Dr. Goodner

Dr. William Goodner is a major antagonist in Richard Adams' novel The Plague Dogs, and its 1982 animated film adaptation. He is a former Nazi scientist who works at A.R.S.E. and studies bubonic plague to use it as a secret bioweapon for the Ministry of Defense. This leads to the belief that Rowf and Snitter are carrying the plague after they escape the facility.

He was voiced by Brian Stirner in the film.

History
He was born in Germany and claimed to work as a researcher during the era of World War II. He works for the Ministry of Defense and studies bubonic plague as a secret bioweapon. One day, after one of Dr. Boycott's experiments on Rowf, the janitor, Harry Tyson, forgets to shut his door. The following night, Rowf and Snitter explore the lab, looking for a way to escape. They stumble upon Dr. Goodner's office and a monkey startles them, causing them to smash a glass box full of rats, freeing them. They find an incinerator and climb in, unaware of what it actually is. When Snitter notices an opening, Dr. Goodner throws a dead dog in the incinerator and prepares to start it up, but the dogs manage to make it out in time before the incinerator starts up, leaving the two dogs to roam the countryside.

Later, Digby Driver comes over to the A.R.S.E. after learning that the dogs came from the lab. He blackmails Dr. Goodner to have him publish an article about the plague-carrying dogs and he reluctantly agrees. As Driver leaves, Dr. Goodner notices the incinerator and the broken glass on the floor and begins to realize how the dogs escaped. The article is later published in the London Orator. Dr. Boycott and Powell read the Orator and Powell is shocked to learn that Dr. Goodner was working with the plague.

Trivia

 * It has been rumored that Dr. Goodner may have encountered David Ephraim, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust at that time.