Dr. Phillium "Phil" Benedict is the main antagonist in the 2001 Disney animated film, Recess: School's Out. Vowing to destroy Summer Vacation and create Permanent Winter in a lunar perigee in order to raise U.S. Test Scores, Phillium Benedict and his band of Anti-Recess Terrorists must first face T.J. Detweiler and his best friends.
Backstory
During the 1960s, Benedict was once Principal of Third Street Elementary and a former friend of Principal Prickly. While in his office Prickly proposed an idea of having classes outside the playground. Benedict liked the idea, however as his first official act as Principal he decided to get rid of recess. A shocked Prickly, tells him that recess is like a major play-in and is the one place where kids have their freedom. Benedict denies it, and tells him that recess is not going to help his career, and to do that kids will have to remain inside where they belong so test scores can go up, and that starting tomorrow he'll get rid of recess once and for all. When he tried to cancel recess, Prickly, with the intention of just trying to stop Benedict, unintentionally gained his position as Principal of 3rd Street Elementary School and Benedict was demoted to teacher as well as even Muriel Finster disagreeing with Benedict and calling off their relationship since she could never be with a man who doesn't love recess, causing him to develop a grudge against Prickly. Since then, Benedict quit teaching and went into politics, and then became Secretary of Education in order to carry out his recess cancellation crusade nationwide, but was fired by the President. Benedict eventually amassed an army of Ninjas and men dressed like Secret Service agents, as well as two lackies Fenwick and a scary-looking bald person, and was bent on eliminating Summer Vacation for good.
Role in the film
After stealing a Tractor Beam from a U.S. Military Base, Benedict and his henchmen took over 3rd Street Elementary School and used it as their home base, since it was closed for the summer, and since it was the last place on Earth authorities would look. He also rigged the lock of the school to shock and transport anyone carrying the keys into the school in case someone (i.e., Principal Prickly) did actually attempt to investigate, and had the scary-looking bald henchman pose as Prickly just to ensure no one got suspicious. He also had the scientists conduct frequent tests at the school involving miniature tractor beams in the Cafeteria, one of which TJ accidentally witnessed while fuming about how his summer was going. He also had the Auditorum altered to be the main control room for the tractor beam.
Benedict later claimed Prickly's office as his main office, which was fitting due to being a former principal. As the plan progresses, Benedict eventually had the first head scientist detained after the latter's attempt at moving the moon shut down unexpectedly due to the tractor beam having bugs in the system and promoted his second-in-command into the position. Shortly afterwards, T.J. and his gang ended up being forced to expose themselves due to Mikey having an unexpected and uncontrollable urge to belch, as well as the vents giving way to their weight. Though the gang manage to escape, T.J. was captured and imprisoned along with Prickly in the stock room. There, Benedict introduces himself and explains to both Prickly and T.J. that he was running a "night school", but they're not convinced. He eventually learned that T.J. and Prickly had managed to sneak into his office and found his walkie talkie, although not before T.J. alerted them that Benedict's plan was to get rid of summer vacation after stumbling on a mural (presumably painted by Benedict himself and/or his men) depicting the end of summer vacation.
The next day, Phillium summoned Prickly and T.J. into his office, where he explained how he planned to accomplish his goal: on Lunar Perigee (the time when the Moon's closest to the Earth on orbit), he will fire the tractor beam at the Moon to alter its orbit with the intention of causing the entire Earth to freeze over into an ice age and eliminate summer, thus eliminating summer vacation. He later explained that his main motivation for this was because the top three highest countries in the world with test scores (Canada, Iceland, and Norway) all had cold climate, which meant they couldn't play ball, so the only other method was to study in his mind. However, T.J. counters this by stating that the kids can do lots of fun on a cold climate, such as a snowball fight or camping in iglooes. Despite this, Benedict still plans to eliminate summer vacation once and for all, much to T.J. and Prickly's dismay. He then proceeds to have both T.J. and Prickly locked up in a cage to prevent them from interfering.
Fortunately for T.J. and Prickly, T.J.'s friends gathered up all of the students to help rescue them and reclaim the school; even Finster gathered up all the teachers and staff to help the students in fighting off Benedict's men during the final conflict. As the moon is about to enter Lunar Perigee, in a last-minute attempt, Benedict attempts to personally fire up the tractor beam, only to be stalled by Prickly, who furiously punches him in the face after making him believe that he has a spot on his tie. Despite this, Benedict still managed to activate the tractor beam after slumped by Prickly's punch, and Prickly is unable to reverse the process. Fortunately, T.J. threw his lucky baseball to Vince and had him throw it at the reactor core, destroying the tractor beam and the machine, much to Benedict's distraught. Gazing of what's left of the destroyed machine, Benedict yells out in agony over the failure of his plans, and both the students and teachers cheer for their victory of saving summer vacation. With his plans foiled, Benedict and his men end up being arrested by the authorities and sent to prison for their crimes; Benedict furiously tried to protest that he was a former Secretary of Education, only for the arresting policeman to sarcastically respond that he was also the "former Princess of Morocco."
Trivia
- Benedict is very similar to Hades from Hercules. Both villains are cruel, selfish, short tempered, and sarcastic. Ironically, both villains are voiced by James Woods.
- Ironically regarding Benedict's plan, another character James Woods voiced, Owlman in the DC animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, ended up warped to an alternate earth that underwent a permanent ice age in the climax by Batman, similar to the ultimate outcome of Benedict's anti-Recess plan.
- Benedict is similar to Prince John in many ways. They were both jealous of authority postion (Benedict wanted to be Principle, John wanted to be King). Their rivals were favored better (Benedict - the staff, students and the superintendent for Prickley. John - his mother and the citizens of Nottingham). They created poverty in the areas they ruled (Benedict tried to end recess while John taxed really high). They had similar sets of henchmen (Benedict: Ninjas, Scientists and Guards; John: Wolf, Arrowmen, Rhino Guards, Vultures, Elephant Trumpeters, Hippo Drummers and the executioner) including a right hand man whom they constantly ignore (Benedict, Fenwick and John, Sir Hiss) and head soldier (Benedict, Kojak; John, the Sherrif of Nottingham)
- The cane Benedict carried was similar to the one Goofy's toy factory boss had in "An Extremely Goofy Movie".
- Burt Reynolds was the original choice to voice Dr. Benedict, but was later dropped out of the film during production.
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