Dr. Fred is a major antagonist in the comedy-horror video-game known as Maniac Mansion, who kidnapped Sandy, prompting Dave and two of his friends to enter the Mansion in order to rescue he. Dr. Fred shares the role of antagonist with his wife, Nurse Edna, and their son Weird Ed. Although antagonists it is revealed that all of them are in fact under the control of a sentient meteor which crashed near their home twenty years previous to the in-game story and forced him into harvesting human brains for use in experiments – something that his family has supported and encouraged.