Feb 05 2008
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Barry Morse, 1918 - 2008
I am very sad to write that Barry Morse, a British/Canadian actor, has died.
He had a million roles in his long career, but readers of this blog no doubt remember him best as Professor Victor Bergman from "Space: 1999". He was the resident scientist of Moonbase Alpha in the show, and brought a wonderful warmth and humanity to the show.
This hits me for two reasons. One was that his character of the scientist was a huge role model for me when I was a young teenager. I was awkward, nerdy, and a major spazz. Bergman was thoughtful, generous, intelligent, and well-liked by the other characters. He was a major hero of mine.
And, in 2000, I met him, when I attended a Space:1999 convention in NYC as the guest scientist. I was thrilled to go, of course, since I was major fanboy. I got to sit on stage at the opening panel with the stars of the show!
That’s Barry on my right. At one point, I got to talk about how the show influenced me. Sitting next to Barry made me a little nervous, but I decided to tell him personally what a role model Bergman was for me. Especially since his character, when faced with something he didn’t understand, was never afraid to say "I don’t know". He was a true scientist!
I didn’t get much of a chance to talk with him, but as I rode down the elevator at one point he was going up the other side, and said "Oh, Phil, good! I want to talk to you later about something!" I’ll be honest: I have no clue what he wanted to say, as we didn’t get together after that. But just having him recognize me and call me by name made me feel like a teenager all over again. It made me want to do better science.
Goofy? Maybe. But that’s the way I felt, and I still recognize the ability of actors to play characters who can inspire us.
I know there are other scientists out there who were urged along in their studies by Victor Bergman. And so, to the man behind the Professor: Mr. Morse, I salute you. And I thank you.
Phil,
You too? Space 1999?
My folks remind me that when their volleyball club came over to our house after practice I would shush them as I was watching some of the most wonderful Sci Fi at the time (from my 5 year old point of view, of course)
Space 1999. The big plexiglass dome that the good doctor put over the model of the base to explain how his plan would protect the Alphans. The Eagles! The laser pistols! The empty styrofoam tubs placed around the base in case there was a fist fight so they could be knocked over. The transit tube to the landing pad!
Did you have the big Eagle model/toy, btw?
a bit misty eyed.
Jeffrey
Did I have one? You mean, do I have one that’s half completed and sitting over my monitor in its box, waiting for me to get back to Boulder so I can finally finish it? Is that what you mean?
I have a model of an Eagle on my book shelf, next to my space books.
I loved that show as a kid, though some parts of it were scary to me at the time.
I think Jeffrey Cornish might have meant the 3 foot long toy Eagle that came with action figures (dolls
) of the three main characters from the show, one of which was Victor Bergman. I have one of those Eagles, as well as a few of the model kits.
BA, I forgot that you had actually met Barry Morse when I e-mailed you about this the other day. (I should really go back to the early entries here and re-read them once in a while!) Your comments here reflect what I’ve always heard about him: he was a genuinely approachable man, wasn’t full of himself, and was generally a decent human being. I’m glad you got to spend just a little time with him.
Farewell, Barry. “To everything that was…”
Spock was to me what Professor Victor Bergman was to you, an example how reason and deliberation can overcome panic and self-deception.
I confess that I was much less a fan of S1999 than you, partly because Barbara Bain turned me way, way off. That crusty, stiff statue pretended to be an attractive woman…and failed badly. Fakeness repels me. BB was nothing but fake. There was no human being visible behind the concrete mask she always wore.
I’m surprised that you aren’t offended by the idea of a pile of nuclear waste somehow going critical and causing such a titanic explosion that the moon is blasted out of Earth orbit and sent flying through space.
The badness of the bad science is shocking.
1) A huge explosion on the moon forces it out of orbit:
The blast would throw moon-mass in all directions except into the moon, causing a net transfer of momentum from such material as was blasted completely out of the moon’s gravity well. All moon material captured in Lunar orbit or falling back onto the surface would cancel out its change of momentum. Only the material blasted up too fast to be captured by the moon’s gravity would have any effect on the moon’s orbit.
To blast enough moon-mass out of the moon’s gravity well to fling the moon out of Earth’s gravity well would transfer enormous energy to the moon, perhaps enough to turn it molten. Would a moon base several miles away survive? No. Not to mention that changing the moon’s velocity so incredibly much in a few seconds would turn all humans on the moon into red paste.
2) The big one:
The moon covered enough distance almost every week to encounter a new planet orbiting a new star. That means that the moon traveled many light years each week to encounter new planets and civilizations. Worse, the moon spacecraft, using rockets, were able to change their many-times the speed of light relative velocities enough to visit said planets and then accelerate to many times the speed of light to catch up with Luna while it continued its uncontrolled, much-faster-than-light career through the galaxy. Even if you’re very generous and say that it took years between each planetary visit (and weekly episode), the moon is still traveling at nearly the speed of light. Considering that all of its acceleration happened in the first few seconds, it’s impossible for the moon to have survived the blast.
I enjoyed the many performances I saw by Barry Morse. He brought a lot of character into his character roles.
No doubt a bad news, but thanks anyway for posting.
“To everything that was.”
I thought it was the best show ever. I do own the season 1 on DVD and it is still very watchable, a lot of the effects still hold up very well, though some times my toes do curl up a bit regarding the plot.
BA: I just wanted to tell you that I thought a lot about what you said.
Barry Morse: It’s okay, now listen…
BA: But I want you to know that I’m not a complete brain case, okay? I understand completely that it’s just a TV show. I know there’s no Moon on the lose…
Barry Morse: Hold it.
BA: No Eagles, no Moon Base…
Barry Morse: Stop for a second, stop. It’s all real.
BA: Oh my God, I knew it. I knew it! I knew it!
Phil,
Okay I had
-the diecast Eagle (6-8 inches long I think) with the waste canisters that you could reel up on magnet tipped spool,
-the revell model of the Eagle (alas my painting skills were never very good)
-and the 3 foot model/playset. That was the real item there, detach the cockpit, detach the engine module and slide them together.
Barry Morse created a very cool scientist indeed. I remember as a kid feeling that things were likely to be alright when Professor Bergman put his mind to a problem.
Here are some Space:1999 items:
Want:
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/events/wfest2k2/1v_508_comml.JPG
Want:
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/events/wfest2k2/1v_509_stun.JPG
Scroll down to the bottom of this website for a page by page tour of art materials and sketches relating to Space: 1999:
http://www.space1999.net/~catacombs/main/pguide/wkw4.html
One of my favorite ships from Space: 1999 and I cannot find a picture of it, was used in just one episode and looked like a set of somewhat randomly placed metallic shoe boxes slowly rotating around an axle as it moved through space and landed on the moon. It was very odd and therefore quite alien looking.
Of course, the real moon could not be blasted out of orbit. That’s the big dramatic ‘push’ to get the story going. Kind of like warp drive… it’s made up to get the story (or in this case, the setting) moving. It’s the storytelling, which was often NOT run-of-the-mill tv sci-fi, that made the show interesting to watch. By the way, BA does have a review of Space: 1999 posted somewhere, if I’m not mistaken, and addresses those points.
In the context of the show, the runaway moon did NOT encounter a new planetary system every week. There were several Year 1 episodes that were between planetary systems, and the second-to-last ep took place 877 days after Breakaway, indicating that there were long periods of time BETWEEN episodes. Add to that the fact that there seemed to be a force guiding the errant moon along, that it was supposed to travel throughout the universe, and it (sort of) makes sense, from a sci-fi point of view.
Unfortunately, Year 2 changed all that, compressing the timescale, upping the planetary (and guy-in-a-rubber-monster-suit) encounters, and generally lowering the writing quality. Plus, it eliminated many characters, notably Victor Bergman. What BA said above about that character (and the man portraying him) is one of things that made Space: 1999 watchable, and the show suffered greatly from his absence.
Chip, I believe you are referring to Gwent, from the episode “The Infernal Machine.” http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/images/space/tim/sptim010.jpg
Oh, here’s the link to BA’s brief review of the series: http://www.badastronomy.com/bitesize/space1999.html
The Catacombs is an invaluable source of info about the series, its models, the actors. Main page here: http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/index.html
And for those interested in models, as well as other British sci-fi like UFO, there’s Eagletransporter.com, complete with a forum: http://www.eagletransporter.com/index.asp
I once built an Eagle out of Lego…
I’ll bet this makes me seem like the oldest one here, but I remember when Space 1999 first hit the airwaves, and I was surprised to see Lt Gerard In Space!
Back in the really black-n-white tee-vee days, Barry Morse chased David Jansen all over the country in “The Fugitive.”
It was kind of my first realization that actors played different parts. Here was the tough, relentless cop suddenly appearing as a really cool scientist. To this day I often wonder how actors’ own personalities differ or are similar to the characters they play. I’ll Bet Mr Morse was more Professor Bergman than Lt. Gerard.
That’s Barry on my right.
For a moment there, I thought that was James Randi.
I use to LOVE Space 999 - and I have inherited my brother’s toy spaceship from the 70s (it must be worth something now!!) Sad to hear about Barry Morse’s death, may he rest in peace etc.
I remember a particularly gross episode of a giant spider like creater that had taken over the ship and was eating everyone….can anyone remember that episode? And it had something to do with time travel as well….God I was just a kid LOL!!!
I forgot to say that it use to scare the hell out of me as well LOL!!!
My favorite memory of that show was an episode called “War Games”, in which (it appears that) the base is all but destroyed by an alien planet’s fleet of spacecraft. All the survivors can do is abandon the base and try to force a beachead on the planet that has wrecked their chances of life in space.
As the last evacuees load up for the trip to an uncertain future, Victor Bergman records a message for whomever might find the wandering moon that truly sums up Barry Morse’s character…
“Seek us out. Teach us what you know. For we have learned much in our journeys, but most of all that we have so much to learn.”
Goodbye, Barry. Farewell, Victor.
I preferred the first series.
I’ve still got 3 Eagle Transporter models.
My condolences to his family
Dave Hall - “I’ll bet this makes me seem like the oldest one here, but I remember when Space 1999 first hit the airwaves, and I was surprised to see Lt Gerard In Space!”
If it’s any comfort I was going to mention the same thing. It took me a long time to get used to Barry Morse not being Lt Gerard.
Marty posts:
[[I use to LOVE Space 999 ]]
They’re talking about Space 1999, the SF show. Space 999 was about a Viking longboat that was blasted away from the Earth and into orbit of the world ash tree, Yggdrasil. Every week they would send a rowboat to various branches, encountering weird beings and robbing them blind.
Love the pic, Phil.
As Robin Williams said, pointing at a picture of Albert Einstein,” Look at his eyes. All the lights are on and everyone’s at home,,,”
GAry 7
bliznos, the difference between Bergman and Spock is that Bergman was human, and in many ways was the best representative of humanity in space. Spock, for all his protestations, only wanted to be human, and we cheered him when we got even a glimpse of it. For me, Spock is the way people see scientists, but Victor was the way we wanted scientists to be seen.
And Zenia Merton on your left?? You’re one lucky guy!
Great post. We could never hope to be Spock but we can aspire to be Victor.
Spock was also not afraid to admit he didn’t know something but Kirk would always encourage him anyway.
“Speculation, Mr. Spock?”
Then he would confidently ramble on about phases, photos and energy. Of course the speculation was always bang on.
Like others mentioned above, I also looked forward to seeing S1999 when it was first annouced. But as soon as I saw the moon being blasted out of the solar system by a pile of nuclear waste (and encountering new planets by the next episode) I was turned off. I never watched it again. It was a huge disappointment.
It’s a shame that people can’t use suspension of disbelief to enjoy a show, even if a premise is somewhat shaky. If movies/TV were meant to be 100% realistic, you’d never have background music to punctuate a scene either.
alfaniner,
It has nothing to do with suspension of disbelief. We all do that. It’s just that the premise of S1999 wasn’t even suitable for a comic book.
Doug, not only did I sit with Zenia, but I also chatted at length with Catherine Schell, who, to this day, is still the biggest crush I ever had. Talking with her was AWESOME. I’ll have to post about that too someday…
I just love these pics:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/9782/eagle/shuttleeagle.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/9782/eagle/eaglecarrier3.jpg
Doh! let’s try that again:
Marty,
That episode gave me nightmares for weeks. In fact it’s basically the only episode I remember to this day.
Hmm, maybe I’ll have to go back and watch a few of them.
“Spock was to me what Professor Victor Bergman was to you, an example how reason and deliberation can overcome panic and self-deception.”
I’ve got to agree with Blizno. Star Trek was a huge influence on me as a teenager. I actually wrote my college entrance essay about how Star Trek inspired me.
“I’m surprised that you aren’t offended by the idea of a pile of nuclear waste somehow going critical and causing such a titanic explosion that the moon is blasted out of Earth orbit and sent flying through space.
The badness of the bad science is shocking.”
That was a huge factor for me too. At the time, I was studying astronomy in high school (it was actually more rigorous than my college astronomy class!) and I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to get into the show. I consistently mocked it to my other scifi friends.
“I confess that I was much less a fan of S1999 than you, partly because Barbara Bain turned me way, way off. That crusty, stiff statue pretended to be an attractive woman…and failed badly.”
Barbara Bain was HORRID. And although I like some of his other work, Martin Landau wasn’t much better.
I guess being a little older than BA (although I hate to admit that) factored into my more or less dislike for Space 1999. Star Trek got to me much earlier. Since by the time Space 1999 came out I actually understood the BAD science behind the whole premise, I just couldn’t get over that.
I, too, loved the show when I was (much) younger, but even then I knew it was truly awful. Neat gadgets and ships, nice supporting cast (Zienia Merton, Nick Tate), etc., but the scripts ranged from barely tolerable to downright putrid. What was Brian Blessed thinking, anyway? (And does anyone remember Catherine Schell in “Moon Zero Two”? There’s a righteous piece of work.)
I always remembered the episode where Ian McShane played some sort of critter that sucked energy out of everything around him — the lights would go out in sequence as he walked down the corridors. I can’t help but think of that whenever a streetlight turns off unexpectedly as I get near. Seems to happen a lot to me (and, yes, I know that that’s confirmation bias).
What I liked about the character of Victor Bergman was his general unflappableness, if there is such a word, although that was a by-product of having an artificial heart. I loved the way he could say, “Well, what it means, John, is that the asteroid will strike the moon about - here. The moon will then break up into three large pieces and thousands of smaller ones, and basically - we’re all going to die” without batting an eyelid.
Victor’s death (due to a faulty space suit) was supposed to have been mentioned in an early episode of Season Two, but was cut due, I suspect, to time considerations. I missed Victor, Paul Morrow and David Kano in Season Two, and had to wonder where Tony Verdeschi came from, but one thing I did like about Season Two was that the characters were shown in off-duty moments, where they were allowed to display a bit of depth. Even the previously wooden Doctor Russell (Barbara Bain) showed a bit of personality from time to time. In Season One it was work-work-work all the time.
I don’t have much to add to this conversation other than put me in the “couldn’t buy the premise” camp. I also saw much of the hardware (especially the Eagles) as being very derivative of 2001 (and, in fact, so is the title!). I found out later that’s because Brian Johnson (Derik Meddings chief assistant model-maker) was “loaned” to Kubrick to work on the movie. I mention this in the background section of the “Thunderbirds” chapter of Spaceship Handbook. (No entry specifically on Eagles in that, but one is planned for Volume 2).
SuperCorgi says: “…although I like some of his other work, Martin Landau wasn’t much better.”
I thought he was very wooden in all his roles until much later. OTOH, his role as Preston Tucker’s associate (I forget the name) in “Tucker” and, of course, his Oscar winning role as Bela Lugosi in “Ed Wood” were both marvelous.
- Jack
“They’re Hawks, John! They’re Mark Nine Hawks!”
John Powell, thanks for the links. The shot of the aircraft carrier is especially funny for me as MY ship (USNS Arctic) is currently deployed with USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) in the Middle East. Now I can sleep easy knowing that Alan Carter and friends stand ready to defend us from alien Jihadists…
Regards;
Tom E.
Persian Gulf
I still have nightmares about that freaky one eye tentacle doplar sound flashing light monster that live in the wreckage field hypnotizing folks into walking forward for mummification. I so cheered on post trauma stress guy and his fire axe.
No it was not high end art and was cheesy and bad science but it also brought up hints of concepts that other scifi shows would not dare to go near for a few more years and in first season had some chilling moments like when useless political guy woke up out of stasis early on his trip back to earth in the alien ship and they are listening to his transmission back at base and know he’s soon to be toast. So very Poe.
NO! Oh, that’s sad. I just got the whole Space: 1999 dvd collection for xmas and have been reliving my childhood and forcing my 12 year old to watch them with me. He’s a victim of Star Wars so the old timey graphics and actual plots ain’t doing it for him. They make him actually think and he’s kicking and screaming to avoid it because Star Wars is so easy. Plus it doesn’t help that we just went to a con and met Darth Maul and Anakin. Of course, I was looking for a model of an Eagle or Main Mission.
And here I was, not even a week ago, looking at the cast online and marveling that he was still alive after all this time. NO!
“# The Bad Astronomeron 06 Feb 2008 at 10:06 am
bliznos, the difference between Bergman and Spock is that Bergman was human, and in many ways was the best representative of humanity in space. Spock, for all his protestations, only wanted to be human, and we cheered him when we got even a glimpse of it.”
I don’t agree. Spock wanted to be Vulcan and was deeply ashamed of his human ancestry. Spock rigidly suppressed his human half all of the time unless he was overpowered by space-spores or was the helpless victim of the entirely Vulcan Pon-farr and had just killed his captain.
Spock couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in wry amusement now and then but, after all, he’s only Vulcan/human.
Spock often grounded Kirk-McCoy-Scotty when the hot-blooded humans were slathering to rampage against an undefeatable enemy.
Spock’s cool, accurate assessment of the situation usually brought the frenzied humans back to reason and to a peaceful solution to their problem-of-the-week.
It’s Mr. Data who wanted to be human.
It’s ironic how a few years difference in birth makes people either a Star Trek fan or a Space: 1999 fan. I find it ironic that so many Star Trek fans can’t get past S99’s scientific inaccuracies, but will bend over backwards to explain ST’s problems away, all while missing the point of just watching a good story unfold.
No, not all S99 episodes were good, but there were several which were not only good, but ahead of their time as far as tv sci-fi is concerned. Just like Star Trek was in its day. A little lightening up (and a bit more of the IDIC ideal–in other words, acceptance) might help. Both ways. (Enough ST versus S99, in other words.)
Oh, and the similarity between S99 and 2001: A Space Odyssey goes beyond just the title and the SFX man… it was a conscious decision to make the show sort of a ‘2001 for tv.’ Maybe they were a little TOO successful at that, hence the much-derided ‘wooden’ quality of the characters. (Even that has been blown out of proportion by critics, though. And it changed so much in Year 2 that the characters almost became parodies of themselves; they got too humanized.)
By the way, in my last post, I was trying to point out the obvious. Or what I thought should be obvious. I didn’t mean to sound too critical, but I realize I may have come across as a bit heavy-handed. Sorry for that, if that’s how it seemed.
Anyway, this has been an interesting thread, and it’s neat to see that a small, 30 year old part of Barry Morse’s vast amount work has stimulated so much conversation.