Dr. Michael Brewer is a character in the second Goosebumps book, Stay Out of the Basement, and its accompanying television adaptation. He is a botanist and the father of Margaret and Casey Brewer.
History[]
Under the employment of a university, Dr. Michael Brewer was attempting to create a super plant, a hybrid made through the splicing of DNA from multiple plant species. However, while conducting the experiment, Dr. Brewer cut his hand on a slide. His molecules combined with those of his plants, creating one that was part human. This discovery soon led to an obsession. Dr. Brewer developed a desire to make these new plants as human as possible, inserting more and more DNA in the hopes he could create an all-new kind of creature.
One day, one of his experiments went too far. He created a plant copy that was near-identical to himself. However, this clone wasn't perfect and still retained many plant-like tendencies, such as a hunger for plant food, though the duplicate proves to be just intelligent enough to overpower its creator and assume his identity, locking the original Dr. Brewer in the basement closet.
He is eventually freed by his children, Margaret and Casey, who had grown suspicious and unnerved by the uncharacteristic behavior of the clone. Dr. Brewer is able to convince Margaret that he is her real father when he calls her “Princess” — a personal nickname the clone had never called her.
Now free, Dr. Brewer burns all his plants and vows to never conduct any experiments again.
General information[]
Personality[]
When Dr. Brewer's clone assumes his identity, Margaret and Casey are immediately suspicious, as his cold demeanor doesn't resemble their father at all. While the original Dr. Brewer was often wrapped up in his work, this version seemed to never leave the basement or socialize with his family. However, as the two are near identical to mind, they both share an over obsession with their work. When Dr. Brewer is freed from the basement, he is grateful to his children. While he shares the story of what happened, Dr. Brewer expresses regret over the inhumane experiments he did to the plant-human hybrids but seems to learn his lesson after the plant clone is killed, vowing to never do anything like that again.
Physical appearance[]
Not much description is given to Dr. Brewer beyond him being thin. As a result of his experiments, he lost all his hair.
Trivia[]
- David Schwimmer's character of Anthony Brewer from the second season of the Disney+/Hulu Goosebumps series is based on Dr. Michael Brewer, with the key difference being that Anthony becomes infected instead of creating a clone. Likewise, Anthony Brewer's father is named Michael Brewer and Anthony's son Devin is given the full name of Michael Devin Brewer as a nod to the character.
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