“ | Cabin boys should learn to mind their own business. | „ |
~ Scroop to Jim Hawkins upon their first meeting. |
“ | Oh, yes. Do say hello to Mr. Arrow. | „ |
~ Scroop's last words as he taunts Jim Hawkins in an attempt to kill him. |
Scroop is the secondary antagonist of Disney's 43rd animated feature-length film Treasure Planet, an adaptation of the late Robert Louis Stevenson's 1882 adventure novel Treasure Island.
He is a sadistic and bloodthirsty spider-like alien who is part of John Silver's pirate crew serving aboard the RLS Legacy. Like the rest of the crew, Scroop is hired by Dr. Delbert Doppler in looking for the legendary Treasure Planet to find Captain Flint's lost treasure, but unlike his fellow crewmembers, Scroop is the most open to employ lethal force even if unnecessary, developing a particular hatred for Jim Hawkins over the voyage and becoming his arch-nemesis.
He was voiced by Michael Wincott, who also played Top Dollar in The Crow, Armand Dorleac in The Count of Monte Cristo and the Prophet of Truth in Halo 2.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
Background/In General[]
- He served as part of John Silver's pirate crew, which was bent on finding the lost treasure of the fearsome Captain Flint hidden in the legendary Treasure Planet, but unlike the rest of the crew, including Silver, Scroop was the one most open to kill even when it wasn't a good time to do so and also risked blowing their cover.
- According to tie-in material, Scroop worked alongside Silver and Turnbuckle in several high seas adventures, even suggesting to hire Hands as their muscle, but it's unknown if Scroop cared for any of them or not, with the same material acknowledging that Scroop secretly resented Silver's authority over the crew and always looked for ways to undermine him, making Silver merely put up with him due to being a very capable seaman.
- He is the most heinous villain in the movie, with John Silver failing the baseline due to avoiding unnecessary cruelty and Captain Flint not having a confirmed kill count.
- Although he has a few comedic moments, like when Morph comically tries to stop him from attempting to kill Jim, these moments are very brief and he’s taken entirely seriously otherwise.
Treasure Planet[]
- He joined the crew of the RLS Legacy ship for the authorized government expedition funded by Dr. Delbert Doppler to find Treasure Planet with the intentions to launch a mutiny alongside Silver and their fellow mutineers to take over the ship and claim the treasure for themselves.
- He took a murderous dislike for Jim Hawkins (who was the one who deciphered the map to the planet), just because he eavesdropped the crew talking about their mutiny while mopping the ship's floor under Silver's orders solely out of boredom, leading him to threaten Hawkins into minding his own business and then try to kill him just because Jim taunted him back, only failing due to Silver's intervention.
- Immediately afterwards, First Mate Mr. Arrow reprimanded Scroop for his behavior and Scroop looked on the verge of attacking Arrow if not for Silver silently ordering him to not blow their cover, relenting temporarily while subtly hinting at his intentions to get back at Arrow.
- He incited Silver to handle Jim to make sure he doesn't discover their true intentions after the commotion they caused, even though it was his own fault Mr. Arrow nearly discovered their true plans.
- While he did work alongside the crew to save everyone from a supernova and a black hole, this was out of survival and pragmatism as both the star and supernova were more dangerous then he ever could be and even threatened the mutiny.
- He seized the opportunity to get revenge on Mr. Arrow for scolding him by sadistically cutting the latter's lifeline in half while trying to make the RLS Legacy escape from a storm of asteroids, sending Arrow to be horrifyingly sucked to his death inside a black hole.
- He would later go on to pin the blame on Jim by lying to Captain Amelia that Arrow's lifeline wasn't secured just to emotionally spite the boy while feigning sadness, despite knowing Jim had nothing to do with Mr. Arrow's death.
- Moreover, he committed this act without even bothering to ask for Silver's approval, showing he has no loyalty toward the latter.
- When the crew were demanding to move prematurely, he suggested to kill all of the remaining non-pirates aboard (consisting of Jim Hawkins, Captain Amelia and Delbert Doppler) to incite them to do so, only failing to follow through with this due to Silver putting him in his place by choking and threatening him for killing Mr. Arrow before throwing him against a barrel of purps.
- He tried to turn his fellow mutineers against Silver after spying on him and realizing he has a soft-spot for Hawkins by taunting Silver on whether or not he really cares about Jim in an attempt to overthrow him, forcing Silver to deny this (hurting Jim greatly) to avoid being "gutted" as he later explained to Jim.
- This would also indirectly lead to Jim poking a hole in Silver's cyborg leg, giving him pain and injuring him to the point he had to use a cane temporarily, as result this caused Silver to start the mutiny early which indirectly led to Amelia being injured.
- He assisted his fellow mutineers in their attempt to take over the RLS Legacy and kill Jim, Dr. Doppler and Amelia with their own guns.
- When Jim returned to the Legacy in order to retrieve the map that Morph had tricked him into leaving behind, he seized the opportunity to kill him for his own sadism by chasing him through the whole ship, only stopping because of Jim's threat to shoot him.
- He knocked Morph into one of the ship's pipes for trying to stop him from killing Jim while fully aware of his sapience.
- When B.E.N. accidentally deactivated the lighting, he took advantage of it by hiding above Jim and waiting for the lights to be re-activated to take him by surprise and kill him, only failing due to Morph's intervention.
- He tried to finish Jim off when B.E.N. accidentally deactivated the ship's artificial gravity by replicating Arrow's death via slowly cutting off the pirate flag's rope to send Jim floating into the vacuum of space to suffocate to death, sadistically asking him to "say hello" to Mr. Arrow in the process.
- Although his fate of being kicked into space by Jim is very brutal and dreadful, it is entirely played for karma and satisfaction as he deserved it for his actions.
- Despite his low kill count, he stands out due to his brutal way of killing Mr. Arrow and his personal villainy towards Jim given he blamed him for Mr. Arrow's death to push him into despair along with actively trying to stir the crew into a murder frenzy against the non-pirates aboard with this being stopped solely due to Silver keeping them in check.
- Plus, his motive for killing Mr. Arrow is incredibly petty as the reason he killed him is because he reprimanded him for attempting to kill Jim while his reason for trying to ruin Jim's life and kill him is all because he insulted him back out of rightful spite.
Trivia[]
- To highlight his Pure Evil status, Treasure Planet: A Voyage of Discovery fittingly describes Scroop as "the ultimate in soulless evil and treachery", as well as a "loose cannon and psychopath" whom John Silver is always wary of.
- It's theorized that Scroop may have been among the pirates that helped John Silver to chase Billy Bones until he died and break into Benbow's Inn in search of Treasure Planet's map only to then burn it down in an attempt to kill Jim Hawkins, his mother Sarah and Delbert Doppler. If this were confirmed, it would make Scroop even worse.
- Scroop is an exceptional case of a Pure Evil villain who, because of his act of sending someone through a black hole, quite literally crosses the Moral Event Horizon.
External Links[]
- Scroop on the Villains Wiki
- Scroop on the Disney Wiki