Fringe wrapped up its first season in fine form last week. I’ll miss it sorely until it returns … whenever it returns. I’ll especially miss that crazy, lovable mad scientist, Walter Bishop.
To amuse myself, I’ve put together a few factoids about how Walter compares – or doesn’t compare – to another favorite mad scientist, Dr. Clayton Forrester from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Laboratory
Walter performs his fringe science in a basement lab at Harvard University. Amazingly, even though he’s been locked up in a mental institution for nearly 20 years, the lab remains intact, including most of the equipment.
Clayton worked in a lab at the Gizmonic Institute, until moving operations to the bowels of Deep 13.
History
Walter and former lab partner William Bell’s experiments caught the interest of the U.S. government, and after a lab assistant’s death, Walter was accused of using humans as guinea pigs. During this time, Walter also wrote the questionable manuscript “Destruction Through Technology,” known in German as ZFT.
Clayton has been a mad scientist since he was a wee lad and member of Evilos (the mad scientist version of Webelos), where he grafted the rear end of a dog onto the rear end of a cat. He, too, has a questionable background, as he engineered the kidnapping of janitor Joel Robinson, shooting him into space onboard the Satellite of Love. While earning his doctorate, Clayton took undergraduate courses in Super-Villainy and joined the Fraternal Order of Mad Science.
Associates
Walter works with his son Peter Bishop, assistant Astrid, and FBI agent Olivia Dunham. They never question his methods, even such things as unearthing hidden memories via synaptic transfer and retrieving the last image from a dead person’s retina.
Clayton worked with TV’s Frank and prior to that, his assistant Dr. Laurence Erhardt. They tortured Joel and his robot friends Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo, forcing them to watch cheesy movies in order to find a movie that would drive people mad, thus allowing Clayton to take over the world.
Apparel
Walter wears a white lab coat and, depending on the procedure, rubber gloves and/or safety goggles.
Clayton wore neon-green, horned-rim glasses and a similarly colored lab coat. At some point in his youth, he was struck by lightning, resulting in a white streak in his hair and mustache.
Eccentricities
Walter has a fondness for root beer floats, French onion soup, and gum. He prescribes and administers his own medication, claiming the psychoactive drugs “re-balance” him after so many years in the mental hospital. Walter has trouble sleeping unless someone sings “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” He also keeps a cow name Jean in his lab, and he’s fascinated by seat warmers in cars.
Clayton was once found behind a soft-serve machine in Sun Valley, drooling over a picture of Dick Button.
Demise
Walter is still alive, although there may actually be two of him living in different alternate realities.
Clayton announced one day that his funding had been cut, so he packed up Deep 13 and cut loose the Satellite of Love. Later that same day, an older Clayton tried to reach a Monolith-like giant videocassette a la 2001: A Space Odyssey labeled “The Worst Film Ever Made.” He was then reborn as a star child, which made his mother Pearl ponder having a second chance to raise her son – to which he replied, “Oh, poopie.” Some claim she tried to smother him with a pillow when he turned out no better the second time.
Clacked by Jane Boursaw 
on May 21, 2009 @ 12:30 EST5EDT
“Walter performs his fringe science in a basement lab at Harvard University. Amazingly, even though he’s been locked up in a mental institution for nearly 20 years, the lab remains intact, including most of the equipment.”
That was my favorite part of the pilot. I was rolling my eyes so much! :)