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Monsters vs. Aliens is one of the lesser-known properties under the belt of Dreamworks Studios. The studio is known primarily for its several long-running properties like Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek, and Kung Fu Panda.
The premise of this animated show is as eccentric as it sounds and features a group of bizarre-looking entities (monsters). The entities are employed as Earth's last line of defense against an extraterrestrial invasion.
Over the years, the film Monsters vs. Aliens (and its spinoff TV show) has garnered dedicated fans who have grown to love the weird cast of characters, each stranger than the last. Among them is Dr. Cockroach, PhD, a mad scientist archetype who has the features and abilities of a cockroach.
What is Roach's backstory in Monsters vs. Aliens?
Dr. Herbert Cockroach (voiced by Hugh Laurie) is the brains of a group of colorful characters in Monsters vs. Aliens. The group includes a sentient blob of jelly, a hybrid "missing link" among animals, a woman mutated by an alien meteorite, and a gigantic larvae.
Originally, Dr. Cockroach was a brilliant inventor and scientist who created a device seeking to lend humans the abilities of a cockroach, including their invulnerability. In other words, this human will be able to survive forever and effectively be immortal.
However, as Dr. Cockroach (or Roach) tested the device on himself, he found it had strange side effects. These included mutating the user into a being with the head of a cockroach even though he remained in his human size. While retaining his brilliant IQ, Dr. Cockroach gained the additional abilities of climbing walls and digesting garbage.
Dr. Cockroach from Monsters vs. Aliens is a parody of the character of Andre Delambre, who appeared in The Fly (1958). In that show, a mad scientist attempted to create a teleporter to merge his atoms with those of a fly. His animated human appearance is based on the actor Vincent Price, who starred in the role of Francis Delambre, Andrew's brother.
What is Dr. Cockroach's role in Monsters vs. Aliens?
Because his appearance technically classified him as a monster, Dr. Cockroach was captured in 1962 by secret government agencies. He was imprisoned in the monster prison of Araea Fifty-Something.
The name of this prison also served as a humorous nod to the conspiracy theories surrounding UFOs and the mysterious goings-on in the government base of Area 51. Here, Dr. Cockroach is one of the monsters who greets Ginormica, the protagonist of Monsters vs. Aliens, when she is brought to the prison.
He is also one of the monsters, along with B.O.B. and The Missing Link, who accompany Ginormica to fight the giant extraterrestrial robot that appeared in San Francisco. He is seen consoling Ginormica after her relatives from her past life abandon her and her fiancé breaks off their wedding. Dr. Cockroach plays an important role in the finale of the film, where he sets the alien ship to self-destruct after the monsters rescue Ginormica.
All the monsters appear in the final scene of Monsters vs. Aliens, content with their monstrosity, as they celebrate their new life. Dr. Cockroach also appears in the spinoff television series, where he is voiced by Chris O'Dowd.
Dr. Cockroach and the rest of the cast of Monsters vs. Aliens are the prototypical eccentric bunch of colorful characters that fans have come to love. They have also come to expect such characters from Dreamworks' other properties like Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon.
