Dr. Francis Judd is perhaps the most important, yet unseen, antagonist in the A.T.X.D. Series. He is the leader of the human-extraterrestrial intelligence syndicate The Luminara Society. He was inspired from an equally sinister villain named Mr. Frederick White from the video game Area 51, a 2005 remake by Midway of the 1995 arcade shooter game of the same name which inspired A.T.X.D. However, I am worried that there are too many similarities between Judd and White, and I want to find ways to make Judd more distinct while still paying respect to his inspiration. Here are some key things to talk about.
Leadership
Mr. White - In the video game, which draws heavily on popular extraterrestrial conspiracy theories (trigger warning), Mr. White is the leader of the Illuminati. As it pertains to the video game, the Illuminati are an ultra-secret government-controlling organization that has black-armored soldiers with glowing masks. Mr. White has cloned himself and his clones are encountered a couple times throughout the game.
Dr. Judd - In A.T.X.D., Dr. Judd is the leader of The Luminara Society - ultra secret but doesn't control governments. It uses black-armored soldiers, and while I have written these guys to have neon coloring on the suits, I am thinking about going back to make them just pitch black armor. This way they'll be harder to spot. Dr. Judd has not cloned himself. However, as we will see in stories such as A.T.X.D. Full Scale, Judd does converse with a few other researchers and we see that the Luminara Society effectively requires a "homogenous culture" because everybody dresses the same.
Physical Appearance
Mr. White is near-human in appearance, and there are vague references in the game that he is in fact a "human elite." Although he talks and behaves normally, Mr. White has rather milky-white skin. He has a long black business coat and formal business shoes. In a lot of in-game scenes, Mr. White wears an electronic eyepiece over his left eye given that he is encountered in laboratory environments. He is also bald headed.
Dr. Judd is near-human, but that's because he is specifically identified as an extraterrestrial whose race bears a lot of human characteristics. He is described as being tall, bald, and pale-skinned but not necessarily having milky-white skin. Although he will be seen in laboratory environments in some of the books, he does not wear any kind of tools on his head or over his face. He wears a formal 1950s business suit, but I don't describe his footwear, nor do I say what color his suit is - though it isn't supposed to be a glamorous or showy color, since he wants to remain out of the spotlight.
Attitude
Mr. White tries to sound like he cares about the human race as a whole, but in his secret video diaries which can be found in the game, he makes it very clear that individual people do not matter. He also demonstrates a pure disregard for human welfare, casually shrugging off horrible things he has seen or even committed and saying in one video clip for instance "Ho-oh, the horrors I inflicted led to so many wonderful discoveries." His motives remain unclear, but it is hinted that the virus which spreads throughout Area 51 and turns various people into vicious killing machines is something he wants, though he did not intend for it to happen early within the base. That said, the few interactions the player has with this villain indicate that Mr. White won't hesitate - maybe he is even planning - to unleash the virus on the entire Earth as part of some world-dominance scheme.
Dr. Judd is a calm-mannered individual who tries to sound like his work is for a greater good, and we will find out in Book 7 of 8 - ATXD Storm Seeker - that he had good intentions once upon a time. However, he conducted a number of illicit and horrible experiments on both human and extraterrestrial subjects without any regard for their welfare - all for the purposes of unlocking scientific discoveries that would lead to his ultimate goal of creating a new human race: he effectively clings to the past of the Cold War by believing that humankind is doomed to fall apart and destroy themselves, so he feels inclined to step up to the plate and develop a new and improved human race that can replace. This ultimately makes him a major felon and adversary of the A.T.X.D. force. Although I still have to write some more dialogue with him, I believe Judd would say some of the same things which Mr. White says in his video entries.
Means of Escape
This is by far the most obviously copied feature between the two villains, and that's what has me worried. Mr. White and his clones will tap something on their wrists and disappear from the scene, oftentimes before the player has a chance to shoot them. Dr. Judd does this too, but he doesn't necessarily do it without first fighting or ordering his soldiers to attack the main character and their teammates. Only once the odds turn against him or he is put in a position of either certain defeat before the main characters does he tap a gauntlet on his arm and disappear from the scene - often to return in a following story. It is vital to Judd's character that he find a way to escape A.T.X.D. forces before they can either terminate or take him into custody and it should be quick and simple and allow him to easily get away without necessarily running from the scene - for instance, when he gets knocked down on his butt, which happens at least a couple times throughout the series. A modification of the teleportation technology and what it does might help. Right now, it's a column of light that practically disintegrates him and warps him away.
Expertise
Mr. White is a conniving evil genius who can plan for possibilities and takes pride in his accomplishments with the Illuminati. However, one of his video entries is where he talks about the virus, and he says "I don't claim to understand the specifics." As you will see in the below excerpt from A.T.X.D. Full Scale, Dr. Judd, by contrast, is very brilliant in his scientific knowledge and will give some pretty detailed, coldly-logical explanations about the things he studies.
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“Are you satisfied, General?” Judd inquired with a modest smirk.
“Considerably,” Stilatro replied, looking at the dormant warbeast that was once a soldier of his. “The Nescetar’s multiple means of attack and its ability to rapidly infect its victims will come in handy for the Empire. But we still have a problem, Doctor.” Stilatro turned and gave Judd one of his wary looks to communicate that something was missing. “Controlling the subjects and limiting the risk to our soldiers. From my understanding of the Harbinger and the limited literature our Empire had on it, the Reticulans tried to control this parasite themselves upon its first discovery in the Zulu-Tenebris Sector.”
“Yes, and ultimately their own attempts at making the perfect lifeform out of a select few of their own grew into the very epidemic which nearly wiped out half of their species,” Judd recalled. “Hence the reason for their battle of survival which led some of them here to Earth. But we have taken measures to ensure that the Nescetar will not turn on your own soldiers, General. First of all, since that meteorite crashed here in the Wasatch Mesa decades ago, the Society has taken a great interest in studying it. Unbeknownst to the United Nations, we’ve been able to do some quarantined, off-planet experiments on the Harbinger’s genetic code.”
“And what have these studies yielded?”
“That through an extended period of incubation in a sterilized environment, combined with a precise dissection of the Harbinger’s own DNA at the right points,” Judd made a snipping gesture with his fingers as though to indicate the use of scissors or an equivalent instrument, “the lifeforce’s own genes will fuse more naturally with those of any other life form. And with the strands open at the right intervals, it will hybridize better with the DNA of the target subject.” Judd transcribed this by opening his fingers then seamlessly sliding them together one over the other to indicate a smooth connection. “It was the prior attempts to forcefully fuse the test subjects’ DNA with that of the Harbinger which brought about the epidemic that the Reticulans faced.”
“Interesting,” Stilatro responded, though his face was still twisted with confusion. “And how does that help us?”
“When incubated and dissected correctly, General, the Harbinger will still infect the host and cause them considerable physical and psychological damage. But, the subject will be more controllable. Harbinger DNA in its purest form simply deletes a sentient being’s ability to think for themselves, allowing someone or something to easily manipulate them like a full-sized puppet. The challenge is that, like an ordinary computer, you need something that can respond to commands issued by the user or, in this case, the master.”