The Character Guideby Martin Willey
The Character Guide
| Character Name | Helena Russell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Played by | Barbara Bain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sex | F | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Approx. Age | 45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Section | Medical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Episodes | 47 episodes 48 title credits
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Helena's birthdate and age varies according to source:
The early character name in the early script Zero G was Doctor Gordon, a much smaller role. In the early series proposal, she was named Dr. Janet Bowman.
According to The Bringers Of Wonder part 1 script, her father died of a massive and unexpected coronary while she was a first year intern ("I was there in the house when it happened. I haven't lost many patients, but the first one had to be my father.") According to the writer's guide and Barbara Bain's own character profile, her father was "a West Coast physician of great energy and drive" in whose footsteps she followed; Bain speculates he made a significant breakthrough in cancers, and Helena was striving to emulate his academic excellence.
She was awarded a replica 1887 Donnelmeyer microscope, as used by Louis Pasteur and Madame Curie, as a college prize (Breakaway). Helena's tutor at Medical School was Dr. Shaw (The Bringers Of Wonder part 1).
Helena in 1996 (flashback in Dragon's Domain). She was responsible for assessing a space probe captain after a mission.
Her husband Lee was lost on Astro 7 mission (Matter Of Life And Death). She was appointed chief of Moonbase Alpha Medical section (sometime after 1997) and was responsible for life support systems (The Exiles, Seed Of Destruction). According to the writers guide she was appointed to Alpha in September 1998; "she has been on Alpha for 12 months, working and living, and to some extent retiring emotionally in that space womb environment."
Helena is hard on her own failures (Missing Link, Alpha Child, Catacombs Of The Moon, The Mark Of Archanon), she can also be harsh on others (on Koenig in Breakaway, Mathias in Guardian Of Piri, Sally Martin in The Lambda Factor). She'll talk to herself when alone (Death's Other Dominion, One Moment Of Humanity).
Her other interests include sculpture (The Exiles, The Taybor)- in the writers guide her hobby was holographic sculpture.
Usually part of exploration parties (Matter Of Life And Death, Earthbound, Another Time, Another Place, The Last Sunset, Death's Other Dominion, The Full Circle, War Games, The Infernal Machine, Mission Of The Darians, Dragon's Domain, The Testament Of Arkadia, The Metamorph, All That Glisters, Journey To Where). She is often kidnapped (Ring Around The Moon, Mission Of The Darians, The Testament Of Arkadia, The Exiles, One Moment Of Humanity, The Mark Of Archanon, Brian The Brain) and placed in danger to intimidate Koenig (Alpha Child, The Metamorph, Brian The Brain).
Her living quarters are seen in Matter Of Life And Death, Dragon's Domain, The Exiles, One Moment Of Humanity, and The Taybor. In her quarters the only books are the 24 volumes of the revised 14th edition Encyclopaedia Britannica (the 15th edition, from 1974, was restructured into 30 volumes in 3 sections). She also has a "Visible Man" and "Visible Woman" model figures.
Featured in all 48 episodes (only as narration in Devil's Planet).
| "Look, I can cope with the known, but the unknown..." (Breakaway) "We're looking for answers, Commander. Not heroes." (Breakaway) "Incredible stupidity. The risk to both of you." (Black Sun) "I remember when I was a little girl I was afraid of the dark. Isn't that funny?" (Black Sun) "It may simply be John's time to die." (Missing Link) "I'm not behaving like a doctor." (Death's Other Dominion) "Eva, we're living in deep space. There's so many things we don't understand. We don't know what that alien force was. Why it came here. Or why it selected Anton. But we've got to try to help each other. To understand." (Force Of Life) "I'm a doctor, John. I save life for the sake of saving life." (The Exiles) "With a history like that, who wants to go back to Earth anyway?" (Journey To Where) "Like they used to say in old time show business. One more time." (Catacombs Of The Moon) "Don't ask questions, just...talk to me. Make me laugh." (The Taybor) "Never underestimate the power of human inventiveness." (The Bringers Of Wonder part 1) "Our brains are such incredible instruments. Just think what we might be able to achieve if we knew how to use them to their fullest potential." (The Lambda Factor) "I'm a doctor, John, not a miracle worker! Look, I can cope with the known, but the unknown..." (All That Glisters) "As a doctor I should have known. Besides, not a very satisfactory defence, ignorance." (The Mark Of Archanon) |
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Helena with a ball-and-stick molecule model. The set is Care Unit 3 from Matter of Life and Death. This picture was the basis of a Hope jigsaw painting and of the cover of the US Pocket edition of Moon Odyssey novel.
Year 2 publicity. More publicity shots
Helena in her Medical Office in Breakaway
With John Koenig
Kissing
