Simon Bar Sinister

Dr. Simon Bar Sinister was the main antagonist in the Underdog cartoon show. Simon was the wickedest man in the world, and it was his ambition to rule the world, but each time, Underdog defeated him.

Character

Voiced by Allen Swift, and based on the voice and looks of Lionel Barrymore, Simon appeared to be only two feet tall.

Simon's most famous saying was, "Simon says!" His henchman was Cad Lackey, who, though generally dull-witted, was occasionally capable of pointing out flaws in his boss's plans. Contrary to the mad scientist stereotype, Simon actually paid attention to Cad's suggestions.

In the 2007 live-action film adaptation, he is portrayed by Peter Dinklage. In the movie, Bar Sinister was originally a geneticist for a company in Capital City, using dogs as test subjects for the betterment of mankind. But after being laughed at by the mayor after attempting to have his research expanded to law enforcement, Bar Sinister began his work to create a super-power formula to get revenge and he took away Underdog's superpowers and put them in little blue pills and fed them to German shepherds and was sent to jail for his crimes. However, the incident resulted in the destruction of his lab that not only caused scarring of his forehead, the loss of some of his hair, and a limp in his right leg, but created Underdog.

Name

"Bar Sinister" is a macaronic reference to a heraldic mark, called barre sinister in French and bend sinister in English. The bend sinister is a line from the top right to the bottom left, and its diminutive form, correctly called a baton sinister, denotes illegitimacy. Despite its heraldic inaccuracy, the term bar sinister has been used in literary contexts to denote bastardy since the early 19th century. The name "Simon" is of Hebrew origin, and the word "bar" in Hebrew typically denoted a patronymic surname (see, for example, Simon bar Jonah, the birth name of Saint Peter). Thus, Simon bar Sinister's name is a doubly macaronic play on words.

Episodes in which he is prominent

Simon's diabolical machines

Machine Episode appearances Used for
Air Raid Sirens "Simon Says 'No Thanksgiving'" Located on Main Street. Simon and Cad used these to send the citizens of the city into their homes so Simon and Cad can lock them in the buildings and dominate the city.
Big Dipper Machine "The Big Dipper" To steal the world's water supply.
Camera Ray "Simon Says" To freeze its victims into photographs. When the victims of the ray are turned into photographs, the only way to reverse the process is to switch the direction of the camera lens.
Forget-Me-Net "The Forget-Me-Net"
"The Tickle Feather Machine"
A net used to erase the memories of others. The cure to the net's effects is as if the victim hears his/her name. The narrator makes reference of this weapon at the beginning of the episode "The Tickle Feather Machine".
Phoney Booths "The Phoney Booths" Simon replaced all the telephone booths in the country with these fake telephone booths. Those who use these telephone booths will be brainwashed into doing Simon's bidding.
Pure Distilled Shrinking Water "The Big Shrink"
"The Tickle Feather Machine"
To shrink its victims to the size of Simon's thumb. Simon intended to use it to shrink everyone in the world, but Underdog and Sweet Polly, after shrinking Simon to the size of a flea, tickled Simon into telling them the antidote to the Shrinking Water at which point Simon and Cad were sent to prison. The narrator makes reference of this weapon at the beginning of the episode "The Tickle Feather Machine".
Rainmaking Machine "The Big Shrink" It creates rain clouds. Simon used this to make it rain shrinking water on the citizens of the city.
Snow Gun "Go Snow"
"The Tickle Feather Machine"
To turn people into snowmen and snowwomen. After he snowed Underdog into submission, Underdog managed to defrost himself and then, flew around in circles, until Simon and Cad's plan was foiled. The narrator makes reference of this weapon at the beginning of the episode "The Tickle Feather Machine".
Squirting Flower "The Big Shrink" The traditional stunt clowns use. Simon filled this Squirting Flower with his Shrinking Water. He claims filling the Squirting Flower with Shrinking Water is far more artistic.
Tickle Feather Machine "The Tickle Feather Machine" To tickle the country's citizens so they'll be unable to vote against Simon. That way, Simon and Cad can elect Simon as dictator.
Time Bomb "Simon Says 'No Thanksgiving'" To travel in time so he can destroy Thanksgiving. That way, Simon can make himself master of the city with an army of 3 airplanes, 3 tanks and 12 soldiers.
Vacuum Gun "The Vacuum Gun" To "clean out" crime. Simon used it to recruit Batty-Man, Electric Eel, Riff-Raff, and the gangs that each one leads in order to pull off a crime-spree across the country.
Valentine Vault "Simon Says 'Be My Valentine'" To transform those who enter the vault into a Valentine Card.
Weather Machine "Weathering the Storm"
"The Tickle Feather Machine"
The Weather Machine's designs are similar to a pipe organ. Simon used it to distort the Earth's weather patterns, but finds out he can't use the Weather Machine against Earth if he's on Earth. Cad points out they could find a spot that wasn't on the Earth so they could use the Weather Machine. Simon and Cad, with Sweet Polly captive, use the Weather Machine on the Moon, but Underdog destroys it, rescues Sweet Polly and returns the stolen spacecraft to Earth at which point Simon and Cad are arrested by the military police. The narrator makes reference of this weapon at the beginning of the episode "The Tickle Feather Machine", only that time, its designs were similar to a ray gun.

Pop-culture references

Grace: You were supposed to be proving a point to my mother, not selfishly sharing a nice evening with someone. This completely flies in the face of my master plan!

Will: Master plan? What are you, Simon Bar Sinister?

References

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