Subspace
Genie
The Miracle Worker!
Posts: 296
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Post by Subspace on Feb 11, 2007 15:17:44 GMT -5
If ever there was a complex character, Roger Healey is a shining example. In Episode #17 [Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World] Roger steals Jeannie and uses her to get himself an extremely lavish lifestyle. He does not appear to care that he is hurting both Tony and Jeannie. He also does not appear to care that he effectively stole/kidnapped Jeannie and her bottle from Tony's house - something that he shouldn't have done.
Then in Episode #21 [Jeannie and the Kidnap Caper], Roger actually does come to be Jeannie's Master, but after Tony is saved, he voluntarily and immediately returns Jeannie to Tony in a touching scene, saying that she could never really be anyone but Tony's. He does not appear to show the slightest regret in giving her back, nor does he lament that he should have hung on to her for a while and gotten some favors before giving her back. In short, he seems to be a great guy.
Roger still seems to be a great guy in Episode #27 [My Master, the Thief] where he risks his all to help Tony (and indirectly Jeannie).
Yet in Episode #38 [How to Be a Genie in Ten Easy Lessons] Roger connives a dastardly and elaborate plot to steal Jeannie from Tony. In the process he sets Jeannie and Tony against each other and makes both their lives miserable. Roger's plot lasted days (so it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing) and he did not stop or show the slightest remorse even after he heard about how Tony had been tortured. He did not appear to care at all that he is hurting Tony and Jeannie, and he executed his role in the plot flawlessly up until the very end when Tony and Jeannie discovered his machinations. In short he appears to be back to the Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World Roger.
In Episode #47 [The Greatest Invention in the World] Roger continues lusting after Jeannie's powers. He begs for and keeps hounding Tony to allow Jeannie to grant him a wish and finally receives one wish - which he mistakenly squanders, but still. He appears to value a wish from Jeannie more than he values Tony's friendship.
But in Episode #50 [One of Our Bottles is Missing] Roger cares about Tony and Jeannie enough to help Tony break into the Bellows' house to retrieve Jeannie and her bottle. And in the end it was Roger who managed to get Jeannie back into Tony's home successfully. As in Episode #21, Roger does not try to keep Jeannie (e.g. by deceiving Tony that the bottle they had was the copy - i.e. it was empty after all) and does not try to ask for a wish in return for what he did (i.e. risking his career and even his freedom to help Tony and Jeannie). He seems to see that Jeannie is Tony's genie and he seems to be happy that he helped Tony get Jeannie back; he doesn't seem to want to ask for anything in return.
Then in Episode #52 [There Goes the Best Genie I Ever Had] Roger does not appear to care too much about Jeannie or what happens to her should she get sent back to Haji. He half-heartedly tries to dissuade Tony but when Tony doesn't budge, he soon quits and seems like he doesn't care much either way. Interestingly, Tony, the same Tony who went to such great lengths multiple times before to save Jeannie, does not appear to care much about what would happen to Jeannie if she was sent back to Haji. For all he knows genies who get sent back to Haji might be put in eternal torture. And he didn't care enough to even ask.
Of course, we know that in the end Roger is Tony and Jeannie's best friend, but what about in the earlier years? What was going on with Roger? Did he have a split personality? Or was he just a befuddled character with highs and lows?
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Post by jeannietonyfan on Feb 11, 2007 22:03:08 GMT -5
Ya gotta love Roger! I think he was crucial to the chemistry that all the characters shared, and he got many of the jokes, a perfect foil for Tony. Here are my thoughts to your wonderful (as always) post: "If ever there was a complex character, Roger Healey is a shining example." That's for sure... he like Dr. Bellows is a character you think of as 1-dimensional but it couldn't be further from the truth. "In Episode #17 [ Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World] Roger steals Jeannie and uses her to get himself an extremely lavish lifestyle. He does not appear to care that he is hurting both Tony and Jeannie. He also does not appear to care that he effectively stole/kidnapped Jeannie and her bottle from Tony's house - something that he shouldn't have done." Yeah, I think this was one of the few times in the series that I didn't like Roger's character at all. You know what else I hated about this episode is how he had been "crazy" for Jeannie and once he found out that she was a genie, he started working her like a slave... maybe like a real genie, which Tony never did. I thought that they could have had Roger find out about Jeannie in a better way that didn't make Roger look like such a heel... "Then in Episode #21 [ Jeannie and the Kidnap Caper], Roger actually does come to be Jeannie's Master, but after Tony is saved, he voluntarily and immediately returns Jeannie to Tony in a touching scene, saying that she could never really be anyone but Tony's. He does not appear to show the slightest regret in giving her back, nor does he lament that he should have hung on to her for a while and gotten some favors before giving her back. In short, he seems to be a great guy." Yes, exactly, and to me that's the "real Roger" and the unlikeable Roger is the one I don't like to think about when I think about Roger... I really think that like Tony having his touching moments that reveal his real characters, these scenes of Roger knowing that Tony and Jeannie have something special and he's not about to interfere is what the real core of Roger's character is. "Yet in Episode #38 [ How to Be a Genie in Ten Easy Lessons] Roger connives a dastardly and elaborate plot to steal Jeannie from Tony. In the process he sets Jeannie and Tony against each other and makes both their lives miserable. Roger's plot lasted days (so it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing) and he did not stop or show the slightest remorse even after he heard about how Tony had been tortured. He did not appear to care at all that he is hurting Tony and Jeannie, and he executed his role in the plot flawlessly up until the very end when Tony and Jeannie discovered his machinations. In short he appears to be back to the Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World Roger." Yeah, another episode that presents Roger in a negative light, although I think this time maybe they did this for the comedy of the show and not necessarily to convey Roger as an unsympathetic character. "In Episode #47 [ The Greatest Invention in the World] Roger continues lusting after Jeannie's powers. He begs for and keeps hounding Tony to allow Jeannie to grant him a wish and finally receives one wish - which he mistakenly squanders, but still. He appears to value a wish from Jeannie more than he values Tony's friendship." I don't know if I would go that far... Roger was just greedy sometimes and at times got the better of his judgement... but I've always thought that Roger's friendship with Tony was one of the most important things in his life, and one thing that he really valued in his life. "But in Episode #50 [ One of Our Bottles is Missing] Roger cares about Tony and Jeannie enough to help Tony break into the Bellows' house to retrieve Jeannie and her bottle. And in the end it was Roger who managed to get Jeannie back into Tony's home successfully. As in Episode #21, Roger does not try to keep Jeannie (e.g. by deceiving Tony that the bottle they had was the copy - i.e. it was empty after all) and does not try to ask for a wish in return for what he did (i.e. risking his career and even his freedom to help Tony and Jeannie). He seems to see that Jeannie is Tony's genie and he seems to be happy that he helped Tony get Jeannie back; he doesn't seem to want to ask for anything in return." That's sounds more like the Rog' we love! "Then in Episode #52 [ There Goes the Best Genie I Ever Had] Roger does not appear to care too much about Jeannie or what happens to her should she get sent back to Haji. He half-heartedly tries to dissuade Tony but when Tony doesn't budge, he soon quits and seems like he doesn't care much either way. Interestingly, Tony, the same Tony who went to such great lengths multiple times before to save Jeannie, does not appear to care much about what would happen to Jeannie if she was sent back to Haji. For all he knows genies who get sent back to Haji might be put in eternal torture. And he didn't care enough to even ask." Maybe he just doesn't want to interfere with Tony's decision... after all at this stage in the series the Roger-Jeannie relationship hadn't developed a whole lot and so he would have supported Tony's decision and maybe not even think about what would happen to Jeannie if she were sent back... heck even Tony didn't consider that, and he loved her! "Of course, we know that in the end Roger is Tony and Jeannie's best friend, but what about in the earlier years? What was going on with Roger? Did he have a split personality? Or was he just a befuddled character with highs and lows?" I think Roger was a befuddled character with a runaway imagination and greed that sometimes put him in a more negative light... but when that didn't get in the way, he loved Tony and Jeannie, and was willing to (and many times DID) risk his job and his life, and sacrificed his life, to make sure nothing happened to Tony and Jeannie. For me, that's Roger's character, but I know other people who like to consider his greed as his real character, but I prefer to view the glass as half-full!  |
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Subspace
Genie
The Miracle Worker!
Posts: 296
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Post by Subspace on Feb 12, 2007 17:00:24 GMT -5
Ya gotta love Roger! I think he was crucial to the chemistry that all the characters shared, and he got many of the jokes, a perfect foil for Tony. You're right - Roger was a perfect foil for Tony. He ended up getting a lot of the jokes and punch lines because of the way his and Tony's characters were set up. Without Roger, a lot of humor would have been gone. Roger was a crucial piece in the IDOJ set-up and without him IDOJ would not be nearly as good as it is. Absolutely. That's one of the things I like about IDOJ - none of the main, or even the recurring characters had 'stock' or 'one-dimensional' personalities... all were complex characters with multifaceted personalities that we got to see in different situations and different lights and different angles. I agree. I hated and despised Roger's character in that episode. I mean, first he steals something from his best friend's house (and doesn't give it back, either, when Tony finds out it's missing and chases out after him) which is bad enough. It gets worse when he's really kidnapped Jeannie, not just stole a plain bottle. It gets really really really bad when he works Jeannie half to death and treats her like a slave or indentured servant. His attitude toward Tony was also sickening. Although some people have even said this was their favorite IDOJ episode - heck, one person even said this was his/her favorite Roger episode - ! - this episode was in my opinion one of the worse episodes in IDOJ, if only because it portrayed Roger in such a negative light. They could have done a much better job and still kept it funny without portraying Roger like such a complete heel. So in conclusion - I think it's fair to say that we can discard this episode when considering Roger's real personality. In light of everything else Roger's done throughout the series, it's hard to imagine him as being able to behave in the manner Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World indicates. There is the real Roger as we see in selected touching moments like this one, and then there is the Roger we see most of the time who is a fellow lusting after women, money, and power. The difference between the real Roger and the Roger we see most of the time is, as you rightly indicate, similar to the difference between the real Tony and the Tony we see most of the time. But even the Roger we see most of the time wouldn't stoop to the Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World level, I would say. I think they were reminiscing over Richest Astronaut in the Whole Wide World when they made this episode, hence some of Roger's extreme negative personality traits are once again featured here. But here at least he wasn't presented as badly as he was in Richest Astronaut... although I still think they could have toned some of it down a bit. They could have easily done it with Roger initially suggesting the book, not knowing the contents, and then finding out about the contents and trying to warn Tony but Tony refusing to listen (since Tony can be very stubborn at times). It would have been a very similar episode and still funny but would have put Roger in a much better light - the actual episode portrayed him as having little or no morals and as a very calculating fellow who played on the emotions of both sides. And you are right about that. Roger is definitely not someone who would value a wish over Tony and Jeannie's friendship, BUT he does get greedy sometimes and in that episode I would assume that it started out, before the episode, as a small thing that somehow kept going and going and by the time the episode starts it has already blown into a big thing, all out of proportion, which is why we see Roger making such a big fuss over getting a wish. That's absolutely right in my opinion too. Yup he's fit to be a role model in that episode. True. Maybe. Also as we discussed previously that episode was not true to Tony's character either. So I guess it's no surprise that Roger was not acting quite normally either... I think that's a very accurate summary. When you add in that some of the 'negative light' episodes stretched things a bit in an attempt to make things more 'entertaining', I think we have a great picture of a basically good, yet befuddled and occasionally conflicted character - in other words, a very believable, real, and down-to-earth character that we can all emphasize with and love! |
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desir
New Genie
Posts: 27
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Post by desir on Feb 17, 2007 4:32:20 GMT -5
For me, Roger is "the joker" of the show !  Tony, the burlesque and Dr Bellows, the " in spite of him" comic... |
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Post by jeannietonyfan on Feb 17, 2007 12:15:07 GMT -5
For me, Roger is "the joker" of the show ! Yeah, that's for sure! He's the most outwardly funny... |
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Subspace
Genie
The Miracle Worker!
Posts: 296
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Post by Subspace on Feb 17, 2007 22:06:01 GMT -5
For me, Roger is "the joker" of the show ! Yeah, that's for sure! He's the most outwardly funny... Yup, although in later episodes, Tony was occasionally quite outwardly funny, too! Remember the classic episode where Tony was trying to sneak Jeannie II out of NASA in a classified trash bin, and was confronted by Dr. Bellows? His classified-trash-classified-astronaut line was so funny! |
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Post by jeannietonyfan on Feb 17, 2007 23:05:24 GMT -5
Yeah, that's true! He did get to be more quirky and therefore more funny. I love that scene you just described... and his "serious" face while he's saying it... brilliantly hilarious stuff.
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Subspace
Genie
The Miracle Worker!
Posts: 296
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Post by Subspace on Feb 18, 2007 10:09:24 GMT -5
Yeah, that's true! He did get to be more quirky and therefore more funny. I love that scene you just described... and his "serious" face while he's saying it... brilliantly hilarious stuff. Yeah, I thought that was another indication of the direction the show moved in as time went on... but I thought that was a good development! In earlier episodes I often thought Tony was too serious at times... loved how he developed his capacity for deadpan humor in later seasons/episodes! But yes, overall, Roger was the most consistently outwardly funny character in IDOJ. |
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Post by jeannietonyfan on Feb 18, 2007 15:11:38 GMT -5
Yeah, it most certainly was a good development... Larry has said that Gene Nelson (the first director) was from the "old school" of the director is the director, and didn't allow any freedom, which of course made Larry crazy. And you can see in those early episodes that the character of Tony is far more serious and isn't quirky and doesn't do the physical comedy stuff... but then later on when Larry with Hal Cooper and Claudio Guzman was able to explore that stuff, Tony became more out there, quirky, deadpan, as you say... and I loved that about him... he was still stiff and uneasy and tense, but it was that other layer that was added too that made it all the more funny. |
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Subspace
Genie
The Miracle Worker!
Posts: 296
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Post by Subspace on Feb 18, 2007 16:58:22 GMT -5
Yeah, it most certainly was a good development... Larry has said that Gene Nelson (the first director) was from the "old school" of the director is the director, and didn't allow any freedom, which of course made Larry crazy. And you can see in those early episodes that the character of Tony is far more serious and isn't quirky and doesn't do the physical comedy stuff... but then later on when Larry with Hal Cooper and Claudio Guzman was able to explore that stuff, Tony became more out there, quirky, deadpan, as you say... and I loved that about him... he was still stiff and uneasy and tense, but it was that other layer that was added too that made it all the more funny. Yup. His basic nature did not change but his added 'dimension' of being quirky and deadpan on occasion, really did wonders for his character and the show, in my opinion. |
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Post by jeannietonyfan on Feb 18, 2007 17:16:30 GMT -5
I'll say... I completely agree! |
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Subspace
Genie
The Miracle Worker!
Posts: 296
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Post by Subspace on Feb 24, 2007 23:43:53 GMT -5
I'll say... I completely agree! I'll drink to that! Cheers!  |
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jeanniegenie
Genie in Training
Let's see a six letter word for rat....M-A-S-T-E-R
Posts: 131
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Post by jeanniegenie on Jan 2, 2008 16:14:21 GMT -5
Roger, Roger, Roger. His several attemps to steal Jeannie away from Tony are cunning. But he kind-of relates to Jeannie II, Jeannie's twin sister. Because well, Jeannie II is always trying to steal Major Nelson from Jeannie, and roger Healey is always trying to steal Jeannie from Major Nelson on several occasions. Too bad Jeannie II and Roger never hooked up. Well in the episode "How to marry an astronaut" from season four. Jeannie II uses Roger and get's engaged to him. But that was just another one of Jeannie II's plans to get to Major Nelson.
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