No mention of Victor Bergman yet? Well, we'll just have to rectify that...

For what could have become a stereotypical "father figure" jack-of-all-trades scientist, Victor Bergman was made interesting in that he was a philosophical anchor for the series. By only the third ep ("Black Sun"), he was discussing the existence of God and humanity's place in the universe... pretty heady stuff for a tv show in the mid 1970's.
Barry Morse's portrayal had as much to do with the character's likability as the writers scripts; Bergman was no dottering old man, but a thoughtful intellectual. (I've read that Morse himself tried to add as much background material to the character as he could; it's a shame more of that didn't come through on screen.)

Anyway, he was sorely missed in S2.

By the way, did anyone notice Victor has a violin in his quarters?

In fact the violin has turned up in a fanfic or two.

It would have been nice if mention had been made of how his character suddenly wasn't there in the second series. Just not mentioning him at all seems like an insult to our intelligence.

There was a mention in an early version of "The Metamorph" script of Bergman dying due to a faulty space suit, but it was excised from the script before filming. Seems to be just another example of what one suspects was a deliberate attempt to ignore that there was a year one.

Mention of his absence didn't further the plot of the episode and that's the most likely reason for it being excised from the script. There's time enough for only so much dialogue, and any unnecessary bits are eliminated.

Kind of like that whole unnecessary first season got eliminated as well.

I read one negative review of the series that stated Professor Bergman was about as believable as the Professor on 'Gilligan's Island'. " The line between science and mysticism is just that...a line." Really?

Bergman's also a philosopher, so it's not out of character that he'd make that comment.
I wonder what that reviewer thinks about real-life scientists who believe in God.

I've seen programs on "Creation-Scientists"...to say that they are anti-intellectual would be an understatement!

Heh!
By the way, I wasn't referring to "creation scientists" in my last post. In fact, I wasn't even considering them (as a topic, although it could be said I don't consider them very scientific, either).
This is going to end up over in Religious Musings pretty soon...

While I love the show, I don't have to agree with everything presented. Gene Roddenberry always wanted to keep mysticism out of Star Trek (something to my liking). Johnny Byrne, perhaps because of his Roman Catholic upbringing, enjoyed such ideas in science fiction stories. After Roddenberry's death, Trek began to introduce more mystical elements to their stories -a change of direction I didn't particularly enjoy.

Yet, while I am an athiest myself, some shows can have religion in it, and not seem too 'preachy', B5 is one example.

I agree. I find the religious elements in "New Adam, New Eve " to be rather enjoyable (even more so than Star Trek 5, where only at the very end did any of the 23rd century crew members question "GOD").

I've said this before, but as a child viewer, all the religious underpinings of S99 were completely lost on me. I can appreciate them (and the series) as an adult, in spite of my own personal views about science and religion.

There is no debate among scientists. Most modern scientists find religious beliefs to be incongruous with science. The late Carl Sagan held the church responsible for holding back technology and science for 1000 years.

Apparently, there are no FEMALE scientists in this sexist vision of the future.

As regards to Bergman's possible religious leanings, again secular society would be at odds with it. On the news tonight, I watched a reporter grill a doctor because he prayed with his patients.

In answer to Roses point, it does seem to ring true, but couldn't you class Maya as a scientific character, also the young woman in 'A Matter of Balance' might (its been a while since I saw this episode) have been on a 'work experience' maybe from university from a science program.

Maya was Alpha's science officer (sort of like Mr. Spock in Star Trek).

That's what I'm wondering Curious, although she didn't receive any formal training or schooling (like universities) I assume she had been 'home schooled' by her father. Though it's possible that she did have some formal training as she mentions in one episode, The Rules of Luton, IIRC, about people leaving Pyschon as if she witnessed other people leaving.

In the Metamorph, Koenig tells Maya her science is so far ahead of the Alphans that she has a place on Alpha. Presumably, her knowledge is suffient to allow her to bypass extensive training. She does consult the computer (via the monitor at her station) when necessary.

Looks like Victor, Paul and Kano were the victims of Chuck Cunningham Syndrome!

In the early episodes of Happy Days, Richie Cunningham had an older brother named Chuck. However, when the role of the Fonz was beefed up, he became the big brother. So, the writers sent Chuck off to college. For a while, he was occasionally referred to, but soon even that stopped. Soon, it was if Chuck Cunningham had never existed at all!

In the last episode of Happy Days, when Richie's little sister, Joanie, married Chachi, their parents, Howard and Marion said they were happy that both of their children were now married (Richie had married his college sweethart a couple of years before). Even they had forgotten about poor old Chuck!

Since then, Chuck Cunningham Syndrome has been used to refer to a character that vanished from a TV show for no apparent reason. Of course, most shows are sent here on planet Earth, so it is easy to assume said character left town for some reason. However, on the Moon, that is a bit harder to do! Still, CCS applies here, since the characters vanished and no mention of them was ever made!

Tim, 12 0 clock High kills off Gen. Savage, mentions him once in another episode then forgot about him!
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Victor got mentioned in a Space 1999 novel, Somoene said one louzy airhose malfunction- something vague like that!

SAD NEWS: Barry Morse passed away today after a short illness. He was 89.


Godspeed. You will be missed.

Victor Bergman returns. This was made shortly before Mr. Morse passed away.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj91am-tX1c