Peterson

Peterson is a main character in Reptilicus.

Description
The, er, comedy relief. Peterson is the new night watchman at the aquarium. Lise Martens. She is there to introduce the new night watchman, Peterson

At this point, the new night watchman, Peterson, strolls over and introduces himself to the professors. Peterson reassures Martens that he will do a good job by saying that he will be quick to investigate “…if anything fishy happens.” (Fishy..get it? Fishy. Aquarium. Ha Ha! Actually the actor who plays the bumbling watchman has appeared in over 100 films throughout the years. In fact, he was supposedly a popular comedian in Denmark, which helps explain his slap-stick performance in this film. Maybe he was funny in the right circumstances, but I just don’t think slap-stick comedy belongs in a monster movie.)

Dalby explains to Peterson that the most important responsibility that he has is to ensure that the freezer stays at a constant temperature. (Can anybody guess what’s going to happen? Dalby even notes that the freezer “runs electrically”…just in case you need a hint.) Peterson goes off to “get settled” and comes across an electric eel swimming in an open aquarium in the hallway. To remind us that he is a simple-minded, comical buffoon, Peterson says, “ Everything  around here runs on electricity.” (Har-dee-har-har!)

Cut to later that night where we see Peterson making his rounds. He enters the lab and taps on the thermometer dial to make sure everything is in order. (That was a pretty thorough check, I tell ya!). Dalby is working late that evening, staring through a microscope at…something… Dalby tells Peterson that he can watch over the remains since he’ll be working late anyway.

Peterson the Wacky Janitor, eating his lunch and monkeying around with a microscope. First he examines the magnified bristles of his paint brush, then he sticks a piece of his sandwich under the lens. To a *sigh* whimsical blurt of music, we see the microscopic bugs infesting his sandwich. Looking nauseated (I know the feeling!) he drops his sandwich back to the table and rewraps it back up. Then he looks at the bugs again, resulting in a sickly belch. Comedy! Cue a succession of harp chords and cut

Peterson Then he slowly lowers his hand into the water electric eel While dancing around in supposed pain, he hears a strange rumbling coming from the room where the Reptilicus tail sits in a tank. His eyes then bug out even more and his face looks like he just had a five pound  Now  he has no trouble removing his hand from the tank and Peterson hears something moving finally in the nutrient tank. Yelling "Mama!" he quickly runs back to the button on the wall that sets off the fire alarm and pushes it.

Next, a thunderstorm rolls in outside the aquarium at night--and given that the establishing shot of the aquarium in the rain might be the worst miniature I have  ever  seen, we can finally begin to feel secure that we will  finally  be getting some monster action. Inside the aquarium, Dalby and Peterson are the only people on duty because that's a good idea and the storm knocks out the power. Dalby goes to check the phones, also down, and hears Reptilicus moving around inside the tank Hearing something, the inquisitive Dr. Peter Dalby goes out into the hallway to check on the tail. Seeing a huge shadow moving on the walls of the tank room, the (understandably) fearful professor runs back to the lab to call for help. The phone is dead of course Dr. Dalby tells Peterson is to jump on his bike and get the cops. Dr. Peter Dalby pulls out a pistol and returns to the tank room Reptilicus" escapes the laboratory he attacks Dr. Dalby.

Peterson makes it to the police station where a soaked Peterson Said "it's alive" and "it's loose!" has just arrived in order to fetch help. The goof-ball watchman and the goof-ball police officers to come with him, but they seem more interested in their chess game. exchange some ‘zingers’ before the policeman finally realizes that Peterson is telling the truth. the electricity going out (even the electric eel).

the story, there’s a musical interlude in a park, with Peterson and the group of children. Considering that this is supposed to be a film about a terrifying monster, perhaps having a bunch of children openly laugh at the very prospect wasn’t the best course of action when trying to build suspense.