The Island of Doctor Moreau - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

• In the The Uncanny X-Men comic book series during the writing tenure of Chris Claremont, and most prominently during the X-Tinction Agenda story-arc, there was a character named Dr. David Moreau who was the Genengineer of the island-nation of Genosha - the country's chief genetic scientist, an office of vital importance to the nation. In his position as Genengineer, Moreau performed tens of thousands of procedures on the nation's mutant population (and on mutants from other countries who were captured by Genosha's Press Gang), procedures which transformed the mutants into Mutates, altering their minds and genetic structures to strip them of their sense of individuality and self, and to make them highly suggestible to the nation's citizenry, rendering them into slaves nearly completely robbed of their wills. These mutates were no longer even considered human, but instead as "pieces of bio-technology." The procedure, dubbed the "Genemode Process" by Moreau, sometimes even went so far as to drastically alter the bodily structure and powers of the mutants who were forced to undergo the process, giving the newly created "mutates" altered bodies, powers, and mindsets depending on what type of abilities were most needed by the state at the time, treating them as machines. The mutates were forced to live in ghettos, were regularly beaten and even killed by the authorities with little or no repercussion, and were subject to other atrocities, serving as a slave labor force which was hidden and kept secret from the rest of the world, providing the powerful technological and industrial base for which the nation was famous. The storyline was conceived as a parallel of the real world situation of apartheid in South Africa, which was still in effect at the time, and to bring the situation to the attention of some of the younger readers of the comic book who may not have been aware of it otherwise (albeit in a far more fantastic form).

• Dr. Moreau appears as Alphonse Moreau in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics. He works in the countryside producing Beast Men who resemble characters from children's literature (like Rupert Bear under codename H-9 and Mole, Ratty, and Mr. Badger from The Wind in the Willows). One of his creations manages to help stop the Martian invasion. Edward Prendick appears as Teddy Prendick who was a former companion of Moreau who was driven mad by witnessing his experiments. He lives his life as a hermit and an astrologer as said in the novel. Teddy was secretly observed by Moreau's hybrids lest he ever try to tell the public about Moreau and his experiments.

• The Simpsons also devoted a segment of their "Treehouse of Horror XIII" as a parody. Instead of transforming animals into men as Dr. Moreau does, Dr. Hibbert instead transforms the residents of Springfield into animals.

• The sci-fi TV show Sliders aired an episode near the end of season 3 whose plot was loosely based on The Island of Dr Moreau. The sliders arrived on a jungle island populated by beast-men who had been created by a somewhat self-righteous scientist - the lone human inhabitant. This man demands fealty from his "creations" and punishes those who disobey him with torturous experimentation. Most of the beastly characters in this episode appear to be derivative of various species of cats, although there is one dog-man who serves the scientist as a manservant.

• In the episode 'Just Add Water' from MTV's animated series Daria, Daria Morgendorffer must go on a cruise for a school field trip. Upon being woken up from a dream while taking a nap, Daria mumbles, "Mom? Dr. Moreau invited you to the island, too?"

• The Mighty Boosh feature an episode in the Zooniverse with Moreau-like animals and a vivisectionist theme.

• In the comic book tie-in to the Van Helsing movie, Gabriel Van Helsing discovers Dr. Moreau working in the sewers beneath Paris. Dr. Moreau used one of Griffin's formulas to turn one of his Beast Men invisible.

• In the MMORPG game Champions Online, there is a character named Dr. Philippe Moreau. He is the grandson of Henri Moreau and a member of VIPER. He used his grandfather's notes and modern technology to make his army of Beast Men.

• California New Wave group Oingo Boingo included a song based on the book, called "No Spill Blood", on their 1983 release Good For Your Soul.
• Another New Wave band, Devo of Ohio, used the "are we not men?" quote in their song "Jocko Homo" and in the title of their first album.