Snidely Whiplash is a fictional character who originally appeared as the main antagonist in the '' Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties'' segments of the

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

series ''

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the ABC and NBC tele ...

''. He is the

archenemy In literature, an archenemy (sometimes spelled as arch-enemy) is the main enemy of someone. In fiction, it is a character who is the protagonist's, commonly a hero's, most prominent and most-known enemy. Etymology The word ''archenemy'' some ...

of Dudley Do-Right. He was listed among the 100 greatest characters in television animation. The character was voiced by

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's '' D ...

in the original cartoon series.

Alfred Molina Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...

played Whiplash in the 1999 live-action film version '' Dudley Do-Right''. Whiplash is the

stereotypical In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

in the style of stock characters found in

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

s and earlier stage melodrama, wearing black clothing and a

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally m ...

and with a

handlebar moustache A handlebar moustache is a moustache with particularly lengthy and upwardly curved extremities. These moustache styles are named for their resemblance to the handlebars of a bicycle. It is also known as a spaghetti moustache, because of its st ...

. Whiplash's henchman, Homer, usually wears a

tuque A knit cap is a piece of knitted headwear designed to provide warmth in cold weather. It usually has a simple tapered shape, although more elaborate variants exist. Historically made of wool, it is now often made of synthetic fibers. Found ...

. In the cartoon's opening segments, Whiplash is seen tying Nell Fenwick to a railroad track. Whiplash is obsessed with tying young women to railroad tracks; he has no reason to do so and realizes no gain, profit or advantage, but is simply compelled to do it. He is the

antithesis Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite", from "against" and "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together f ...

of Do-Right, who is the archetype of goodness and a

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

man (RCMP). On one occasion, typical of producer

Jay Ward Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bul ...

's sense of humor, Whiplash and Do-Right changed hats; Do-Right became the criminal supervillain who actually succeeds at crime and Whiplash became the RCMP hero for capturing the evil Do-Right. This role reversal is repeated in the 1999 film adaptation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiplash, Snidely Villains in animated television series Comedy film characters Fictional Canadian people Fictional characters with obsessive–compulsive disorder Fictional con artists Fictional gamblers Fictional gangsters Fictional outlaws Fictional thieves Male characters in animation Male film villains Rocky and Bullwinkle characters Television characters introduced in 1961