Dr. Barbara "Babs" Blight is a villain in the animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Doctor Blight should not be confused for the similarly-named villain Blight in Batman Beyond.

Doctor Blight is a mad scientist, specializing in biochemistry. She began her career researching biological and chemical warfare. Her younger sister Bambi Blight was introduced in the episode Hollywaste as an actress, active in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. She has nick-named her older sister "Babs".

Blight is supposed to represent the dark side of the scientific fields, tampering with nature and willing to destroy entire species, if it will benefit her.

One of Blight's ambitions was to create the perfect human, conducting experiments on herself to do this. She is very vain and sees herself as very beautiful and fashionable. Her main costume was a purple (alternatively, pink) jumpsuit, knee-high boots and long black gloves. She wore a lot of jewelry and make-up, plus a utility belt. Like most stereotypical female villains, Dr. Blight exhibits a rather sexy figure consisting of the idealistic hourglass body with a thin athletic body and big hips. It's not clear whether she achieves her perfect figure through working out, metabolism or scientific means.

She had mid-length blonde hair, but on one side it was white, which covered her left eye and, in fact, most of the left side of her face. Sometimes, a slight gust of wind would reveal a little of what was behind her hair, and on at least one occasion, it was revealed that side of her face is scarred and mostly burnt off, so she uses the hair to hide it. This scarring may be a result of one of her experiments, but this is never confirmed. Despite her constant rants about how "perfect" she was, she was rather aware of her deformity. The scars and hair discoloration may have been an homage to the Batman villain Two-Face, or the Norse goddess Hel.

Her sidekick was a supercomputer named MAL (possibly a syncopation of malfunction or malevolent, and a reference to the fictional computer HAL). He was massively intelligent and Blight programmed him for pure evil (until her body was possessed by Gaia). Her relationship with MAL bordered on the disturbing, and she sometimes spoke to him as she might a boyfriend or lover, indeed she claimed that if she could find a man as smart as MAL, she'd marry him. It was later revealed that he was actually originally built to be good and Blight reprogrammed him for her own wicked deeds. Despite her constant demeaning attitude towards MAL, she would also sweet-talk him when things were going well. It's quite possible that the accident which left her face scarred also damaged her mind in more ways than one.

There has also been speculation that Dr. Blight has carried on a secret sexual relationship with Looten Plunder, given her tendency to have "husband-wife" style bickering with him and her obvious biological needs. As a side note in the episode "Don't Drink the Water" she places her hand on his shoulder and leans on him just like a girlfriend.

Blight's catchphrase was a long peal of laughter followed by a self-satisfied, breathy "aaahhhhhhh!" laughter

Her favored mode of transportation was a large purple jet, patterned after a sci-fi spacecraft, equipped with laser blasters, missile launchers, and grabber arms. Like all the Eco-Villain devices, it was a massive gas guzzler.

Doctor Blight may also have been based in part on C.O.P.S. villain Doctor Badvibes (also produced by DiC). Both are known to wear tight bodysuits, break out into fits of laughter, threaten lives, and carry on conversations with computer companions.

Doctor Blight was voiced by Meg Ryan in the 1990-1991 series and by Mary Kay Bergman in the 1991-1996 series. MAL was voiced by David Rappaport in 1990 and by Tim Curry from 1990-1993.

Toys

Doctor Blight received an action figure in the Captain Planet toy line released by Tiger Toys. She came packaged with a utility belt accessory and a computer console with MAL's face. Turning her hair would reveal the facial scars.

External link

Dr. Blight page