Johan Donnerstag

S.O.S. Character Sketch: Johan Donnerstag (a.k.a. Jonathan Balcewicz)

Quote:

"You know how most people are deathly afraid of public speaking? Well, I'm sort of like that...just substitute 'social interaction' for 'public speaking' and you'll have a pretty good idea of my situation."
--Johan in a note

Background:

A teacher at Atlantic North High, he teaches freshman applied physics/engineering (and whatever other classes that the other teachers don't want to teach, which will explain why he has all the SciOly students in at least one of his classes). He is the class advisor for SciOly, but generally lets the club run itself. He is reclusive, even among other teachers, so they don't let him in to any of their secret experiments. The principal keeps him, even though he and the teachers don't like him, because his patents are a major source of school revenue.

He is utterly socially awkward, and oblivious to all but the most obvious social cues. In the classroom he will usually limit his class discussions to lectures/business, and answers questions in the most concise manner available, even if this is the most confusing. During SciOly, he works on his own projects to avoid getting involved in their work, which would require him to talk. He is aware of his lack of social savvy but sees no reason to change it. There can be a running gag where he'll say "hi" to someone and think to himself that it completes his daily socialization quota or a fourth wall gag where a scoreboard pops up and records how many times he's engaged in conversation this episode. If he really feels a need to communicate, he will write what he wants to say down before speaking or hand the person in question a note ridden with apologies for his social inadequacy.

He comes from an old, rich German family of scientists and artists, but doesn't spend very much money. His apartment is cramped, messy, and sparsely furnished in a utilitarian kind of way. The only thing he splurges on is his huge research lab, where he single-handedly (If you don't count robotic research assistants) develops research that rivals the quality of ANHS's top secret projects. His high-tech research, along with his tendency to hand notes to students should cause Kristi to suspect that he's behind the secret projects but she eventually learns otherwise. He knew Kristi's parents, but doesn't put 2 and 2 together because he's bad with names. He has a brother, based on Brandon Freitag, who is a popular rockstar. Nobody will realize this, however, until he, in a later tangent story arc, hands out the free VIP tickets his brother gave him to his SciOly students (there should be enough tickets for all but one member).

Possible lectures he can give in the background while other people do more important stuff:

"Okay class, for homework tonight, you need to build a tokamak. Don't worry if it doesn't work: none of them do."

"Remember class, if you ever need a patent application, they'll be in the folder at the back of the room."

"Normally, in this unit, we'd be doing our lab at the nuclear reactor in the school's basement, but after last year's 'incident' they've restricted access to upperclassmen and faculty"

"To demonstrate the explosive power of alkali metals when mixed with water, I've brought in a modest amount of Francium. You might want to stand back...
*explosion* This reaction also has the added effect of waking everyone up..." (if the singed eyebrows gag is popular enough, Kristi could be asleep in class when this happens and lose them again)

I like the idea of Kristi losing her eyebrows again