Derek Smithers

Derek Smithers
Biographical Information
Name	Derek Smithers
Alias	Mr. Geoffrey Daniels
Physical Information
Nationality	Irish
Gender	Male
Hair	Light Brown (film, books) Black (TV series)
Eyes	Blue (film, books) Brown (TV series)
Skin	Caucasian (film, books) African (TV series)
Relationship Information
Affiliations	MI6
Series Information
First Appearance	Stormbreaker
Last Appearance	Nightshade Revenge
Mentioned	All books except Russian Roulette.
Portrayed by	Stephen Fry (film) Nyasha Hatendi (TV series)

“	Good old Smithers! He was the one person at MI6 who never let him down	”
—Alex Rider regarding Smithers

Derek Smithers appeared in all the Alex Rider novels. He has been responsible for supplying gadgets to Alex Rider for his various missions.

Personality and Appearance

“	Alan Blunt: We could send Crawley back out, perhaps. Or Gerrard Tulip Jones: I was thinking of Smithers Alan Blunt: An interesting choice Tulip Jones: Alex trusts him. And he may come in useful, particularly if SCORPIA show up	”
—Tulip Jones and Alan Blunt discuss Alex's trust in Smithers

In the novels, Smithers is shown to be incredibly intelligent, as well as having a bubbly personality, constantly wisecracking and kidding around with Alex. Smithers is quite fat, and often wears a Hawaiian-style shirt covered in flowers. However, the fat is actually a disguise. To Alex, it was a wonder that each chair he sat in doesn't break under the weight. Smithers in the Stormbreaker movie, though, was not portrayed so. He was average weight and was about as serious as a schoolteacher - but not nearly as serious as Alan Blunt. It is shown that in the ninth book Scorpia Rising that Smither's appearance is in reality a fat suit and he is a wiry Irish man of about thirty years old, with brown hair and blue eyes - in fact, he wore the fat suit as a disguise so often that it became his work clothes!

Role in Series

Stormbreaker

In Stormbreaker, Smithers supplied Alex with the following:

• Metal-burning zit cream"Zit Clean:For healthier skin"
• A retractable yo-yo
• A Gameboy, which had various features, the functions accessed depending on what game was in the console at the time:
  • Nemesis: A photocopier and fax machine
  • Exocet: An X-ray machine that could see through solid walls and doors (within 2 in.) and amplified sound
  • Speed Wars: A bug (listening device) finder
  • Bomber Boy: A remotely detonated smoke bomb

Point Blanc

In Point Blanc, Smithers supplied the following gadgets:

• Bulletproof Ski Suit
• Infrared Ski Goggles
• CD Player with (when fast forward is pressed three times) Panic Button and convertible to an electric saw when a Beethoven CD is inserted
• Golden explosive Ear Stud
• Harry Potter book "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" with a gun built into the spine and a tranquilizer dart (activated when author's name is pressed)

Skeleton Key

Smithers gave the following gadgets in Skeleton Key.

• A cell phone that works underwater and has a hidden tranquilizer gun(activated by calling 999)
• Expanding bubble-gum to break locks named as "Bubble 0-7
• A Tiger Woods (American) or Michael Owen (British) stun grenade figurine

Also, the CIA gave agents Belinda Troy and Tom Turner(British)/Glen Carver(American) a Game Boy Advance that had a Geiger counter built in, remeniscent of the Game Boy Smithers had given Alex in Stormbreaker.

Eagle Strike

In Eagle Strike, Smithers secretly gave Alex Rider, at that point a rogue agent, a bike that had the following features. Some of these features would only be activated when a specific button would be pressed underneath the lid of the bell.This was similar to an Aston Martin car Bond was given in the movie "Goldfinger""

• Heat-seeking missiles (orange button)
• Blinding lights (magnesium flare, yellow button)
• Blue smoke bike pump (blue button)
• Ejector seat (red button) (As a joke, Smithers wrote a note on the underside of the bike's seat, reading, "If you can read this, you owe me a new bike.")
• Slippery "snail trail" (green button)
• Magnetic bike clips
• Bulletproof jersey

Scorpia

After briefly working for SCORPIA, Alex was given by Smithers

• A tracking device/signal transmitter disguised as a brace.

Smithers also created a bulletproof glass panel that stopped Alex from shooting Mrs Jones.

Ark Angel

For his trip to Flamingo Bay, Smithers provided Alex with the following gadgets.

• An asthma inhaler which acted as a knockout gas as well as a hand grenade.
• A microwave-eavesdropping iPod touch.
  • It was hinted that Smithers had invented an explosive iPod called the "i-X-Plod", but this was never used.
• A bug-attracting, jungle strength Stingo lotion.

Snakehead

After meeting in Bangkok, Smithers provided Alex with these gadgets:

• Three explosive coins(1, 5 &10 Baht) with gum pack detonator
• A belt with a knife in the buckle and jungle survival items
• A watch with a tracking device to signal M16.

He also displayed:

• The fan club gadget
• Buddha grenade
• A tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw) equipped with a machine gun directly controlled by the handlebars and a missile concealed behind the front headlight. Smithers nicknames it an 'Attack-tuk'.

Crocodile Tears

In Crocodile Tears, Smithers provided Alex with the following

• A pencil case with ghost images of school equipment and a miniaturized flux (reversal) system
• An eraser with a password-cracking Memory Stick on the inside
• A library card which, when fed through the flux system in the pencil case, becomes an all-purpose swipe card
• A post card with a lay-out of Greenfields and lights showing where the card is and where Straik's office is
• A pencil-sharpener with a knife on the inside
• A calculator which jams security cameras and contacts MI6
• Two exploding gel pens

Scorpia Rising

In Scorpia Rising, he supplied Alex with:

• A water bottle that could listen in on phone conversations
• An iPhone that could record and duplicate fingerprints
• A baseball cap with a miniaturised GPS system "Hat-Nav"
• A notepad that could send messages to Smithers' computer screen
• A fake light-switch which can be attached to any wall, as it is used to listen in on room conversations.
• Exploding gnomes (Mentioned only).

He used these gadgets against a SCORPIA hit squad sent to kill him:

• Itching powder
• A doormat that leads to the sewers
• A suit that makes him appear fat

Stormbreaker (movie)

Derek Smithers was portrayed by Stephen Fry.

Smithers was based in a toy shop. After meeting Alex, he gave him:

• A Nintendo DS, with the games "Call Out", which was like Nemesis and allowed him to contact MI6, "Sweep Up", which found bugs, "Green Screen", which turned the entire Nintendo DS into a smoke bomb, and "Mario Kart", which did nothing special.
• Acidic zit cream.
• A pen, which would shoot out a nib with sodium pentathol
• Retractable yoyo
• A backpack with a parachute

Differences in the TV series

Season One

“	It’s a cocktail of synthetic enzymes, pseudoceramides, metabolic enhances, stimulants, neuro-blockers. Exactly what you would need to heal quickly after repeated surgery.	”
—Smithers, on Parker Roscoe's vial

Covering the events of the Point Blanc novel, Smithers goes under the pseudonym "Geoffrey Daniels", and initially works to test Alex Rider's loyalty to MI6 by pretending to offer him a way to betray MI6. Alex eventually sees through this facade and continues on, while Smithers is reassigned to investigate Michael J. Roscoe's death. Together with Alan Blunt, they discern that Roscoe was killed by an exceptionally powerful agency, most likely from a government. They later apprehend Parker Roscoe and Smithers confirms that their captive isn't the real Parker, but rather someone with completely different DNA and evidence of extensive plastic surgery all throughout his body.

Smithers then tricks Parker into saying "motorbikes" in order to get the "x" sound from his voice, and then uses it in a voice emulator to trick Dr. Grief into a sense of false security. The raid on Point Blanc Academy then goes successfully, but Smithers soon realise's that they didn't get every single one of Dr. Grief's clones: they missed the clone of Alex.

Sources

• Photo:
• General information: various sources, including but not limited to:
  • Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
  • Point Blanc by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
  • Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
  • Eagle Strike by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
  • Scorpia by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
  • Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
  • Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
  • Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
  • Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz (primary)
  • http://www.alexrider.com/Characters/MI6/Smithers
  • http://www.alexrider.com/Alexs-World/Gadgets/Viewer
  • http://www.gadgetacademy.co.uk/content/page/tag/alex_gadget_gallery