Professor_challenger

Professor Challenger (sitting) as illustrated by Harry Rountree in Arthur Conan Doyle\'s short story "The Poison Belt" in Strand Magazine.

George Edward Challenger, better known as Professor Challenger, is a fictional character in a series of science fiction stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Unlike Conan Doyle\'s laid-back, analytic character ,Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger is an aggressive, dominating figure. Edward Malone, the narrator of The Lost World, the novel in which Challenger first appeared, described his first meeting with the character:

His appearance made me gasp. I was prepared for something strange, but not for so overpowering a personality as this. It was his size, which took one\'s breath away-his size and his imposing presence. His head was enormous, the largest I have ever seen upon a human being. I am sure that his top hat, had I ventured to don it, would have slipped over me entirely and rested on my shoulders. He had the face and beard, which I associate with an Assyrian bull; the former florid, the latter so black as almost to have a suspicion of blue, spade-shaped and rippling down over his chest. The hair was peculiar, plastered down in front in a long, curving wisp over his massive forehead. The eyes were blue-grey under great black tufts, very clear, very critical, and very masterful. A huge spread of shoulders and a chest like a barrel were the other parts of him which appeared above the table, save for two enormous hands covered with long black hair. This and a bellowing, roaring, rumbling voice made up my first impression of the notorious Professor Challenger.

He was also a pretentious and self-righteous scientific jack-of-all-trades. Although considered by Malone\'s editor, Mr McArdle, to be "just a homicidal megalomaniac with a turn for science", his ingenuity could be counted upon to solve any problem or get out of any unsavoury situation, and be sure to offend and insult several other people in the process. Challenger was, in many ways, rude, crude, and without social conscience or inhibition. Yet he was a man capable of great loyalty and his love of his French wife was all encompassing.

Like Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger was based on a real person — in this case, a Professor Rutherford, who had lectured at Conan Doyle\'s medical school.

Contents 1 Fictional biography 1.1 Early years 2 Books 2.1 By Arthur Conan Doyle 2.2 By other authors 3 Professor Challenger on screen and stage 4 External links 5 References

Fictional biography

Early years

According to The Lost World, the character was born in Largs, a village in Strathclyde, Scotland, in 1863. He studied at Edinburgh University, where he studied Medicine, Zoology and Anthropology.

Books

By Arthur Conan Doyle

• 1912- The Lost World, which describes an expedition to a plateau in South America where prehistoric creatures including dinosaurs still survive.
• 1913 - The Poison Belt, in which the earth passes through a cloud of poisonous ether.
• 1926 - The Land of Mists, a story of the supernatural, reflecting the strong belief in Spiritualism Conan Doyle developed later in life.
• 1928 - When the World Screamed, on Challenger\'s World Echidna theory.

By other authors

• Sherlock Holmes\' War of the Worlds: Manly Wade Wellman and Wade Wellman. A slightly anachronistic romp, in which Sherlock Holmes and Challenger oppose H. G. Wells\' Martian hordes and one of Holmes\' old enemies. Holmes is the hero, but Challenger plays a major part.

• Osamu Tezuka published in 1948 a manga version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle\'s The Lost World. Tezuka\'s manga, however, is a Lost World unlike any other. Not an adaptation, this is a complete re-imagining of the story. There have been several other comic adaptations of Professor Challenger\'s exploits, but not too many and none that were particularly widespread and well known.

• Return to the Lost World: Nicholas Nye. A sequel set a year later than The Lost World, which almost ignores the dinosaurs in favour of a plot involving parapsychology, an extremely odd version of evolutionary theory, and ancient technology in the style of Chariots of the Gods. While Conan Doyle\'s Challenger is a foe of scientific fraud, this novel begins with him preparing a scientific fake.^{[citation needed]}

• Challenger, alongside Nikola Tesla, plays a major role in two of Ralph Vaughan\'s four Sherlock Holmes/H. P. Lovecraft crossovers, The Adventure of the Dreaming Detective (1992) and Sherlock Holmes and the Terror Out of Time (2001). Sherlock Holmes Pastiche Characters - C Sherlock Holmes Pastiche Story Summaries - V

• Dinosaur Summer: Greg Bear. Thirty years after Professor Challenger discovered Dinosaurs in Venezuela, Dinosaur Circuses have become popular and are slipping out of the spotlight. The one remaining dinosaur circus makes a bold move to return their dinosaurs to the Tepuye plateau. Challenger himself never appears, but the protagonist\'s son attended Challenger High School.

• Theaker, Stephen (2000). Professor Challenger in Space. Silver Age Books. ISBN 0953765008.  In this sequel Professor Summerlee, Lord Roxton and the narrator Malone accompany Challenger on a journey to the moon, in a desperate bid to save the people of Ell Ka-Mar, who have crowned Challenger their king.

• Challenger makes a guest appearance in the 2nd Plateau of Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari\'s post-structuralist philosophical text A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, in which he gives a lecture.

• Professor Challenger and his companions are said to play a role in the upcoming The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series. According to writer Alan Moore, Challenger had a lifelong friendship with the zoologist Dr. Dolittle.

• The Gorilla Comics series Section Zero, written by Karl Kesel, featured a scientific genius named Titania "Doc" Challenger, implied to be Professor Challenger\'s descendent.

• Cult Holmes: The Lost World: In this BBC 7 Cult Holmes story, Holmes is investigating the damage done by Challenger in bringing dinosaurs over from the Plateau. Interestingly, Malone\'s version of events is referred to as if it had been the version of events in the BBC TV adaptation of The Lost World, rather than the novel.

Bob Hoskins as Professor Challenger from the 2001 BBC adaptation The Lost World.

Professor Challenger on screen and stage

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the first person to portray Professor Challenger, dressing up as the professor for the photographs included in The Lost World\'s initial publication.

Wallace Beery played Challenger in the classic 1925 film version of The Lost World.

Claude Rains played him in the 1960 film version.

John Rhys-Davies was Challenger in the 1992 film version and its sequel (from the same year), Return to the Lost World.

Patrick Bergin played the angry professor in the 1998 film version.

Peter McCauley played G.E. Challenger in the 1999-2002 television series.

Bruce Boxleitner also played Challenger in the 2005 film King of the Lost World.

A 2001 TV movie adaptation with Bob Hoskins portraying Professor Challenger. Airing in the UK over Christmas Day and Boxing Day in 2001, it was the first British film adaptation. Directed by Christopher Hall and Tim Haines, producers of the BBC\'s dinosaur documentary Walking with Dinosaurs, the BBC/A&E version adds a female member of the expedition, the ward of an unsympathetic Christian missionary.

External links

• An article on Conan Doyle\'s The Lost World - in easy-to-read HTML format.
• The Lost World
• "The Poison Belt"
• The Land of Mist
• "The Disintegration Machine"
• "When the World Screamed"

References

v â€¢ d â€¢ e Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes	A Study in Scarlet (1887)  Â· The Sign of Four (1890)  Â· The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)  Â· The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)  Â· The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)  Â· The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1904)  Â· The Valley of Fear (1914)  Â· His Last Bow (1917)  Â· The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)  Â·
Professor Challenger	The Lost World (1912)  Â· The Poison Belt (1913)  Â· The Land of Mist (1926)  Â· The Disintegration Machine (1927)  Â· When the World Screamed (1928)  Â·
Notable other works	Micah Clarke (1888)  Â· The White Company (1891)  Â· Sir Nigel (1906)  Â· J. Habakuk Jephson\'s Statement (1884)  Â· The Mystery of Cloomber (1889)  Â· The Firm of Girdlestone (1890)  Â· The Parasite (1894)  Â· The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1903)  Â· The Maracot Deep (1929)
Other	Charles Altamont Doyle  Â· Richard Doyle  Â· John Doyle  Â· The Great Wyrley Outrages  Â· Spiritualism (religious movement)  Â·

v â€¢ d â€¢ e The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Creators	Alan Moore • Kevin O\'Neill • Bill Oakley
Volumes	Volume I • Volume II • Black Dossier • Volume III: Century • Tales
Other Stories	Allan and the Sundered Veil • The New Traveller\'s Almanac
Main League Members	Thomas Carnacki • Professor George Edward Challenger • Hawley Griffin • Fanny Hill • Mr. Edward Hyde/Dr. Henry Jekyll • Miss Mina Murray • Captain Nemo • Orlando • Prospero • Allan Quatermain • Allan Quatermain, Jr. • A. J. Raffles
Associated Individuals	Campion Bond • Jimmy Bond • John Carter of Mars • Randolph Carter • Mycroft Holmes • Ishmael • Lt. Gullivar Jones • Fu Manchu • Martians • Professor James Moriarty • Sal Paradise • The Time Traveller
Adaptation	The Film • The Novelization• The Soundtrack • Stephen Norrington • James Dale Robinson • Kevin J. Anderson • Dorian Gray • Tom Sawyer • Rodney Skinner
Miscellaneous	Jess Nevins • The Timeline • The World • Character List • The History of the League • Nautilus • British Museum Secret Annexe • M

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