Professor Martin Torque

Professor Martin Torque is a one-shot character from TaleSpin and is the main antagonist of the episode "From Here to Machinery".
==Personality==
Professor Torque is a sinister, mean, cruel, sneaky, selfish, and devious inventor with a goal to have his robots do the aviation jobs for him. He is also a bit of a coward, panicking at the first sign of danger, evident when he is informed of the Air Pirates' attempt to hijack the plane he and Shere Khan are flying by exploiting his robots' inability to change its flight programming.
==Physical appearance==
He is a tall brown Doberman wearing a gray suit, black tie, and white fedora.
=="From Here to Machinery"==
Professor Torque is first seen asking Louie about who, in his opinion, are the best pilots: the Freelancers or Shere Khan's pilots. His question is answered when Baloo comes flying in with style, trimming the hedges with his airplane's propellers, and lands at Louie's Place.
When Louie offers to introduce Baloo to Torque, the inventor suddenly disappears and is seen outside writing down something on a piece of paper with a snide look on his face. The next morning, he appears to try to steal Baloo's plane with the help of a robot pilot he created called the Auto-Aviator until Baloo stops him. The Professor asks what he wants and just when Baloo is about to answer, he is stopped by Rebecca, who reveals that the Professor actually rented Baloo's plane for a large amount of money to test his new Auto-Aviator invention. After a little discussion, Baloo apologizes for the misunderstanding, but the Professor ignores him. When noticing the Professor fixing his invention, Baloo admires his "gadget" but the Professor simply states that the robot actually represents the future of aviation, as he programs it to be obedient and efficient, and never deviate from its flight plan.
Just as Baloo says he is starting to like the robot, he tries to give it a pat on the back only to get electrocuted and thrown back. The Professor explains that the robot has an auto-defense system that repulses any interference, especially if it senses any hostility. Baloo reveals that he added some "alterations" to his plane, and when the Professor asks him what the changes are, Baloo actually tricks the Professor and the robot into pressing the "good" blue button, which whacks the Professor on the head a few times, and not the red one. In actuality, the red button is good, and the blue button is bad.
Torque then vows that when his test is over, he'll try to make everyone doubt Baloo's intelligence. After testing the plane for some hours, Baloo gets a bit jealous when Kit suggests that the robot is able to fly quite well.
Then, when they return, some reporters arrive and the Professor introduces himself, his robot, and Baloo to the press. The Professor starts with benevolence by complimenting Baloo, until he ridicules him by saying that his robot is the "pilot of the future" and therefore, much better than the "pilot of the past." The Professor continues explaining about his robot's programming to fly day or night, though Baloo objects to this by questioning the robot's capacity to handle more extreme situations like heavy storms and the Air Pirates. Torque tells Baloo that his robot should be considered better since his robot doesn't have to eat, sleep, or deviate from its flight path. He then says that Baloo and his kind of pilots just a bunch of "dinosaurs.... decaying, defective, and defunct." Offended and infuriated by this comment, Baloo loses his cool and tells Torque to "defunct this" and retaliates by punching the professor on his left eye. To make matters worse, the argument and assault is photographed by the reporters and makes the front page of the newspaper.
Shere Khan sees the papers that evening and refers to Baloo as a crude individual during a meeting with Torque, who refers to Baloo as a mindless menial idiot. The professor then says that his test is complete, and he is satisfied with the results. Torque offers to mass-produce a dozen Auto Aviators for Khan to make more money for himself, but Khan is still skeptical and refuses to buy anything. He then remarks that Baloo may be right about the robot not being able to handle all the situations. The Professor asks if he's going to believe "that barnstormer", but Khan assures him that there should be a contest between his robot pilot and a real pilot, and if the robot wins, he might consider buying thousands of them.
Taking the opportunity, the Professor takes his leave and vows to prove his robot pilot's worth, and to ruin Baloo's life as well. When Rebecca is expecting an important visit from a turkey client the next day, the Professor beats her to it, which outrages her greatly. A furious Baloo challenges Torque's robot to a contest for the future of aviation. As a result, the winner will be deemed the best pilot. The contest is a race in which both the pilots have to fly to Tundra City and back to Cape Suzette with the cargo which takes about 40 hours both ways.
Unfortunately, at the end of the race, Baloo loses due to sleeping a little (as well as having a short nightmare) and a fuel shortage. A triumphant Torque takes the opportunity to publicly sign a deal with Shere Khan, who buys the Professor's robots. As a result, all other shipping companies around Cape Suzette are grounded and pilots are left out of work. Even Khan's own pilots are out of a job. Though it seems to Torque that he has finally achieved in his goal, Don Karnage is impressed with what he sees in the papers. Knowing these robot pilots never deviate from their flight programming, Karnage plans to use this as an advantage to put his piracy skills to good work by hijacking Shere Khan's plane during their toast of their success.
Torque is next seen drinking a toast with a soda pop with Shere Khan on their plane. Their celebration is interrupted when Don Karnage speaks to them on the radio warns that he and his henchmen will be intercepting, shooting, and looting them soon. When Shere Khan asks Torque to instruct his robot to change course and evade the Air Pirates, the robot is unwilling to deviate, as it is programmed not to. When the robot refuses, Torque tries to take over, only to get electrocuted and repelled instead. Unimpressed with the robot's imperfect results and Torque's incapability to control it, Khan orders Torque to call for help. Intercepting a radio signal, Torque cowardly calls for help until Khan throws him aside and calmly explains the situation to the public, promising a huge reward for assistance against the pirates in Mount Rezeka. Luckily, Baloo and his friends are able to get the message and, after some initial reluctance, decide to come to the rescue.
Torque tries countless times to make his robot change course, but to no avail, and Shere Khan is beginning to lose his patience. When they hear a knock on the door, the Professor thinks it's the Air Pirates until he is smashed by the door and Baloo enters instead. Offering his assistance, Baloo destroys the robot with a bottle of soda pop, getting his revenge against it, much to the Professor's horror. An angry Torque tries to attack Baloo for destroying his robot, but Shere Khan stops him and tells him to be quiet while allowing Baloo to take control of the plane. After Baloo successfully manages to evade the Pirates, Shere Khan compliments Baloo for a job well done before turning his rage towards Torque for his failure, negligence, and deceit. Khan then offers a solution: he will give Torque back all his useless robots in return for his money. Shere Khan then opens the door and holds the Professor out; asking him how that sounds, truthfully, and Torque cowardly admits it sounds fair.
As such, the Auto Aviators are declared defunct and all pilots are told to report back to work, much to their delight (including Khan's pilots). As such, Torque is made a penniless robot servant salesman, selling his robots now known as Mechani-Mates, somewhere in Thembria.
==Trivia==
*On Disney+, the closed captions read that his last name, "Torque". is spelled "Tork".
==Gallery==
Kitcloudkicker236.jpg
Auto-aviator03.jpg|The Auto Aviator shocks Baloo.
Nightmare torque.jpg|Torque in Baloo's nightmare.
File:Khan threating a doberman.png
Professor torque try to stop.jpg|Torque tries to stop Baloo.
Professor torque barbarian.jpg|"Barbarian!"
File:Personal Space Shere Khan.png
Professor torque cower.jpg|Professor Torque cowers.
Professor torque sounds fair.jpg|"Sounds fair! Sounds fair!"
Talespin - 101 - from here to machinery Video - Rediff Videos5.jpg|Torque's defeat
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