What's a fanlisting?

In it's most basic form, a fanlisting is a list of people who are fans of a particular subject. Anyone can join and the only requirement is your name and your country. There's no cost at all and this offer will not expire! Ever! Hopefully! This fanlisting for the character Doctor Clayton Forrester from Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Who's Doctor Clayton Forrester?

Doctor Clayton Forrester is one of the original and the longest running villain (or “Mad”) on Mystery Science Theater 3000. He appears in seasons zero through seven. We don't know too much about Forrester's past before the series; the white streaks in his hair and mustache were caused by being hit by lightening and he's always had a touch and go relationship with his mother. Forrester is completely insane and boasts about this fact. The title for this fanlisting is based off one of these lines, “Well, it's much too complicated; it would take a scientist to explain it, and I'm simply too mad.” He may talk and think big about his dark and evil plans, but he's not likely to act upon them in a manner that makes him a threat. According to the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, “Dr. Forrester's passion for depravity far exceeds his aptitude”. His ultimate goal is to take over the world, just like any other good mad scientist.

(Note: Spoilers follow, if you'd like to avoid that sort of thing.)

Doctor Forrester worked for the Gizmonic Institute along with his assistant Dr. Lawrence Erhardt and the mild mannered janitor Joel Robinson. Joel's presence grew to annoy Forrester and Erhardt, so the two decided to use Joel in their plot to rule the world. The janitor was shot into space in a satellite and forced to watch cheesy movies. The goal was to find out how many bad films it took to drive a person insane.

Originally, the only appearance of Forrester on the show was in the opening song. His first speaking appearance was in episode 7 of season zero, the season that ran on KTMA. Back then, he hadn't gained his famous neon green outfit yet and looked like your average, run of the mill mad scientist.

Erhardt remained Forrester's assistant even after the two were kicked out of Gizmonics at the start of season one. They left the Institute and moved in underneath it, into the sub-basement Deep 13. Maybe it was the side effects of being closer to the atomic pile, but this was the season when Forrester started to look like the Forrester we all know and love.

Sometime between season one and season two, Erhardt went missing. Forrester searched hard and long for a replacement, finding the lovable TV's Frank working at a local Arby's. While Frank wasn't the brightest guy in the world, he was faithful and allowed Forrester to use him in his experiments. This resulted in Frank getting killed. Multiple times.

This situation continued until Forrester was forced to by the Fraternal Order of Mad Science to preform an audit midway through season five. He hired the temp worker Mike Nelson to help with the audit and intended to kill off Mike after the job was completed. Joel's robot Gypsy overheard Forrester and Frank's plans and thought that the mads were planning to kill off Joel. With Mike's help, Gypsy forced Joel to escape from satellite. Forrester found himself without a test subject, so he sent to Mike up to the satellite to continue the experiment.

With the end of season six came the end of TV's Frank. The assistant was assumed up into Second Banana Heaven by Torgo the White. Forrester was distraught with the loss of Frank. Pearl Forrester, Clayton Forrester's mother and Frank's pen pal, took it upon herself to move into Deep 13 and help her son with his loss during season seven.

The funding for the experiment was cut at the end of season seven and all heck broke loose. Forrester found himself unstuck in time, much like Dave Bowman from the movie 2001. At the end of the ordeal, Forrester had become regressed to the form of an infant. Pearl found the now baby Clayton Forrester and decided that this was a chance to raise her son again and this time, do it right.

This marks Forrester's last on-screen appearance in Mystery Science Theater 3000. It's mentioned in season eight that Pearl Forrester killed off the young Clayton Forrester after season seven, but she still intends to continue his legacy.