Simon Bar Sinister

Simon Bar Sinister was the main villain in the "Underdog" cartoon show. Simon is the wickedest man in the world, and it was his ambition to rule the world, but each time, Underdog defeated him.

Voiced by Allen Swift, and based on the voice and looks of Lionel Barrymore, Simon appeared to be only two feet tall. The "Bar Sinister" in his name was a macaronic reference to a mark from heraldry, in English called a bend sinister; on a shield it was denoted by a line (to those facing the shield) from the top right to the bottom left. (The French equivalent is "barre", and is pronounced the same way.) His name could be translated as "Simon, the Bastard" (see baton sinister). Additionally, his name could be a mock or pun on Simon Bar Jonas or Simon bar Kokhba. In Aramaic, the word "bar" means "son of".

Simon's most famous saying was, "Simon says!" His henchman was Cad Lackey, who, though generally dull-witted, was occasionally capable of pointing out flaws in his boss's plans. Contrary to the mad scientist stereotype, Simon actually paid attention to Cad's suggestions.

In the 2007 live-action film adaptation, he is portrayed by Peter Dinklage. In the movie, Bar Sinister was originally a genetist for a company in Capitol City, using dogs as test subjects for the betterment of mankind. But after being laughed at by the Mayor after attempting to have his research expanded to law enforcement, Bar Sinister began his work to create a super-power formula to get revenge. However, the incident resulted in the destruction of his lab that not only scared his forehead, losing some of his hair, and being limped in his right leg, but created Underdog.

Episodes in which he is prominent

*Simon Says (first appearance): Invents a camera used to freeze living things in photographs.
*Go Snow: Invents the Snow Gun to turn people into snowmen and snowwomen. After he snowed Underdog into submission, Underdog managed to defrost himself and then, flew around in circles, until Simon and Cad's plan was foiled.
*The Big Shrink: Desires to be the biggest man in the world, so he invents Pure Distilled Shrinking Water to shrink people to the size of his thumb. After using the Shrinking Chemical on Underdog and Sweet Polly, he uses his Rainmaking Machine to make it rain Shrinking Water all over the city. Underdog, Polly and the Townspeople shrink him to the size of a flea and tickle him into telling them the cure to the shrinking water. After Simon tells the townspeople the cure, he and Cad are sent to jail.
*Weathering the Storm: Invents the Weather Machine to distort the Earth's weather patterns, but finds out he can't use the Weather Machine against Earth if he's on Earth. Cad points out they could find a spot that wasn't on the Earth so they could use the Weather Machine. Simon and Cad spoil the Moon Launch at Cape Canaveral by stealing a spacecraft with Sweet Polly as their prisoner. Sensing the danger, General Brainley, in charge of organizing the Moon Launch, sent word for Underdog. While Simon demonstrates the Weather Machine's powers, Underdog stops every storm Simon creates. Simon threatens to press all the keys on his Weather Machine unless the Earth agreed to make Simon dictator. Underdog knew it would be impossible for him to stop tornados, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and many other natural disasters all at once, and even if Simon spotted Underdog nearing the Moon, he would press all the keys on the Weather Machine and destroy the Earth. Underdog turns invisible and defeats Simon and Cad, destroys the Weather Machine, rescues Sweet Polly and returns Simon, Cad, Polly, and the spaceship to Earth where Simon and Cad will be sent to jail.
*The Phoney Booths: Replaces Phone Booths with Phoney Booths to brainwash people who use the booths.
*The Forget-Me-Net: Invents a net to erase the memories of others. He planned to use the net on Underdog by robbing a jewelry store and a toy store, but Underdog was busy taming a typhoon and stopping a band of pirates. So, he decides to kidnap Sweet Polly and use the net on Underdog, erasing Polly's memory in the process. After using the net on Underdog, he realizes the cure to the net's effects is as if the victim hears his/her name, so he disguises Underdog as an elderly saleswoman, and then plans to erase the memories of all the people in Washington D.C.. Underdog and Polly regain their memories and stop Simon and Cad by using the Forget-Me-Net against them.
*Simon Says "No Thanksgiving": He plans to make himself master of the city with an army consisting of 3 airplanes, 3 tanks and 12 soldiers. He planned it on the same day of the Thanksgiving Day parade, and Cad points out if Simon's plan fails, he and Cad will be laughingstocks of the city. So he plans to destroy Thanksgiving so he'll be able to push the buttons on Main Street, locking every door in the city, so he'll be able to carry out his plan. Underdog and Polly, as usual, foiled his plan. When his army started the attack, they were quickly arrested and Simon was the laughingstock of the city.
*The Tickle Feather Machine: After the narrator makes reference to Simon's previous failed inventions to conquer the world (the Shrinking Water, the Weather Machine, the Snow Gun and the Forget-Me-Net, respectively), Simon decides to run for dictator, but quickly realizes nobody will vote for him, since he's the most wicked person in the world, so Simon and Cad must vote for Simon themselves and prevent others from voting. He invents the Tickle Feather Machine to make people laugh so hard, they won't vote against him. After firing the Tickle Feather on Underdog and Sweet Polly, he and Cad vote for him for dictator. It may look as though Simon was legally elected, but he wasn't-- he and Cad are convicted criminals and they weren't registered to vote.
*The Big Dipper: Invents the Big Dipper Machine to steal every water reservoir in the world.
*Simon Says "Be My Valentine": Uses his Valentine Vault to turn others into Valentine cards. Simon and his thugs intended to use the Valentine Vault on Underdog, but first they needed Sweet Polly as the bait. When Underdog arrived to rescue Polly, he was turned into a Valentine that Simon was going to use for a dartboard. When Simon and his thugs left the lab to use the Valentine Vault on the Mayor and the City's Officials, Underdog broke free of his Valentine Prison using his Super Energy Pill and rescued Sweet Polly. Simon and his gang were eventually defeated and turned into Valentine Cards themselves.
*The Vacuum Gun: Enlists the help of Battyman, Riff Raff and Slippery Eel to pull crimes all over the world.

imon's Diabolical Machines

Pop-culture references

In an episode of "Will & Grace" entitled "Whose Mom Is It, Anyway?" character Will Truman (Eric McCormack) calls Grace Adler (Debra Messing) Simon Bar Sinister.

Grace: You were supposed to be proving a point to my mother, not selfishly sharing a nice evening with someone. This completely flies in the face of my master plan!
Will: Master plan? What are you, Simon Bar Sinister?