Frankenstein in popular culture
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Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, and the famous character of Frankenstein's monster have influenced popular culture for at least 100 years. The work has inspired numerous films, television programs, video games and derivative works. The character of the monster remains one of the most recognized icons in horror fiction.
- 1 Film derivatives
- 2 Television derivatives
- 3 Other derivatives
- 4 See also
- 5 Further reading
- 6 References
- 7 External links
The first film adaptation of the tale, Frankenstein, was done by Edison Studios in 1910, written and directed by J. Searle Dawley, with Augustus Phillips as Frankenstein, Mary Fuerte as Elizabeth, and Charles Ogle as the Monster. The brief (16 min.) story has Frankenstein chemically create his creature in a vat. The monster haunts the scientist until Frankenstein's wedding night, when true love causes the creature to vanish. For many years, this film was believed lost. A collector announced in 1980 that he had acquired a print in the 1950s and had been unaware of its rarity.
The Edison version was followed soon after by another adaptation entitled Life Without Soul (1915), directed by Joseph W. Smiley, starring William A. Cohill as Dr. William Frawley, a modern-day Frankenstein who creates a soulless man, played to much critical praise by Percy Standing, who wore little make-up in the role. The film was shot at various locations around the United States, and reputedly featured much spectacle. In the end, it turns out that a young man has dreamed the events of the film after falling asleep reading Mary Shelley's novel. This film is now considered a lost film.
There was also at least one European film version, the Italian Il Mostro di Frankenstein ("The Monster of Frankenstein") in 1921. The film's producer Luciano Albertini essayed the role of Frankenstein, with the creature being played by Umberto Guarracino, and Eugenio Testa directing from a screenplay by Giovanni Drivetti. The film is also now considered a lost film.
The most famous adaptation of the story, 1931's Frankenstein, was produced by Universal Pictures, directed by James Whale, and starred Boris Karloff as the monster. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Its sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), was also directed by Whale and is probably the most critically acclaimed of all the Universal horror films. It was followed by Son of Frankenstein in 1939 and The Ghost of Frankenstein in 1942. The latter film marked the series' descent into B movie territory; later efforts by Universal combined two or more monsters, culminating in the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The Universal films in which The Monster appears (and the actors who played him) are:
- Frankenstein (1931 - Boris Karloff)
- Bride of Frankenstein (1935 - Karloff)
- Son of Frankenstein (1939 - Karloff)
- The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942 - Lon Chaney, Jr.)
- Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943 - Béla Lugosi, with Eddie Parker, Gil Perkins, and a possible third stuntman often doubling)
- House of Frankenstein (1944 - Glenn Strange)
- House of Dracula (1945 - Strange)
- Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948 - Strange, with Lon Chaney, Jr. taking the role for one scene).
In Great Britain, a long-running series by Hammer Films focused on the character of Dr. Frankenstein (usually played by Peter Cushing) rather than his monster. Peter Cushing played Dr. Frankenstein in all of the films except for Horror of Frankenstein in which the character was played by Ralph Bates. Cushing also played a creation in Revenge of Frankenstein. David Prowse played two different Monsters.
The Hammer films are a series in the loosest sense, since there is only tenuous continuity between the films after the first two (which are carefully connected). Starting with The Evil of Frankenstein, the films are stand-alone stories with occasional vague references to previous films, much the way the James Bond films form a series. In some of the films, the Baron is a kindly, even heroic figure, while in others he is ruthless and cruel, and clearly the villain of the piece.
The Hammer Films series (and the actor playing The Creature) consisted of:
- The Curse of Frankenstein (1957 - Christopher Lee)
- The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958 - two Creatures: Michael Gwynn and Peter Cushing)
- The Evil of Frankenstein (1964 - Kiwi Kingston)
- Frankenstein Created Woman (1967 - Susan Denberg)
- Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969 - Freddie Jones)
- The Horror of Frankenstein (1970 - David Prowse)
- Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974 - David Prowse)
In 1959, Hammer shot a half-hour pilot episode for a TV series to be called Tales of Frankenstein, in association with Columbia Pictures. Anton Diffring played the Baron, and Don Megowan his creation. Curt Siodmak directed. The series was scrapped, largely because of the two companies' disagreement over what the basic thrust of the series would be. Hammer wanted to do a series about Baron Frankenstein involved in various misadventures, while Columbia wanted a series of science fiction stories loosely based around the idea of science gone wrong. Though unshown at the time of its production, the episode is available on DVD from several sources.
Depictions of The Monster have varied widely, from mindless killing machines to the depiction of The Monster as a kind of tragic hero (closest to the Shelley version in behavior) in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, The Bride, and Van Helsing. Throughout the Universal series, he evolves from the latter to the former.
Three films have depicted the genesis of the Frankenstein story in 1816: Gothic directed by Ken Russell (1986), Haunted Summer directed by Ivan Passer (1988), and Remando al viento (English title: Rowing with the Wind) directed by Gonzalo Suárez (1988). The opening scene of Bride of Frankenstein also dealt with this event.
1950s and 1960s
- 1957: American International Pictures (AIP) released the low-budget I Was a Teenage Frankenstein in November 1957, a few months after their wildly successful I Was a Teenage Werewolf. In a desperate and vain attempt to be viewed as a great scientist, an unscrupulous professor creates a monster out of parts of teenagers killed in a car crash, then later directs his creation to kill a good-looking teenager to replace the monster's disfigured face. Whit Bissell stars as Prof. Frankenstein, Gary Conway plays the creature. A follow-up, How to Make a Monster, was released in July 1958. This film featured actor Gary Conway as an actor playing the Teenage Frankenstein in a film.
- 1958: Another wildly differing adaptation is the 1958 film Frankenstein 1970, which focuses on the themes of nuclear power, impotence, and the film industry. Boris Karloff stars as Dr. Frankenstein, who harvests the bodies of actors to create a clone of himself using his nuclear-powered laboratory. His intention is to have this clone carry on his genes into future generations.
- 1958: This year also brought the bizarre Frankenstein's Daughter, in which modern descendant of Frankenstein Donald Murphy experiments with a Jekyll/Hyde type of serum before stitching together a grotesque female creature. John Ashley and Sandra Knight co-starred.
- 1961: Frankenstein, el Vampiro y Cia ("Frankenstein, the Vampire and Company") was a Mexican remake of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
- 1965: An extremely tangential adaptation is Ishirō Honda's 1965 tokusatsu kaiju film Frankenstein Conquers the World (Furankenshutain tai Chitei Kaijû Baragon), produced by Toho Company Ltd. The film's prologue is set in World War II; the monster's heart is stolen by Nazis from the laboratory of Dr. Reisendorf in war-torn Frankfurt, and taken to Imperial Japan. Immortal, the heart survives the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and regenerates a new body, and after discovered by scientists in Present Day Japan, he feeds on protein, eventually growing into a giant humanoid monster that breaks loose and battles the subterranean monster Baragon, which was destroying villages and devouring people and animals. There was also a sequel to this film (see below).
- 1965: Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster. Martians come to Earth to steal our women, with the goal of repopulating their planet. When they cause a NASA space craft to crash, the pilot (Captain Frank Saunders) becomes horribly disfigured. Becoming a "Frankenstein" like monster, it's up to him to save the women of Earth.
- 1966: Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter. Director William Beaudine's Sci-Fi\Western contribution has what would actually be Frankenstein's granddaughter, Maria Frankenstein, cobbling a monster out of Jesse James' (John Lupton) brawny partner-in-crime, Hank Tracy (Cal Bolder), after an ambush by the law. Frankenstein renames her creation Igor. Narda Onyx plays Maria Frankenstein.
- 1966: War of the Gargantuas (Furankenshutain no Kaijû: Sanda tai Gaira), also directed by Honda, is a sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World (although this is obscured in the US version), with the Frankenstein Monster's severed cells growing into two giant humanoid brother monsters: Sanda (the Brown Gargantua), the strong and gentle monster raised by scientists in his youth, and Gaira (the Green Gargantua), the violent and savage monster who devours humans. The two monsters eventually battle each other in Tokyo.
1970s and 1980s
- 1971: Dracula vs. Frankenstein by Al Adamson is an extremely low-budget horror thriller, starring aged film stars J. Carroll Naish and Lon Chaney Jr. In the film, Count Dracula (Zandor Vorkov) has the last living descendant of Frankenstein (Naish) revive his famous ancestor's creation (played by John Bloom).
- 1971: The Italian La Figlia di Frankenstein ("The Daughter of Frankenstein"), released in North America as Lady Frankenstein. Joseph Cotten plays Baron Frankenstein, who is killed by his creation early in the film. Sara Bay, as the Baron's daughter, creates her own creature from a handsome young man and the brain of her homely but brilliant lover (Paul Muller).
- 1972: Jesús Franco contributed Dracula Contra Frankenstein ("Dracula Vs. Frankenstein"), which hit the North American drive-in circuit as Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein. Baron Frankenstein (played by Dennis Price revives Count Dracula (Howard Vernon) in order to enslave an army of vampires to help his monster (Fred Harrison) conquer the world.
- 1972: Franco followed up his Dracula/Frankenstein effort with The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (also known as The Curse of Frankenstein, but bearing no relation to the Hammer film). Here, Baron Frankenstein (Dennis Price again) is killed off early on by minions of the evil Count Cagliostro (Howard Vernon), who wants to use the monster in his plots to rule the world.
- 1972: Frankenstein 80, a film by Mario Mancini, featured a modern-day scientist named Albrechtstein (Gordon Mitchell) creating a monster called Mosaico (Xiro Papas). Mosaico is driven to homicidal mania by lust, and by his body's constant rejection of its constituent parts. The ingenue was played by Dalila Di Lazzaro (under the pseudonym "Dalila Parker"), who later appeared as the female creation in 1973's Flesh for Frankenstein (see below).
- 1973: Andy Warhol's Flesh for Frankenstein has Udo Kier playing the Baron, a bizarre but brilliant scientist who creates a male and female zombie in hopes of breeding a superior race. Joe Dallesandro plays the handyman who attempts to thwart the Baron's mad dream, and Monique van Vooren is the Baron's nymphomaniac wife.
- 1973: Frankenstein: The True Story has Leonard Whiting as Victor Frankenstein and Michael Sarrazin playing the creature. This TV movie has a different take, borrowed from Hammer's The Revenge of Frankenstein. The creature starts out as a handsome man and turns hideous later on in the movie.
- 1976: Victor Frankenstein (a.k.a. The Terror of Frankenstein,) a fairly faithful version of the book, starred Leon Vitali as Frankenstein. Per Oscarson played the creature.
- 1981: Another Japanese version, this one animated, was Kyofu Densetsu: Kaiki! Furankenshutain (called in the U.S. simply Frankenstein,) released in 1981.
- 1985: The Bride was an adaptation directed by Franc Roddam. It stars Clancy Brown as the monster, with rocker Sting as Dr. Charles Frankenstein. The plot features the Monster wandering about Europe with a tragic circus midget (David Rappaport) while the Doctor himself engages in a Pygmalion-inspired relationship with a female creation, the eponymous monster's bride played by Jennifer Beals. A love triangle between Doctor, Monster, and Bride provides the film's conflict.
- 1987: The Monster Squad is a comedy/horror film written and directed by Fred Dekker that was released by TriStar Pictures. The film features the reunion of a number of classic movie monsters, led by Dracula and including Frankenstein's monster (Tom Noonan), The Wolf Man, The Mummy, and The Gill Man.
1990s and 2000s
- 1990: Frankenstein Unbound is a science fiction movie based on the novel by Brian Aldiss and the last movie directed by Roger Corman. In it, a scientist travels back in time to meet Victor Frankenstein (Raúl Juliá) and his Creature, as well as Mary Shelley herself.
- 1992: Frankenstein (1992 film). Directed and written by David Wickes, this Creature was not pieced together from body parts but a clone (of sorts) of Frankenstein himself, establishing a psychic bond between Creator (Patrick Bergin) and Creature (Randy Quaid). A female creature was nearly created the same way, using Elizabeth (Fiona Gillies) as the model.
- 1994: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also portrayed Victor Frankenstein. It featured a star cast with Robert De Niro as the monster, Tom Hulce as Henry, John Cleese as Professor Waldman, Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth, and Aidan Quinn as Captain Robert Walton. Despite the title it still diverged very heavily from Mary Shelley's original novel.
- 2004: Van Helsing. This film is a reinvention of the famous Universal stable of monsters of the 1930s and 1940s. Shuler Hensley plays the Monster who, contrary to usual practice, is directly referred to by the name Frankenstein in the film's publicity, but he is named mostly in the film as "the monster" or "the creature". The portrayal of the creature in this movie as intelligent, articulate, sympathetic, and as a hero who only wants to live, is somewhat close to the portrayal in the book. Physically, he is large and bulky, as opposed to his tall and thin portrayal in the classic films, and bears many physical features of Boris Karloff's portrayal, such as the bolted neck and flat head. He also has a visible brain and heart, which glow green and protected under glass casings, and a large engine in his left leg. He plays a vital role in the birth of Dracula's numerous offspring, the combination of his 'father's' machine that gave him life in the first place and the use of himself as a power source allowing the numerous stillborn children Dracula has conceived with his brides over the centuries to be brought to life, requiring Van Helsing to kill Dracula himself in order to stop the children.
- 2005: Frankenstein vs. the Creature from Blood Cove. In this film, Frankenstein's monster is resurrected to fight terrorists along with a half-fish, half-man creature. However, the plan soon goes awry.
- 2006: Perfect Woman. This film, produced by Olympic Productions, is a modern spin on the tale. The plot follows a reality game show that is looking for the perfect woman to win the perfect man, played by Marcus Schenkenberg. Little do the girls know that the game show is a mask for an evil genius who is literally trying to make the perfect woman, using various body parts.
- 2006: Subject Two. This film, written and directed by Philip Chidel, has a modern nanotechnology spin on the tale. The plot follows a disillusioned medical student's journey to a remote snowbound mountain location where he is met by Dr. Vic.
- 2008: In Death Race, the Jason Statham character takes the place of a racecar driver who goes by the name Frankenstein(Death Race); the same character's beginnings are explored in the 2010 direct-to-video prequel, Death Race 2.
- 2009: Army of Frankenstein, This film is directed by Richard Raaphorst, the story tells over a fight in the year 1945 between Polish and German Borderlines at the end of the Second World War.
- 2011: "Frankenstein's Wedding - Live in Leeds" - Broadcast live on BBC Three, this adaptation uses the romance between Victor and Elizabeth as a basis for a music drama portraying the rest of the story and was filmed live on 19 March 2011 at Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds. The drama used popular music, such as "Wires" by Athlete, sung by Andrew Gower, portraying the Scientist, Frankenstein. Other members of the cast included Lacey Turner as Elizabeth "Liz" Lavenza and David Harewood as the Creature
- 2011: Frankenstein: Day of the Beast is an independent, American horror film directed by Ricardo Islas.
- 2012: Hotel Transylvania. In this film, Frankenstein's Monster is one of the monsters to go check in at Hotel Transylvania. This film gives him the name Frank, and he is shown as the uncle of Dracula's daughter Mavis. He is voiced by Kevin James. His bride appears as well and is given the name Eunice in the film. The bride is voiced by Fran Drescher in the film.
- 2014: I, Frankenstein is a more action based adaptation, which includes Frankenstein's monster, now named Adam, and a centuries old feud between two immortal races.
Parodies and satires
- In the 1964 cartoon Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare, Frankenstein beats up both Tasmanian Devil and Bugs Bunny.
- A 1965–1968 cartoon featured over-nice Milton the Monster and "Fangenstein"
- In a 1968 episode of The Inspector entitled "Transylvania Mania", a smart Dracula-like character and a stupid Frankenstein-like creature try to steal The Inspector's brain to put it in a new creature the vampire is building.
- The 1968 Beatles movie, Yellow Submarine, featured a scene with Frankenstein drinking a potion and becoming John Lennon.
- The 1970 cartoon Groovie Goolies featured Franky, a friendly version of the Monster.
- The Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder comedy Young Frankenstein (1974) borrows heavily from the first three Universal Frankenstein films, especially Son of Frankenstein. The production used many of James Whale's original laboratory set pieces and employed the technical contributions of their original creator, Kenneth Strickfaden. In this film, Wilder portrayed Dr. Frankenstein's supposed grandson, Frederick, and the monster was played by Peter Boyle. A Turkish remake, Sevimli Frankestayn was released in 1975. Brooks later adapted his film for musical theater. The musical Young Frankenstein opened on Broadway in November 2007.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) was a musical parody of the story. In this twisted comedic tale, Dr. Frank N. Furter creates a creature for his own pleasure (named 'Rocky') and finds he cannot control the creature's lust.
- Phantom of the Paradise (1975) used a Frankenstein's monster motif for the two songs, 'Somebody Super like You', when they cut off the limbs of victims and begin to create their man (Beef) of perfection, and 'Life at Last', when the man is brought to life via lightning and sings mainly about finding a woman.
- Tommy (1975) had Sally Simpson marrying a green-tinged Frankenstein's monster teenage rock musician.
- The 1980s cartoon Drak Pack featured Frankie, a descendant of the Monster who could assume his form as a superhero guise.
- The 1995 Disney Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain features Mickey going to the nefarious Dr. Frankenollie and having his brain switched with a monster's.
- The 1982 young adult novel Frank and Stein and Me by Kin Platt has the protagonist meet the strange Dr. Stein and his hulking creature Frank while on the run from smugglers. In the novel Frank is described as an accident victim that Dr Stein has saved from death and rebuilt. The book features a running joke with Stein being confused by references to Frankenstein, being unfamiliar with the story.
- The 1985 teen comedy Weird Science stars two high school students, who are inspired by the original Universal film to create an idealistic girlfriend. The film and the music video for the theme and the song of the same name by Oingo Boingo features a clip of the "It's Alive!" scene and frontman Danny Elfman doing an impression of Dr. Frankenstein in the music video.
- Frankenhooker (1990) is a parody of the Universal films in which "Jeffrey Franken" gathers body parts from various streetwalkers in order to build the "perfect" woman. This same concept was borrowed for 2006's Perfect Woman (mentioned above).
- Frankencelery appears in Where's God When I'm S-Scared?, the 1993 debut episode of the Christian children's series VeggieTales. The star of Tales from the Crisper calms Junior Aasparagus with the message that he's a harmless actor named Phil Winklestein, from Toledo, Ohio.
- The Tim Burton films Frankenweenie and Edward Scissorhands bear many references to the Frankenstein story.
- A 2001 short film called Frankenthumb, directed by Steve Oedekerk, a parody of the James Whale 1931 film told with thumbs with superimposed faces and elaborate miniature sets.
- One of the Garbage Pail Kids was a Frankenstein's monster-like character whose name was, appropriately, "Frank N. Stein" (his alternate name was "Undead Jed").
- Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988) includes a scene in which the lead character is watching a movie called Frankenstein's Mummy (as a spoof of the 1930s sequel titles) on nighttime television. Return also features a character named Igor who parodies the "hunchbacked assistant" cliche upon his first appearance in the film.
- Frank Enstein (1992) is a direct-to-video children's film about a robot named "Frank Enstein" who goes on an adventure.
The Frankenstein story and its elements have been adapted many times for television:
- The anthology series Tales of Tomorrow (1951–1953) featured a half-hour adaptation starring Lon Chaney Jr. as an atomically animated monster.
- Boris Karloff reprised his role wearing the Frankenstein's monster makeup in a 1962 episode of Route 66 entitled Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing for Halloween. Also appearing in the episode were Lon Chaney, Jr. as both the Wolf Man and The Mummy, and Peter Lorre.
- Universal produced a television sitcom from 1964 to 1966 for CBS entitled The Munsters with Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster, a character physically resembling the Universal's cinematic depiction of Frankenstein's monster, who was the patriarch of a family of kindly monsters. The rest of the family included a grandfather resembling the Universal Dracula (who may actually be Dracula), a wife that resembles "The Bride of Frankenstein", and a werewolf son. The Munsters' house at 1313 Mockingbird Lane can still be seen on the Universal Studios' backlot tour at Universal Studios in Universal City, California.
- In the 1960s series The Addams Family, the family butler was Lurch, who looked and behaved very much like the creature. His vocabulary was limited, much like Boris Karloff's creature, but he became iconic for the catchphrase, "You rang?"
- The 1965 Doctor Who serial The Chase features a sequence set in what appears to be a mysterious old house where various horror film monsters, including Frankenstein's monster, menace first the Doctor and his companions and later the Daleks. The house is subsequently revealed to be a Haunted House exhibit at an event entitled the "Festival of Ghana, 1996"
- Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare a 1964 cartoon where both Bugs Bunny and Tazmanion Devil get beaten up by Frankenstein's monster
- Milton the Monster (1965–1967) was a cartoon character developed shortly after The Munsters about a kind-hearted Frankenstein monster who famously "flipped his lid" (emitted steam like a whale's blowhole) when angered, and who was constantly nearly kicked out of the lab by his scheming creator.
- The Gothic TV drama Dark Shadows featured a plotline running from April 1968 until December 1968 in which an artificial man named Adam is stitched together from corpses and reanimated using the life force of vampire Barnabas Collins.
- The 1968 BBC-TV series Mystery and Imagination featured an adaptation starring Ian Holm as both Frankenstein and his creation.
- The 1971 Canadian TV show Hilarious House of Frightenstein included a failed Frankenstein's-monster-like creation named Brucie who needed to be revived by Count Frightenstein in order to return from exile to Transylvania.
- A 1973 Universal production, Frankenstein: The True Story was more an amalgamation of various concepts from previous films than a direct adaptation of the novel. It starred Leonard Whiting as Frankenstein and Michael Sarrazin as the Creature, with a star supporting cast including James Mason, David McCallum, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Agnes Moorehead, and Jane Seymour.
- Dan Curtis' 1973 adaptation had Robert Foxworth as Frankenstein and Bo Svenson as the Creature.
- In an episode of Fantasy Island, Dr. Anne Frankenstein, a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein, visits the island to try to find out about her ancestor. A being created by the elder scientist appears, and Anne is determined to take the being with her, naively believing it will be treated with proper care in the 1980s.
- A 1976 Doctor Who serial, The Brain of Morbius, has a Time Lord criminal body brought back to life by a mad scientist, using the Time Lord's brain and a body composed of various alien races who had crashed onto the planet where Morbius' brain had been stored since his defeat.
- CBS Television aired a 1979 series starring Jack Elam as Frank (The Monster) and Jeffrey Kramer as Ted Stein, a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein, called "Struck by Lightning."
- In an episode of The World's Greatest Superfriends, the Super Friends battle Dr. Victor Frankenstein and three of his monsters, one with all of the powers of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman.
- A 1984 BBC version starring Robert Powell as Victor, David Warner as his creature, and Carrie Fisher as the doomed Elizabeth.
- A 1992 production for the American TNT cable network, with Patrick Bergin as Victor and Randy Quaid as his hapless creation.
- A 1994-98 TV series called Weird Science was inspired by the Frankenstein storyline (just as the 1985 film of the same name). The series follows the adventures of two high school students who design their "perfect" woman simulation by filling their computer with various forms of data and images, which is accidentally turned into life after a freak lightning storm.
- "Frankenbone", a 1995 episode of the PBS children's series Wishbone had an adaptation of Shelley's novel that stayed true to the original story with the canine star in the role of Victor and Matthew Tompkins as the Monster.
- The 1996-98 Fox Kids series Big Bad Beetleborgs (later Beetleborgs Metallix) featured a "hulking stitched-up" character named Frankenbeans, "brought to life" by David Fletcher. The zany character owes a great debt to Herman Munster and Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein. Strangely, the character is celebrated every year on the Thursday before the last Friday of October on a day called Frankenbeans Thursday.
- A 2004 production titled Frankenstein for the American USA Network starred Thomas Kretschmann as Victor and Vincent Pérez as his original creature, named "Deucalion" (because he was the "son" of the "Modern Prometheus". It was not a direct adaptation but a postmodern gothic reinvention set in present-day New Orleans.
- As played by Phil Hartman, The Monster was also a popular recurring comedic character on Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s, often delivering the line, "Fire bad!"
- The Monster was a recurring character on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (played by Brian Stack,) mainly in the segment "Frankenstein Wastes a Minute of Our Time" and as a Jewish character.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer has also faced "Frankensteinian" creations. In the season two episode "Some Assembly Required, the creation was Darryl Epps, a reanimated high school jock whose brother reanimated him after an accident, but after his brother refused to complete a project to create a bride for him as the rapid decay rate of brain tissue would have required him to actually kill someone, Darryl allowed himself to die in a fire rather than have to live alone. The season four Big Bad was Adam, a conglomeration of robot, human, and demon parts created by a government scientist in charge of a demon research facility who rebelled against his creator, who her referred to as 'Mother', mirroring the statements of the Creature, who believed that Frankenstein should have been a better father, and tried to create a new society of creatures like him before he was destroyed.
- A season five episode of The X-Files, "The Post-Modern Prometheus", retold the Frankenstein legend updated with genetic engineering technology. The episode, the only one of the series filmed exclusively in black and white, was inspired by the film adaptations of the legend; the creature, shunned by the mad scientist who created him, seeks a mate in a small town.
- The Animaniacs episode Phranken-Runt, featuring Rita and Runt parodied both the overall Frankenstein plot and elements of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- In the Histeria! episode "Super Writers", at the end of a sketch about Edgar Allan Poe publishing "The Raven", Mary Shelley appears (portrayed by Charity Bazaar dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein) to pitch the book to Sammy Melman.
- The Cartoon Network series Robot Chicken featured a Frankenstein parody character called "Frank Enstein".
- Frankenstein's monster was one of the monster trio from various skits on The Electric Company, portrayed by Skip Hinnant.
- "Dr. What's-his-name", an episode of the 1975 live-action series The Ghost Busters, features a long-suffering Doctor Frankenstein whose goal is to make his gigantic, childlike Creature more obedient with the brain of "the world's most gullible fool". Spenser (Larry Storch), of course, is the world's most gullible fool...
- In the 1994 animated television series Monster Force, Frankenstein's monster alias "Frankenstein" or "the Monster" becomes humanity's ally in a desperate fight against evil Creatures of the Night.
- The children's animated series Arthur has an episode depicting a reenactment of the night the novel was created. Titled Fernkenstein's Monster, it was described as: "Inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Fern tells a tale so scary that Arthur and the gang become afraid of her. Can Fern prove her skills as a writer and create a different story that's fun instead of frightening?"
- The 2000 anime television series Argento Soma draws a large amount of inspiration from Frankenstein. The show's plotline revolves around an ambitious scientist assembling a giant silver creature from scattered components. The giant (aptly nicknamed "Frank") possesses a tender and compassionate nature but has a bizarre and hideous exterior and the potential to inflict death and destruction.
- The Duck Dodgers episode "Castle High" revolved around the main character explaining to I.Q. High what had happened to his castle, the flashback based on the story.
- One of Arale's classmates in Dr. Slump was named Monsuta (aka Frank).
- In Dragonball, young Goku befriends a cyborg named Number 8 (whom he nicknames Ha-chan) who was similar in appearance to Frankenstein's monster.
- An episode of Goof Troop had a spoof called "Frankengoof"; despite the title, the monster is a mirror image of Black Pete.
- An episode of Darkwing Duck had a spoof called "Steerminator" in which dead supervillain Taurus Bulba is rebuilt into a cyborg.
- An episode of The Catillac Cats has Riff Raf as a mad scientist about to be beaten up by Mungo/Frankenstein's monster.
- The Moosylvania episode of Rocky and His Friends showed Boris and Natasha attempting to pass off some small Western town as Washington, D.C....and the Capitol Building is topped off with a statue of Frankenstein's Monster!
- In the Scooby-Doo television movie Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School, Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy-Doo meet the daughters of several monsters at "Miss Grimwood's School for Girls". One of the 'girl ghouls' (as they are called in the movie) is named Elsa Frankenteen, her father being Frankenteen Sr. Frankenteen Sr. is the best representation of Boris Karloff's creature, with his daughter more closely resembling Elsa Lanchester's interpretation of the Bride of Frankenstein. 'Frankenteen' is also a portmanteau of 'Frankenstein' and 'teen' because Elsa is a teenager.
- There were two instances where the concept of Frankenstein's monster was used in the Super Sentai and Power Rangers series. In Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, the monster Dora Frank was an obvious nod to the monster, as well as its Mighty Morphin Power Rangers counterpart, which was simply referred to as the "Frankenstein Monster". Then in Mahou Sentai Magiranger one of the main villains, Victory General Branken, was inspired by Frankenstein's Monster. Branken's Power Rangers: Mystic Force counterpart was Morticon.
- In the series Kamen Rider Kiva, Dogga's race, the Franken, is an obvious nod to the monster, along with Kiva's Dogga form.
- An episode of SpongeBob SquarePants called "Frankendoodle" involves SpongeBob using a human artist's "magic pencil" to create a living, evil doodle of himself.
- In the Halloween special of another Nickelodeon series, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Jimmy's father, Hugh, mistakes an invention for a game he calls "Name that Monster" and is transformed into a Frankenstein's monster-like being.
- In The Simpsons 2003 installment of the Treehouse of Horror series, Treehouse of Horror XIV, there is a segment entitled "Frinkenstein", whereby Professor Frink uses his universal multi-tool to resurrect his dead father, who then goes on a rampage stealing organs from others until his son is forced to kill him. In Treehouse of Horror XVIII, Bart wears a costume resembling the monster. In Treehouse of Horror XX he appears as one of the monsters at Homer and Marge`s Halloween party and in Treehouse of Horror XXI as the monster Frink created in his lab. Also in Treehouse of Horror III Lewis is wearing a Halloween costume of the monster at the Halloween party with Bart and Lisa.
- A villainous alien from Ben 10 named Doctor Vicktor resembles Frankenstein's monster, as well as the copy of him in the Omnitrix.
- In the original Transformers episode "Autobot Spike", Sparkplug Witwicky creates an Autobot using mismatched robot parts that he names Autobot X, but the robot is a mindless monster and goes berserk. Later, Spike Witwicky is injured and his consciousness is transferred to the giant robot body. Spike makes several direct references to the invention as a "robot Frankenstein monster".
- Also, the character of Rampage in the Transformers: Beast Wars series has a great many similarities to Frankenstein's monster, especially his origins as a product of science gone horribly wrong; the main differences are his status as an irredeemable psychopath and that his body wasn't created by piecing others together. In a later episode, Megatron's cloning of Dinobot bears a strong resemblance to the creation of the monster.
- In an episode of Time Warp Trio entitled Nightmare on Joe's Street, Mary Shelley accidentally draws her first impression of the monster in The Book, causing her dream to become a reality. Unlike typical versions of the creature, which have one-colored complexions, this render of the monster is seen with patchwork-colored skin, signifying his construction from various corpse parts.
- In The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Koopenstein", Bowser (under the guise of Dr. Koopenstein) plans to use Mario and Luigi's brains for a robotic Koopa Troopa he has made, but through the result of a horrific accident, he mutates into a Frankenstein's Monster-esque version of himself and proceeds to rampage through a nearby village. A live action segment from another episode, titled "The Mario Monster Mash," features Mario and Luigi meeting Dr. Frankenstein (played by Jim Ward) and his monster, where a laboratory mishap causes Mario's brain to be switched with the monster's.
- In a 15-minute episode of Sonic the Hedgehog, Rotor the Walrus, assisted by Antione, creates a robot named Ro-Becca. Antoine accidentally activates Ro-Becca and she falls in love with him.
- Two segments from Braingames showed Frankenstein. One was "Splatnarnt", in which two scientists assembling a Frankenstein-like monster using interior body parts whose names were scrambled; the idea was for the viewer to unscramble the names. The other was "Whosamawhatchamacallits", in which Frankenstein was the last character portrayed in the game.
- An animated segment on Sesame Street showed a mad doctor bringing to life a Frankenstein's monster-like creature that was actually a capital letter H.
- The regeneration sequence of the seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, into the eighth incarnation, Paul McGann, in the 1996 TV movie Doctor Who is set in a hospital morgue. The night attendant at the morgue is watching the 1931 Frankenstein in the next room, and scenes in which the monster is brought to life are intercut with images of the Doctor's "resurrection", his appearance out of the storage room then causing the attendant to pass out.
- Dr. Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Monster appeared in Mad Monster Party and Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein. Frankenstein's Monster appeared in Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, Monster Mash, and Waxwork.
- An ITV modern adaptation simply titled Frankenstein was aired on 24 October 2007, where a mother uses lab equipment to try to create a "body of organs" for her dying eight-year-old son.
- The fifth season episode of Highlander: The Series titled The Modern Prometheus has Mary Shelley draw her inspiration from two immortals battling during the long winter in the Swiss Alps. Upon seeing Byron (in the series secretly an Immortal) restored to life by lightning, she asks Methos why her child rots in her grave while Byron simply gets up and walks away. Methos admonishes her to pity their kind, for life can go on when it should not. The isolation he describes enables Shelley to write her classic.
- Two animated segments from Sesame Street teaching basic geography were hosted by Dr. Geo and his Frankenstein-like unnamed assistant who would mimic everything Geo said behind his back. One segment talked about the concept of a globe and the other about mountains.
- In a season 3 episode of the NBC TV series Chuck, Chuck refers to John Casey as "Trank-enstein", due to the NSA colonel's love of weaponry (in this case, tranquilizer darts) and typical brutish mannerisms.
- In the Adult Swim animated series Minoriteam, the title characters frequently fought an opponent named Racist Frankenstein.
- In the animated series "Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles" a boy scientist Buzz Conroy and his father Professor Conroy fight supervillains with the aid of a powerful heroic robot named "Frankenstein Jr." who is like a mix between "Gigantor" and Frankenstein's monster.
- Frankenstein's monster and the Bride of Frankenstein's monster are the father and mother of Frankie Stein in Monster High.
- Frankenstein's Wedding was a live television adaptation broadcast on BBC Three on 19 March 2011.
- In an episode of the cartoon series The Venture Bros., entitled ¡Viva los Muertos!, Dr. Venture reanimates the corpse of a Monarch henchman killed by Brock Samson, naming the creature "Venturestein".
- In the television show "Once Upon a Time", David Anders plays the mysterious Dr. Whale who is revealed to be the "real life" counterpart of Dr. Victor Frankenstein in season two, trapped in the modern-day town of Storybrooke, Maine with cursed fairytale characters. So far, he is the only non-fairytale character revealed to live in the town. As Dr. Frankenstein, he transformed his deceased brother into his monster. In Storybrooke, he succeeded in raising a dead man who turned into a violent monster, despite being a very gentle and loving man during his life. He is looking to do the same again and bring his brother, who has apparently been killed again, back to life in the new world.
- In the anime/manga Soul Eater, Professor Frank N. Stein is a teacher and meister at the DWMA (Death Weapon Meister Academy).
- In 2014, PBS and Pemberley Digital created a webseries based on the original piece, called Frankenstein, MD; the show brings the story to modern days, following the initially med student a subsequential Doctor Victoria Frankenstein.
- In the Supernatural season 10 episode Dark Dynasty, Eldon Styne reveals that his family's real name is Frankenstein. Eldon describes the Frankenstein's as one of the oldest families in Europe and tells the Winchesters that after Mary Shelly discovered their secrets and wrote her book, they had to change their name. The Stynes now cause and profit off of disasters and make themselves stronger by transplanting stolen organs into themselves, similar to Frankenstein's monster.
Classical and modern music
- The 1962 novelty song "Monster Mash" is narrated by a Dr. Frankenstein-like character, who talks about his monster learning a new dance.
- "Frankenstein" is a 1973 instrumental by the Edgar Winter Group - so named because it was constructed from bits and pieces of several different takes.
- The video for Yazoo's song "Don't Go" featured a Frankenstein theme.
- In the video for her 1983 song "Telephone (Long Distance Love Affair)", Sheena Easton is pursued through a haunted house by Frankenstein's monster.
- In The Dead Milkmen video "Big Time Operator" lead singer Rodney is depicted as FrankenElvis.
- For their 1987 single, "Doin' It All for My Baby", Huey Lewis and the News used a Frankenstein theme in a video performance.
- The lyrics of T'Pau's 1987 song "China in Your Hand" reference Frankenstein.
- "Frankenstein" is a song by funk metal band Clutch from Pure Rock Fury.
- "Dr. Stein", a song produced by the power metal band Helloween for their 1988 album Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 2, is based on Victor Frankenstein and his monster.
- Rock musician Alice Cooper recorded a song titled "Teenage Frankenstein" for his 1986 album Constrictor, and recorded "Feed My Frankenstein" for his 1991 album Hey Stoopid. The latter song was also featured in the 1992 film Wayne's World.
- Electric Frankenstein is an American punk rock band from New Jersey.
- Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13, a horror punk band formed in North Carolina in 1996.
- How I Made This, the multimedia musical composition of Ukrainian born Russian composer Evgeni Kostitsyn, won first place at the First International Competition for Composers in the Ukraine in 1998.
- Sam Cooke's song "Another Saturday Night" includes a verse that goes: "Another fellow told me / He had a sister who looked just fine. / Instead of being my deliverance, she had a strange resemblance / To a cat [guy] named Frankenstein."
- "Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy" is the title of a 2000 album by the band Mindless Self Indulgence.
- "Frankenstein" is a song by American Metal band Iced Earth from their 2001 album Horror Show, which features songs themed after classic movie monsters.
- "Some Kind of Monster" is a 2004 song by Metallica which uses themes from Frankenstein.
- "Jesse James meets Frankenstein's Daughter" is a song by American Folk musician Space Mandino.
- The Rammstein song "Mutter" is about a monster that kills its creator or mom in this case.
- The musical "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" includes a song called "There's A Light (Over at the Frankenstein Place)"
- The Abby Travis music video for her 2011 single Lightning Squared is a cartoon parody of the Frankenstein story, with the monster and his Bride as doomed lovers forever on the run from an angry mob.
- The punk band Crass referenced Frankenstein in the song "Reject of Society".
- "Dr. Frankenstein" a concept album/rock opera written by cuban/mexican musician Jose Fors was based on both the original novel and James Whale's films. It was released in 2009.
- Toy Love released a 1980 single, "Bride of Frankenstein".
- The German band Oomph!'s song "Brennende Liebe" details a sort of Frankenstein scenario, and the video features Frankenstein, his wife, and the scientist and his associates.
- The rock band Glass Wave included a song about Frankenstein's monster (entitled "Creature") on their 2010 album. The lyrics are sung through the creature's voice.
- Kevin Max's song "Jumpstart Your Electric Heart", from his 2005 album The Imposter is a modern-day retelling of Shelley's Frankenstein.
- In the "Weird Al" Yankovic song parody, Perform This Way Frankenstein was mentioned on the lyrics.
On August 3, 1931, Alonzo Dean Cole adapted the novel as a 30-minute episode of his program The Witch's Tale. It was redone on March 7, 1932 and July 17, 1935.
In 1938, George Edwards produced a 13-part, 3-hour series for radio. It follows the structure and spirit of the novel closely.
Two other versions were made in both 1944 and 1955.
In 1945 it was adapted as a 30-minute drama on the syndicated program The Weird Circle.
In 1946 it was adapted as a 30-minute drama on the program Favorite Story.
In 2014, Big Finish Productions released an audio version by Jonathan Barnes directed by Scott Handcock starring Arthur Darvill as Victor Frankenstein, Nicholas Briggs as Waldman/The Creature, Geoffrey Beevers as Alphonse Frankenstein/DeLacey, Georgia Moffett as Elizabeth and Terry Molloy.
A Broadway adaptation of the story by Victor Gialanella played for one performance on January 4, 1981 (after 29 previews) and was considered the most expensive flop ever produced to that date. It is noteworthy for John Carradine's playing the part of the blind "DeLacey". Also starring were David Dukes as "Victor Frankenstein", Dianne Wiest as "Elizabeth", John Glover as "Henry Clervel", and Keith Joachim as "The Creature".
A musical adaptation entitled "Day of Wrath", (composed by Eric Sirota, with lyrics by E. Sirota & S. Sudol), was first produced in 1990, in Clinton, New Jersey.
Joined At The Heart is a musical with music & lyrics by Graham Brown & Geoff Meads, book by Frances Anne Bartam and directed by Frances Brownlie. It tells the love story of Victor Frankenstein and his step sister Elizabeth, a young orphan girl taken in by Victor's parents and cared for as if she were their own daughter. When Victor's mother dies, he vows to end the suffering that death brings by pursuing eternal life. Joined At The Heart reached the final of the Worldwide Search for Musicals competition. The show was produced at The Junction 2 in Cambridge, UK from 1–4 August 2007 and at the Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland from 12–18 August 2007.
"Frankenstein - A New Musical", a pop-opera adaptation which adhered closely to the original novel, opened at 37 Arts Theatre, New York, in Autumn 2007 and closed in December 2007. The first UK performance was at The Stables Theatre Hastings in May 2009. Music was by Mark Baron, book by Jefferey Jackson and Gary P Cohen.
A performance storytelling production of Frankenstein is currently touring both in the UK and internationally. It is performed by storyteller Ben Haggarty and the composer, singer and musician Sianed Jones.
Korean musical adaptation of the book, written and directed by Wang Yong-beom and songs by Lee Seong-joon, premired on March 11, 2014. The show achieved unprecendented level of success for an original domestic production, and future Japanese and Chinese productions are on the way,
The story of Frankenstein and "Frankenstein's monster", has formed the basis of many original novels over the years, some of which were considered sequels to Shelley's original work, and some of which were based more upon the character as portrayed in the Universal films. Yet others were completely new tales inspired by Frankenstein.
- 1957: French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière wrote six Frankenstein novels in 1957 and 1958 for Angoisse, the horror imprint of publisher Fleuve Noir, under the house pseudonym of Benoît Becker (with plotting assistance from Guy Bechtel for the first novel).
- 1. La Tour de Frankenstein [The Tower of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 30, 1957)
- 2. Le Pas de Frankenstein [The Step of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 32, 1957)
- 3. La Nuit de Frankenstein [The Night of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 34, 1957)
- 4. Le Sceau de Frankenstein [The Seal of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 36, 1957)
- 5. Frankenstein Rôde [Frankenstein Prowls] (FNA No. 41, 1958)
- 6. La Cave de Frankenstein [The Cellar of Frankenstein] (FNA No. 50, 1959)
- Carrière followed the footsteps of the Monster, christened Gouroull, as he made his way back from Iceland, to Scotland, and then Germany and Switzerland, from the late 1800s to the 1920s. The plots have the Monster pursuing his own, evil agenda, unafraid of the weaker humans. Even people who try to help or reason with him are just as likely to be killed by the inhuman fiend.
- 1972: Popular Library published the Frankenstein Horror Series of novels. Despite the title of the series, only the first volume, The Frankenstein Wheel (catalogue # 01544), by Paul W. Fairman, actually concerns the further exploits of Frankenstein's creation. The remaining eight books were unrelated stories using different horror themes.
- 1973: Frankenstein Unbound, by Brian Aldiss, combining the titles of Mary Shelley's novel with Percy Bysshe Shelley's Prometheus Unbound (1820), sends a time traveller from the twenty-first century back to Geneva in 1816 when Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (as she was then) was engaged in writing the original Frankenstein story.
- 1975: Robert J. Myers wrote a sequel to Shelley's novel called The Cross of Frankenstein (ISBN 0-397-01086-9), in which the illegitimate son of Victor Frankenstein finds the creature alive and well and plotting the destruction of mankind in the wilds of America in 1816. Myers followed up the next year with The Slave of Frankenstein (ISBN 0-397-01126-1), where racism is added to the creature's long list of sins as Frankenstein's son again thwarts his plans to create a race of perfect slaves in the pre-Civil War America of 1859. A third novel in the series was announced, but never appeared.
- 1978: Allan Rune Pettersson wrote two novels in 1978 and 1989
- 1986: In The Frankenstein Papers, Fred Saberhagen retells Shelley's story (with significant modifications) from the creature's point of view. It is revealed that the novel had actually taken place during the American Revolution and Benjamin Franklin and his son play a major role in the novel. It is revealed through a series of letters as well as the monster's diary that the monster is actually an amnesiac humanoid alien who was disfigured by the electric explosion used in Victor's experiments, and that the creature that Victor had stitched together never in fact came to life. It is also revealed that Victor had performed the experiments under the behest of the sinister British nobleman Roger Saville, who had wished to create a race of super-men so as to form a colony of slaves and to defeat the American rebels. It is also implied that Saville and his hunchbacked assistant Small had murdered Victor's family in order to blackmail him, and that the novel was actually written by Robert Walton (who wanted to profit from the slave business) as a means to spread distrust to the monster. However, Benjamin rescues the Alien and helps him regain his memory with the help of Cagliostro, the book ends with the alien departing Earth, and deciding that despite the cruelty men like Saville are capable of, men like Benjamin Freeman are the true examples of the human race.
- 1986: In Stephen King's It, the monster "It" takes the form of Frankenstein's monster.
- 1986: Margaret Tarner wrote an adaptation of the novel for elementary students as part of the Macmillan Readers series from Macmillan Publishers (ISBN 978-0435271060). An audiobook of this version was published in 1992 (ISBN 978-0435272876).
- 1997: Frankenstein According to Spike Milligan is one of a series of parody novels by Spike Milligan. In this, Milligan crafts a bizarre story, with many gags based on specific moments and instances from the text of the novel, such as "I am self-educated: for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild on the common. At the end of that time I fell exhausted to the ground."
- 2003: Jim Benton has written a series of children's chapter books about a female mad scientist that goes by the name Franny K. Stein
- 2004: Dean Koontz has written a series of Frankenstein novels: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein. These reimagine Frankenstein in the setting of modern-day New Orleans.
- 2005: Frankenstein Resurrected, a classical horror novel by Joseph Covino Jr, is the first part to an epic trilogy adapting and combining the characters and scenarios of the celebrated horror classics, Frankenstein and Dracula, preserving the original stories of both perfectly intact without corrupting or distorting either.
- 2008: Peter Ackroyd's The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein is a postmodern retelling of the original story in which Victor Frankenstein encounters Percy Bysshe Shelley while studying in London. ISBN 978-0-7011-8295-3
The Monster has also been the subject of many comic book adaptations, ranging from the ridiculous (a 1960s series portraying The Monster as a superhero; see below), to more straightforward interpretations of Shelley's work.
Dick Briefer's Frankenstein (1940-1954)
In 1940, cartoonist Dick Briefer wrote and drew a Frankenstein's-monster comic book title for Crestwood Publications's Prize Comics, beginning with a standard horrific version, updated to contemporary America, but then in 1945 crafting an acclaimed and well-remembered comedic version that spun off into his own title, Frankenstein Comics. The series ended with issue #17 (Jan.-Feb. 1949, but was revived as a horror title from #18-33 (March 1952 - Oct.-Nov. 1954). The original Prize version served as catalyst for an intra-company crossover, where all characters starring in Prize Comics at the time teamed up to fight Frankenstein.
In 1973 the "Spawn of Frankenstein" appeared in the Phantom Stranger comic, written by Len Wein. The portrayal of the monster was as a reclusive, sympathetic character who had been living alone in the Arctic since the death of his creator.
A 1995 Batman special called Batman: Castle of the Bat by Jack C. Harris and Bo Hampton amalgamates Batman and Frankenstein. Bruce Wayne fills the role of Victor Frankenstein, wishing to revive his deceased father. Having successfully done so, his creation becomes the monstrous "Bat-Man", a hulking figure in a rough analogue of the Batman costume who preys upon highwaymen, similar to the one who took the lives of the (this story's) parents of Bruce Wayne. Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth is changed to a hunchbacked dwarf named Alfredo, filling the "Igor" role.
In The Superman Monster (1999), Lex Luthor is Viktor Luther, the creator. He discovers the spacecraft that would have carried the infant Superman to Earth. Inside, however, is only the skeleton of a child. Using the Kryptonian technology, he is able to animate his (unintentionally) super-powered creature, which initially resembles Bizarro. The creature flees and is raised by the kindly couple Johann and Marta Kant. They name the creature Klaus, after their dead son. The story features the Lois Lane character becoming "The Bride" to Superman's Creature.
DC Comics and Roy Thomas revived the character "The Spawn of Frankenstein" in Young All-Stars; he then appeared in Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers of Victory. Here, Frankenstein is a Milton-quoting, gun-toting warrior battling to prevent the end of the world. In addition, DC's team of movie monster-esque soldiers known as the Creature Commandos featured a character that resembled the Universal Pictures version of Frankenstein's monster; Private Elliot "Lucky" Taylor was nearly killed after stepping on a land mine, but was grotesquely reconstructed into a "Patchwork Creature" (as designated by the Who's Who in the DC Universe entry on the Creature Commandos), and later rendered mute by a failed suicide attempt. Later, DC Comics debuted an unrelated superhero (and member of the Teen Titans) called "Young Frankenstein."
In Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's Planetary, the protagonist, Elijah Snow, discovers an abandoned laboratory, filled with patchwork undead monsters. It is heavily implied that the lab belonged to Victor Frankenstein, and that, alongside Count Dracula, the Invisible Man, and Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein had been part of a covert, 19th century conspiracy to shape the direction of the future.
In the comic book Major Bummer, Louie defends the common misnaming of the monster as "Frankenstein": Dr. Frankenstein is, so to speak, the monster's "father", and it is only right that a son should have his father's family name. This is also the argument taken by the Seven Soldiers incarnation.
The monster appeared as a foe to Marvel Comics' X-Men in issue #40 of their eponymous series (January 1968). In the story, written by Roy Thomas, the monster had various powers, including incredible strength, optic beams, and magnetized feet. He was an ambassador sent to Earth by aliens in the 1850s, but upon arrival, he went berserk. His fellow aliens followed him to the North Pole, where he was frozen. In the present, he was discovered by scientists and thawed. According to Professor X, this android was the inspiration for Shelley's novel.
The Monster of Frankenstein, the first five issues of which (Jan.-September 1973) contained a faithful (in spirit at least) retelling of Shelley's tale before transferring The Monster into the present day and pitting him against James Bond-inspired evil organizations. The artist, Mike Ploog, recalled, "I really enjoyed doing Frankenstein because I related to that naive monster wandering around a world he had no knowledge of — an outsider seeing everything through the eyes of a child."
Invaders #31 The Invaders searching the Human Torch and Toro disappear in Switzerland, the Invaders’ investigation brings them face to fist with Frankenstein. A wheel-chair-bound Nazi scientist and Japanesse doctor plan to transplant said Nazi scientist’s brain into Captain America’s body. The Invaders have to fight Frankenstein in the issue (Frankenstein is dressed as a Nazi officer)
Dell Comics published a superhero version of the character in the comic book series Frankenstein #2-4 (September 1966 - March 1967; issue #1, published Oct. 1964, featured a very loose adaptation/update of the 1931 Universal Pictures movie).
The Monster is Monster in My Pocket #13. He appears among the good monsters in the comic book (1991), the video game (1991), the animated special (1992), and the 2003 animated series. In the comics, he was relatively inarticulate, represented by hyphens between each syllable he spoke, but possessed of simple wisdom and strong morals. This characterization was essentially characterized in the video game, where he was a playable character, and his only line of dialogue in the cut scenes was "Yeah..." In the animated special, he was known as "Big Ed" and was essentially a comic simpleton.
2004 saw the debut of Doc Frankenstein, written by the Wachowski brothers, the writer-director team of The Matrix), and drawn by Steve Skroce. The book tells the continuing adventures of Frankenstein's monster, who has since adopted his creator's name and became a hero through the ages.
In 2004, manga artist Atsushi Ōkubo produced the manga Soul Eater; in the fifth chapter a character known as Franken Stein made his debut, much of his design was referenced from the novel "Frankenstein" including his body being covered in dozens of self-inflicted stitches. Like his namesake Franken Stein is both a skilled doctor and scientist, actually accomplishing in resurrecting another character into a zombie. But otherwise the rest of Victor Frankentsin's character was mostly tossed aside (the character was obsessed with taking things apart, usually with scalpels, and he was also a skilled fighter, especially in hand to hand combat). the major difference between Franken Stein and Mary Shelley's Victor Frankenstein is the fact that Franken Stein has the classic personality of a psycopath or serial killer.
In 2005, Dead Dog Comics produced a sequel to the Frankenstein mythos with Frankenstein: Monster Mayhem, written by R. D. Hall with art by Jerry Beck. In Dead Dog's version, the monster sets out to create his own Necropolis.
Also in 2005, Speakeasy Comics put out their sequel, The Living and the Dead, written by Todd Livingston and Robert Tinnell, with art by Micah Farritor. In it, Victor, now calling himself Hans, must create a new body for his first cousin who wants her syphilitic son to remain alive after a vicious beating, and she coerces him to do so under fear of exposing him for who he really is. Half-crazed due to the disease, the newly born monster proceeds to start a Grand Guignol theater in Ingolstadt until Victor puts him down with the help of the first monster he ever created. As thanks, Victor begins work on the last attempt he will make at playing God, and begins to build the original creature a mate.
The 2006 Beckett Entertainment/Image comics graphic novel The Cobbler's Monster: A Tale of Gepetto's Frankenstein features an amalgamation between Gepetto and Victor Frankenstein, who reanimates his dead son.
In 2006, Eros Comix published Adult Frankenstein, a comic book with Frankenstein x-rated stories (featuring also other classic monsters) all written by Enrico Teodorani (creator of Djustine), with cover by Joe Vigil and interior art by some of the best Italian authors in the erotic comics field.
Manga artist Mitsukazu Mihara published a volume collection of six short stories entitled Beautiful People on October 20, 2001. The main story, also titled "beautiful people", follows a woman who had plastic surgery done hoping to become beautiful and loved, but after she meets a young girl stitched together from corpses, she realizes that girl was the truly beautiful one because of the love she gave.
The 2007 manga series Embalming -The Another Tale of Frankenstein-, published by Shueisha, is based on the idea that Victor Frankenstein actually existed and created an artificial human from bodyparts of dead people and that 150 years after this event, numerous doctors across Europe are using what's left of his notes to try and create their own monsters. The series also features characters reading Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
In 2009 Papercutz published a Classics Illustrated Deluxe Graphic Novel adaptation of Frankenstein by French cartoonist Marion Mousse. His adaptation was originally published in French in three volumes, and was all collected and translated into English for the Papercutz version. Of all the comic book adaptations this one is probably the most faithful to the original book.
Toys and games
Frankenstein's monster appears in the Konami video game series Castlevania, numerous times, with its name being "The Monster" or "The Creature", often as a major boss, but sometimes as a regular enemy. His presence is technically an anachronism since he appears several hundred years before his date of creation in the 18th century. The monster usually has the appearance of the Karloff/Universal version; however, the 2010 series reboot Castlevania: Lords of Shadow features a completely different-looking boss known as the "Mechanical Monstrosity", created some time prior to 1047 by "Friedrich von Frankenstein".
Several other video game version are also available, including Bride of Frankenstein (Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum), Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster - A Cinematic Adventure Starring Tim Curry (PC) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, (Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega CD) based on the 1994 film of the same name. The original Nintendo (NES) has Frankenstein: The Monster Returns and for the Atari 2600, Frankenstein's Monster.
In the 1995 Super Nintendo Entertainment System game Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, Kong's archenemy, King K. Rool, assumes the persona of Baron K. Roolenstein.
Frankenstein's monster also appears in the videogame adaptation of the film Van Helsing. He only appears as a non-playable character.
Frankenstein's monster also appears in Warriors of Primetime, where he is the final boss (this monster is inaccurate as Frankenstein claims to be 'brought back to life').
The role-playing game Promethean: The Created by White Wolf Publishing, focuses on beings created from human remains and animated by "the Divine Fire" who seek to attain humanity. One of the "Lineages" (groupings) of said creatures is that of the Frankensteins, who, like their namesake, are crafted from the best parts of multiple corpses and brought to life by lightning. The monster himself, going by the name John Verney, appears in some of the book's fiction and illustrations.
The 2008 video game Fable II contains a quest in which a man named Victor is attempting to reanimate the body of a deceased woman, both homages to the book. Upon completion of the quest, if the player buys the house, it unlocks an area known as "The Shelley Tomb", a reference to the author of the novel.
In the 2009 Wii game MadWorld, Frankenstein's monster appears as a boss battle at the base of a dungeon, and is simply called "Frank" with bolts in his back, rather than his neck as common stereotypes depict. He is also shown as being regenerative when connected to an electric chair, and his size well exceeds the usually large 7'0" to go as much as 20'0".
In Atlus' popular Persona series, the residents of the "Velvet Room", a supernatural room that is "Between mind and matter", are named after characters from the Frankenstein series, namely Igor, Elizabeth, Margret, Theodore, and Marie.
Frankensteining is a term used by abusers of crystal methamphetamine to calm themselves by diassembling and reassembling objects. The term is used in that subculture and is recently gaining wider currency: it has been used in an episode of CSI: Miami and has four different definitions in Urban Dictionary, all with the same meaning of assembling parts from diverse sources. It is especially common when discussing assembling bicycles from parts stripped from others, illegally or otherwise, as can be seen from a Google search of frankensteining bicycles.
Frankenstein or Franken- is sometimes used as a prefix to imply artificial monstrosity as in "frankenfood", a politically charged name for genetically manipulated foodstuffs. The Franken- prefix can also mean anything assembled haphazardly from originally disparate elements, especially if those parts were previously discarded by others—for example, a car built from parts salvaged from many other cars. For many years Eddie Van Halen played a guitar built in such a manner which he called the "Frankenstrat".
"Frankenstein" is the name of a character in the 1975 movie Death Race 2000 and its 2008 remake Death Race. The first incarnation was portrayed by recently deceased veteran actor David Carradine and the second by Jason Statham.
Stitch, the main protagonist of Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise, was somewhat influenced by the monster, as he was created by a scientist from miscellaneous alien DNA. Unlike Shelley's monster, however, his intentions were initially evil until he discovered an inner loneliness, causing him, and eventually his creator, to turn from crime to justice. Throughout the franchise, Stitch also demonstrates the monster's herculean strength and childlike curiosity.
In season 3 of Beast Wars Megatron clones Dinobot, making a Frankenstein's monster out of the clone by transmetallizing him with the Transmetal Driver and adding the half of Rampage's mutant spark he cut out earlier. The result was an extremely mutated Transmetal II minion under the influence of his "half-brother's" evil.
The California Medical Association, in a rather humorous gesture, chose Halloween 2006 to announce that Dr. Richard Frankenstein had been elected president of the organization. He had previously been president of the Orange County Medical Association in 1995-1996.
Frankenstein is a character in the Korean web-comic manhwa Noblesse. He, like that of the actual character Frankenstein, is a scientist, but the similarities end there. Through his research he has gained immortality and immense power. He now serves the most powerful of all vampires, the Noblesse.
The character Professor Franken Stein from Soul Eater is based loosely off Frankenstein's monster but with Frankstein himself in the mix.
In Hellsing, Alexander Anderson is based on Frankenstein's monster given that his name came from a song that has a refence about Frankenstein's monster and his abilities are similar and he is referred to as God's Monster after using the nail of Helena.
Frankenstein's Monster appears as the Berserker class Servant of the Black Faction in the Fate/stay night spin-off Fate/Apocrypha. This depiction of the monster is a female young homunculus in a wedding gown.
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- Press Releases
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