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| “ | Phineas T. Ratchet: Great! I did just what you told me. No more spare parts. In a couple of weeks, all those broken-down losers out there are going to be nothing but scrap metal! You will be up to your bloomers in broken, outmode junk! Madame Gasket: Such a good boy. And after you finish off Bigweld, there will be nobody out there to fix them. |
„ |
| ~ Madame Gasket to Phineas T. Ratchet about their plans. |
| “ | What are you doing?! Oh, get off me! Let me go! Do as I say! Get OFF! | „ |
| ~ Madame Gasket's last words to Ratchet before heading to the furnace, causing her to explode to death. |
| “ | As soon as we're done with you, these hit the streets! | „ |
| ~ Madame Gasket to Rodney and his friends after revealing her upgraded fleet of Super Sweepers, and her villainous genocidal plan to release the Super Sweepers on Robot City, killing the lower-class population as a result. |
Madame Gasket is the main antagonist of Blue Sky Studios' 2nd full-length animated feature film Robots, which is based on numerous works of the film's producer William Joyce.
She is the mysterious leader and boss of the Chop Shop who plans on taking over Bigweld Industries in order for her to make money out of upgrade-converted outmodes. She is also Phineas T. Ratchet's mother and Bigweld's arch-nemesis.
She was voiced by Jim Broadbent, who also portrayed Boss Tweed in Gangs of New York, Wackford Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby, Lord Kelvin in Around the World from 80 Days, Batman in Spider Plant-Man, Frank Butterman in Hot Fuzz and Lord Thomas Badgley in Dolittle.
Physical Appearance[]
Madame Gasket is a fearsome-looking robot with glowing yellow eyes and a metal unibrow. She has a claw for her right hand and a sharp, pincer-like weapon for her left. She travels on three large wheels that are hidden under the rest of her body. The top of her head appears to be some kind of motor with saw blades in it, which is always spewing out smoke. Because of her unnatural appearance, many other robots (namely Fender) mistake Madame Gasket for a man. Ratchet is embarrassed about her looks. She has a set of wires with a harness (resembling suspenders) which she uses to get around the Chop Shop that seem to work similar to that of the strings of a marionette puppet.
Personality[]
| “ | Bigweld: Gasket, you're a sick, twisted, evil robot. Madame Gasket: I try. (laughing maniacally) |
„ |
| ~ Madame Gasket about to kill Bigweld. |
Madame Gasket is the power-hungry and diabolical mastermind behind the plan to kill off "outmodes". She is shown to be a truly greedy, ruthless, hot-tempered, vituperative, psychotic and manipulative individual. She has her son named Ratchet to execute her plan by tempting him with the thought of more money and less rusty robots. It is unknown what she has against outmodes as she could easily be considered one herself due to her appearance, let alone why she didn't bother to upgrade herself to reinforce such prejudice. Madame Gasket is also the head of an underground factory called the Chop Shop, which melts down discarded scrap metal (and in some cases, outmodes who are still alive) to turn into ingots for upgrades. She has no problem with killing off other robots, as she tried to have Bigweld dumped into the Chop Shop's furnace, and having her army of robot workers to turn Rodney and the other outmodes into scrap metal.
Although she is extremely sinister, loathsome, malevolent, destructive and unscrupulous, Madame Gasket does have a soft, honest, motherly, optimistic, affectionate and delighted side, which can be seen whenever Ratchet is around (which is also her only redeeming quality). She genuinely cares for him as she gave him a framed picture of herself captioned "World's Best Mom" and praised him when he agreed to help carry out her plan. Ratchet later presented her with an army of shiny, upgraded sweepers to use for killing outmodes, much to her compassionate and enthusiastic delight. Also, shortly before her death, she told Ratchet, albeit harshly, to get off of her so he can save himself, even though she was going to die in the furnace.
Biography[]
Madame Gasket is first seen running her Chop Shop. She is seen flying around on her metal wires, inspecting the establishment's production. She halts all of her henchbots' work to tell them that it's break time, only to end it seconds later and laugh to herself. She notices her son entering and greets him. He tells her that he's done exactly as she tasked him; removing all spare parts from stores and only supplying upgrades. He tells her that all the broken down robots will soon be scrap metal, and she will be "up to her bloomers in broken outmode junk". She is delighted to hear this, and reminds him that once he finishes off Bigweld, there will be nobody out there to fix him. Ratchet is confused, asking her to repeat what she had just said. She has a sudden outburst, calls him an idiot, and tells him that it's possible that he could decide to return.
He tells her that he should be no trouble where he is, and her response was to tell him to "grow some bolts". She gives him the alternative of ending up like his father, picks him up, and shows him his father being hung on the ceiling by chains (they both exchange hellos). She also tells him that there would be benefits to this, exciting him with the thought of renaming the company to "Ratchet Industries" and the city to "Ratchet City". He agrees, and they celebrate together, dancing as the camera pans upward. After their celebration, she asks him if she could make him something because he looked thin. He denies it, telling her he has to go, and bids both his parents goodbye.
She is seen again later while Ratchet is being given a massage in his office. He asks the massager to scratch his back, and she is replaced by his mother, scratching him with her sharp robot finger. He is surprised to see her, and she tells him she climbed up through the vents because he knows he doesn't like anyone to see her (which left a body-shaped hole in the wall). He asks her what she wants and she tells him that someone is fixing the outmodes. She tells him that they're laughing at him, he asks who and if she's sure they're laughing at him and not with him. She says yes, and he asks her what the big deal is, she tells him to use the brains that she had stolen for him so that he could conclude that this will lead to everyone thinking that it's OK to fix themselves and that they won't need upgrades, which would take Ratchet out of the picture. He tells her that he needed to find out who this is and stop him, Gasket correcting him and telling him that whoever is doing this needs to be crushed. She adds that she brought something for his desk; that being a photo in a heart frame that said "world's best mom".
After Fender was swept up in the streets, he is seen being brought to the Chop Shop and trying to be chopped by Gasket's minions. He gets caught on a spring and ends up dangling off an edge, observing Ratchet bring in his mother for a surprise. He opened up a giant door in the wall to reveal brand-new, much more destructive Super Sweepers that were ready to ship out. She hugged him and told him no mother has ever had a better son. He adds that he found out who had been fixing the outmodes, adding that he would have these chop up the perpetrator as well. They share an evil laugh when Fender got himself stuck on a gear, grabbing their attention. They go to grab him but he lets go and flies towards a chopping machine, making Gasket utter another maniacal laugh.
Gasket is later heard talking to her son on the phone. He was arguing that he had Bigweld's execution under control, just before Bigweld bust through the door.
A series of events led them on a chase which had the gang land in the Chop Shop area, having Bigweld accidentally roll into it. Bigweld is seen having been put into a giant bucket, and was about to be dumped into the furnace. He told Madame Gasket she was a sick, twisted, evil robot, responding by telling him that she tries. The machine came to a sudden stop, Gasket looking in a confused expression towards the cause. This turned out to be Rodney and Wonderbot. One by one Rodney's friends appear with the upgrades he had given them from spare parts around the Chop Shop. Madame Gasket greets them as company, and concludes that he was the bot causing all of the trouble.
She then asks who the rest of them were, Fender beginning to address her as "sir" but discussing them when she told them she was a woman. He tells her that they came there to stop her, and that she didn't stand a chance because there was one of her and seven of them. She responds with her minions revealing themselves from behind her. Fender begins counting them, becoming frustrated, and so she tells him while he's at it to count the Super Sweepers, which would become operational after she dealt with them, rising into the air on her wires as she did so. An army of allies reveals themselves, and they all charge at each other.
Gasket tries to grab Rodney as he flies by on Wonderbot. During the fight, she goes to free the pipe that stopped Bigweld from falling into the incinerator, but Bigweld was being helped by Rodney to get free. Wonderbot approached her and got ready to fight her, at first falling to the ground out of nervousness but then rising back up holding a pipe. They sword-fought with pipe, traveling all over while Rodney struggled to get Bigweld free, until he finally did. Sometime later, Madame Gasket eventually gained the higher ground, knocking Wonderbot down with her pipe. Wonderbot rose back up in anger, wrapped his tentacles around her pipe, and swung her around until she was flung away. While she was being flung, Ratchet was struggling to find something to stop him from falling to the ground as the Super Sweeper he was on had just been knocked over. He grabbed onto Madame Gasket, and they both headed towards the furnace. She demanded he get off of her, and he jumped off upon seeing the furnace. This caused her to be pushed forward and flung inside of it, blowing her body to pieces.
Quotes[]
| “ | Madame Gasket: All right, break time. Workers: Huh? Madame Gasket: All right, break time's over. Chop, chop. (workers groaning) Madaem Gasket: (cackling and then gasps) Look who's here. Phineas T. Ratchet: Hi, Mom. Madame Gasket: Hi, sweetie. How's my boy? Phineas T. Ratchet: Great! I did just what you told me. No more spare parts. In a couple of weeks, all those broken-down losers out there are going to be nothing but scrap metal. You will be up to your bloomers in broken, outmode junk! Madame Gasket: Such a good boy. And after you finish off Bigweld, there will be nobody out there to fix them. Phineas T. Ratchet: Exactly! You... you want to swing that one by me again? Madame Gasket: Idiot! Those outmodes look up to him. Suppose he decides to come back. Phineas T. Ratchet: Aw, come on, Mom. He's not going to be any trouble where he is. Madame Gasket: What are you afraid of?! Grow some bolts. Or do you want to end up like your father? Monsoir Ratchet: Hey, son, good to see you. Madame Gasket: Think what it would mean. Not Bigweld Industries-- Ratchet Industries. Phineas T. Ratchet: Keep talking. Madame Gasket: Ratchet City! Phineas T. Ratchet: Yes, everything.... shiny. (laughing manically) Madame Gasket: No more Bigweld... ...no more outmode! Phineas T. Ratchet: Let's do it! Madame Gasket: That's my boy! Tom Waits: ♪ All the trucks unload, Beyond the gopher holes... ♪ (both laughing) Madame Gasket: Are you hungry? Can I get you something? You look thin. Phineas T. Ratchet: No, no, no, Mom. I gotta go. Bye. Oh, bye, Pop. Monsoir Ratchet: So long, son. Good luck with your dastardly plans. |
„ |
| ~ Madame Gasket and Ratchet about their plans to take over Bigweld City. |
| “ | Phineas T. Ratchet: (moaning) Oh, yeah. I have never felt so relaxed. Say, do you mind giving me a little scratch between the shoulder blades? Ah, there you g... Aah! Easy, tiger. Oh! Hey, take it easy! Hey, what are trying to do, kill... (yells) Madame Gasket: Relax, it's me, your mommy. Phineas T. Ratchet: How did you get in here?! Madame Gasket: I came up the air shaft. I know you don't like anybody here to see me. Phineas T. Ratchet: Well, what do you want? Madame Gasket: Someone's fixing them! Phineas T. Ratchet: What? Madame Gasket: Someone is repairing outmodes! And they are laughing at you! Phineas T. Ratchet: Who? And are you sure they're not laughing with me? Madame Gasket: Yes. Ratchet: Oh, so what if one crazy fanatic repairs a few outmodes? Who cares? Madame Gasket: Think. Use those brains I stole for you. Today it's one-- what about tomorrow when everybody gets the idea this is okay? "We can fix ourselves. We don't need upgrades. We want Bigweld." Then what happens to you?! Phineas T. Ratchet: Okay, okay, take it easy. We've got to find out who this is and stop him. Madame Gasket: Not stop him-- destroy him, crush him! And by the way, I brought you a little something for your desk. |
„ |
| ~ Ratchet and Madame Gasket about their plans to kill Rodney. |
| “ | Phineas T. Ratchet: Okay, Mother, this way. Madame Gasket: Oh, let me look, please! (Fender gasps) I can't bear it! Phineas T. Ratchet: No peeking, now. It's a surprise. Madame Gasket: Oh, you are a wicked boy! Ratchet: And... look! (A Super Sweeper appears) Madame Gasket: (gasps) For me? Phineas T. Ratchet: It's got a full tank of gas. If you're ready to mow, she's ready to go. Madame Gasket: Has any mother ever had a better son! Phineas T. Ratchet: Oh, by the way, I found out who's been fixing those outmodes. So starting tomorrow, these babies are going to chop him up along with all his broken-down buddies and every other walking pile of junk I'm sick of looking at. (both laughing) |
„ |
| ~ Ratchet and Madame Gasket revealing an upgraded Super Sweeper for the first time, which would kill Rodney and the Rusties, as well as the lower-class population of Robot City. |
| “ | Madame Gasket: Oh, good! Company! So, you're the little glob of tin who's been making all the trouble. Who are these losers?! Fender: We sir... Madame Gasket: I'm a woman. Crank: Ouch. |
„ |
| ~ Madame Gasket meeting Rodney and his friends for the first and final time, later correcting Fender that she's a woman. |
| “ | Crank: Uh, whoa, whoa. Fender: There's seven of us and eight, nine... Crank: Uh, did you count that one? Fender: I think so. Would you all stop moving around?! This is so frustrating! I think I counted one of you twice! Madame Gasket: While you're at it, count these. (Rodney and the gang see Super-Sweepers coming from both sides) |
„ |
| ~ Madame Gasket revealing her upgraded fleet of Super Sweepers, and her villainous genocidal plan to release the Super Sweepers on Robot City, killing the lower-class population as a result, after Fender tries to count Madame Gasket's workers. |
Trivia[]
- It is unknown why or how she became evil or why she is against outmodes, especially since she is presumably outmoded herself. The same even goes to her not bothered to upgrade herself like her son does.
- She is described by Chris Wedge as "a constantly disappointed, horror of a mother".
- Despite being a female, she was voiced by the British male actor Jim Broadbent.
- Despite appearing in some posters of the film, her voice actor, Jim Broadbent, isn't credited in any of them.
- Gasket is the first antagonist of a Blue Sky Studios film who is a parent.
- Gasket is so far the only villainous animated character to be voiced by Jim Broadbent.
- Gasket is the only main antagonist in Blue Sky Studios' active history to not be biological, as she's a robot.
- Her headdress is inspired by that of the Duchess in Alice in Wonderland.
External Links[]
- Madame Gasket on the Robots Wiki
- Madame Gasket on the Near Pure Evil Wiki
- Madame Gasket on the Villains Wiki
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 Villains
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Animated Features Live-Action Features Animated Television Live-Action Television Video Games See Also | ||
 Villains
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