Welcome!
Hello, and welcome to the official Doctor MegaVolt® website.
Doctor MegaVolt® is a variety stunt act that pits a man (or a woman) in a metal suit against 1 million volts of electricity from a large Tesla Coil. This is a real stunt – it is not CGI, trick photography, or some kind of laser projection! Austin Richards was the first person to perform this stunt back in March of 1997, and he is the designer of the metal suit and Tesla Coil used in his act.
Dr. MegaVolt® on the trampoline – March 5, 2022 (photo by Patrick Stanbro)
The big Tesla Coil was featured in a commercial for the new Ford Mustang EV. The spot was filmed in a large aircraft hangar at the Ontario International Airport down in San Bernardino County in October of 2020:
Dr. MegaVolt’s Tesla Coils were used to create electrical discharge effects for a commercial for the new Maserati Ghibli. This commercial was directed by GMUNK and filmed in Burbank in June of 2020:
Doctor MegaVolt® and Mistress MegaVolt (played by Victoria Charters) performed at the pre-show party for the Tesla Cybertruck unveiling in Hawthorne, California on Nov. 21, 2019. The party had a Blade Runner theme, with original prop cars from the 1982 film. My wife Victoria and I like Blade Runner a whole lot. We named one of our sons Deckard, after the protagonist played by Harrison Ford.
Here is a replica of the DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future with the Tesla Coil in the background:
Doctor MegaVolt® was featured on the Super Slow Show in February 2018:
Please browse the photo and video galleries to see what the show is all about. Or, watch the Dr. MegaVolt® documentary made by Victoria Charters:
On September 14, 2016, our distributor FilmBuff released our documentary film about Dr. MegaVolt® on Amazon, iTunes, xBox and Google Play. The links are below:
**2015 Our premiere screening of Dr Megavolt: From Geek to Superhero took place Saturday July 11, 2015 amid the hustle and bustle of Comic Con at at Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival. We had a very appreciative audience for the screening and panel Q & A.
**2015 Our next festival screening was at the 7th Annual Lady Filmmakers Festival October 24th, 2015 at the Laemmle Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills http://www.laemmle.com/films/40035. We won the “Best of the Festival” award.
Dr Megavolt: From Geek to Superhero
Premier Screening at Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival
Date: Saturday July 11, 2015
Time: 2:35pm – 4:05pm
Location: Grand Ballroom D, Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego
Synopsis: Your A to Z of Dr MegaVolt. In 2002 Victoria Charters (the filmmaker) met Dr. Austin Richards, aka Dr MegaVolt, a Ph.D. in physics who has been performing in a metal Faraday suit with Tesla coils since March 1997. This documentary chronicles Dr MegaVolt’s high-voltage adventures.
As a young boy, Austin does what every mother tells her child not to do. He plays with electricity. In graduate school at U.C. Berkeley he builds a giant Tesla Coil, then a metal Faraday suit and is able to interact with the high voltage discharges unharmed. His friends are delighted. His colleagues are envious. He gets the attention of the media. Austin’s friends encourage him to participate in the Burning Man Festival in Nevada.
Dr. MegaVolt’s performances reach new heights from his association with other Bay Area industrial artists (Survival Research Labs, Robochrist Industries and John Behrens). Partners for seven years, John and Austin navigate the troughs and peaks of artistic collaboration. Art becomes commerce and a friend becomes a business partner. Finally, their friendship and consequently their collaboration comes to an end. As one collaboration is in a descent, another is emerging. Victoria starts performing with Austin. Audiences are delighted with the Dr.’s addition of a female performer.
This is a story about the spirit of science and the intersection of art and science in Industrial Art. Themes explored include love of extreme experiences, a driving passion to understand the physical world through science, creativity and collaboration, invention, and ultimately the responsibility of “passing the baton” in a world where tactile learning is out and digital is in.
Dr. MegaVolt: From Geek to Superhero
This is a 72 minute long feature film about Dr. MegaVolt from writer/producer/director Victoria Charters that was released in 2015.
The IMDB page for the film is here
The website for the successful 2010 Kickstarter campaign for the film can be seen here
The website for Victoria Charters is here