Professor Utonium
Professor Utonium | |
---|---|
File:Profesor Utonium.JPG | |
First appearance | Insect Inside |
Last appearance | See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey |
Portrayed by | Tom Kane |
In-universe information | |
Nickname | "The Inventor" |
Title | Prof. |
Occupation | Scientist |
Family | Blossom (daughter) Bubbles (daughter) Buttercup (daughter) |
Professor Utonium is a fictional character from the animated series The Powerpuff Girls and its anime spin-off Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z.
In The Powerpuff Girls
In The Powerpuff Girls, Professor Utonium created the girls by mixing 'sugar, spice and everything nice' and accidentally adding Chemical X. The girls live at the Professor's house and he acts as their mentor and father. He is voiced by Tom Kane. He wears a shirt and tie, and his head is impossibly rectangular with carefully parted black hair and thick eyebrows. He has a deep, thoughtful voice, exactly the sort you might expect from an eminent scientist and/or a father figure in a 1950s TV show.
Most of the other residents of Townsville, including the Powerpuff Girls and the Mayor, call him "Professor", except in the rare instances where the girls call him "Dad." The Professor's first name has never been revealed.
His appearance and demeanor seem based on the atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his name is a play on the word plutonium (which villain Bernie Bernstein accidentally calls him in the episode Film Flam). He has a square shaped head and retained the square shape even when he turned into a dog in the episode Monkey See, Doggy Do (complete with polite and articulated bow-wow's). This portrayal has a resemblance to Samurai Jack, another cartoon animated by Genndy Tartakovsky.
Personal Background
As seen in episode Get Back Jojo he was an ill-mannered child, until he was inspired to take up science when he saw an image of his future creation. He has a brother, seen in only the episode Say Uncle, in which he is mistaken for an escaped Yeti-like animal who loves taffy. As seen in the episode Knock it Off, in college he had a roommate, Dick Hardly, who became known as "Professor Dick", and always took advantage of Utonium's nature.
Professionally, Professor Utonium appears to be a professor of Biotechnology, but his full title is never stated. He has also dabbled in robotics. He has a lab under their house.
He is inexperienced with women, and usually avoids romantic relationships, choosing to instead devote himself to his work and the girls. Despite this, he has had (at least) two short relationships: one with Sedusa (disguised as Ima Goodlady) and another with Miss Keane in the episodes Mommy Fearest and Keen on Keane, respectively. Both ended badly. In Sun Scream, he is seen hitting on girls at the beach, with little success.
Inventions
The Professor's best inventions have been accidents. This was established in Oops, I did it Again, and generally proves true; often when he invents something on purpose (such as Beebo or the Powerpuff Dynamo), it results in disaster.
His creations include:
- The Powerpuff Girls
- Mojo Jojo (indirectly)
- Beebo - A cute red furry animal. Despite the Proffessors instructions to "Feed him once, and only once!" most characters freely interpret what "once" meant (such as once a day, or once in a while), though Utonium was saying that each creature can only eat once in their entire life. Beebo appeared in the episode Pet Feud.
- Dynamo - A giant robot Powerpuff Girl. Though the robot was suppose to help, each and every time it was used it caused as much or more damage than the monster it was fighting. The Dynamo was seen in the episodes Uh oh, Dynamo, and Live and Let Dynamo.
- A device to change apples into oranges, and vice versa; however, it instead caused the people of Townsville to swap bodies around. Seen in the episode Criss Cross Crisis.
- A device that could copy the Powerpuff Girls' powers into Mojo Jojo.
- A "Time portal" - Used only in Get Back Jojo.
- A special suit that grants him superpowers, making him a superhero called "Power Prof", in an episode of the same name.
- K.A.R.R (not to be confused with the K.A.R.R. in Knight Rider) - a car Professor Utonium upgraded.
- A device to trap the Rowdyruff Boys in the episode Bubble Boy.
- His Western counterpart invented Duct Tape in the episode West In Pieces.
- The "Jar" in the episode Nano of the North.
In Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z
In Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z, although he still treats the girls as family, has no relation to the Powerpuff Girls Z (aside from possessing the Chemical X that became Chemical Z, he had little hand in creating them). He is married (though his wife is on an extended mission on a space station), and has a son, Ken. Their family name is Kitazawa (although he is still called Professor Utonium).