Firebrand Youth Choir

Dr. Clayton Deborah Susan Forrester is a fictional character on the television series (MST3K).

Named for the hero of the 1953 film, Dr. Forrester was the chief mad scientist on the show from its inception in 1988 through the seventh season in 1996, and also appeared in in 1996. He was played by Trace Beaulieu.

Character background[edit]

Forrester originally worked with fellow "mad" Dr. Laurence Erhardt at the Gizmonic Institute, until they moved their operations to the bowels of Deep 13. He engineered the kidnapping of janitor Joel Robinson, shooting him into space on board the Satellite of Love.

According to the show's mythos, Dr. Forrester (full name: Clayton Deborah Susan Forrester, perhaps because his mother wanted a daughter; he has referred to himself as Clayton "Stonewall" Forrester and Clayton "Firebrand" Forrester) had 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; he has traced his scientific ambitions back to "Oslo...I was found drunk and woozy...scratching the name "Paula 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" (Since Trace Beaulieu was born in 1958, Forrester must thus be at least a decade or so older than the actor who portrayed him.) 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 rather deranged 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.

While earning his 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".

While working at Gizmonic Institute, Forrester and his assistant, (Dr. Laurence Earhardt from K-01 to the end of Season One, at which point he was replaced by TV's Frank without explanation) sent Joel cheesy movies which he was forced to watch, in order to find a movie that would drive people mad and allow him to take over the world. In response, Joel built several robot friends to keep him company, and keep himself from being driven mad. Joel, Crow T. Robot, and Tom Servo mocked each of the movies they were forced to watch. During Joel's time on , Forrester participated in Invention Exchanges with Joel and the 'bots. He would show his invention, then Joel would show his invention.