Hi everybody,
Let me get this straight:

Dr. Alfred Bellows was a U..S. Air Force colonel. He was assigned to duty at NASA as a psychiatrist. Air Force Captain Tony Nelson and Captain Roger Healy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were also on assignment to NASA . . . as astronauts.

Nelson and Healy, though with two different branches of the service, were both promoted from Captain to Major at the same time. And, they were both informed of their simultaneous promotions by Dr. Bellows, whom, for some reason, they *both* reported to.

Do I have all that right?



Later,
Art

Well, for expediency's sake I guess, they would have both men promoted at the same time and both informed by Dr Bellows. That's a familiar method in both TV and film, to combine characters and/or actions of one or more different "real life" people into one fictional one. It saves on-air time and moves the story along more quickly.

As far as "reporting" to Dr Bellows: I never really thought about that. But I don't actually think that they did report to the doctor. He was just that: a doctor. And as such, it was his duty to make sure that they were emotionally and mentally fit to go into space. And yes, he would probably be assigned to more than only the air force astronauts, thus making it not so far-fetched that he would work with Roger as well as Tony. The astronaut family is very small and close-knit, regardless of which branch of the military they serve.

Art,

Your remarks are as perceptive as Misty Eyes's answers.

Yes, under the promotion practises of the individual services (especially in those pre-DOPMA days), it is extremely unlikely that both Captain Nelson and Captain Healey, being of two different services, would be promoted to major at the same time. Not impossible--but it would be one hell of a coïncidence.

Both men being promoted at the same time would be much more plausible--in fact, not unusual at all--if they had been of the same service (which goes back to my previously mentioned question on why the show bothered to make the two men of separate services).

The fact that Nelson and Healey are of two different branches of the U.S. armed forces is not remarkable. NASA is a joint command, with officers from all of the armed forces eligible for qualification as an astronaut.

And, yes, neither operationally, nor administratively, would Nelson or Healey report to Dr Bellows--a physician. However, as the physician overseeing the medical programme at Cocoa Beach, there would be occasion that Nelson and Healey would be subjected to experiments and trials under Bellows' auspice.

Mysty Eyes was spot-on in her estimation that the show took these "short cuts" for the sake of expediency. Not to mention the cost-savings for the production company.

In real life, NASA astronauts work in teams. The Apollo programme was in full swing then, which meant a team of three astronauts, plus alternates. Had I Dream of Jeannie adhered to the strict letter of reality, Nelson and Healey would rarely have the opportunity to operate so independently. At work, they would have been constantly accompanied by the other astronauts on their team, especially during space trials.

And, as mentioned, they would be reporting to an operations director or programme director (who could be military or civilian) far more often than coming under Dr. Bellows' supervision.

However, to present such a realistic environment for Nelson and Healey would clutter the development of the plots. Dr. Bellows fills the rôle of the staff member who is suspicious of the mysterious goings-on of Nelson and Healey. If the show added additional regular characters who were also suspicious, it would be redundant. On the other hand, it would really stretch crediblity, given the frequent antics, that Nelson and Healey could routinely keep a coterie of their fellow astronauts completely fooled.

Therefore, it streamlines the advancement of the plots by having only one other regular--Dr. Bellows--working closely with Nelson and Healey.

Then, there are the cost considerations. The addition of fellow astronauts and supervisors as regular characters would inflate the show's budget--the salaries of the additional actors, plus the costs of costuming, "hotel" services, and the like--with little storyline payoff for the buck.

Such "streamlining" is common in television shows which feature a character's workplace, especially military ones. J.A.G. , for example, suffers from the same truncation of real-life military chain-of-command as IDOJ did. In the real-world Naval J.A.G. community, a Navy commander and a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel would not report directly to the Judge Advocate General, a rear admiral, to receive their assignments. Those would come from, at the most, from the chief-of-staff--an O-6 (a Navy captain or a Marine colonel). However, the addition of such a character, while accurate, would be redundant. So, for expediency of plot and out of cost considerations, such a character is deleted from the show.


Commander Benson

Commander Benson & Mysty,
Thanks for the replies. That all makes sense and is pretty much what I figured.

Later,
Art

Commander Benson & Mysty,
Further to your earlier replies about expediency and streamlining, it seems Dr. Bellows -- in "Bewitched" terms -- functioned as both the Larry Tate and the Gladys Kravitz of "I Dream Of Jeannie." He was the boss of the male lead, from whom the male lead regularly struggled to keep the female lead's magic powers a secret. At the same time, he was the nosy character who was constantly witnessing the peculiarities and crazy situations which could never be explained logically. As time went on, Dr. Bellows became obsessed with Tony Nelson, the way Gladys did Samantha on "Bewitched," seemingly dedicating his life to finding out what was really going on. Invariably, Bellows, like Gladys, was fooled every time and made to look and feel as though *he* were losing *his* mind.

Instead of a nonbelieving spouse, like Gladys had (Abner), Dr. Bellows was repeatedly made to look foolish in front of General Peterson.

Unlike "Bewitched," however, on "I Dream Of Jeannie," it was the leading *man*, not the leading lady, with whose inexplicable and mysterious situations the fool became preoccupied. There you have one of the major and most obvious of the numerous differences between the two series'.

Later,
Art

Originally posted by Artfiore1
Commander Benson & Mysty,
Further to your earlier replies about expediency and streamlining, it seems Dr. Bellows -- in "Bewitched" terms -- functioned as both the Larry Tate and the Gladys Kravitz of "I Dream Of Jeannie." He was the boss of the male lead, from whom the male lead regularly struggled to keep the female lead's magic powers a secret. At the same time, he was the nosy character who was constantly witnessing the peculiarities and crazy situations which could never be explained logically. As time went on, Dr. Bellows became obsessed with Tony Nelson, the way Gladys did Samantha on "Bewitched," seemingly dedicating his life to finding out what was really going on. Invariably, Bellows, like Gladys, was fooled every time and made to look and feel as though *he* were losing *his* mind.

Instead of a nonbelieving spouse, like Gladys had (Abner), Dr. Bellows was repeatedly made to look foolish in front of General Peterson.

Unlike "Bewitched," however, on "I Dream Of Jeannie," it was the leading *man*, not the leading lady, with whose inexplicable and mysterious situations the fool became preoccupied. There you have one of the major and most obvious of the numerous differences between the two series'.

Later,
Art

Wow, that was an excellent observation. That's something I've never really thought about. Great Post.

I Dream of Jeannie,
Thank you very much. You made my day!

Later,
Art

Wow, lots of insightful posts.

Commander Benson, thanks for all your inside info on this. I love reading your posts about the military side of the series.

Not being intimately acquainted with the workings of this stuff, your information is helping me keep on-target with accuracy (I hope, at least) in my SG1/IDoJ fanfic crossover.

As for Dr. Bellows, yeah, I had the impression he could nix Tony and Roger going up in space, being the CMO I'm assuming, similar to how Dr McCoy can relieve Kirk of command anytime he feels he's got a medical reason, giving him quite a bit of power if he chose to use it unwisely.

I always thought Generals Schaeffer and Peterson were their CO, actually.

Never thought about the simultaneous promotions of Major, with them being in two branches of the military. That would be rather odd, no?