Famous Inventor Dog Names

It’s true that Mr. Peabody doesn’t have a famous inventor’s name, that is, unless you count Henry O. Peabody, the inventor of Peabody action (an early form of firearm breechloading), but that shouldn’t take away his credibility for inventing the WABAC or Wayback Machine, a time machine used by himself and his pet boy Sherman in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends. 

Yes, it was an animated show with completely made up characters, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that Mr. Peabody was one of the very first hyper-intelligent dogs ever featured on a television series. In fact, he was known as the smartest being in existence and the famous beagle was highly-accomplished as a business-dog, scientist, and Olympic medalist, on top of his status as an inventor. 

While Mr. Peabody could easily be written off as a side character of cult classic TV show, his function within the bounds of television entertainment was surely understated throughout history. More than almost all else, he was able to introduce children to various important historic accounts and events, even if they were skewed by the entertaining and comedic angle of a dog genius and his pet boy. Mr. Peabody was able to use his Wayback Machine as a plot device to help viewers explore 91 different vignettes of history and literature over two pivotal years, all while reversing the narrative that people are the smartest animals on Earth. 

For any viewers who grew up about thirty-five years later, this should sound familiar. A very similar premise was extrapolated into a 30-minute television series on PBS that was also aimed at using the accessibility of animals to reach a young audience — Wishbone. The 1995 series may have used a daydreamer instead of a genius and a real dog over an animated one, but the groundwork Mr. Peabody laid was undeniable. 

But of course, Mr. Peabody was successful enough in his own right as a character, although it surely wasn’t immediate. While Rocky and Bullwinkle saw numerous revivals and appearances in pop culture throughout American history after being introduced in 1959, the underdog, Mr. Peabody, and his boy Sherman were long left by the entertainment wayside. But by the 2000s, when Rocky and Bullwinkle were receiving a bit more acclaim for transcending time and seeing a resurgence in theaters instead of on television, Mr. Peabody and Sherman also eventually reached a point where they became a basis for their own self-titled feature film. While the film “underperformed” in the box office, grossing $275 million on a $145 million budget, it brought to light the cleverness of a character that had used history as a springboard for both entertaining and informing, one that was way ahead of its time, invented over fifty years prior.