaney Jr. In the film, Count Dracula (Zandor Vorkov) has the last living descendant of Frankenstein (Naish) revive his famous ancestor's creation (played by John Bloom). Dracula hopes to use the creature in his bid to rule the world. Legend has it that the monster was supposed to be turned into a vampire in the film, but that the over-done make-up left no room for fangs. Lon Chaney Jr. played Frankenstein's mute and homicidal slave Groton. Famous Monsters of Filmland editor Forrest J. Ackerman cameoed as a hapless victim.
  • 1971: The Italian La Figlia di Frankenstein ("The Daughter of Frankenstein"), released in North America as Lady Frankenstein. Joseph Cotten plays Baron Frankenstein, who is killed off by his grotesque creation early on in the film. Sara Bay, as the Baron's daughter, creates her own creature from a handsome young man and the brain of her homely but brilliant lover (Paul Muller). She uses her creature to track down and destroy her father's monster, and also to satisfy what the movie's ads referred to as her own "strange desires."
  • 1972: Jess Franco contributed Dracula Contra Frankenstein ("Dracula Vs. Frankenstein"), which hit the North American drive-in circuit as Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein. Baron Frankenstein (played by Dennis Price, who was allegedly quite inebriated through much of the filming) revives Count Dracula (Howard Vernon) in order to enslave an army of vampires to help his monster (Fred Harrison) conquer the world.
  • 1972: Franco followed up his Dracula/Frankenstein effort with The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (also known, somewhat heretically, as The Curse of Frankenstein, but bearing no relation to the vastly superior Hammer film). Here, Baron Frankenstein (Dennis Price again) is killed off early on by minions of the evil Count Cagliostro (Howard Vernon), who wants to use the monster in his plots to rule the world.
  • 1972: Frankenstein `80, a film by Mario Mancini, featured a modern-day scientist named Albrechtstein (Gordon Mitchell) creating a monster called Mosaico (Xiro Papas). Mosaico is driven to homicidal mania by lust, and by his body's constant rejection of its constituent parts. The ingenue was played by Dalila di Lazarro (under the pseudonym "Dalila Parker"), who later appeared as the female creation in 1973's Flesh for Frankenstein (see below).
  • 1973: Considered among the goriest Frankenstein movies was Andy Warhol's Flesh for Frankenstein. Udo Kier plays the Baron, a bizarre but brilliant scientist who creates a male and female zombie in hopes of breeding a superior race. Joe Dallesandro plays the handyman who attempts to thwart the Baron's mad dream.
  • 1976: Victor Frankenstein (a.k.a. The Terror of Frankenstein,) was the first version to truly attempt to remain faithful to Mary Shelley's novel, though it was generally discarded as a failed and slow-moving attempt. Per Oscarson played the creature.
  • 1981: Another Japanese version, this one animated, was Kyofu densetsu: Kaiki! Furankenshutain (called in the U.S. simply Frankenstein,) released in 1981. In this beautiful but violent, adult-oriented film, the Creature was portrayed as a tragic misunderstood monster.
  • 1985: The Bride was an adaptation directed by Franc Roddam. It stars Clancy Brown as the monster, with rocker Sting as Dr. Charles Frankenstein. The plot features the Monster wandering about Europe with a tragic circus midget (David Rappaport) while the Doctor himself engages in a Pygmalion-inspired relationship with a female creation, the eponymous monster's bride played by Jennifer Beals. A love triangle between Doctor, Monster and Bride provides the film's pivotal conflict.

[edit] 1990s & 2000s

  • 1990: Frankenstein Unbound was a science fiction movie based on the novel by Brian Aldiss. In it, a scientist travels back in time to meet Victor Frankenstein and his Creature, as well as Mary Shelley herself.
  • 1992: Frankenstein. Directed and written by David Wickes, this Creature was not pieced together from body parts but a clone (of sorts) of Frankenstein himself, establishing a psychic bond between Creator (Patrick Bergin) and Creature (Randy Quaid). A female creature was nearly created the same way, using Elizabeth (Fiona Gillies) as the model.
  • 2004: Van Helsing. This film was a reinvention of the famous Universal stable of monsters of the 1930s and 1940s. Shuler Hensley plays the Monster who, contrary to usual practice, is directly referred to by the name Frankenstein. He sees himself as Dr. Frankenstein's son rather than his creation, and was created by Frankenstein's experiments after Dracula provided him with funding, Dracula hoping to use Frankenstein's research as a means of reviving his own stillborn children. Despite the creature's monstrous appearance, and the fact that he is the key to making Frankenstein's machine work for Dracula's children, Van Helsing nevertheless refuses to kill the creature, risking his life to free the monster and allowing him to go his own way at the end of the film. The portrayal of the creature in this movie- intelligent, articulate, sympathetic and a hero who only wants to live- is somewhat close to the portrayal in the book.
  • 2006: Perfect Woman. This film, produced by Olympic Productions, is a modern spin on the tale. The plot follows a reality game show that is looking for the perfect woman to win the perfect man, played by Marcus Schenkenberg. Little do the girls know that the game show is a mask for an evil genius who is literally trying to make the perfect woman, using various body parts. David Prowse also appears in this film as a cannibalistic gardener.
  • 2006: Subject Two. This film, written and directed by Philip Chidel, has a modern nanotechnology spin on the tale. The plot follows a disillusioned medical student's journey to a remote snowbound mountain location where he is met by Dr. Vic.

[edit] Parodies and satires

  • The 1970 cartoon Groovie Goolies featured Franky, a friendly version of the Monster.
  • The 1980s cartoon Drak Pack featured Frankie, a descendant of the Monster who could assume his form as a superhero guise.
  • In a 1968 episode of The Inspector entitled "Transylvania Mania," a smart Dracula-like character and a stupid Frankenstein-like creature try to steal The Inspector's brain to put it in a new creature the vampire is building.
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) was a musical parody of the story. In this twisted comedic tale, Dr. Frank N. Furter creates a creature for his own pleasure (named 'Rocky') and finds he cannot control the creature's lust. A prototype version that he discarded, Eddie, has a look inspired by Boris Karloff's Frankenstein - with a scar across his forehead.
  • The Phantom of the Paradise (1975) used a Frankenstein's monster motif for the two songs, 'Somebody Super like You', when they cut off the limbs of victims and begin to create their man (Beef) of perfection, and 'Life at Last', when the man is brought to life via lightning and sings mainly about finding a woman.
  • Tommy (film) (1975) had Sally Simpson marrying a green-tinged Frankenstein's monster teenage rock musician.
  • Frankenhooker (1990) is a parody of the Universal films in which "Jeffrey Franken" gathers body parts from various streetwalkers in order to build the "perfect" woman. This same concept was borrowed for 2006's Perfect Woman (mentioned above).
  • Pumpernickel the mad Swiss professor from Restart by Komedy Kollective, is a sinister professor based on the Frankenstein novels, who makes a secret elixir using body parts.
  • Lisa of the Weird Science film and television series was a sort of computer-generated Frankenstein monster, designed to be a toy for Gary and Wyatt. Though not technically undead, the method of her creation and her rebellious nature make constant references to the Frankenstein's monster. There is even an episode of the television show where Gary and Wyatt match their creation Lisa against Frankenstein's monster to see who has created the superior being.
  • The Tim Burton film Edward Scissorhands bears many references to the Frankenstein story. An old inventor creates a man called Edward, but dies before he can finish him, leaving him with scissors for hands. Edward is found and looked after by Peg Boggs, the local Avon lady, who attempts to introduce him to her fellow neighbours in her perfect suburban home. But soon, the residents begin attempting to manipulate Edward (played by Johnny Depp), especially when he falls in love with Peg's daughter Kim (Winona Ryder) and will do anything for her. Because his creator never taught him conscience, he does not know the laws of society. However, unlike Frankenstein's monster, who treated his creation with disgust, Edward's creator loved him like a son, and taught him to love.
  • Comedian Dave Allen had a famous sketch wherein the monster stumbles through the woods and finds a small girl. The girl then begins conversing with him as if he were a normal person. A woman come along and says "Get away from that creature", before rushing to the girl. The woman then turns to the camera and asks "Alright, how many of you thought i was going to take him?" to which the monster replies by putting up its hand.
  • Frankenstein's monster briefly appears in the music video for Canadian comedy group The Vacant Lot's song "Pamper Me". The song is a parody of diaper fetishism and features various people through history and popular culture, including Frankenstein's monster, wearing diapers.

[edit] Television derivatives

The Frankenstein story and its elements have been adapted many times for television:

  • Boris Karloff reprised his role wearing the Frankenstein monster makeup in a 1962 episode of Route 66 entitled Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing for Halloween. Also appearing in the episode were Lon Chaney Jr as both the Wolf Man and The Mummy and Peter Lorre.
  • In the 1960's, The Addams Family had a Frankenstein character, Lurch.
  • In a 1966 episode of The Wild Wild West The Night of the Big Blast Ida Lupino guest starred as a mad scientist who "reanimates" dead criminals into bombs. (Her name "Dr Faustina" is a pun on Faust.)
  • Universal produced a television sitcom from 1964 to 1966 for CBS entitled The Munsters with Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster, a character physically resembling the Universal's cinematic depiction of Frankenstein's monster, who was the patriarch of a family of kindly monsters. The rest of the family included a grandfather resembling the Universal Dracula (who may actually be Dracula), a wife that resembles "The Bride of Frankenstein", and a werewolf son. The Munsters' house at 1313 Mockingbird Lane can still be seen on the Universal Studios' backlot tour at Universal Studios in Universal City, California.
  • An infamous half-hour segment of Tales of Tomorrow with Lon Chaney Jr. as the monster. This version, which was broadcast live, is notable for the fact that Chaney believed it to be a dress rehearsal rather than an actual broadcast, thereby resulting in what appeared to be bizarre behavior on the air, such as picking up a chair and waving it menacingly over his head and then putting it gently back in its place. It has been suggested that Chaney was also inebriated at the time, but this has not been confirmed.
  • Thames Television's (UK) anthology series Mystery and Imagination ran a somewhat faithful episode based on the book in 1968. It featured Ian Holm as both Frankenstein and his creation.
  • Milton the Monster (1965-1967) was a cartoon character developed shortly after The Munsters about a kind-hearted Frankenstein monster who famously "flipped his lid" (emitted steam like a whale's blowhole) when angered, and who was constantly nearly kicked out of the lab by his scheming creator.
  • A 1973 Universal production, Frankenstein: The True Story was more an amalgamation of various concepts from previous films than a direct adaptation of the novel. It starred Leonard Whiting as Frankenstein and Michael Sarrazin as the Creature, with a star supporting cast including James Mason, David McCallum, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Jane Seymour.
  • Dan Curtis' 1973 adaptation with Robert Foxworth as Frankenstein and Bo Svenson as the Creature. Along with the Ian Holm version listed above, it was probably the most faithful film version of the book up to that time.
  • In an episode of Fantasy Island, Dr. Anne Frankenstein, a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein, visits the island to try to find out about her ancestor. A being created by the elder scientist appears, and Anne is determined to take the being with her, naively believing it will be treated with proper care in the 1980s.
  • A 1976 Doctor Who serial, The Brain of Morbius, has a Time Lord criminal body brought back to life by a mad scientist, using the Time Lord's brain and a body composed of various alien races who had crashed onto the planet where Morbius's brain had been stored since his defeat. However, the doctor responsible for the project is forced to use an artificial head when Morbius loses patience, thus allowing the Fourth Doctor to confront him in a 'mind wrestle' that causes Morbius's brain to 'overheat'.
  • A 1984 BBC version starring Robert Powell as Victor, David Warner as his creature, and Carrie Fisher as the doomed Elizabeth.
  • Frankenstein's Aunt
  • The late eighties/early nineties cartoon, Captain N: The Game Master was partially based on Castlevania, (see below) and features the Monster as a servant of Count Dracula in various episodes.
  • A 1992 production for the American TNT cable network, with Patrick Bergin as Victor and Randy Quaid as his hapless creation.
  • "Frankenbone", a 1996 episode of the children's show Wishbone had an adaptation of the Shelley story with the canine star in the role of Victor.
  • A 2004 production titled Frankenstein for the American USA Network starred Thomas Kretschmann as Victor and Vincent Perez as his original creature. It was not a direct adaptation but a postmodern gothic reinvention set in present-day New Orleans that recast Victor as the villain and the creature as a tragic hero determined to stop him; the primary action involves two police detectives (Parker Posey and Adam Goldberg) who enlist the aid of the creature ("Deucalion" in this version) to stop a serial killer (Michael Madsen) who may be one of Victor's later creations. It was produced by Martin Scorsese and based on a treatment by Dean Koontz. The film was originally intended as the pilot for an ongoing series, but this was not successful. Koontz is in the process of developing the concept into a series of novels (Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son and Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: City of Night are the first two volumes).
  • A second 2004 adaptation titled Frankenstein created for the American Hallmark Channel starred Alec Newman as Frankenstein and Luke Goss as the creature. It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup that year.
  • In the TV show Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Frankenstein's monster is a recurring character in the segment "Frankenstein Wastes A Minute of Our Time".
  • As played by Phil Hartman, The Monster was also a popular recurring comedic character on Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s, often delivering the line, "Fire bad!"
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer has also faced "Frankensteinian" creations. In the season two episode "Some Assembly Required, the creation was a reanimated high school jock who, having been killed in a car accident and resurrected by his science-expert brother, only wanted his brother/creator to build him a mate. However, although using three deceased girls in a car crash to create a body, his brother refused to complete the process, as the rapid decay rate of brain tissue meant that he would have to 'kill' a girl to acquire a head; his friend and partner in the endeavour nevertheless attempted to kill Cordelia Chase to use her head, but the 'creature' susbequently died in a fire when the lab was destroyed and he refused to leave his 'mate'. The season four Big Bad was Adam, a conglomeration of robot, human, and demon parts created by a government scientist in charge of a demon research facility, whom Adam regarded as his mother.
  • A season five episode of The X-Files, "Post-Modern Prometheus," played up a campy re-telling of the Frankenstein legend updated with genetic engineering technology. The episode, the only one of the series filmed exclusively in black and white, parodies the film adaptations of the legend as the creature, shunned by the mad scientist who created him, seeks a mate in a small town who has immortalized him as an urban legend and comic book villain; the episode reaches its campy conclusion when the women of the town take their monster-babies on Jerry Springer and the monster finds his true love by attending a Cher concert. The monster is played by Chris Owens, who had already played a younger version of the Cigarette-Smoking Man and would go on to play his son in season six, and the scientist was portrayed by Seinfeld alum John O'Hurley.
  • On an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, Plucky Duck has reoccurring nightmares based on various horror films he watched staying at Buster Bunny's house for a sleep over. In one of the nightmares, he appears as Lady Frankenstein and Frankenstein is attracted to him, and then Frankenstein cries after he grrs viciously to the monster before going into another sequence.
  • The Animaniacs episode Phranken-Runt, featuring Rita and Runt parodied both the overall Frankenstein plot and elements of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
  • In the Histeria! episode "Super Writers", at the end of a sketch about Edgar Allan Poe publishing "The Raven", Mary Shelley appears (portrayed by Charity Bazaar dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein) to pitch the book to Sammy Melman.
  • The Cartoon Network show Robot Chicken featured a Frankenstein parody character called "Frank Enstein."
  • In the 1994 animated television series Monster Force Frankenstein's monster alias "Frankenstein" or "the Monster" becomes humanity's ally in a desperate fight against evil Creatures of the Night.
  • The children's animated series Arthur has an episode depicting a re-enactment of the night the novel was created. Titled Fernkenstein's Monster, it was described as: "Inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Fern tells a tale so scary that Arthur and the gang become afraid of her. Can Fern prove her skills as a writer and create a different story that's fun instead of frightening?"
  • The 2000 anime television series Argento Soma draws a large amount of inspiration from Frankenstein. The show's plotline revolves around an ambitious scientist assembling a giant silver creature from scattered components. The giant (aptly nicknamed "Frank") possesses a tender and compassionate nature but has a bizarre and hideous exterior and the potential to inflict death and destruction.
  • The Duck Dodgers episode "Castle High" revolved around the main character explaining to I.Q. High what had happened to his castle, the flashback based on the story.
  • One of Arale's classmates in Dr. Slump was named Monsuta (aka Frank).
  • In Dragonball, young Goku befriends a cyborg named Number 8 (Whom he nicknames Ha-chan) who was similar in appearance to Frankenstein's monster.
  • An episode of Goof Troop had a spoof called "Frankengoof"; despite the title, the monster is a mirror image of Black Pete.
  • Scooby-Doo has a TV movie entitled "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School", in which Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy-Doo meet the daughters of several monsters at "Miss Grimwood's School for Girls". One of the 'girl ghouls' (as they are called in the movie) is named Elsa Frankenteen, her father being Frankenteen Sr. Though both resemble the creature, Frankenteen Sr. is the best representation. 'Frankenteen' is also a portmanteau of 'Frankenstein' and 'teen' because Elsa is a teenager.
  • An episode of Star Trek The Next Generation # 76 Brothers has Dr. Soong being killed by his creation Lore; likewise episode # 167 Thine Own Self has Data losing part of his memory and ends up saving primitive villagers-who attack him.
  • There were two instances where the concept of Frankenstein's monster was used in the Super Sentai and Power Rangers series. In Kyouryuu Sentai ZyuRanger, the monster Dora Frank was an obvious nod to the monster, as well as its Mighty Morphin Power Rangers counterpart, which was simply referred to as the "Frankenstein Monster". Then in Mahou Sentai Magiranger one of the main villains, Victory General Branken, was inspired by Frankenstein's Monster. Branken's Power Rangers: Mystic Force counterpart was Morticon.
  • An episode of SpongeBob SquarePants is called Frankendoodle and involves SpongeBob creating an evil doodle.
  • A prank used on Prank Patrol (called "It's Alive!") is a direct parody of Frankenstein, with Andre Simoneau playing "Frankenstein".
  • In the Simpsons' 2003 installment of the Treehouse of horror series, Treehouse of Horror XIV, there is a segment entitled "Frinkenstein", whereby Professor Frink uses his universal multi-tool to resurrect his dead father, who then goes on a rampage stealing organs from others until his son is forced to kill him.
  • A villainous alien from Ben 10 named Doctor Victor resembles the Frankenstein's monster, as well as the copy of him in the Omnitrix
  • The character of Rampage in the Transformers: Beast Wars series has a great many similarities to Frankenstein's monster, especially his origins as a product of science gone horribly wrong; the main differences are his status as an irredeemable psychopath and that his body wasn't created by piecing others together.
  • In The Super Mario Bros. Super Show episode "Koopenstein", Bowser (under the guise of Dr. Koopenstein) attempts to acquire a brain for a robotic Koopa Troopa he has made, but through the result of a horrific accident, he mutates into a Frankenstein's Monster-esque version of himself and proceeds to rampage through a nearby village.
  • In a 15-minute episode of Sonic the Hedgehog, Rotor the Walrus, assisted by Antione, creates a robot named Ro-Becca. Antoine accidentally activates Ro-Becca and she falls in love with him.
  • The regeneration sequence of the seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, into the eighth incarnation, Paul McGann, in the 1996 TV movie Doctor Who is set in a hospital morgue. The night attendant at the morgue is watching the 1931 Frankenstein in the next room, and scenes in which the monster is brought to life are intercut with images of the Doctor's "resurrection", his appearance out of the storage room then causing the attendant to pass out.
  • Dr. Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Monster appeared in Mad Monster Party and Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein. Frankenstein's Monster appeared in Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, Monster Mash and Waxwork.
  • An ITV modern adaptation simply titled Frankenstein was aired on 24 October 2007, where a mother uses lab equipment to try to create a "body of organs" for her dying eight year old son.
  • There was a Superfriends episode where The Superfriends battled a modern day Dr. Frankenstein and his monster.

[edit] Other derivatives

[edit] Classical and Modern Music

[edit] Radio

In 1938, George Edwards produced a 13-part, 3-hour series for radio. It follows the structure and spirit of the novel closely.

Two other versions were made in both 1944 and 1955.

[edit] Stage

Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim is an 1887 musical burlesque composed by Meyer Lutz and written by Richard Henry.

In 1981, a Broadway adaptation of the story by Victor Gialanella played for one performance and was considered the most expensive flop ever produced to that date. [1]

A musical adaptation entitled "Day of Wrath", (composed by Eric Sirota, with lyrics by E. Sirota & S. Sudol), was first produced in 1990, in Clinton, NJ. [2]

Joined At The Heart is a musical with music & lyrics by Graham Brown & Geoff Meads, book by Frances Anne Bartam and directed by Frances Brownlie. It tells the love story of Victor Frankenstein and his step sister Elizabeth, a young orphan girl taken in by Victor's parents and cared for as if she were their own daughter. When Victor's mother dies, he vows to end the suffering that death brings by pursuing eternal life. Joined At The Heart reached the final of the Worldwide Search for Musicals competition. The show was produced at The Junction 2 in Cambridge, UK from 1st - 4th August 2007 and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland from 12th - 18th August 2007.

Young Frankenstein is a musical theatre adaptation of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, which is scheduled to open in November, 2007.[3]

[edit] Novels

The story of Frankenstein, or to be precise, "Frankenstein's Monster", has formed the basis of many original novels over the years, some of which were considered sequels to Shelley's original work, and some of which were based more upon the character as portrayed in the Universal films. Yet others were completely new tales inspired byFrankenstein.

  • 1957: French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière wrote six Frankenstein novels in 1957 and 1958 for Angoisse, the horror imprint of publisher Fleuve Noir, under the house pseudonym of Benoît Becker (with plotting assistance from Guy Bechtel for the first novel).
  • 1. La Tour de Frankenstein [The Tower Of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 30, 1957)
  • 2. Le Pas de Frankenstein [The Step Of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 32, 1957)
  • 3. La Nuit de Frankenstein [The Night Of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 34, 1957)
  • 4. Le Sceau de Frankenstein [The Seal Of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 36, 1957)
  • 5. Frankenstein Rôde [Frankenstein Prowls] (FNA No. 41, 1958)
  • 6. La Cave de Frankenstein [The Cellar Of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 50, 1959)
Carrière followed the footsteps of the Monster, christened Gouroull, as he made his way back from Iceland, to Scotland, and then Germany and Switzerland, from the late 1800s to the 1920s. The plots have the Monster pursuing his own, evil agenda, unafraid of the weaker humans. Even people who try to help or reason with him are just as likely to be killed by the inhuman fiend.
  • 1986: In The Frankenstein Papers, Fred Saberhagen retells Shelley's story (with significant modifications) from the creature's point of view.It is revealed that the novel had actually taken place during the American revolution and Benjamin Franklin and his son play a major role in the novel. It is revealed through a series of letters as well as the monsters diary that the monster is actually an amnesiac humanoid alien who was disfigured by the electric explosion used in Victor's experiments,and that the creature that Victor had stitched together never in fact came to life,it is also revealed that Victor had performed the experiments under the behest of the sinister british nobleman Roger Saville;who had wished to create a race of super-men so as to form a colony of slaves and to defeat the American rebels,it is also implied that Saville and his hunchbacked assistant Small had murdered Victor's family in order to blackmail him,and that the novel was actually written by Robert Walton(who wanted to profit from the slave business) as a means to spread distrust to the monster,however Benjamin rescues the Alien and helps him regain his memory with the help of Cagliostro , the book ends with the alien departing Earth,and deciding that despite the cruelty men like Saville are capable of,men like Benjamin Freeman are the true examples of the human race.
  • 1986: In Stephen King's IT, the monster "It" took the form of Frankenstein's monster.
  • 1997: Frankenstein According to Spike Milligan is one of a series of parody novels by Spike Milligan. In this, Milligan crafts a bizarre story, with many gags based on specific moments and instances from the text of the novel, such as "I am self-educated: for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild on the common. At the end of that time I fell exhausted to the ground."
  • 2004: Dean Koontz has written a series of Frankenstein novels: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein. These reimagine Frankenstein in the setting of modern-day New Orleans.
  • 2005: Joseph Covino Jr has written an epic derivative novel faithful to Mary Shelley's original classic titled, Frankenstein Resurrected.[4]

[edit] Comics

Marvel Comics' The Monster of Frankenstein #1 (Jan. 1973), the premiere of a five-issue adaptation of the novel by writer Gary Friedrich and artist Mike Ploog.
Marvel Comics' The Monster of Frankenstein #1 (Jan. 1973), the premiere of a five-issue adaptation of the novel by writer Gary Friedrich and artist Mike Ploog.

The Monster has also been the subject of many comic book adaptations, ranging from the ridiculous (a 1960s series portraying The Monster as a superhero; see below), to more straightforward interpretations of Shelley's work, such Marvel Comics' The Monster of Frankenstein, the first five issues of which (Jan.-Sept. 1973) contained a faithful (in spirit at least) retelling of Shelley's tale before transferring The Monster into the present day and pitting him against James Bond-inspired evil organizations. The artist, Mike Ploog, recalled, "I really enjoyed doing Frankenstein because I related to that naive monster wandering around a world he had no knowledge of — an outsider seeing everything through the eyes of a child." [5]

In 1940, cartoonist Dick Briefer wrote and drew a Frankenstein's-monster comic book title for Crestwood Publications's Prize Comics, beginning with a standard horrific version, updated to contemporary America, but then in 1945 crafting an acclaimed and well-remembered comedic version that spun-off into his own title, Frankenstein Comics. The series ended with issue #17 (Jan.-Feb. 1949, but was revived as a horror title from #18-33 (March 1952 - Oct.-Nov. 1954). The original Prize version served as catalyst for an inner-company crossover, where all Prize characters starring in Prize Comics at the time teamed up to fight Frankenstein.

Classic Comics #27 December 1945 reprinted in Classics Illustrated#26 had versions of the Shelley novel.

The Monster appeared in Superman No. 143 February 1961 in a story entitled "Bizarro Meets Frankenstein!"

Dell Comics published a superhero version of the character in the comic book series Frankenstein #2-4 (Sept. 1966 - March 1967; issue #1, published Oct. 1964, featured a very loose adaptation/update of the 1931 Universal Pictures movie).

The monster appeared as a foe to the X-Men in issue #40 (January 1968). In the story, written by Roy Thomas, the monster had various powers, including incredible strength, optic beams, and magnetized feet. He was an ambassador sent to Earth by aliens in the 1850s, but upon arrival, he went berserk. His fellow aliens followed him to the North Pole, where he was frozen. In the present, he was discovered by scientists and thawed. According to Professor X, this android was the inspiration for Shelley's novel.

In 1972, French comics publisher Aredit devoted seven issues of its digest-sized Hallucinations horror comic magazine to adapt Jean-Claude Carrière's Frankenstein novels.

In 1988 the "Spawn of Frankenstein" appeared in the Young All-Stars comic from DC Comics, written by Roy Thomas. The portrayal of the monster was as a reclusive, sympathetic character who had been living alone in the Arctic since the death of his creator.

In 1991 Dark Horse Comics issued an adaptation of the 1931 Universal film.

The Monster is Monster in My Pocket #13. He appears among the good monsters in the comic book (1991), the video game (1991), the animated special (1992) and the 2003 animated series. In the comics, he was relatively inarticulate, represented by hyphens between each syllable he spoke, but possessed of simple wisdom and strong morals. This characterization was essentially characterized in the video game, where he was a playable character, and his only line of dialogue in the cut scenes was "Yeah..." In the animated special, he was known as "Big Ed" and was essentially a comic simpleton.

A 1995 Batman special called Batman: Castle of the Bat by Jack C. Harris and Bo Hampton amalgamates Batman and Frankenstein. Bruce Wayne fills the role of Victor Frankenstein, wishing to revive his deceased father. Having successfully done so, his creation becomes the monstrous "Bat-Man", a hulking figure in a rough analogue of the Batman costume who preys upon highwaymen, similar to the one who took the lives of the (this story's) parents of Bruce Wayne. Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth is changed to a hunchbacked dwarf named Alfredo, filling the "Igor" role, and there is also a chimera, the result of combining a bat and a dog, a reference to Ace the Bat-Hound.

In The Superman Monster (1999), Lex Luthor is Viktor Luther, the creator. He discovers the spacecraft that would have carried the infant Superman to Earth. Inside, however, is only the skeleton of a child. Using the Kryptonian technology, he is able to animate his (unintentionally) super-powered creature, which initially resembles Bizarro. The creature flees and is raised by the kindly couple Johann and Marta Kant. They name the creature Klaus, after their dead son. The story features the Lois Lane character becoming "The Bride" to Superman's Creature. The story is unclear as to whether the Bride also gains superpowers.

2004 saw the debut of Doc Frankenstein, written by the Andy and Larry Wachowski, the writer-director team of The Matrix), and drawn by Steve Skroce. The book tells the continuing adventures of Frankenstein's monster, who has since adopted his creator's name and became a hero through the ages.

In 2005, Dead Dog Comics produced a sequel to the Frankenstein mythos with Frankenstein: Monster Mayhem, written by R. D. Hall with art by Jerry Beck. In Dead Dog's version, the monster sets out to create his own Necropolis.

Also in 2005, Speakeasy Comics put out their sequel, The Living and the Dead, written by Todd Livingston and Robert Tinnell, with art by Micah Farritor. In it, Victor, now calling himself Hans, must create a new body for his first cousin who wants her syphilitic son to remain alive after a vicious beating, and she coerces him to do so under fear of exposing him for who he really is. Half-crazed due to the disease, the newly born monster proceeds to start a Grand Guignol theater in Ingolstadt until Victor puts him down with the help of the first monster he ever created. As thanks, Victor begins work on the last attempt he will make at playing God, and begins to build the original creature a mate.

DC Comics also has made use of the character. He appeared as a backup feature in the Phantom Stranger stories written by Len Wein. Roy Thomas revived the character in Young All-Stars; he then appeared in Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory. Here, Frankenstein is a Milton-quoting, gun-toting warrior battling to prevent the end of the world. In addition, DC's team of movie monster-esque soldiers known as the Creature Commandos featured a character that resembled the Universal Pictures version of Frankenstein's monster; Private Elliot "Lucky" Taylor was nearly killed after stepping on a land mine, but was grotesquely reconstructed into a "Patchwork Creature" (as designated by the Who's Who in the DC Universe entry on the Creature Commandos), and later rendered mute by a failed suicide attempt.

Japanese Mangaka Junji Ito also wrote a Manga faithfully adapting the story of the original novel.

Frankenstein's monster is also mentioned in Alan Moore's comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. In this, the creature's wandering through the Arctic has led it to the bizarre 'Toyland' populated entirely by living toys and dolls. The creature has apparently married the doll-like Queen Olympia and become Toyland's King.

In Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's Planetary, the protagonist, Elijah Snow, discovers an abandoned laboratory, filled with patchwork undead monsters. It is heavily implied that the lab belonged to Victor Frankenstein, and that, alongside Count Dracula, the Invisible Man, and Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein had been part of a covert, 19th century conspiracy to shape the direction of the future.

In the comic book Major Bummer, Louie defends the common mis-naming of the monster as "Frankenstein": Dr. Frankenstein is, so to speak, the monster's "father," and it is only right that a son should have his father's family name.

In 2005 Puffin Books released a graphic novel adaptation adapted by Gary Reed with art from Frazer Irving.

The 2006 Beckett Entertainment/Image comics graphic novel The Cobbler's Monster: A Tale of Gepetto's Frankenstein features an amalgamation between Gepetto and Victor Frankenstein, who reanimates his dead son.

In 2006, Eros Comix published Adult Frankenstein, a comic-book with Frankenstein x-rated stories (featuring also other classic monsters) all written by Enrico Teodorani (creator of Djustine), with cover by Joe Vigil and interior art by some of the best Italian authors in the erotic comics field.

Also, in 2006, Big Bang Comics published an issue of Big Bang Presents featuring a superhero incarnation of the monster called Super Frankenstein.

[edit] Games

Frankenstein's monster appears in the Konami video game series Castlevania, numerous times, with its name being "The Monster" or "The Creature", often as a major boss, but sometimes as a regular enemy. His presence is technically an anachronism since he appears several hundred years before his date of creation in the 18th century.

Several other video game version are also available, including Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster - A Cinematic Adventure Starring Tim Curry (PC) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, (Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega CD) based on the 1994 film of the same name. For the original Nintendo (NES) was Frankenstein: The Monster Returns! and for the Atari 2600, Frankenstein's Monster.

A Frankenstein-like monster called Victor von Gerdenheim is a playable character in the fighting game series Darkstalkers, along with many other monsters from popular culture.

Frankenstein's monster also appears in the videogame adaptation of the film Van Helsing. He only appears as a non-playable character.

Frankenstein's monster also appears in Warriors of Primetime, where he is the final boss. (This monster is innacurate as Frankenstein claimes to be 'brought back to life'.

The roleplaying game Promethean: The Created, published by White Wolf, Inc., focuses on beings created from human remains and animated by "the Divine Fire" who seek to attain humanity. One of the "Lineages" (groupings) of said creatures is that of the Frankensteins, who, like their namesake, are crafted from the best parts of multiple corpses and brought to life by lightning.

Many role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, allow the creation of Flesh Golems, similar creatures created through the use of magic.

In 2002 Lego released a Frankenstein and monster set as part of the Lego studios toy line.

[edit] Influence

The concept of the 'mad scientist' creating a creature/monster/weapon that eventually falls out of his (the scientist is usually a 'he') control, leading to the scientist's eventual defeat or ruin, is a common narrative trope in science-fiction / horror tales. For example, Robert Louis Stephenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde also features a scientist destroyed by a creature of his own making (although the circumstances are, of course, quite different).

Science fiction author Isaac Asimov coined the term Frankenstein complex for the fear of robots.

Frankenstein or Franken- is sometimes used for nuancing artificial monstrosity as in "frankenfood", a politically charged name of genetically manipulated foodstuff. The Franken- prefix can also mean anything assembled haphazardly from originally disparate elements. Especially if those parts were previously discarded by others, for example, a car built from parts salvaged from many other cars. Similarly, for many years Eddie van Halen played a guitar built in such a manner which he called the "Frankenstrat".

In 1971, General Mills Cereals introduced "Franken Berry", a strawberry-flavored corn cereal whose mascot is a variation of the Monster from the 1931 movie.

"Frankenstein" is the name of a character in the 1975 movie Death Race 2000.

The hit song China In Your Hand by the British rock band T'Pau employs the story of Frankenstein, and Mary Shelley's writing of it, in its role as a classic cautionary tale.

In David Brin's science-fiction novel Kiln People, defective golems that become autonomous are called "frankies".

Superman had a fantasy story based on a Frankenstein Pastiche called Superman-Monster.

The Incredible Hulk, the title character of a popular comic book series, was partially inspired by Frankenstein. He not only looks much like the typical version of Frankenstein's monster, but in the most enduring of different versions can acts in a similarly brutish, volatile manner yet still be a gentle being who wishes to be left alone.

DC Comics, have a similar character to Marvel Comics' Hulk called Solomon Grundy and resembles Frankenstein's monster in appearance and also in its child mind-like state while retaining its ability to become enraged. It also possesses great strength.

Cavewoman: Pangean Sea #7 had Cavewoman battling Frankenstein's monster atop a castle. Cavewoman has also has numerous pin-ups featuring her along with Frankenstein's monster and/or other Universal Monsters.

In 2006 the book The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived listed Dr. Frankenstein's Monster (sic) at #6.[6][7]

The rebirth of Darth Vader, as seen at the end of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is comparable to the story of Frankenstein. Notably Vader being assembled from various parts (although in the film they are mechanical), he is then raised on the platform he was assembled on. He then struggles and breaks free from the platform, stumbling forward awkwardly.

Another possible parallel between the Frankenstein movie and Darth Vader-besides the rebirth of Vader noted above:

DC Comics had a character called "Young Frankenstein" appear in an issue of Teen Titans, who was inspired by the Mel Brooks movie.

The California Medical Association, in a rather humorous gesture, chose Halloween 2006 to announce that Dr. Richard Frankenstein had been elected president of the organisation[8][9]. He had previously been president of the Orange County Medical Association in 1995-1996[10]

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References

  1. ^ Internet Broadway Database: Frankenstein Production Credits
  2. ^ Web Forwarding
  3. ^ Internet Broadway Database: Young Frankenstein Details
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ [3]
  7. ^ [4]
  8. ^ Political Muscle : Los Angeles Times : Dr. Frankenstein to Head Medical Group
  9. ^ Press Releases
  10. ^ CMA Foundation - Richard S. Frankenstein, MD

[edit] External links

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