Dilbert (character)

Dilbert
Dilbert character
A signed "Scott Adams" Dilbert Animation Cell
Created by	Scott Adams
Portrayed by	Daniel Stern (TV series)
Information
Species	Human
Gender	Male

Dilbert is a fictional character and the main character and protagonist of the Dilbert comic strip. He is a white collar office worker who has a rare medical condition characterized by an extreme intuition about all things mechanical and electrical (and utter social ineptitude), an idea that was explored in the animated television episode titled "The Knack". He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Although his ideas are typically sensible and occasionally even revolutionary, they are seldom carried out because of his powerlessness. He is easily frustrated by the incompetence and/or malevolance of his co-workers (most often the Pointy-Haired Boss) and is often sarcastic and snide. Dilbert's unusual name was suggested to Scott Adams by a co-worker; Adams later found that the name likely came from a cartoon character used by the United States Navy during World War II.^[1][2]

In an interview with The New York Times^[3] Adams said that he based Dilbert's character on someone he knew, saying: "I worked around engineers for most of my 16 years of corporate life. Dilbert is actually designed after one person in particular. Interestingly, that person is not aware that he is the model for Dilbert. I didn’t know him well and never mentioned it to him."

Relationship with other characters

Dilbert lives with his pets, Dogbert and Ratbert, and the three dinosaurs Bob, Rex, and Dawn, in an unnamed American suburb (though in the TV series, during Dilbert's pregnancy saga, aliens on the highway following Dilbert along with a host of others crash into a sign that says "Townbert", and in episode 3, Lena's car has a licence plate with Minnesota on it), although only Dogbert is regularly seen (as well as Ratbert to a lesser degree). Dilbert often interacts with his co-workers, most commonly including Alice, Wally and Asok (and in the TV series, Loud Howard). He is currently single and has few friends as a result of his poor social skills, although he has been on many dates and was in a relationship with a woman named Liz for two years between 1994 and 1996, and appears to be on decent-enough terms with most of the aforementioned co-workers. While he is frequently seen having dates with eligible women, the dates almost invariably end in disaster, usually in surreal and bizarre ways. Dilbert has only two notable friends, Dogbert and Wally, though Wally once told him "don't flatter yourself" when Dilbert referred to him as a friend and Dogbert has alluded to staying around Dilbert out of amusement concerning Dilbert's suffering (and because the coffee is good). Dogbert will play jokes and even be cruel to Dilbert, but like all faithful dogs, he will not tolerate anyone else doing this to him. Dilbert treats the Pointy-Haired Boss like the plague and has very little loyalty towards him or the company for obvious reasons. Dilbert can often predict exactly how and when the boss will doom the current assignment. Dilbert loves computers and technology, and will spend much of his free time playing with such things. Most of his relationships with his co-workers and family are affected by his extreme sincerity, his endless but justifiable complaining, and his humorless dry wit. Although he is an excellent worker, and does not stop trying, he acknowledges that this will get him nowhere.

Family

Dilbert's mother appears once in a while in the comic and the animated series. While apparently a great Scrabble player, she has been accused of cheating in many strips (and in the animated series) with "counterfeit vowels". In the series, she dances on the table top when she wins a game. She often misinterprets what Dilbert's job is, sometimes thinking he works at a railroad or that he is in the typewriter repair business and often degrading his achievements. She occasionally reveals herself to have surprisingly detailed knowledge about computer technology, further belittling Dilbert. Several fans have dubbed her "Dilmom". but she is only referenced as this in the TV series episode "Hunger".

Dilbert's father never appears in the strip, as he has spent his life since Christmas 1992 (1979 in the TV series) at a 24-hour "All-You-Can-Eat" restaurant in the mall (he will not leave until it is all he can eat.) He can be seen in the episode "The Gift" in the animated series, although his face is never shown, he appears to be overweight, with a gray fishing hat and a sweatshirt, also gray. In that same episode, the restaurant is revealed to be a seafood diner named "The Red Oyster" (a play on Red Lobster).

In the animated series, Dilbert became pregnant via a disastrous science experiment and gave birth to a hillbilly-robot-alien-bovine-billionaire-engineer hybrid baby. The baby seems to immediately have clothes that resemble Dilbert's (including his tie). He was then rocketed to Krypton, where Jor-El and Lara await the baby's arrival, thanks to mail by Dogbert.

Physical appearance

Dilbert usually has no visible mouth or eyes. In more recent strips the mouth has been drawn on occasions when Dilbert is eating, furious, nervous, or in agony. In the television series (where he is voiced by Daniel Stern), his mouth is drawn only when he is speaking. Dogbert looks very much like Dilbert, with glasses and no mouth; his mouth likewise appears when he is speaking in the animated series.

In nearly every strip, Dilbert's tie is curved upward. While Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, has offered no definitive explanation for this, he has explained the tie at least as a further example of Dilbert's lack of power over his environment. A second explanation given by Adams in the Dilbert FAQ is that "he is just glad to see you". Adams has also hinted that the tie may be displaying an aversion to him. Additionally, in Seven Years of Highly Defective People, Adams wrote: "Many readers asked me to allow Dilbert to lose his innocence with Liz, so to speak. But I didn't see any way I could do that in a comic strip and get it past the editors. So I developed a secret sign. I told the people who receive the Dilbert newsletter that if Dilbert ever got lucky with Liz, I would draw his normally upturned necktie flat one day."

The flat-necktie strip was printed on August 9, 1994, in which Dogbert suspected that Dilbert had gotten lucky; ironically, the tie was shown flattened after Liz stated she did not believe in fornication (Dogbert wondered if Dilbert, who was acting oddly serene, had discovered religion; Dilbert said he "thought he was Unitarian").^[4] In another strip, Dilbert met Antina, an overly masculine female coworker who caused his tie to flatten and point downward^[5], strengthening the idea of the tie being a phallic symbol (Adams himself has said that he does not know what it means). On January 11, 2011, Dilbert was diagnosed with pon farr which caused an irresistible urge to mate. His tie was straight for the next two strips. Sometimes when Dilbert is surprised, scared, or has been beaten up, his tie goes straight. A series once went on about his tie, during which Dogbert attempts to find out. He tries having Ratbert eat one of the ties, theorizes that it has an aversion to him, and eventually gave up after a discussion with the garbageman.

Physical condition

Dilbert has a strong immune system and is therefore less likely to get sick than his co-workers. While in most respects weak and unathletic, Dilbert is a skilled badminton player.

Death

In a story arc spanning from September 17, 1990 to October 9, 1990, Dilbert is killed by a wild deer and Mother Nature^[6] (although he is seen alive in an unrelated September 23, 1990 strip^[7]). Dilbert is cloned back to life by the garbage man on October 5, 1990.^[8]

Dilbert also momentarily dies twice in the TV series episode "The Shroud of Wally".

References

1. ^ Adams, Scott. Seven Years of Highly Defective People. 
2. ^ Adams, Scott (2007-03-02). "The Dilbert Blog: Most Frequently Asked Questions". http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/03/most_frequently.html. Retrieved 2007-03-10. 
3. ^ New York Times interview, 31 Oct 2007
4. ^ "Dilbert 1994". dribibu.xs4all.nl. http://dribibu.xs4all.nl/dilbert19940809.html. Retrieved 2011-08-20. 
5. ^ "Dilbert comic strip for 01/02/1996 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive". Dilbert.com. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1996-01-02/. Retrieved 2011-10-01. 
6. ^ "Dilbert comic strip for 09/21/1990 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive". Dilbert.com. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1990-09-21/. Retrieved 2011-08-20. 
7. ^ "Dilbert comic strip for 09/23/1990 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive". Dilbert.com. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1990-09-23/. Retrieved 2011-08-20. 
8. ^ "Dilbert comic strip for 10/05/1990 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive". Dilbert.com. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1990-10-05/. Retrieved 2011-08-20. 

External links

• Dilbert.com