Generals of NASA

[drbellows]

I love General Peterson, he was the best of them all His reactions and overall character portrail were great! It was sad Barton MacLane died haflway through the series Which General did you like best?

[theduck]

I agree. Peterson was my fav too. My favorite moment that makes me laugh everytime I see it, is when Tony is singing in the contest and Jeannie has made his voice go from high to low to sexy. Watch Gen. Petersons reaction to it. LMAO! HILARIOUS!!

The Duck

[jeannietonyfan]

My vote is for General Peterson too. General Schaeffer was good too, but I thought Barton MacLane brought a lot to that character, and made him very enjoyable to watch... I loved his voice, his facial expressions, and the way he would talk to Dr. Bellows.
Barbara Eden said in an interview once that Barton MacLane was a "man's man". I think that comes across when you see him on the show.

[jeanniegirl]

General Peterson (or, according to Jeannie, Patterson ;D) was definatley the best. He always seemed like the nicest one and there was just something about him that made you like him. Yes, Peterson was the best.

[jeannietonyfan]

jeanniegirl said:

General Peterson (or, according to Jeannie, Patterson ;D) was definatley the best. He always seemed like the nicest one and there was just something about him that made you like him. Yes, Peterson was the best.

I totally agree! I always thought that General Peterson cared more about his officers than General Schaeffer did... he was always sympathetic, even if on the exterior he could be a bit hard around the edges when he wanted to be. But I liked how he would call Tony "Tony" instead of Major Nelson. It created a feeling like he wanted to be kind to his "employees". General Schaeffer didn't do that, and he had a temper on him. He always seemed like the more formal-type "General"... it was like he took his rank very seriously.

[AlphaSigOU]

jeannietonyfan said:

jeanniegirl said:

General Peterson (or, according to Jeannie, Patterson ;D) was definatley the best. He always seemed like the nicest one and there was just something about him that made you like him. Yes, Peterson was the best.

I totally agree! I always thought that General Peterson cared more about his officers than General Schaeffer did... he was always sympathetic, even if on the exterior he could be a bit hard around the edges when he wanted to be. But I liked how he would call Tony "Tony" instead of Major Nelson. It created a feeling like he wanted to be kind to his "employees". General Schaeffer didn't do that, and he had a temper on him. He always seemed like the more formal-type "General"... it was like he took his rank very seriously.

It's actually a privilege of senior ranking officers to address juniors by their first name - but it doesn't extend the other way.

[jeannietonyfan]

alphasigou said:

jeannietonyfan said:

I totally agree! I always thought that General Peterson cared more about his officers than General Schaeffer did... he was always sympathetic, even if on the exterior he could be a bit hard around the edges when he wanted to be. But I liked how he would call Tony "Tony" instead of Major Nelson. It created a feeling like he wanted to be kind to his "employees". General Schaeffer didn't do that, and he had a temper on him. He always seemed like the more formal-type "General"... it was like he took his rank very seriously.

It's actually a privilege of senior ranking officers to address juniors by their first name - but it doesn't extend the other way.

Oh really? I didn't know that... well I still like that aspect of his character.
Thanks for the info!

[Subspace]

alphasigou said:

It's actually a privilege of senior ranking officers to address juniors by their first name - but it doesn't extend the other way.

True - but even so, addressing someone by their first name (e.g. Tony) creates a more, well, kindly/friendly feeling than addressing the same person by their rank and last name (e.g. Major Nelson) would. Someone who always calls junior ranking officers by their rank and last name, tends to come across as more 'formal' and 'stern'/'unsympathetic' than someone who calls junior ranking officers they know well by their first name.

Besides, General Schaeffer was indeed a less sympathetic person, as evidenced by his yelling and his temper. General Peterson was not 'un-stern', but he didn't have as much of a temper, and was often more of a father figure to Tony - take the example in Season 2 of Peterson giving Tony advice on winning the girl he loves (i.e. Jeannie) back (from 'Tony Millionaire'); hence Peterson was more, well, likable as a character.

[Subspace]

drbellows said:

I love General Peterson, he was the best of them all His reactions and overall character portrail were great! It was sad Barton MacLane died haflway through the series Which General did you like best?

Agreed.

It's really a bit hard to say about General Stone - he was only in a very few of the early Season 1 episodes, and we never get to know him well, or see his reactions and responses in different situations. Plus, Stone never really had to deal with Jeannie's antics (more specifically, the consequences of Jeannie's antics) - his daughter, Melissa, was affected by Jeannie, and Stone was thus indirectly affected by Jeannie, but he left before we could really see how he would have been, had he stayed on for a longer time and Jeannie started causing more mayhem. Plus, the entire time we know General Stone is as Tony's imminent future father-in-law; hence, we don't know how he'd 'normally' behave toward Tony (if Tony weren't his imminent future son-in-law).

In short, I'd say we don't really have enough information on General Stone to compare him against Generals Peterson and Schaeffer. But, from what we *have* seen, and neglecting the fact that Stone was soon to be Tony's father-in-law (a position which neither of the other two Generals was ever in) I'd say he's probably more like Schaeffer (more stern, and stubborn) than like Peterson, but a bit more boring than Schaeffer (since he doesn't appear to have as large a temper).

Again, we don't know if Stone's behavior was the way he'd have behaved as a General, or if it was more the way he was behaving as a soon-to-be father-in-law.

[classictvlover]

I think that because General Stone called his future son-in-law "Tony," it was easier to have General Peterson do the same, as a pseudo-father figure. He did not call Dr. Bellows "Alfred," so I think the paternal treatment was intended to make him less of a contrast to his predecessor.

General Schaefer, OTOH, was intended to be a more formal type commanding officer. This is made apparent in his first appearance (when his daughter Suzie dates the hippie Harold). Roger tells Tony that the new general "goes around, shaking everyone up," and Schaeffer does so in that episode. However, later on, especially after Jeannie and Tony get married, he also seems more paternal.

[Allie]

He did not call Dr. Bellows "Alfred,"

This is something that's always stuck out for me. I believe he called Tony "Tony" because he truly was on friendlier terms with him.

Maybe it's just me, but I think he always calls out "Dr. Bellows!" with a suspicious and irritated tone; with Tony, he always seems to take a 'Innocent until proven guilty' approach...no matter what Tony may be involved with, I feel Gen. Peterson always treated him with more leniency than he sometimes deserved! haha! Basically, he seemed to really act as a positive 'fatherly' figure, IMO.

Who knows what the writers were intending when they put "Tony" in Gen. Peterson's dialogue! I always thought it meant friendship.

[jeanniegenie]

I love General Peterson! It's so hilarious when he yells at Dr. Bellows! I especially love the episode "Too many Tony's" from season 1 when Tony and Jeannie are about to get married, and Tony pretends to be the decoy that Jeannie conjured up. So she won't marry him. Anyways he picks Jeannie up and says let's get married now my love! And General Petersons say's "Put her down! That comes later!!!" LOL =] Good times!