Motherly Scientist: Difference between revisions

[[File:motherly-scientist splice 4240.jpg|link=Splice|frame|''Not "it." Her.'']]

 

 

She's the [[Parental Substitute|mother you always wanted]]. She gives you a candy when you [[Government Drug Enforcement|take your medication]], warns your brothers about [[Berserk Button|messing around]] [[The Incredible Hulk|with you]], gives you a shoulder to cry on when you [[Troubled Fetal Position|feel lonely]], and occasionally gives maintenance to your [[Cyborg|prosthetic leg]]. Of course, she's the first to give you a hug after you go through the [[Government Conspiracy|tax-paid]] [[Psycho Serum|psychiatric]] [[Electric Torture|treatment]] because you're told you're a "special kid with great potential" ([[Person of Mass Destruction|whatever]] [[Super Soldier|that's]] [[Why Am I Ticking?|supposed]] [[Psychic Powers|to]] [[Super Strong Child|mean]]).

 

The trope can contain [[X Meets Y|one or more of the following]] scenarios, depending on the scientist's personality and background. (And as evident within these scenarios, the role isn't limited to a scientific researcher, but also doctor, technician—and even farther flung, priest or ''magic-user''—as long as there is a strict set of rules, obligations, expectations or beliefs that the motherly figure turns her back to in order to treat the subject with care.)

 

'''"They're like my own children" scenario '''

 

There's also the other Doomsday scenario. She dies; and her charges [[Morality Chain|decide that there's nothing holding them back from taking revenge on everyone.]]

 

'''"[[Free Willy]]" scenario ([[Mad Scientist]] not required)'''

 

After researching a non-human subject for a while and giving it a name, the doctor's nurturing instincts finally kicks in, causing the doctor to form a mother/father-child bond with the [[Innocent Aliens|poor little thing]] until the eventual decision to free the subject. If she met the creature in the jungle, and there are more of them, she could become a [[Nature Hero]]. Can turn into "[[Tarzan]] And Jane" if the subject is biologically and age-compatible with her. If by contrast, the subject isn't biologically compatible and the scientist needs to separate, it ends up with a [[Tear Jerker]] goodbye.

 

'''[[The Adventures of Pinocchio|Pinocchio]] scenario'''

 

# If the doctor's an expert in genetics, [[Gadgeteer Genius|cybernetics]], arcane magic, or alchemy, the plot starts when she creates [[Frankenstein's Monster|a new life form]] or [[Artificial Intelligence]] with a [[Ridiculously-Human Robots|ridiculously human]] body. The young child then begins to [[What Is This Thing You Call Love?|develop emotions]] [[Heartwarming Orphan|in such a way]] that the doctor's heart's is moved into raising the child as her own. In this scenario, it's common that the doctor serves as parent, [[Pinocchio Syndrome|psychologist and physicist]] for the [[Robot Kid]] who wants to [[Become a Real Boy]].

 

The extremely rare inversion of this trope happens when the A.I. ''becomes'' the adoptive mother. Usually happens with a supercomputer storing [[Virtual Ghost|mommy's memories]].

If a scientist just happens to be a nice parent, this trope doesn't apply (see [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter]]) unless her child was genetically engineered and carried inside her own womb or experimentally [[No Transhumanism Allowed|transformed into something else]].

 

 

Subtrope of [[Parental Substitute]]. Compare [[Magical Nanny]]. Contrast [[Guinea Pig Family]] and [[Evil Matriarch]] / [[Archnemesis Dad]].

 

{{examples}}

* Dr. Ochanomizu for ''[[Astro Boy]]''; a colleague of Astro Boy's creator who adopts the titular robot after after said creator couldn't get past how Astro Boy wasn't a proper [[Replacement Goldfish]] for his dead son.

* In the backstory of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', {{spoiler|Subaru and Gingka Nakajima were products of a lab creating magical cyborgs}} and they were rescued by the people who would be their parents. {{spoiler|While the other products of that experiment were the villains in season three, Mr. Nakajima offered to adopt any of them that accepted the offer.}}

* Professor Kisaragi, ''[[Cutey Honey]]'''s creator/dad.

* Lorelei from ''[[Saber Marionette J|Saber Marionette JtoX]]''—she is, [[The Three Faces of Eve|in more than a way]], the mother of all the marionettes.

* Kanami from ''[[Darker than Black]]'' cared a lot about [[media:DtB13 Kanami and Dolls 336x178 4178.png|catatonic Dolls]] [[People Jars|in jars]] and learned their individual quirks, which became evident in the episode when CY-463 trapped them. In her observatory they are more ''tools'' than ''subjects'', but it's not like she could do for them any more even if she had any real power.

** When in ''Shikkoku no Hana'' the Astronomy Bureau "doll system" was about to be closed, Kanami decided to quit. And go Hawaii, to "live as far away from things like the Gate and Contractors as possible"—an interesting statement, Dolls being an effect of the Gate as much as Contractors.

* Satomi Hakase in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is gradually becoming this to [[Robot Girl|Chachamaru]].

* Dr. Mimori Kiryu from ''[[S-Cry-ed]]''. Feeling compassion for how Kazuma is tortured, she lets him escape, and later gets interested in the Inners, eventually forming a community with them.

* In ''[[To Love Ru Darkness]]'', Tearju Lunatique is shown to be this to Yami during the time they still were together.

* Important part of the alleged backstory to ''[[Akumetsu]]'', where a female scientist involved in the evil genius' attempts to clone himself a perfect new body winds up bonding with the Perfect Copy. They fall in love, kill the guy, and burn everything, but he dies...leaving her with about a hundred infant clones. Somehow she gets them adopted all over Japan, all with the first name 'Shou,' and keeps one to raise herself, dying before he turns eighteen but apparently training him to use all the tech she'd helped invent. Of course, we hear this via a Shou, and all of them are fundamentally [[Unreliable Narrator]]s.

** They are also [[Trope Overdosed]]; most of Akumetsu's shticks are pulled straight from Japanese TV, and the Shou telling the story is clearly very conscious of this trope as he tells it. He also cheerfully casts doubt on its accuracy ''himself''; they're all insane, after all. Doctor Shou appears to have been raised by the Motherly Scientist, though.

 

** Becomes more literal during the ''No Man's Land'' arc, where Gotham is leveled by an earthquake and subsequently cut off from the rest of the U.S. She takes over Robinson Park and unofficially adopts sixteen orphans.

* Professor Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm adopts [[Hellboy (comics)|Hellboy]] after he was summoned into this world.

 

 

* Sara from ''[[Cocoon]]: The Return'' is a textbook example of the "Free Willy" scenario (just look at her [https://web.archive.org/web/20111218041650/http://courteneycox.org/zctrpics.htm touching the isolation glass] - aaaaw).

* In ''[[Avatar]]'', Dr. Grace comes to fit this role, becoming a bit of a mother figure for the protagonist and caring for the natives whom her employers are pretty much trying to exterminate.

* In ''[[Awakenings]]'', Robin Williams plays a research physician who uses an experimental drug to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease, becoming friends with many in the process, including Robert De Niro's character who had fallen into catatonia as a child. [[Based on a True Story]].

* In ''[[Edward Scissorhands]]'', the poor professor makes new hands for his creation, Edward. Unfortunately he has a heart attack just before he can install them. Too bad.

* In ''[[The Matrix]]'', the Oracle not only gives Neo advice - she also bakes cookies for him.

* In the first ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' movie, Chimpanzee Zira, notable psychologist and zoologist, calls Taylor "Bright Eyes", at least until he manages to write his own name, to her surprise. She ends up kissing him goodbye - even though, as she tells him, "You're so damned ugly."

* ''[[Splice]]'' features Elsa starting out as Pinocchio Type 2 and Clive as the Free Willy type. Unfortunately for everyone involved, {{spoiler|Elsa [[In the Blood|has]] [[My Beloved Smother]] tendencies and Clive has a bad case of [[I'm a Man, I Can't Help It]].}}

* Marg Helgenberger in ''[[Species]] II''.

 

* In the ''[[Replica]]'' series of YA novels, Amy's mother was one of the scientists working on a project to create genetically-enhanced [[Super Soldiers]], but after realizing the evils of the project, she rescued/kidnapped one of the clone babies and raised her as her own.

* The golden age pulp robot [[Adam Link]] and his father are a perfect example of the Pinocchio Scenario.

* In a variation on the Pinocchio Scenario, [[Douglas Preston]]'s novel ''Jennie'' is about a chimpanzee raised like a human being. Almost everyone who gets to know her feels a deep parental love and desire to protect her. The [[Downer Ending|ending]] is one of the most high-octane [[Tear Jerker]]s you will ever read.

 

* Maggie Walsh, head scientist of the secret government demon-hunting project, the "Initiative" in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''.

 

* Dr. Catherine Halsey of ''[[Halo]]'', creator of the [[Super Soldier|SPARTAN-II]] program, was much of a mother figure towards the [[Tyke Bomb|Spartan children]] while at the same time administering the augmentations that killed or permanently disabled most of them. Worthy of note, however, is that her motherly treatment of them when not subjecting them to painful augmentations is believed to be a major contributor to the emotional stability of the SPARTAN-IIs compared to the SPARTAN-IIIs. She's also the mental template for the "smart" AI Cortana.

** Things get a little weird when Cortana tells Halsey that she thinks John (Master Chief) is attractive. Halsey realizes that this means that John is her type too since Cortana is based on Halsey's thought patterns.

* Ariel Hanson from ''[[StarCraft]] II''—she does the research to save the lives of the infected colonists.

* Dr. Mizrahi from ''[[Xenosaga]]'' was [[Robot Girl|MOMO]]'s adoptive mother. Even Shion had her Motherly Scientist moments towards KOS-MOS, but that was quickly substituted by [[Les Yay]].

** Ciel in ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' is motherly towards Alouette, {{spoiler|perhaps out of guilt for what she did to her own creation, who ended up the [[Big Bad]].}}

* Dr. Gustav Brackman from ''[[Supreme Commander]]'' sees all [[Hollywood Cyborg|Cybrans]] as his children.

* Lemon Browning of ''[[Super Robot Taisen]] [[Original Generation]] 2'' generally treats her androids as tools, albeit valuable ones. But when Lamia starts to develop human emotions and betrays her to save the protagonists, she starts to act like a proud mother, and even helps Lamia escape captivity. {{spoiler|This is because Lemon is an android herself, and was rejected by her own parents for not being a suitable [[Replacement Goldfish|replacement for their dead daughter]].}}

 

* Dr. Lee in ''[[Skin Horse]]'' would be this trope if not for certain conditions; she does care about her creations, but those creations are made out of kidnapped human beings.

* Dr Sciuridae from ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' is a rare fatherly scientist. Not only does he treat the subjects of the lab where he works much better than his colleagues, but he also eventually takes advantage of an opportunity to free them, and helps them adjust to normal society. Bonus Points for making a [[Replacement Goldfish]] {{spoiler|of his dead daughter}} in the process.

* Jean's relationship with Molly in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' is the Pinocchio Scenario. Slight variation in that Bob was the one who raised her from infancy, since Jean didn't realize her experiment had produced her until Molly was already grown, but Jean is now completely devoted to raising her right.

 

* Professor Utonium from ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]],'' who creates the title characters and winds up adopting them as his children.

* After carving a body for ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]'', Gepetto brings him to life with the Power of [[Applied Phlebotinum|prayer]].

* Dr. Noreen "Nora" Wakemen for XJ-9, aka Jenny, in ''[[My Life as a Teenage Robot]]''. Jenny calls her "Mom."

** From the same series, Melody is the [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter|beautiful robotic daughter]] of a Fatherly Scientist.

* Inverted in ''[[Defenders of the Earth]]'': The crystal that powers the Dynak X computer holds the memories of [[Flash Gordon (comic strip)|Flash Gordon]]'s deceased wife. Her son Rick is extremely fond of her, even if she remains in computer form.

* An interesting subversion from ''[[Adventure Time]]''. Princess Bubblegum is a scientist who created a son, Lemongrab, to rule the kingdom if she ever became unable to rule. However, he turned out to be a mean, bitter person. She's literally his mother, but the two don't seem to like each other at all. However, they don't hate each other, and the princess seemed dismayed and alarmed when she discovered that Lemongrab had turned out wrong.

 

 

{{reflist}}