Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1996 12:46:50 -0800 From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com Subject: TV Guide Article Reaction [NOTE: Only part of this note reproduced for this thread.] For my part I just rewatched all of Season 1 and was surprised at how good (and movie-like) some of the episodes are, but also the ones I remember as being real dogs are (for the most part) still dogs, and I think these were mostly the earlier episodes. Look at Barbara Bain in "Breakaway." Cleveland Amory calls the acting awful, and who could argue with him based on Barbara's performance in this critical introductory episode (though I might call it "excessively underplayed" rather than awful). Landau is pinging (and skillfully so) but Bain isn't ponging (at all). She IS zombie-like. She gets better, and in some episodes is genuinely warm and likeable, but all throughout the series her performance is uneven. She also looks a hell of a lot more attractive in Season 2 (hair and makeup). She's the only woman I know who, though nearly two years older (in Season 2), looks THAT dramatically better. But you know what? I caught her in that episode of "My So Called Life" (and in an episode of "Moonlighting") and she was not only lively and funny, but she EVEN NOW looks better to me than she looked in Season 1. And lest Barbara get all the blame here, I want to point out that having interned on "The Bold and the Beautiful," I learned very quickly the power of an actor to transform even a poorly written scene, but even more than that, I learned that an actor's contribution is only one part of a performance, and that ultimately it's the director and the producer who are to blame if it's not right. And let's also remember that the show's role model was, to a large degree 2001, a movie that I find difficult to watch for the same reasons people criticize 1999. Even the whole scene with the "flight attendant" bringing Koenig coffee in the Eagle on his way to his new post on Alpha is straight out of 2001. For all we know the Andersons wanted Barbara Bain to play Helena this (2001ish) way, and even instructed her to do so. She's certainly capable, from almost anything else I've seen her in, to give a more compelling performance. Thoughts please, Robert
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 04:25:32 -0800 From: Ronald Dudley (dudleyrd@expert.cc.purdue4tag.edu) On Sat, 16 Mar 1996 12:49:46 The Sfcafeguy@aol.com wrote: >For my part I just rewatched all of Season 1 and was surprised at how good >(and movie-like) some of the episodes are, but also the ones I remember as >being real dogs are (for the most part) still dogs, and I think these were >mostly the earlier episodes. I'm still in the process of rediscovering this show via Sci-fi Channel's chopped up version. I couldn't say which ones I think are dogs, but which ones do you think are dogs and why? I definitly have a least favorite character: Brian the Brain. The lines they gave to this character, and Bernard Cribbins' delivery amounts to the most irritating experience this side of a chalkboard being scratched. It was all just too cute and contrived. >Look at Barbara Bain in "Breakaway." , , , >She IS zombie-like. She gets better, and in some episodes is >genuinely warm and likeable, but all throughout the series her performance is >uneven. She also looks a hell of a lot more attractive in Season 2. I thought she looked better in Season1. What disturbs me the most about her in Season1 was not her zombie performance, but how her hair never got messed up. The Darians manhandled her clothes off, yet she her hair remained the same. A freaking dustorm in "Matter of Life and Death" uprooted trees, but her hair remained the same, just with some leaves and dirt in it. It was spooky! Her most significant departure from the zombie act was acting drunk in "Guardian of Piri", acting drugged in "War Games", and being a cavewoman in "Full Circle". I blame the writers for this zombie act akwardly punctuated by these isolated instances of altered liveliness. All the moments of her being "warm and likeable" (like holding the baby in Alpha Child) quickly faded away when the science-fiction storyline got going. The zombie-act really impedes how she should have acted in "Matter of Life and Death". She is just too unaffectionate towards her husband Lee Russell. After not seeing him for 5 years, the most she ever does is hold his hands! Now that I think about it, this episode was certainly a dog. Arf Arf Arf. >And let's also remember that the show's role model was, to a >large degree 2001, a movie that I find difficult to watch for the same >reasons people criticize 1999. Even the whole scene with the "flight >attendant" bringing Koenig coffee in the Eagle on his way to his new post on >Alpha is straight out of 2001. More than just the flight attendant! How about these: Opening scenes of the Sun-Earth-Moon allignment. A construction on the lunar nightside lit by surrounding lamps. A bureaucrat/commissioner giving instructions over a screen. A monotone, lifeless computer voice. After I rediscover all Season1 shows, I will have to review 2001 for more details.
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1996 06:46:07 -0800 From: Amardeep_Chana@xn.xerox4tag.com (Chana,Amardeep) Subject: Another simlarity with 2001: ASO Let's not forget: - Spinning orbiting launch platforms looked very similar. - Politically motivated story about an infectious outbreak on moonbase. - Russian guy talking to American guy after arriving from Earth. - Eagle's similarity to the 2001 lunar shuttle. - Orange spacesuits with backpack and front pack with monitoring controls. - Meta Probe resembled Discovery. Amardeep
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 01:53:01 -0800 From: Levi@spirit4tag.com.au (Graham Levi and Cecilia Levi) Subject: Helena's smile..... Hi Everyone, Why must everyone insist on putting the characterisation of Helena down?? She was voted the most popular character, closely followed by Alan Carter, in Power Stars survey. I feel a need to defend her. I would say the character is very understated. She is a totally focused career doctor. I can't seem to see her being to irrational or having an overwhelming personality. If you have met women like the character (yes, they do exist!!) - I think Barabra Bain plays her well. It worries me that the Hollywood perception of women rules supreme. Some of us out here aren't like they say we should be. What I found reassuring about Helena Russell as a character is that to me she was believable. I was lucky/unlucky (take your pick) to have a female parent who is a medico, that was very similar in personality to the character. Through my Mum, I have met a lot of other women in medicine who are very similar. Most, may I say, who are wonderful and dedicated people, but some would consider a bit boring or wooden. Well, nobody is perfect!!!! Yours, Cecilia.
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 20:18:53 -0800 From: Claudia Coles (ccoles@dcez.dcez4tag.com) Subject: Helena's Smile - Is It REAL, or Is It MEMOREX ? :) But you've got to agree [ well, I guess you don't have to :) ], that one of Barbara Bain's best smiles was from Season 1 from an episode called the "Alpha Child". She genuinely looked like she was "happy" when she picked up baby Jackie Crawford, only minutes old, and said something to the effect of "isn't he beautiful?" [okay, okay, no Stevie Wonder imitations here... Lil 'M, put that mic down. :) ] There was also another episode from Season 2 where, in the second to last shot, Helena is with Maya, Tony, and Alan looking at Koenig dozing off after a long ordeal with some aliens ( Bringers of Wonder, Part 2 ? ). They all smile when he falls off to sleep and I just thought that was one of the best group shots of the whole series. Everyone looked very natural and the smiles seemed very genuine. Anymore smiles or genuine acting by Helena, et al?
Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 06:38:27 -0800 From: Ronald Dudley (dudleyrd@expert.cc.purdue4tag.edu) [Part of a note.] I loved her as the cavewoman! If she could talk it would have been: "Uggghhhhh! Uggghhhh! Uggghhh! I'm gonna kill that Sandra bitch for stoning my man! Ugghhh! Ugghhh! Where's my spear? Ugghhh! Ugghhh! Where's my club? Ugghhh! Ugghhh!" An all-girl fight would have been a pleasant change from the usual slugging and karate kicking done by Koenig, Carter, Morrow, et al.
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 19:16:20 -0800 From: Anthony (anthonyd@zeus.argo4tag.net) In Helena's defense...and Year 1's defense...remember...these people, like all of us living now in 1996, are *not* prepared for being tossed into space on a life raft like the moon...how on Earth (no pun intended :) can they be expected to be overly cheery while drifting thru space on the moon? I know I wouldn't...though I do find humor in the oddest things...I love Year One...Year Two had its moments....but it was basically another show (well, almost ;-)...Year One emphasized the mystery of the Universe...I'm pissed off that Asimov and others run around and say how implausible this or that was...at one time going faster than 30 miles per hour was considered impossible (if I do recall correctly..can someone verify or was this a hoax?)...so, how can scientists say was is absolutely true or false??? Yes, some things can be disproven rather soundly...but not *everything*... OK, I've ranted...next?
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 03:15:06 -0800 From: Sfcafeguy@aol4tag.com Subject: Calling Dr. Russell... Hi Cecilia: In a message dated 96-03-22 04:53:20 EST, you write: > Why must everyone insist on putting the characterisation of Helena down?? I can't speak for the others, but I found Barbara's performance to be very uneven and sometimes very cold during Season 1 -- especially during the first few episodes, in which Barbara somehow seemed to think that one should act somehow differently, and unnaturally, for a science fiction show than, say, a western or even a spy series. While acknowledging that Barbara Bain is the same woman who won Emmys for Mission: Impossible during three successive years, for me, as Helena, she vassilates between someone I want to shake and say "Wake up!," and someone who I think is very warm, elegant, classy, and genuine, and sometimes, in Season 2, even fun. While I think there are certainly many more episodes in which she plays the role well rather than poorly, I also have to say that I think there are episodes in which she is unbelievably "off." While I've said before that I don't necessarily blame Barbara for these inconsistencies (the directors, producers, and ITC executives may have also been giving her conflicting instructions as to how to play the role from week to week), the credibility-killing inconsistencies are there with a certain regularity, and these probably stick out in people's minds a lot more than when she's natural, simply by virtue of being (to my mind) so glaring. I know how you feel, though. I (running for cover) LIKE Tony Anholt as Tony Verdeschi. And I know Yasko comes up for flaming with regularity. I don't get it. If she were playing an American-born and acclimated Japanese woman okay, she comes off as ridiculous. But does she come off so ridiculous if you think of her as a native born and raised Japanese woman who isn't speaking in her native Japanese language? I don't think so. Hey, don't get me wrong. I don't think Barbara has to worry about her as competition against a fourth Emmy, but I've never seen her as being all THAT bad, like so many of the rest of us on this list seem to. And considering the potential of the Asian markets for sci-fi revenues, it made sense to include an Asian character. Maybe choosing director Ray Austin's wife wasn't the best choice, but I've certainly seen less credible performers in the series (for instance, Alibe Parsons as Alibe always seems just a little too enthusiastic, like some kind of Moonbase Alpha Mousketeer or cheerleader ["Quarantine's over, everyone! Drink that poison water!]). So you see, Cecilia, it's not just Dr. Russell who comes up for scrutiny. No one is immune, and I think it's generally offered in a healthy debate kind of way rather than reveling in negativity (except maybe for Yasko whom people seem to love to hate). >She was voted the most popular character, closely followed by Alan Carter, >in Power Star's survey. Was there a ranking for all of the characters, best to worst? If so, would you like to share it? Yeah, yeah, I know. Yasko's in dead last. Should we conduct our own popularity contest? Robert
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 06:02:58 -0800 From: DVEZINA@socrate.droit.usherb4tag.ca Subject: Re: Calling Dr. Russell... Robert wrote the following: >While I've said before that I don't necessarily blame Barbara for these >inconsistencies [....] You were absolutely right! I think that Barbara Bain, in an odd article, mentionned herself that in the beginning, she played Helena as a cold, scientific woman because she thought that's how she first was when she signed up for Moonbase Alpha duties. Bain mantionned the inconsistencies she encoutered, especially during end of second season. She and Fred Freiberger certainly did not get along too well! She HATED some of the scripts. And it some occasions, maybe it showed! Funny, personnaly I think that she was better towards the end of the first year and was at her best at the beginning of the second year. My ultimate favorite performance by BB in 1999: "A Matter of Life and Death", floowed closely by "Journey to Where". Ther are other fine episodes for Helena, of course, but those two are really special for me. Daphne
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 03:51:22 -0800 From: kamurphy@ix.net44com.com Subject: Re: Calling Dr. Russell... The 1999 characters who received votes on the POWER STAR Gerry Anderson Productions survey and their relative placement on the list: 3. Helena Russell 4. Alan Carter 6. John Koenig 6a. Maya 9. Victor Bergman 31 characters received at least a mention. (For those who are curious, the 1-2 vote getters were UFO's Ed Straker and Captain Scarlet from the series of the same name.) Of the top 10 characters, 5 were from 1999, which is saying something. >Should we conduct our own popularity contest? Might be fun... Kimberly Murphy-Smith (kamurphy@ix.netcom.com) Managing Editor, POWER STAR Magazine http://home.aol.com/kimmurphy
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 09:48:05 -0800 From: Ronald Dudley (dudleyrd@expert.cc.purdue4tag.edu) Subject: Barbara Bain's acting again On Fri, 22 Mar 1996 06:04:15 Daphne (DVEZINA@socrate.droit.usherb.ca) wrote: > My ultimate favorite performance by BB in 1999: "A Matter of Life and > Death", followed closely by "Journey to Where". Matter of Life and Death ? That episode was a dog! Arf! Arf! Arf! You must be a zombie lover, a necrophiliac. This zombie performance was either Barbara's fault, or Art Wallace the writer credited for the screenplay. Luckily for us, it was Wallace's only show of the season. "Oh look, It's my darling husband Lee Russel, gone for 5 years!" Is she as happy to find Lee Russel as when she met her old friend Dr. Rowland? No, the most she ever does is hold Lee Russel's hands. What an affectionate wife! Who do you give the blame/credit to: Art Wallace or Barbara Bain? Here's my next revisionist theme for some upcomming month: Helena (in Season1) was treated like a goddess of great power and divine beauty, yet she spurned these mere mortal men. (She's not Samantha from "Bewitched", or "Jeanie" either). She's almost a proto-feminist. 1. Matter of Life and Death: "Oh look, I've ressurected John Koenig and everybody from the dead!" "I am an awesome doctor!" "I am Woman-Healer! Hear me roar!" 2. Full Circle: "I am Cave-Woman! Hear me Roar! ROARRRRRR!" 3. Mission of the Darians: (Helena as-victim-of-men, in a skimpy black outfit) "Neman, we offer you this PERFECT BODY" Oh please, give me a break. Ronald Dudley 1999 Revisionist Historian [Also followed with some statements I put into the "Fly Like an Eagle" thread page.]
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 09:59:33 -0800 From: atomicpossum@usa.pipe44line.com (Mr. Wonderful) Subject: Helena Yeeah, folks, let's compare her to Star Trek:Ecch's Dr. Beverly "Whine-o-rama" Crusher or Counselor Deanna "The Yenta" Troi--I'll take Doc Russell's bedside manner anyday... -- Jon "Mr. Wonderful" Stadter
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 10:02:40 -0800 From: Gary Girouard (GGirouard@ri44hosp.edu) Subject: i love her any way i can see her!!!!!!
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 13:32:39 -0800 From: jquimby@utmmg.med.uth.tmc4tag.edu (Jeanette Quimby) Subject: Re: Helena In defense of Helena - she Helena and Alan Carter were tied in my book as a youth. Her character still is. She can't help as an actress what she was given - you can only ad lib so much before someone will tell you to shut up - not to say she tried to ad lib, but I don't think there was as much freedom in how she played the role. As a preteen/teenage girl - she was fantastic. She was what I wanted to grow up to be a self sufficient, mature, decent looking woman (not a Cindy Crawford, but an average woman who did hold some beauty) who was a professional. Okay, so she was rescued more than being the rescuer - but still, she was independent when placed on Alpha to begin with - she earned the position by intelligence not by who she slept with or knew (sorry, a little blunt there). She was also respected for that intelligence - other than by Gorski and Simmonds. Speaking of a Matter of Life and Death - keep in mind - her husband had been presumed dead for how many years. She accepted the fact that it was him, but there still had to be reservations in her mind - knowing what she did and his actual chance for survival. I mean would be kissing your spouse immediately when in your mind he/she had been dead for 7(?) years and he's shown up on a planet years away from where he was presumed lost. Also, do we really know her relationship with her husband before he disappeared - fan fiction reader that I am - most folks have written that their relationship was disintegrating - different priorities. I wouldn't be turning cartwheels if my husband showed up after 7 years and I hadn't been that happy in the relationship. Yes, I'd show some affection, but why pretend that you are just overjoyed at finding him. Also keep in mind, Dr. Russell was still in a "man's world" in her profession (unless by some miracle things change in the next few years). Her "stoic" - wooden behavior or professionalism was the way that she felt she had to behave in this environment. I work at a Medical School - the ratio of male/female students is increasing - but the ratio of male/female faculty is not, nor are women in positions of power. Those who do advance a lot of times have to give up their "feminity". Dr. Russell was in charge of the Medical Station at a major facility - there would be very little room to overtly show feelings of warmth, etc. Other than Dr. Russell, there was no "visible" female in a position of high rank - unless you do consider Sandra in communications. I think it would take her a while even on a wondering planet to overcome the feeling of the "good old boy" system. I mean folks - what would you have wanted in that character/role - a woman who faints at the mere mention of trouble, beauty and no brains, a whiner? I see her as a woman who protected her emotions after being burned and who climbed the professional ladder and was probably too sensitive to making sure she did not come across as a "blonde bimbo". Again look at television shows at that time, how many women were put in a position of authority? Oh, and regarding her warming up in Season 2 - I look at as the character has now been in space for over a year - she was probably finally learning she could put her defences down and relax. The comments about her hair crack me up though. Even the guys on the show rarely had a hair out of place other than Bergman - who like my own father - let it grow long to cover the bald areas. So, it wasn't just Helena's hair that wasn't messed up in these cataclysmic (?sp) events. But, let's look back on the times - hair spray was a big commodity back then. I remember a girlfriend who could lift her "wing" hairstyle with a pencil and left it fall "gently" back in place without one hair out of place. My sister-in-law can do it today, she uses so much hairspray. And let's take a look at today's television (again) - I'd like to see either the guy or girl wake up in bed with no makeup on and hair like it should be - I don't that there would be too much romance in the morning going on if it weren't for the makeup crew . Oh, well - I better get back to work - but I just had to add my 2 cents and defend a woman who to a 12 year old girl was probably one of the better role models for women at the time. And even now - she's still have a few more brain cells than some of the women my daughter sees on TV. Jeanette Quimby CMO
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 10:47:49 -0800 From: Avril Hardy (avril.hardy@ecl.e44therm.co.uk) Subject: Re: Jeanette's 'Helena' article Absolutely!, well done Jeanette. I loved reading this, it brought a smile to my chops!. Av