Philip Sherman is the main antagonist of Pixar's 5th full-length animated feature film Finding Nemo.
He is a dentist who works in Sydney, Australia who is also a professional scuba diver. He will occasionally collect fish that he thinks are "struggling for life" from the reef, keeping them in a tank in his office.
He was voiced by the late Bill Hunter.
Why aren't they heroic or villainous?[]
Biography[]
| “ | Not the best of dentists, Philip Sherman uses his career as a way of funding his real love—scuba diving. He only collects fish from the reef if he thinks they are "struggling for life." That is why he collects both Nemo and Gill, with their weak fins. Despite his love for nature's creatures, he does get tired of Nigel the pelican using his surgery as a social center. | „ |
One day, while snorkeling with his diving buddy near the edge of the Great Barrier Reef, Sherman comes across Nemo after the latter touched the bottom of his boat, the Aussie Flosser in defiance of Marlin's orders. Assuming that Nemo would not survive in the ocean due to his weak fin, Sherman snares Nemo in a net and swims away. Marlin tries to come to Nemo's aid, but Sherman's diving buddy blocks his path and flashes Marlin with his camera, disorienting him. As the two divers leave in their boat, Marlin desperately tries to follow them, to no avail. Just as Sherman places Nemo in a container, a rough wave causes him to fall back and accidentally knock his diving mask off the boat. The mask lands in a minefield and would eventually be found by Marlin and Dory, who would later learn of his address on his mask.
The next day, Sherman places Nemo in a tank in his office. Sherman greets Nemo, to which the young clownfish immediately hides in a barrel in fear. Sherman then explains to his receptionist, Barbara he saved Nemo's life after he saw him "struggling for life" at the reef. While Sherman performs a root canal on one of his patients, a pelican named Nigel comes to visit the Tank Gang until Sherman takes notice and shoes him away, accidentally breaking a picture of his niece, Darla in the process. Sherman then presents Darla's picture to Nemo and assures him that he will become a birthday present for Darla.
Later that night, Nemo becomes a part of the Tank Gang and agrees to assist in their escape from the aquarium by jamming the filter. The next morning, with the dentist distracted, Nemo jams the filter with a pebble, but it nearly costs him his life. However, Nigel returns to the office and smashes into the window, which causes Sherman to yank a tooth out of the prime minister's mouth. Sherman checks out the window and brushes it off as children pulling off a prank, unaware that Nigel is hiding from sight. Upon learning from Nigel about Marlin's journey in search of him, Nemo manages to jam the filter with success. As the tank becomes filthy over time, Sherman takes notice of this and informs Barbara that he needs to clean the tank before Darla's appointment tomorrow.
The next morning, Sherman inserts an AquaScum 2003 into his tank to allow the device perform the cleaning instead of placing his fish in bags and doing it personally like he used to, ruining any possibility of his fish fleeing the workplace. Sherman prepares his gift for his niece by removing Nemo from the tank with a net as it just so happens that Darla would be visiting the office that day. However, Nemo swims down with the help of the Tank Gang, leading Sherman to lose the net. The dentist then uses a plastic bag to scoop Nemo out, sealing the bag in a plastic storage container to keep Nemo from escaping.
Nemo poses as dead when Darla enters the office in hopes that the dentist will flush him down the toilet. When the dentist discovers Nemo in that condition, he presumes that Nemo is dead and instead of flushing him down the toilet, he decides to throw Nemo's body in the trash. He is cut short by Darla's cry, though, for Nigel the pelican has broken into the office with Marlin and Dory in tow. Sherman, who is still clutching Nemo's bag throughout the subsequent brawl, rushes to grab Nigel but runs into the pelican, forcing him to drop the bag into the tray of the dentist's equipment. The pelican is forcefully pushed out of the office by Sherman, who also quickly shuts the window. When Gill has his followers shoot him out of the tank and land on Darla's head, Darla takes up Nemo's bag and begins shaking it. This causes Darla to drop the bag into the same tray, where it explodes, releasing Nemo. When Sherman turns to see the animals going crazy, he runs into a scope hanging from the ceiling and falls to the ground. While waiting for their appointments, Sherman's alleged patients witness the unfolding commotion in amazement and uncertainty, wondering what is happening. Gill leaps onto Sherman's mirror as Sherman is pushed to the ground and launches Nemo into the sink, allowing the young clownfish to flee the office down the drain, the sewage system, and back into the ocean. Sherman discovers Gill on his tray once he has recovered and immediately places him back into the tank.
Sherman finally complains to Barbara towards the conclusion of the film that his brand-new AquaScum 2003, which comes with a lifetime warranty, is broken, much to his chagrin. He then takes the fish out of the tank, puts them in bags, and cleans the tank manually, only to discover that all of the fish have fled, much to his surprise.
Trivia[]
- P. Sherman's name is a pun on the word "fisherman."
- The hand that grabbed the lamb in the Pixar short Boundin' was Sherman's.
- The prime minister who was a patient of Sherman was likely John Howard, who happened to be prime minister at the time of the film's release.
- Sherman serves as a boss in the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube adaptations of the film, where he chases Nemo trying to swipe at him until they reach the edge of the reef.
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Nemo's Friends Predators Humans Others | ||