Nikolai (or Nicolai?) Technus: Technological Doc Brown
VOICE ACTOR: Rob Paulsen
AGE: Unknown
EYES: Red
HAIR: Wild White, later smoothly ponytailed white
STATUS: Out-of-date Slang talking braggart, technology expert
LIKES: Technology, stating his plans and name over and over...regardless of multiple upgrades
DISLIKES: Probably a world without technology, emotions
PERSONALITY: Talkative, loud and proud, intelligent, charismatic, dramatic, eccentric, deranged, LARGE HAM
POWER: Control over technology, standard ghost powers
STRENGTH: Great knowledge of techno gizmos, constantly tops his original plans for world domination (almost succeeded at one point), smart enough to pinpoint out an enemy's weakness as well as his own (so he can fix that)
WEAKNESS: Guy never shuts up even when he upgrades because he’s an overconfident loudmouth
FIRST APPEARANCE: "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale"
GOAL: To rule the world, stick forks in toasters—see what makes 'em tick
HISTORY: The sunglasses, the mad scientist lab coat, the wild electrified-looking hair, Nikolai Technus has more then a passing resemblance to Doc Brown from a franchise Hartman has already sprinkled a few times throughout the series. Considering himself "free" the moment Danny accidentally opened the Fenton Portal that released him...or something (the reason behind that isn’t clear; maybe he thinks the Ghost Zone was like a prison to him, completely unaware of portals to the human world *shrugs*), he thanks the Ghost Child and is about to do nothing until Danny inadvertently placed the idea of world domination in his head. Geez, thanks.
Though Danny stopped him by sucking him into the Fenton Weasel, the machine overloaded, spreading his discarded goo everywhere. Eww. Technus’ expertise in the field of modern machinery caused his Ecto-remains to possess everything he was splattered to and with Danny having sold a load off via a garage sale; the impact was felt by a small group of Amity Park denizens. Danny was fortunately able to defeat him with Tucker's equally expert techno-wiz through his PDA and Sam's ability to get a computer upgrade for Tucker’s PDA at the last minute. Also, Technus liked to shout to the heavens a lot, that kinda helped. He lost, better luck next time.
He later entered the online video game world of "Doomed". Defeating it would give him wide access to the internet (I don't know if the writers meant this to be a part of the game's story since it's impossible to play an online game without being, ya know, online), so using his ghost powers; he bested every level, collecting nearly all the keys. Technus is eventually stopped because the trio Danny, Tucker, and Sam were much more game-savvy then he was. They give him a faith worse then death and trapped him in an inescapable glitch level.
Danny stupidly frees Technus AGAIN when he deleted an old copy of "Doomed", the one that housed the villainous loudmouth. Free to roam Amity Park, Technus took advantage of the Fenton RV and converted it into his own transportation of doom. Even worse, he gained an upgrade, rendering himself as Technus 2.0, now with pop-up blockers. He also got himself a different look. Oh, and he doesn’t shout so much any more. No, that’s Super Danny’s job. Danny (currently split in two) managed to get the job done by shoving it into the ocean. That didn’t stop Technus who later returned and invaded the Fenton household after the vehicle was returned to them by the authorities. Stretching mechanical legs, the house made a mad dash to destroy the city, but the argumentative Danny Duos put aside their differences to separate the ghost from the machine, sucking him into the Fenton Thermos, and saving the day once more.His final full appearance garnered him his most ambitious plan (of ever). Spotting Danny and Valerie’s growing attraction for one another, Technus plays up their romance in secret as distraction while he decodes a 10,000 firewall security that would let him gain access to a satellite that can control all the known computers of the whole damn globe. He barely succeeds by that time Valerie had confronted Danny Phantom, the former angry that he wasted her ghost hunter suit (which Technus possessed for added conflict). Giving her a new one to keep Danny distracted, Technus invades the satellite and nearly succeeds in turning the world to his whim. Danny had to simultaneously defeat him and wade off Valerie. Did he succeed? Well, what do you think?
Technus made cameos during the following: "Prisoners Of Love" where he was one of many captives held by Walker and his goons for some reason. Even more eye rising is that he’s in his robotic form instead of the mad scientist look. He later helped Danny and the others escape so that they may live (die?) to fight another day. He briefly appears in "Reign Storm" even though he’s logically not supposed to be, still trapped in the glitch level back in "Teacher of the Year". The animators got the note and stop showcasing him. He had an alternate future self in "The Ultimate Enemy" where he merged with Skulker to form Skultech 9.9. He was still very easily hackable. In "The Fright Before Christmas", he was one among many of Danny’s Rogue's Gallery that helped the temporarily fallen hero save Christmas. And in "Phantom Planet", he robs a technology good store and conjures a Carputer (yes, you read that right) that owned Danny ass until the Masters’ Blasters owned him. He also helped save both Earth and the Ghost Zone from the impact of an asteroid at the end.
PERSONALITY: One good look at him with his screeching monkey voice and eccentric mannerisms might lead you to think he’s some crazy buffoon. In reality the "Master" behind "Master of Technology" is all too appropriate. Technus’ easy command and sheer control over anything 21st century tech is unmatched and he takes pride in using them without hesitation.
But his arsenal of gizmos doesn’t outmatch his bolstering personality. Overconfident to a fault, Technus sprinkles his villain speeches and dramatic entrances/introductions with pomp and flair. He’s an excessive braggart who has a habit of not shutting up, even when he upgrades. Which is a shame, because Technus retains the smarts to one-up his plans in all his subsequent main appearance, successfully altering the world to his whims during his last, even if it lasted all up two minutes. In short, Technus may look and act like a fool, but he isn’t. He really, really isn’t.
In another time, he and Tucker could have gotten along very well. Not that way, unless you want it to.
OPINION: Oh, I love this guy. Not my favorite character, but a favorite villain. Rarely do the baddies every topped themselves in each appearance, but Technus did before relegating himself to cameos for the reminder of the series. That’s almost insulting, but I guess he really can’t top what he did in "Flirting with Disasters"—that was epic. He holds the honor of being one of Danny’s most frequent and deadly foes; the reason why he managed to outshine much of the villains’ central goal for world domination is purely by taking full advantage of his surroundings. Surroundings that happen to play a severe impact in the human world.
In our day and time, technology dominates much of our planet. Technus was coincidental enough to trigger what we rely on and use it against us. We slowly, but surely depend on the consistent growth and easy use of the elaborated tools. The world of WALL.E seems ideal to the kind of future we could have. Having a villain who’s that flexible with his chosen hobby that happens to systemically work all over Earth (and knows how they work!) is just begging for trouble. He has the means to access private information from all the known systems in the world; privacy that could be as simple as love affairs to guarded governmental files. He could alter television via satellites or launch missiles. The possibilities are endless!
Also, he kinda looks hot in his 2.0 garb. And he has a Gilbert Gottfried-ish voice which is the icing on the already lunatic cake. Technus may feel annoying, but then he chokes you with a computer wire. Now who’s doing the talking?
Back to the Characters PageArticle written revised in: May. 11, 2009
Layout design by OKami_hu, 2009