Editing Dr. Alphonse Mephesto (section)

==Behind the Scenes==
Dr. Mephesto's distinctive voice is provided by series co-creator Trey Parker.

The character was inspired by the poorly-received 1996 film adaptation of ''The Island of Dr. Moreau'', a film plagued by a notoriously troubled production. The film notably featured legendary actor Marlon Brando portraying the title character, a mad scientist who surgically and genetically alters animal-human hybrids, as well as his silent assistant and surrogate son Majai. The designs and dynamics between these characters inspired Dr. Alphonse Mephesto and his assistant, [[Kevin Mephesto|Kevin]], while Mephesto's hybrid animal creations were based on Trey Parker's old drawings as a teenager.

By the show's fourth season, Matt and Trey felt that the film reference was no longer very relevant, and the character no longer funny, so he was retired from the show, which finally made light of his similarity to Brando, and he has made sporadic non-speaking cameos since then, only coming back alongside other retired/discarded characters for in appearance "[[201]]", but he has noticeably been excluded from recent episodes dealing with genetics, such as "[[Eek, a Penis!]]" and "[[Holiday Special]]".

In the commentary track for his debut episode, "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", Matt and Trey observe retrospectively that Mephesto is not an evil character in their view, just eccentric, explaining that "in all the other shows, [Mephesto] becomes kind of a helpful guy, just hanging out there, doing his thing."