Herr Doktor: Difference between revisions

[[File:Sigmund_FreudSigmund Freud-loc_7295loc 7295.jpg|frame|Der Herr Doktor ist eingetroffen.<ref>[[Peanuts|"The Doctor is in."]]</ref>]]

{{quote|''Raised in Stuttgart, Germany during an era when the Hippocratic oath had been downgraded to an optional Hippocratic suggestion, [[The Medic]] considers healing a generally unintended side effect of satisfying his own morbid curiosity.''|''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]''}}

In TV Land, a doctor or scientist is roughly 75% likely to be German or Austrian, complete with thick accent. Increase to 98% for [[Mad Scientist|Mad Scientists]]s. We can probably thank [[All Psychology Is Freudian|Sigmund Freud]], [[Albert Einstein]] and [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun:Wernher von Braun|Wernher von Braun]]. To elaborate, many top notch scientists from Germany, Austria, and Poland, either fearing persecution for being Jewish, or not wanting to aid a [[Complete Monster]] of a ruler, or in a few rare cases deciding that [[ReluctantEngineer Exploited MadFor ScientistEvil|war simply got in the way of proper research]], fled Europe either just before or immediately after [[World War II]], or got captured and/or taken by the Allies. Many came to America and helped work on [[Atomic Hate|The Manhattan Project]]. Most of their theories and inventions designed to aid the war effort, for good or bad, significantly changed how people lived when applied to peacetime practices, cementing the idea of a foreign genius that can either become the boon of society, or its damnation.

It's worth noting that Central Europe was a scientific and economic powerhouse in the early 20th century, dominating the physics field. More than a few Germans were "rehabilitated" by the Russian and American space program, to the point of each side complaining "they have more Germans than we do!" For a slightly safer stereotype, consider using a Swede or Norwegian instead, with the same [[E Equals =MC Hammer|unintelligible theories]] and outrrageous akksent!

{{examples|Examples:}}

* ''[[Mazinger Z (Anime)|Mazinger Z]]'': Even though it is not apparent, [[Big Bad]] and [[Mad Scientist]] Dr. Hell was German. Like a bonus, he started out as a weapon researcher for the Nazis.

* ''[[Case Closed]]'', the American dub of ''[[Detective Conan]]'', gave the local [[Absent -Minded Professor]] Dr Agasa a German accent.

* All the scientists from the ([[Franco Belgian Comics|Nazi-occupation era]]) ''[[Tintin]]'' comic book ''The Shooting Star'' are Nordic scientists with outrageous accents and [[Einstein Hair]]. They all have [[ShowtheShow the Forehead|huge foreheads]] to boot.

* [[Trope Namer|This trope might just have been named]] for one of Sam Jaffe's character's first lines in the 1950s [[Film Noir]] heist movie ''[[The Asphalt Jungle]]'':

{{quote| '''Dr Riedenschneider:''' Maybe you've heard of me. The Professor? Or Herr Doktor, maybe.}}

* ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]'' has a passel of German and Austrian [[Mad Scientist|Mad Scientists]]s.

* Subverted in the 2009 ''[[Sherlock Holmes (Filmfilm)|Sherlock Holmes]]'' movie. After Watson is {{spoiler|injured in a bomb blast, his girlfriend/soon-to-be fiance Mary goes to him in the hospital, as he is attended by a very German-sounding doctor. However, Mary figures out that the doctor is actually Holmes in disguise.}}

* ''[[Marathon Man (Film)|Marathon Man]]'', although this one is a dentist.

{{quote| When a German scientist tells you to hold on to your hat, it's not casual conversation. HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT! HAT! HOLD! Good!}}

* In ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'', the Decepticon medic, Scalpel, is also known as "Ze Doktor" (and is in fact called only that during the film himself). Of course, weird accents aren't anything new for Transformers.

** Blaster from the ''[[Transformers: Shattered Glass]]'' uniform has an... unplaceable accent that seems phonetically German-ish. Even the writers [[Lampshade Hanging|have no idea what he's really supposed to sound like]].

* Dr. Erskine from ''[[Captain America: theThe First Avenger]]''.

* In ''[[Dracula]]'', Professor Van Helsing is actually Dutch, but constantly peppers his English with German. (Yes, Bram Stoker did, in fact, do the research -- Germanresearch—German was a [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca:Lingua franca|lingua franca]] in that area of Europe.)

** And German was the language of science in the 19th century--acentury—a (non-German) scientist tossing around German words would be like a musician casually using Italian words.

* In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Unseen Academicals|Unseen Academicals]]'', Mister Nutt does psychotherapy on himself, using a thick [[Uberwald|UberwaldianÜberwald]]ian accent when in the doctor persona.

* Comes up as a sort of [[Discussed Trope]] in the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] novel ''Unnatural History''. Fitz is annoyed by the Doctor [[Happiness Is Mandatory|pressuring him]] [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Heinous?|to have fun]] and mentally refers to him as [[Gratuitous German|Herr]] Doctor. There's probably some connection to the fact that Fitz is himself [[But Not Too Foreign|half-German]] and was picked on for it a lot growing up during [[World War II]].

* In the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' serial ''The Highlanders'', the Doctor pretends to be a German doctor. "Do you suffer from headaches?"

* In a variation, Dr. Hans Zarkov of ''[[Flash Gordon (Comiccomic Stripstrip)|Flash Gordon]]'' is ''Polish.'' The original comic never really played up his accent, but every film and TV adaptation has given him a thick Polish accent (except the [[Flash Gordon (TV series)|2000s Sci-Fi Channel version]], which made him American). Most kid viewers probably thought it was a German accent, because of the prevalence of this trope.

* The ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]'' [[Ravenloft]] campaign setting, featuring as it did expies of many classic horror characters, of course featured some of these:

* [[The Medic]] from ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]''. Fellow Medics will even say "Thank you, [[Herr Doctor]]!" He had a medical license long ago, but due to an [[Noodle Incident|incident]] involving [[Body Horror|somehow stealing a patient's skeleton]], he lost it. The details in-between are fuzzy, but according to a hidden page that used to be on the website, apparently he [http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/f/f7/Doctorsoffice.jpg faked his death] and somehow ended up joining the team, still continuing to practice medicine, and inventing the Medigun. [[Word of God|Confirmed not to be a Nazi]], but still not entirely sympathetic.

* ''[[BioBioShock Shock(series)]]'s'' Dr. Tenenbaum. Not only was she a former Nazi scientist (and of Jewish descent even!) she's responsible for the research that created the [[Creepy Child|Little Sisters]]. However [[The Atoner|she's trying to fix that.]]

* Dr. Wily from the ''[[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]]'' games.

* Professor Von Kripelspac from ''[[Conkers Bad Fur Day (Video Game)|Conkers Bad Fur Day]]'', a weasel scientist that sits in a floating chair.

* Klingmann from ''[[Gabriel Knight (Video Game)|Gabriel Knight]]'': The Beast Within. "People refer to me as [[Herr Doktor]] Klingmann here."

* The Norwegian Professor Ingvar Johanssen of [[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]] was the one responsible for digging up the Ankaran Sarcophagus. His accent is outrageous, though surprisingly realistic,<ref>if on the ''Swedish'' side of outrageously broad Scandinavian accents</ref>, for a one-shot stereotype character.

* The Cybran leader from ''[[Supreme Commander (Video Game)|Supreme Commander]]'', Dr. Gustaf Brackman has suspiciously Germanic name (Swedish actually) although he speaks clear English.

* ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]'' revels in this trope. Then again, in a comic about [[Mad Science]] in a setting where German is the ''lingua franca'', it's par for the course. The only ones who speak with anything resembling the stereotypical accent are the [[Super Soldier|Super Soldiers]]s, though.

* ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] and [[Affectionate Parody|parodies]] it with "Stereotypical German Scientist Dr. Germahn". Initially the host of a 'questions from the readers' sub-strip, he has since popped up frequently in odd places, even as the Q&A section has been mostly taken over by his <s>Dumb</s> [[Dumb Blonde|Ditzy Blonde]] Assistant Amanda.

* Professor Zweistein fills in this role in ''[[The FAN (Webcomic)|The FAN]]''

* ''[[That Guy With theThe Glasses|Bad Movie Beatdown]]''. Professor Celluloid. Full stop.

* One of Megabyte's henchmen in ''[[Re BootReBoot]]'' is known only as Herr Doctor.

* ''[[DextersDexter's Laboratory]]'' - Dexter is a [[Mad Scientist]] with a German accent -- madeaccent—made more blatant (and funny) since none of his family has any accent or gives any indication they have any German ancestry.

* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' has Dr. Doofenschmirtz who actually never graduated -- theregraduated—there's a song about it: "I Must Impress My Professor" -- and—and has a brother who's in local politics and ''lacks'' the accent.

* Dr. Wily, from the American ''[[Mega Man (Animationanimation)|Mega Man]]'' cartoon from [[The Nineties]].

* ''[[Animaniacs (Animation)|Animaniacs]]'': Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, the Warners' "p-sychiatrist".

* Dr. Scientist from ''[[Jimmy Two -Shoes]]''.

* Doctor Jacques von Hamsterviel, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Lilo and& Stitch: The Series]]''.

* Dr. Ketzer,<ref>German for "[[The Heretic|Heretic]]"</ref>, a genius geneticist in ''[[Exo Squad]]''. In a twist, he is not working for the local [[Adolf Hitler]] [[Expy]] but rather against him. Not that it makes [[Mad Scientist|him any more sympathetic]].

* The [[Area 51|Parking Lot 51]] scientist pitties from ''[[Pixar Shorts|UFM: Unidentified Flying Mater]]'', as well as [[Paper -Thin Disguise|"Dr. Aschleppwagen"]] ([[Cars|Mater's]] disguise) from the same short.

* Present in one episode of [[Ren and Stimpy]] where a bus crash leaves the pair in critical condition, forcing said doctor to operate with the remaining parts which leaves the asthma hound chihuaha and red cat sown together into one mismatched hybrid. Despite having traits common to a [[Morally -Ambiguous Doctorate]], this troper assumes the doctor (like [[Franken Fran]]) is simply doing his job to keep his patients alive, even if he has to resort to nonstandard, questionably extreme practices, such as urgently demanding his assistant knock Ren back into unconsciousness with a mallet when he regains consciousness in the midst of surgery

== [[Real Life]] ==

* http[[w://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Austrian_scientists]]

* http[[w://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_scientists]]