Orthia, Lindy2011-06-282011-06-28Public Understanding of Science. Prepublished on OnlineFirst, February 5, 20100963-6625http://hdl.handle.net/1885/7551Much of the public understanding of science literature dealing with fictional scientists claims that scientist villains by their nature embody an antiscience critique. I characterize this claim and its founding assumptions as the “mad scientist” trope. I show how scientist villain characters from the science fiction television series Doctor Who undermine the trope via the programme’s use of rhetorical strategies similar to Gilbert and Mulkay’s empiricist and contingent repertoires, which define and patrol the boundaries between “science” and “non-science.” I discuss three such strategies, including the literal framing of scientist villains as “mad.” All three strategies exclude the characters from science, relieve science of responsibility for their villainy, and overtly or covertly contribute to the delivery of pro-science messages consistent with rationalist scientism. I focus on scientist villains from the most popular era of Doctor Who, the mid 1970s, when the show embraced the gothic horror genre.18 pages... "5. Permission is also granted for you to post/make available electronically the abstract and up to 100% of the pre-publication version (the version of your paper as accepted for publication) of your Contribution and up to 50% only of the final (edited, revised and typeset) published text on the World Wide Web, provided the usual acknowledgements* [text for acknowledgement provided below] are given regarding copyright notice and reference to first publication by the Journal and SAGE, and provided this is not through a third party commercial provider, as all such requests for use of material from the Journal should be forwarded to the publisher. *Authors must include the following acknowledgement when posting the pre-publication version of the Contribution on the World Wide Web: 'This paper has been accepted for publication in Public Understanding of Science and the final (edited, revised and typeset) version of this paper will be published in Public Understanding of Science, Vol/Issue, Month/Year by Sage Publications Ltd, All rights reserved. © Sage Publications Ltd, year of publication.' " - from Journal Contributor's Publishing Agreement; author's email dated 23/12/2010contingent repertoires, Doctor Who, gothic horror, mad scientists, madness, rhetoric, trope2010-02-05/10.1177/09636625093558992015-12-10