History Main / MadScientistLaboratory

[[folder: Roleplay ]]

* In Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG, XERRD - an entire organization of {{Mad Scientist}}s - has three notable Mad Scientist Laboratories where they perform experiments on dinosaurs: the Dino Island Laboratory, the LEGO Island Laboratory, and the Adventurers' Island XERRD Fortress.

* ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' (2004). The laboratory of Dr Walter Jennings (with mutated fetus and tiny elephant), and the room in [[ShamgriLa Shangri-La]] (shown in a deleted scene) where Totenkopf conducted experiments on radiation victims from his uranium mine.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones''. The maester's laboratory in "The Children" is clearly meant to invoke this trope when Qyburn starts PlayingWithSyringes on a dying [[TheDreaded Ser Gregor Clegane]].
-->'''Cersei:''' You can save him?

-->'''Cersei:''' Very well, then.

* Henry Stauf has one in [[TheSeventhGuest]], rather well hidden in his mansion. It is infamously known for a now-impossible minigame of Infection inside a microscope there. On top of that, a rather squicky cutscene can be watched of a ghost patient who wakes up and finds that half of his head is missing, then reaches down and tries to put his brain back.

All of the film, TV, and comic versions of the Mad Scientist's Lab derive originally from Gothic horror stories of the 18th and 19th centuries, the most famous of them being Creator/MaryShelley's novel ''Frankenstein'' and HGWells' ''The Island of Doctor Moreau.'' The concept developed from older stories about the lairs of alchemists and sorcerers. The Enlightenment put paid to many kinds of mystical dabbling by dilettantes, tinkerers, and wealthy eccentrics, but these characters were replaced in the public imagination by gentleman scientists -- many of them self-taught, many very eccentric -- who built laboratories and observatories in their homes and made a number of important discoveries in the new disciplines of chemistry, physics, and biology.

The archetypical movie MadScientistLaboratory probably came from the classic silent film ''Metropolis'', though the Universal remake of ''Frankenstein'' added a fair amount. Both were probably strongly influenced by a real-life example that was a staple in popular media between 1900 and 1940; the various laboratories of NikolaTesla, which actually did feature gigantic incomprehensible machinery, scary robotic devices, Tesla coils, and lots of gaudy electric-arc effects.

* Henry Stauf has one in [[TheSeventhGuest]], rather well hidden in his mansion. It is infamously known for a now-impossible minigame of Infection inside a microscope there. On top of that, rather squicky cutscene can be watched of a ghost patient who wakes up and finds that half of his head is missing, then reaches down and tries to put his brain back.

* Henry Stauf has one in [[TheSeventhGuest]], rather well hidden in his mansion. It is infamously known for a now-impossible minigame of Infection inside a microscope there. On top of that, rather squicky cutscene can be watched of a ghost patient who wakes up and finds that half of his head is missing, then reaches down and tries to put his brain back.
* Doctor Pickles has a couple of places in ''StayTooned'' replete with items of this tripe, some of which can be interacted with.
** '''Dr. Pickles:''' ''"Will you help me with my experiment?"''

** ''"Will you help me with my experiment?"''

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* In ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', [[EvilGenius Tarantulas]] has SEVERAL, while Megatron and Scorponok have labs too, to name just a few.

* In ''HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse,'' Man-At-Arms has a big and impressive lab (good for those trademark {{Filmation}} long, slow pans), though it's not at all sinister-looking, since he's a nice guy.

* Ginormous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_switch knife switches]] for completing dangerous electric circuits.

* ''BreakingBad'': the meth lab on wheels. It's got the smoking flasks, mysterious coloured goo, and pretty much anything else they can cover with RuleOfCool.

* The Big MT (Big Empty) in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas: Old World Blues'' is a [[NoOSHACompliance non-OSHA compliant]] research facility run by MadScientist [[BrainInAJar Brains in Jars]].

* Parodied with [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1417-j SCP-1417-J]], a joke SCP who uses psychic powers to play childish pranks on people unless surrounded by over-the-top HollywoodScience equipment.

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' is a little light on the glassware, but even so he occasionally carries around a beaker. More often, he can be seen endlessly turning a nut with a wrench, against a background of computer banks, et al.

* This is the whole ''point'' of the sandbox game ''Evil Genius''.

Never mind that real science does not generally call for all of these things at the same time -- or within the same discipline! -- the MadScientist [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist doesn't specialize]]. All the same, most of what he does will at least ''look'' like chemistry, since nothing shouts "science" to the casual viewer more than a guy in a lab coat fiddling with a beaker of [[TechnicolorScience colored liquid]].