George Martin
The "hero".
An optimist, a generally happy person, George is a bit of a boy scout. He thinks of himself as warm, understanding and attentive. For him, there is no such thing as a problem, there are only solutions.
George is rather self satisfied, he appreciates his new life to the hilt. His perpetual optimism can become rather annoying.
As with all optimist, George is prone to melancholy streaks, due no doubt to a drop in his energy. Anyway, he always gets up and brushes himself off and knows how to put a silver lining on even the most negative situations.
For George, the glass is always half full… even when it’s empty !
His job on the Station is maintenance. George does repairs, avoids breakdowns, keeps things up. It's him that keeps the works running. He believes Krach-Ind.'s story that new paying inhabitants could arrive at any moment.
From the control room, he manages day/night cycles, climatic changes, growth of artificial vegetables, atmospheric density, nitrogen levels, gravity, etc.
From his control tower, George is all-powerful.
Yes, in a certain sense, George is God, debonair and not complicated, smiling not angry, a God that rarely gets nerved up. A sweet if rather dim God !
George doesn't need to be intelligent because he's omnipotent. George has only one desire : to be happy! He definitely doesn't doubt that he is. Does God doubt?
Monica Martin
His wife.
She is active, responsible, always on a quest for the true sense of things, a spiritual quest, a justification for her existence.
Monica is best described as an optimistic, open-minded New Ager. She hopes contact will be made with extraterrestrials, and dreams of a peaceful human-alien brotherhood. This is no doubt why she agreed to come to the Station.
Monica has some knowledge of psychology and psychoanalysis. Whenever Betty manifests some desire, even if it is suicidal, Monica is happy: at least Betty wants to do something. She will even urge Betty to take things further. Monica listens to what people have to say, but over-analyzes everything, which can make her fairly annoying on occasion.
Under no circumstances must Monica be portrayed as the good wife, slaving in the kitchen, getting into a panic over anything and everything, and worrying about George’s welfare above all. She has character, and shows it. Monica wants to do things well, she reads up, wants to act and be useful.
The elder daughter.
For her, a thousand words are not needed. Her out-fits and her general attitude suffice.
Betty is sluggish, depressive, dark and incredibly neurotic. You would almost say that she has suicidal or self-mutilating tendencies. You just need to take a look at her. Makes you wonder if she's been like this since birth.
Being on this dratted station is about the worst thing that could have happened to her.
Whether she is wildly happy or deeply depressed, you can barely tell the difference. The dominant color of her universe is resolutely dark gray.
She's not aggressive, nor sarcastic, nor caustic, nor anything for that matter. Nothing seems to affect her. She drifts through reality, observing it through listless eyes.
Her main characteristic is her speech. Her parents barely understand the foreign language she speaks. We almost need to subtitle her. Only Benjamin understands her and he ensures the communication with Monica and George.
Betty-Speech is not hip, nor slang, nor rap, Betty speaks Betty. She created a language with all-purpose words, words from English, American, German, French, Arabic…. Her speech sounds teen-agery but it has something new, exotic and amusing about it. A comic hybrid between Clockwork Orange and your local teenager.
Benjamin Martin
Benjamin is calm, serene.
He is happy to be on the station. It's an unbelievable experience. He is curious, imaginative and a bit absent minded. He is an open, sweet child who listens to others.
He's the one who keeps up the connection between Monica and Betty, between Betty and George. He gets along rather well with his sister.
In fact, it's not hard to imagine that on Earth, he was often teased because of his physique. Out there in space, there is nobody to make fun of him. He can thus grow and uncover his real self.
Full of imagination and curious, forever exploring, crazy about Fenimore Cooper, Jules Vernes and Isaac Aasimov, with Benjamin, adventure is around every street corner! He dreams his life.
Gran
George's mother. Widow.
She is a permanent fixture of the Station. She lives in a house right next to her son.
She hadn't wanted to let George go off without her. She gets so worried about him because she loves him so. He's her little Georgie Porgie!
Gran is nuts about jogging, stretch aerobics step classes and other tortures. She wants to keep herself up like they say; it's her obsession.
That Gran is egotistical is an understatement. She is the only person who counts in her life, and George too of course. Each of her sentences contains at least two "I"s, three "me"s and four myself"s.
As for everything else, she couldn't care less. Grandchildren??! She barely remembers their name. In any case, she hates talking about them because it makes her older.
Gran doesn't want to grow older, so she has become hyperactive.
Disagreeable with most of the inhabitants of the Station, she's a little old lady like any other that you could see in a waiting line or at the Post Office. She firmly believed that her age gave her all the rights, especially the right to put people in their places and the right to complain.
Gran doesn't listen to anything nor anyone, she's always got something to say, always something nasty to say to anyone willing to listen. Nobody really minds; after all, she is an old lady.
Gran is severe with Monica evidently! She always finds something to criticize. She probably doesn't like Monica very much!
George finds his mother perfect; love is blind. He doesn't understand and gets upset when his family points out her failings.
The school mistress..
Military styled, curt mannered, rigorous, morally uptight, old-fashioned, reactionary and peremptory; a bit like Margaret Thatcher. She's the entire Opus-Dei rolled into one.
Miss Schuman is the Station gossip. Occasionally a fink, jealous, mean and indiscreet, she loves other people's problems. Just goes to show you what happens when you have no principles!
According to Miss Schuman, Bobby is the living proof of the benefits of a strict upbringing.
She's right in that when Bobby is with his mother, he is a true little angel!
Bobby shows his mother only what she wants to see. As soon as her back is turned, he becomes a real punk, a bastard, a hoodlum. Not much of the angel is left.
Oblivious to the truth, Miss Schuman tries to find the cream of fathers for her son and the man of her dreams : maximum criteria – minimum results.
Miss Schuman's son.
An angel in the presence of his mother. Elsewhere, he's a hellion. When he speaks to his mother, he whispers, you can barely hear him. He doesn't want to disturb. Without his mother around, he screams, swears, farts, burps and picks his nose. You can't get much worse.
Even with his double life, he's impossible to trip up because of his wit and intelligence.
With George, he plays at being the perfect little gentleman. In fact, it's the same with all the adults! It's revolting to see Bobby in action because the adults believe him to be perfect. He's a real boot-licker, he carries grocery bags, runs errands, and even says "Hello" and "Thank you."
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Only, Betty and Benjamin know what he is truly capable of.
Boris Malakoff
He's the Station's convoy person. Thanks to his inter-planetary shuttle, he ensures the link between the Station and Earth.
He is the only one to ever leave the Station.
When he arrived accidentally on the Station, Boris was a wreck of a man, at the end of his rope. He had spent almost ten years in artificial hibernation for a trip to Mars.
He wakes up just moments before landing in the Martin universe. He's a bit out of touch.
The USSR had become Russia and no one wants to repatriate him : not enough funds. He's just another sacrifice.
A few years prior, before the trip to Mars, he had spent two years in Afghanistan. He had kept as souvenirs : a keen understanding of survival science, hand to hand combat, arms and a high tolerance for pain.
Boris is pretty darn smart. His IQ is twice that of George's but he is every modest. He always lets George be the big brother.
Boris had been married. His wife left him.
As a good soviet citizen, Boris is a bit on the paranoiac side, he sees KGB agents everywhere. He never turns his back towards windows or doors. You can never know who might be listening in on you.
Boris is a complex character, a tortured soul, subject to wild sentimental variations. His feelings are lived fully and noisily.
He can laugh then cry in the same minute.
He is also rather fond of nip here and there.
Boris finds in the Martin what he has been looking for. For a longtime, warmth, harmony, peace and love have been absent from his life. He has so many things to share that Boris. He's a warm and sweet individual.
Jack-of-all-trades on the Station. He is in turn movie usher, manager of the bowling alley, police chief, street sweeper, postman….No one knows whether Guy is a robot or if he's a human being. No one really cares. Guy is all purpose, he changes costumes at lightning speed. He is everywhere at the same time which doesn't seem to faze the Martins one bit.