Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam

In a pre-credits scene, Ernest P. Worrell is showing off a new device he has bartered from a guy off the street. The guy was Dr. Otto, and the device is a "changing coffin" that transforms the user into any disguise.

Dr. Otto is a mysterious villain with a hand attached on top of his head. He is plotting world domination using his "gloom beam," an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) device that scrambles electronic media. He plans to use the beam to launch EMP attacks on financial institutions to erase their contents and cause worldwide chaos. In a broadcast signal intrusion, Dr. Otto announces the "Riddle of the Gloom Beam:"

"When the money is scrambled to the very last cent,
riots and hatred soon will commence.

When all the world's commerce will be put in a bind,
from the evil that lurks where the sun never shines.

It is I, Dr. Otto von Schnick-ick-ick-ick,
who has played on you this trick-ick-ick-ick."

"'But who's Dr. Otto?' you may well ponder,
while all your magnetic cash is squandered.

It's he who had an eye, and yet couldn't see.
It's he who served bouillabaisse, when he was a she.

It's he who gambled with brains, and a gun.
It's he who had all, and yet had none.

And to stop this horrible twisted trick,
just exchange the poles of old Saint Nick.

And if that doesn't do to save the day,
put another quarter in and try another play."

Dr. Otto's first target is Cincinnati, Ohio, where a bank affected by the Gloom Beam decides to disrupt Dr. Otto's scheme before it can cause world chaos by sending in his archnemesis: all-American boy Lance Sterling, born on the same day in the same hospital as Dr. Otto. While Lance was a gifted child born to loving parents, Dr. Otto was the end result of a botched abortion, neglected by his parents (which he later kills). To foil Sterling, Dr. Otto transforms himself into each character in an effort to stop his path: Rudd Hardtack, Australian trainer of child militants; Laughing Jack O'Cockney, pirate captain; Auntie Nelda, the cantankerous elderly woman; and Guy Dandy, wealthy playboy.

Lance and his sidekick Doris Talbert escape each disguise in unusual ways: they survive Hardtack's game of Russian roulette; when Laughing Jack uses Lance as bait to catch a swamp monster, the monster turns out to be an old friend of Lance's, who lets them free; when Auntie Nelda poisons them into a trap, Lance is able to seduce Tina (the woman Dr. Otto used as bait) into using Dr. Otto's transporter blanket to get them out; and they stumble into an elevator that leads straight to Dr. Otto's lair during the fight with Guy Dandy. Meanwhile, the gloom beam continues to cause chaos around the world, with comical effects: the President of the United States, for example, is overjoyed that Dr. Otto has effectively wiped out the national debt.

In a climactic showdown, Lance and Doris face off against Dr. Otto, all his disguises, and his robot henchman. In the end, it comes down to Sterling choosing between a conspicuously labeled "Right Button" and "Wrong Button." He chooses the Right Button—which he realizes too late that it was not the right button (thus implying that was the subject of the "switch the poles" clue)—and the lair self-destructs and sends out a worldwide EMP attack, accomplishing Dr. Otto's goal.

The scene then flash-cuts to Doris, Lance and Tina pushing their car down a road in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. At a gas station, where Dr. Otto's robot is now a lifeless scarecrow-like figure, they encounter Ernest, who informs them that they, along with every other gas station, has had no gas since the gloom beam went off—confirming they had all failed. As they all push the car down the road, Ernest takes his hat off to reveal himself as Dr. Otto, as he says "Have a nice day, knowhutimean?"

• Jim Varney - Dr. Otto von Schnick, mad scientist, and his various disguises:
  • Rudd Hardtack, Australian trainer of child militants, "he who gambled with brains and a gun."
  • Laughing Jack O'Cockney, pirate captain, "he who had one eye and yet couldn't see."
  • Auntie Nelda, cantankerous old woman, "he who served bouillabaisse when he was she." Auntie Nelda made numerous other appearances in Carden & Cherry's other commercials and films.
  • Guy Dandy, wealthy playboy, "he who had all and yet had none."
  • Ernest P. Worrell, working-class yokel.
  • Varney also voices Alex, the "dump," a creature Laughing Jack uses Lance as bait to catch.
• Glenn Petach - Otto's Head Hand
• Myke R. Mueller - Lance Sterling, All-American boy, gifted from birth yet lacking common sense and a failed Senate candidate.
• Jackie Welch - Doris Talbert, humorless irritable black woman, Lance's more realistic partner.
• Daniel Butler - Slave Willie, Kegler: Dr. Otto's robot, a childhood science project. He bears a smiley face that changes with his emotions.
• Esther Huston - Tina Nelson, everywoman from White Plains, New York; Dr. Otto's lover, she grows to sympathize with Lance over the course of the film.
• Henry Arnold - Bank Officer
• Bill Byrge - Gas Station Attendant
• Mac Bennett - V.P. # 1
• David Landon - Bank President Rutherford
• Mary Jane Harvill - Lance's Mom
• Winslow Stillman - Lance's Dad
• Irv Kane - Herr von Schnick
• Leslie Potter - Madame von Schnick

The film was originally distributed on VHS by GoodTimes Home Video in 1992.[2] It was digitally remastered and released on DVD by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment in 2007,[3] and was later included in the Best of Ernest DVD boxset released by Image Entertainment in 2012.[4]

• Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam on IMDb
• Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam at Rotten Tomatoes