Chett Donnelly

Chett Donnelly, also spelled Chet Donnelly, is a fictional military soldier featured in the 1985 sci-fi/comedy film, Weird Science, as well as the 1994-1997 television series, Weird Science. In the film he was portrayed by actor Bill Paxton. On the TV series, the character was played by actor Lee Tergesen.

Biography
Chet Donnelly is the older brother of Wyatt Donnelly and lives at their suburban home in Shermer, Illinois. He is an uber-macho, cigar-chomping marine who loves nothing more than tormenting his younger brother, whom he considers to be small and weak. He also likes to extort money from Gary in exchange for withholding information that would otherwise get him into trouble with his parents.

Wyatt and his friend Gary Wallace create an artificial human with their home computer named Lisa, who has magical genie-like powers. She helps them throw an elaborate party, but when Wyatt's grandparents make an unexpected appearance, she freezes them and puts them in a closet for the duration of the part. Chet returned home during this incident and found his grandparents catatonic in the closet. He admonished Lisa for her actions exclaiming, "Do you have any idea how disrespectful that is?". Afterward, he made a lewd comment about wanting to "butter her muffin". At this point, Lisa used her power to transform Chet into a vile, amorphous blob of flesh with rotting teeth and a foul odor. Threatening to leave him in such a state, Lisa was ultimately convinced by Wyatt to turn Chet back to normal.

Notes & Trivia



 * In the Weird Science feature film, the character's first name is spelled Chet.


 * Playing Chet Donnelly is actor Bill Paxton's second work in the sci-fi genre. He previously played a punk leader in the 1984 movie Terminator. Paxton will also go on to play another military soldier, Private W. Hudson in the 1986 movie Aliens.


 * Actor Lee Tergesen will likewise grace some other science fiction projects with his presence. In 2015, he appeared in seven episodes of season three of the Syfy series Defiance as the insane Castithan marauder General Rahm Tak.